On the streets of Aztec, a group of people could be seen running away from a horde of zombies behind them.
"Roan, are we there yet?" shouted one of them who was tasked to protect their utmost back due to his slow speed.
The group of friends was arranged in an extremely effective formation.
Roan, who knew their destination was at the forefront of the formation.
He had his bloodline transformation activated and was joined by Cheyenne to be the main attacking force.
Melania was directly behind them and was trusted with providing support to those in front of her.
In the middle of the formation, just behind Melania, was Lola, the archer of the group.
She was the main person in the formation and her task was to provide long-range support to those in front of her and those behind her. She was everywhere.
Behind her was Sierra, who assisted Lola, and acted as her defense in case of any surprise attacks from their side.
The last two behind her were Jaya and Nico respectively with Nico being the one to protect their behinds and Jaya to occasionally lend support.
Due to the linear and narrow structure of the Aztec's streets, they didn't have to watch their sides, but that still did not mean they had it easy.
Though they rarely met [Gray-Eye Zombies], they still encountered multiple [Normal Mutated Zombies], which were very resilient and hard to kill on the spot.
The group had opted not to focus on killing them, but instead smashing their way through, which worked just well, but was energy-draining to execute.
After half an hour of running, the group was already out of gas.
However, they were in luck as before they could collapse, a beam of light shined in their faces as they escaped the current street they were on, and they saw a large open space.
"Finally," sighed Nico.
He was about to take a break, but Roan prevented him from doing that, "We are not done yet!"
Being at the forefront, Roan could see that another group of warriors was protecting the denizens in a circle formation.
The group was heavily dressed in a combat outfit, the style of the Aztec army.
In the middle of the formation were many statues that resembled the past kings, gloriously dressed in luxurious robes and adorned with the Aztec crown.
However, this wasn't the main problem.
The problem was that, as they expected, the soldiers were preoccupied with another horde of zombies, which seemed to be gaining the upper hand as they thinned down the size of the soldiers.
This punctured a hole in their formation and the leader of the soldiers could do nothing, but watch as the zombies killed the defenseless people they were meant to protect.
Seeing this, Roan shouted to his friends, "Let's help them. With our combined strength, we would have a higher chance of surviving."
He ignored the death and conversion of his future subjects.
Everywhere was filled with blood and dead bodies that were eaten too much and couldn't turn into zombies.
It was a gory-filled open space, but they couldn't afford to spare a glance at the "goriness".
They had to keep their emotion at bay and find their best shot at survival and, right now, it is was in front of them.
Not wasting any time due to the horde behind them, the group of friends ran to the formation and repaired it silently.
The soldiers had noticed, but they were too occupied with dealing with the task at hand to talk.
After the burden on the soldiers had lessened, amid the fighting, the leader of the soldiers introduced himself without looking at them, "Thank you for joining us. I'm Knight-Captain Garrett. I was sent by my Knight-Major to protect this location. May I ask who you are?"
Due to his preoccupied mind, he failed to recognize that he was in the presence of royalty.
Shouting as he killed a normal zombie, Roan briefly replied, "Prince Roan. I came with six friends, including my sisters and my other friends. What are your other Knight-Captain."
Having immense authority as a prince, Roan had studied the military system.
He knew that a Knight-Captain never moved without his superior, and despite Garrett being asked to protect the park, it didn't sound right in the long run.
"Oh, it's Prince Roan. My Knight-Major didn't give me much detail and only told me to wait for further others. I believe he is at the forefront lessening the number of zombies invading the capital," explained Garrett as he drew his broadsword and black blood splashed on his face.
"Oh, what is happening at the forefront, and which forefront to be exact?" curiously asked Roan.
He needed every information he could get to sketch his next plans.
"The capital gates. That was where the breach occurred. Hours ago, a large army of zombies broke past the gates, and my superiors are currently holding the strong ones down."
Hearing this, Roan's guess of a possible guess was confirmed.
However, he was still shocked.
'How strong are the zombies to be able to combat Knight-Captain Garrett's superiors?' mused Roan.
The military system of Aztec was simple and effective.
It composed of different ranks starting from a normal soldier to a knight, who leads a squad full of normal soldiers.
Above knights were knight-lieutenant, which commanded a platoon, composed of different knights. The average number of individuals in a platoon was twenty to fifty(20-50).
Higher than that was the Knight-Captain, the exact rank of Garrett. They were in charge of a company, a group composed of knight-lieutenants.
Then came the Knight-Majors, the second-highest rank in the military system.
Each of them had their own divisions and were responsible for managing their knight-captains.
The only rank higher than them was the Knight-General rank, the epitome of the military system.
Each general commanded their own field army and was required to be exceedingly smart and well-versed in battle tactics.
His uncle, Royal Duke Conan, was one of the three knight-generals in Aztec. He was probably the most important one.
His title as a knight-general motivated nobles that aren't going to inherit their family title to enter the army.
It was better for them to make a place for them in the army ranks than to fight for a title that was destined to not be theirs.
However, it wasn't easy advancing military ranks. To do that, one would need merits, a recommendation from the higher-up, and strength.
If he remembered correctly, to be a knight-general, one needed to achieve [Realm-3], something that eighty percent(80%) of the entire population find it hard to achieve.
..............
The fight was still ongoing and seemed endless.
Nico found himself slowly getting more and more injured.
Most of the attacks from zombies, especially the [Gray-Eye Zombies], left lasting wounds on his body, and when he tried to evade them, it would kill those he was protecting.
His only comfort was that the soldier beside him was helping him sometimes.
After decapitating a zombie, Nico took the chance to look at his left, checking who exactly was helping him.
To his surprise, it was someone he knew!
"Ehh...Gavin?!" Nico voiced out his confusion.
Looking sideways, he realized Gavin was also dressed in Aztec military clothes, which would explain why he was always missing in the guesthouse.
He also noticed that Gavin's eyes were different from its prideful self.
It was now soulless and lacking the drive to live, which highlighted his careless fighting style.
Before he could examine more, his alarm went off and Nico ducked instantly.
A [Nether Blast] went past his head and blew up the head of a defenseless human.
Annoyed at his mistake, Nico looked at the zombie but found that he couldn't do anything.
If he moved closer to it, he would destroy his group's current formation.
He also couldn't tank an endless amount of attack as his body was not indestructable.
In a frantic shout, Nico hollered at his sister, who was once again positioned at the center of the attack.
Immediately, after his call, an arrow flowing with immense energy flew past him and embedded itself in the head of the zombie.
It didn't cause any harm for a second, but in the next second, the head exploded and the explosion caught all the zombies within its close proximity.
Feeling the hot wave from the explosion brush his face, Nico's face twitched, 'That is the destructive capability of a prepared archer.'
They were no zombie coming to him for the mean time, so he focused back on Gavin.
Wanting to know more, he asked, "Gavin, what happened?"
It seemed that Gavin had already recognized him from the way he wasn't shocked.
Gavin held a zombie by the throat, mercilessly squishing the life, or rather, death, out of it. When he was done, he clapped his hand on the head of the zombie and burst it.
Gavin then replied to Nico with a coarse voice, "He's dead."
Nico felt a wave of premonition brush against him, but he had to ask, "Who's dead, Gavin?"
He looked straight at Gavin's lukewarm eyes and got his answer, "Uncle Todd."