As the two of us finished eating, the sounds of the ruffling of vegetation filled the area. It came from all sides, like a piece of cardboard being ripped apart right next to my ears. In the dark, cold forest, disgusting creatures would come out and attack any unsuspecting victims.
"Looks like it's just the two of us tonight."
"You can watch my back."
"Aw, you trust me that much?"
"Sure."
She put her hands on her cheeks and squeezed them.
"Hehe, so much pressure~"
Is this how some girls act these days?
I found a good spot in the open where I could get a good view of the entire battlefield. The zombies were going to show up very soon. In all directions, I could see the thick, brown trunks and dense green leaves of the trees. Just a little further, however, there was nothing for the eye to see except pure darkness.
The ruffling eventually increased in ferocity. I broke up my Minions into groups of five so I could more easily coordinate them. I positioned them so that there was a group every few metres, if they all managed to stay alive, there shouldn't be any openings for zombies to get through. If stragglers do make it through, I would have to rely on Chloe and my own strength—my Minions weren't nearly fast enough to catch up to a zombie if it ran straight towards me. I had just barely enough Minions to completely surround the area so I didn't want to expend any just standing next to me.
Horrible rotten creatures eventually started peeking their heads from the forest. I kept my Minions back until they approached us. From every angle, the entire area was filled with the bodies of these decaying monsters. Slowly, they began approaching us—they came like a swarm.
Suddenly, several incredibly fast zombies charged out of the forest. They ran on all fours like animals, they were immensely fast, like a cheetah. With erratic movements and unpredictable attacks, my line of Minions was starting to get into intense combat. The crawling zombies swiped and jumped at my Minions.
I had equipped most of my Minions with basic weaponry like swords and spears. However, these zombies were uncomfortably fast and my Minions struggled to hit them with their slow reaction time and heavy weapons.
"Those things are bad news," Chloe said.
"Do you think you can go engage them? I don't want them cutting down my wall of Minions before the main wave."
"Waa... that's a bit much don't you think?"
"Ugh."
She pouted.
"Hey... I'm just a weak little girl, you can treat me a little better, you know~"
"Can you use a bow?" I asked.
"Well, I suppose I could, I'm nowhere as good as that elf boy though."
"It'll do."
She grabbed a large metal bow from her inventory, it was much more complex-looking and heavy than the longbow that Elrich used. It appeared to be much more technical than the standard wooden longbow.
She conjured a long white arrow from her inventory and placed it onto the bow.
"I've never shot one before so don't make fun of me~"
She aimed it towards the swift zombies which were causing chaos in my front line. After adjusting it, she let go and the arrow zipped through the air hitting a zombie in the leg. It slowed the zombie down a little but it still managed to continue attacking my Minions.
"Ah, these things are pretty hard to use."
"Hit them in the head next time."
"That's easy for you to say!"
She pulled another arrow out and aimed it again. There were around eight hasty, crawling zombies which my Minions struggled to hit. The main wave of sluggish walking zombies was also about to reach my front line, there would be problems if my Minions continued to be whittled down by the crawling zombies.
After a few seconds, she let go of the tense string and the arrow zipped through the air. This time, it hit a zombie in the neck, instantly killing it.
"Yay~"
"Good job."
Chloe continued to fire her bow as the zombies approached us. I needed to focus on managing the movement of my Minions since the main wave of zombies was about to crash into my front line like a tsunami. The zombies got closer and closer until they suddenly began attacking my Minions. The crawling zombies were still around, making a mess of my troops.
I focused my Minions to engage in groups and to pull back whenever they took a significant amount of damage. However, I quickly realised that the situation was rather dire. With our reduced manpower, especially without Elrich, these fast zombies were constantly staying alive and attacking my Minions.
I needed to get rid of them quickly. With no other option, I pulled back several of my Warrior Minions and focussed them on the fast almost un-hittable zombies. They were the only Minions which could somewhat consistently engage with them. Chloe was shooting arrow after arrow, gradually whittling down at the wall of zombies which were approaching.
Suddenly, one of the crawling zombies broke through the line and charged straight toward me.
Shit.
I drew my {Silver Sword} and prepared to fight it.
It quickly pounced and tried to jump on my face. Chloe swiftly got in the way and it smashed its face into the hard surface of the diamond shield she was holding. Liquid and flesh splatter on the ground as I tried to recover from hitting its head. I moved in and sliced it as fast as I could with my {Silver Sword}.
In one swing, I was able to cut off its head and it evaporated into the air.
"That was close."
Suddenly, in another direction, another crawling zombie broke through the line and started charging at me.
"This is not good."
Chloe was forced to stop firing the bow and change to her {Platinum Sword}, the lustrous blade glimmered as it fell down towards the head of the zombie. Cleanly and swiftly, the zombie's head flew off, and green liquid splashed all over the ground where the body hit the soft loose dirt.
This was going to be a long night.