"Listen up, everyone! Send to the pit everything that the system allows to on our way! Even the freaking lamp post! if it can be moved - move it!"
"Boss, the car cannot be sent to the pit..." said the soldier who had previously asked the question, upon approaching a nearby car and touching it with his hand.
"Hm, one sec," Sergei disappeared and returned after a few seconds. "Try again."
"I did it!" The soldier exclaimed when the car vanished, leaving behind only pieces of broken glass and some trash.
After returning to the haven Sergei rewrote rights and opportunities given to the soldiers. Previously they could only transport the corpses to the pit and the objects to the warehouse. Now they could teleport the objects to the pit as well. But the boss set the limit on the type of the moving objects: only the things that the system identified as a junk. Who knows, those dunderheads could easily move the whole tank to he abyss if he let them...
The abyss recycled the object, and the haven receives 299 points of matter*.
"Excellent!"
(rus) "Hey, system, what is the matter needed for and what does the star at the end mean?"
The matter means something not of biological origin. The star is the sign that tells you that you can see the extended list. Or do you think that metal, stone and glass can be considered the same matter?
(rus) "The biomatter can, can it not?"
...
(rus) "What kind of answer is that?!"
"Boss, there's a big crowd of zombies up ahead," Annette spoke, interrupting the boss' quarrel with the system.
"How big?"
"Three hundred."
"Hm... I've got an idea," Sergei teleported to the haven, changed the soldiers' rights and opportunities once again and came back.
"Fall back, collect thirty cars in the location J," the boss ordered loudly.
"Location J?" Solomon asked.
"From the word "JUNK". You'll see what I mean," Sergei stated with a sly smirk.
The soldiers scattered around the area and began diligently transferring the cars - meanwhile, the undead approached them, slowly but surely. But people still had some time.
"It's done, boss!" Solomon reported.
"Good, now..." Sergei concentrated on the location J in the haven, on the newly seized shard, to be precise. It now resembled a car dump.
One wave of a hand - and the street was blocked by the barricade built out of cars, causing surprised and happy cheers among the soldiers.
"Take up positions and enjoy free XP!"
"Y-e-a-h!!!" The soldiers roared.
"Why are you yelling for? All the zombies in the area are gonna come running here now!!!" Sergei barked at his airheads. Thankfully, anyone who could've reacted to the group of humans have already reacted and were killed off. The humans hid behind the barricade and prepared for battle. Well, the melee fighters did. The archers were already harvesting the experience points, good thing there were a lot of arrows! Besides, most arrows could be removed from the zombie corpses and used again.
The living dead hit the barricade like a tsunami, however it didn't even budge. All the car doors were open specifically for zombies, so they did their best to make their way through the cars. Some crawled over the hoods, some through the doors. But no matter where they crawled from they were met with swords and axes.
The axes that the boss' acquired after killing the old cannibals, turned out to be very good weapons. It was harder to chop the heads off with them, but easier to break the skulls. They also turned out to be more effective against the mutants due to their greater impact force.
"If only I had a spear right now..." said one of the solders, piercing his sword through a zombies that was crawling over the hood.
"You're right, it would've been much easier..." replied another soldier.
(rus) "Hm, that's an idea. The spears will be well suited for defending the haven - there it doesn't matter which weapon you use, you still get your xp..." the boss pondered out loud.
"Boss, behind you!" Annette yelled, panicked - she didn't expect this level of cunningness from zombies, thus she missed their tricky maneuver.
The boss turned around and saw the fast mutants running towards them! That trickster waited until the battle began and tried to hit the humans from behind. The level 3 gun appeared in the boss' hand, but Solomon took matters into his own hands - he fired at the mutant from the machine gun, injuring its left leg and them activated his skill.
The mutants fell, but instantly got up, however a powerful stone fist was already flying towards its face. The zombie tried to move away but it was too late - the fist achieved its goal and the mutant's face turned into a bloody mess. The second punch - and the trickster died a final death.
"It was... a good job, Solomon," initially the boss wanted to say: "It was my experience!" - but then changed his mind. The enhancement of his sole military expert was no less important than his own.
"No reward... *sigh*... Alright... Will there be any more surprises, Annette?" The boss asked after looking around the battle field. It went fairly easy. The barricade proved to be a very useful thing! There's a reason every camp in town used them.
"We're on the lookout... So far so good, but be careful."
The boss didn't reply, just began finishing off the remaining zombies. The barricade has done pretty well. The speed of killing zombies has of course decreased significantly, as they needed to somehow get to the humans. But there were no injuries, and the people weren't really tired as well: just stay on one spot and chop, well and occasionally send the corpses to the abyss.
So far, more than half the soldiers were equipped in the system gear, and each wore a full vaccine bracelet. That's why they all fought confidently and even fiercely, doing their best to get as much experience as they could.
"I reached level 5!" Gautier shouted and his half-bear body began to transform. He became taller, his muscles swelled, his skin became tougher and the length of his fur increased to two centimeters, his legs and arms became visibly thicker. He couldn't use firearms anymore due to his huge fingers, but the close combat weapons were still available to him. His large claws could easily slit the bull's belly, while his fangs could chew through thin metal. There's also been a significant increase in physical characteristics and the immunity became strong enough to battle the level 2 virus.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!" The boss praised; the beastmen-soldiers were happy with what expected them in the future.
"The archers are awesome too!" Gai snorted and shoot an arrow with electricity sparkling on its tip. When it hit a zombie, lightning struck in all directions, hitting a dozen zombies.
On the second level of the skill, aside from the increase in accuracy, rate of fire and reaction, the archers got the ability to enchant their arrows. The lightning-arrow that Gai just shot, cost five mana points! Considering the archers' mana reserves, it was a lot. But they could enchant the arrows beforehand. And what else the archer would need mana for? To create and enchant the arrows. Gai had enchanted six arrows in total, now he had five left.
The archers were satisfied with the show of power, meanwhile the boss...
"You asshat! Are you thinking with your ass? What if our people got electrocuted?!" The boss barked and smacked the delinquent youth upside the head. Upon hearing the boss' words, the rest of the soldiers realized as well that if it wasn't for luck, some of them could've ended up injured...
"I'm sorry, boss..."
"No it's okay. Solomon will take over your training, from now on. He'll fill you up with military wisdom, just you wait and see," the boss smiled evilly, while the young man paled from horror, imagining what awaited him... Solomon was knows as a very strict instructor...
After cleaning the area from the corpses and cars, the squad continued their journey. Three hundred and fifty four zombies and one mutant were killed, and thanks to the barricade the soldiers weren't even tired yet! Having drank the spring water, they once again became cheerful and positive.
The squad continued with their journey, but after a moment the boss suddenly stopped.
"Boss?" Solomon inquired.
"No, nothing, let's get going," the boss got an idea to turn on the music to attract zombies, but then he thought of the option when the sound would attract the huge horde with a lot of fast acrobatic mutants, so he had to drop the idea.
***
"At this rate, we won't get to the Basillica until after nightfall..." the boss stated during the break.
In two hours time, the party has passed only two kilometers and killed about a thousand zombies. They were everywhere - not even a meter of the way was passed without a fight!
"Maybe we can use the sewers, Gai?"
"I not know, boss, we didn't explore this are..." the boy replied. His English has improved significantly as of late. The brothers and the girls studied English for four hours every day, sometimes even eight hours - on the days free of any field work.
"I don't recommend going down the sewers, boss," Solomon added. "You remember the lab?"
"You mean the mice?" The boss asked, enlightened.
"Yes. The monkeys has become a real scourge, that is now plaguing the city. But no one mentioned the mice. I think they're hiding in the sewers."
"Understood," the boss nodded and pondered. He looked at his soldiers, at Gai, Solomon, and shook his head. "Let's not risk it then. Five minutes break and we're moving out."
After a little break, the party was on the move once again, but the closer they got to the center, the more zombies they encountered. About an hour later, the squad came across the place where the battle took place, and judging by the fresh blood, it didn't happen that long ago.
"It looks like a small camp of survivors made an attempt to leave the city," Solomon made a verdict after observing the battlefield.
About a hundred and a half bodies were lying around, some of them equipped in the system gear. Also a small amount of various firearms was scattered around as well.
"No one survived..." Solomon sighed. "They drove in cars, but were ambushed. About fifty people, mainly civilians."
"Looks like the big guy was here as well," the boss added, observing a huge dent on a small bus, he then pondered, examined the bus and continued. "And I think that someone survived. For starters, the civilians didn't rise as zombies, which means they were finished off, also there are no supplies left."
"Hm, I think you're right. What are we gonna do?" Solomon asked, looking at his boss. He didn't like this...
"Nothing! Let's collect the bodies - extra biomatter wouldn't hurt - and move on. Send the bus to the pit."
The squad resumed their journey and forty minutes later stumbled upon destroyed fortifications of a middle-sized camp. It used to be an elite school behind high and tough looking concrete fence. Later the survivors built the watching towers from the rubbish and even installed spotlights along the perimeter. They weren't working at the moment, of course, but it used to be a pretty good fortification. However it didn't help and now the territory of the school was flooded with tens of thousands of zombies... I a hundred pigeons flew above the school and pooped, each poo bomb would land it's own target.
"How did they break their defenses?" Gai gasped.
"Look over there," Sergei pointed at one section of the wall.
"They... piled up zombie corpses so they could climb over the wall??? But how?!" The young man mumbled with horror filled eyes.
In the direction Sergei pointed at, hundreds of zombie corpses were stacked up, creating a small mountain, which allowed the horde to easily cross the wall.
"It seems like a very cunning mutant has emerged... Change of plans - we'll take a detour. I don't wish to meet this smartass zombie... or it's probably a general... the general zombie. *sigh* There must be so many supplies and coins in there..." the boss sighed, throwing a look full of pain and suffering towards the elite school. But it would've taken him a week, if not two, to kill tens of thousands of zombies using the "hit and run" tactic.
It turned out to be not so easy to get around the school - a very, very high amount of zombies, dozens of mutants included, had flooded its surroundings.
The mutants usually didn't like to walk the streets openly, and now they were just... guarding the positions... Sergei felt a little scared. The presence of the zombie-general in the city made him want to get the hell out of the city even more, right after burning this very city to the ground...
On their third try, the party finally managed to find a suitable route and escaped the dangerous area. On their way the found another battlefield, where humans have lost again. Whether they were people from the school, or from another camp, remained unknown. But no one survived this time, and fresh zombies were prove to that.
Using the tactic of a car barricade, the squad managed to quickly - in half an hour - clear the battlefield, killing about five hundred zombies, with zero injuries. By that time, six more people took level 5 and leveled up their main skills. He was particularly pleased with the mages. The lightning mage increased the range and the strength of his lightning, plus learned a few new tricks as well. He could cast the chain lightning, just like Gai did with his arrow, and could also cast a more economical discharge, which hit only one target.
The fire mage also became stronger and received three new abilities. His stream of fire became more powerful and the range increased as well. The mage also learned to cast small fire balls (which if hit, set the target on fire), and to create a fire wall. But the wall required a lot of mana to cast and hold it so the fire wouldn't die down.
Unfortunately, the mages couldn't do magic too often, thus even after reaching level 5 they still had to wield a sword... Mana took a lot of time to recover, and the less it was the shittier the person felt.
"Boss, I've got an idea!" One of the mages spoke. After clearing the battlefield the squad took a ten minute time-out to rest and eat.
"Speak up," the boss said, turning to the speaker.
"We can create a quick use magical unit!"
"A quick use..." the man muttered and raised an eyebrow.
"Boss, it's noy like that! I suggest we build a special center where the mages can quickly restore their reserves! Here's the idea - you summon the mages, they spend all their mana and you send them back to the haven. In that special center they quickly restore their reserves and you summon them again..."
"Hm, I understood the idea. And what exactly that center does, in your opinion?"
"Well... Mana recovers faster in a comfortable environment, and the more comfortable it is - the faster the recovery. So I suggest to organize thermal baths, a massage from beautiful ladies, relaxing music and atmosphere, well and the quality sexual service..." the mage narrated with a silly smile on his face.
"Let's beat him up," boss offered with a smile and the angry crowd supported him completely.
"But, boss!" The mage panicked.
"I'm joking, I'm joking," the boss smiled, however the crowd wasn't joking. "It would be much easier to hand you the rifle, than to send you to rest and have fun while we are risking our lives here."
"I... I understand..."
"Five more minutes to rest and we're moving out!" The boss yelled dispersing the crowd. But the mage has still ended up beaten...
The party resumed their journey again, however they didn't get too far - twenty minutes later the archers noticed the advancing horde, accompanied by a great amount of mutants. Sending all his soldiers to the haven, Sergei hurried into a nearby apartment building and there, after blocking the entrance and eliminating all the zombies in the area, teleported to the haven as well.
Everyone present felt uncomfortable watching what was going on through the monitor. It was like a huge, all-consuming serpent moved down the street, destroying all obstacles on its way. There were so many zombies, that the horde kept walking by the entrance point of the haven for an hour and it didn't look like it would end anytime soon. But the most terrifying thing was the presence of the more evolved mutants.
If the first level mutants still somewhat looked like humans, the second level turned them into monsters, and each of them was unique in its appearance. Some of them sported the bony growths, some were covered in tough scales, one even looked like a mix between a man and a spider.
It was decided to keep their heads down for a while and have a good rest, and also think of the alternative routes to reach the Basillica.
"What if you go through the subway, boss?" Annette spoke up during the lunch.
"We can't, there be a lot of zombies in the subway, a lot of people die there," Gai objected. The girl snorted defiantly.
"I think I'll agree with Annette here. If the zombie general gathered all the mutants in the city, then it's possible that the mutants that used to inhabit the subway, left their lairs with their entourage as well," Sergei said and opened the map of the Paris underground on his smartphone.
"But it's dark there, boss, and there also can be mice mutants there too," Gai protested again, surprising everyone present. He never argued with the boss before...
"That's why I suggest this. We take the military jeep, install some powerful floodlights on it, and go down there in comfort. What the mice can do to the military car," the boss shared his idea with a smile, making Solomon think about it.
"I think it's a good idea. We won't be able to try our soldiers then, but it's getting too risky to remain on the surface," Solomon spoke after weighing all the pros and cons, then looked at Old Louis.
"Alright, alright, I'll do it. Just let me eat first," Louis sighed and began rapidly destroying his food.
"Good," the boss nodded at Louis and turned to Alice. "How did the harvest go?"
"We managed to finish before lunchtime. Sixty eight tons of potatoes, twenty five tons of vegetables, and seven tons each of wheat and corn were harvested. The first harvest of apples and pears is expected tomorrow. The rabbits are doing well too, but we need more people for meat and skin processing."
"Humans are such weird creatures... First there are too many of them and then - bam, a major shortage..." the boss muttered, finishing his puree with rabbit patties. "Oh and one more thing, one of the soldiers told me about this idea today about the rapid mana recovering center for mages. And it gave me the idea to create the rehabilitation center for the cleanup squad. Everyone knows that the water in the pond relieves fatigue and heals wounds. So, we can organize thermal baths there, the massage parlor, rest and recreation rooms. You know, a karaoke, a bar, etc."
"A great idea, boss! People will recover faster, which would be crucial if we ever get into a situation when we are forced to engage in long, serious battles," Natasha spoke, supporting the idea, but not without a spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey: "However such a center should be made publicly accessible, else the public outrage is guaranteed."
"Yeah, yeah! I would like to visit such a place as well!" Anne exclaimed, jumping from her seat.
"Then it will be extremely expensive..."
"Very... Brick and wood won't be enough, only reinforced concrete. We'll have to built men and women sections and the capacity must be at least 200 people, and that means several floors," Natasha not only confirmed the boss' concerns, she also made them worse.
"Karaoke! I love karaoke!" Anne was ecstatic.
"Too expensive, plus people won't be motivated to join the army, which means - special services for those who protect our home," objected the boss. "This is what we'll do: we build the center for fifty people for now, with the possibility of expanding to 200 people."
There were no objections and the dinner resumed - however it was far from calm now. Anne got hooked on the idea of the karaoke bar and was planning to search the warehouse for everything needed to organize the home karaoke. She also tried to talk Annette into "accidentally" bringing the boss to the karaoke-bar on their next hunting trip.
***
"I'm looking forward and somehow I'm scared," the boss spoke, standing in front of the subway entrance. Ahead was the descend into the dungeon, dark and with the traces of blood on the steps.