"Why are you so eager to become a Revenant, darling?! It's all over if you die!" Josephine yelled.
I wrestled my arms away from her and pulled a disappointed face at her.
"Then your words from earlier were empty? This is the problem with smart people. You all use logic too much. So what if by all accounts I am going to my death? I should have died long ago. Yet I still am here, aren't I? I played safe all my life before I became a reaper. It just gave me regret in my last moments."
"That was only for a rank E undead. An undead brute is rank D. It is impossible for us! We are done to the beef!" Bella cautioned.
Done to the beef? Had to be a Brazilian saying. Ignoring them, I turned around and began walking forward again as I waved them goodbye.
"I no longer wish to die with any regrets. Now that I have my {fate} in my hands, I get to decide how I live and how I die. Just wait for me here. I'll come back for you guys after I kill this fucker."
The majority of the zombies slowly approached the ape arrow. The middle of the group shot projectiles and took down around a hundred undead. But since the enemy was in the thousands, a few hundred made little difference.
Surprisingly, while the brute walked with long strides, he lagged between the Normies. It made we wonder if this fucker intentionally strolled or he was just that slow. Normies, Chuckies and Bigfoots all got immolated as they touched the "flaming walls" scattered around. Said walls were just piles of undead that were set on fire.
The sight of hundreds of burning corpses coming for you would scare the shit of even the bravest souls. A cacophony of guttural moans and growls made the experience even more frightening. With {Perceive}, I could see several reapers shivering from fear.
They gripped their weapons so hard their hands bled. Panic, terror and disgust radiated from their very bodies. At that moment the black gorilla let out a loud thunderous roar. Blood-curdling howls immediately followed, inducing fear and terror in the already tense atmosphere.
At that moment, the Ape and his werewolves broke rank. Contrasting my expectations, the gigantic primate moved faster than even the werewolves. It barreled through the zombies and used its arms as sledgehammers. Each arm sent multiple zombies flying.
Due to my enhanced vision, I saw the extent of damage done to the Normies and Bigfoots. The werewolves, on the other hand, literally tore and ripped the zombies apart with their teeth and claws. I then noticed that a group of over fifty reapers followed them. All carrying flashy soul weaponry, these people should be the assault squads formed by the gorilla.
Before I could study the weapons themselves, I saw a familiar face I would never forget until I died.
"Found you, Red."
It was the bastard who used me as zombie bait. He carried a glowing longsword that sizzled with lightning. Red was at the forefront of the assault group, slashing wildly after the gorilla. My blood, already stoked, now soared to even greater highs.
"How convenient. I just so happen to have the perfect playmate for you," I remarked.
While I tried formulating a plan, I noticed the remains of the arrow formation in shambles. Once the distance of Red's group with them increased, zombies flooded the gaps. Not my problem though. Blood drenched the ground anew as the reapers began to fall one after another.
Due to being relatively alone, hardly any of the zombies noticed me as I moved towards the brute. I had my arms hold the gun aimed in front. Bella taught me proper footwork of making small steps while moving with a gun. Too big a stride and your aim would be thrown off.
Occasionally, I shot the ones who wandered towards me. Like a seasoned soldier, I downed body after body as I walked forward with the finesse of an assassin. The adrenaline started to make me feel immensely pleased. My arms began to get sore though. Due to saving my souls for {Rewind}, I used {Reload}, so the repeated shocks to my arms didn't get healed. Still, as long as I would get to use {Rewind} at some point I should be fine.
I didn't even wait for the bodies to drop. With {Identify}, even the Chuckies in hiding got a surprise long before I stepped in front of them. Just then a Normie faced towards me and growled. It then ran at full speed like a long-distance runner.
"What the hell? I though you guys didn't run!" I exclaimed.
While it was surprising, it was hardly anything to get agitated about. With {Aim} I just followed the crosshairs and bam! The sprinter crashed magnificently while the back of its head burst open.
The furthest flaming walls from the center were now in my vicinity. Heat enough to make me sweat came off them while I was a good thirty yards away.
"{Save} {Rewind}."
Firing nonstop I got over 100 souls from my own kills and around seventy just from being in the vicinity of the ones dying. Being in top form remained the biggest challenge in prolonged battles. As I was that way as long as I kept on killing, this would never be a problem for me.
I wondered what these zombies reacted to. Unlike when I was still human, the zombies no longer immediately came for me when I got into their range. Far from me to complain about free souls. However, observing the reaper army, they got flooded in a manner I didn't think was possible.
The zombies threw themselves at them with reckless abandon. Chuckies got on top of Bigfoots and divebombed unsuspecting targets. Normies that got slashed or torn in pieces continued to move. It was a good decision to always aim for the head. The crawling Normies killed more than walking Normies.
In an absolute brawl like this, few had the leeway to check their feet. That was until they fell down due to being bitten. Vomit threatened to go up my throat as I watched the barbaric display of reaper combat. It was different to see dead people getting killed. In contrast, to hear the screams of those still alive as they were torn up caused my trauma to resurface.
Unable to endure, I stopped walking and got on one knee. My head grew hazy. A severe migraine caused my brain to throb painfully. I bit my lip to focus as my temples continued to hurt like they were getting hammered. Closing my eyes, I calmed myself down.
'Suck it up, John,' I ordered myself.
At that moment, I heard rushing steps coming towards me. One. Two. Three. Great, three sprinters. I opened my eyelids even as my head felt like it weighed 50 tonnes. When I aimed, i noticed my vision was blurry. Shit, I would die if this continued.
"{Rewind}."
I got rewinded back to my last {Save} and confirmed the nausea and pain I felt were gone. 100 souls might not be cheap, but I only had one life. Suddenly the silence around me felt lonely. I missed having the girls around. Just because they were not here, though, didn't mean I would no longer move forward.
"Right. Becoming a Revenant is my goal, not theirs. It can't be helped. Now, where are Brute, Gori and Red?"
{Perceive} was impossibly useful. In less than a minute I found that Gori and Brute already met in combat. Even if he was smaller, Gori held his ground. His werewolf posse were busy clearing out the undead charging for Gori. Red's group slowly inched forward towards the rampaging titans.
"Good for you Red, I would have felt bad if you turned over a new leaf." The assault group Red was leading had started with over fifty people. At this moment though, they were already less than half of that. Like the asshole I remembered, the redhead with an Australian accent left the ones who couldn't keep up.
Naturally, being left behind at this point meant dying to the undead horde. I could kill him without remorse if that was the case. Just then I noticed Red grab what looked like a slim boy in an orange shirt from behind and throw the kid towards the approaching sprinters.
An extremely tall shielder and another person broke from the group to save the kid. The shielder was even taller than a bigfoot and wore what I thought was red viking-style leather armor complete with a horned metal helmet. Meanwhile the other person was dressed like…a shinobi. Holy shit! The other dude was dressed in a black ninja garb with a violet scarf.
"What an interesting group. And none of them have glowing weapons. Red abandoned the Formless, even the ones that could fight. How amusing. Looks like I get new members."
It was stupid for the viking and the ninja to separate from safety of the main group all to save a Formless kid. This had to be their bond as comrades. If I could capitalize on that, I could find about Red's {fate} and get them on my side.
I suddenly heard groans coming for me from the three directions. Ah, the undead were here. However, despite the danger I remained still. The moment I waited for finally arrived. Unable to contain my glee, I smiled from the bottom of my heart.
Three people moved to protect me.
A dark-skinned archer shot the Normie to my left.
Another with long blonde hair lunged for the one to my right with a rapier.
The last ran past me and roundhouse kicked the zombie before slamming her knife into its eye socket.
With a giant grin on my face, I welcomed the return of my girls.
"About time you guys showed up. Let's move."