Chapter 11: Unpleasant Surprises

Kaius planted his feet. There were only three undead remaining from the small mob that he had stumbled upon at the hunters lodge and led on a merry chase. More than a low enough number for him to stop running. Of the three, the one front and centre held a pitted machete, same as the one on its left. Its companion to its right holding a hatchet.

All three tried to swing as soon as Kaius stopped moving. He thrust, lancing the middle undead in the shoulder. Or at least, he tried to. The leftmost undead whacked his spear with its machete, shunting him off target. He swung his spear sideways, pivoting to a new target and carving a line through the rightmost undead’s face as he smacked away the hatchet it had raised.

A spray of thick black blood coated the soft grass between them.

Kaius took another steady breath, the smell rotting blood mixing with the earthy tones of disturbed loam. Any disgust at the scent washed away in his Bloodsong. A step back prevented his rabid foes from closing the distance, he feinted another strike at the centremost undead, before whipping his spear back into the hatchet-wielder. One of the boar-spears lugs impacted the undead’s skull with a savage crack, splintering the bone.

The other undead tried to capitalise on his committed attack, lunging towards him with a swing and a stab. Kaius leapt back out of range, his heart keeping a steady rhythm even as his tunic clung uncomfortably to his chest due to the sweat of his extended exertion.

In its fervour, one of the machete-wielders lunged after him, swinging its blade in an attempt to gut him where he stood. Kaius pulled his haft in tight and the undead’s machete swung past, leaving it flat footed. Experience and Sense Weakness drove him to action, a thrust puncturing deep into the underside of the undead’s jaw, and erupting from the crown of its head with a crunch of shattered bone.

**Ding! level 15 Undead Huntsman slain**

Kaius maintained his momentum, ripping his spear free to flow into a tight cut at the next closest undead. It brought its machete up in a block, catching the haft of his spear before it could cleave through its skull.

Breaking the bind he pulled back, then thrust with a rapid flurry of stabs, alternating between targets. The undead did their best to ward him off, but decrepit nervous systems hampered their attempts.

One, looking almost frustrated, tried to physically chop through his haft. Kaius grinned, stepping back to let the axe swing past and pull the undead off balance. The opening did not go unmissed.

It fell with a weeping hole where its nose used to be.

**Ding! level 16 Undead Huntsman slain**

Sweat stung as it streamed down Kaius’s face and into his eyes. Not for a moment did he consider taking a hand from his weapon to wipe his face, nor scrunching his eyes to clear the salty irritant. He was too honed in. There was only one left.

One.

Left.

Kaius let out a war cry, breaking the silence he had held since springing his ambush. The savage reverberations stabbed at his throat, heightening his aggression. He swept his spear up before slamming it down into the undead’s guard. It stumbled at the sudden force, before rallying itself to jump toward him in mindless fury.

Switching his grip, he momentarily held his spear like a quarterstaff, before slamming its butt into the undead’s machete. Knocking the weapon away. A reverse strike drove his spear point through the creature’s neck, a torrent of black soaking its ratty leathers in moments.

He carried through the strike with a push kick to the undead’s chest, sending it sprawling prone. Kaius planted his foot and smiled at the scrambling thing.

“Fifteen doesn’t seem so bad anymore.” He said, eyes cold despite his grin.

He slammed his spear home, planting its leaf bladed point in the monster’s skull, and leaned his full body weight into the spear. Pulling it free, he walked away from the messy pile of blood and viscera before slouching over as he gasped.

That had been rough. But so, so much fun. As the unnatural wind cooled the sweat on his brow, Kaius looked at the destruction he had left in his wake. A line of black, evidence of the dozens of wounds he had inflicted on the mob. A grisly trail leading to the hunters lodge far in the distance, interposed every so often by the limp corpse of a downed foe.

“Gods damn them, that was tough” He panted, using his free hand to massage one of his calves. They still burned something fierce, strained from his hapdash retreat over uneven ground.

He squinted, seeing an undead slowly shamble its way closer to him, shaded in the half light of the cavern. One of the crippled ones, hampered by its injured leg. It promptly stumbled, falling over face first.

The absurdity of it jolted, a soft bark of a laugh escaping his lips.

“Well, best not leave a job unfinished.” He said with a shake of his head.

Standing up straight, he planted his spear point first into soft soil below, allowing it to stand freely. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, shaking loose the accumulated tension in his arms, before bending over to stretch out his legs. A groan slipped out as the burning ache in his legs intensified behind his knees and the back of his thighs.

“That’s a bit better.” Kaius mumbled as he stood back up.

He took a look at his spear, its mangled haft, and blood drenched tip. He frowned.

“Probably best to just grab a new one.”

He looked back to the distant undead, now risen again and limping in his direction, patting the hilt of his longsword for reassurance.

Keeping a comfortable pace, he set off the way back the way he had come, one eye trained on the tree line for any sign of beasts that may have come to investigate the noises of his battle. Thankfully, there were none..

He kept in line with the trail of his battle, walking around the leaking corpses of his slaughtered foes. Though unfortunately he was not entirely able to ignore their foetid stench now that the heat of battle had left him.

“Gods that smells rank.” He said, his face paling. It could have been worse, he thought. He’d mostly avoided blows to their centre mass. He shuddered to think what unholy abomination he would have to deal with if he had perforated their bowels.

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About halfway to the hunters lodge and the stumbling figure in the distance Kaius stopped by the corpse of an undead who had been using a boar-spear of its own. He eyed it, checking it for any major damage. It was splintered and poorly maintained, but in a damned sight better state than his own.

He tossed his spear to the side, replacing it with the new one.

With a new walking stick in hand, he locked his eyes on the slowly approaching undead and picked up his pace.

Once he got close enough to the creature he stopped. Hefting his spear over his shoulder, he took aim and threw it at the undead with a grunt. With unerring finality it soared through the air. It tried to smack the missile out of the air. Unfortunately, it was hampered by the deep wounds Kaius had left over its limbs.

The spear slammed home into its face, the blade sinking down to the lugs as the weapon’s weight sent its corpse sprawling.

**Ding! level 15 Undead Huntsman slain**

Kaius let out a hoot of success, pumping the air. “Bullseye!” he said with a grin.

Reaching the corpse, he yanked his spear free. Only a short walk from the lodge that had been set into the cave, Kaius could see the final undead struggling as it clawed its way across the ground, a shattered knee preventing it from rising.

“Pathetic things, aren’t they?” Kaius said to himself as he watched it haul itself across the dirt on one good arm..