Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 156: Defense of Gravestone Part IV

Both Eliza and Zane were covered in cuts. The two of them had been going at it for over five minutes, and neither side was left unscathed. Initially, Zane had been able to lead Eliza into dangerous positions due to his taunting and her foolhardy personality. But she quickly wised up after taking substantial damage.

Currently, the two of them were having a hard time moving. The damage done to their limbs had forced them to slow down substantially. And while Eliza was still exceptionally faster than Zane, the man himself was still able to defend his vital points from being pierced.

Needless to say, both Eliza and Zane were glaring at each other with mutual hatred. Despite this shared animosity between the two of them, Eliza couldn't help but compliment Zane on his ability to stand toe to toe with her despite being substantially weaker.

"I have to say… I have never come across a living being so powerful before… And your skills, they are very similar to my own. If not for the fact that I can hear your heartbeat, I would be certain your were one of us… Just what the hell are you?"

Zane had been wondering the same question. The skills that Eliza displayed were nearly identical to his own. And when taking into account that his bodily functions were slowly but surely started to halt, including his heartbeat, which had rapidly slowed down as he advanced in level. Zane was starting to suspect he was indeed a Horde King, or at least half of one.

But he had nothing to confirm this suspicion, and instead was quick to point one of his short swords back at his rival who he had been locked in a life and death struggle with for over ten minutes now, taunting her once more with a confident smirk on his face.

"Enough chitchat… Let's end this!"

Eliza matched Zane's smug grin with one of equal intensity as she manipulated the blood in her body to form claws which protruded from her knuckles, similar to a famous fictional superhero. She then spoke to Zane, launching towards him in an attack after she did so.

"You just read my mind!"

However, as Eliza propelled at such rapid speeds that Zane could only hope to protect his vitals from the young girl's assault, something happened. Eliza found herself frozen in the air, as if time has suddenly halted.

When Zane saw this, he knew exactly what had happened. His reinforcements had arrived, he was just about to launch a crippling assault when he heard Olivia's voice call out to him.

"Zane retreat now!"

Knowing exactly what the woman was planning, Zane fled back several meters, and the moment his after image vanished, a lighting bolt was summoned from the sky and landed directly on top of Eliza's figure, burning her and her clothing to a crisp.

Eliza wanted to shriek in agony more than anything, but she was still frozen in time, which only ceased after Elena had stabbed the young Horde King directly in the chest. An attack that dealt significant damage to the undead.

The moment Eliza was freed from her frozen state, she jumped back, spitting out coagulated blood as she gazed upon the pesky ants who arrived just in time to save Zane. She could not believe her eyes. Not only had Zane's girls arrived, but so had the other strike team, all of which were prepared to fight Eliza together.

After puking up another pile of coagulated blood, Eliza wiped her lips before gnashing her teeth and cursing at the awakened survivors in disbelief.

"How! How are you here!?!"

It was only now, when Eliza tried to issue commands to her horde, that she realized she was incapable of doing so. They were all annihilated, down to the last walker. Realizing that she was a Horde King without a Horde, Eliza's expression paled.

A Horde King without a Horde was nothing more than prey for her brothers and sisters to play with. In this assault, she had lost everything, and even if she survived the encounter with Zane and the others, she was doomed to a miserable death, anyway.

Perhaps if she was at full strength, then she would be able to take on the 11 or so awakened survivors. After all, it would normally require an entire party of six awakened survivors, each of which at least being level twenty-five to take her on.

But Zane had expertly manipulated her weaknesses, and his skills were similar to her own, allowing him to deal with significant damage to her over time, while also protecting himself.

Not only that, but Zane and Madison were fully kitted out with Level 15 Rare Equipment. Making the two of them far more powerful than normal, awakened survivors of the same level. Knowing that she had no chance of survival, Eliza went crazy, giving it her all to take at least some of Zane's party out with her.

And she started by attacking the weakest links. The level five survivors from the other strike team were quickly targeted. Where Eliza used her superior speed to instantly take the life of one of them. Her speed while now inferior to that of Stalker was still enough to eliminate a level five awakened survivor, especially when they were caught off guard like her victim was.

When Eliza reappeared, she was holding a decapitated head of a young man, whose last expression was one of pure horror. She then chuckled the head at Olivia, trying to catch her by surprise, which was her next target.

After all, Olivia's lightning had dealt a significant blow to Eliza, and she wanted to take down at least one of Zane's girls. But her attack was met with failure, as a pink transparent force field surrounded Olivia before Eliza's attack could successfully land. Repelling the young Horde King as it did so.

Unfortunately for Eliza, her shock at failing to penetrate the barrier around Olivia was the last thing she expressed. Because in the next moment she felt something cold connect with her neck, followed by complete and utter darkness.

Surprisingly to everyone, Zane stood next to Eliza's decapitated corpse. He had appeared out of nowhere while holding the young Horde King's severed head. Whose expression was one of complete and total disbelief.

How had Zane managed to do this when he was so injured before that he could barely move faster than an ordinary human? It was a simple trick, one he was saving for some time. The moment he retreated from Eliza after Olivia told him to.

Zane used the remainder of his gold to purchase a full restoration of health potion. It cost him 1,000 gold, but he had collected enough loot and gold from the undead he had slain on this night to afford it.

After buying the full restoration, Zane drank it covertly, all while Eliza was engaging the others. Instantly restoring his HP and Stamina to the point where he was now able to move at his normal speed.

But Eliza was still slow and injured. And because of this, Zane waited for the opportune moment to strike, which came when the bitch's attack was reflected by Madison's force field.

At that moment, Zane moved faster than the wind as he launched a surprise attack on the bewildered Eliza, taking her head as his prize when he did so. His victory on this night was a combination of factors.

One: he utilized Eliza's emotions against her so that she would mindlessly rush at him, exposing her to all sorts of sneak attacks. Many of which targeted her limbs so that her speed would slow down. Two: Zane had suffered more than a few blows, and some of them were deliberate so that Eliza would think she had the upper hand when reinforcements finally arrived.

Three: Zane Sacrificed one of his pawns, giving Eliza a false sense of confidence during her suicidal rampage. And Four: Zane utilized the advantages of the store feature so that he could fully restore his hp and stamina, allowing him to launch a sudden and covert attack, one with the intent of dealing the final blow to Eliza.

Had Eliza not been so prone to entering a state of blind rage, or had the girls showed up at any point later in time Zane's chances of defeating a Tier I horde king at his current level, and with the current level of his party would have been virtually zero.

However, Eliza was dead, and so was her horde. Meaning that all of her former territory now feel to Zane and the town of Gravestone. All that was left was for Zane to retrieve Eliza's blood crystal. Which he found inside his inventory, having already been auto looted by the system. When Zane retrieved the crystal and held it in his hand, he was enamored by it.

The blood crystal was larger than any he had seen, being roughly the size of the largest jawbreaker candies. It was also gold, and shimmered like it was made of such a material, despite having a diamond cut and a crystalline appearance.

Not wanting to share his prize, or argue about such a thing. Zane immediately swallowed the blood crystal where he was met by a curious message.

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[The Blood Crystal of a Horde King has been consumed! Generating New Skill!]

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Zane then saw a variety of potential skills pass through his mind, almost as if he was looking at a slot machine, before it eventually landed on one that made his jaw drop.

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[New Unique Skill acquired! Commander of the Dead – Tier I]

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