Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 204: A Solemn Sacrifice

The drive to Fernley was short, at least by American standards. It was a mere hour in length. But it was one filled with utter silence. After all, this Horde King would probably be the most difficult opponent that Zane and his party had come up against thus far.

In terms of previous enemies, Eliza was definitely the strongest, but they had been extremely lucky in dealing with her. For starters, Eliza thought something was unusual with Zane, specifically his potential relationship with her Mother, which was an unknown and daunting prospect.

Because of this, Eliza had tolerated Zane and the girls as they farmed her horde for XP. And by the time she could finally wait no longer, she was reduced to a mere 20,000 undead servants. This in and of itself would be a difficult task to manage should she had surrounded them and fought them in the ruins of Carson City.

Unfortunately, Eliza had opted for a more foolhardy approach, which was to attack the settlement of Gravestone, which had ample defenses that could be used to thin out what remained of her horde. In addition to this, Eliza herself had a stubborn, arrogant, and fierce personality. One that led her to make many mistakes in her fight against Zane.

If not for all of these things, then Zane and his party. Nay, the entire town of Gravestone would have been wiped out by her. As for the battle of Fallon, the Horde King who was in charge of such a small and meager domain was about the weakest boss one could face.

Even if Zane didn't have his own army of Undead, he and the five women in his party would have been enough to deal with Zander, albeit after suffering some major injuries.

Yet they were now fighting an enemy in the field who had roughly the same number of soldiers that Eliza had when she assaulted Gravestone, while also having a similar degree of individual power. In addition to these two things, it was almost certain that this Horde King would be far more weary of Zane and the power of the girls by his side.

After all, two of his or her siblings had been slain so far, and that was reason enough not to underestimate Zane like the others had. Because of this, there was indeed a slight sense of dread as the party made their way to the small agricultural town.

Once outside the borders of Fernley, Zane went over his plans with the girls one more time before setting out on his formidable task.

"Alright, I'll go over this one last time. Lily and I will set out with the Ashigaru. The rest of you will stay here in formation and draw the attention of the Horde King, who will be sure to notice our presence at his borders. Especially after I deploy the horde.

Remember, do not engage in combat with the horde unless you get attacked first. And keep your heads on a swivel! These Horde Kings are very fast and very powerful!"

It warmed the heart of Olivia and the others to know that Zane, who had once been cold and indifferent to their lives, was now so worried about their safety. Because of this, Olivia was the first to thank Zane for his sentiment by clutching him into her substantial cleavage, which was partially exposed due to her skimpy mage's robes.

"Don't you worry, Zane, we will be just fine. You do what you need to do, and Lily, make sure the two of you come back safe!"

There was a slightly malevolent look in Olivia's piercing blue eyes, almost as if she was warning the girl that she would never be forgiven if she didn't return with Zane in one piece. After struggling to break away from Olivia's suffocating grasp, Zane summoned the bulk of his army, with the exception of the Ghoulish Ashigaru who he kept on standby for a proper ambush.

The army instinctively formed ranks and managed to do so much quicker than they had been able to in the past. This was most definitely due to the increase in attributes that the Tier II and Tier III undead had over their previous Tier I counterparts. Allowing them greater dexterity and unit cohesion.

Once they formed ranks, Zane and Lily vanished into thin air. It was almost as if they had become one with the wind. And in doing so, rapidly approached the town of Fernley in the hopes of launching a sneak attack on the many walkers who resided there.

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The Horde King of Fernley was rather unusual compared to her previous counterparts, which Zane had encountered so far in his journeys. While Eliza's flesh was marred by injuries sustained from god knows what, and Zander's body was plagued with decay.

The Horde King of Fernley appeared rather fresh. Almost as if she wasn't a corpse at all. Though her skin was a deathly pale, there was no purification, no pus, nor any signs of damage to her pristine body. In fact, if one gazed upon her, at first glance, they would suspect she was an ordinary teenage human girl.

Her obviously dyed blonde hair was tied into a ponytail, and for whatever reason, she appeared to favor the attire of the local high school's cheer squad. At the moment, she appeared to be putting on a pastel pink lipstick, while looking at her own beautiful appearance in a mirror.

However, in the very next moment, she put the lipstick away and stood up, looking in the direction where Zane's horde stood their ground just outside the borders of her territory. The young Horde King tilted her head in confusion when she realized just what was happening before quickly reporting it to her siblings.

"So, it appears our mysterious brother has come for my head next… If mother has determined that today I must suffer my second death, then I will gladly welcome it. However, I will not go without first giving my dearest siblings a fair warning.

This mysterious brother of ours is different than us in more ways than meets the eye. His horde… The undead within it are abnormal, and they appear to be very well organized, almost like the armies of humanity's ancient past. Do with that information what you will…."

A chorus of solemn voices, almost like a choir, echoed through the young Horde King's mind, wishing her thanks for the intelligence she provided, as well as a comfortable passing across the river Styx.

"Gwen, my dear sister, your sacrifice will not be in vain. I can only hope we will be reunited with our Mother when I too finally cross over to the other side…"

Such sentiments resounded in the young Horde King's head. But she ignored them. Instead, she licked her full pink lips with a sultry expression on her pretty face while she gazed off into the distance. But not towards where Olivia and the others lie in wait for her, rather where Zane and Lily were sneaking up on her.

After removing the tie which held her ponytail together, allowing her long golden locks to flow by the wayside, Gwen expressed her exact thoughts aloud, knowing full well that her siblings could not hear her.

"It is such a pity... You and I could have gotten along so well brother... At the very least I can play with you a little bit before I go see mother, right?"