Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 205: Feigned Retreat Gone Wrong

Zane and Lily were completely unaware that Gwen had already locked onto their location. Because of this, they were moving fast, but not as fast as possible. After all, they were trying to be as stealth as possible with their infiltration.

When they finally snuck past the boundaries of Gwen's domain, and entered an area that had a few hundred Walkers aimlessly wandering about, Zane nodded at lily, who responded by launching an arrow at one of the many hostiles within the area.

The attack landed successfully, killing the undead on the spot. And in doing so Lily aggro'd the others onto herself, and Zane, who slowly began to flee into the background.

Their goal was not to drag the Undead towards where Olivia and the others were, but rather to where Zane had deployed the Ashigaru who lied in wait with their Arquebuses that had been manufactured by the grim forge.

Such mighty weapons, while seemingly obsolete, packed an enormous punch to the undead and awakened alike. In fact, a single arquebus ball from one of these weapons would hit an undead or an awakened with more damage than a .50 BMG would cause. Making it a powerful weapon, albeit one that was dreadfully slow to reload.

But when deployed in such large numbers such as the forces Zane had prepared in advance for an ambush, it would indeed be devastating, even to a Tier I Horde King like Gwen. Unfortunately, Zane's plans did not go quite as he intended them to.

Because when he and Lily arrived at the ambush point, they realized something had gone terribly wrong. The ghoulish Ashigaru lie dead, all 220 of them. Their bodies were horrifically dismembered, and the Japanese style armor that had previously protected them was torn into pieces.

Sitting atop a pile of fresh skulls while seemingly filing her nails was what appeared to be an ordinary teenage girl. However, there was just one problem: the system identified her as anything but that.

---

[Gwen – Tier I Horde King]

[Level: 25 - Boss]

[HP: 1000/1000]

---

Gwen did not appear as vicious as Eliza had been when she and Zane had their encounters. In fact, she had a perfect opportunity to pounce. But rather than do so, she gently leaped from the pile of skulls, and instead approach Zane slowly.

There was a curious smile on her face, almost as if she was meeting an old friend. Or perhaps a lover? When she approached Zane, the man quickly equipped his twin short swords, which took the form of sickles and held himself in an aggressive position.

This, of course, only caused the undead monster which took the form of a high school cheerleader to look at him with a curious gaze before breaking out into a fit of giggles.

"Oh? You really are my big brother, aren't you? At first I didn't quite believe it… I mean, why would one of my beloved siblings hide among a bunch of wretches like the living? And sure, there is certainly something unusual going on with your body, but there is no mistaking it… Mother's scent is all over you. And you definitely have our blood running through your veins.

Tell me, big brother? Did mother send you to take my life? I don't mind if she did. Her orders are absolute, after all. But wouldn't it be a shame if we didn't get to at least play together for a little while first? You know, as siblings?

After all, you are so very much my type!"

After saying this, Gwen licked her lips in a seductive display, almost as if she was saying she wanted to taste Zane, and not in a way that implied cannibalistic intentions.

Zane was, of course, unnerved by this, but before he could properly respond to the mysterious Horde King who called him by the term "big brother", or her strange assertions that he was one of her kind, Lily interrupted with a frantic tone in her voice.

"Zane, we need to go now! The Walkers are closing in on our location, and if they surround us while we are fighting the Horde King, it is over for the both of us!"

Zane was snapped out of his trance when he heard this and was quick to follow Lily's suggestion, dismissing his blades which leached part of his health away with each passing second, and instead gripping onto the girl's wrist as he tried to flee back towards the safety of his forces.

But would Gwen allow her prey to escape? No, she would not. Surprisingly she was even faster than Eliza had been, and appeared directly in front of Zane after he had taken a step forward. Her voice was filled with playful nature as she pressed a finger against Zane's broad chest, stopping him dead in his tracks with an enormous display of force.

"Oh? Where are you going, cutie? We have just started our little game! Don't tell me you're afraid of your darling little sister?"

Zane instantly took a step back, it was clear to him now that despite having a smaller Horde than Eliza, Gwen's individual strength was significantly more powerful. Which led Zane to reassess his assumptions of the Horde Kings. Perhaps they too had a leveling process, and they had to choose between amassing a large horde, or personal power?

As rapid as Zane's thoughts were in his attempts to understand this strange phenomenon, he had more pressing matters to attend to. While Gwen seemed playful with Zane, the moment Lily tried to get in between their "little fun" she turned incredibly wrathful.

Lily had launched a sneak attack on Gwen with one of her arrows, which Gwen caught in between her finers and snapped with just the force of her two digits alone. She then turned her face to Lily, making a hateful expression as she shouted at the girl.

"You pitiful little insect! You dare interfere in my playtime with my beloved big brother! Learn your place filth!"

Zane just barely managed to see the flurry of strikes that Gwen had landed on Lily. But there was no mistaking it. The green-haired woman who appeared far younger than she actually was had suffered numerous and vicious cuts across her body from bloody claws which manifested themselves upon Gwen's knuckles, almost as if she were like a certain comic book superhero.

Gwen then took a lick of Lily's blood, which coated her claws, and smiled, ignoring Zane as she went in for the kill.

"You're a tasty one, aren't you? Alright then, I'll deal with you first. Wait for me, big brother. We can play together after I have finished dealing with this little rat!"

Zane had two options: Sacrifice Lily and, in doing so, escape from this monster who was well beyond his individual capabilities of combating. Or risk everything for a girl who he wasn't even emotionally attached to just quite yet. Zane had very little time to choose how to proceed.