Chapter 18: Chapter 18 New names and undead invasions

Kenneth’s PoV. 

I swung my sword at the closest zombie, decapitating it instantly. As it exploded into light blue particles, I had already turned to face my next opponent, yet another zombie. These things were everywhere! It was, frankly, ridiculous. This place had never been an area that the undead occupied. They were a long way away, further up north, several natural barriers between the undead lands and here. So, why here of all places? 

“Oof!” I exclaimed as a zombie, stronger than the normal ones, crashed into my raised sword, pushing me back several steps. This one was armed, with a broken sword and shield. In life, the zombie must’ve been a retired guardsman or even a soldier. 

Zombie Soldier

Power level: 245

It was wearing farming clothes though, so imagined that the farmer only had enough time to grab his sword and shield before being turned into a zombie. If his stance was anything to go by, he was a decent fighter before he died, and those skills can transfer over in undeath. I didn’t have time to deal with a skilled zombie, and I could see even more, further up the road, as they marched towards the town, so I pointed my sword at my target and yelled out the spell’s catchphrase. 

“By Starlight’s Grace, be purged!” 

Bright light, a whitish pink colour, surged up the blade of my sword, forming a magic circle at its tip. The circle flashed brightly, once, and from the exact centre, a solid beam of the same coloured pink light, shot out and instantly pierced the zombie through the heart. The now fully dead soldier exploded into blue light and vanished. Thankfully no more soldier zombies seemed to be nearby. 

I didn’t get a chance to celebrate my victory, however, as several more zombies had reached me, and I could see that there was even more rapidly approaching. A few dozen had apparently decided to separate from the bulk of the zombie horde and try to munch on me. I was not going to allow that to happen, if I could help it. A magical circle appeared on the ground as I placed my handy magical trap down between the zombie horde and my as of yet, unmunched behind. The few remaining zombies that surrounded me quickly died as I activated [Star Burst], a bright flash of pink light exploding out of me, instantly vaporising all of the surrounding zombies. 

I quickly collected all of the loot that the zombies dropped, sighing at the junk I got, then retreated back towards where the town was situated. I had to warn them about the horde. 

Zombie Soldier has died Power Level 245

250xp

Zombie has died x7

1,400xp

Dismissing the notifications, I checked behind me and saw that the horde had picked up its pace and was getting closer. Picking up my pace, I ran out fully onto the road, then bolted down it, towards the open gate. Obviously they hadn’t been warned by anyone else yet. As I got closer, I used [Inspect] on the guard, hoping he’s a decent level. 

Gate Guard Thorm 

Level 32 Guard (Common)

Hmm, it wasn’t as high as I’d like, but better than it could be. 

“Close the gates! There is an undead horde coming!” I warned as I approached the nearest guard. A guard that had been leaning against the gate, looking half asleep. Scratch that, he definitely seemed to have been asleep as he snorted awake, startled by my shouting. 

“What’s all the ruckus, girl? Don’t you know it’s illegal to interrupt a guard's important work,” he said, coming to his senses. 

Being called a girl made my stomach do flip flops for some reason. It must be because the man is telling me off. Has to be. I didn’t like going against authority figures. I stopped to get my breath back, leaning forward with my hands on my knees. I pointed a thumb over my shoulder, back towards the road. 

“Zombie…horde…on its way.” 

“What? Don’t be daft lass, there are no undead around here, let alone a horde of em. Now, get out of my sight before I arrest you for bothering me.” 

I shook my head with a sigh, frustrated at how utterly useless this guard was. 

“Give it a moment, they’ll be coming around the hill, any second now,” I stated confidently. “You might want to be prepared to close the gates and sound the alarm. You can arrest me if I’m wrong.”

The guard stared at me for a moment, before he frowned then looked back towards the road, and paled. Around the corner, coming down the hill, were dozens of undead, mostly humanoid zombies, with a few undead bears and various other creatures in the mix. I sighed, before turning back to the guard. “Now is probably the best time to alert everyone, and close the gate.”

“Right, you’re right,” he mumbled, “Guards! To me! We have an emergency,” he shouted, before running to a long rope that was dangling down near the guards hut, behind the town gate. 

As the tower bell began ringing loudly, startled shouts could be heard from within the town as the ordinary citizens started panicking. It didn’t prevent me from overhearing shouts of fear outside though, as a family of four humans burst from the trees, closely pursued by a large group of zombies. I sighed again, and changed my sword into two wrist strapped crossbows, and began running to the fleeing family. There is no way that they’d survive without someone killing or slowing the monsters chasing them. 

“Hey! What’re you doing? Get back here, I’m about to shut the gates,” I heard the guard say from behind me. 

“Just keep it open for a little bit longer.” I yelled back. 

I activated [Magical Sprint], and with a burst of speed, the family and the zombies rapidly got closer. I almost got there in time too, but not fast enough, the zombies reaching them before I was in range. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fire at the zombies just yet, the family was in the way. The father attempted to stop all of the zombies from reaching his wife and two young children, but was quickly overwhelmed and disappeared underneath a pile of undead. 

“No! Emanuel!” The mother let out an anguished cry as she watched in horror as her husband stood back up, but now with decaying flesh and fresh bite marks covering his entire body. Normally a zombie didn’t stand back up so quickly, but I suppose with so many bite marks, that makes sense. 

Moans and inhuman growls could be heard from the horde, both from this group and the much larger, scarier horde was getting uncomfortably close, I could feel my pulse rising, the gravity of this situation becoming far too clear. 

“Keep moving!” I yelled at the startled family, as they stared at me in shock, before they backed up to continue fleeing, giving me room to fire. 

“By Starlight’s Grace, suppressing fire!” I shout out, and activate [Starlight’s Grace] again. It was a nifty little skill that had different effects based on what weapon I was currently using. Small, magical circles appeared on the ends of my crossbows, and they started firing dozens of bolts, made out of pink light at the zombies, distracting them from the fleeing family. The magical bolts don’t do much damage, but they do cause pain to the targets, making them want to avoid them at all costs. 

The stream of magical bolts stopped as the spell ended, and unfortunately, the zombies were gathering themselves too quickly. The family wouldn’t have enough time to get to safety. I sighed, this was going to be dangerous, and started firing the crossbows directly at the zombies. The crossbows were auto reloaders due to being magical, but we’re still slow unfortunately, and it wasn’t long before the undead were closing in on me. Using my [Transform] skill, I switched out the crossbows for a large, two handed scythe. I held it behind my back one handed as I waited for the dozens of zombies to rush me. The mother and two young children ran past me, clearly terrified, but also with wide eyes at me as I stood there waiting. 

My heart was beating wildly in my chest as the first few enemies arrived, and I twirled around in a graceful circle, scythe now held out in front of me in both hands. I managed to decapitate two of the zombies, but they stopped and spread out around me in time to save themselves. Too bad for them it was only a delaying action. I narrowed my eyes at my enemies and squeezed my scythes handle, ensuring I had a firm grip, before I began twirling and whirling, a cyclone of death to all those who approached me. After a solid minute of fighting the zombies, I received a notification that [Star Burst] was finally off of its cool-down. None too soon, as my health was starting to get dangerously low. A burst of light from [Star Burst] left more than half of the zombies surrounding me exploding into blue light, giving me a space to break away from the encirclement. 

[Magical Sprint] got me a good distance away before it ended and the zombies recovered enough to chase me. I placed a [Magical Trap] down to hopefully slow enough of them to give us extra room. As I ran towards the town gates, I sighed in relief as I saw the family reach it and be let inside. It seems that the guards had mostly closed it, leaving a gap just wide enough for a single person to enter at a time. 

The same guard that had given me a little bit of trouble earlier now stood at the gate, waving at me to hurry up, with a grim look on his face. 

I pushed myself just a little bit harder, trying to make sure that I had enough of a gap between myself and the zombies to safely make it inside without endangering anyone. 

“Look out!” The town guard shouted, pointing behind me. I spun around, just in time to hold up my scythe in front of me and hold off the zombie that had leapt at me. The force of the impact knocked me down, and I immediately twisted to the side to avoid the zombie as it tried to jump on top of me. I then jumped to my feet, slowly backing up to the gate, holding the scythe in a guard position in front of me as the zombies began closing the distance again. Damn, these things are single minded. I activated [Starlight’s Grace] once again as they got into range, dodging the one already near me as I swept the scythe in an arc in front of me. 

“Starlight’s Grace, sweeping strike!” 

Pink light gathered along the edge of the scythe, then shot out in a wide arc as I swung the weapon, hitting all the zombies I had targeted. The one closest to me, vaporised instantly, as did a few more, the rest survived, albeit hurt and stunned, giving me enough time to finally make it to the gate and running inside, the guard slamming it shut behind him. 

I ended up wandering around aimlessly for about an hour now, having nothing to do. I did offer to help on the wall, to repel the undead, but, for now, the town guards are dealing with it by themselves. I had already organised a room for the night, and it was too early for dinner, so that just left walking around and seeing if I could find something to do. 

“Excuse me, Miss?” I heard, just before a little girl in a plain brown skirt with pigtails ran up to me and hugged my leg tightly. As I looked at the source of the voice, I recognised the mother and son who I had helped earlier walking up to me at a much slower pace. The young girl clinging to my leg was obviously the daughter. 

“Y-yes?” I stammered out, not even having the time to process being called ‘Miss’. 

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“I apologise about my daughters behaviour, but we just wanted to thank you, for saving our lives,” the young mother said, with an apologetic look at her daughter. 

“Oh, that’s alright. I’m just glad I got to you when I did. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get to you sooner,” I apologise to the mother, with a saddened look on my face. 

The mother looked distraught for a moment, before she seemed to mentally collect herself and give me a small smile. 

“What’s your name?” The little girl clinging to my legs asked. 

“You know what? I don’t like my name, I want a new one. Any suggestions?” I asked. To be honest, I had never liked my name to begin with. So, time for a new one!

The little girl looked unexpectedly serious about the question. I had figured that she’d just giggle at me and call me silly or something. 

“Hmm… What about Kelcie? You seem like a Kelcie to me!” She said, clapping her hands excitedly. 

“Kelcie huh?” I asked as I felt a large smile form on my face. 

“I love it, thanks sweetie.” I said as I ruffled her hair affectionately. 

“Hehe, yay!” The little girl cheered happily. 

Kelcie. Just thinking about it warmed my heart. 

Would you like to make this the name of your transformed self? 

Yes No

I was surprised that the system seemed to have something in place for this, and that it reacted to a little girl's suggestion as well. I clicked Yes and eagerly opened up my character sheet to look. 

Name: Kelcie/Kenneth

Species:

Human

Gender: Magical Girl

Age: 19

Class: [Magical Girl] (Epic)

Level: 29 (67%) 

Class Stats:

Strength 70

Agility 66

Wisdom 95

Intellect 39

Vitality 37

Constitution 45

Health Points: 370

Mana Points: 390

Special Skill

Class Skills: 

[Transform!] Rank 3

Transforms the caster into their Magical Girl form. May do a partial transformation, shifting forms without summoning the Magical Girl armour and weapons. This skill also allows for summoning different types of weapons and shields to be used in combat.  Lasts 3 hours, unless canceled early. 

[Magical Trap] Rank 2 

Caster places a magic circle on the ground, upon a failed resist when activated, the trap will slow the target down by 20%. Higher ranks will provide increased slow speed and more targets affected. 

[Star Burst] Rank 1

A bright light bursts from the caster, causing area of effect damage all around them. Range and damage, increased per higher rank. 

[Starlight’s Grace] Rank 2

Effects of this skill vary depending on what weapon is currently being wielded. Range (if applicable) and damage, increased per higher rank. 

[Magical Sprint] Rank 2

Through the use of magic, temporarily boost the casters running speed. Speed and duration increase with higher ranks. 

Racial Abilities:

[Human Ingenuity] 

Skill ranks increase 20% faster

[Rapid Growth]

Upon choosing where to assign your stats, gain double points in the first two. 

[Handiness]

Increased speed in leveling up any and all crafting professions

[Basic Language Comprehension] As a sentient being, you are born with the knowledge of how to speak, read and write Basic. Basic is the language all sentient beings share. 

Looking at my levels, I hoped they were enough to see me through this current crisis. If nothing else, this event should help me with that at least.