The Outbreak! (Job/Lynn)

Tane’s eyes widened at the sight of what Ardere had found. A piece of Rune Knight uniform covered in blood. She recognized the uniform since she had seen actual Rune Knights wearing them during her time in Era. So the zombies they had attacked and killed were probably those Rune Knights. Tane felt really sad, but it did not show on her face. She tightened her jaw, keeping a stern expression as they continued on. She did not want to get distracted by her emotions. Tane quickly raised up her weapon when hearing a noise behind her. But then the noise multiplied. There was more of the same snarling sound around the two Sabertooth mages. They did not sound like zombies. They were...the dogs? Sure enough. One of them came right for Tane’s left leg. She turned swiftly, making it miss. With another swift movement she had hit the dog on its head. Its head was not easily detachable like the zombies, but it was knocked out. Not dead, but unconscious.

The Prestigious one then turned to the opposite side, hearing a breathing sound intensifying. It was the sound of ragged breathing, but unlike a human’s, it was accompanied by some kind of panting noise as well, or something like that. Thus it was one of the dogs and not Ardere getting tired. The summoner could not bring out Anchiale. She was still resting, and Tane did not like disturbing her summons while they were taking a rest. She used the branch to attack the dogs and defend herself from them. Fortunately, the branch did not break apart. It was perfectly intact, as though it was made just for Tane to use as a weapon. With Tane’s full force and the hardness of the branch, Tane was able to wipe out four of the dogs without her partner’s help. She was glad she did not have to exhaust Ardere by burdening him with her share of the enemies. She would have been completely useless if it weren’t for the branch.

Slightly annoyed by the fact that the path was not going to end, Tane dragged her feet further. They were so close to the end, yet so far away, the gap filled with darkness they could not see through. If only the darkness did not prevail, everything would have gone a lot faster. It was kind of like a hindrance in their mission. They were hesitant to move fast, and thus everything was slowed down. Tane fastened her pace now, not wanting to take any longer. She did not like waiting, although she was quite patient compared to a lot of people. The Prestigious one twirled the branch in her hand. Yes, that was how familiar the branch felt now, as if it was going to become her official weapon. Tane knew they were almost at the end of the road, she could feel it. The summoner almost hummed a tune, but given the situation, she thought it was best to stay silent and listen to the sounds. For a while there was not a single sound in the background. She actually felt safe for that while.

Then she heard another noise. Oh not again. She wondered if there even was an end to these beings. Why did they exist in such large numbers? Why were they so keen on eating them? Were they that hungry? Tane almost rolled her eyes when she heard the sound of incoming zombies, most likely. More zombie animals to meet the wrath of her mighty branch. It was all she had, but it was enough. As long as it was not the very first beast they met that Ardere took care of, she could do enough damage with the branch to take out either the dogs or the zombies. Hopefully, that was what they were going to deal with again.

Apparently the noises had come from the building they were near and belonged to the zombie dogs. Tane stopped, studying the exterior of the establishment as she listened. Yes, the sound was actually coming from within the building. It was coming their way, the breathing and footfalls clearly audible to Tane’s receptors. She nodded at Ardere, then stood next to him, waiting for the dogs to come out while holding branch firmly in her left hand. She hoped this was the last of them. She did not want to kill any more, especially knowing that they did not become this way with their own will. She was technically killing innocents. Tane shook her head mentally, to remove any pitying doubtful thoughts. She should not be thinking this way. She needed to kill these dogs before more of them got infected. No one wanted that. More zombie dogs ment more killing and higher chances of further infection.

A few moments later, one of the dogs leapt out of the building, catching Tane by surprise. It came straight for Tane, falling onto her as she was too distracted by her thoughts about thoughts. Tane fell on her back, the dog right above her as she struggled a bit to get up on her own. She could see a drop of the slimy green liquid was about to fall on her face. And so, she flipped the branch to its spiked side, poking it straight into the creature’s stomach and getting up simultaneously. She would then hit it continuously until it was could not even attempt to attack anymore. Tane continued on to help finish off the rest of the zombie dogs. They slowly fell limp on the ground, one after another. Tane felt satisfied with what she had done. She only hoped it was her last.

“You alright?”

Tane’s head turned quickly to the direction from which the question had been asked from. She had her eyes wide like she was surprised. “Yes, I am,” she told him with a slight nod. She wondered if he was alright as well, but she did not bother asking since he looked pretty fine to her. Not another dog came out of the building, which meant that that was all. Ardere then suggested that they should go back to camp. Tane nodded. “I guess we should do that,” she muttered, now walking along the same route but in the opposite direction, towards the place they came from. She did not know if their mission was over, or if they were just going to have to take a short rest and continue? It would take a while just walking all the way back to the camp, since they had gone quite deep into the ruins. Hopefully, they would not be asked to go back immediately. They needed rest more than anyone right now, even though Tane was not physically tired. She walked fast, not wanting to waste time along the way. She was not even sure if she might meet one of those creatures again on her way back. What if there were more and they wanted revenge on her for killing their brethren.

Her bright red eyes flitted from one corner to the other to check for any suspicious movements in their surrounding, receptors perked up to pick up anything that might prove to be a threat. About half an hour later of nonstop walking, they reached the camp. Tane was so relieved that they did not meet more of those monsters on her way back. It would have been troublesome if they did. They were free from the zombies, for now.

Tane nodded at what Ardere said. “You are right, this is all we can do for now,” she told him, eyebrows knitting just the slightest to show her concern. Everyone concerned with this knew the gravity of the situation and so did Tane. She did not want more innocents to get in danger. Whatever was the source of this disease (what Tane assumed was the cause of the infection and the zombies) had to be completely destroyed for the sake of humanity. They could not lose more lives, not even to rest in peace, but to become zombie like creatures that wanted to have human flesh and brains for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Prestigious one scrunched up her face a bit at the thought of the slimy things that came out of their bodies, as if that was their blood. She immediately shoved it to the back of her head.

Now she was hungry, and so she decided she would go to a nice restaurant and get some food before heading back to the guildhall. “How about we have something to eat?” Tane asked Ardere. If he agreed, they would be on their merry way to the stomach’s heaven together. It was a place with friendly staff, and food that tasted really good. Otherwise, she would go alone, counting the steps between the camp and the restaurant out of boredom. She had some money with her, which was enough for a one person’s meal. She thought of the job after counting up to about fifty three. She was obviously going to have to come back to investigate more, with backup and support next time. Even if they did not offer backup, she was going to ask bluntly for it. After all, she needed to be fully ready with more intelligence on the ruins, the zombies, the disease, etc, for them to be able to push further in.