Lilith gasped sharply, narrowing her eyes to pierce through the thickening gloom. Right before them, illuminated by a blue aura, stood a figure a head taller than the previous monsters. This was no ordinary corpse. This zombie was powerfully built, and in its swollen, grey hands rested a heavy, pitch-black iron chain that was still vibrating after striking Kala's arm.
"Watch out! This isn't just cannon fodder!" Lilith shouted, reading the system data. "Chain Zombie. He was once an overseer in the mine - a cruel and strong half-orc. In death, he has become even more powerful. He specializes in mid-range attacks!"
Kala, feeling a stinging pain in her forearm, snorted Furiously. Her eyes ignited with an unnatural red. "Me? Hurt me?!" she snarled and lunged forward, intent on tearing the monster to shreds.
However, the Chain Zombie was not stupid. With terrifying precision, he lashed the chain, forcing Kala into a violent dodge. The metal links whistled through the air centimeters from her face. The monster utilized his range advantage perfectly, keeping the berserker at a distance. Kala, growing increasingly frustrated, tensed her muscles, ready to take the next blow to her chest if it meant closing the distance to reach his throat.
Lilith was already tensing her legs to assist her when thick, thorny vines suddenly shot out from the side.
"Not so fast, ugly!" Mina cried.
The plants coiled around the zombie's arm with unnatural strength, immobilizing the chain mid-swing. The monster let out a hollow roar and jerked with all his might. The earth cracked and roots were torn from the ground, causing Mina to lose control over them. However, the succubus merely smiled sweetly. "That should be enough," she murmured.
That second of hesitation was all Kala needed. She exploited the gap in the monster's defense and shot forward like a bolt from a crossbow. She was suddenly right in front of the zombie, and her talons, crossed in a destructive gesture, sliced through the overseer's chest. The monster's body jerked violently before sliding apart into two pieces with a wet squelch.
Kala brushed the black gore from her talons and looked at Mina. "Good job," she said curtly. Mina straightened proudly, adjusting her hair. "Of course it was good. Without my finesse, you'd probably still be running in circles like a mad dog," she bit back with a slight smile.
Lilith watched them, feeling a growing admiration. Although they fought like cats and dogs daily, in combat they understood each other without words, complementing their weaknesses with instinctive precision. A notification appeared before her eyes:
[Kala has killed a Chain Zombie! Gold +50!]
Mina, without waiting to be asked, approached Kala and enveloped her forearm in the green light of regeneration. The dent in the succubus's armored skin smoothed out in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Lilith approached the chain abandoned on the ground. The object pulsed with dark, cold energy.
[Cold-Iron Zombie Chain]
Type: Mid-range weapon (Unique)
Properties: Forged from cold iron. Constant contact with rot has imbued it with a Strong Poison effect.
This could be a quite useful weapon... Lilith thought, stowing the heavy metal into her inventory.
If a single zombie overseer gave them such a hard time, what could be waiting for them in the deepest shafts of the The Mines of Despair?
"Let's move on," Lilith commanded, her voice turning even more serious. "If that was just an overseer, it means we're approaching the heart of the mine. Don't let yourselves be caught off guard again."
***
The freezing gust that hit them deeper in the corridor had nothing to do with a natural draft. Though they were hundreds of meters underground, an icy wind whipped their hair, carrying an eerie, sorrowful wailing. This sound wasn't just audible - it vibrated in their bones, awakening a primal dread that could break the spirit of even the bravest warrior.
Lilith immediately noticed a change in her servants. The movements of the fifty skeletons became jerky and heavy. Their bones, usually clattering rhythmically, now seemed to meet resistance, as if they were wading through a thick bog. The system's Aura of Fear was clearly imposing a massive debuff on them.
"Something reeks here even worse than these corpses," Lilith muttered, clenching her hands.
Despite the mounting pressure, they pressed forward. More waves of zombies emerged from the gloom, but their cooperation had reached a level of murderous perfection. Mina became a key component of this death machine - her vines shot from the ceiling and floor, entangling the arms and chains of overseers before they could even swing at the group.
By immobilizing the enemies, Lilith could fully test her own power. Her agility, far exceeding even Kala's parameters, allowed her to dance among the rotten bodies. She was like a black flash - one precise strike and a zombie's head hit the ground before the torso even realized it no longer had an owner.
[You killed a Rotten Zombie! Gold +6!]
[You killed a Rotten Zombie! Gold +6!]
[Kala killed a Chain Zombie! Gold +50!]
[You killed a Chain Zombie! Gold +50!]
Lilith's wallet swelled, but the atmosphere thickened. The zombies they encountered now were no longer just mindless servants. Their eyes burned with a scarlet, fanatical glow, and their attacks became suicidally aggressive. They threw themselves onto Kala's talons with total ignorance of their own pain, aiming only to scratch the succubi with their rot just once.
Suddenly, the icy wind ceased, and the mine was filled with an unnatural, stifling silence. It lasted only a second.
In the next moment, the air was torn by a hysterical, inhuman roar. It was so powerful that dust fell from the ceiling, and Lilith's skeletons slumped to their knees almost simultaneously, crushed by a massive aura of hatred that hit them from the darkness ahead.
The hysterical roar that rolled through the mine hit them with the force of a physical wave. Lilith snapped her head around, and her heart sank at the sight of her squad of fifty skeletons. The undead warriors, previously so disciplined and obedient, now stood in absolute stillness. Their bones, usually clattering rhythmically, had stiffened, and the blue flames in their eye sockets dimmed as if blown out by a powerful gust.
A mental attack?! Lilith thought feverishly. Or some skill so powerful it paralyzes lower forms of undead?
She looked at Kala and Mina with relief. Both succubi, though shaken, were moving normally. Their stats were high enough to resist total stunning, but Lilith noticed red notifications flickering on their health bars indicating the loss of a few HP points. The roar itself was powerful enough to deal physical damage to their minds.
The three succubi immediately took a defensive position, back to back, feverishly searching the darkness for the source of the attack. The atmosphere became stifling and sticky, saturated with pure, destructive hatred.
Finally, Lilith located the attacker in one of the side, collapsed tunnels. At the sight, she felt the contents of her stomach turn. It was a monster she had never heard of before, a monstrosity that defied all logic and aesthetics.
It looked like a macabre conglomerate of at least ten different half-orc corpses, fused into a single, pulsing mass of decay and hatred. Arms protruded from its chest, legs were fused into grotesque columns, and atop this mountain of meat rose several distorted heads, roaring simultaneously. The entire monstrosity pulsed with ominous, scarlet energy.
The system analysis unfurled a terrifying description before her:
[Rotting Abomination of Hatred]
Description: Under the influence of accumulated malevolent energy and suffering, the bodies of powerful zombie overseers have fused into a single, warped whole. It possesses terrifying, twisted physical and mental abilities.
Traits: Its roar alone can bring death to weak beings. Physical attacks imbued with rot. High regeneration.
Taking advantage of the moment while Lilith's skeletons were paralyzed, the Abomination lunged forward with surprising agility, raising a massive limb - fused from several arms - to crush the group.