Summoned Again?

Chapter 171: Undulating Undead

Holy Clerics all over the world were in various states of deployment. Some were resting to recover their mana, others were using their Holy Cleanse on the undead that were a bit too strong to be turned, and even more were actively cutting down the undead with their weapons and just using torches and oil to subdue them while their mana recovered.

It was a constant battle, especially near the roaming hordes. All the Holy Clerics could really do is help people move out of the way of them and have the townspeople abandon their lands to the undead. Most never returned, because everything would be ruined and destroyed. It was better to go and start over than it was to try and rebuild what was lost. At least, that's how it had been for years.

Today it seemed, was a special day. For some inexplicable reason, every single undead on the planet came to a stop. They didn't roam, or moan, or speak, or in hundreds of cases they didn't even reach for the people that they were clearly about to munch on. One particularly large undead beast had stopped partway through the destruction of a two storey house with one of its large clawed feet posed in the air.

Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

Most took the opportunity to retreat and get out of sight while others did just the opposite and waded into the masses of undead that had plagued their world for years. With them not retaliating or using their rotting powers, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

*

What the hell is he doing? Anthony asked as he stared at Damon and his idiotic actions. He had unarmored himself and then surrendered. Without a fight. He's such a prick for abandoning us!

I can't believe it! Farrah said from beside him. He's been pushing us to train and level up! Why would he surrender?

In the heat of battle, he's proven a coward. Ksenya spat. I was getting to like him, too. He might have tasted my nectar if he was more of a man than this.

The clerics began talking and discussing what to do next, now that their main hero had given up.

We have to do something. One of the clerics said to a particularly stunned looking Lady Matricia. We can't stay out here completely exposed and...

SHH! I want to hear what they're saying! Farrah said and waved for him to be quiet.

...I was once the head cleric of the temple. They heard the black mass say.

NO! Lady Matricia's loud voice exclaimed, because she knew who that person was. You... you can't be...

The words spoken next were lost to her and the Holy Clerics, because they knew this person and were stunned at the news. They had trained under her and she had led them for several years as they fought the unending horde of the undead. She was their bright light, their Holy Savior, and she had given her life and perished in the defense of a city. Her valiant effort had let the others evacuate the people.

When they returned for her body a day later, after the horde had moved past the area, the clerics discovered that everything was destroyed and nothing was left, not even her remains. They mourned her loss for months afterwards and even renamed the main temple after her and it became Saint Samantha's Temple of God.

Clerics across the world regretted her loss and did what they could to record and remember her battles and efforts on behalf of god and the people. Lady Matricia let her tears roll down her face unimpeded as she remembered the woman that had taught her so much, gave her so much, and did so much for her. To learn that Samantha had become an undead was a devastating blow to Lady Matricia's heart and her soul withered at the prospect of what was going to happen.

Samantha had joined the battle once more, except for the other side, and now she was the enemy.

What is he doing? Ksenya asked. Is... is that a couch?

Look! The son of a bitch is sitting down and relaxing! Anthony said, angrily. I was a bit hasty with my prick comment earlier. He's actually a major fucking prick!

Everyone seemed to quiet down at those words and more than one of the people there agreed, especially when he laid back against the couch and fell asleep.

*

What are you doing? Samantha asked as she saw the man she just met, the man she was going to kill and probably eat for removing so many of her undead, went right to sleep. Hey! You can't sleep! We're supposed to fight!

She reached across the couch to grab him and shake him awake, then she froze still just before her hands touched him. She immediately thought it was going to be a trap, because she had automatically reacted to try and touch him to wake him up. Her hands were very close to his chest, barely millimeters away, and she wasn't sure what she was going to do about it.

If she was within the trap's area of effect, any movement could trigger it and she could be seriously hurt... or worse, blessed. She knew he wasn't a cleric, mainly because of the armor and his basic behavior. He didn't act like he was blessed by god and that was worrying, because he could be faking whatever he was doing now to sucker her in. He could be blessed and not even realize it, so she had to be extremely careful.

Samantha almost laughed at how absurdly simple the trap was. Damon had given her a false sense of security, joked with her even, and she was sitting on a couch in the middle of a battlefield. It was a nice couch, too. She hadn't seen a real couch in so long that the sight of it had made her reminisce about the old life that she thought she had left behind years ago.

She had also let her guard down, actually engaged in actual conversation with him, and relaxed. She hadn't relaxed in years. In fact, she hadn't relaxed for even a moment after being brought to this world. She was always striving to be better, to improve herself, and to fight the seemingly endless fight that she had been thrown head first into. Then she died and she did it the other way.

She fought to stay 'alive' because she was worried that she was going to lose her mind one day and wouldn't remember who she was. She did not want to join the mindless drones that peppered the world over, so she fought, grew stronger, and strove to keep improving herself.

Then she reached the level limit and breathed a sigh of relief. She had done it. She had become the pinnacle of humanity... undead humanity. She had laughed at the time and then she started having fun. She was no longer worried about anything and believed that she could handle anything she came across, then she met one of the large lumbering beasts. Even now, she didn't know what they were called.

It was thirty feet tall, had four massive legs and fur covered everything. You couldn't even see its eyes or tell which end the head was on. Not even where it walked told you, as it tended to wander randomly. She attacked it and it ignored her completely. She climbed it, searched for its vitals, then killed the beast. As the body slowly slumped to the ground, she saw a notification that shocked her.

She had gained a level.

She was now level 100 and gained more stat and skill points. It was mind blowing. She had collapsed, almost in a similar manner as the beast, and she stared at the popup. Her entire world had changed in that moment, because she no longer had a level cap. She soon reasoned that a level cap of 99 was exclusively for the living, probably to limit their growth, so she made a promise to herself. She would find out what her cap was going to be.

Samantha's powers and abilities were also not capped. Her Control Undead skill just kept accepting more and more points and she used them ruthlessly. As she gained more undead under her control, she realized that they gathered experience for her. Since they were doing her bidding, every single thing they wrecked or killed granted her experience points. She was ruthless about that, too. More experience meant more power.

All these years later, Samantha still hadn't discovered her level cap. She had become a recluse, hiding in the wilderness, and let her undead hordes gather her seemingly endless experience. She had almost been in a disassociated coma-like state for an unknown period of time... and then she felt it. A disruption in her consciousness. One she knew was caused by a very powerful Holy Cleanse spell.

It took Samantha mere moments to bring herself out of the state she was in and the disruption in her consciousness had increased. She wasn't sure what had happened until the fourth time it had happened and some of her undead had been close enough to see the cause. Four heroes, three in Holy Cleric robes similar to her own and one floating armored figure.

Samantha knew it was just a matter of time before they came for her, and then a few minutes later they were there, cleansing her main undead protective force. She had no idea how they had arrived so quickly or how they had devastated several more of her hordes in only a few seconds... until one of her protected undead clerics gave her a direct sight of the armored man preparing an attack.

She had dealt with him easily with only a single red barrier spell and then her normal undead were decimated around the undead clerics. She suddenly lost half of her undead clerics, unable to comprehend how they were dying, so she left her castle and flew closer to see what was going on, then she tried to resurrect the undead clerics she had lost.

Samantha had seen the armored man stand up, saw her remaining clerics be killed with splitting fire and then the armored man landed. She shivered as the time dilation field entered her own perception and she knew now what had been going on.

She flew closer as the armored man used one of his traps to squish the remains and then she spoke a line that the heroes would expect her to say when she entered the time dilation. The heroes were suddenly flung away and the armored man turned to her and then surrendered.

Now, here she was, her hands poised above Damon's chest and scared that whatever trap he had might go off at any second. Samantha was glad that she was undead, because if whatever it was didn't disintegrate her or something, she had so much mana available that she could keep resurrecting. She wasn't as sure of that if her head was destroyed, however.

Her brain was there and she didn't know if losing that would kill her or make her become another person when it grew back. If it grew back. Samantha didn't want to take that chance, so she stayed right where she was, completely still and not moving. She didn't even breathe, since she didn't need to, except to talk.

Samantha was completely still and she felt something. She wasn't sure what it was. It was there, just inside his chest. It was strong, too. She pondered over it, since she probably had a lot of time before the fool woke up. After a few minutes, she still wasn't sure what it was... then Damon took a deep breath and moved slightly. His chest touched her outstretched hands and she took in a sharp breath as the energy inside of him flared.

She stared at the sleeping man, the man that had come to kill her, and she finally recognized the energy inside of him. Her hands were gently resting on his chest now and the energy pulsed, almost as if it was beaconing to her, because she had a similar energy inside of her own chest. She knew from experience that there was only one way to get that particular energy combination inside of you.

You had to eat the other three heroes that you were summoned with.