Secondly, the bikes were so heavy that he couldn’t hold one of the bikes upright and push back its kickstand. It might be possible for him to start the engine and drive off, but he’d have no way of gently coming to a stop once he was done, so he’d just have to drop the bike and jump off it as it crashed to the ground. Once that was done, he’d have no hope of lifting the thing again, which meant that he’d only get one shot at riding the bike.
With no other means of transport, Ollie started walking, heading in roughly the direction Pete would be. He pulled out his phone while he walked, seeing how much he could unlock with his available funds and getting the communications device partially unlocked.
He could see Pete’s name in the contacts, indicated in green. But when Ollie tried to call his friend, a message popped up informing him that he needed to unlock all of the applications in the device in order to make calls.
“Guess I need some more cash then.”
He consulted his map as he walked, looking for more nearby enemies and hoping that he’d be able to take out a few smaller foes and test out his new class abilities. It turned out that he didn’t need to wait long. After twenty minutes of walking, red dots began to appear on the map up ahead of him. Ollie pulled out his crowbar and made a mental note to replace the tattered strips of cloth he’d wrapped around its handle.
As he walked up a typical residential street, he noticed figures shuffling out from the sides of shielded buildings. They shuffled along, dragging their limbs and moaning with a familiar undead inflection.
Ollie grinned. They were the perfect enemy to try out his new abilities on and pick up some coin as well. The street here was narrower and, aside from a few parked cars on the street, there weren’t many places to hide, but he had a class now and buffs to his Constitution, Strength, and Charisma. Surely that would make this even easier?
That supposition was proven immediately correct when he caught sight of the first zombie enemy approaching from behind a parked Kia Sorento. It didn’t shamble out so much as it clawed its way along the ground, gnarled fingers grabbing the concrete as it pulled itself along the sidewalk, mouth gaping open and the lower half of its body entirely missing.
“Fuck me!” Ollie said, frowning in disgust as the zombie continued to drag itself along, leaving a smear of gore on the sidewalk behind it.
[Nero] Oh dear, it seems that this is a different variety of zombie from those you encountered back at the park.
“No shit,” Ollie said. “Dude’s missing half his body. Looks like he’s not alone either.”
He motioned to the other side of the street where another zombie goblin was shambling along. This one managed to walk, but its entire right arm, shoulder, and half of its torso were missing. The inner components that were left had fallen down its good leg and were slapping wetly, leaving a gory trail.
A third zombie was coming up behind it, arms outstretched like Frankenstein’s monster, its head entirely missing.
“How the fuck is that even possible?” Ollie asked. “I thought zombies didn’t work if they didn’t have a brain. Cut off the head and they’re done. That’s like the number one rule with zombies.”
[Nero] You are correct. It seems, however, that these poor creatures are not being animated by the System as part of the zombie horde event or otherwise. They are connected to an NPC, I would guess. A necromancer, perhaps, or some other entity with the ability to animate the dead and force the reanimated bodies to follow their commands.
“Okay, are there many enemies that can do that kind of shit?”
[Nero] Yes, indeed. Though very few at the novice levels of the game. Given that there are no details on your mini-map, you may need to get close to the enemy in order for the System to register the exact nature of the foe.
Ollie pulled out his crowbar and started walking slowly toward the zombies. More joined from the sides of the street, slowly making their way toward the center of the road, a mishmash of severely wounded creatures, all of whom were missing arms and legs or other vital components.
[Nero] They may be animated by runes or magical words. That would explain why they don’t all require brains in order to function. I also sense mechanical components at work within these wretched creatures, so perhaps they are animated by mechanical means?
As he looked closer at the approaching enemy, Ollie saw that the AI was correct. He could hear not only the moans and gurgles of the zombies but also mechanical whining and something that sounded suspiciously like the turning of gears or metal wheels. Here and there, he could see tarnished metal rods jutting from the interior of the wounds of several of the goblin zombies.
The notion that there was a mechanical component to the reanimated creatures was reiterated by the fact that Ollie saw the unmistakable chassis of a remote-control car fixed to the side of a shambling goblin with only one leg. The wheel that allowed him to move looked like it had been pulled off a bicycle.
Ollie couldn’t be sure, but it looked like the headless zombie he’d seen earlier was being propelled by a steam engine, evidenced by the constant hissing sound and the plume of steam that periodically rose from its back.
“What the fuck is this shit?!” he said, shaking his head. “Some kind of zombie freak show!”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
As he drew within a dozen yards of the closest enemy, the shuddering, lurching, gurgling figures all came to a stop. There were dozens of them, all severely wounded and each with some kind of mechanical augment. Far from their robotic enhancements making them move gracefully or giving them increased speed, they all looked like they’d been slapped together by someone who really wanted to make zombies but had no idea how reanimating corpses actually worked.
Given how feeble they were, Ollie guessed that it would take him only a few minutes to finish them all off. But the ease of dispatching them would likely mean very limited rewards too.
“Well, guess I’d better—”
>> BOSS: Ignius Hollowgrave, Master Fleshsmith
LEVEL: Novice Boss
DESCRIPTION: The Master Fleshsmith specializes in the reclamation and reconstitution of devalued biological assets through mechanical enhancement and necro-alchemical grafting. While goblin in origin, Ignius Hollowgrave has devoted the whole of his life, and a good deal of this subsequent death, to the study of necromancy. An expert in his field, Hollowgrave has transcended simple terms like life and death, embracing a spectrum of existence that stretches beyond the experience of mortality.
The Fleshsmith specializes in converting broken corpses into combat-ready hybrids by means of dark magic and the shrewd application of mechanical wizardry. The process utilizes soulless flesh, replacing vital bodily components with rune-marked mechanical devices infused with a machine spirit that responds directly to his command.
Among Ignius Hollowgrave’s best-known achievements is the advent of the Debt Engine, a powerful composite warform bonded together by means of necrotic energy and residual mana flow and stabilized with machine grafts and soul circuitry. Such miraculous necromancy is only possible using entities that have sustained at least 30% biological loss or functional damage and in whom the original soul is no longer present.
Ollie looked left and right, waiting for the enemy to appear. The zombie creatures stood, or rather slumped in place, dripping gore and oil onto the ground while several of them hissed steam or shuddered in response to some bizarre inner process. It looked like someone had walked into a butcher’s shop with a magic wand and animated everything inside.
He shook his head. “Must be a mistake. I’m not seeing any necromancer creep anywhere, just the mush heads. The system must have gotten it wrong.”
[Nero] Curious. It is unlikely that the System has made an error, however. While occasional glitches and errors can occur, they are exceptionally rare. Perhaps the Fleshsmith possesses some kind of cloaking technology that is currently hiding him.
Ollie checked his mini-map. “Yeah, but I’d still see him on this thing, wouldn’t I?”
[Nero] Not necessarily. It is entirely possible for some NPCs and enemies to hide themselves on maps.
Ollie took a step forward, lifting his crowbar and pointing it at the closest zombie. “Right, well I’m done dicking around. Time to try out some of these new abilities.”
He was about to trigger his Balance of Judgement ability when the goblin zombies all started to twitch violently. They were pulled together as though by some kind of strange magnetism, metal parts clanking, flesh slapping wetly as the different malformed creatures were bonded together. The change came quickly, and after only a few seconds, Ollie could see them forming a roughly bipedal form, as though each of the constituent parts were joining together to form a cohesive being.
“Fuck a duck!” Ollie barked. “It’s a fucking zombie Voltron!”
>> COMPOSITE CREATURE: DEBT ENGINE
Size Class: Bio-mechanical Construct / Mini Boss
Type: Undead (Controlled Asset)
>> OFFENSIVE ABILITIES
+| Scrapwind Crush
Description: The Debt Engine swings its combined limbs in a wide mechanical arc.
Deals 120% base damage to all enemies within a 5-foot radius.
Each successful hit absorbs 5% of the target’s HP as kinetic energy, stored for the next attack.
+| Pulse Vomit Discharge
Vents necrotic steam and molten oil through repurposed flesh vents. Deals 75% corrosion damage over 6 seconds in a 10-foot cone.
Reduces enemy armor by 20% during the effect’s duration.
+| Asset Integration (Devour Protocol)
Consumes a nearby damaged corpse or destroyed minion to repair itself.
Restores 15% of total HP and increases attack output by 10% for 20 seconds.
Each corpse consumed permanently increases its mass and slows movement speed by 5% (stacking).
>> DEFENSIVE ABILITIES
+| Overbond Shell
Activates a field of metallic tendrils, fleshy muscle, and mana plating over its core.
Reduces all incoming physical and magical damage by 50% for 10 seconds.
While active, movement speed drops by 40%, and the Fabricator cannot issue new commands.
Upon deactivation, emits a shockwave dealing 30% area of effect damage and pushing enemies back 10 feet.
The construct continued to assemble itself, metal and flesh combining in baffling ways and at speed. Rather than wait for the process to complete, Ollie charged at the enemy, triggering his Balance of Judgement ability and hefting his crowbar.
A large holographic coin showed above the construct, spinning rapidly before stopping on the side of the coin that showed a hammer thudding against the ground. Light burst from the coin, smashing down on top of the Debt Engine in the form of a holographic war hammer.
The blow shook the ground, hitting with a massive thud, but instead of pulping the still-forming construct, an eerie green light appeared around the creature, deflecting the impact damage from the Balance of Judgment completely.
“What the fuck?!”
[Nero] It appears that the construct possesses a protective ward while it is in the process of forming. I would suggest that you hold further attacks until the Debt Engine is fully formed.
Ollie slowed himself, coming to a stop a short distance in front of the construct as the creature continued to grow. Goblin limbs were locked in place along with damaged torsos, heads, and a range of metal struts and components. As unlikely as it might have seemed before the process started, the Debt Engine had formed into a single, coherent being. It looked like a deformed hobgoblin, with thick limbs that boasted wicked-looking claws jutting from its fingers.
Once the last piece slid into place, the construct stood at around eight feet in height and was about five feet wide, its torso thick with flesh, claws bristling with sharp blades. Its movements were accompanied by the hissing of steam, and Ollie could see a glowing orange-red light from within as though it contained some kind of furnace deep within its mottled torso. In contrast to the jerky, uncertain movements of the goblins from which it was comprised, the Debt Engine moved smoothly and with lethal efficiency, swiping its claws experimentally through the air as it growled and hissed at Ollie.
By far the most disturbing aspect of the construct was its head. Rather than stitching together several smaller goblin heads into one large one, the Debt Engine used a single, reasonably undamaged head, which was surrounded by fleshy limbs and metal spikes. The result was a massive, hulking form with an ordinary-sized goblin head, eyes bulging with the pressure that obviously held the construct together, a high-pitched mechanical voice coming out of the mouth along with a spray of spit and oil.
“Designation MEAT! Prepare to deconstruct!”
Ollie frowned up at the giant, taking a step back as the construct moved toward him, flexing its claws in preparation for battle.
“Fuck a duck!”