"They're pouring in from the water purification plant!" Lyle of Blacksteel International shouted. With his seasoned combat experience and keen instincts, he had already gained a certain degree of authority within the differently organized city defense forces. The city guards and Blacksteel International security personnel around him all followed his orders.
The soldiers turned their crossbows around. Those without ranged weapons gripped crude club-like weapons in their hands, along with simple shields with roughly cut metal edging.
"Fire!"
The crossbow bolts flew in unison, slicing through the air with whooshes as they landed among the advancing Originium undead.
Calling them undead could not have been more fitting. Their mutilated, shriveled bodies housed many Originium Slugs of muddled colors, controlling them as they shuffled step by step toward the gathered living.
These bodies had also undergone severe mutations. Like patients deeply infected with Oripathy, their entire bodies gleamed with the luster of Originium. Numerous Originium spikes had suddenly grown from their joints; even the slightest scrape from them would inflict the same severe Oripathy.
Another volley of crossbow bolts struck the undead. Cracks spread from the arrowheads, then coarse dust burst from the fissures—dust that could easily be blocked by nothing more than a mask.
These crossbow bolts once again proved pitifully weak against the Originium undead. Not for a second did they slow the undead's advance.
"Prepare to engage!" Lyle shouted another order. He knew that many people would lose their judgment amid the brutality of battle, which was why a commander needed to tell bewildered soldiers where to act.
The small clubs capable of smashing stone became the soldiers' final support. Sharp blades were not enough to break through the Originium undead's hard shells.
A minefield lay before Lyle's position. These mines were not detonated by gunpowder, but by