Chapter 78: The Black Dawn

  Darius

  By Darius’ count he had maybe forty five seconds of life left to live. It was the sort of thing that would usually have made him sad or angry but as his world had contracted to the simple act of staying alive second by second, he found a strange detachment had descended upon him. There was no room in his world for caring. Only the relentless dance of the spear against Undead.

  Either Alley would win soon and it would do something to the Undead or Darius would die. The outcome didn’t matter, not compared to the overwhelming immediacy of deflecting the next rusty pitchfork or decapitating the next zombie.

  The vine men and the golem in particular had proven major threats to his well-being. After the first one had sent him flying back into the golem Darius found that the green shape-changing monsters were suddenly backing up the regular Undead all over the courtyard.

  There were probably only three of them, but they were strong enough to crush his skull with a single punch and were proving more than a little challenging to slay. After the shield and sword had returned to spear form he had managed to drive it and Golem back with his melee usage of Harpoon Rain but without something with a bit more ‘oomph’ he was struggling to hurt the larger creatures. It was a weird state of affairs as killing huge things was the Knots family's bread and butter. Those things usually had blood and vital organs he could target though.

  ‘And didn’t fucking pull themselves back together after we killed them!’

  Breathing hard, and bleeding easy Darius could feel the time of his death approaching as the masses of smaller monsters boxed him in more and more. The swamp vine monsters and the golem were being oddly patient, moving to block any gaps the smaller monsters left that Darius might use to escape once more.

  He probably should have tried to make it more of a running battle through the mansion rather than making a stand in the courtyard. It certainly would have meant the little army of Undead would be less able to bring its numbers to bear against the lone hunter. There was a problem with that line of thinking though, one that mattered enough that Darius had chosen to stand here and die rather than even attempt the strategy. It would mean leaving Alley to deal with all these Undead alone.

  You couldn’t actually kill someone in a Challenge, and Darius wasn’t sure how long it would take Alley to kill a tree afterward. Even if killing the lady of the manor would be enough to destroy the other Undead or plunge them into confusion or whatever. Alley had to make it happen to even test the theory. Darius could easily picture a huge group of the monsters pressed up against the barrier waiting to rush Alley once it fell.

  Cracking the skull of what appeared to be a skeletal prospector with the but his spear Darius risked a tiny glance down at his hand to see what he had drawn to replace Harpoon Rain. It was Dawn Shot, a good Card no doubt but kind of useless here as the Undead did not do much in the way of dodging.

  [Dawn Shot

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  Resonance: Pursuit

  The Player’s next ranged attack cannot be dodged. Only blocked, stopped, or negated.]

  He was contemplating the uselessness of the Card when time slowed down and the nausea began. As though springing from nowhere Resonance began to flow into Darius. It was of a type he had never felt before and left him feeling sick and invaded wherever it passed. It was Resonance though he was sure of that, he could feel his system desperately trying to convert the sudden influx into Life Essence.

  His body was far too slow for such a conversion and quickly he began to fill up with the alien power. Not only did that energy swirl into his own Pursuit infused resonance system creating an intense burning as the two powers tried in vain to mix, but the further he filled with the strange dark and flickering Resonance the weaker Darius felt.

  He was certain the Undead would notice his sagging form and rush to finish him off any moment. As it stood they were still pressing him hard, the zombies and skeletons marching shoulder to shoulder in a semicircle Darius no longer had any chance to escape.

  While the Resonance itself was unfamiliar and probably killing him, the process had the taste of memory about it. He had felt this way before, not the burning and the steadily increasing nausea. No that was perfectly new, and something the hunter hoped he never felt again, but the way the Resonance poured through him. Like it barely had to follow the lines of his system and veins at all.

  That was how it felt when a Trials Deck wielder had built up enough Resonance inside them that they could create a new Card or evolve an existing one. The next time Darius was due to achieve such a state was months from now. He didn’t know why that excited him, even if he could create or evolve a Card the fountain of Resonance inside him was only growing and would soon start doing serious damage to his body.

  If that didn’t finish him off the Undead really didn’t need the help his sudden weakness was giving them to get the job done. Well if he was fucked he may as well see what happens when you try to evolve a Pursuit Card with whatever this was first. Of course that was dependant on the Cards actually somehow being compatible with both this scenario he was in and the Resonance in his veins right now.

  It wasn’t what the red-headed boy would call overly likely, but he was about to collapse to the ground like he had the world’s worst stomach cramp anyway. Darius spared another glance at the four Cards that made up his hand.

  Scent The Blood, Dawn Shot, Brood Queen’s Venom, and Top Of The Food Chain. All useless against his current enemy, and none glowing or showing any other signs the Resonance was ready to pour into and change the Card. Nor could he see the outline of an ethereal Card yet to be made hovering at the edge of his hand.

  At least that is what he saw initially, almost like it somehow changed in the light to show something else Dawn Shot shifted into a Card Darius had never seen or heard of before. Not really understanding the text in front of him, and not really caring the hunter deflected a spear thrust with his shoulder and played the Card Dawn Shot had oddly become.

  “The Black Dawn!”

  [The Black Dawn

  Resonances: Undeath, Pursuit

  When played The Black Dawn is played summon The Black Sun overhead. The Black Sun draws upon all Undeath Resonance within the player to fuel its duration. While The Black Sun remains overhead the Player is transformed into The Varcolac [Demi-Human Avatar].

  For those of you worried about Darius getting left behind as Alley levels up I present to you the preceding chapter

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