A few minutes have passed since our engagement.

  Everyone was doing their part. Everyone was fighting with all they could.

  The ones on the rear continued holding on.

  By the time I needed to reload for the fourth time, most of the Stalkers were already taken care of, their pale corpses littering the ground.

  I made sure those pale demons bled red blood. The liquid wasn't much different from that of normal humans.

  A few managed to land on the floor, but their numbers were too few to overwhelm us.

  A small number of them attempted to strike the soldier’s rear, but failed, leaving them a lifeless corpse with numerous bullet holes.

  The soldiers had also fought valiantly, decimating the small horde of Runners. Only a few of them were left, but the number paled compared to the beginning of the battle.

  The Brutes remained our biggest concern. It was time for them to join the fray.

  “The Brutes are closing in! Focus fire! Aim for the closest one!”

  All the Brutes attempted to charge, but the endless lake of blood and corpses made their movements slower. They also hid their faces when the soldiers shot at them, making them even worse at charging.

  However, the AP rounds are bound to hurt them!

  Their heavy stomps squashed the corpses on the floor, making the blood splash all over, mainly on them.

  The military sure is something. If I were in a situation like theirs, I’d already be frozen with fear.

  If I had to fight through a battle like this before meeting with Raven, I might have been unable to move.

  With the Stalkers being near annihilated, I aimed and supported the soldiers. I shot at the few standing Runners, making sure that nothing interfered with the soldiers’ Brute hunting.

  The first one out of the four Brutes was on the ground in seconds, overwhelmed by the soldier’s focused fire and superior ammunition!

  While the rest gave cover fire, Charlotte dashed next to the brute and unloaded her gun into the Brute’s chin! That broke its defence and allowed the soldiers to kill it! Afterwards, Charlotte retreated into the formation.

  “First one down! Aim for the next! Ready… Open fire!”

  The Brutes ignored the death of one of their kin and advanced.

  The second one was forced to endure the focused fire of the now spread-out soldiers. They moved in two teams of two and one of one. Their formation was such that whatever the Brute did, at least his sides would be open for attack.

  That’s where the soldiers focused and the Brute’s sides began bleeding in no time.

  Another one died, but the last two had enough time to get to the soldiers.

  “Tactical spread! Don’t let them near you! Dodge their attacks!”

  The soldiers’ already loose formation dispersed even further, leaving them to act individually. They manoeuvred around the battlefield, keeping a wide distance from one another and toyed with the large undead.

  The Brutes could only run after two of the five soldiers, leaving their backs open to attacks.

  “Leo, Rich! Fire at the Brutes! Lily, Roosevelt! Focus on the few Runners and Stalkers! Raven, cover us!” I shouted, giving orders to my friends.

  Even if we didn’t have access to AP rounds, normal bullets were helpful in one way or another.

  With our help, the soldiers sustained no casualties and the third Brute fell.

  The soldiers continued with their focused fire and only one enemy was left standing.

  The last Brute, with the help of the few moving undead, cornered Olivier against the wall.

  Olivier took down the smaller undead and shot at the Brute’s face, forcing it to hide that body part, but its movement wasn’t halting one bit.

  Despite the Brute’s arm protecting its face, the shots peeled a good portion of its face armour, even making it bleed slightly from the cheeks.

  The Brute swung its free hand blindly in retaliation, but before it did anything, Charlotte sliced the back side of its leg.

  She pierced the joint of the leg. Her attack was strong, breaking the knife in the process and forcing the Brute’s stance to shake.

  She then shot the same part a few times until the Brute lost balance.

  Olivier saw the opening in the Brute’s attack and came closer to it.

  The massive fist hit the wall while Olivier moved slightly sideways. It was enough to evade the punch and he began using his knife to provoke the Brute into attacking with its other hand by pocking at it.

  The moment the Brute fell on one knee, it stopped covering its face and swung at him. Olivier emptied his magazine on its face, making large wounds.

  Afterwards, Olivier used the knife and stabbed the Brute through the eye, killing it and leaving the knife still usable. He pulled the knife as the Brute began to fall backwards.

  However, if Olivier were a few seconds late, the Brute would have gotten a hold of him, breaking all of his bones.

  It was a risky play.

  “I’m out of AP rounds,” Olivier reported.

  “Also out,” Charlotte replied.

  In the meantime, the rest of the undead had been dealt with.

  Only five soldiers did all of this with a little bit of support from our side? I never imagined how good they were! Especially the close quarters with the Brute!

  Olivier and Charlotte’s teamwork was amazing! Even with inferior strength, their technique took it down in no time!

  Wait… if they were all this good, how did Raven sweep the floor with one of them yesterday? Is he better than them? How much is he holding back?

  As I was thinking that, I looked at the place where the menacing figure waited for us before disappearing.

  I expected to see more undead joining the battle, but I saw something worse.

  The little girl was there, its arms crossed and it was making… a frown? It was also… holding a nail file?

  It realised I looked at it, its expression icy, yet showing intelligence that I had yet to see from an undead.

  The defeat of the forces it led was an unexpected conclusion for it.

  It was only that creature, a Princess, versus us.

  I was confident we could take it on. Raven’s plan for fighting a Princess was etched in my memory.

  The situation was ideal to…

  No… It wasn’t. It was far from ideal…

  There were numerous obstacles around that it could use to hide.

  After the battle, we were even more exhausted than before.

  If it were to attack us now, I was certain that even if we were to win, there would be casualties.

  I blinked, but I wish I had never done so. I wish I had never taken my eyes off that creature.

  There was nothing in there. The girl was nowhere to be seen again.

  The only thing left from it was the sound of the metal nail file hitting the ground.

  With such movements and our attention taken by the undead until a while ago, if it had wished to attack us during the chaos, there was nothing we could have done.

  Why didn’t it do so? What was it scheming?

  Was it going to retreat after seeing its forces decimated?

  Before I could even process what was happening, one of the soldiers screamed. She was on the ground, blood coming out from her neck, making a pool of fresh, human blood. Our first casualty occurred.

  We all turned at the scream.

  Next to the fallen soldiers, for a few seconds, I could see a girl, the Princess.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It moved fast, using the darkness and the numerous stalagmites to close the distance to the next soldier.

  Its agile movements were leading it closer towards Olivier.

  I couldn’t see it, but I knew it would have gone and tried to kill him.

  During the entire fight, it must have been watching us and it has already determined the chain of command! The target was Olivier, but its ultimate goal was to kill us all!

  Everyone focused on it, but the shots fired were countable with the fingers on my hands. Needless to say, nothing hit.

  It took a momentary stop to go past another soldier, beheading him in mere seconds and continuing to advance relentlessly.

  It’s already near Olivier’s position.

  Charlotte went in front of him, trying to take the hit instead! Such dedication to her commander!

  Before it could slice either of them, it retreated. Gunshots were shot inches before that thing could touch either of them!

  It retreated a few steps. In the meantime, Charlotte’s legs gave out, almost falling! Olivier supported her and both retreated, regrouping with the rest of the soldiers.

  She must have felt unimaginable terror seeing that small figure aiming its sharp nails at her with the sole purpose of continuing this bloodbath.

  After it retreated and used a stalagmite as a cover, it gave a look towards me with murderous intent.

  No, it wasn’t towards me. I was simply on the path. It was towards someone behind me.

  However, that gaze froze me in one spot.

  I felt like a meek deer in front of that lioness. I wanted to run. I knew that running was the only thing I could do. Yet, given its speed, I knew that running wasn’t an option.

  I didn’t have the time to take hold of myself before it dashed in my direction.

  It was going to kill me first! It realised I was an easy pick and it went for my head!

  Roosevelt pushed me out of the way, making me fall on the ground, and used his melee weapon to parry the creature’s attack. Sparks flew from the exchange.

  It retreated a few steps after the attack, but it stared at Roosevelt constantly. He was its next target.

  This time, it didn’t back down and continued to advance with its fierce and fast attack.

  I gulped and tried to get off the ground. The situation deteriorated rapidly.

  I could tell in seconds that I couldn't survive a confrontation with that thing! I was alive thanks to Roosevelt!

  So, this is what a Princess was… How could such a small frame possess such power, such hostility and such a threat? Just how much stronger are the undead above it?

  “Fall back,” Roosevelt said while he was looking at every one of its moves.

  There were already a few cuts on his forearms, small drops of his blood dripping on the ground.

  It tried to provoke an opening in Roosevelt and end him in one swift strike, but he wasn’t an easy opponent. Nevertheless, it was too fast even for Roosevelt. Prolonging the fight would result in his defeat in one way or another.

  I wanted to stay and fight it, but knowing I would only be a burden, I began my retreat.

  Even that was a mistake against such an opponent.

  “MARY!” Roosevelt screamed and I started turning.

  I could feel something was getting close to me. Was I about to die?

  “DODGE!” Raven screamed.

  I did as he said without thinking. I jumped on the ground.

  Gunshots were fired at where the upper half of my body would have been if I weren’t on the ground.

  I looked up and saw Raven coming towards me, his gun pointed at the thing that attacked me. I looked at it.

  He hit it!

  The creature attempted to dodge but became enraged after its failure. Raven landed a shot on its left cheek. It was barely grazed, but given that it was the first injury the creature sustained, it was a major event.

  While it was in a daze and contemplating its next move, everyone took the opportunity to shoot at it.

  The numerous bullets forced it to back away, but from all that, it got a few wounds: two grazes on its left arm and one graze on the left leg.

  “Don’t let her get close to you. Fire, even if you will not hit! Make sure she cannot come close to you!” Raven roared, his eyes focused on the creature.

  It was staring back at him. It must have realised who the real threat to it was.

  The murderous intent the two exuded was so thick that it could be sliced with a knife.

  The soldiers managed to regroup in the meantime, forming a right rank.

  On the other hand, we were forced to divide. Leo and Rich were close to one another, Lily went to help Roosevelt and Raven was coming to me.

  We had to get closer to each other while also keeping an eye on the Princess.

  Another disaster happened when I looked at the soldiers – they were ambushed by one more Brute!

  Neither of them was ready for it and it broke their formation, but killed no one.

  It was without even a bullet mark on its armour!

  It must have been hiding until recently behind one of the larger stalagmites, waiting for the right time to come out! When the Princess attacked, it also came, making our situation even more complicated!

  The soldiers were forced to engage with the Brute, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

  Such a simple move, yet it was so devastating…

  The surprise attack from the Princess allowed the last Brute to close the distance unnoticed and engage in melee with the soldiers. Luckily, there were no casualties, but they will need some time to neutralise it.

  In the meantime, we had to distract the Princess until the soldiers finished it off.

  The Princess was looking at us.

  I decided to stop speculating on its actions. They often failed and thanks to it, my life was in danger numerous times. I cannot read it. I am too inferior to be its match.

  It began running around in circles, trying to find an opening and exploit it.

  We managed to regroup and formed a circle, giving it no weaknesses to exploit.

  But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t force us to make one.

  It determined that I was the weakest and it started targeting me.

  If Raven and Lily weren’t by my side, it might have launched a bold attack – one to end me.

  We attempted to shoot at it, but all our shots missed it.

  It seemed like it was either buying time or forcing us to expend all our ammunition.

  If it were the latter, then good luck with that! We could fire non-stop for hours!

  But if it was the former…

  I realised no more gunshots were being fired from the entrance we had come from.

  It didn’t take much time after the silence before we all heard an explosion from our rear.

  I looked back and saw the girl with a bandage on her forehead making a roll, a few Stalker’s limbs flying off and the entrance being blocked by the falling rubble.

  She ended her roll and got up, her fingers on the weapon’s trigger.

  “Stalkers! Overhead!” she screamed and fired above us.

  “Come here fast! Don’t stay alone!” Olivier ordered her amid his fight and she was forced to run to them.

  After her warning, I looked up and saw a few Stalkers sneaking above us! They looked at Lily and Raven!

  Both of them were too focused on the Princess to notice the threats above!

  “Lily! Stalkers!” I warned them and began shooting above me.

  She looked up.

  Raven was also forced to as the Stalkers recklessly began jumping from there, not even a shred of fear of dying from them!

  Their reckless move forced us to leave our circle and fight them off. We had to be fast!

  We managed to take them down in seconds.

  However, the Princess was waiting just for that.

  A gap in our defence. A moment of weakness.

  It sprinted faster than before, the sharp nails poised at Raven. His neck was its target.

  I could barely follow the actions with my eyes. There was no way I could have reacted.

  Raven… was going to die?! All because of me?!

  I ran in a desperate attempt to push him out of the way, praying that I was fast enough.

  But I wasn’t.

  As its hand was inches away from Raven, all I could do was scream his name.

  “RAVEN!!!”

  As it was about to pierce his neck, in the last moment possible, he moved slightly to the left.

  It missed?

  Both I and it were dumbfounded.

  What happened?

  How did he do that?

  It was a speed that rivalled the Princess. It even made it stop for a few seconds to realise what had just occurred.

  But the wonders weren’t over yet. The delay in its actions was an opening.

  An opening that Raven exploited.

  He got hold of its right forearm, the same arm that almost killed him.

  It retaliated with an attack from its other arm, a horizontal slash, but the arm also got caught up before the nails touched his flesh. He held its left arm by the wrist.

  Raven’s grip was strong; the Princess couldn’t free itself.

  “Such tender and tiny arms. Surrender and I might let you live,” he spoke while it struggled to break free.

  Realising Raven wouldn’t let it go, it panicked. It tried kicking.

  Raven endured a fast hit to his chest.

  As he had no way to protect himself from the following kicks, he was forced to go on the offensive himself.

  Before it managed to land another kick, he used force and threw it over his head! The next moment, he dropped the cumbersome backpack.

  The backpack fell on the ground at the same time as the Princess landed.

  It gracefully landed, regained foothold and posture in no time, but before it attacked again, Raven took the initiative by starting to shoot.

  All this happened in mere seconds. Just what is with both of them? This isn’t within human limits!

  I get the Princess, but Raven? I’m delighted he survived, but what I just saw made me wonder about so many questions.

  Raven fired five times, but grazed its left hand twice.

  Was he trying to disable it gradually? Or it just dodged on time?

  It already managed to distance itself from him.

  Its wide eyes and expression conveyed the question ‘What are you?’ to Raven.

  “Leo, Rich, Lily, Mary!” he began ordering.

  “Cover us! Take care of the lesser zombies! Roosevelt and I will deal with her!”

  We were yet in the predicament.

  A few Stalkers supported the Brute and the soldiers needed more time to fight them. Without AP rounds, the soldiers weren’t as effective against the Brute.

  We had a decent number of Stalkers to fight ourselves, but nothing else was coming from the entrance. This was the last wave.

  We couldn’t move forward yet. Raven and Roosevelt were done for if we didn’t cover their backs.

  What a disaster…

  Our rear was annihilated, the sole survivor blocking the path. However, I’m glad she survived.

  In front of us, Stalkers used the stalagmites to their advantage. Those sly and already hard-to-hit creatures found a way to make themselves an even bigger threat.

  In the middle of our ranks, a glass cannon was making havoc. Only thanks to Raven are we able to fend it off. He and Roosevelt took it upon themselves to keep it occupied.

  I prepared to engage the Stalkers. Seeing my lead by example, the rest also focused on them, but kept an eye on the Princess.

  The four of us somewhat managed to keep the Stalkers in check, preventing any of them from passing us.

  As for our new rear, Raven and Roosevelt were doing a great job at keeping us safe from the Princess.

  The soldiers should also be finishing their part soon.

  The predicament we were in… despite our losses… I was seeing the end of it. It was getting better!

  Despite the sacrifice of the soldiers, we were alive. We survived this!

  Most of the Stalkers had already been shot down or wounded enough to reduce their pesky movements.

  The last undead we had to take down…

  In a worry about the Princess, I looked back.

  I wish I didn’t. I didn’t want to see what I saw.

  The exact moment I did, Roosevelt lost both of his legs. The Princess swung its arms and sliced his legs, severing them from his body.

  It wasn’t over yet. It made a vertical movement at the end and it took his left arm.

  My brain couldn’t understand what was happening. How did it come to that?!

  Roosevelt was missing half his body parts, blood endlessly flowing from his grave wounds.

  I knew… I knew he wasn’t making it…

  Even with the excruciating wounds, he didn’t make a sound. His next actions made me respect him endlessly, yet my eyes welled up with tears.

  After sustaining those grave injuries, he gave his all to hold down the witch with his right arm. He decided it in seconds. The witch hadn’t finished its moves yet when he did it.

  That action, the last act before he fell on the ground limbless with blood everywhere, managed to hold it in place for mere seconds.

  His actions also stunned that bitch. It fiercely started stabbing him through the chest.

  First stab. Second stab. Third stab… It pierced him tens of times, yet Roosevelt held it in place, not making even a groan, until his last breath.

  That time was enough for them.

  The soldiers were done with their Brute. They shot at that thing while Roosevelt was holding it down.

  The witch slices Roosevelt's neck and he finally let go, but it was too late for the monster to escape.

  Both it and Roosevelt had holes in them.

  “NOOOOOOOO!” I screamed with all the voice I had, my tears falling uncontrollably, after my brain realised that Roosevelt wouldn’t make it.

  Roosevelt was on the ground.

  The bitch was still standing on its feet, still breathing.

  Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?!

  Roosevelt sacrificed himself, yet it was still alive?

  Raven pointed his pistol at it, but before he fired…

  ‘Bang’, ‘Bang’, ‘Bang’…

  I shot it. I used what was left of my magazine on it…

  It finally fell down, its body filled with holes, but not before it made an awful scream.

  The scream as if… a child was asking their parent for help.

  Ridiculous.

  Monster…

  “Why?” I began accusing, but he didn’t reply to me.