"You... took... what's... mine..." The corpse croaked and pointed at the blade in my hand.

"Not anymore." I flipped the sword in the air in front of me, then caught it. "I was told that what you find on a corpse down in the Depths becomes yours. Those are the rules." Holding her blade out my side, I added, "I rather like your sword, so I'll be keeping it."

"Corpse...?" Her voice rattled in her throat. She looked confused. "What corpse?"

"Yeah, sorry you had to find out this way, but, uh..." I'd never spoken with a corpse before. It was eerie. "You're dead."

No..." She lifted her arm, and in her pale hand, a new black blade materialized from motes of darkness. When it became solid, her red eyes locked onto mine, her lips parted, and she said, "You... stole it... from me. That blade... is not... yours..." She whispered in a thick dwarven as she pointed at the blade I'd taken from her. "You... were not... chosen..." Her dry, cracked, bloodstained lips turned upward into a disgusting grin. "I was."

I held her blade up, pointing it at her chest. I'd felt compassion for her until that moment, but now, I was done. She was just another power-hungry monster. "Take it back, then."

With an inhuman shriek, she charged.

The other undead, at least twenty in number, charged with her.

I didn't hesitate. Charging the nearest corpse, a rotten skeleton without an ounce of meat on its bones, I drove the burning sword through its chest. The purple flames consumed it from the inside out, and it crumbled to ash before it even hit the ground.

Two more came at me from the left.

I pivoted, shield up, and caught the first with the band of my shield right on its rotten jaw. The bone shattered, along with its neck, causing its head to bobble wildly from its few remaining sinews as it flew backward, only stopping when it crashed into a pillar and shattered into bone dust.

The second lunged, its skeletal hands reaching for my face.

I ducked, swung, and took its legs out from under it. Another swing separated its skull from its bony neck.

Something attacked from the right.

Diving, I sprang back to my feet and took the zombie out at the hip, cutting it in half. A wave of rotten intestines spilled onto the stone floor, causing another zombie to slip in the filth. A reverse cut opened its skull, spraying rotten, sizzling brain meat across the hall.

Resetting, I held my shield in front of me and took several steps backward.

Fifteen left.

No, sixteen.

Seventeen.

More were pouring from a side room hidden behind a pillar.

Shit!

Everywhere I turned, more corpses pressed in. Some wore armor. Some wore rags. A few had weapons, but not many. All of them had those same burning eyes.

Taking a deep breath, I began moving so that the other undead stayed between me and Dorit. She seemed like the only one of them that had any semblance of a mind, and her weapon was the only one that I was confident could hurt me. I had to take the others out first. Rushing to a nearby pillar, I pressed my back to it, ensuring that I couldn't be flanked.

Nearby, several of the rats were squeaking to one another. They'd surrounded another that had burnt up.

Watching from the corner of my eye as the undead bore down on me, I shuddered as they began tearing into their dead companion's charred flesh. I didn't have time to think about what that meant, though, because the first of the undead reached my range, and I had work to do.

The zombie pulled back, then thrust its spear at my throat.

With a simple twist of my torso, I let it glide harmlessly past my cheek. Then, using the momentum gained from the twist, I unwound my body, sheared its spear in half, then caught its ribs with the false edge of my sword. Rotten blood sprayed out of its torso as it fell backward, groaning in what sounded a whole lot like agony.

Maybe the zombies could actually feel pain?

As three more charged, I realized that, if they could feel pain, that was more reason to set them free. Lifting my shield, I took a club hit head-on, severed its arm, cut through its ribcage, and reset.

Another corpse in tattered robes stumbled into range.

I took its head off with a single horizontal cut. Before its body hit the ground, I reversed the swing and opened another from shoulder to hip.

The nearest zombie raised a broken sword. I batted it aside with my shield, then drove my blade through its eye socket. The purple flames consumed it from the inside, and it crumpled.

Two zombies rushed me in tandem. I caught the first with a rising cut that split it from groin to collar. The second tried to dart around my shield. I pivoted, shield leading, and crushed its skull against the stone pillar with a horizontal smash.

For a moment, I thought I had the upper hand.

Then a rotting hand caught my ankle. I stomped down hard, shattering the wrist bones, but another grabbed my shield. Another got its bony fingers through the gaps in my right greave. I kicked and thrashed, trying to shake them off, but they clung to me like gnats.

Before I could get free, one of the armored corpses swung a rusted mace at my head.

I ducked, felt it whistle past my ear.

Too close.

The near-miss threw it off balance, but I still managed to drive my blade through the gap in its breastplate. Purple fire erupted under its armor, and an instant later, it collapsed, but three more stepped over its dissolving remains.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Shit!" My breathing was getting labored. It was always hard fighting multiple opponents. Even when they're unskilled or weak, the sheer bulk of many bodies, coupled with the constant pressure, made these kinds of fights harder than most. They were tiring me out while their master healed.

A zombie lurched from my blind spot, jaws snapping as it rushed me.

I caught it with my shield rim, felt its teeth break against the metal. Before I could recover, though, another slammed into my back, nearly driving me to my knees.

I staggered forward, using the momentum to shoulder-check a skeleton into the wall. Its spine cracked, but it kept crawling toward me, dragging itself by its arms.

They weren't stopping. They weren't slowing.

And I was running out of room to maneuver.

I had to move.

Darting forward, I cut through them one after another, but for every one I dropped, another closed in. Clawed hands grabbed at my shield. My arm. My greaves. Trying to drag me down through sheer numbers. Biting. Clawing. Pulling.

Behind them, but far too close now, Dorit's sword ignited in purple flames, and she charged. She moved differently from the others. Faster. More controlled. Like her muscles still remembered how to fight.

Trying to free myself from a skeleton who'd grabbed my ankle, I punched downward.

[Stoneshatter]

The nearest skeleton exploded into bony shards.

[Shield Throw]

My shield cut through the air and nearly struck Dorit in the head, but she deflected it away at the last second.

I watched as my shield skittered off into the darkness on the far side of the room.

Dashing forward, the dwarf ran over her fellows to get close enough to strike me. Once in range, and with a horrifying shriek, she lifted her black blade and heaved, sending it crashing back down on my head.

I raised my own to deflect the strike.

The blades met with a metallic shriek. Purplish flames erupted from both blades, and brilliant sparks shot out from each. For a moment, I could hear my blade whispering in my mind, promising power, demanding my essence.

My hand... give me your essence... and we shall—

Both blades shuddered, cracked, then shattered.

A massive wave of force was released, throwing me, the other corpses, and Dorit careening backward.

I hit the ground hard, rolling twice before slamming into the base of a pillar.

[Unbreakable]

I felt my ribs shatter, then snap back into place.

"Ugh..."

My ears rang.

My vision swam.

It took everything I had not to black out.

Slowly, I came back to myself. I caught my breath and watched as, all around me, the corpses twitched and groaned as they pulled themselves back upright.

Dorit was already on her feet, a new blade forming from the shadows in her outstretched hand.

How the hell was she doing that? Could she do that in life, too?

Wobbling to my feet, I spat out globs of blood and bone dust and took stock of the situation. There were at least two dozen monsters left. All but Dorit were either heavily damaged, dead, or barely crawling to their feet. Dorit was the real threat now.

However, despite being thrown clear across the room, she was already marching toward me with her new sword... which ignited into purple flames.

What was worse, the rats were still scurrying around, there were fewer of them now, and none were on fire anymore. And the ones that were left were tearing apart the ones that had died. That wasn't good. Not one bit.

And this was all happening while I was getting whittled down.

After that last attack, my brain was mush, and my legs were shaking.

I couldn't hold back anymore.

I'd thought to save [Second Wind] for when the vampire reappeared, but something told me that, if I didn't use it now, there wouldn't be a later. So, I took a deep breath and activated it.

[Second Wind]

As liquid energy poured into my veins, I charged at the nearest corpse, a walking skeleton that was missing half its skull.

[Stoneshatter]

Its body exploded in a spray of bone.

I kept moving.

Another corpse lunged.

I caught it by the throat, pivoted, and used it as a battering ram to clear a path through two more. Shoving them with all my strength, they fell into a moaning, squirming pile of rotten flesh.

But more kept coming.

My shield.

I needed my shield.

Sprinting toward the far side of the room, I dodged grasping hands and snapping jaws.

A corpse in thick rusted armor blocked my path.

I drove my shoulder into it, sent it sprawling into the wall.

There. My shield. It was lying against the wall.

I dove, rolled, and came up with it on my arm.

The horde closed in behind me.

[Shield Throw]

It connected with the armored skeleton's helmet, sending its helmet and skull careening away before returning to my arm.

They were too close now.

[Stoneshatter]

My shield punched through two skeletons, cutting them in half at the waist.

Move.

I rushed forward, shield up, fist flying.

[Stoneshatter]

A skeleton dissolved into dust.

[Stoneshatter]

My fist erupted from a zombie's back.

Every strike was another [Stoneshatter]. Every impact scattered bone and rotted flesh across the stone floor. One by one, they fell. Turned to ash. Scattered.

As the overusage of the skill sent spikes of pain up behind my eyes and made my stomach turn, I swallowed hard and kept going. It was do or die right now, and I would make that vampire suffer for everything it took from us.

I would have vengeance.

After killing many, my chest was heaving, and sweat stung my eyes. Scanning, I saw that there were no lesser undead things left. It was just me and Dorit, who stood, sword raised, and waited.

She stood at the center of the room, her black blade fully formed in her hands, purple flames licking up its edge. Her red eyes tracked my every movement.

I took it as a measure of pride that she decided to wait for me to get worn down. It wouldn't be enough, though. I wasn't about to die to some fucking zombie.

"That sword... is mine..." she croaked, pointing the blade at my empty hand.

Holding my hand up, I said, "I don't have it anymore, you stupid thing."

"Give it... Give it back to me..."

"I told you, I don't have it anymore."

"You... you... you lie!" She screamed a bloodcurdling scream and charged.

"You're mad..." With no options left, I let out a roar of my own and charged.

Her blade came down in a heavy overhand swing.

I raised my shield, catching it before it reached full strength. Even still, the impact rang through my arm and drove me to one knee.

She swung again.

I blocked. Again. And again.

Each strike was faster than the last. Stronger. She was gaining steam as fast as I was gassing out.

Chunks of Faye's shield broke away with every strike. Before long, there was almost nothing left of it.

After severing a quarter of the shield with a single swing, and with a mighty whirl, she brought her sword around and struck diagonally.

The attack was too strong to trust my shield to deflect.

[Iron Skin]

Stars filled my eyes as Faye's shield shattered around my arm. The blade bit into my bracer and dug deep, just barely penetrating enough to strike the iron skin beneath.

Dorit ripped the blade from my bracer and reared up again. High...

Too high!

My heart leapt.

My training over the past eight years flooded my mind.

This was it.

In her effort to add more power, she'd exposed herself, opening her body up to a counter.

I ducked low and lunged forward, snaking my foot behind her ankle before exploding upward, jamming her elbows and preventing her from swinging her flaming sword. Pressing my body into her space, she tried to step backward, but her ankle caught mine, throwing her onto one leg. Pressing my hand into her hip, I shoved, throwing her further off balance.

She tried to spin, to use the momentum to strike me again, but she was off balance and on one leg.

"I win."

Using the crouch I was in to develop power, I exploded upward, driving my fist into her chest with more power than I'd ever generated.

[Stoneshatter]

Her armor shattered.

Her ribs bent to their limits and splintered.

Her chest caved in.

My fist erupted out of the other side of her body in a spray of stinking blood.

Then, like a ragdoll, she flew backward and crashed into the side of the dais. Her face twitched as black energy bled from her ruined torso. Her body twitched. The blade slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground.

When it struck the ground, it shattered and faded away.

She tried to stand. Tried to reach for her ruined blade. But it was no use. She and her blade were both done.

Blinking the stars from my eyes, taking slow, deliberate steps, I walked to her, pressed my boot against her ruined chest, and asked, "Any last words?"

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