cp2
Chapter-2
The captain gave out an evil smile and for some reason Valerious felt some chills at that sight.
"If you retreat and try to flee, you will be rendered immobile and caught by the paladins. You will be butchered and fed to the hungry people of the outer sector. The same meat you have been eating up until now."
The eyes of everyone criminal standing there widened as realization stuck them. They always questioned in their minds as to why they were always given meat to eat just when some of them were taken out to die. They never asked it loudly fearing that they might stop receiving the only food they get to eat in the hungry hell they lived in.
What were they feeling after they knew that they were eating meat of those who they lived with. They were now cannibals. Of course, there were some who did not even care.
Valerious was feeling disgusted at the thought that they were fed human meat in that hungry hell. Of course he didn't believe that they were actually being fed human meat. Even if they were, there were simply more mouths to feed than the number of people were taken every month out for the expedition.
Valerious understood that the captain was trying to deceive them with false warning. Though this fact could be understood by anybody with logical mind, was there anybody logical or sane among those who were brought from the outer circle.
Valerious understood that they were essentially cannon fodders who had to just go and take as many zombies as possible. He along with others brought here had already lost any hope of living. They only hoped that they did not turn into zombies before getting blown.
This group of hundred was just one of the units brought here from the outer sectors. There were other sectors as well who would defend their side of the wall.
They reached the base of the wall near a large gate. From a high vantage point, one could see that all across the wall, thousands of cannon fodders disguised as soldiers were marching towards their death. As they approached the wall, it opened with a loud roar.
Honestly, Valerious did not understand why the paladins were asking them to act as cannon fodders when they had the wall to protect them.
Valerious had only encountered a zombie twice in his life. Both were when he went to the graveyard to rummage for something valuable. Both the zombies he encountered were just immobile husks who were mostly bones with barely any flesh on them. Today, he was going to witness what a true ancient horror looked like.
Dark clouds loomed and all they could see was thick darkness ahead. Valerious stepped outside the wall for the first time and felt the sickning spulch of blood and mud on the ground.
Everybody formed a lone parallel to the wall as they were instructed and started moving forward. Valerious held a large transparent shield made of condensed energy which could be retracted. He also held a large flamethrower which would emit a large quantity of fire at the front if he presses the handle.
Valerious was a little tensed before when he initially thought that he wouldn't be able to lift the flamethrower and the transparent shield with his lean physique and thin hands.
The entire set of wooden armor along with all the accessories was much lighter. The only thing that felt bad was the cold he felt in metal armor when the winds blew. Though, the cold might become warm when the flame throwers are used.
All around him, he could hear the sound of gulping and incoherent mutterings that told him enough of how scared they all were. Valerious had an unreadable expression as he looked ahead. Behind him, paladins rushed to form a defensive formation.
Ahead of him, a thick darkness nestled. If he turned back now, he would be killed by the paladins and ahead of him was the slow but sure death waiting for all.
Just when everybody was waiting for something to happen, they heard a loud voice. It was a loud horn that was blown by a paladin. It was instructed to all of them that they had to start marching ahead when the horn was blown.
The cannon fodders took hesitant steps in disorderly fashion and started to march towards the thick darkness. Somebody lit their flare gun and others followed like a herd. It was Valerious who lit his flare gun first and he was the one to march into his death first.
That is when he saw it. No, everybody saw it. It rose from the muddy ground and looking at them with hollow eye sockets. It had countless small holes in its body that looked like a labyrinthine ground. It was as if countless fingers had stabbed the creature. The most revolting part of it all was that countless maggots were writhing in those labyrinthine holes of its body.
It opened its maw wide and let out an ear piercing shriek while revealing its countless uneven teeth which were growing inside its mouth. Following the shriek, countless others rose from the bloody mud and let out a shriek of their own and started running towards the wall.
Valerious and countless others felt fear for the first time when they encountered their first set of zombies. Their dread multiplied when they saw that not all the zombies were completely humanoid.
There was a creature which looked like a twisted fusion between a human and a tree. Even if their size and shape were distinct, all had labyrinthine holes with countless maggots in them and hollow eye sockets.
The zombies were mostly skinless which showed their red muscles and some had visible bones jutting out of them. Valerious was a little dazed when he met his first zombie with countless holes and maggots in them. He vomited from the rotting smell that they were giving out but didn't dare to stop the flame thrower from incinerating these damned creatures.
Valerious suddenly remembered his mother and her parting words as she left him in the orphanage when he was just 10 years old.
"I hate you!"
He could still vividly recall those words. He was in despair when she hadn't returned for the next couple of months. He then realized that she had actually left him there.
When he grew a little old, Valerious started to despise himself as he felt like he was a burden to her. Imagine a lone mother raising a child for 10 years without any support. He was clearly a burden to her and he used to hate himself for it.
To make up for it, he decided to earn. At 12 years old, he started his own business as a runaway from an orphanage. He became one of the rich merchants within 2 years and decided to meet his mother.
When he went to acquire about his mother, he found out that his mother died a week after she left him in an orphanage. The shocking revelation left him hollow from the inside. There was now only a fury to get revenge on those creatures that killed her. He cried and despaired when he thought of their last meeting. He understood the truth about why his mother left him there.
She knew she was going to die. She wanted him to live a good life in the orphanage. Valerious thought of what his mother used think when she left him there. It must have pained her so much to leave her 10 year old son and go towards her death. She must have cried in silence without letting others know of it.
Valerious vowed to get revenge on the zombies who killed his mother. She must have thought that valerious wouldn't catch her little deception, but she didn't take in account of how relentless and stubborn he could be.
She must have thought that valerious wouldn't waste his life on pointless things like revenge when he grew mature enough to realize that his mother sacrificed her life for him.
Of course, he tried to join the paladins and slay the zombies, but he wasn't talented like his mother. He didn't have the ability to harness the divine power. He tried all ways and went as far as paying corrupt priests to get him on the border. They offered him a position of priest, but he rejected it as he wouldn't be able to kill those zombies to quench the fire burning in his heart.
This was the reason why he chose to become the youngest criminal when he was 16 by embezzling money from the church and burning it all. It was all for this moment. It was all for the sake of revenge.
Valerious had killed zombies before, but they were mere husks in comparison to the abominations here. They were faster and stronger than normal humans. With pure logic, valerious understood one thing.
The reason why he was able to lift the large flare gun along with the shield and still fight with the heavy paladin armor was that he had just gotten stronger. Yes! He had gotten stronger ever since he wore the paladin armor.
The paladin armor was infused with the blessing to resist any spells. His suspicions were confirmed when he slashed an incoming zombie which had escaped the fire and shield defence. The zombie was cut in half.
The concealment spells that were infused on his bones were rendered useless as he started to transform from a 4 feet kid to a 6 feet man. His muscles burst forth and his speed increased. He had years to prepare and hunt the zombies. Of course he wasn't going to die the death of a cannon fodder unless he took thousands of zombies with him.