Chapter 25 : when the dead turn

The snow crunched under their boots as they trudged through the blizzard, the world around them swallowed in white silence. Only the faint shimmer of mana wards kept the cold from biting deeper.
Ryo adjusted the heavy pack on his back. “Could you summon fewer corpses next time? They’re not exactly great travel company.”
Ahead, Lara —with frost clinging to her lashes— glanced nervously at the shuffling undead walking in formation around them. “I… I needed to keep the bandits away. They won’t attack if they see I already have an army.”
“Army?” The Aldah snorted, her breath puffing like smoke. She strode easily through the drifts, her shoulders broad, her muscles cutting sharp lines beneath her coat. “They look like they’ll crumble if I sneeze too hard.”
“They’re holding,” Lara muttered defensively, tightening her grip on her staff.
The Vix, walking at the rear, scoffed. His cloak dragged like a shadow, and his silver eyes showed no warmth at all. “You’re straining yourself. I told you raising this many was reckless.” His voice was flat, almost bored. “But you never listen.”
 “I can manage.” Lara pouted 
The Aldah shot Vix a glare. “Maybe try encouragement for once? She’s saving your ass too, you know.”
“She’s endangering us,” he replied, calm and sharp as a blade. “When her control breaks—and it will—we’ll be surrounded.”
Ryo sighed. “Great pep talk. Love this group.”
He's not wrong...She is overwhelmed.
Lara stopped walking, chest rising and falling too fast. Her hands were shaking, faint green light flickering erratically from her fingertips. The zombies groaned in unison, heads twitching like broken marionettes.
“Wait,” she whispered. “Something’s… wrong—”
One of the corpses turned its head toward them. Its jaw snapped open, letting out a hungry moan. Then another followed. The warding sigils on their foreheads fizzled out, smoke trailing from the broken runes.
Lara punched one then another one. Vix didn’t even flinch, already drawing a circle coated in blue mana. Ryo froze, watching as the wall of corpses they’d relied on slowly closed in—eyes vacant, but full of hunger.
The Lara fell to her knees in the snow. “I—I can’t control them anymore!”
Need help ?The beast froze feeling two eyes staring at them.Forget about it, someone is watching us...Maybe Mona or stellar .
They're far from here... It's not a human.
---
The snowstorm howled louder than the groans of the shambling dead.Ryo’s breath came out ragged, white clouds spilling into the air as he swung his mana pack like a weapon, desperately keeping the undead at bay.
Lara knelt behind him, sweat freezing on her brow.“I—I can’t hold them anymore! They’re slipping from my control!” she cried, her hands trembling with failed incantations. The zombies—once a shield—were now predators.
A snapping sound echoed in the blizzard. Then—
BOOM!
Flames licked across the snow, lighting up the night like a festival fire. Three zombies exploded into scorched bone and ash.
From the smoke stepped a boy about their age, scarf fluttering in the icy wind. His smile was as cocky as his stride. Slung over his back was a satchel stuffed with grenades, and on his right arm gleamed a massive mechanical gauntlet, wires glowing faintly blue with mana.
“Geez,” he drawled, running a hand through his messy hair, “you  four look like you need a knight. Lucky for you, I was just in the mood to blow something up.”
Another zombie lunged. He raised his mecha arm—the steel fingers hissed as they locked—and punched straight through its skull. Sparks of mana burst out as the zombie collapsed.
The boy winked at Aldah, unfazed by the chaos.“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll handle the dirty work. You just focus on staying pretty.”
Then to Ryo, with a grin:“And you—mana boy. Try not to trip while I save your ass.”
He flicked a switch on the mecha arm, and the gears spun, locking a grenade launcher attachment into place.
The snowy battlefield lit up with another explosion, and for the first time that night, the odds didn’t feel so hopeless.

---
The snowy battlefield was littered with smoldering zombie remains, the acrid smell of mana-burned flesh heavy in the air.
“Who the hell are you?” Ryo demanded between breaths.
The boy grinned, brushing soot off his scarf. “Name’s Kael, demolition artist, part-time heartbreaker, and apparently your knight in explosive armor.” He winked exaggeratedly. “And you are… mana boy, right?”
The delivery guy groaned. “Oh no. Not one of those.”
Kael leaned closer, his mecha arm whirring as he rested the cold steel fingers on the delivery guy’s shoulder. “Relax. I don’t bite.” Then he smirked. “Unless you ask nicely.”
Aldah snorted, clearly entertained. Lara blushed furiously, too drained to speak.
Vix folded his arms and scowled. “This clown is wasting our time.”
Kael’s grin widened. “Clown? Please. I’m the life of the party. You’re just jealous because my explosions are louder than your personality.”
Vix's eyes narrowed, a dangerous shimmer of blue mana flickering in his eyes. “Keep talking and I’ll show you how sharp my personality can get.”
“Oh, please do.” Kael winked again, utterly unfazed. “I like dangerous types.”
Ryo pinched the bridge of his nose.
I like this one.Of course you do.
---
Despite the bickering, Kael led the group through the snowstorm. He knew every ridge and frozen crevice, tossing bombs to collapse snowdrifts behind them, whenever the path grew too steep, he used the claw of his mecha arm to anchor ropes or pull them across.
By the time the storm began to fade, the group found themselves before a squat wooden lodge nestled in the mountainside, smoke curling from the chimney.
Kael spread his arms dramatically. “Welcome to the coziest house of Forge street, it's also the most explosive, and the warmest than freezing to death outside.”
Aldah whistled. “Not bad.”
Lara whispered, “It’s… homey.”
Vix muttered, “Figures you’d lead us to a hut instead of a inn from the actual town.”
Kael just grinned. “Why bother with a boring inn when you’ve got me?”
Ryo sighed. “I should’ve let the zombies eat me.”
---
Inside, warmth enveloped them, and the smell of stew drifted from the kitchen. Kael barely had time to kick off his boots before a sharp voice cut through the air.
“Kael!”
A tall woman with streaks of silver in her dark brown hair stormed into the room, brandishing a ladle like a weapon. Her apron was dusted with flour, and her eyes—same mischievous green as Kael’s—burned with maternal fury.
“What did I tell you about using live explosives in the snowfields?!” she snapped. “And dragging strangers home again? Saints above, boy, you’ll be the death of me!”
Kael flinched like a guilty child, holding up his mecha arm as if it were a shield. “C’mon, Mom, it’s not like I blew up anything important. Just zombies. Lots of zombies.”
His mother smacked the mecha arm with the ladle, leaving a grease mark on the polished steel. “Don’t you sass me with that grin of yours! One day those tricks will backfire, and I won’t be patching you up again!”
Ryo tried very hard not to laugh. Vix didn’t even try, smirking in open satisfaction.
Kael looked around helplessly, cheeks red for the first time since they’d met. “…You guys are supposed to back me up here.”
Aldah grinned. “Sorry, champ. You’re on your own this time.”