Chapter 4 – Hold Your Ground

We reach the entrance and I proceed to separate the amphibious aquatic vessel back into our individual repair assistance vehicles.
“Computer, transfer the auxiliary transport vessel to this location.”
“Command confirmed, master.”
The auxiliary transport vessel arrives and I configure it into the “scooter” mode that Ástríðr devised.
“Wow! I forgot about this. It was still in Asgard, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed, it was. This will be for Fenris to follow along and provide protection for her if the need arises.”
“Are you ok to use this, Fenris? Do you need me to teach you how to us it?”
“I might be okay to use it. I watched you both use the large ones.”
“While the design is similar and more basic, the onboard computers help to compensate for any lack of stability and prevent accidental falls.”
“I didn’t really get to use it as a scooter much but it handled pretty well. Are you ready Fenris?”
“Yes, I am ready to go.”
We board our transportation and reenter Svartalfheim and continue along the central path.
Once we arrive at the place of our initial encounter with the zombies, I stop to survey the remains.
“It seems our attacks were able to perform complete incapacitation.”
“Whew, that’s good. The fire is all gone too. I didn’t need any more surprises today.”
“Indeed, let us proceed onward to what should be the village.”
We continue along the path using the map outlining the main and tributary tunnels that I acquired from the knowledge base in The Hall of Urthr.
The pathway was uneventful as we reach a large opening.
All the buildings are untouched from the destructive path of the Tornado of Souls.
“Wow! It looks like it’s been locked in time.”
“I would posit that after the initial creation; the Tornado of Souls does not enter this pathway and thus spared the village from any further damage.”
“Leader, I smell more rotting flesh.”
“Yeah, the air is pretty bad in here. I can smell them now.”
“We must remain diligent and stay on guard so we can have the initiative for any further attacks.”
“Speaking of which. Do you have a plan if they outnumber us?”
“I assume this is a situation that was encountered in your entertainment stories?”
“Yeah, usually they start showing up one by one but, you think it’ll be okay to handle one or two of them and then more and more appear and then there’s too many and then they surround them with no way out.”
“Hmm, I see that would cause considerable problems. I assume there were some satisfactory retaliatory strikes that resolved the situation for the protagonist.”
“Usually, it was some side characters that ended up in that situation but sometimes they would try to shoot their way out in a sort of last stand taking as many down as they can.”
“Interesting. This does not seem very entertaining to me. It seems they should have formulated a better plan of action before ending up in such a situation.”
“It’s all just a made-up story meant to scare people. But, speaking of plans what do you think? Should we go in guns blazing as well?”
“That would be quite fool hardy much like your described scenario. I do have a plan however.”
“Great! What is it?”
“We must make preparations beforehand.”
“Right!”
“Computer, I have provided design modification details for mine and Ástríðr’s repair assistance vehicles.”
“Command confirmed and implementing your designs, master.”
“Preparations are complete.”
“What? That quickly?”
“I had the designs already submitted to computer and they have been implemented.”
“So, what am I supposed to do then?”
“You can follow my lead but prior to our continued investigation I will need you to reattach the auxiliary transport vessel to your repair assistance vehicle.”
“R…right. Bring your scooter up next to me, Fenris.”
“Okay.”
Once the “scooter” is moved next to Ástríðr’s repair assistance vehicle, the “scooter” returns to its auxiliary transport vessel mode and reattaches itself.
“In the event of attack, we should be able to stave off a small number of these zombies using our primary weapons. If we are in the position to be overwhelmed like you predicted then you only have to set the mode of your repair assistance vehicle to mimic my configuration.”
“But what about Fenris?”
“That is why I had you reattach her auxiliary transport vessel back to your repair assistance vehicle, so as to accommodate her into the final design.”
“Okay, I guess that means we’re ready, huh?”
“Indeed. No further initial preparations are needed. Let us proceed.”
We slowly proceed forward and I survey the structures taking note of any structural damages that may have occurred from the Tornado of Souls’ initial impact.
“Leader! Look over there!”
I see Fenris pointing to the front of one of the structures.
The light from her helmet spotlighting a zombie slowly making its way to its feet.
“Th~e li~vi~ng. Li~fe is wa~sted on the li~ving. W~e mu~st cla~im yo~ur li~fe fo~r u~s. W~e ne~ed mo~re li~fe. W~e ne~ed yo~ur li~fe.”
I fire off five shots terminating the zombie.
The body falls backwards and lands on the ground harshly with the liquid sprouting out like with the others before it.
I launch a self-levitating illumination orb into the middle of the village area.
“Th~e li~vi~ng is he~re.”
Near the other structures more zombies begin to make their way to their feet.
“Mr. Ninety, there’s a lot of them by all the buildings!”
I observe them quickly rise to their feet and quickly begin their way toward us.
“What do we do now, Mr. Ninety?”
“I will chart a path to the central area and begin my attack. Once I am in place find an opening area to set up your defensive position.”
“Got it!”
I leave our position while taking time to terminate and agitate the mass crowd to draw their attention to me.
With the majority of the mass crowd following my direction I take up my position in the center of the room and convert my repair assistance vehicle into mass crowd defense tower mode.
As soon as I begin my assault on the incoming mass crowd of zombies, Ástríðr departs her location from the exit of the tunnel and into the village area taking her spot some distance from mine.
From Ástríðr and Fenris’ distance they are able to begin their assault and start attacking the rear of the mass crowd coming my way.
While Ástríðr is on the top part of the tower, Fenris is in an enclosed area below her with an observational port so she is able to notify Ástríðr of any rouge zombies that may be not of the mass crowd.
The attack from Ástríðr draws a large portion from my position toward their location and more unaccounted zombies join the attack on Ástríðr’s tower.
“Miss Ástríðr, there’s more coming to us.”
“I see them, Fenris.”
It would seem they deem Ástríðr the bigger threat.
I will make sure that they have made a grave miscalculation.
Using the communications function I message Ástríðr.
“Ástríðr cease fire. I will close your viewing port briefly. Once I reopen your viewing port resume your attack.”
“O…okay. Fenris…um…close your eyes for a few minutes…I guess.”
“I understand.”
I shudder the viewing ports on both towers and then shoot off another self-levitating illumination orb but, this one is set for a short-term duration and high intensity discharge.
The resulting discharge does as I intended, providing a short duration stun and the orb falls to the ground with its job finished.
With the zombies momentarily stunned I reopen the viewing ports and relay my message to Ástríðr.
“Ástríðr, it is safe to resume our pincer attack on the mass crowd.”
“Okay, firing away!”
Our attack begins to narrow the numbers substantially leaving just a small and manageable amount to focus our efforts on as the zombies begin to recover from the stun effect.
Suddenly the zombies attacking my position leave and begin coalescing at Ástríðr and Fenris’ location.
Presumably they see those two as a more potent threat or easier target.
Nonetheless I can narrow their numbers further.
The remaining zombies reach the tower and begin climbing one on top of another, their fingers digging into the metal outer shell of the tower.
“Computer, initiate anti-siege shock barrier on the towers.”
“Command confirmed, master.”
The barrier deploys and immediately the zombies are stunned in place.
While the zombies are stunned, we finish off the remaining.
“Whew! That was pretty intense!”
“Indeed. You both did an admirable job remaining composed while continuing your assault.”
“There were so many. It was a little scary, leader.”