Stronghold In The Apocalypse

"Uhh..what?" Leo weakly mumbled before he fell on the ground and the last scene he saw before falling unconscious were Amanda and Mich.e.l.le running up towards him with faces full of worries while shouting in panic.

"Leo! What happened!?"

"Quick! Help him up!"

By then Leo"s consciousness was finally consumed by darkness as he had fallen unconscious this time

But what Leo didn"t know is that before Amanda and the others could even come near him is that they didn"t notice Leo"s shadow suddenly stretching away from his body as his terrifying Death Knight immediately emerged from his shadow!

*Neigh~!*

"Get back!" Austin yelled as he gestured them with his hand to halt their movements.

"Am I tripping right now? Is there really a horse with no flesh and its eye sockets where there is suppose to be eyes is now replaced by a grim looking green ember?" one soldier asked the person beside him while rubbing his eyes as he stared looking Death Knight circling around the unconscious body of Leo.

"I think not because there is really one in front of us right now!" the soldier that was being asked immediately replied with s.h.i.+vering tone.

Amanda,Mich.e.l.le and the rest of the soldiers immediately pulled out their own rifles as both of them put some distance away from the Death Knight and pointed their weapons towards it.

"Can someone tell me what the h.e.l.l this thing is!? It"s already shocking enough that there"s a freaking a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p beside us and now there"s even this weird dude that suddenly popped out of nowhere! And what"s more, It"s even freaking riding a horse made out of freaking bones!" Austin yelled as his palms started to sweat as a Mutated Human with enhanced abilities, he is able to sense the dark grim aura full of killing intent surrounding the rider and he"s sure as h.e.l.l that the "thing" in front of them would easily able to wipe them all out!

As the air surrounding them started to become tense, one soldier suddenly raised his and awkwardly said, "Uhmm...I think I know what this guy is"

"You know what this thing is?" Austin pointed at the Death Knight while the others also turned their towards the soldier.

*Clip-clop* *Clip-clop*

While Austin and the rest are keeping an eye at the Death Knight, the latter is also looking at them as the skeletal warhorse would move from left to right around Leo.

"Yes, before all s.h.i.+t went down. I was once an author of a fantasy novel and an avid reader. So if my memory serves me right, then the one in front of us is surprisingly a Death Knight that should"ve only exist in stories" the soldier said to them while he would glance at the Death Knight with s.h.i.+ning eyes from time to time!

"A Death Knight?" Amanda muttered with a raised eyebrow.

The soldier heard her and nodded, "Death Knight are literally dead people who once were warriors before…" he didn"t continue but instead gestured up and down towards the Death Knight with his hand, "You know what I mean".

"And even though we can"t really get a good glimpse at the man atop the horse because of his robe. I"m pretty sure that it is a Death Knight just by looking at that skeletal warhorse with dark grim embers inside its eye sockets"

"But the pressing matter is, are they strong?" the soldier behind him asked.

That man suddenly looked at him like he was looking at an idiot, "Were you not listening at all? Strong? Tsk! Then tell me, is it easy to kill something that"s already dead?"

When they heard him, all of them suddenly went pale as they all took a step back that even the two wolf cubs on Amanda and Mich.e.l.le"s arms are already whimpering in fear since the Death Knight"s appearance.

The only person who is probably the calmest right now is Austin as he already notice some minute details about the Death Knight based on its current actions right now.

"It"s not attacking us but instead forcing us to make a distance away from it" Austin thought as his eyes moved away from the Death Knight to Leo who is lying unconscious on the ground behind the Death Knight.

"This is voodoo!" someone suddenly yelled.

"Witchcraft!"

"Now, this some huge juju s.h.i.+t!"

A vein suddenly bulged at Austin"s head when he heard his men making a ruckus behind him so he turned around and glared towards them and yelled, "Shut up! You bunch of sissies!"

All of them immediately quietened down as all of them lowered their heads but Amanda and Mich.e.l.le who had been paying attention to Leo the whole time had all turned pale as they s.h.i.+vered in fright while staring at Austin..No, more precisely behind him!

One of the soldiers suddenly raised his head and was about to apologize when he suddenly s.h.i.+vered in horror as he tremblingly pointed behind Austin, "Sir…."

"Behind you!" his shout immediately jolted the others as they also had horror plastered on their faces when they saw the "thing" behind Austin!

Of course, Austin is not an idiot! He had already felt that there is something dark and dangerous behind him a second before his men even warned him!

"s.h.i.+t!" Austin who is covered in cold sweat cursed inside as he already knew that the Death Knight is standing behind him and what"s more annoying for him is that he didn"t even notice when or how the Death Knight even got behind him!

And the soldiers who were panicking earlier had already switch of the safety on their rifles as they pointed it towards the Death Knight standing just behind their commanding officer and even though all of them are covered in cold sweat but their eyes never wavered at all!

All of them are having mixed feeling right now, on one side they feel fear towards this unknown creature but at the same time their blood is boiling in excitement as they antic.i.p.ated a battle on the verge of exploding!

Austin suddenly smiled when he noticed that his men finally gathered their wits and even though no one is saying right now, he could certainly feel this men of his are certainly all eager for a fight right now!

"Sir! Your orders!?"

Austin just smiled as his body suddenly started expanding as changes took place around his body. He grew furs around his arms, his legs, his face and even his chest, his ears also turned into tiger ears, his eyes became golden slits and his nails turned into claws!

Austin turned into a Were-Tiger again!

"ROOARR!" Austin released a loud road but midway through it, he suddenly jumped and rolled forward as a flash of light flash behind him.

*BANG!*

The place he was standing earlier exploded into pieces as rocks and the likes flew everywhere!

When Austin turned around, he saw the Death Knight now holding two identical swords on his hands as it just stood there staring at them like it was waiting for them to do something.

"Amanda, Mich.e.l.le! Move away from here!" Austin yelled in a hoa.r.s.e voice but his warning wasn"t necessary as the two women had already moved away from them.

"Men, you guys know what to do" Austin didn"t even turn back and just casually said those words.

The soldiers understanding what he means immediately nodded as they put they rifles on their backs and pulled their own close combat weapons!

There are flails, b.a.s.t.a.r.d swords, maces to double edged battle axes and there"s even a warhammer!

(warhammer: soldiers are just a few of Leo"s elite soldiers! They are one of the very first survivors who had joined him and even went with him to his multiple expeditions! Every single one of them are battle hardened soldiers and even though they haven"t turned into mutants yet, their strengths are already near comparable to that of an ordinary mutant mostly because they had already consumed a lot of mutant beasts meat before that enhanced every single cell of their bodies!

All of them gripped their weapons tightly as they surprisingly ensued their own battle cries!

"WAAHH~!"

Their bodies started bulging a bit as their eyes started burning with battle intents!

"Geez, their name Berserkers really fits them right now. Such battle loving freaks!"

"They even call themselves Elite Guards or whatnot of Leo! How embarra.s.sing!"

The two women are whispering with each other as they also felt a bit of excitement mostly because they want to see how powerful a deadman truly is.

"Charge!" Austin shouted as he led the charge with his men following behind him.

"Ahhh!"

Austin jumped towards the Death Knight as the rest of the soldiers did the same thing, brandis.h.i.+ng their weapons towards the Death Knight.

But while they are in mid air, the Death Knight didn"t just stand there and let them attack him as they saw the Death Knight raised one of his sword and when Austin and the others saw "its" actions they immediately frowned as they felt danger enveloping so they immediately put their weapons in front of their chest while Austin crossed his arms in front of him.

A long flash of light suddenly appeared after the Death Knight swung his sword as the flash of light that looks like wind blade heading towards every single one of them.

"Here it comes!" Austin yelled as they tightened their grips!

*BAMM~!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

The flash of light directly hit their bodies but their injuries was only minor cuts as their weapons took most of the brunt of the attack and in the process directly turning their weapons into mere iron sc.r.a.ps by now and all of them also got sent flying towards the opposite cave wall as they created human dents on the walls.

"Well...that was very anti climatic" Mich.e.l.le sighed as she didn"t expect that Austin and others would lose so easily.

"Indeed" Amanda nodded to what she said and focused her attention at the Death Knight that was looking towards their direction this time so she turned towards Mich.e.l.le and gave an awkward laugh as she asked, "It"s looking over here. It won"t attack us, right?"

Then Death Knight finally ignored them as it turned around as the war horse trotted back towards Leo.

"It seems it won"t" Mich.e.l.le said as both her and Amanda sighed in relief.

Then Amanda took out a blanket and spread it on the floor and after that, she and Mich.e.l.le then also started taking out some canned foods and bottled water from their bags and after all that, both of them then started eating by themselves while feeding their pets from time to time.

"I hope Leo is okay" Amanda worriedly said while chewing something in her mouth.

"It"s gonna be fine. That"s guy is like a c.o.c.kroach, he doesn"t die that easily" Mich.e.l.le said while eating a palmini pasta.

"Ohh...Austin just came out from the wall" Amanda suddenly said when she noticed Austin jumping down from the wall that he got stuck into.

Mich.e.l.le turned to look and chuckled at their misfortune.

*****

"Ughh...that really hurts a lot" Austin who reverted to being human again jumped down from the hole that he got stuck into while muttering in pain as he felt his body aching all over but at the same time, he felt lucky that he transformed as a were tiger or he would have gotten it worst.

Then he turned his head to the side as he finally remembered his subordinates so he stood up and walked over another human hole on the wall and pulled the soldier out from the inside.

"You okay?"

"Y-yes sir but it seems my right arm got dislocated" the soldier said while looking pale.

Austin nodded then he went in front of him and grabbed the soldier"s right wrist and pulled in backwards.

*Pop!*

A popping sound was heard from his shoulder as it was finally popped back in then he started looking around where he saw the two women eating by themselves so he went over to them and asked if they have an extra clothing with them from which the two women immediately handed him two pieces of clean cloth.

Austin then went back to the soldier and helped him slung his injured arm with a clothing before proceeding to help the others out from the walls they got stuck into.

A couple of minutes later.

"G.o.d! My body is aching all over!"

"This is so embarra.s.sing! We all got even in a single move!"

"Yeah, he probably didn"t even break a sweat"

"Well, in case you"re forgetting. The guy is already dead so yeah...he really didn"t break a sweat at all!"

Austin didn"t even bother caring about them anymore as he just leaned back on the wall and closed his eyes and not even a few seconds later, he fell asleep.

"Man, today is so tiring"