Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 159: A Convergence of Horde Kings

It was shortly after Olivia, and Zane finished speaking about their personal business that the vote was concluded. Surprisingly, it was unanimously in favor of Zane's proposal. Perhaps the sudden assault by tens of thousands of undead as well as the loss of 1/5th of the settlement's population was too much for the residents of Gravestone to handle.

Because they were all lining up, wanting to be the first to awaken their new powers. Of course, Angelica had a long cooldown on her abilities, and thus she could only help cure one infected survivor at a time.

As a result, Zane made sure that only one of his settlement's residents consumed a blood crystal at a time. It was a lengthy process, and more often than not, it would take multiple tries for the residents of Gravestone to awaken their system and the powers it granted them.

But luckily for Zane he had thousands of tier I blood crystals in his inventory, most of which had been gathered from the undead who attacked the town. And because of this, he had more than enough to ensure that all 35+ survivors within his community successfully awakened.

It took several days, however, for this to come to pass, and Zane realized that out of the 35 or so survivors in his community that remained standing after the battle, only roughly 1/5th of them awakened skills that were useful in combat.

The others were more of what Zane would call support types. Insofar that their skills were useful primarily as a means of labor around the settlement. While these people could be used to help expand Gravestone, and to help it achieve a greater rate of sustainability and survivability, they were primarily useless in combat, especially against higher tier undead.

Once an undead reached level three, they were virtually impossible for a non-awakened survivor to kill. Perhaps if they had an anti-material rifle, or a rocket launcher, they might be able to kill an Abomination or a Stalker assuming they got lucky, that is. But a Juggernaut was built sturdier than most main battle tanks.

You would need some serious firepower to take one of those out without the special skills granted by the mysterious system, and there were only so many Anti-Tank Guided Missile systems lying around the wasteland. A weapon that was, of course, non-renewable.

Because of this, Zane basically focused on the development of these six new combat capable survivors, as well as what remained of Gravestone's second strike team. Giving them all enough blood crystals to get to a minimum of level 5.

In total, Zane now had around 15 awakened survivors he could call upon for battle. But more importantly, he wanted to test out his new skill. And because of this, he decided to make a trip to New Reno so he could fetch himself some undead to make into his own minions.

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While Zane was bolstering the defenses of Gravestone via a mass awakening of its residents, and via making use of the settlement management feature of his system, there was a convergence of Horde Kings going on that he was entirely unaware of.

It was not a physical meeting, but rather a collective communication achieved via what can only be described as a shared hive mind. There were a lot of conversations taking place at the same time, mainly a bunch of Horde Kings who were startled by the sudden loss of one of their own.

After all, the Horde King's minds were connected together, and they would instantly know when one of their own perished. The idea that a Horde King had been killed by the living was simply fantasy, and because of this, many of the Horde Kings were quick to assume that Eliza was murdered by one of her brothers or sisters.

The ongoing chatter was mind numbing to Lilith, who shrieked like a banshee, silencing the convergence of thoughts as she demanded complete and utter silence.

"Shut up! All of you!"

Lilith was one of the most powerful Horde Kings in the world. Tier V Horde Kings were rare enough on their own. These were undead who commanded hordes that were the size of the world's largest metropolitan areas.

But among the limited number of Tier V Horde Kings in this world, Lilith was one of the most feared of her brothers and sisters. And for good reason. Her power was damn near limitless. And even a fellow Horde King of the same ranking would be compelled to show her respect out of their fear of her power. Unless, of course, they were someone like Damian.

Naturally, it was one of these very Horde Kings who spoke to Lilith, chastising her for her ear-piercing screech.

"Now Lilith… I understand your agony. I truly do. But was it really necessary to deafen us all just now?"

Lilith recognized the deep and masculine voice which was speaking to her. It belonged to a Horde King known as Balthasar. He was the man at the very top of the undead hierarchy. Second only to death herself.

Balthasar ruled over the ruins of Tokyo, and by now he had converted all of its population into his own minions. He was, without a doubt, the single most powerful Horde King in this world.

And even Lilith was forced to show him respect. Which is exactly what she did next, bowing her head and speaking in a sheepish tone to the man while referring to him with the honorific that was reserved for him alone.

"Apologies, my lord… It was just… Unbearable to listen to such squabbling. Please forgive my foolishness."

Balthasar, however, responded in a way which Lilith did not expect. He did not continue to chastise her, nor did he outright threaten her. Instead, he spoke of his sympathy to her.

"Apology accepted. Mother knows that I too was about to lose my mind. Listen here, my brothers and sisters. Although I am on another part of the world from where our dearest little sister Eliza was slain. I can assure you that it was not one of our own who is responsible for such a dastardly deed!

After all, my powers are far greater than all of yours. And as fantastical as it might sound. Eliza was killed by a living being. One of these so called awakened survivors we have been coming across as of late.

I didn't expect the living to have such a powerful entity, and I can't help but feel Eliza got herself killed by underestimating this hidden viper. But make no mistake, it was not one of our own who murdered our beloved little sister."

Even Lilith's eyes opened wide in shock when she heard that a living being had killed Eliza. How was that remotely possible? Eliza may have been at the very bottom of the hierarchy. Barely even qualify as a Tier I Horde King. But she was still a Horde King who commanded tens of thousands of Undead.

Judging by the pathetic little rats she had come across who had a few magic tricks at their disposal. It was simply impossible for Eliza to have been killed by one of these so called "awakened" survivors.

And she was quick to protest this matter, even if she was deeply intimidated by Balthasar.

"That's impossible! I have come across the most powerful of these awakened in my area, and they can't even kill a stalker when grouping up together in the dozens! Are you trying to tell me that in such a small area, with such limited resources, a group of such powerful living beings exists in secret?"

Balthasar, however, sneered when he heard this. Though his personal appearance could not be seen by his brothers and sisters, it didn't stop him from reacting as if they were in front of him. He then spoke a name which immediately drew the attention of all the other Horde Kings.

"I think little Bartholomew would best know the answer to this, isn't that right?"

Bartholomew began to sweat bullets when he heard Balthasar mention his name. The two of them were not even in the same category. Bartholomew had no right to utter Balthasar's name, in all reality the mighty Horde King who was second only to Death herself should not even know his name.

Then how? How did he know about his alliance with Eliza? Lilith was not the only one intrigued by this information. Damian himself raised his brow when he heard this name. Naturally, by existing on the same continent as Lilith, the two of them could be said to be in competition for resources.

And Lilith always had a particular interest in Bartholomew, a mere Tier II Horde King. Because of this, Damian was paying full attention to how this conversation would play out. More specifically, Lilith's reaction to the news that Bartholomew knew the truth of how Eliza had died. And needless to say, when Lilith finally spoke, he would not be the least bit disappointed.