Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 166: Banshee

During their discussion with Lily, Zane and the girls found that Lily had an exceptional ability. One which had applications to more than just fighting. Lily's skill, which she unlocked via her awakening, was the ability to manipulate plants of all kinds.

This was not only useful on the battlefield, where lily could cause the local flora to sporadically grow and constrict the movements of the undead. Something that allowed her to act as a control type wizard archetype. But she could also cause crops to rapidly grow to abnormal size and quantity.

What this essentially meant was that Lily had the ability to grow vast fields worth of crops within the vicinity of Gravestone. What would normally take an entire season to harvest and store could be done in a day with Lily's exceptional ability.

Effectively, as of this moment, the need to rely on the bunker's food stores, and supplement them with the limited vegetables and fruits grown in the greenhouses, had come to a fitting end. Now Lily could effectively feed the entire population of Gravestone and New Reno for the foreseeable future.

She could even grow crops within the local environment that were not supposed to survive in a desert plain. Such as tropical fruits, et cetera. Not only that, but Lily could cause her crops to grow with exceptional resistance to bacteria and pests. Making them spoil much slower than they normally would otherwise.

When Zane found out about the young woman's exceptional abilities, he immediately asked her to join their party. After all, the system had a party feature that allowed a group of survivors to link together and share certain rewards. A party had a maximum of six members, and currently, with Zane and the girls, they had five.

Lily's ability was exactly what they needed to add to their party, and if she was a member of their party, they could effectively keep a close eye on her, ensure her survival, and help her better with her future tasks of maintaining plant growth in the settlement.

Olivia was tasked with generating power to the settlement. Once a month she would go to the local power station and would inject it with an energy, enough so to last the entire Carson City Area for an entire month.

As for Angelica she served a vital function for the community by curing any illnesses or injuries that may occur. Elena, however, was less useful to the community and was more combat focused. The ability to stop, slow down, and rewind time for thirty seconds had very limited applications on the growth and survival of the settlement.

Lily was another party member who was not only useful on the battlefield but also as a key figure in the settlement. Which was something that Zane desperately wanted in his companions. At first Lily was hesitant, she did have a rather shy and timid personality.

But she seemed to get along well enough with Zane and the others, and she desperately wanted to do her part to help Gravestone survive and thrive in this apocalyptic wasteland. Thus, after careful consideration, she agreed to Zane's request.

From here on out, Lily would not only assist Zane and the girls in their duties as a Strike Team, but would also grow and harvest crops of various kinds with her newfound abilities.

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The settlement of Gravestone did not realize it, but they were now under constant surveillance from a spectral like creature. If it so desired, it could remain entirely unseen by the human eye. Only someone like Zane, who had envisioned, enhanced by his skill, Dead Man Walking, could detect this spirit like a monster.

The monster floated around just outside Gravestone's gates, seemingly repulsed by the newly built walls that were constructed with not only Stygian Iron, but of the remains of her fellow undead. It was almost like an invisible force field surrounded this settlement, one that prevented spectral undead from entering its borders.

Because of this, the Specter, which, while transparent, resembled a beautiful woman. She was dressed in the clothing which she had perished in at the start of the Apocalypse, her soul bound to Bartholomew after she had been bitten and infected by a Walker during the initial days of the apocalypse.

Though Zane was starting to realize this, the Horde Kings had the ability to level up the undead beneath their command. With enough experience and levels gained, an ordinary walker could be transformed into a higher tier of undead.

In reality, Zane had only seen a small variety of undead that could exist in this new and grim world. This specter was what was known as a Banshee, a Tier V undead of similar strength to a juggernaut, but with much higher intelligence.

A Banshee was incapable of being slain through normal means, only with an enchanted weapon could damage be inflicted upon its ghostly form. This was the case with all spectral undead. And because of this, they were extremely valuable to Horde Kings.

As a Tier II Horde King, Bartholomew had very few Tier V Undead beneath his command. The juggernaut which Zane had previously fought was one of them. But this Banshee was another. She silently watched the settlement of Gravestone, while communicating everything which she saw to her master, Bartholomew.

Meanwhile, the awakened were entirely unaware of this ghostly spy, which kept enough of a distance that even Zane could not detect her presence. Not unless he intensely focused on her exact location.

It would appear that from here on out, Zane and the Girls would be monitored at all times, Bartholomew's spectral agent keeping an eye on them, waiting for the time which his mother contacted Zane. While also maintaining a close examination of Zane's exceptional rate of growth.

After all, Bartholomew and the other Horde Kings still had a hard time believing that Eliza had been killed by a human. Because of this, they were incredibly wary of Zane's power, and his potential growth in the future.

But without knowing that he was watched, Zane could only do what he did every day. And that was to do his very best to level up and survive.