Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 288: The First Death Knights

Zane was entirely unaware of the Amazonians, their hostility towards that of the opposite sex. As well as the fact that there was a nearby bunker filled with men and women who were once critical members of the former united states.

The marines attached to this base were fully planning to assault the Amazonians, seeing them as the second group of outlaws in the region that were considered the most dangerous to deal with. All the while, Zane, Gwen, Eliza, Beatrix, and Evilyn walked through the streets of Las Vegas, entirely unaffected by the dead nearby.

They were searching for awakened survivors to kill, so that Zane could test his new ability, and see if there were any limitations to it. They did not however provoke the undead in the area, as they did not wish to leave a trail of bodies leading to their location.

After all, the longer the local Horde King did not know about their identities and whereabouts, the better. Because of this, Zane was rather comfortable walking through the streets as he asked Gwen about who exactly the local Horde King was, and whether or not she knew about their identity.

"You know I have been meaning to ask, but the Las Vegas metro area housed millions of people before the outbreak of the apocalypse. I'm curious about what tier would the local Horde King be, and who they are."

Gwen did not hesitate to answer this, as she quickly explained the relative power that Horde Kings had compared to one another.

"A Horde King's tier relies on a variety of factors. Individual strength is no doubt important, but so are the number of undead they are in command of. To put it simply, someone in charge of a domain the size of Vegas and the surrounding areas would generally be a Tier V Horde King. But there are exceptions of course.

As for who exactly is in charge of Vegas, his name is Victor, and he's… He's a bit of a conniving bastard. He's a lot like Lilith in many ways, who you have already met. But is far less favorable towards me than Lilith had always been.

Still, I get the sense that given a chance, he's more inclined to work with other Horde Kings for mutual goals, then some of the more fanatical among our ranks. That does not mean however that he would be willing to bow to you. Oh? What's this… I'm detecting several thousand life signs nearby. It would appear we have stumbled upon something interesting!"

Gwen wasn't the only one, all of his other campions, and Zane himself noticed the heartbeats originating from nearby. They were like a drum, beating to a perfectly orchestrated chorus. Not only that, but Zane could smell them as well.

As a Horde King which was considered the Apex predator of the world, Zane's senses had sharpened significantly, especially when it came to hunting living beings. He could hear a heartbeat from a kilometer away and pinpoint its exact location.

But with such overwhelming background noise, Zane could tell they had accidentally stumbled upon what appeared to be one of the major factions in the Las Vegas area. Which appeared to be hunkered down in the old campus of the local university.

Zane was tempted to just barge in and introduce himself, knowing that with two Tier II Horde Kings by his side, and another three Tier I Horde Kings, himself included on that list. There was nothing the locals could do to harm them.

Still, he was far more cautious than that. His past experiences had shown him that human survivors could voluntarily pledge themselves to Horde Kings and act in their interests. Should he and the girls reveal themselves here and now, it could very well reach the ears of this Victor, who was a force that they could not currently even scratch if they were to get into a fight.

It was with this in mind that Zane whispered towards the others, communicating with them his plans on how to proceed.

"Evilyn, Gwen and I will scout out the area, as we are the ones who have the ability to remain unseen. Eliza, you and Beatrix stand back here and wait for our signal. If the locals appear to be friendly, then we will introduce ourselves. If not, we will wait until we can replace a way to covertly infiltrate the university."

Though Eliza wanted to express her discontent with behaving in a way which she perceived to be cowardly, she was ultimately forced to adhere to her orders. Because of this, Zane, Gwen, and Evilyn wandered off, stalking towards the edge of the campus while remaining unseen from those inside.

The trio each took a separate wing to investigate on their own. As unless they bumped into one of the inhabitants by accident, their presence would go undetected. As for Evilyn as a spirit, she could just phase through physical barriers. Whether that was people, walls, desks, bookcases, et cetera. Nothing could stop her from infiltrating the area.

As Zane silently skulked through the halls. Something stuck out to him like a sore thumb. There were no men in the area. Only women and girls. This was definitely strange as until now he had never seen a survival group that was composed of one sex.

Hell, even the raiders had women as slaves. But here there were only women. Not a trace of men anywhere to be found. And it was only after Zane heard the ramblings of some of the local women that he began to understand why that was the case.

"Did you hear that the Raiders arena collapsed entirely on themselves? Killing everyone inside? Good riddance. The world is better off without men altogether!"

The woman standing across from the one who had made such a spiteful statement nodded her head in agreement, while professing some remorse, just not for the men who died. Not even the male slaves. Only the women who were kept in bondage.

"Although I agree with everything you just said, let's remember that many of our sisters were captured as slaves for those damn pigs! They, too, died in the arena's collapse. But I suppose it is better for them to die, then to be nothing more than a plaything for such brutes! I will never forgive men for what they have done here!"

Zane stared at the women as if they had a screw loose. Quite frankly, their irrational hatred of men was starting to piss him off. And because of this, he looked around to see if there were any other witnesses. And when there weren't he revealed himself.

The two women were shocked at first, but they did not have the time to scream as their heads were cut off in the next second before they could do so.

After which Zane grabbed their hearts, which were auto looted by his inventory system and devoured them. Gaining the XP they had.

---

[Level 15 Awakened Heart Consumed!]

[+100,000 XP]

[Level 18 Awakened Heart Consumed!]

[+180,000 XP!]

[XP: 630,000/1,000,000]

---

Zane barely glanced at his messages from the system before raising his opposite hand than the one he had used previously to raise Gwen and the others from death. He instinctively issued the command that was required to activate the spell.

"Unholy Knight of Death, rise again as a servant of the Prince!"

It was a longer incantation, but it did the trick, with the two women's heads reconnecting much in the same way Zane had experienced when raising the Horde Kings. The two women looked at one another. Their appearances had changed. Their hair was now black, as were their eyes. While their skin was as pale as snow.

The armor which they wore remained, but despite every ounce of their being trying to deny the command they had been issued. They knelt before Zane and uttered their vow of loyalty.

"What is your command, my Prince? I am but your humble servant!"

The two women were scowling with such hateful expressions, the idea that this man had appeared out of nowhere. Killed them, then resurrected them as his literal slaves. It was a fate worse than death. But they knew exactly what happened to them as they had seen the darkness that humans experienced when they perished from the world of the living.

As for Zane, he did not even ask the women their names, and instead inquired about what was going on with this settlement.

"I want the two of you to tell me everything that you know about this place."

The two women would be forced to reveal all the Amazonians' secrets to Zane. After which he decided that it would be best to slowly wipe them out and convert them to become a specialized unit within his horde.

One that he would name after the same mythical people that they themselves had named themselves after. Of course, that plan may not come to fruition considering the fact that the Remnant's marines were already nearing the Campus, preparing to strike and eliminate those within at a moment's notice.