Risen World

Chapter 45: Preparing for the Final Fight

The past night had been a bit hectic. Everyone was rushing to put as much stuff together to defend the mansion as possible. Joshua had stayed up for a while to help out at first, but after everyone seemed to have a good idea of what they needed to do he left them to finish things. Although he wanted to help out more he knew that rest was the most important thing for him to be doing in preparation for tomorrow. When he woke up and got a good look at the mansion he was pleased with all of the changes. There were several barriers of tables and spiked wiring that were set up to impede any zombies or creatures that had made it inside the building. Of course this wouldn't stop any of the sub-boss class monsters, but it would by them some much needed time to make their way to the basement if all else failed.

When he got down stairs he saw several similar structures around the floor, but also noticed heavy duty planks being used to block off the windows except for small gaps used to look outside. Joshua walked over to the nearest window and took a quick look. The outside surrounding of the mansion was filled with several similar barricades along with ditches similar to the ones outside the fence line. Any major entrances to the mansion were completely blocked with heavier equipment such as abandoned tractors on the outside and refrigerators or shelves on the inside. The only way to currently enter or exit the building at the moment was a ladder on the second floor balcony. Of course that would be removed when an attack occurred, but for now it was necessary for them to move about.

Joshua made his way down the ladder to get a better look at the outside defenses and noticed several post along the fence line that were positioned so that they would be pushed into the ground if anything tried to force down the fence. There were also several ditches with barbed wiring on the inside that would slow down the zombies even more if they made it past the fence. The last couple of things he noticed were the large amounts of spiked wiring and spiked wooden barriers placed on the roof of the mansion. This was probably done to keep flying monsters from landing on the building. It might not kill one of the monsters, but it would definitely injure it. The other thing was the fact that any crops to close to the mansion were cut down and moved onto the road that lead up to the door step.

'They must be planning to burn all the crops as a defensive measure if things get bad. Not a bad idea.' Joshua thought as he looked over the place. 'It would be useful in killing large amounts of zombies and could possibly even hurt a sub-boss that can't fly. Clearing out the crops around the mansion also would help stop the fire from spreading to the building, but by that point they would probably have all moved down to the basement if things get that bad.'

After musing over everything he headed back inside to eat a quick breakfast before meeting up with the others to decide how they would approach their assault on the boss monster. He didn't want to eat too much and put himself off balance for the upcoming struggle, but fighting on an empty stomach was just as bad if he ran out of energy to fast. When he made it to the kitchen no one else was there. Most likely everyone was getting some sleep after all the work they did last night. Joshua quietly made himself a bowl of cereal and absentmindedly munched away as he thought of the large task ahead of him. After a few minutes members of his group started to make their way into the kitchen.

At first it was Natalie who had a bright smile, but Joshua could still see the faded rings under her eyes showing that she wasn't able to get much sleep. Next it was Nathan who wondered in with his laptop. He had an extremely nervous air about him as he almost dropped the computer twice while making his way to the table. Next was Madalyn who came in looking the most exhausted of the lot of them with red eyes and dark circles under them. She was the calmest one so far and she even had a big smile as she started to make herself some coffee. Last but not least was Laura who casually walked in a few minutes later. She wasn't as nervous as Nathan or Natalie, but Joshua could see that she was just putting up a front with the way she tapped her feet in restlessness every now and then.

With everyone gathered Joshua waited for them all to get a bite to eat before they began discussing how they were going to handle the upcoming fight. It didn't take them all that long with everyone being slightly on edge and not in the mood to eat a big meal. Just about all of them stuck to a simple bowl of cereal or oatmeal along with a cup of coffee. When they all had finished Joshua was the first to breach the subject of why they were all there in the first place. "Well today's the big day. Either will all be held up as heroes going forward or"

"Or we die in a blaze of glory. Either way it's better than waiting for death." Laura said surprising the others.

"Basically, but now's the time we make sure the former is how things will end up. So first off I have a question for you girls. How much stronger did you get after Laura killed the sub-boss?" Joshua asked.

"I reached level eight and I'm getting fairly close to level nine, but it would take another sub-boss to make that leap. We could kill zombies for over a year and probably not gain enough experience at this point." Madalyn explained with the other two ladies nodding along.

"Well then that's going to be part of the plan then." Joshua simply stated causing the others to look at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Laura calmly asked.

"I mean we're going to kill a sub-boss before trying to take down the big boss in town. We're going to need you ladies to be as strong as possible if we want to be able to kill that monster."

"Even if that's the case where are we going to get the time to go hunting a sub-boss if were planning to kill the big guy today?" Natalie asked in confusion. That's when Nathan jumped up in excitement after figuring out what Joshua was planning.

"You're expecting the boss to create a sub-boss on its own aren't you Josh? It would make sense seeing as all the bosses in the city are able to create several of them at a time. I guess we should expect the boss in town to at least be able to create one sub-boss at its size." Nathan explained so the girls could understand.

"In fact last time I'm pretty sure it did create one, but I was the one who killed it so none of you gained the experience." Joshua replied.

"You mean that super female zombie you fought? That would explain why it descended in a ball of purple haze and was able to regenerate unlike other zombies." Nathan said with Joshua nodding in reply. "If that's the case then we'll be dealing with two bosses in this upcoming fight. Last time that ended up separating you guys and causing all sorts of problems."

"Yeah the big boss chased Laura and I out of town while the sub-boss was busy kicking Joshua's ass." Madalyn said getting an annoyed eye roll from Joshua in response. "Although we survived that encounter, we were basically running for our lives the entire time. Not to mention the fact that it was able to create more creatures to attack Natalie and the Carsen brothers outside of town."

"There is a way to solve that problem." Joshua stated gaining the attention of all the others once again. "When we first met the boss and attacked it with our usual poison gas and fire combo we were able to damage it, not as much as we would have liked but we did injure it. The reason it was able to shrug it off and heal so quickly was because it absorbed the haze around it to heal its wounds faster. If we can start off damaging it to the point where it has to use most of the surrounding haze to heal itself then when it summons the sub-boss to fight against us it will have to use most of the remaining haze creating it. That will keep it from being able to control any smaller forces that could get in our way and cause problems."

"How are we going to damage it enough to do that without using all of our reserves right from the start. We will still need to kill the sub-boss afterwards if things go according to the way you two are assuming." Madalyn asked.

"We're going do more damage to it than we did last time without even having to use much of your powers at all. Just one poison grenade and a fireball and will have that monster on the ground shrieking in pain." Joshua responded and got more confused looks. "This time around I'm going to lure it to the gas station then we're going to blow it up right in its face."

Everyone looked around at each other for a moment before they started to break out into smiles. "That's a good idea. It probably won't kill it considering how big it is and the fact that we have to destroy its core completely to finish it off, but we can probably destroy a limb or two with that plan." Madalyn said with a vicious grin.

"If we do that amount of damage it will probably have to use most of the haze to heal itself quickly, otherwise we might get a shot at killing it if it leaves the injury alone." Natalie said after remembering how encumbered the boss back at the factory was after losing its arm.

"After we injure it and it uses the sub-boss as a distraction you girls will be tasked with killing the sub-boss. Try using the buildings for distractions if it becomes a problem for you guys. I on the other hand will try to keep up with the boss and hurt it as much as possible. We don't want it healing all the way back to top condition while killing the sub-boss. That would just make everything pointless in the end." Joshua explained.

"If that's the case, how do you plan on injuring that giant?" Nathan asked.

"I'll keep it simple. Poison gas and fire arrows whenever I can use them on its damaged areas. That should keep it from healing back to full long enough for you ladies to finish off the sub-boss and come help me put the thing down for good. With Laura's fire power and Madalyn's poison we should be able to kill it with well-placed attacks in the long run."

"If we do kill the sub-boss what makes you think we'll have any energy left to even kill the boss? After our last two fights against those things we were on our last legs by the time they were dead." Laura calmly said.

"Oh that's simple." Nathan interrupted Joshua as he was about to explain. "Every time you guys level up you gain a surge of strength, but that's not only new strength and powers but also a revitalization of your bodies. Whenever you guys leveled up while grinding before it was as if you weren't tired in the first place."

"Exactly after you guys kill the sub-boss and level up then you will be both in top condition and stronger when taking on the big boss during the last stretch. That's when we'll take the bastard down for good and hopefully end this nightmare." Joshua explained gaining nods from everyone before he continued. "Good, now Madalyn did you prepare the things I asked for?"

"Yep, they're all ready for use. I was even able to finish my experiments and create my best bomb yet." Madalyn said with a crazed smile that looked even more unsettling with her reddened and tired eyes.

"Good. Now let's get ready to go. It's time we end this." Joshua said before standing up and heading out to get his gear.