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[Limitless, the new defender and his escort have entered the zone. I have relayed your signal, you may leave as soon as the new defender signs your deployment order].

"Thank you, Aira. Tell them to get here soon."

While the mercenaries were as simple as they could be, the Reapers were generally very rule-bound. This was mainly because every rule in Hellsgate was learned and paid for in blood. One of the rules after a zone was reclaimed was that the mercenaries would wait for a new defender before leaving. This has evolved to require the signature of the new defender as proof.

The download to join the Death Seekers told me a lot about Hellsgate as a whole. If I didn\'t know my left from my right before, I now knew the rules that had been painstakingly written over the centuries. Defenders was the term used for the Phantoms who ruled over a Zone.

Zones were the plots of land in Hellsgate that the reapers and undead fought over. Each zone was part of a floor, and for simplicity\'s sake, the reapers named each zone with a code similar to the reaper ids. The zone I was in was called 1063-2. This meant that this zone was in North America, as indicated by the first digit. The next 06 represented the floor.

The deeper the floor, the stronger the undead.

I couldn\'t even try to go past floor 10. This was due to 1. not having a manifested weapon. And second, I was too poor to get my weapons blessed. The next two numbers came in pairs. 3-2 simply meant Tier 3 Zone 2.

The tiers were basically the zones proximity to the floor entrance.

Floor.jpg

Like dungeons in novels, if Reapers wanted to get to the next floor, they had to kill the boss of the current floor. Hellsgate took this mechanic to the next level. Each tier was like a mini-floor, with zones similar to "rooms". You could not move on to the next set of rooms unless you killed the boss of the current tier.

Thus, Reapers would have to hunt each tier\'s sub-boss in order to advance. The tier and zone names were created to denote the most likely place for the boss to hide. They usually stayed in the center, so the zone designations increased outward. This resulted in some zones being safer than others.

The zone I was in was 1063-2. This meant that I was in the yellow tier and zone 2, which had a lower chance of the boss being present. Originally there were no zones and the reapers just treated each tier as a floor. But for some reason, the purification of each soul crystal did not extend beyond the designated tiers. So the Reapers marked the divisions and created the tier-zone system.

A group of a dozen men arrived as I was contemplating the zone system. The people had different uniforms and equipment that indicated their practice. Some wore robes like scholars, others had overalls with thick gloves, and some wore armor meant for battle. I scanned the faces of the men and noticed that they all had looks of awe and surprise.

Even from this distance I could hear some of their whispers.

"Dude, I think I\'m going to puke. Look at this mess!"

"I know, right? The zombies are in pieces. I haven\'t seen a single intact zombie since we got here."

"Ugh, this place is bare bones, that defender must have been cheap as hell. No wonder it fell. We should be safe, right?"

"You idiot, this zone has already been reclaimed. Why do you think we are here?"

"Huh? Why is that guy wearing a suit?"

From the way these bastards talked, I figured they must not have seen much combat. The emblems they wore on their uniforms should be from the other professions. A few men in armor led them to my position. When they arrived, a nerdy looking man stepped forward. He looked like he was in high school and wore gaudy looking robes.

However, the feeling I got from him told me that this fucker didn\'t mess around and was the strongest of the group. The man crouched down to examine the bodies in front of me as he spoke.

"Are these the reapers that were part of the defenders?"

"What\'s left of them. They were all dead when I arrived. I found their bodies when I checked the house. I don\'t know if that\'s all of them," I replied.

The bespectacled phantom then stood up and began instructing his men.

"Okay, adventurers, please do a sweep and search for other reapers. Fortification, I want a 6-foot wall up in 3 days. Make it at least 2 feet thick. Production and Academics, proceed as discussed."

Like a well-oiled machine, the group split up and began their tasks. Those in armor began scouring the area for fallen reapers. Those in overalls pulled a cart of stone, wood, and other crap to another location. The rest of the group began to inspect and dismantle the dead zombies.

One of them approached me and asked seriously. "Hello! We came here because we heard there was an Rank-E Undead Chief. If you don\'t mind, could you please tell us where the body is?"

I pointed to the nearby tree and watched them retrieve the corpse. The new defender approached me while fiddling with his phone.

"Where\'s the rest of your team?" the reaper asked.

"There is no team, just me."

"Hmm. As usual, the Death Seekers make very little sense."

I felt the contempt in his words. I had just come from a long battle and was in no mood to play house with these fuckers. I asked bluntly in irritation.

"Can I go now? Give me your signature or whatever so I can leave."

The man sighed exaggeratedly as he shook his head. "Can\'t say I\'m surprised. Frankly, only you guys could ignore a loot of this magnitude, I guess the battle was it\'s own reward. Come with me, I just need to bind the crystal and you can go."

"What the hell can you even salvage from zombie corpses?" I asked incredulously.

"Plenty. You must be a newbie if you are really asking."

The man then went into the house as he arrogantly explained. Unwilling to waste another second in this place, I had no choice but to follow him. For some reason, I felt an uneasy tingling on my skin as we entered. Maybe it was instinct, but even though I could, I never lingered in the building before the new defender arrived.

"While it may be sacrilege on Earth, it is normal here to use zombie flesh to feed livestock. Their bones can be ground for a variety of uses. Blood and organs can be used to make potions or stimulants. Personally, I prefer to use their bodies as filler for fortifications."

Ugh, those guys were the worst. The ones who had to let everyone know how smart they were. If you made the mistake of asking anything, these guys never knew when to shut up. He was right about one thing. Using a human corpse for this kind of shit would get you burned at the stake on Earth. Here you can see the desperation of the reapers, if it was acceptable to build walls out of zombie corpses.

We entered the deepest room on the second floor. In the center of the place was a huge, 4-foot floating black crystal. Somehow, the closer we got to the thing, the worse I felt. The hairs on my body stood up like goose bumps as I came face to face with the giant jewel. The defender with me slashed his wrist with a small knife and sprinkled his blood on the gem.

"I hope our partnership lasts, my friend," the defender stated.

The blood seeped into the crystal and slowly the black color began to fade. Smoke, as dark as the night, spewed from the gem like poison being sucked from a wound. After about five minutes the whole thing was transparent and began to pulsate with a soft glow. As I bathed in its light, I noticed that the uneasiness I had felt was no longer there.

\'This must be the purification thing the video talked about before,\' I surmised.

"All right, Zone 1063-2 is now part of the Reaper Domain again, with me as its defender. We haven\'t introduced ourselves yet, have we? I am Patrick Steorra, Phantom. And you are?"

"John Smith."

"Hmph. Never mind then."

Then he picked up his phone and waited. Unable to understand his actions, I just looked at him absentmindedly.

"Pull out your Reaper handset and show me your QR code Death Seeker. We both have paperwork to fill out, so get on with it."

Unable to understand what the hell he was saying, Aira came to my rescue.

[Limitless, mercenaries are assigned AIs for paperwork. Just tap the earpiece and hold out your forearm.]

I couldn\'t stop laughing as I imagined blood-drunk mercenaries doing paperwork. No wonder they gave us AIs like Aira. Following her orders, I held out my forearm and the mercenaries\' logo appeared on the sleeve of my suit.

"Hmm, if you have a GRI that can transform, you must be an Octad. Impressive. Hopefully our paths will not cross again, John Smith."

He then scanned the logo on my sleeve and Aira gave me a confirmation. I understood what he meant. As a defender, if we saw each other, it meant that his zone had once again failed in its defense.

"I wish you well. Goodbye."

[Limitless, 2000 souls have been added to your account. Do you wish to respond to another siren or return to base?]

Base meant the town where the dispatch office was located. From just one battle, I gained 2000 souls as payment. This did not include the souls I got from the fight itself. All in all, I managed to earn nearly 1800 souls in one mission, minus expenses. Together with the payment, a single fight gave me 3800 souls. And it only took one hour.

Of course, I had a smile on my face when I counted the money I had just earned. I forgot about the danger and began to see zombies as nothing more than wads of cash. I replied to my trusty AI with an insatiable greed.

"Send me to another Aira. The night is still young."