As people started shifting to melee weapons David’s role again became more critical.

  He'd throw Halt, lock down a section of zombies, let raiders make their ‘free’ kills, then move his focus to the next area while the group he just helped shifted to more defensive fighting, buying time for their next turn in the rotation. He tried to go slowly, wanting to let the group experience some pressure and give everyone a chance to practice fighting in close quarters.

  His conscious management of his XP continued throughout. The sheer speed of his advancement compared to what would be possible without his combination of skills and bloodline was shocking.

  He'd pushed Convert as far as it needed to go for now. Then he had maxed out his resources. He was now boosting skills and stats that he couldn’t advance past level ten. What had seemed daunting, an almost theoretical limit when he had been considering the merits of half-step evolutions now came rushing up shockingly fast.

  He focused on personal survival first; Toughness, Vitality and Regenerate getting significant attention.

  The memory of a dozen rifles pointed at him was fresh in his mind. The fear that he might die struggling with the boldness he felt was needed to not just survive, but prosper in this new world. So, he was doing something about it.

  The fact that he was even thinking about being bulletproof in those terms was frankly insane.

  The pressure on the raiders was steadily growing as more and more guns went silent and casters called out, pausing to regenerate mana.

  The scope of David’s ability to cheat resource limits was becoming more and more apparent as even Charlie, the single most powerful caster they had, well other than him, was rationing his spells at this point.

  There wasn’t a lot of time as the group slowly bunched up, though this was perversely a good thing, now everyone was benefitting from all their overlapping Domains.

  While the boosts they got were small, having several was making a difference. In this kind of fight the increase in regeneration was invaluable, as skill use had become a lifesaving luxury rather than routine.

  Everyone was learning hard lessons about resource management and elites were starting to emerge, those who more easily sensed the flow of a fight and when to intervene.

  Everything stood on a knife edge as David scanned the area with all his senses, most of the remaining zombies had been given enough time to press close and there really wasn’t anywhere left for the raiders to keep giving ground to avoid injury. Perhaps more deadly was the fear of injury, and the panic that could shatter their cohesion.

  Everyone was starting to look worried, Carl who was one of the last people still shooting through a combination of excellent trigger discipline, carrying a lot of ammo and his aiming skills called out.

  “David, we need to start relieving this pressure so we can withdraw.”

  Charlie and Sarah both responded.

  “Bro, I can throw one big fireball.”

  “I have just enough for an area attack.”

  Camila and Katie were in the line and didn’t have time to call out. While Mark was pulling another raider back and casting a healing spell.

  There were already half a dozen recovering in the middle of the formation as the minutes it took to heal even relatively minor injuries, while miraculous, was becoming a problem in combat.

  As he took all of this in David saw the raiders start to crumble, it was subtle, more shuffling backwards and people looking for somewhere to retreat. He knew he had to change the dynamic.

  Their fragile group morale had been sapped by adversity and constant pressure, and he had to act if he wanted to avoid another collapse. Unlike the others the relative pace had allowed him to rebuild to full of power, and he had been waiting for this moment, he had seen how far they could go. Now he needed to take them further.

  So he did.

  “Everybody, get ready. We have them exactly where we want them! Get ready to attack!”

  Then he made one last adjustment to his status and went into full blown attack mode.

  “HALT! HALT! HALT”

  The power expenditure made David momentarily lightheaded and it impacted the battle immediately. Even before he started ripping Nath out of bodies to become captive spirits and refuel his reserves momentum shifted.

  The enemy were moving slowly enough that only some of them toppled. Carl saw the opening and bellowed.

  “Aim for the heads! Kill them before they recover and take the space. Stay on David.”

  David felt the euphoric surge of XP as he poured more power into his attacks allowing covert to run wild as he wrenched and pulled fresh spirits to him.

  Raiders screamed and shouted as everyone used their melee weapons, whether knight sticks, hatchets, fire axes, or whatever improvised tool the person favored.

  It all had one thing in common. In the hands of a scared, desperate person with magically boosted strength they were deadly. Stationary heads people could line up without worrying about being slammed by the zombies were easy targets.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The death screams were so loud in David’s ears that he wondered if they would stun the other Nath.

  They didn’t, instead the entire mass went berserk. Where you might be forgiven for confusing their pressing advance with queuing, given the lack of jostling, now they all pressed forward not caring about shoving the zombie standing next to them, or even pressing on the one in front of them.

  “HALT! HALT!”

  He didn’t dare wait for full power recovery; the enemies new momentum had to die before it impacted the burgeoning confidence of the raid.

  David tore into them shattering their advance before it even took a single concerted step. He advanced tearing spirits free to fuel his powers and aiming for the greatest concentration of the enemy, even feeling the intoxicating rush of XP as he killed.

  This was what proper power-leveling looked like. Everyone was killing zombies, while he was gaining the lions share with his cheat-like bloodline and spell this was still progress in moments for the others.

  But it wasn't without cost.

  David caught movement in his peripheral vision, a raider breaking formation to reach an immobilized zombie that was just out of reach and out of the path of their advance.

  The man was eager, high on his first few kills, and he wasn't thinking. Another zombie, free to move saw him and lurched in faster than anyone could react, powerful undead hands clawed at the man’s shoulder. The tactical vest took most of it, but cloth ripped and blood spread down his arm as the thing showed that inhuman strength and toughness turned even blunt human nails into a real threat.

  The man stumbled back, shock and pain replacing confidence. A second blow full on the vest caused him to stumble.

  Then help was there. Carl didn’t shoot, not with one of their own staggering in the firing line, instead he moved with all the speed his enhanced attributes offered and drove his big knife into the zombie.

  Then Katie was there too, her knight stick staggering the off-balance zombie.

  "Mark! Injury on my position!"

  She was already pulling the raider back and checking on him.

  Mark appeared using his skill and pulling the man further back into the protected center of the group.

  "Stay with the group, don’t risk exposing yourself for a kill," David said, his voice hard. Not angry, but absolutely firm. "Even now, your focus is to keep the person next to you safe, then to kill!."

  Some raiders nodded, others were either too focused or just didn’t hear him. Still, a small part of David thought;

  a cheap lesson, paid in pain and fear rather than death, good.

  David kept pushing unleashing power shifting his casting to try and maintain the tempo, modulating his Halt spell to break momentum and allow him to recover power while maximizing the scope of each cast rather than going for the longer duration that worked during his solo rampage.

  David also pressed to the front of the lines, knowing he could take a hit better than they could he moved and cast to cover the others, leaving zombies targeting him alone to increase cover for the raid.

  He paid the price moments later; a zombie lunged and raked across his chest, failing to penetrate his vest, then followed up with a downward slam at his shoulder causing him to grunt as reinforce flared pulling briefly on his Vitality and Health.

  It meant blows that bruised and drew blood were barely scratching his skin.

  The pain was dim, already being sorted out by Regenerate and David continued to ignore the zombie, then a second as he focused on managing the fight around him not protecting himself.

  Of course he hadn’t accounted for everyone’s reaction to seeing him, the lynchpin of their assault being battered.

  There were shocked gasps and then cries. People started to push to get past him to shield him.

  Camila exploded forward, crowbar whirling clearly having triggered charge and tore into the zombies, boost running.

  Huh, maybe sharing his plans before tanking zombies would have been a good idea.

  Charlie's voice cut through his analysis. "Dude, you just tanked that like it was nothing!"

  "Reinforce," David replied simply. "It's not flashy, but now do you see why I want you to have solid defenses?"

  He threw Halt again, the cast almost reflexive. The zombies ahead dropped, and David was already moving forward, maintaining pressure. The next spell broke the group out of the back of the mob.

  Behind him, raiders were gaining confidence, cleaning up kills even as he turned and plunged towards where his spirits told him most of the enemy were. Like the body of a dolphin plunging in and out of the water the raid followed him. Everyone was working together confident and pushing for victory.

  Not perfectly. They were still too green for that. But safe enough with confidence and momentum to fight, to grow.

  Another injury, this one a twisted ankle when a raider slipped on concrete slick with the ichor spilt by slain zombies. Mark handled it with practiced efficiency. Another near miss when two raiders got in each other's way and almost created an opening. Carl barked corrections, and they adjusted.

  Mistakes were happening, but they were learning mistakes. Everyone was still breathing. No deaths. No crippling injuries. That had to be good enough.

  David's tsunami of XP was starting to slow as they broke the zombies apart and more and more feel to the raiders rather than his desperate ripping attacks. They were entering the final, cleanup phase of the fight now.

  But he remained vigilant. Confidence was good. Overconfidence was fatal.

  He caught a cluster of zombies trying to flank from the left, Halt locking them down before they could threaten the raiders on that side. Another group pushed from the right, and he paralyzed them too. The pressure was dropping letting him control across a wide front, letting him slow down and step off the front lines again.

  His spiritual hearing picked up something that made him pause. Feedback in a different range as spirits he had sent out further reported.

  More zombies incoming. Still a way away.

  Time to wrap this up. The collapse of the zombie horde was coming fast now as momentum and casualties switched the brutal arithmetic of combat.

  David threw Halt again, the magic flowing with practiced ease. More zombies dropped. More spirits became fuel. More XP directed toward optimization.

  Then he picked up the pace again, pushing to overpower the diminishing numbers.

  The fight shifted from the grinding and methodical pace it had assumed as he stepped off the front lines and entered its final moments.

  David became the eye of a vortex of death. He stood there calm and analytical, picking his targets and using his magic to optimize the destruction, ignoring the rush of XP as he stripped the spirits from a few zombies to keep his resources up.

  This was his element. This was what he had built for, and it exceeded his hope and expectations.

  Camila looked energized, Charlie was excited enough to burn through his small accumulation of mana on a series of firebolts.

  Sarah's ice attacks added to the final flurry even as Mark and Katie moved onto the front lines claiming kills and checking for minor injuries before they could become major problems.

  The raiders gained XP. Skills improved. Confidence built. The horde died.

  Then it was over. The last zombie fell and the group were screaming and cheering. The sheer rush was incredible.

  Like your team winning the final, or your crush saying yes. Fear and adrenaline converted to endorphins and extasy.

  This was power-leveling done right. This was progression with purpose.

  The apocalypse was brutal, unforgiving, and absolutely terrifying. But they had won! And everyone was celebrating like it was the final battle of a long season.

  David had found his edge, and he was using it. Now he had to dampen their spirits a little.

  “Take stock! Get water on board. There are more incoming, we have maybe five or ten minutes before we fight again.”