A little while later they seemed to be in the industrial part of town, warehouses and factories were on both sides of the street. Ava had told him that the mutated zombies were hiding here with their forces.

Bracing himself for another battle, Ben yelled another provoking sentence to draw them out. Just like last time growls and roars filled the buildings.

Close to a hundred normal zombies came out and roared at Ben but five mutated zombies followed them, barking orders to the normal ones.

Mutated Power Zombie

Lvl 66

Mutated Speed Zombie

Lvl 63

Mutated Defense Zombie

Lvl 67

Mutated Power Zombie

Lvl 68

Mutated Speed Zombie

Lvl 66

Their levels flash across Ben's eyes. He sent a warning to James with the communication jade about their levels.

He then told Ava and Takon to handle the normal zombies while Ben, Duke and James would handle the mutated.

Ava came down and covered to ground with her black flame, distracting the zombies and allowing Ben and Duke to attack the mutated zombies head on.

Ben told Duke to attack the defense zombie while he would killed the speed one quickly. He didn't want any surprise attacks while he dealt with the power zombies.

Ben activated his lightning, covering his feet and swords. In a flash he appeared in front of the speed zombie and sent a slash towards its head. Ben's sword was met with a its claw like hands and deflected his blade. Ben quickly stabbed forward with his Ninjato, aiming for its throat.

Not being able to deflect the oncoming attack, the speed zombie leaned back avoiding Ben's blade. Ben followed his stab with a quick sweeping kick, trying to knock the zombie off balance. It worked and the zombie fell had to the ground, Ben pounced stabbing down at the head. The sword was about to pierce the zombies head but at the last moment he pulled back and used it to defend an attack from behind him.

A Mutated Power Zombie sent a punch at Ben's turned back. Ben was able to defend from the attack but he was still sent flying a few meters before stabilizing himself.

Duke was fighting the giant defense zombie and one power zombie. As you could guess from the name, the defense zombie had extremely thick skin and only light scratches on him from Duke's attack.

Two power zombies had come and attacked Ben while he was fighting the speed zombie. The speed zombie had just started to stand up when a burst of wind appeared above it, two long daggers were stabbed deep into its skull, killing it instantly.

"Sick of watching?" Ben joked as James removed his daggers from the zombies skull.

James opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by a loud roar from the two power zombies.

Ben dashed towards the one who attacked him and sent a quick slash at his head. The zombie raised his arm on instinct to defend himself, unfortunately for him the sword sliced clean through his forearm and part of his arm fell to the ground.

No blood came from the wound but the zombie screamed in pain. Fear filled his eyes as he looked at Ben's swords.

'Extreme Sharpness, eh? Thanks Ulfric.' Ben praised Ulfric in his mind.

Ben attacked furiously, pressing his advantage. The power zombie tried to avoid his swords the best he could but ended up covered in wounds. Ben was finally able to land a killing blow as the power zombie stumbled after Ben stabbed his leg.

James was fighting the other power zombie. His movements were smooth and light. Wind seemed to wrap around his body, allowing him to be light as a feather. Ben also noticed that James was able to literally walk on air. The wind surrounding his feet allowed him to stop on air like it was solid ground, giving him a unique and hard to defend against fighting style.

James quickly killed the power zombie and walked next to Ben. "Are you going to help him?" James asked, pointing at Duke fighting the two zombies.

The two zombies had great chemistry together causing Duke to struggle against them. The defense zombie would block almost all the attacks while the power zombie would sneak in a attack when Duke was vulnerable.

Ben watched Duke fighting the two zombies and decided to let him handle it. "He's fine." Ben said but sent a message to Ava, 'Watch him and only help if he needs it.'

Ava was hovering in the sky, watching as Takon was finis.h.i.+ng up the remaining zombies. She agreed and started to pay attention towards Duke's fight.

Ben and James looked over the town cleared out any left over zombies and looked for survivors and found none. They didn't have their hopes high but were still disappointed.

*AAAWWWWHHHHHOOOOO!*

An earth shaking howl reverberated throughout the town. James immediately s.h.i.+fted to a defensive stance, Ben laughed and told him that it was Duke and he was finished with his battle.

Walking back, Ben saw that Duke was heavily battered and panting hard. Near him was a huge headless zombie and another one with its throat out.

The headless one was the defense zombie, which shocked Ben. The body of the defense was incredibly tough, Ben wanted to test his new blades against it. An incredible amount of strength would be needed to rip its head off.

Ben walked up to Duke and patted his head, "Atta boy. I knew you could do it, now have a rest." Ben said as Duke's large figure disappeared and appeared on his right arm.

Ava and Takon both landed next to Ben, Takon looked at him eagerly wanting praise. Ben laughed at tapped on Takon's head, "Good job Takon. You are pretty ferocious." Ben praised Takon.

Ava stood there with her head held high, proud as the phoenix she was, she would never stoop to asking for praise from anyone. Due to their soul link, Ben could sense her emotions and smiled. "Thank you Ava for watching over us." he told her.

Though her expression never changed, Ben could feel a small amount of happiness from their soul link.

"Well let's get going to the next town before dark. We will spend the night there and continue in the morning." Ben told them as he jumped on Ava's back.

James then slowly and cautiously approached Takon. Takon snorted and huffed at James but after a few minutes of Ben convincing him, James was able to ride Takon.

As they flew through the air, Ben noticed two large shadows in the air ahead of them.

'Something is coming.' Ava said to Ben.

'I see them.' he replied. He then spoke out loud and said, "Takon, Ava, take us to the ground immediately. You two can find out what they want but be careful."

Takon and Ava quickly dove quickly to the ground. Ben and James jumped down from them and watched as they flew into the sky. The two shadows grew closer and closer until Ben was able to see them clearly.

Two black eagles were flying towards Ava and Takon. Their wingspans were over 10m and they were around 5m long. Blue sparks appeared around their wings, giving them a intimidating presence.

Black Lightning Eagle (Rare Beast)

Lvl 66

Black Lightning Eagle (Rare Beast)

Lvl 72

They circled Ava and Takon a couple of time before stopping in front of them. Ben couldn't hear the conversation but felt a sudden flash of anger from Ava's soul link.

She gave out a loud screech before sending a breath of fire at them. Due to their speed, the eagles easily evaded it. Takon quicking sent out a breath attack to and flew towards them. The eagles sent a bolt of lightning towards him and Ava, Takon rolled and evaded the attack while Ava covered herself with her black flame for protection.

Takon collided with one of the eagles and they quickly started fighting. Takon's rear claws attached to the eagles claws. The eagle pecked at Takon with his sharp beak, leaving him with chunks of flesh missing. Takon let a breath attack out, covering the eagle in white flames. The eagle let out a screech as he tried to disengage with Takon. Not able to break free, Takon used the chance to bite the eagles neck, with a strong shake of the head, a loud snap was heard as the eagle went limp.

Takon released the eagle as it fell to the ground, he then let out a loud roar of victory.

Ava was sending continuous flame attacks at the eagle, which it was able to avoid thanks to its speed.

Ava getting frustrated, tried to close the gap between them and got closer. Seeing his chance, the eagle immediately closed the gap between them and tackled her. They were joined together and started to fall out of the sky until the eagle's claws were around Ava's throat and spread his wings to stabilize himself.

Ava panicked in fear and sent her black flames everywhere. Some of them hit the eagle but the damage was minimal.

*Crunch!*

Takon bit the eagle head, ripping it off its body completely. The eagle's claws slackened and it dropped to the ground, dead.