Chapter 7: Slow Progress

As they entered the large room at the end of the hallway, they were greeted by four undead warriors equipped with what seemed to be magic shields: A dim yellow glow surrounded them and their surface seemed to blur under an almost transparent force field. Ray remembered this type of enemy from the game. To attack them, the player had to destroy their shields first by using a special attack, otherwise they were more or less invulnerable by the player's weapons. Ray hated these guys in game because they tended to break his combos before he could perform the special attack and thus had given him a hard time killing them.

Back than they had only been pixels on a screen. But this time they were fucking real.

The Undead screamed and banged their swords against the shields in an attempt to scare their opponents off. This tactic might have worked out, if said opponent hadn't been a certain rather fearless Spartan.

Ray wondered if Kratos knew how to take out the shields. There was a tutorial in the game but he doubted Athena would show the Spartan a pop-up window explaining the button sequence needed to perform a special attack. Maybe he'd ask Kratos about that bit once the fighting was done…

The Undead charged and knocked Ray off his train of thoughts. Two went for Kratos, one for Jana and the last one for him. They didn't run as fast as their shield-less comrades, but fast enough to hurt, when they run into you at full speed. Ray sidestepped the creature charging at him. Being outfitted with a huge load of armor and a heavy shield, the Undead wasn't able to change directions fast enough and skidded past the boy.

Ray used the chance and tried to land a hit on the monster's back. But he wasn't fast enough to do so. The Undead spun around and Ray's sword bounced off the magic force field surrounding its shield. Being surprised by the quick move and the block Ray nearly lost his grip on the sword.

Howcoulditreactsodamnfast? The Monster closed in on him, trying to shove Ray with its shield towards the wall; a strategy the AI had also used in-game. The boy got his shield between himself and the shield of the undead warrior, leaned against it and pushed as hard as he could. The monster turned out to be surprisingly strong. In addition to that Ray wasn't able to get a secure stand on the slippery floor causing him to end up with his back against the wall across from the entrance after a few seconds.

Ray could see Jana fighting an Undead whose shield had already been destroyed, while Kratos was dealing with the remaining two creatures. Their shields had also been smashed.

He had no time to think about how they had managed to get rid of the magic protections that fast, because the Undead tried to stab him. Thanks to his armor and shield, Ray wasn't providing it with much of a target. The attack missed him by inches and Ray's badly aimed attempt to counter-attack was blocked by the Undead with ease. It made a choking noise, which Ray interpreted as laughter. He guessed it was a bad sign when even Undead laughed him down because of his lag of sword skill.

"Guys? Help would be great!" called Ray while leaning against the monster with all his weight. Kratos kicking the monster's ass wasn't exactly how he'd liked the fight to end, but what other option was available? And having his ass handed to him by an Undead seemed far worse.

The Undead attacked again. To Ray it appeared to be grinning broadly. And this time it had a better aim. Ray tried to avoid the strike but it didn't go too well. The attack left a long, bleeding cut on his right arm. Ray winced and gritted his teeth. Like hell he'd give the monster another reason to laugh at him.

Kratos had finished off the first Undead and left Jana to deal with the second one. This wouldn't be much of a problem due to the fact that the creature had already gotten one hell of a beating from the Spartan. He started running and jostled the Undead attacking Ray away at top speed. They skidded across the hall and the Undead turned to face its new opponent. It attempted to pin Kratos down against the wall as it did with Ray, but Kratos was way stronger than the boy. He kicked against the shield, sending its owner flying backwards. This maneuver gave him the opportunity to destroy the magic shield by using the Blades of Chaos.

Now, that the biggest problem was solved, the remaining two Undead – Jana and Ray had killed the one Kratos had wounded by now – went down rather easily.

After all enemies were dead Jana suddenly noticed Ray's injury. She hadn't had the chance to check on him while they were in a fight. "You okay? That cut looks pretty bad."

"Burns like a bitch." Ray said while having a closer look at the wound. It wasn't bleeding that badly and didn't seem to be very deep. "But I guess, I'll be all right."

Jana frowned a bit. "I don't know much about medicine and stuff, but there is a danger of inflammation. You should clean the wound when we have the chance."

"I know," muttered Ray and rolled his eyes.

The three hurried across the room and up the stairs.

"You know what? That Undead laughed at me." Ray huffed while they ran up the stairs. He looked at Jana. "You know how… how embarrassing that is? I know, I suck at fighting. But I didn't know I was that bad."

Jana chuckled lightly. The whole thing could have gone unnoticed if Ray hadn't brought up the topic. She had been too busy fighting to check on her friend and therefore hadn't seen the behavior of the Undead.

"What! This is not funny!"

"Ah, come on. Why do you even care about what a fricking Undead thinks?" asked the girl, still grinning. "It's dead and, well, maybe it'll tell Hades but…" (Ray rolled his eyes once more) "Wait…do they even think?" She certainly had a weird opinion on how to cheer him up. Ray was about to replay in an angry tone when Kratos intervened.

"Both of you cut the crap," growled the Spartan. The conversation was obviously getting on his nerves. "Will that scratch handicap you?"

"Err… No, I`m fine." Kratos' intervention couldn't keep Ray from shooting Jana a glare. He liked her, sure, but sometimes she could be a real pain in the neck.

As soon as they left the building and stepped out on the balcony linking it to the second building, another Undead with magical shield appeared. Kratos saw him and slammed his blades against the shield. Sparks and pieces of wood filled the air around him. The creature screeched in surprise as it understood how useless its magical defense was against the Ghost of Sparta.

The Spartan used its hesitation and latched his blades into the body of the Undead. Then he launched it into the air and threw it at an undead archer standing on the other end of the balcony.

The archer's dead eyes grew wide as its brain calculated the trajectory and noticed that the flying body was about to slam right into it. A split second later the 'projectile' impacted and both creatures turned into black dust once they hit the ground. The second archer drew an arrow and was about to shoot it when Kratos approached it and grabbed it with his bare hands. The creature struggled to break free but the Spartan snapped its neck with a quick movement.

"A bit more stealth and some green paint and he's gonna rival Thane." said Jana sarcastically. Ray snorted. The image was hilarious but they had no time to dwell on it.

They reached the staircase leading up to the balcony from where the Athenian woman had fallen earlier. Another pair of archers was waiting for them at the stair head, arrows already on the bowstrings. As soon as they caught sight of Kratos and his companions they released the arrows.

Ray and Jana raised their shields while running up the stairs in order to avoid being shot. One arrow impacted in Ray's shield and stuck there, the other one had been aimed at Kratos, who caught it in midair and threw it back at its owner. The archer was hit right between the eyes and dropped dead. The second archer succeeded its comrade seconds later because Kratos had sliced it in half as soon as the archer was in range of his blades.

They left the building and headed towards the hatch they had discovered earlier. Kratos fished the key out of a pocket in his skirt and unlocked it. Ray glanced at the agora below them. The woman's corpse was still lying there, now surrounded by more dead Athenians. Some of Ares' minions had probably surprised and killed them. Ray gulped and wished he could have saved them. But he wasn't even able to look after himself in this strange world. How high were the odds of saving someone else's butt?

By the time he turned around again, the hatch had already been opened and Kratos was about to enter it. Jana and Ray followed him suit and dropped into a stone hallway. It looked much like the other ones they had seen already: lit up by torches and about three meters high. There was a difference through: this time it smelled moldy and the walls were slightly wet. Ray had to keep an eye on the floor in order not to slip.

After a short walk they came across a bifurcation. A group of hoplites was running towards them on the right pathway with undead soldiers at their heels. The boy could see the terror written in their faces. He knew the scene from the game. And he knew there was nothing he could do.

"Go!" one of the men screamed with panic in his voice. Ray watched as Kratos approached the bifurcation. The Spartan ignored the Athenians completely.

Suddenly a distant explosion shook the ground. Dust and small pieces of rock fell from the ceiling but apart from that nothing happened.

At first Ray thought the events had changed, because the corridor was still mostly intact. But then, an instant later, the ceiling came down and the warriors were buried under it. Kratos did not even flinch as their screams filled the hallway.

He simply followed the second way through a couple of puddles and past the bodies of more dead Athenians.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" whispered Ray. Knowing what was going to happen did not make seeing it any easier to deal with. Jana stayed silent. There was nothing to add and no useful answer she could have given him.

With a last glance at the collapsed tunnel roof she followed Kratos and Ray further down the corridor. For a couple of minutes nothing interesting happened. Maybe Ares minions were already done with the sewers.

Eventually a broad flight of stairs came into view. It led to a small backyard surrounded by a metal fence and the wall of another building. Broken pieces of pottery were spread on the floor and burning houses could be seen through the bars of the fence. Jana made out some Athenians fighting undead soldiers on the streets. There was no way leading out of the yard, except…

"No way. No fucking way." muttered Jana. The building on the opposite side was overgrown with vines and Kratos was heading towards them. "These things are never going to support our weight, I guess."

"Oh, you'd be surprised…" said Ray and stood next to Kratos. Jana raised an eyebrow and followed him.

The Spartan grasped a vine and wrenched hard. It didn't come off the wall.

"See?" Ray said with a shrug. Jana didn't look convinced but nodded.

Kratos started climbing immediately, Jana and Ray shortly after him. They made their way past a balcony with an Athenian fighting an undead legionary and a couple of windows. Ray glanced at the streets beneath him. Ares himself had entered Athens and was destroying building after building with his bare hands. After a while the vines came to an end. Luckily there was a balcony on the building they had left when they had entered the backyard. It seemed to be just in reach, but failing to land on it could cause one to fall to his death.

After everyone had landed safely on the balcony, they entered the next room. It was rather big, parts of the roof had been destroyed and there was a collapsed wooden stairway, which probably once led to a higher floor. Jana figured it might have been a warehouse, because lots of amphorae and pots were standing at the walls. There were also stains of blood on the stone floor and some of the walls.

Suddenly Ray heard a noise and turned his head to its direction. A man in Athenian armor was lying in the middle of the room. He moved weakly and a pool of blood had already formed around him. Then, out of nowhere, another sound filled the air: a strange hissing and scratching. Whirling blades surrounded by a cloud of black dust shot out of the floor and moved directly towards the dying man. As soon as they reached him, they stabbed him and threw him at the side.

A creature emerged from the floor. Its upper half looked mostly like a standard Undead with giant blood dripping blades instead of hands, but where its legs should have been, was only dark smoke.

Ray cursed. He had hated this type of enemy in the game.

"A wraith." snarled Kratos.

Two more wraiths appeared behind the first one.

Then, without warning, they melted back into the floor and attacked. Kratos drew his blades. Ray gripped his shield tighter. This would be a rough fight.

Two wraiths went for Kratos. He blocked the first attack and evaded the second one by rolling to the side. Ray had no chance to watch the rest of Kratos' moves, since the third creature was coming directly at him. He caught the first blow with his shield but its sheer force made him stumble back a step. The wraith launched its second attack and Ray blocked again.

Jana had sneaked up from behind the wraith while it was preoccupied with Ray and landed a hit with her spear. The wraith hissed angrily while melting back into the floor.

Ray watched as Jana made a run for it across the room, the wraith's blades swirling behind her, and finally climbed onto the destroyed wooden stairway. The wraith emerged from the floor. Highs were no problem for these monsters, as they were always hovering about half a meter over the ground. The girl stood on the lowest stair, keeping the wraith at bay with her spear. Nearly all of her strikes were deflected by the creature's armor.

Ray dashed to Jana's position. A short glance over his shoulder told him, that Kratos had finished off the first wraith and was currently fighting some Undead, who had joined the fight, and the second wraith. While Ray watched, Kratos got out the head of Medusa and turned a couple Undead into stone. The sound of stones being shattered mere seconds later explained their fate.

As soon as Ray reached the stairway, he slashed the back of the wraith's armor. It spun around, ready to attack Ray, but Jana used the chance and pierced the monster's now unprotected back.

With one last angry hiss the wraith dissolved into black smoke. At the same time a small group of undead archer emerged from the floor in front of Jana and Ray. Compared to Cyclopes and wraiths the archers weren't much of a problem. In the end there was nothing left but some stains of blood and a couple of arrows spread on the floor.

Kratos had just finished off the last Undead by using Poseidon's Rage. Ray watched as it turned into smoke and finally vanished. He sighted with relief. In his opinion this battle had been one of the toughest in-game. Sure, Ares and the last room in the Temple of Pandora were worse, but with low health and magic this part of the game could be insanely hard. But this time it had worked better than he had ever expected.

The Spartan looked around for more enemies, but it seemed like all were dead - at least for the moment. He shook some blood from his blades and slid them back on his back.

Ray hoped Kratos would ignore the half destroyed wooden stairway and simply leave the building, because a bunch of monsters including a Cyclops were waiting at the top of the stairs. Luckily, Kratos did so and led the way out of the house onto a bridge lined by marble columns. At some spots burning rumble was blocking the way.

Some warriors were running across the bridge towards them.

"Go! Go! Go! Ares has breached the city-" A ball of fire hit and killed them. The main part of the bridge also was destroyed, the only things remaining of it being three giant marble columns overgrown with vines.

Kratos walked to the edge of the bridge and looked down. There wasn't much to see: the biggest part of the city was burning and smoke was making it impossible to make out any details on the ground.

"I guess we have to get across somehow." said Ray.

AN

Well, finally! This took like forever… Hope, you like it.

[rage] And why in HELL are those stupid ads virus-infected? Seriously, what is this shit! [/rage]

If anyone is interested in beta'ing the story, feel free to PM me.

/AN