A Light in the Dark Forest

Seemingly impressed with Nakata's skill - although not entirely surprised, after all that was why he had asked him specifically - Alistair grabbed the makeshift staff with both of his hands before dropping down with perfect balance to the lowest branch of the tree. "Now, then. As soon as you see an opening, I must ask that you run as soon as possible. Chances are we may not be able to open a path for the both of us at the same time, for the density of them will be too much. We can split up and head in the same general direction for a time and rendezvous at a safer distance. Hopefully, by that time these things will have given up." He thought for a moment as if deciding on something.

"I did see a small lake to the east of here." He pointed to the east. Apparently, he knew how to tell directions easily. That, or he was just winging it. "That would be a good point to meet, I think." If his calculations were correct, the branch should act as a suitable channel for a minor Mantra, and would be their best chance at scaring away these creatures. A moment later Alistair's eyes began to glow gold as a faint golden aura began to wrap its way around the staff. At the same moment, fiercer cries could be heard from the undead below them. Whatever it was Alistair had done, they didn't like it.

Their eyes focused on him. If they even had eyes. Considering they were zombies, they likely didn't "see" anything. Zombies and other mindless undead moved on instinct more than anything else, rarely did they have any bit of intelligence.

But that just made them predictable.

Alistair's feet hit the ground and the zombies had already begun to lash at him. Whatever he had done to create that golden aura about the tree branch angered them greatly. But as soon as he had landed, his hands were already in motion to swing the tree branch like a staff in a wide arc in front of him. "The blade to banish the darkness..." He started. "Shining Blade!" The improvised staff swung a 90 degree arc in front of Alistair hitting every zombie within the weapon's reach. Despite Alistair not being the strongest man in the world, and these zombies probably weighing a good 110 lbs each at least, the branch easily pushed onwards and knocked every single one it hit to the side. He had planned the assault so that the zombies would be in the opposite direction to where Nakata would land.

But that wasn't all. The mindless zombies cried out in what sounded like horrendous pain. Smoke erupted from their bodies where the weapon hit them and they writhed upon the ground as if they were on fire. It was at this point that Alistair's eyes and weapon returned to normal.

It appeared as if the population of these monsters had increased while they were in the tree, for there seemed to be several more of them than before. Alistair made his escape now, taking a different path than Nakata as planned but going the same general direction. The zombies not directly hit by his attack seemed greatly angered by his actions, but all of the ones that were hit that weren't still flopping upon the ground as if on fire appeared to lose interest, as if they had forgotten about the whole situation in the first place.

Luckily zombies weren't very fast. They soon found themselves at the treeline of the small lake. Most of the lake had already frozen over, but an opening was still left in the center. Alistair stopped right before his feet would touch the ice. "Wagh!" Yeah, chances were it wasn't strong enough yet. "Careful, it likely is not frozen enough yet. Your weight will break it." He decided to poke it a few times with his makeshift staff to make sure. The first few didn't break it, so he tried a third time just a bit harder. It made a loud thump noise when it hit the ice and several cracks appeared branching out from the impact area.

"Yes.. definitely too weak still." He looked to Nakata and shrugged, then back to the treeline. He didn't see any zombies but who knows if they would catch up. "Are you unharmed?" He said as he turned back to Nakata.

He seemed impressed. "I understand. You wish to lead them onto the ice so that they fall in and freeze, while you shall remain unharmed or at worst, frozen but able to regenerate once I pull you out. An excellent idea, but I'd prefer you not to become frozen like that, so being careful is recommended." Especially since he wasn't sure he would be able to easily pull Nakata out if he fell in.

He thought for a second at Nakata's second question. "Hm, I suppose I am just good at that sort of thing. I have much experience fighting undead creatures like that! I suppose our biggest problem now is getting them to chase you instead of me, but I am not quite sure how we could do that." He looked around as if searching for something. "In the meantime, we should keep moving. They may have given up, or if they haven't they may decide to do so if we keep moving.

"The fortunate thing about mindless undead is they typically give up on the chase once their prey leaves a certain radius. This radius is typically determined by the one that created them. Unless the one that created them didn't task them with a predetermined focus.." In which case they were screwed. The zombies would chase them at the very least until they left the forest. "I wonder who would create zombies in a forest like this on an island such as this one anyways..." Did the school have anything to do with it? Someone's "power" gone wrong? Maybe if he had time later, he would investigate!

"I am not so sure I like your idea, Master Nakata. I am concerned at the failure chance of your plan. While it is quite low, I'd prefer not to meaninglessly risk life." Then again, what if they ran into other threats while they were running from this one? "However, I think perhaps an exception could be made here, lest that risk of life only increases later on in the day, no?" He took a few more moments to think about it before finally making up his mind. "Very well. We shall try your plan. Would you prefer to hold my staff just in case?"