## Chapter 85 – Zombie Parade
It was early the next morning.
Cloudy and I were waiting for Copson.
“Why isn’t that bastard here yet?”
“Maybe he couldn’t get in yesterday?”
Cloudy said it as if she didn’t care.
No, you were the one who wanted to just leave yesterday.
“Maybe.”
Surely Copson, who might have fallen asleep on the street last night, wouldn’t have been dragged away by murderous robbers, robbed of all his possessions, and turned into an internal organ party… well, that probably wouldn’t happen. Because it was a festival, the church was also focusing on security, so paladins were patrolling even in the early morning.
Given the merciless nature of this otherworld’s religious people, handing criminals over to the city guard as soon as they were discovered was out of the question. It would be a relief if they didn’t just kill them. The paladins saw evil humans as being on par with monsters and hated them.
Those crazy bastards think they go to heaven if they beat a robber to death. I don’t know about heaven, but it seemed clear that the robber would go to hell.
“H-hey… Barbarian…”
As I was worrying about that, I heard a very weak voice. When I turned my head, Copson, his hair disheveled, was approaching. He looked very tired, probably due to the hangover.
“Did I make you wait? Let’s get going…”
“Yeah, good morning. But can you even go? You look terrible.”
What happened to being a farmer’s son?
“No problem… They’re just undead, aren’t they?”
“You’re basically undead right now too, you crazy bastard.”
“Hehehe… I’ll be fine if I move around a little.”
Judging by his appearance, he seemed to have made it home last night. So, shall we depart with the trio party again today? It’s a shame Eliza isn’t here. She’ll be running her religious stall from today, so she won’t be able to come with us.
“Let’s head out for now, 앰튼.”
And so, we formed a trio party and went outside. Copson looked tired, but he was an E-rank adventurer who could take on zombies and skeletons without breaking a sweat. There’s nothing to worry about. With Cloudy here too, the three of us should be able to make a similar profit to yesterday.
“Katt, shall we go a different way this time?”
“A different way?”
“We won’t find much if we always go the same way. Let’s pioneer a new path.”
“Hmm, that’s a good idea. Sure, let’s do that.”
As Cloudy said, we headed in a slightly different direction than usual. Come to think of it, we encountered ghosts yesterday too. There was nothing good to come from catching those bastards, so going that way was not recommended.
We need to avoid the ghosts’ habitat as much as possible.
“Things are similar over here too.”
“Flies are buzzing around… I really hate bugs.”
We came a different way, but there didn’t seem to be anything special here either.
The headless corpses of zombies and the rotten bone fragments of skeletons were scattered everywhere. This place had long been devastated by adventurers, who were no different from swarms of hungry locusts. The undead, who were overflowing with vitality and singing joyfully of death, had already been scorched to the ground.
Isn’t it getting dangerous to collect Dalants, now?
The undead don’t regenerate, so there’s a limit to their numbers, making them increasingly difficult to find. We’ve been happily killing them all this time, so their population has decreased accordingly. Now, finding them is the hard part.
ㅡOrororong.
ㅡOrorong.
Still, after searching for a while, we were able to find two of them together.
“There are two of them.”
Copson drew his sword and advanced. The zombies, staggering and walking leisurely, were not dangerous opponents at all. He swung his sword and skillfully beheaded the zombie. The reality of zombies is that they have lower levels than drunks.
ㅡThud, thud.
I also simply sliced the zombie’s neck in one go. I picked up the fallen head and put it in the sack. Copson stretched and said.
“I’m starting to feel energized.”
“That’s good.”
“If I’m in this condition, I’ll be fine even if a ghoul appears.”
“A ghoul, huh.”
Ghouls are rare monsters like treasure goblins that give you a whopping 5 Dalants per head.
Unlike the half-rotten, weak undead, they were the ones with living muscles. They heal their decaying bodies by chewing and swallowing human flesh. They are literal cannibals. If they don’t eat people, their bodies gradually rot away, so they are obsessed with cannibalism.
It’s said that people become ghouls when they die from some kind of curse, but I don’t know much about that. All I know is that they are faster than I thought and stronger than humans. They probably have nothing in their heads but murder and cannibalism.
They sound quite dangerous, so I don’t really want to meet them. Even if they give you five Dalants, it’s a hundred times better to catch five zombies at once than to deal with those guys.
“Cloudy, have you ever seen a ghoul?”
“I’ve heard stories, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person. Actually, this is the first time I’ve seen a zombie. The only undead in Shurdic were skeletons and mummies.”
“Really? Well, with the sun shining so brightly, it’s not a very good place for the undead to live. The zombies would dry up too, wouldn’t they?”
“Hmm, I guess so?”
Anyway, the undead, which were quite visible until yesterday, have disappeared. The ecosystem has collapsed. The festival will end when the dead disappear. It seems that it is not far off. So, we have to get as much out of it as possible before that happens.
“Shall we go deeper? There must be isolated undead in secluded places. We should just go to places where people don’t usually go.”
“Hmm, that’s a plausible opinion.”
We decided to do as Copson said. I decided to entrust him with the direction. It would be the same no matter who did it. He confidently cut through the bushes here and there. His unhesitating steps suggested that the future would be positive.
After a long time, we arrived at the foot of a mountain where no human presence was felt at all.
Surprisingly, there were no undead.
“Hey, Copson. Come to think of it, the undead tend to chase those with life, right?”
I asked Copson what had suddenly occurred to me.
“That’s right.”
“Then wouldn’t it be impossible for them to be in a place where there are no people?”
“…”
He couldn’t answer.
I looked back at Cloudy.
“Idiot.”
Damn it.
The reason we found the undead yesterday was because it wasn’t in such a completely deserted place, but on a road where people still walked. Cloudy said again with a strange expression.
“Still, it might be worth searching around here. We’ve never been this way before. Let’s find a road where people walk. Follow me. I think it would be better for me to find it than for you guys to find it.”
“Okay…”
“I’m sorry about this…”
We’ve come far, but since it’s a mountain near the city, there must be a road where people walk.
We decided to activate our wild senses to the extreme and try to find it. However, Cloudy was from the desert and not familiar with the mountains, Copson was a cripple, and I couldn’t find the road either.
“Damn it, where are we?”
“I don’t know…”
“I have no idea.”
Surprisingly, we got lost. Cloudy, who had confidently taken the lead, led us to ruin. When I looked closely, her ears, hidden inside her hood, were drooping.
Well, I remember the way well enough, so it’s okay… but today’s business is ruined.
“Cloudy. What the hell are you doing?”
“…L-look over there!”
Cloudy, her face flushed red, pointed. She seemed very embarrassed to have gotten lost after confidently taking the lead. I checked the direction she was pointing.
ㅡCough, gurgle.
What was there was a Mummy. It’s just a dried-up undead monster wrapped in bandages. It was nothing more or less than a walking mummy.
The only difference between them and zombies, who wear old clothes, was that they were wrapped in bandages.
“It’s a mummy.”
“Yeah, I found it.”
“But it’s not just one, is it, Cloudy?”
“…”
The mummy was stuck with its bandages caught on a tree branch, unable to do anything. It looked pathetic, but we had to kill it anyway. The three of us approached it.
ㅡCough! Cough!
As soon as the mummy saw us, it made a violent noise and reached out its hand. However, its bandages were completely tangled, so it couldn’t move even a step.
“What a moron.”
I simply swung my sword and dropped its head. I picked it up and put it back in the sack. It seemed that it had become isolated here after its bandages got caught while moving.
“It seems that there are no people or undead here.”
Copson said, sweeping back his hair. It was already past noon. However, it wasn’t very hot because the trees were thick.
“Let’s go down for now. There’s nothing more to see here.”
“The undead have disappeared.”
It seems that this hunting ground selection was a failure. It would be better to go down quickly and make up for the loss.
We decided to descend and quickly went down. Due to the terrain around here, we could get out of the mountain as soon as we went down.
Cloudy, who was walking next to me, said apologetically.
“…If this was the desert, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“It’s okay. Everyone doesn’t know the way.”
But this is not the desert.
Well, people can do that. I don’t intend to blame her.
It was when we had come down a long way again. I felt like I could see the city if I just crossed one more hill.
I was thinking of taking a short break, but Cloudy grabbed my shoulder.
“Katt. Wait a minute. Stop him too.”
“Huh? Hey, Copson. Stop for a second.”
“What’s wrong?”
I called Copson, wondering if she had something to say. As he came closer, Cloudy slowly looked around and said.
“I feel a presence nearby.”
“A presence?”
Are there other adventurers around?
ㅡSreung.
Without thinking any further, I drew my sword. Cloudy nodded at the sight. In the field, you never know what might happen, so if there was someone, it was right to prepare for battle first. This other world was full of murderous robbers and bandits.
Copson also drew his sword and looked around.
“One, two, three… six, huh. Hmm, is that enough…”
Cloudy muttered something. I hope they’re just ordinary adventurers.
I don’t want to see blood on the festival day. As I stood behind a tree with my back to it, I heard footsteps.
ㅡThud, thud.
ㅡThud, thud.
ㅡRustle, rustle.
Finally revealed were six burly men. Judging by their appearance, they were undoubtedly adventurers. They were ordinary people with weapons and hoods. If I were to rank them, they would be around E-rank. They also came to purify the undead…
While checking their equipment, I realized something.
“Damn it. Those bastards don’t have sacks.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means they didn’t come to catch the undead.”
None of the six of them had sacks or bags.
Then what are they?
They came to catch people.
I hope not.
“Hehehe, you saw right through us?”
“Is that funny…”
Cloudy seemed to be thinking the same thing as me.
This place is quite remote. The fact that six of them are gathered in such a place means something not very good. Seeing that they don’t have sacks, they didn’t come to catch the undead, and seeing that they don’t have luggage, they’re not trying to travel to another place. Of course, they’re not college students who came camping either.
Then there are two things to consider.
One is that they are an adventurer party that came to carry out some other quest, and the other is that they are criminals who were lurking with the intention of robbing in a remote place. Those are the two things. Personally, I wish it was the former.
But when I thought about it that way, their faces looked very ominous.
Adventurers are inherently vicious, but they seemed to have taken it to another level.
Just by looking at their faces, they were 100% murderous robbers.
If those bastards weren’t murderers, I could only think that something was definitely wrong with this world.
“It seems they’ve noticed us too.”
“…”
The six burly men got closer. The distance is not very far.
“Cloudy, are there any others lying in ambush?”
“No. Six is all.”
“I see…”
There didn’t seem to be any guys with arrows or slings. They were just ordinary people armed with swords and axes. As they got closer, I could observe them in more detail.
They’re shorter than me, and their arms don’t look very thick.
Six is nothing.
“Hey, you bastards behind the tree! We know you’re there, so come out now!”
Then, the man wearing a green hood at the head of the line said in a swaggering tone.
“Oh, hello brothers.”
There’s no need to hide since they already know.
I immediately came out in front of them with my sword drawn.
