Chapter 165
The next day...
At the break of dawn, Ellen and I woke up.
We had fallen asleep leaning against a building wall, relying on each other for support.
We were too exhausted, despite being in a situation where anything could have happened. We were so tired that we had given up thinking and just fell asleep.
It wasn’t really sleep—it was more like passing out.
“Are you awake?”
Eleris greeted us calmly as if she had been awake this whole time. Ellen looked bewildered.
“... Did you perhaps not sleep... because of us?”
“No, I was also out cold... We almost had a big problem, all of us.”
Despite what she said, it was obvious she hadn’t slept. Waking up in this environment made it hard to understand how anyone could have slept.
The corpses, burnt to charcoal, were piled up, and blood and pieces of flesh were scattered everywhere. The smell of burning bodies was foul.
“There’s water to wash up with in the inn. For now, let’s clean ourselves up and eat something before we set off. I’ll tidy up here a bit more.”
The first thing to do was to improve our wretched appearances.
***
The zombie bodies had been burned to such a degree that they could never rise again. It might have been the intensity of the flames, or Eleris must have taken additional action while we were asleep.
Ellen and I scrubbed our dirty bodies at the inn, which had been swarming with zombies the night before. We changed into different clothes, but there was nothing we could do about our armor, which had been splattered with blood.
It was time to tend to our swords, but since they had an automatic repair function, we just gave them a rough wipe with an oiled cloth.
After having a simple breakfast of preserved food, we gathered together.
“Can we continue heading south?” Eleris asked, tilting her head.
Her question had many implications. A large number of mysterious zombies had already appeared at Klitz Point.
Heading further south would be more dangerous.
It was prudent to wonder if we still intended to go south in such a situation. Although Eleris would protect us if anything happened, the decision was left to us.
“What do you think, Ms. Rellia?” Ellen asked, seeking her.
What we’d faced the night before had been an unexpected threat, but from now on, we would be heading into known danger.
“Hmm, I’ll leave it up to you,” Eleris said, giving us the choice.
Ellen looked at me.
Until this moment, Ellen had made the decisions and taken action, but this time, we needed to decide together. Our lives had been at risk the night before. Such an event could happen again, or things could become even more dangerous.
The question was: would we continue despite that?
“... If you go, I’ll go. If you don’t, I won’t,” I said, naturally deferring the choice to Ellen.
Both of us had suffered mentally, though in a different way than when we’d wiped out the bandit group.
Facing the undead was more a matter of mental endurance than skill. Dealing with those abominations was incredibly difficult.
“Are you okay with it?” Ellen asked, looking at me. She was asking if I could handle more of this.
“... If I were alone, I don’t think I would have been okay.”
“...”
“But somehow, I think I can manage.”
Ellen nodded at my answer.
“Okay.” She then looked back and forth between Eleris and me. “I feel the same way.”
Just being with someone else helped me endure this horror.
Just as it was for me, it seemed to be the same for Ellen.
In the end, we decided to continue heading south.
*
We headed south, taking the road toward Altz Point. Ellen was more vigilant than before, but also voiced various concerns along the way.
“How did the zombies immediately know we were there?”
The question was directed at Eleris. The night before, in that urgent situation, Eleris had quickly provided information on what the zombies were and how to deal with them.
An encyclopedia... That was exactly the role a mage was supposed to fulfill, and Eleris had certainly done that yesterday.
Of course, she knew all this not because she was a mage, but because she came from the Dark Land. Ellen likely misunderstood that it was because Eleris was a mage.
“Zombies can track living beings. I don’t know if they do it by scent or some other instinct. So, hiding from zombies is pointless.”
Thus, combat was inevitable.
“If more zombies show up, we’ll have to fight again.”
“That’s right. But zombies typically move at night, so we only need to be cautious at night.”
According to Eleris, zombies were nocturnal.
“So, during the day, do they sleep or something?”
At my question, Eleris pressed a finger against her lips and tilted her head.
“I’m not sure if you could call it sleep. Zombies are said to move into shaded areas or cooler places during the day. They probably wait there until nightfall, but whether they actually sleep or not is unknown.”
“Why do they seek cooler places?” asked Ellen. She was curious as to why zombies would look for cooler, shaded areas during the day rather than simply sleeping.
“Probably because of the rate of decomposition.”
Decomposition...
During the day and in high temperatures, decomposition would progress rapidly.
“Zombies are generally on a timer,” Eleris explained, wiggling her index finger. “Their bodies are already in a state of death, so decomposition would naturally continue, right? If decomposition keeps progressing, they will ultimately be reduced to just bones.”
It was a rather horrific description, but her gesture somehow seemed cute.
Zombies were reanimated corpses, but decomposition still continued, and they attracted flies and maggots.
Whether zombies could be considered living beings is uncertain. Either way, their existence was on a countdown.
In the end, only bones would remain.
Did zombies have a survival instinct despite their lack of real intelligence that drove them to try to extend their existence?
“When they reach that final state, their behavior completely changes.”
‘They are on a countdown, yet their behaviors change?’
Eleris gave me a peculiar smile in response to my curious gaze.
“What do you think happens when a zombie with only its bones remaining moves about?”
‘Ah. Is that it?’
“... They become a skeleton?”
“Correct.”
When a zombie reached the final stage of decomposition, it was not a zombie anymore. It became a skeleton.
In the end, both undead were the same type of creature.
*
“You know a lot,” Ellen remarked.
Eleris looked startled, perhaps thinking she had aroused suspicion.
“Ah, well... All of this is in the monster compendium. I went through it thoroughly, just in case.”
“I see.”
Ellen didn’t seem particularly suspicious. Something else seemed to perk her curiosity, and looked at Eleris again.
“You use a sling very well...”
“At my current level, I can’t just rely on magic. I need another means of defense. I became proficient with it since I used to practice throwing as a hobby from a young age.”
As a low-ranking mage, Eleris couldn’t resolve everything with magic alone, so she had prepared a secret weapon. Of course, her slinging accuracy was incredible, so accurate that she could explode zombies’ heads when she scored a hit.
The power was immense, far surpassing simple low-level magic. Eleris showed off the sling she had skillfully employed the other day to smash multiple zombie heads.
“It’s enchanted, you know.”
“Enchanted?”
“Yes.”
‘So it wasn’t just an ordinary sling but a secret magical item?’
“It has a Weight Increase enchantment. For a short moment after something is thrown with it, the item’s weight increases.”
“Ah... that’s why it had such power...”
There was a reason why the zombies’ heads had exploded, instead of their skulls fracturing. Even light objects turned into heavy projectiles when thrown with it.
Ellen didn’t ask why Eleris hadn’t used it during the bandit extermination. Perhaps she considered it a thing of the past.
‘But is that really a magical item? Or did Eleris just cast a Weight Increase spell on the object while throwing it with the sling?’
Since I couldn’t speak with Eleris alone, I was confused as well.
“Then why did the zombies appear?”
That was the most important question. Ellen’s query made Eleris furrow her brow and tilt her head.
“Well... Zombies can occur naturally, or they can be artificially created through dark magic.”
Zombie occurrences could be either artificial or natural.
“But if zombies are created by a dark mage, they would be under the mage’s control. The zombies yesterday didn’t seem to be controlled... did they?”
“No.”
The zombies had simply swarmed in from all directions, as if drawn to us, without showing any signs of coordinated behavior.
“Of course, there’s a slight possibility that a dark mage could be involved, but at this point, it seems more likely that these zombies occurred naturally.”
Eleris seemed to think that the chance of a dark mage being behind the mass occurrence of zombies was low.
“In what situations do zombies occur naturally?”
At my question, Eleris furrowed her brow again.
“Umm... There are too many causes to pinpoint just one. But to simplify it... Negative energy concentrated in a place can result in various strange phenomena. Zombies appearing is one of those strange phenomena... that’s probably the best way to explain it.”
Negative energy...
Eleris’s words were too vague to fully explain the nature of the incident. In simple terms, she was suggesting that bizarre events often occurred in unclean places. and the emergence of zombies was one of those bizarre events.
This implied that the area we were in was already tainted.
Eleris gazed silently at the winding path leading south.
“We are essentially heading south to discover the cause of this negative energy.”
This made us realize that this southward journey was becoming increasingly dangerous.
“If such anomalous phenomena are spreading outward from Altz Point...”
“Yes. Something serious is definitely going on.”
If Altz Point were the epicenter of the incidents, and the unholy phenomena were spreading all the way to Klitz Point, which was three days away...
Something undoubtedly serious was going on.
“Ms. Rellia,” Ellen said quietly.
“Yes?”
“You can go back now, Ms. Rellia.”
Eleris tilted her head in confusion at Ellen’s suggestion that she should head back.
“Reinhart and I have teleportation scrolls. We have a means to escape if needed. If things become dire, we can use the teleportation scrolls to flee.”
Ellen was suggesting that it would be safer for ‘Ms. Rellia’ to turn back, since it would only get more dangerous the further we went, and while Ellen and I had a way to escape, she did not.
Ellen was concerned for her safety.
“If you go back and report the zombie incident at Klitz Point, you will receive a considerable reward.”
“Oh... I see.” Eleris nodded quietly, understanding what Ellen was saying. Then, she smiled slightly. “It’s okay. I have my own secret weapon as well.”
One might wonder what that was.
“Just like the sword you summoned yesterday,” she continued.
The subtext was clear: ‘since I’m not asking about your secret, don’t pry into mine.’
Ellen couldn’t bring herself to ask what Eleris’s secret was.
Biting her lip, Ellen softly murmured, “If it gets dangerous and we escape using teleportation, I hope you won’t hold it against us.”
“Of course not. Those who can survive should survive.”
Ellen seemed to find it increasingly hard to understand this mage named Rellia.
However, despite the short period of their acquaintance, they had risked their lives together twice.
Therefore, Ellen did not voice any further objections to continuing their journey with the somewhat suspicious mage, Rellia.
*
It was a three-day journey to Altz Point.
We walked south all day. Nothing unexpected—like zombies—interrupted our journey.
“There might be more zombies, like last night. We should avoid sleeping on the road,” Ellen said, and Eleris and I both agreed.
If there were zombies, they would be able to locate us precisely. Hiding would be meaningless.
“It would be great if we could find a cliff that zombies can’t climb up, but I don’t see anything like that. So we should find a large tree to sleep in. It’ll be uncomfortable, but it’s the safest place.”
“Good idea.”
Although we would not be able to sleep properly, and there was a risk of falling out of the tree while resting, choosing a tree where zombies couldn’t reach us seemed like the best option for now.
As we continued to walk, we kept an eye out for trees sturdy enough for us to rest on before nightfall.
Soon, we found an old towering tree with thick branches.
“That looks sturdy.”
“Yeah.”
Since zombies couldn’t climb trees, we could rest ourselves against the strong branches of the tree. Ellen and I both had prior experience climbing coconut trees with our bare hands on a deserted island.
“... But how do we climb this?”
Climbing coconut trees involved hugging the trunk, but this tree was massive, and its trunk had a circumference far too large to hug. Climbing it with bare hands wasn’t feasible.
Without a word, Ellen rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a rope.
“... Right.”
I hadn’t thought of using tools, only of tackling it head-on. The saying was true: if you’re not smart, your body suffers.
Ellen tied a stone to the end of the rope and threw it at a branch. The rope spun around the branch several times as it wrapped itself securely around it.
Ellen tugged at the rope a few times to test the tension, and then began climbing.
In a flash, she’d climbed about six meters and perched herself on the branch, stomping on it a few times with her foot.
“It’s sturdy. Come on up.”
It seemed there was no problem.
I grabbed the rope and started climbing. The fact that I could do this so effortlessly, something that would have been impossible before, still surprised me.
I reached the branch and looked down. The view was dizzying. The branch was thick enough that I could probably lie down on it if necessary.
Sturdiness aside, though, if I fell asleep and then fell off, wouldn’t I break my neck?
Ellen looked down and shouted, “Ms. Rellia! Hold onto the rope, and I’ll pull you up.”
—Okay!
Not just anyone could climb up, so Ellen intended to pull Eleris up herself. Eleris wrapped the rope around her body and held on tightly, and Ellen began pulling her up effortlessly.
“Phew, you’re really strong,” Eleris exclaimed, impressed that Ellen had pulled her up with such ease.
At this height, even if a swarm of zombies came, they would be like dogs chasing chickens, unable to reach us.
Ellen moved swiftly, leaping onto other branches or using the rope to climb even higher, searching for a safer place to rest.
Ultimately, she found a hollow in the massive tree trunk. It looked almost like a cave. It was the kind of crevice that only formed in old trees.
“This should prevent us from falling down. It’s wide enough.”
“Yeah.”
Though it was cramped, it looked big enough for the three of us to squeeze into and sleep. Even if we moved around a bit, being inside the trunk meant we didn’t have to worry about falling.
Of course, the position we had to adopt was somewhat awkward.
“...”
“...”
I was inside the hollow tree trunk. Ellen was sitting in my arms, and Eleris sat across from us.
Due to the lack of space, Ellen ended up sitting with her back against my chest.
It looked like I was holding her from behind. We had to sleep in this position.
“Heh, you two look quite close,” Eleris teased, giving me a knowing look.
‘Stop saying unnecessary things!’
“Let’s eat something now.”
Of course, Ellen, without a second thought, leaned against me and talked about food.
*
Although it was a relatively safe place, and we would be able to hear if zombies came, we decided to be cautious and take turns to stay awake again.
Each of us took a two-hour shift.
This time, I had the first watch. The pitch-black night descended, and both Eleris and Ellen fell asleep.
I wasn’t sure if Eleris was truly sleeping or not. If she hadn’t been sleeping all this while, she must have been extremely tired. That would be a tremendous burden.
I hoped Eleris could get some rest too, since we were safe for now.
Ellen seemed to fall asleep quickly. Her breathing quickly grew quiet and steady.
Although she shifted occasionally due to discomfort, it wasn’t overly distracting.
Normally, I might have felt a bit flustered, or my heart would be racing in such a situation despite not caring much about these things, but now...
Just as Ellen was acting sensitively under the current circumstances, so was I.
In the current atmosphere, it wouldn’t have been strange if a ghost suddenly appeared.
I had always been the type to detest jump scares, including ghosts.
But now, after having seen such horrors, would I even care if I encountered one?
How would we respond if zombies swarmed us? Could any of them possibly climb the tree?
Various thoughts ran through my mind in the darkness.
“Mmgh...”
Aside from Ellen making odd noises in her sleep and squirming a little, nothing significant happened.
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