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n“Klaus, don’t step up too far up.”

nLayla’s warning rang out but Klaus ignored her, drew his sword, and continued to charge.

nThe undead glanced at the blade, which was shining brightly reflecting the sun’s rays, and took a step back. Seeing that, Klaus smiled.

n“Zombies are no match for me!”

nSince the undead had physical bodies and were able to move under the sunlight, Klaus guessed that they were zombies.

nZombies, which were one of the lowest rank undead monsters, were able to increase their numbers by biting and killing their prey, but in terms of strength copper rank adventurers could beat them easily.

nFor iron ranks, even if the zombies’ numbers were a few times larger than the party’s, they could exterminate them easily.

nBut that didn’t matter to Klaus.

nHe was an up-and-coming adventurer, and expected of great things.

nAnd for a particular reason, he needed to show everyone how skilled he was.

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nThat’s why he decided to take the lead while the other adventurers hesitated.

nThe girls in his party understood that, so they followed after him with no complaints.

n“Go back to being dead!”

nThe blade flashed and struck the neck of the zombie in the front.

nSince they were already slow moving, there was no way it could dodge the attack, so the blade ripped through its flesh.

nBut Klaus frowned at the feeling that reached his hand.

nIf they were zombies, their flesh should be brittle from the injuries and rotting.

nBut the zombie that he had just cut down looked no different from when it was alive, and he couldn’t see any traces of wounds or rotting.

nHe had also swung the sword with enough strength to cut a man’s head off cleanly, Klaus had felt resistance and wasn’t able to cut through.

n“You!”

nBut Klaus was an iron rank adventurer.

nAs soon as he felt resistance he put in more strength and forced the blade through and kicked away the now headless body.

n“They’re hard!”

nNext to him, Layla swung her sword at a zombie’s shoulder, but it was stopped at the collarbone. She swept its feet from under it as it started reaching for her, pulled her sword out of its shoulder, and brought it down on its neck, twisting the blade to wrench its neck off.

n“These aren’t zombies!”

nAt Layla’s warning, Roll folded her hands in front of her chest and mumbled a prayer, then gasped as she opened her eyes.

n“Everyone, they aren’t zombies. They are revenants!”

nEveryone tensed at Roll’s warning.

nRevenants were ‘those who returned’, and were a type of undead.

nThey occurred almost the same way as zombies. Someone dying with strong attachments to the living world, made by a high ranking undead being, or magic.

nThe difference between them and zombies was that although zombies have quite a bit of strength, it was still about the same as the body before it died, while revenants were way stronger than the body was before it died and had some intelligence.

nThey were stronger than zombies, and was hard for copper ranks to face head on, and if there were enough of them, they could overpower iron ranks as well.

n“Do they need reinforcements?”

nBroas reached for his weapon.

nAfter glancing at Broas and saw that his weapons were twin battle axes, and turned his attention back to Klaus.

n“I don’t think so.”

nKlaus’ fighting was incredible enough for Loren to give him that good of an evaluation.

nEven after finding out that their enemies were revenants, Klaus didn’t flinch and continued to swing his sword at them.

nEach stroke of the blade reduced a revenant to pieces, and after looking at them go, Broas lowered his hands from his weapons.

n“I guess he wasn’t all talk after all.”

n“I guess so.”

nLoren nodded at Broas’ words.

nSetting aside whether he liked Klaus or not, the skill and strength that he possessed was indeed impressive.

n“You just going to be an indifferent spectator?”

n“Don’t know yet. We’ll see.”

nLoren replied to Broas like that, but knew that he was correct about one thing.

nLoren was certain that the reason why Klaus kept b.u.t.ting into him was because he was partic.i.p.ating in the quest using connections.

nLoren was sure that Klaus didn’t like the fact someone without the necessary skill had managed to snag a job that wasn’t meant for them. So Loren was curious whether or not Klaus himself had the accordingly skillful and strong.

nBut only half of his attention was focused on the fight. The other half was focused around them. It was odd that ten to twenty undead would suddenly appear on the road.

nHe thought that the cause of it was lurking somewhere in the area.

nThere was also a possibility that whatever generated the undead was using the revenants as bait and could ambush them from somewhere.

nUndead had low intelligence in general, but high rank beings that could create undead were often as intelligent or even more intelligent that humans.

nOne of the famous ones were vampires, and even Loren knew about them.

n“Maybe I’m worrying too much.”

n“Hmm?”

n“Just talking to myself. Anyways, it looks like it’s going to be over soon.”

nAs Loren pointed out, the number of revenants that were fighting Klaus and his party were going down steadily.

nNot only Klaus, but the knight named Layla was quite skilled with the sword as well, and every time the blade flashed a revenant fell, and when the priestess Roll hit them with her mace, the moving undead became the dead.

nThe only one that didn’t have a turn was the magician Ange, but that was something that couldn’t be helped.

nAlong with the fact that there was no need for her to a.s.sist her party members with magic, since they were all skilled, there was a limit to how many spells magicians could use.

nCalmly a.s.sessing the situation and knowing how to not use spells when it is not necessary was also a talent.

n“This is it!”

nIt happened when Klaus took a step towards the last remaining revenant.

nAs he kicked the ground, his feet and the longsword in his hand gave off a phosph.o.r.escent glow.

n“What the h.e.l.l is that!?”

nAs Broas yelled in surprise and Loren’s eyes slightly widened, Klaus’ strike that was faster than any of them before dug into the revenant’s shoulder and cut it all the way down to its waist with no resistance at all.

n“Klaus!? You idiot!”

n“Klaus…”

n“Looks like he got carried away.”

nKlaus gave Loren a smug look but was soon being scolded by the girls in his party.

n“How many times have I told you not to show that for no reason!”

n“B-but come on. It’s not that big of a deal…”

n“Klaus, we don’t know who might be watching. We told you so many times to restrain yourself…”

n“We could’ve won easily even if you didn’t use that. You’re such an idiot.”

n“Ange, I was just…”

nApparently the cold words of the magician dealt the most damage, and Klaus faltered as he was trying to make an excuse.

nMeanwhile, Broas stood frozen with his mouth wide open, still not able to believe what he just saw.

n“What was that just now? He disappeared.”

n“Your eyes couldn’t follow him, huh. Must suck to be old.”

n“p.i.s.s off! Are you saying you could see him?”

n“Well, yeah.”

nAlthough that’s what he said, if he had been up against Klaus without knowing about that move, it was hard to say if he would be able to respond to it.

nThat’s how much faster Klaus’ movements had increased.

nThe sharpness of the sword he wielded was impressive as well.

nIt cut the hard body of a revenant into two with one strike.

nIt wasn’t like Loren couldn’t do the same himself, but that was with the weapon he had. An ordinary longsword would become dull before going halfway through it or even break.

n“What in the world was that?”

n“About that.”

nLapis joined in on their conversation.

nBroas jumped in surprise at the voice behind him that crept up without him noticing, but Loren stood there unfazed and looked at Lapis suspiciously.

n“You know what it is?”

n“Yes, of course. I’m not a priestess of the Knowledge G.o.d for nothing, you know.”

nLapis puffed out her chest but Loren silently urged her to move on.

nShe let out a small sigh, looking unamused, but started to explain Klaus’ movements.

n“That was probably >.”

n“Magic?”

nLoren took a guess judging by its name, but Lapis shook her head.

n“No. There is a spell that has a similar effect called > isn’t limited to the person himself, but it’s a ‘Gift’ that can also amplify the abilities of the user’s belongings as well.”

n“That’s pretty convenient.”

nIf what Lapis said was true, Klaus could amplify the ability of not only his weapons and armor, but amplify the effectiveness of all his belongings and items as well.

nBoth Loren and Broas could understand how beneficial that was.

n“It’s not something you could see every day. Most of the time, only people who have the potential to become heroes or braves can use that.”

nLoren wasn’t sure what the difference between a hero and a brave was, but was certain that they were existences leagues above others. He sighed as he couldn’t help but think that it was a bother that someone like Klaus, who was something close to them, hated him.

n“I guess…it could be a talent to get conceited about.”

nLoren wondered why someone with such talents would be an adventurer, but stopped thinking about it as he decided that no matter what was going on with Klaus, he was unrelated to it.

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n“Right now he has the support of the Adventurer’s Guild, but it seems like it’s safe to say that he has the support of some country as well.”

n“I don’t really care. Has nothing to do with me anyway. Probably won’t see them again after this job is done.”

nLoren started walking forward as he said that.

nLapis followed him as he walked towards Klaus, who he had just said he had nothing to do with.

n“What are you trying to do?”

n“Nothing much, but for now…”

nInstead of Klaus and the girls, who were still making a fuss, Loren turned towards the dead bodies lying all around them.

n“We’ve got to bury them. We can’t just leave them in the open.”

n“You’re right.”

nLapis nodded at the words that Loren had muttered.

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