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nChapter 42: Appearance after Defending

nWhere did they all come from?

nLoren couldn’t find out the answer to that question, but he could speculate.

nThey were probably in a facility underneath the city.

nSomeplace people wouldn’t go near.

nLoren guessed that they were gathered in the sewers that ran underneath the city.

nZombies and revenants did have some resistance to the sunlight but having resistance didn’t mean that undead didn’t hate the sunlight.

nMore so if they were monsters like ghosts or wraiths, which couldn’t exist under the sunlight at all. So, it made sense that they were in a place where the sunlight would never reach.

nLoren thought maybe that place was the sewers.

nNo matter how thoroughly he would explore the surrounding area, he wouldn’t think about searching the sewers or the drains.

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nTo put it simply, it was dark and stinky down there.

nBut undead don’t care about things like that.

nUnlike when they were alive, undead were indifferent about those kinds of stimuli.

n“I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

nThe groaning and moaning that echoed throughout the city got louder as soon as the sun set, and now they could hear it coming from everywhere.

nLoren and the others managed to set up a barricade made of rubble around the clinic and made bonfires to light their surroundings.

nIf their opponents were living humans, turning off all the lights and staying low would’ve been a good countermeasure, but that kind of strategy had no effect on the undead.

nThey were drawn to the presence and warmth of the living.

nThe light and heat coming from the bonfires might catch their attention.

nBut even if they put that into consideration, to Loren, securing vision was the highest priority.

nBecause around them was already under the rule of darkness, and darkness always sided with the dead.

n“This got pretty messy, but are you ready?”

nKlaus, with his long sword in hand, nodded silently to Loren, who had his great sword on top of his shoulder.

nLoren thought he looked quite nervous, but it wasn’t surprising.

nHe had no idea how much undead were inside the city, but it was probably way past the hundreds or thousands, and they were right in the middle of them. It was impressive that he even had the will to fight in this situation.

n“If we die, the injured inside the clinic will die as well. Keep that in mind.”

n“I know. You don’t have to remind me.”

nAfter he replied, a pale light wrapped around his arms and legs.

nThe light spread onto his armor and weapon as well, and eventually his whole body shone under the dark of the night.

n“Convenient. I’m jealous.”

n“Not really.”

nLapis b.u.t.ted in.

nShe applied the anti-evil ritual on the whole clinic and made it somewhat harder for undead to break inside.

nLoren thought that she could’ve done that for all the adventurers who were a part of this quest. But when he asked her, the only thing she said was that it was too much work.

n“Klaus’ ability is indeed effective, but to the undead he will look bright and shining. Their focus would be on him.”

nThe undead attack the living due to resentment and jealousy towards them, but another reason is that they are attracted to vigor and mana.

nLapis explained that the power of Klaus’ Gift was converted from his life energy, so it was very attractive to the undead.

n“Bring it on. I’ll send all of them back to the underworld. I won’t let them lay a finger on my friends.”

n“Well, not all of them became like that because they wished to be, I guess.”

nAs he said that, Loren took out one of the silver knives he had made earlier and suddenly raised it about his head and threw it.

nThe silver blade twirled in the air and lodged deeply into a zombie’s chest and it fell and stopped moving.

nNow that Loren knew there was indeed undead lurking around, a thought suddenly occurred, so he asked Lapis.

n“I’m pretty sure they’re coming up from the sewers, but they won’t pop up from one of the toilets inside the clinic, right?”

n“It should be fine. I made sure to block off those doors very carefully.”

nIt wasn’t the cleanest thing to say, but the undead had no consideration for cleanliness.

nThere was a possibility that they could come up from the toilet.

nLapis seemed to have already thought of that and made sure that nothing could enter nor exit the restrooms.

n“Even if Broas and the other wake up, they can’t use the restroom, huh…”

n“They’ll have to keep it in somehow…Since I nailed the doors shut so that it wouldn’t open.”

nIf one of the people inside woke up and went to the restroom without knowing about their situation, there was a possibility that everything could’ve crumbled from the inside, so Lapis made sure to get rid of that possibility.

n“Getting attacked from behind is never pleasant, after all.”

nLoren muttered and threw another silver knife.

nThis time it penetrated ghosts that appeared to ooze out of the wall, and they disappeared with a screech.

nGhosts cannot be killed by ordinary weapons, but if it was possible with a weapon made of silver, since silver was said to exorcise evil.

nSince they had no tangible body, instead of having to use one knife for each one like the zombies, the knife was able to pa.s.s through multiple ghosts, killing them at once.

n“O wandering ones, return to where you belong. ‘Turn Undead’”

nWhen Lapis raised a symbol of the Knowledge G.o.d and chanted scriptures, more ghosts that were about to come out faded into a white mist without a sound.

n‘Turn Undead’ was an ability that priests had and was different from Divine Arts*. Although it costed a small amount of the priest’s stamina and mental energy, there was no limit on using it.

nThe effectiveness differed based on the amount of faith the priest had, but apparently Lapis was a devout follower, as not only the ghosts but the zombies returned to normal corpses as well.

n“They aren’t coming in as I thought they would.”

nLoren muttered as he killed two more zombies with his knives.

nHe expected an avalanche of zombies to attack them just like the goblins back in the Ancient Kingdom ruins, but although the numbers were great, they were surrounding the clinic and slowly closing in, and he saw a bunch of them on the streets as well, but the situation wasn’t as dire as he thought it would be.

n“That’s not quite true. Look over there.”

nLoren looked towards where Lapis was pointing and saw Klaus.

nThere were hordes upon hordes of undead surrounding him, but fortunately he was killing multiple zombies with each swing.

n“They are all focused over there.”

n“I guess he does stand out. I’m going to go help him a bit.”

nAs he said that, another silver knife flew and killed another few undead, but more of filled their ranks, crushing the bodies underneath their feet.

n“How many of those did you make?”

n“Around thirty. I ran out of materials, rather than time.”

nThere was no use having any left over.

nThey weren’t good quality, and if some were left over, it could lead to some troubling situations, so Loren kept throwing them without hesitation, determined to use them all up.

n“Wh!? Wait! It just grazed me!?”

n“Oh, sorry about that. They aren’t balanced well so my aim is off.”

n“If you’re going to help me, why don’t you swing that sword of yours instead of throwing those?”

n“Well, I’m but an ordinary mercenary…”

nLoren grudgingly got into stance with the black great sword at his waist. He then stepped forward and released a scooping swipe into the undead surrounding Klaus.

nSeeing the amount of force and momentum, Klaus was about to say something, but there was no way he could cancel such a heavy blow.

nOf course, there was no way Loren would make the mistake of hitting Klaus, and the strike met a part of the ring of undead surrounding Klaus, and a few zombies erupted into spurts of blood and were reduced into pieces of meat.

n“Is it too selfish of me to ask you to think a little before you attack?”

nKlaus said in a shaky voice, as he had turned his back to Loren’s strike at the spur of the moment.

nLoren’s strike had indeed succeeded in killing many zombies at once, but of course the blood and flesh that flew about had splashed inside as well as outside the ring of zombies.

nIf that were to happen it would splash onto Klaus, who was in the center, so although he didn’t take everything to the face, he still got covered in blood and pink debris from head to toe.

n“Oh, sorry…”

n“Ugh…it’s smelly and sticky…”

nKlaus complained but didn’t stop moving.

nSince his sword was affected by his Gift ‘Boost’, the long sword didn’t break or bend even when used in a way that would ruin a normal sword, and its sharpness stayed the same as well.

nThe zombies trying to attack the clinic were all attracted to where Klaus was like moths to flames. The only thing Loren and Lapis had to do was take care of the undead that weren’t heading towards Klaus, which wasn’t hard at all.

n“Looking at him fight again, he’s pretty competent.”

n“Well, those with Gifts can be really capable depending on how they are used.”

n“Stop admiring and help…p.i.s.s off!”

nHe tried to complain, but no matter how many of them he cut down, the horde kept coming, so he couldn’t talk even if he wanted to.

nOf course, Loren wasn’t just standing there watching. He was moving the corpses out to the side so that it wouldn’t get in the way and killing wandering ones with his great sword.

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n“In the battlefield, there’s always a few that trip on the enemy’s corpses. It’s important to keep your feet clear, you know?”

n“I see. That’s a good piece of information to know.”

n“You guys!”

nAs Loren moved the corpses to the side and talking about knowledge on the battlefield, Lapis was nodding and started taking notes.

nKlaus couldn’t stand it, so he cut down the zombies around him with brute force and was about say something with the little time he bought.

nIt was at that moment.

nAlong with a large exploding sound, a corner of the clinic got blasted away from the inside.

nAs Klaus froze with surprise, the undead that were attacking him were dealt with Lapis’ ‘Turn Undead’ and Loren’s great sword, but Lapis’ eyes were already focused on the crumbled corner of the clinic rather than the undead.

n“W-what was that!?”

nWith Klaus panicking behind them, Loren and Lapis’ eyes were on the silhouette, who was most likely responsible for the destruction, that came out carrying an unconscious Shayna.

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