Chapter 11
Chapter 11
“What do I do if the zombies under my command are getting contaminated by radiation and their skin is peeling off?”
└ [Advancing Necromancer]: “Their skin is peeling off…? Sounds similar to acid corrosion.”
└ [Necro Trainee]: “There’s no helping it, nya. The only answer is increasing the proficiency of your Corpse Manipulation.”
└ [Corpse Freak]: “There is a method. Either use a chimera, or do what the trainee said and raise your proficiency.”
“Chimera?”
It was a new approach.
A chimera meant mixing the DNA of different lifeforms together.
That meant it might be possible to combine the body of a zombie adapted to radiation with one of my own undead and create a radiation-resistant chimera.
“But… how?”
└ [Advancing Necromancer]: “Use the shop.”
└ [Necro Trainee]: “Use the shop!”
└ [Corpse Freak]: “Shop, obviously!”
At their words, I immediately opened the shop window.
[Name]: Corpse Fusion
[Required Ether]: 50 million Ether
“Ah…”
Way too expensive.
Owned Ether: 7.8 million.
Not even close.
And on top of that—
“Even if I sell the mutants and variants, it’s still not enough.”
Even my entire fortune wouldn’t be enough to buy the skill.
“I need to earn Ether.”
Now I had a goal.
But—
“I’ll just run auto-farming.”
In the end, all I needed was time.
After returning to the research complex, I sent out the mutant and the variant zombies.
I ordered them to capture as many zombies alive as possible.
The mutant returned carrying ordinary zombies in both arms.
The skeletal variant came back with zombies skewered along its sharp bones like fruits hanging from a branch.
“Hmm… about one every ten minutes, and each one averages between five hundred thousand and seven hundred thousand Ether.”
At this rate, I just needed a hundred of them.
But—
“The ten-minute cooldown is the problem.”
No matter what I did, the cooldown refused to decrease.
A hundred captures would take a total of one thousand minutes.
Sixteen entire hours.
The mutant and the skeletal variant continued hauling ordinary zombies into the containment room, but there were simply too many of them.
My cooldown couldn’t keep up, and the zombies started piling up.
“Tch…”
Still, what choice did I have?
Time would solve it eventually.
Anyway.
While resting inside the research complex—
—zzzt… zzzt…
A strange noise echoed through the room.
“What?”
It was coming from a communication device tucked away in a corner of the facility.
Judging by the thick layer of dust covering it, it probably hadn’t gone off in ages.
“Hey, answer it.”
At my words, Lee Hyunjae immediately picked up the receiver.
“This is the research complex speaking.”
“…Is this… the research complex?”
“…Yes.”
Lee Hyunjae’s eyes trembled as he looked back at me.
Even he seemed startled.
Anyway—
“How is the research complex doing?”
“Uh…”
He glanced at me nervously.
I quietly whispered to him.
“Just say you’ve been hiding from the zombies.”
He nodded immediately.
“We’ve been hiding from the zombies.”
“I see… so that’s what happened…”
“May I ask why you contacted us?”
“A special forces team will arrive within the week to retrieve the research data.”
“Gasp…”
“What’s your name?”
“Lee Hyunjae.”
“You’re on the list. Researcher Lee Hyunjae. I’ll inform the special forces to rescue you.”
“Thank you!”
Click.
That was the end of the transmission.
Silence once again settled over the dusty communication room.
But the situation had just become a lot worse.
“Uh… this feels seriously fucked.”
A special forces unit coming here meant the situation at the facility would inevitably be reported.
They knew what had been inside this place.
The mutants on Basement Level 1.
The Abomination on Basement Level 2.
That was precisely why they were sending in a special unit.
But what would happen when they arrived and discovered those dangerous monsters were gone?
Naturally, they’d report it to higher-ups.
And those higher-ups might send even more personnel after growing suspicious.
If that happened, there was a chance my abilities would be exposed.
“Tch…”
There couldn’t have been worse timing.
Still, I had to deal with it.
There was no other option.
“I was just trying to level up Corpse Manipulation. How did it turn into this mess?”
The goal of becoming a one-man army.
To achieve it, I needed to increase the proficiency of Corpse Manipulation.
To raise that proficiency, I needed to control mutants.
And after hearing there were mutants near the nuclear plant, I went there.
To counter the radioactive zombies, I started desperately gathering Ether to purchase Corpse Fusion.
And now this happened too.
“That special forces unit… they aren’t awakened, right?”
I asked Lee Hyunjae cautiously.
“Probably not. Awakened individuals are valuable assets. Most likely it’ll just be an armed special forces squad.”
“Probably…”
Still, the fact remained—they would be powerful human opponents.
I had one week.
“I need to get stronger within a week.”
The schedule was tight.
But—
I was steadily gathering Ether as fast as possible.
Somehow, it would work out.
“Hurry…”
Every time the cooldown ended, I continued selling ordinary zombies to the shop.
Two days later.
Finally, I had enough.
“Purchase!”
[Name]: Corpse Fusion
[Required Ether]: 50 million Ether
In an instant, fifty million Ether vanished.
Owned Ether: 0
“Ah, damn it…”
The magic of instantly becoming broke.
Still, a skill this expensive had to be worth it.
“Let’s check the specs.”
I opened the status window.
[Skill Name]: Corpse Fusion
[Mana Cost]: 20 MP
“What? That’s it?”
The description was absurdly simple.
“Well then… should I try combining a normal zombie with a variant?”
I summoned an ordinary zombie and the skeletal variant from the containment room.
The two stood side by side.
The size difference between them was enormous.
About one and a half times larger.
“Corpse Fusion.”
[Select the main body.]
“The skeletal variant.”
[The skeletal variant has been selected as the main body. Beginning fusion.]
At the same time—
Crack… crack…
The two bodies began merging together.
Then the skeletal variant’s bones rapidly started growing larger.
Its body size increased as well.
“Oh…”
But with only one fusion, the changes weren’t that dramatic.
“Should I keep going?”
So I continued.
After around ten zombies had been fused—
[Fusion beyond this point is impossible.]
The message appeared, and the fusion stopped.
There seemed to be a limit.
Which meant—
Next came the radiation test.
“We’ll go tomorrow.”
Tomorrow would be the important part.
That was when I’d combine it with radioactive zombies.
The next day.
Lee Sua and I headed back to the nuclear plant.
“I get chills every time I see this place… Radiation, seriously.”
“Yeah.”
Both Lee Sua and I had already surpassed normal human bodies.
Because of that, we could endure radiation far better than ordinary people.
We followed the same route as before.
Then—
“Damn… these things are seriously disgusting.”
“No kidding.”
Now there were zombies with five eyes.
After being saturated with radiation, they were becoming less and less human in appearance.
Some had four arms.
Others had two necks branching apart.
But dealing with them was easy.
All it took was a click.
“Corpse Manipulation.”
The zombie instantly became one of my servants.
But I wasn’t done.
“Corpse Fusion.”
The moment I activated the skill—
Sssssss—
The radioactive zombie began merging with the skeletal variant.
The skeletal variant’s appearance gradually twisted into something bizarre.
It was starting to resemble a true chimera.
“Oof…”
“That thing looks like a damn dog.”
“A hunting dog?”
“Exactly.”
The skeletal variant no longer resembled a human.
It was becoming more animalistic.
Maybe Corpse Fusion amplified the strengths of whatever it combined, causing it to evolve toward a beast-like form.
“Hmm… probably a good thing.”
“It does move faster…”
Just then—
[Through Corpse Fusion, you have made a new discovery.]
[You have acquired the skill: Corpse Evolution.]
[Corpse Manipulation has reached Lv.8.]
“Huh?”
I gained a completely new skill.
What the hell?
I immediately checked the status window.
[Corpse Evolution]
— Evolves a body on the verge of evolution.
— However, its cost may increase.
“Ohoooo!”
A new skill obtained through another skill.
This was practically infinite growth.
“And… Corpse Manipulation reached Level 8?”
The growth was incredible.
But—
“Now’s the time to try it.”
The evolution skill.
I immediately used it on the skeletal variant that had supposedly reached the threshold of evolution.
Then—
Crack… crack…
The body curled into a cocoon.
And in an instant—
Crush!
Something burst out of it.
“Whoa…”
The evolved skeletal variant was now a massive wolf.
But its entire body was covered in bone spikes.
Every movement produced the sound of bones scraping against each other.
It was impossible to tell whether it was truly alive or dead.
A grotesque creature.
“The cost is four?”
Compared to a mutant’s cost of five, this evolved wolf that originated from a variant zombie only cost four.
Still—
“I think it could fight a mutant evenly.”
If the two fought each other, the battle would probably be close.
But—
“Focus for now.”
The important thing was moving deeper toward the nuclear plant.
“How much cost do I have left?”
— Cost: 10/16
I still had six points available.
“If I find a mutant now, this’ll be easy.”
A five-cost mutant.
Just obtaining one would make me feel ridiculously secure.
Especially one soaked in radiation.
It’d probably be useful for hunting other mutants too.
“Let’s keep moving.”
“Yeah.”
Even Lee Sua still looked stunned by the zombie’s evolution.
Apparently it was her first time seeing something like that too.
Step… step…
As we continued forward—
“GWOOOOAR!”
Something huge came charging from the distance.
“Holy shit! What the hell is that?!”
“A… a centaur?”
The creature that appeared was a grotesque mutant with eight legs.
And it was so enormous that even my mutant had to look up at it.
But—
“That bastard’s unlucky.”
Of all times, it just had to appear when I still had spare cost available.