Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The Armored Zombie.
A gigantic arm grotesquely swollen on one side of its body, like an armored vehicle fused with flesh.
That single arm radiated enough brute force to shove aside a tank.
The muscle fibers bulged as if ready to burst, and every swing tore through the air hard enough to shake the ground.
And the other one.
The Skeletal Zombie.
A bizarre mutant that ripped bones out of its own body and fought while covering itself in them like a hedgehog.
The sharp protruding bones glimmered pale under the sunlight, giving off the oppressive feeling that anything touching them would be impaled instantly.
Those two monsters were fighting each other.
Every time the Armored Zombie slammed its giant arm down, the Skeletal Zombie either blocked with its bone spikes or twisted its body away with unnatural agility.
Boom. Boom.
Heavy impacts echoed one after another.
It was an even fight.
But—
‘They can’t fight.’
That would just be a waste.
If one of them lost an arm or got badly damaged, that was my loss.
“Zombie Control.”
I activated the skill immediately.
Since I could control up to 4 cost now, both monsters froze for a moment before slowly turning toward me.
The murderous intent they’d been aiming at each other vanished completely.
“Good, good.”
Two mutant zombies!
I’d grown insanely fast.
“Nice. At this rate, I’ll keep getting stronger.”
And right then—
I leveled up.
Apparently controlling zombies also counted as kills.
A familiar system window appeared in front of me.
【Name】 : Choi Han Lv.3
【Stats】 : F
【Unique Ability】 : Trade Gallery Lv.2
【Unique Skill】 : Zombie Control Lv.2
【Points】 : 1
“Not bad.”
Another level.
Without hesitation, I invested the point into the Gallery.
【Unique Ability】 : Trade Gallery Lv.3
【Updated Features】:
“Ohhh…”
Now the trade cooldown had dropped to one day.
Compared to the original seven days, that was huge progress.
And more importantly—
“A currency system?”
Just hearing the name made it sound incredible.
I immediately checked the description.
[Currency Trading System]: Under the system’s mediation, users may buy and sell items.
“Wow!”
I instantly opened the trade system.
Balance: 0 Ether.
“Ether?”
That seemed to be the currency unit.
My balance was empty, but the meaning of the system itself was obvious.
I no longer had to rely entirely on bartering with the Gallery users.
The system itself would judge value and fill the difference with Ether if needed.
“This is amazing.”
Word seemed to spread quickly.
[Advance of the Necromancer]: Oho, a shop? So I can sell things as well? It seems the Gallery Master is the buyer.
└ [Necro Trainee]: That’s even better, yeees!
└ [Corpse Lover]: Then it’s finally time to upload my masterpieces…
└ [No.20]: Shiny things! Upload more! I take them!
“Heh…”
Not just me, but the others also started listing items in the shop.
[Advance of the Necromancer]: Hmm? The pricing is strange.
└ [Necro Trainee]: You senile old man! Why would you upload the second half of the Necronomicon?!
└ [Corpse Lover]: My artwork is only worth this much?! What kind of nonsense is this?!
└ [No.20]: Uhehehe! Shiny things! Shiny things!
I checked the listings through the system.
[Name] : Summon Dark Lord
[Category] : Skill
[Required Ether] : 10 Billion Ether
[Name] : Corpse Explosion
[Category] : Skill
[Required Ether] : 10 Million Ether
[Name] : Chimera 12-5X
[Category] : Summon
[Required Ether] : 10 Thousand Ether
There were only three items listed, but the scale was ridiculous.
Meanwhile, my own listings looked like this.
[Name] : Cola
[Category] : Food
[Required Ether] : 100 Thousand Ether
[Name] : Cheap Gem Bracelet
[Category] : Accessory
[Required Ether] : 5 Thousand Ether
“As expected.”
They weren’t worth much.
Judging by the numbers, Ether seemed to have a value similar to Korean won.
Still, the thing I was most curious about was something else.
“How much are zombies worth?”
[Name] : Normal Zombie
[Category] : Summon
[Required Ether] : 1 Million Ether
[Name] : Mutant Zombie
[Category] : Summon
[Required Ether] : 5 Million Ether
“Oh…”
They were surprisingly valuable.
It was probably because my connected world was Necra, a realm full of necromancers.
If I had connected to a normal fantasy world instead, zombie prices would’ve been far lower.
“Five million Ether per mutant zombie…”
That meant selling just two mutant zombies would let me buy the ten-million-Ether Corpse Explosion skill.
“Should I sell them right away?”
I hesitated.
The two mutant zombies were hard-earned assets.
I couldn’t just throw them away recklessly.
“No. I should wait a little longer.”
It still wasn’t time for Corpse Explosion.
I could barely protect myself as it was.
An explosion skill would only attract everything nearby.
The right time to use it would be when I became strong enough to survive even while surrounded by hundreds of zombies.
“You done?”
“Ah, sorry.”
I’d apparently stopped walking while lost in thought.
Lee Sua stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for me.
Her expression was calm. She didn’t seem annoyed.
At my apology, she simply shrugged lightly.
“Well, whatever. You just got two mutant zombies under your control. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
As we walked side by side, Lee Sua suddenly spoke.
“Come to think of it, Armored Zombies are a pain to deal with. This turned out nicely.”
“True.”
Among mutant zombies, Armored Zombies were considered one of the biggest nightmares.
“Bullets and blades don’t work on them.”
“Yeah.”
Since normal weapons barely affected them, avoiding them was usually the only option.
But when those massive arms blocked an area completely, even escaping became difficult.
“You know what I always thought?” Lee Sua continued.
“If someone used an Armored Zombie for defense, there’d be no answer.”
“That’s true.”
Their only weakness was high stamina consumption.
But if they were used defensively, even that weakness disappeared.
With those giant arms, they could block entire pathways or throw debris around endlessly.
“We’re here.”
Before I noticed, the apartment building was right in front of us.
Back in the room, I called for Lee Sua.
“What?”
“I have a proposal.”
“What is it?”
“Let’s live together from now on.”
“What?!”
Lee Sua’s face instantly turned bright red.
She reflexively crossed her arms over herself.
“We’re not at that stage yet…”
“No, listen. From now on, I’m planning to send mutant zombies out hunting.”
“Ah…”
“But I don’t have any way to protect myself.”
“So you want to use me as your bodyguard?”
“Exactly.”
“And my payment?”
“What do you want?”
This was negotiation.
Protection had to be exchanged for something valuable.
Lee Sua lowered her gaze for a moment in thought before speaking slowly.
“Let me join your crew.”
“...Seriously?”
Honestly, it was a fantastic deal for me.
Having an assassin like Lee Sua under my command would be incredible.
“But treat me as an equal. If you make a crew, I’ll at least pretend to follow you.”
“Deal.”
We became allies.
Now we could finally trust each other with our backs exposed.
“Time to start growing properly.”
Now that Lee Sua had joined my crew, I no longer had to worry about my own safety.
A skilled assassin was protecting me.
“Let’s get aggressive.”
I summoned Mutant Zombie 1 and 2.
“Grrr…”
“Urrgh…”
“Alright. Go hunt as much as you want.”
“Urrgh!”
“Grrr!”
The two zombies shoved each other with their shoulders before sprinting outside the apartment.
Apocalypse.
A world where humans struggled to survive.
Yet survivors still existed.
“P-Please save me!”
A man was being chased by a horde of zombies.
Right in the middle of a road under broad daylight.
Rust-covered car wrecks and shattered glass littered the asphalt.
There wasn’t a single place to hide.
Every ragged breath and desperate footstep shattered the silence, attracting even more zombies from alleys and ruined buildings.
In a world where silence meant survival, he was broadcasting his location himself.
It was hopeless.
“Ahhh… I want to live!”
He used to belong to a crew too.
But the infamous biker crews of Daejeon had destroyed them completely.
Ever since that night of roaring engines and endless screams, the survivors had scattered in every direction.
He had wandered desperately, searching for a new shelter or even a survivable hideout.
And now he was here.
“No… no!”
Scrape.
His foot caught on debris, sending him crashing onto the asphalt.
His palms tore open against the ground, but he didn’t even feel the pain.
He didn’t need to look back.
The sound of approaching footsteps was enough.
The shadows of zombies lunged toward him like starving wild dogs.
“Ah…”
The man realized this was the end.
He closed his eyes.
But then—
“UOOOAAARRRGH!”
A monstrous roar exploded nearby.
It sounded neither human nor zombie, just a savage howl tearing through the air.
BOOM! BOOM!
Heavy impacts thundered one after another, and the zombies surrounding him were blasted away in every direction.
Like cannon shells had hit them.
“What… what?!”
The man opened his eyes.
And saw it.
“Hiiik! A-Armored Zombie!”
One grotesquely oversized arm.
A massive body.
Each step cracked the asphalt beneath it.
The man instantly scrambled to his feet and started running again.
But—
“…Huh?”
The Armored Zombie didn’t even glance at him.
As if the man had never mattered at all, it turned and charged directly into the surrounding zombies.
Boom! Boom!
Each swing of its giant arm sent zombies flying into walls and overturned buses.
“W-What…”
The man stood frozen in disbelief.
Then suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.
“Hiiik!”
When he turned around, another monster stood there.
A zombie wrapped entirely in white bone armor.
Sharp skeletal spikes protruded from every part of its body.
“S-Skeletal Zombie!”
But the truly horrifying part was something else.
Those bone spikes piercing from its body—
Normal zombies were skewered on them.
The Skeletal Zombie slowly walked forward while carrying impaled zombies like trophies.
“Someone… save me!”
The man shut his eyes tightly.
But—
“Grr?”
The Skeletal Zombie suddenly froze as if it had noticed something.
It briefly glanced at the man before completely ignoring him and rushing off elsewhere.
“Huff… huff…”
Only after several moments did strength finally leave the man’s legs.
He stared blankly toward the direction the monster had run.
Loud crashes echoed from there.
“Grr!”
“Urrgh!”
Then an even stranger scene unfolded.
“UOOOAAARRGH!”
“GRRRR!”
The Armored Zombie and the Skeletal Zombie stood face-to-face, growling at one another.
Like predators fighting over prey.
“...What the hell is going on?”
The man couldn’t tell whether he had just survived—
Or stumbled into something even worse.