Chapter 287
Chapter 287
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 287
Chapter Title: The One Trying to Understand (3)
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"Kyahahahaha—!!"
"Kyahahaha—!!"
"Kyahakyahakyahahaha—!!"
"Kyakyakyahyahya—!!"
The giant zombies and hungers charged in a horde, shaking the ground with thunderous booms.
Despite their massive bulk, they moved at a startling speed, reminiscent of enormous trucks barreling forward.
"They're coming."
Oliver spoke as he watched the green power of nature surging from the forest.
It had visibly weakened, but it hadn't vanished entirely, so it was still putting up a fight.
No sooner had he thought that than massive tree roots erupted from the earth, lunging toward him.
"Kyakyakyakya—hahatak!!!"
One of the giant zombies, clad in scale armor, burned its life force and leaped at the roots, swinging its arm to cleave them in two.
A superhuman strength no ordinary corpse could muster.
But the dozen or so druids hidden in the forest showed no fear. Instead, they pooled their power to summon even larger roots—over ten of them—and the gangs holding the front line opened fire with machine guns.
Tu-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-dung!!!
While the guns kept things pinned down, the roots would smash down all at once to crush Oliver flat.
But Oliver struck first.
Oliver broke down chunks of flesh from the zombie he was riding, gathered them into his hand, and fired them off like bullets.
The flesh, infused with emotion, embedded itself in the tough, nature-infused roots. Oliver immediately chained it into black magic, activating it.
The flesh acted as a fuse, merging the roots' natural power with black magic. The roots swelled grotesquely before exploding.
A deafening blast shattered the roots into fragments, the shockwave rippling outward.
The gangs firing machine guns—and even the druids—froze at the spectacle. The path between the forest and Oliver lay wide open.
"Kyahahahaha—!!"
The grotesque hungers surged forward first, devouring the gangs at the forest's edge. Five or six men were burned alive, unable to even scream as they became fuel for the hungers.
"How dare a mere monster...!!"
The druids at the rear wove earth and wood into massive pillars, slamming them into the hungers.
The flames composing the hungers' bodies churned wildly, and they let out bizarre cries as they toppled over.
In that moment, a zombie grown to giant size with muscles pushed to their limits closed in on the druids.
"Uwaaaaaah—!!!"
The scale-armored zombie roared, swinging both rage-filled fists down on the clustered druids.
Kwang—!!
A massive cloud of dirt erupted as if from artillery fire, the ground quaking.
Most druids dodged, but those who couldn't were flung far away. Even the nimble ones who evaded weren't safe.
Zombies, following their master's will, leaped into the air to snatch the exposed druids, biting with teeth, smashing with fists, and tearing with claws.
"Kaaaaah—!"
"Guhk..."
"Ugh... ughk!!"
Like bacteria invading through wounds, the zombies and hungers poured into the forest, wreaking havoc.
The zombies bulldozed forward, smashing trees and indiscriminately attacking any gangs or druids in their path.
The hungers whipped out their long, emaciated arms to snag enemies, stuffing them into their maws to extend their lifespans and bulk up.
The forest turned into a battlefield in an instant.
The gangs relied on their numerical superiority, firing wildly at the zombies, but it posed no real threat.
Their guns couldn't pierce the zombies' ultra-reinforced scale armor.
Instead, they just drew attention, getting swept away by the zombies' furious punches and kicks.
The druids were a different story.
The initial charge inflicted some casualties, but true to their reputation, they quickly regained composure. With beast-like agility, they spread out among the trees, narrowing the zombies' strike zones, and cooperated to block the incoming assaults.
They raised huge wooden pillars to halt advances, bound bodies with roots to immobilize, hurled massive wooden spears to pierce armor, buried foes under heaps of earth, or smashed and shredded zombie heads with nature-infused fists or beast claws.
Oliver's zombies couldn't overpower them, like bears failing against swarms of bees.
Even a solid hit would deal meaningful damage, if not instant death, but the druids were definitively faster, refusing to take hits easily.
Reinforcements were needed.
Even under pressure, Oliver pulled a scroll from his pocket.
A low-grade teleport scroll from the Black Market—one he'd tweaked himself.
A needless hassle, but a precaution to hide his spatial magic.
Oliver activated it by channeling mana. Space warped, then tore open, and from the rift emerged a masked corpse puppet—Batori—and her eight headless disciples.
The druids pressuring Oliver from the trees panicked at the sudden horde of corpse puppets. They lunged to attack, but Oliver's side was faster this time.
Batori directed her disciples into a circular formation, sharing lightning magic to form an electric array.
She added her own mana, detonating the condensed spell like a primer. Powerful currents blasted outward.
Chwajajajajang—!!
The magic from nine mages, though hastily prepared, unleashed devastating power, inflicting serious damage on all nearby druids. As their pressure eased, Oliver released control of the giant zombies and cast black magic.
Target of Hate
Implanted on scattered druids and enemies.
This freed the systematic but rigid zombies, turning them into rampaging wild horses with monstrous roars.
The druids who survived the lightning tried weaving through trees again to dodge and counter, but the headless disciples and Batori filled the gaps, pressing them hard.
Once the momentum shifted, the druids were caught between dodging giant zombie blows and getting hit by corpse puppets—or vice versa.
"I'll head in first. First."
Oliver called out to First, possessing the corpse puppet Batori, and advanced.
First acknowledged from within Batori, manipulating the headless female black mage puppets to harry the druids.
With flashes of fire, ice, lightning, and more elemental magic.
Not just them—the Fighter Crew trailing Oliver, Crime Firm executives, Security Bureau, Pinkman, and others joined, pushing deeper into the forest.
'If this drags on, it'll be hard to talk to Mr. Seamus—'
——Thud!!
A crawling zombie halted abruptly.
Its legs and body bound by roots shooting from the ground.
The sudden stop flung Oliver forward from inertia, but his emotion robe emitted mana particles, cushioning his landing.
It required heaps of emotion—a tricky condition—but damn convenient.
'Too convenient...'
Ping————Kwa-gagagagwak!!!
No sooner had he landed than a dozen wooden spears flew at him.
Infused with the same natural power he'd seen at McCluskey Security.
Reflexively, Oliver spread mana particles thickly around him. The spears halted in midair, unable to reach him.
A pack of druids now surrounding him pressed the attack relentlessly.
"The boss said buy time! Crush him!!"
Crunch... crrrunch...!!
Roots sprouted around Oliver at the druids' cry, coiling to squeeze him alive.
But they failed.
No special black magic—just the mana particles around his body blocking the roots. And not content with that, they crushed the roots in turn.
A pure clash of power.
The druids gaped, as if they hadn't expected to be overpowered in their own forest.
Ignoring them, Oliver coated the captured wooden spears with black javelins via the mana particles, then flicked his fingers forward.
The dozen spears, emotion-enhanced, boomeranged back at their owners.
Sharp whooshes cut the air, followed by gruesome bursts of flesh and wood.
"Kyahahat!! Die...!!"
The moment Oliver counterattacked, someone closed the distance in a flash, appearing before him.
A man wrapped head to toe in bandages, wielding a massive iron-plate greatsword.
A familiar face—from the Development Opposition Committee that ambushed Oliver, Forrest, and Al's vehicle in the past.
'So the Development Opposition Committee is connected to Mr. Seamus after all?'
Oliver thought, spotting more committee members scattering from the forest center, interfering with his allies.
Meanwhile, the iron greatsword swung down at his head.
Not just to split his skull—with enough force to mince his entire body.
Oliver's emotion robe, as if alive, spewed mana particles en masse, halting the blade dead.
It didn't block—it just stopped.
"You...!"
"Long time no see. Nice to meet again... but I've got business to attend to."
Oliver politely excused himself to the greatsword-bandage man, then used Targeting to give him a gentle shove.
Dartboards appeared on Oliver's hand and the man's torso, repelling each other violently. The man flew back, smashing into a massive dead tree stump.
Crack—!! The tree shattered on one side, tilting precariously before toppling sideways to crush him.
Crunch... crrrunch... bang!!
Dirt billowed as the tree fell. Three more bandage men charged in.
Less human, more like spiders, dogs, or lizards—moving with grotesque, fitting motions. Tentacles, teeth, and claws from their backs lashed at Oliver.
Snap—!
Oliver clapped at the approaching trio.
As his palms met, the spread mana particles coalesced into hand-shapes, squashing the three like mosquitoes.
Flesh burst, bones crumbled. The committee members mingled into ground meat. The greatsword-bandage man, enraged by his comrades' deaths, shoved the tree aside and rose again.
Crack—! Crack... bang!!
Oliver flicked the air with his finger toward the charging bandage man, who had flung aside a tree dozens of times his size, chanting the spell.
Mana particles gathered on the man's shoulder, forming a forearm-thick nail that embedded itself—as if it had always been there. No warning.
"......!!"
The greatsword-bandage man collapsed in agony beyond the norm.
A voice came from behind Oliver.
"Now!"
Oliver turned.
Six druids, reformed, had pooled power through nearby fires to summon a spirit.
This was his second time seeing one.
The first was the salamander summoned by battlefield mage Kevin—a fire dragon made of flame, feeding on fire.
The second spirit was a woman.
A colossal woman of vivid crimson flame.
She emerged gracefully dancing amid massive infernos. The druids beseeched her.
"Lady of Flames—! Burn our enemies. Leave not even ashes; incinerate their very existence!!"
No bluff.
The spirit absorbed fires across the forest with an otherworldly power unlike magic, then radiated sun-like heat and light.
Beyond any flame mage.
Trees withered nearby; ordinary folk would boil alive from the heat alone.
But the fully prepared spirit locked eyes on summoner-foe Oliver—and suddenly faded away.
"........."
"........."
"........."