What Replaces the Crocodile Pack 5

The monsters that had turned undead all looked different, but they shared one trait: they were slower — and absurdly tougher.

The moss crocodiles, which used thick, springy moss as padding over the hard scales beneath, became even sturdier once they turned into zombies. The trade-off was that they now moved as sluggishly in the water as they did on land — but becoming undead had erased every biological weak point, eyes and throat included.

The lizardman skeletons that crawled out of the paralysis-toxin-soaked mud swamps were the same story. Having discarded not only their reptilian scales but flesh and blood entirely, they were left as pure bone — a nightmare for swordsmen and archers alike. For creatures reduced to bare skeletons, their swordsmanship was still intact, making them a miserable matchup for anyone relying on edged weapons.

The most grotesque of the lot was the vine snake. Originally a creature that coiled around trees and used camouflage for sudden constricting ambushes, it had become something closer to a mutant than a zombie — several long, dangling tentacles flopping from its head. Naturally, those tentacles dripped venom the same way a zombie crocodile's maw did.

"…Oh Goddess."

"Wow. I didn't know undead could be this disgusting."

Even Irene, who usually wore a gentle smile, had her brow furrowed hard at the sight. The moment she spotted the tentacle-snake that had once been a vine snake and fixed it with a look of pure contempt, the viewers moaning hnngg over it numbered not in the hundreds but the thousands. That said everything.

Of course, the party's reactions were one thing — the viewers' reactions to the transformed field were just as intense. It was easy to laugh when it was someone else's problem, but the viewers played the game too. More precisely, if they wanted to see the ending, they'd eventually have to come to the 31st floor, wouldn't they?

Unless they planned to live out their lives as residents of a fantasy world without ever climbing the Tower, any strategy-minded player watching Han Se-ah's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stream for upper-floor intel and skill-tree optimization was going to shudder at those sticky, repulsive forms.

"Uh… the sense of smell goes numb pretty fast, so that's actually fine, but I do not have the confidence to fight those squelchy corpses in melee. Even if blunt weapons are supposed to be better against undead, you still have to beat them down with your hands, right? The texture would be so weird."

Grotesque monsters and a foul, miserable field. Watching plague zones and cursed lands on a monitor was one thing — who in their right mind would want to go there in person and experience it with all five senses?

And so, after thoroughly showing the viewers every corner of the 31st floor — smashing zombie crocodile skulls, pulverizing lizardman skeletons into fine powder, and having Grace personally turn the utterly repulsive tentacle-snakes into porcupines — it was time to decide: return to the city, or look for a safe zone.

"What do you think, Hanna? Should we go look for a safe zone or a place we can camp, or head back down to the 30th floor to resupply?"

"Hmm…"

That decision, of course, belonged to the party leader — Han Se-ah. She'd been chatting with her viewers, but at my question she fell into thought.

The guild commissions were all complete. The reagent bottles held purple liquid and sticky paralysis mud; ashen twigs and thoroughly dried leaves were stowed in the inventory. Zombie crocodiles, lizardman skeletons, tentacle-snakes — we'd met them all and collected mana stones of every type.

"Let's call it here for today and head back. It's getting late, and we don't have enough intel on the 31st floor. Even if we end up spending the night inside the Tower, it'd be better to do it in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a safe zone on the 30th."

"True, the information is pretty thin."

"Good. I had no desire to take a meal on this unholy ground."

After a brief deliberation, her decision was retreat. The field itself had transformed, not just the monsters — the argument that camping here was too dangerous felt entirely reasonable. Irene nodded along to Han Se-ah's words, muttering in a cold voice.

Hmm… the Goddess Church believed life was a noble gift from the Goddess, so their reaction to undead was no joke. So this was what people meant when they said someone who never got angry was terrifying once they finally did.

At Irene's oddly sharp tone, the party turned around on the narrow path without a word of complaint. I could freely stomp through the shallow poison pools with holy power coating my armor, but the others couldn't — Han Se-ah even pulled out her staff and fretted over it. In the end, only after I reached out to help her keep her balance could we rearrange our formation and start back the way we'd come.

"I touched that purple pool when we were gathering samples, and it was weirdly sticky. If it gets on your gear by accident, cleaning it off would be a nightmare."

"It has a mild toxicity, so it could wear down or corrode equipment too. Best to avoid contact as much as possible."

I didn't know much about Katie and Irene's gear, but Han Se-ah and Grace's equipment was precious leather gear received as quest rewards. Refined and finished with magic and alchemy — not the sort of thing you wanted to slather in unknown toxins.

Someone who loved shoes wouldn't go tromping through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠muddy puddles in a brand-new pair on a rainy day. And an adventurer's gear wasn't a hobby — it was their livelihood and their life. You didn't treat it carelessly.

"Ugh, with the path like this, I don't know if a wagon could even get through."

Sticky bubbles burped up beside the party as they carefully picked their way forward side by side. Katie muttered in disgust at the sight.

Honestly, with this mess, the cost of escorting supply wagons was going to skyrocket. You'd either have to dose the horses with antidotes so they wouldn't get poisoned, or hire dozens of Intermediate-grade or lower mages to pave a road with Earth Control as you went.

"I want to figure out why it changed like this… and put it back the way it was."

"If it can be restored, then it must be restored."

Han Se-ah's muttered words weren't aimed at her viewers but at empty air — and Irene's immediate reply made the whole party's shoulders draw in strangely.

Adventurers and the Adventurer's Guild made their living off the Tower's byproducts and commission fees. The mages of the Magic Tower researched mana stones from the Tower and wrote papers on its environments. And now, right after those two groups, the Temple had abruptly shoved its way into the story.

They hadn't cared much when monsters spilled out of the Tower into the outside world — but the moment they heard an undead zone had formed inside, their eyes rolled back in their heads. Or so Elise informed us.

"All those people poured out in a single day?"

"That's what I'm saying. The Temple barely even sends out regular priests because they're short-staffed, and then a whole pack of high-ranking priests swarmed in looking for the Guildmaster."

Back at the guild, we'd submitted the purple poison vials, the bottles of paralysis mud, the bark, and the rest of the commissioned materials — and Elise had sidled up to our table. She'd been making a fuss about how she'd never seen anything like this, and it turned out she had every reason to.

The Temple in this world moved slowly. After all, the Goddess was a real, existing being who occasionally delivered oracles on a yearly basis.

A divine presence that proved itself through holy power and oracles had elevated the Temple's authority to enormous heights — but with that authority came the inability to act rashly. If a single priest who could wield holy power committed an immoral act, that was outright blasphemy.

"So the Temple's going to cooperate?"

"Mm, probably? I couldn't eavesdrop on the exact conversation. A whole crowd of high-and-mighty types in pure white vestments came pouring in, then headed off to the Magic Tower with the Guildmaster. But if they took the leadership of both the Adventurer's Guild and the Magic Tower with them, doesn't that mean the Temple is stepping in directly?"

Elise shrugged, and the party nodded. From a slash-and-burn village girl to a northern noble lady — their faith in the Temple ran deep. Fair enough. In ten years living in this fantasy world, I'd rarely found anyone as reliable as the Temple.

Unlike nobles who weighed every scrap of justification and practical gain, once the faithful united under the Goddess's name, their cohesion was no joke. And it wasn't just priests and nuns — there were monks who trained in martial arts, and Temple knights who reinforced their bodies with holy power.

If the lower-floor quests had progressed with the mages' cooperation, the 31st-floor quests would apparently proceed alongside the Temple's forces.

"Oh — listening to Elise, the quest just updated. So this really was the Demon King's doing after all. Looks like we have to find something like a source of the corruption. Is the boss going to be some giant mass of contamination? A tentacle monster or a filth slime or something. …And I have to kill that? Ugh……."

The chat window reacted violently to Han Se-ah's muttering. Reading through it, I felt my own body go stiff with tension, and I swallowed hard. A corpse giant, a mass of filth — if it was a big, filthy boss monster, there was a 100% chance I'd be the one getting covered in it.

Last time, when we killed the ogre, I'd been drenched in blood and brain matter, and the stench wouldn't come out until I had to use a magic tool. How much worse would an undead-type boss be?

…Even if I coated my body with holy power and mana for protection, feeling gross about it was unavoidable.