65. Woohyoooooo...
65. Woohyoooooo...
Undead.
Bizarre entities born from corpses reanimated by the strange powers lingering in this world.
-Uwaaaahhh...
-Uooohhh...
I had no idea why a follower of the lord who commands such monsters had entered this place, but the immediate concern wasn't their intent—it was getting out of this situation.
Fortunate as it was that their master seemed absent, even without their command, the undead were beings driven by instinct, obsessed with devouring the living.
What would follow was a chaotic battle, with dozens of undead swarming in to consume me alone.
-Uwooo, oooh...
Was it possible?
Could I take down this many undead with only the weapon in my hands?
-U-hyo-oh-oh-oh...
No, even if I couldn't take them all down, it would be enough just to open an escape route.
Just as I tensed up, leveling my spear at the undead from the wall, I suddenly realized they were standing stock-still, staring at me.
They stared at me with vacant eyes, their mouths hanging open dumbly...
-Uwoo, woo...
When I raised the shaft of my spear, wary of that sight, they soon tilted their heads as they looked at me and began to let out dazed voices.
From hideous mouths smeared with the blood of a few devoured humans.
-U, hyo...?
Something you couldn't dismiss as mere groans from corpses, but distinct words.
-U-hyo, U-hyo-oh-oh...
-Uwaaah, U-hyo-oh-oh-oh...
...What the hell, these guys?
Why are they suddenly saying my name?
-U-hyo-oh-oh-oh-oh.....?
-Ohh, U-hyo-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.......
I thought I'd misheard for a moment, but listening again, what was coming out of their mouths was unmistakably my name.
For some reason, they only said "U-hyo" and dropped my surname, but that was probably because their tongues and jaw joints were far from normal.
Right, since these guys usually think of eating the moment they see a person, just standing there saying something was already far from normal.
So what they were saying had to be my name...
-U-hyo-oh-oh-oh-oh!!!
-U-hyo-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh~~!!!
...But no matter what, isn't this a bit weird?
Even if the undead are the type to swarm around and roar, why are they suddenly crowding in and making a scene calling my name?
-Uwoo-ong~
And what are you doing, Ego Weapon?
If you thought this situation was dangerous, you could just shoot off on your own like before, but why are you singing along with them at this exact moment?
-U-hyo-oh~ U-hyo-oh~
-Uwoo-ooong~
But no matter how much time passed, no hostile atmosphere formed between us.
Watching even the Ego Weapon just vibrate quietly, even made me feel like a fool for having been so tense against them.
I didn't know the reason, but at least from the immediate vibe, these guys didn't seem like they were going to attack me.
"Uh, um... If you have no intention of attacking me, can I just pass through?"
-U-hyo-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh...
Even to my cautious question, the undead just stood there blankly, not attacking.
Still, just to be safe, I pushed them aside with the shaft of my spear to open a gap, and their legs were pushed aside lifelessly, eventually opening a path for me.
No response even when I touched and prodded them directly.
After carefully clearing them out one by one like that, I set foot in the passage I'd come from and looked back. As soon as I got some distance, I saw them looking back at me, making moaning noises.
-Uwoo, U-hyo-oh...
-Uwaaaah~ U-hyo-oh-oh~
"...It's my name, but seeing it like that, it feels like I'm watching some voodoo ritual."
A moment where I'd survived, but felt creeped out in many ways.
However, seeing that the weapon in my hand was still humming, I kind of understood why the undead had reacted to me like that.
I mean, even the Ego Weapon, which had no ego, quickly awakened its ego through my ability.
In the same way, the undead who were mad with instinct alone might have been forced to acknowledge my existence through the power that forcibly imprints my name.
Of course, thinking back to when I faced the Knight of Death in the past, I didn't think that power of mine would work on the level of the Four Horsemen.
"Well, it's hard to imagine this working on a boss-level."
After escaping the scene, I prepared to return to where my party was while reviewing the current situation.
Currently, a being with enough power to twist Airi's prophecy had entered this dungeon.
Even if it wasn't the Corpse Lord himself, whose level of danger rivals the Demon King, it would be hopeless to expect any goodwill from any of his followers, the Four Horsemen.
The only possibility was the Knight of Death I'd met before, but he had spared me because he expected to make me his colleague someday, so it would be better to be cautious about any encounter.
So ideally, the moment I rejoined my party, we should escape this dungeon. But just as I was making that plan, the sight of dozens of undead clustered together and amassed ahead filled my eyes.
-Uwaaah.
-Keuaaaah...
These weren't your shabby undead.
Though their armor showed signs of age, each one was what you'd call elite, properly armed.
They were clearly not adventurers turned into zombies, but soldiers brought in from outside, which meant one of the Four Horsemen had entered the chamber my party was in.
"Damn, already here."
Airi's prophecy had collapsed, and all I had was a single mithril Ego Weapon.
Thinking calmly, the correct answer here would be to abandon my party and run away alone to protect myself.
The party members who entered this deathtrap with me.
And that girl who got labeled a Failed Hero because of me—I should avert my eyes from her being miserably killed by the undead, just like that Murderer bastard who'd been devoured before, and run away...
-Grind.
The moment I thought that, I clenched my jaw with force.
Even thinking that stepping back if I wasn't qualified was the correct answer, my steps were advancing toward the place where my party and the Four Horsemen were facing off.
There'd never been a choice to begin with.
To escape the dungeon, I needed to find a path and had to have food, but the map I'd drawn so far and the bag with our rations were all where the party was.
Moreover, not knowing what dangers lay ahead, the cooperation of someone who was a Hero was essential.
-...Euh, uwoor?
With that resolve, as I advanced toward the undead blocking my way, I leveled the tip of my spear and spoke calmly.
"It's not 'Woor,' it's Woo Hyosung, you bastards."
Praying, that this damned ability would help me survive these monsters risen from the dead.
****
There was no such thing as a safe zone for humans inside a dungeon.
But the mage currently following the Failed Hero, Henrietta, felt no particular sense of crisis while exploring such a dangerous place.
Unlike other times, this party had one 'competent pushover' who would obey her every word without question.
"You've worked so~ very hard. Thanks to the Hero blocking up all the passages in this area, we've been able to search this entire zone with complete peace of mind!"
"I-is that so?... Ahaha, ha."
Now that the surrounding structures had been piled up and all passages connected to the area were blocked off.
Henrietta approached the Hero who had exerted herself building the barricade, chuckling—fufu—as she handed her a water bottle.
Not for rest, but a water bottle to replenish the stamina needed for the work to come.
"But you know, Hero-nim. It's just that this area is a bit larger than expected, so could you perhaps lend a hand with the search as well?"
"The search, you mean?"
"Yep~ I know you're tired from standing watch and dealing with demon beasts, but you see, when we investigate, we can only search one thing at a time, right? But if we use the Hero's powers, it feels like we could sweep an entire sector at once~"
"Ah, yes. I'll do it. Just a little, more..."
The Failed Hero, Yi Ga-ram, forced her trembling legs to move and stepped forward once more to survey the room.
As Henrietta watched her, she burst into a giggling laugh, and the vanguard and monk belonging to the same party began to approach her side.
"Mage-lady. Isn't this going too far, no matter what?"
"Yeah, even a Hero doesn't have infinite stamina."
"Ahaha~ We've blocked off everything around us, what possible danger could there be right now?"
Giggling, Henrietta just fiddled with the staff in her hand.
In her two eyes, fixed on the Failed Hero's ragged footsteps, not a shred of restraint over her own actions could be seen.
"I've told you before, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Actually, if we don't put her in her place like this from the start, she'll definitely ignore and trample on us just like the other Heroes did."
"...Well, let's just watch for now."
"Yeah, for now."
They just weren't directly participating, but they also hated the human race known as Heroes.
Even if she had fallen behind, this girl would surely treat them no differently than the Heroes who had persecuted them.
Convinced of this, Henrietta wore a greasy smile as she spent time maintaining the staff in her hands.
'Fufu, I never thought the day would come when I'd see that damn personality wreck bow her head and listen to me~ It'd be great if I could keep sucking up this honey forever~'
Trusting only in the sturdiness of the barricade the Hero had erected.
Thinking only of how to manipulate that Hero from now on.
-Rumble.
But an unconquered dungeon was still an unknown space untouched by human hands.
For all her insolence, relying on a single Hero who listened to her, there existed the possibility of dangers beyond compare to mere attacks by Murderers being realized.
Monsters within that transcended human understanding, and also, transcendent beings from outside that were not human charging in.
-Booom!!
The moment such a being broke through the barricade and barged into the scene.
The complexions of the party members staring at it began to turn a pale white.
"What the hell, an attack!?"
"This is insane! Wh-why are undead here!!"
A horde of undead began invading through the breaches in the barricade. And a single, massive undead formed from their amalgamation.
Realizing that even this monstrosity was not a giant's corpse, but a 'Ragged Golem' made by binding dozens of people together, Henrietta shrieked in horror and began running toward Ga-ram.
"He-hero-nim! It's an attack! Undead are attacking...!"
"I-I'm sorry. My strength is completely spent right now..."
"This damn, useless Hero!"
Maybe if she'd rested a bit, but she'd consumed too much power in a short time trying to accommodate their unreasonable demands.
But Henrietta had neither the leeway nor the heart left to show that girl any consideration.
"Eek! Everyone get ready! We have to hold this place until the two who went scouting return... Wait! Where do you think you're going!"
"Shut up! How are we supposed to handle that many with this few people!"
-Crackle, boom!
Henrietta lashed out with magic at the undead flooding in, disposing of them.
Passing by those who collapsed, consumed by flames and electric currents, Henrietta ran toward the escape route she had blasted open herself and let out a triumphant laugh.
Taking advantage of this moment when her comrades had drawn the attention of the undead, so she could escape alone through the breach in the barricade.
"Haha! Th-that's it! For mere corpses, even without a Hero's power, there's no real pro... Gak!!!"
But even that attempt to flee was blocked, stopped by an undead that suddenly appeared.
Startled by the being that appeared from the darkness and grabbed her throat, Henrietta blasted it with magic, but the corpse hit by the fireball didn't even burn. It just stood there, putting more strength into the hand around her neck.
"Wh-what the hell is this undead! Let go of my neck this instan... Gahak!"
"Hey, you. Were you trying to abandon your comrades and run away?"
Right, this was no ordinary undead.
That was a fact she could feel just from the sheer thirst washing over her from the hand gripping her neck, not to mention the durability to withstand her magic with its body.
"A, a, ga, arg... J-ju, ust... w-wait....."
By the time she realized it, starting from her neck where she was held, the moisture and nutrients were already being drained from her body.
Even the hand she stretched out to resist was drying up in real-time, and beyond it, the void-like holes visible under a hood began to fixate on her.
"That was a really nasty thought you had. I shall make you into a graduate student!!!"
-Crunch!
A noise that arose as everything in her body was sucked out in an instant, leaving skin clinging to bone.
Afterwards, as her infinitely lightened body crumpled helplessly to the floor, the faces of the party members watching the scene blossomed with fear.
"Wh-what the. Wh-what is that..."
"Her body dried up all of a sudden... Urk!"
But even that was only the beginning.
The ominous power that seeped into the spot where the nutrients had been stolen soon awakened an instinct based on the lingering regrets remaining in that flesh.
A powerful obsession with the living, driven by a survival instinct that all creatures prioritize above all else.
"Euh, euuh. Euuuuhhh..."
The being who accepted the undead, resurrected in that withered flesh, as a subordinate.
Approached the adventurers who were surrounded by undead and paralyzed with terror, and spoke.
"You there, living ones. Since we've met by fate, let me make a proposition."
A rough voice flowing from beneath a black hood.
A desiccated body where skin clung to bone, making even decay meaningless.
The black-hooded wraith, in itself a symbol of famine and hunger, opened its hollow mouth and stated its purpose toward them.
"The world is vast, but a human lifespan is far too short to come to know it..."
"So, won't you join me in becoming the dead, and participate in the endless quest to know this world?"
Knight of Famine—Gorgon.
Among the loyal servants who follow the King of the Dead, the (self-proclaimed) Predator of Knowledge who presides over drought and famine.