The Human-Faced Bird
The human-faced bird ghosts would come swarming. Monsters that devoured corpses with empty eye sockets and pale skin. ‘Huh… those are zombies, aren’t they?’
I shut the auditorium doors for now. With the zombies out on dispatch it was a little awkward, but not entirely disadvantageous. Since I hadn’t summoned them myself with the wind, only the ghosts inside the auditorium would notice us. ‘No need to take on the whole village.’
Tap— tap— tap-tap-tap— Countless red handprints appeared on the windows. The ghosts had arrived. All I had to do was hold them off. I gave orders to the zombies.
“Alright, each of you pick a window and stand in front of it. Make sure the ghosts assigned to your window don’t get through.”
I lined the monkeys up along the auditorium walls. From behind, all you could see were the backs of their heads, so they almost looked like ghosts themselves. ‘This should be enough to hold.’
The monkeys with me now were the elites who had survived natural selection. Barring any surprises, the auditorium wouldn’t be breached.
“Boots, I’m stepping out for a bit. Stay here and guard the house with the monkey zombies.”
Boots nodded. “Understood. Boots will protect the precious house.”
‘Not that precious, really…’ I patted Boots on the shoulder. Enthusiasm was always a good thing. “Right. I’m counting on you.”
So what was I going to do while the zombies fought in the auditorium? I planned to head to the source of the wind. The periodic gusts had been coming from the canyon near Seabird’s Bath. I needed to find out what had changed. ‘Still, just in case…’
Whistle— I blew the Whistle of Calling for Nareun-i. Boots and the zombies seemed capable of holding out, but leaving only the idiots behind felt a little risky. Having insurance would put my mind at ease.
“Then I’m off.”
I cracked the main door open. Countless ghosts immediately shoved their faces through the gap, heads pressed together as they stared at me.
“Ugh… ugly bastards.”
I formed gauntlets on both hands and shoved them back roughly. Once I had enough space, I slipped out and slammed the door shut again. The ghosts lunged, but a few solid punches to the jaw made them back off warily. ‘What kind of ghosts retreat after getting hit?’
Maybe they weren’t ghosts at all. The name had only been slapped on by community users anyway. It didn’t matter. Ghost or zombie, what difference did it make?
Grind— grind— I armored myself with rubble from the surroundings and sprinted toward the canyon at full speed.
Thud, thud-thud— As expected, they couldn’t pierce my armor and were sent tumbling. I quickly put distance between myself and the auditorium. The farther I got from the village center, the fewer ghosts I encountered. My pace increased accordingly. With no obstacles, escaping the village was easy.
‘As I thought, the wind really is coming from the canyon…’ Natural phenomena were extremely difficult to alter in their cycles. If nature’s rhythm had changed, it would affect the surroundings and eventually the entire maze. Yet the climate of Stage 4 wasn’t much different from what I’d seen on the community boards. That meant the wind wasn’t natural—it had another cause. Not a natural disaster, but the result of a living being. And there was one prime suspect.
Seabird’s Bath had been designated a danger zone, just like the monkey habitat. But it hadn’t been dangerous at all. Even if pelicans were stronger than monkeys, the encounter rate had been absurdly low. ‘So… the human-faced bird really exists?’
There had been rumors about Seabird’s Bath. Sightings of a bird with a human head. But there were few witnesses, and users who went to verify never found anything, so it was never officially recognized. Still, every user who had encountered the human-faced bird said the same thing: it was an intelligent specimen. If it sensed an opponent was stronger, it wouldn’t attack. If it looked weak, it would launch an aggressive offensive. Most wild animals behaved that way, but the human-faced bird supposedly had especially sharp danger-sensing instincts. That was why strong users had never been able to find it.
‘And it looks like they were right…’
When I reached the canyon, hundreds of pelicans were directing the wind toward the village. At their center was a bird with a human head, commanding them. Smaller than the others, yet far more grotesque. Definitely something that deserved the name human-faced bird.
The human-faced bird had probably spotted me and judged me an unwinnable opponent. That was why it had taken its flock and vanished, which explained the lack of seabirds. And once I split my forces and entered Pinwheel Village alone, it had set a trap.
‘Pretty clever bastard.’
I raised the Whistle of Calling. Lately I’d been having this thought. Especially when I saw a strong or smart specimen, Baengnae came to mind first. Maybe this was what it felt like to want to share something good and tasty with a child. Raising them was fun.
Whistle— Just as they used wind to summon ghosts, I was simply using wind to summon zombies. Nothing unfair about it.
Festival! Baengnae led the zombie monkey legion toward Crocodile Rock. She would hunt crocodiles as hard as stone. Festival! Crocodile teeth were especially delicious. Crunch crunch. All the teeth belonged to Baengnae, so the monkeys could eat the tasteless hides. Festival! Crocodiles were stupid fools. Since fools didn’t need to be turned into zombies, there would be more meat to eat. Baengnae’s meat supply would grow tremendously. Festival! A unique specimen, the giant rock crocodile, appeared. Unique specimens were delicious. But their hides were too tough for the monkeys to eat. That meant all of it was Baengnae’s meat. Nom nom— Fest…! Whistle— Baengnae, who had been eating the rock crocodile, suddenly lifted her head at the sound of the whistle and looked in that direction. The monkeys that had been playing around froze. Silence. Baengnae raised a finger and pointed in one direction. Find it! Master is calling us. All the monkeys began racing in the direction Baengnae pointed. It meant new prey had appeared.
When I returned to Pinwheel Village, Nareun-i and Bangsil-i had already come back. We met at the village outskirts. They said they had encountered the Monkey King right after entering the monkey territory, fought, and were resting. They proudly presented the zombified former Monkey King.
“Ook! Kiki!”
‘Hmm, just a slightly bigger monkey?’
I gave my assessment. “No need to classify it as a special individual. Just put it with the rest of the monkey herd and manage it.”
“Yes, understood, Master.”
Monkey king, emperor, whatever. They were all the same under natural selection—weak ones got eaten, strong ones ate. I couldn’t afford to fuss over every single expendable. To earn my attention, they’d at least have to be at Boots’ level.
“Let’s go in. Boots is waiting.”
I led the zombies and began steadily thinning out the ghosts starting from the village outskirts. Even if there were thousands of enemies, I had numbers too. And individually we were superior, so given enough time there was no reason to lose. We advanced without hesitation. Finally, the exterior of the auditorium where Boots waited came into view.
“Huh… what the hell?”
The auditorium looked different from what I remembered. The doors had been torn off, and every window was shattered. The building was a complete wreck. That much I could have predicted. When ghosts swarmed, it was natural for entrances to break and windows to shatter. But the three-meter hole in the wall was something I hadn’t expected at all.
“Was there a unique specimen? Go check what happened.”
Bangsil-i and Nareun-i leapt over the ghost horde in a single bound and entered the auditorium. Incredible jumping power. It must have been a new skill created by combining the beastkin’s leg strength with [Leap].
Not long after the beastkin entered, a roar echoed from inside. Graaaaaah— Then the sounds of battle. Something was still alive in there. Thud— thud—
Moments later, Nareun-i emerged, shaking chunks of flesh off her weapon. After clearing the nearby ghosts, she explained.
“There was a unique specimen. Boots is safe. Um, the body is… no other surviving zombies were found.”
‘The body is?’
I ordered Nareun-i to finish off the remaining ghosts and went inside the auditorium. In the distance, what looked like Boots’ torso lay face-down. No arms, no legs. I pressed a hand to the back of my neck.
“That idiot Boots…! I went through all the trouble of treating you, and you lose everything again? Aigoo, seriously.”
Monkey or dwarf zombies didn’t matter. Their corpses could be used as materials for other zombies’ recovery or growth. But Boots, who had even received Soul Engraving, getting injured was a problem.
Boots slowly turned just her head toward me. “Boots protected it. The precious house. Gave the big one a beating.”
“Right…”
Whatever it was, there must have been a big ghost. And Boots had fought to the end without running, just as I’d told her to guard the house. ‘My fault for leaving only the idiot zombies behind.’
It hadn’t been some grand plan. I’d just thought that while I took care of business, I might as well catch a few more ghosts to fill the gauge. I’d planned for maximum efficiency, but Boots’ abilities were still a bit lacking compared to my expectations. ‘Well… at least she’s alive. But why is she flipped over like that?’
“Bangsil! Stop playing around and come feed Boots some meat. She can’t eat by herself without arms or legs.”
“Got it! Bangsil-i will give Boots meat!”
While I was at it, I checked the gauge. 36%. They really must have caught an enormous number. “No need to worry about energy for a while.”
Right on cue, Baengnae returned as well. She and the monkeys each carried what looked like bird corpses, already being eaten.
“Baengnae came. Chicken madda!”
Baengnae had hunted the human-faced bird on her own and found her way here without any detailed instructions from me. It was nice when they handled things themselves. Hoping for a bunch of smart zombies someday, I ordered them to clean up the remnants.
“Ghosts don’t leave corpses, but they seem to give more energy than living creatures. Sweep the whole village and finish them off.”
“Madda.”
I’d learned a good lesson. Never leave idiot zombies alone. If I’d left Baengnae or Nareun-i in the auditorium instead, they would have avoided unnecessary fights on their own. So Boots ending up like this was entirely my fault. ‘She’ll get better gradually.’
Boots was Boots. Now it was time to taste the main reward. The first high-grade artifact I’d encountered since arriving in the maze was waiting beneath the auditorium.