As they stepped into the village, Gilbert and his companions first secured an escape route for the residents using weapons blessed with Holy Water.
Now, half of the village was shrouded in Undead Beasts, which lacked both sight and hearing. They attacked by honing in on the scent of living creatures. Given that they did not react to inanimate objects, it seemed they could also detect temperature.
“I’ve heard their lethality is low, but just how low is it?”
Gilbert asked a member of his private army while glaring at an Undead Beast clinging tightly to the roof of a nearby house.
“They don’t have sharp fangs or claws. Instead, their saliva contains a mild poison. It’s not strong enough to cause instant death, but it slowly spreads paralysis throughout the body, rendering you immobile and muddling your thoughts.”
A mercenary standing nearby grimaced at the explanation.
“Even without fangs, getting bitten could be a real hassle later. Well, if we can get healed by the Clergy before we can’t move, we should be fine.”
Several Clergy members accompanying them nodded in agreement. A mercenary who had been checking for any remaining residents returned, carrying a barrel.
“Let’s use this. It’s probably whey from goat cheese. The smell is strong enough to serve as a perfect decoy.”
The barrel contained murky yellow water, likely discarded due to fermentation, giving off a unique odor. The men grimaced but then poured the liquid over their heads with ladles.
“Now… we just need to lure them away from the village and keep crushing them until they can’t move anymore.”
“This is one of the simplest and most foolish strategies I’ve ever seen; it’s quite the valuable experience.”
“Are you complimenting it or what…?”
Gilbert and the men exchanged banter as they charged toward the horde of Undead Beasts, now cloaked in the foul stench of fermented dairy.
The carriage sped toward the city, carrying the fleeing villagers.
“Mr. Gilbert and the others… I hope they’re alright.”
With a worried expression, Flora gazed out the small window of the Coachman’s Seat, clutching the brooch Gilbert had given her tightly in her hand.
“They have the blessing. All we can do now is pray,” Barbara said briefly, then removed a small Goddess Statue from the wall and handed it to Flora, urging her to hold it along with the brooch. The statue had been a gift from the children on the day they left the village.
“Oh, and by the way, you might want to think about what you’d like to feed him today. In times like this, it’s much better to think of something pleasant than to dwell on scary thoughts. We can borrow the city’s kitchen, right?”
Barbara said cheerfully, her soft smile easing the tension.
Meanwhile, Gilbert and his companions, who remained behind as decoys, stood in what now resembled a dark, eerie swamp, panting heavily.
“Seriously, their regeneration is way too fast!”
A mercenary gasped as he swung his club at the densely packed Undead Beasts. In the distance, Gilbert was using his battle axe to sweep away several medium-sized creatures at once.
The frog-like Undead Beasts were more troublesome than they appeared, primarily due to their sheer numbers. Once they latched onto a body, shaking them off was no easy feat. Moreover, the paralysis poison seeped into small wounds created during the fight, gradually dulling their arms and legs.
Covered in the splattered, putrid remains of the creatures they had crushed, the men were in a dire state.
“So, what do we do next?”
A voice, strained from exhaustion and the inability to stop fighting, broke through the chaos. Gilbert, barely catching his breath, responded immediately.
“The old men are bringing back additional Holy Water and weapons from the city. We’ll use that wisely and retreat in order, one by one.”
If Dolf’s words were to be believed, in the worst-case scenario, they could forcibly cram everyone into the carriage. With that thought in mind, Gilbert slammed his battle axe into the ground, smashing through a mound of smaller Undead Beasts. The red-black, rotting flesh scattered across the ground, but instead of decomposing, it bubbled and regenerated with a sickening sound.
The mercenary beside him was swaying unsteadily on his feet; the paralysis poison had clearly taken its toll. The Clergy had set up a barrier near the entrance of the village to wait for them, but getting anyone to safety was proving difficult with the relentless swarm of Undead Beasts surrounding them.
Now drenched in the repulsive remains, the area around Gilbert’s battle axe and the braided cord Flora had made remained untouched. Thanks to that, he could maintain his grip.
—Is the Holy Water really working…?
As he pondered this, it seemed the carriage had returned.
The Clergy had set up a barrier at the village entrance, and one by one, they began to retreat through it.
“My barrier can only hold this much. I’ll leave the sides to you!”
The Clergy shouted, and the private army members who had completed their retreat nodded, purifying their swords with the Holy Water brought by Dolf and the others.
Gilbert took the rear guard, but just as they were down to two remaining, one mercenary stumbled and fell to his knees. The paralysis poison had spread throughout his body, and he collapsed onto the ground.
“Hey, what’s wrong?!”
“We’re almost there! Get up!”
As angry shouts rang out, several rushed to help, but the man’s strong physique made it difficult to drag him out.
Glancing at the scene from the corner of his eye while swinging his battle axe, Gilbert lifted a barrel of whey and poured its contents over himself.
“I’ll buy us some time! You all get out while you can!”
He shouted, then dashed around to attract the Undead Beasts, sprinting away from the village entrance at full speed. The countless Undead Beasts around him writhed like a red-black wave, beginning to pursue Gilbert.
As he ran, Gilbert contemplated their next move. Though he had acted on instinct, the sheer number of Undead Beasts chasing him was overwhelming. With that many, it was no longer a matter of their lethality being low; if they caught up, he would be crushed to death.
—This is bad. What should I do? …No, if I die here, Lionel will kill me. And more importantly…
Fatigue, paralysis poison, and the chaos of the situation muddled his thoughts. It was a wonder he could even run properly at this point. The braided cord tied to his battle axe swayed in his peripheral vision.
As he glanced back while running, he spotted Flora peering out from the carriage’s skylight, her face filled with worry.
Gilbert ran in a wide arc around a house to gain distance from the Undead Beasts and shouted toward the carriage.
“Miss Flora!!”
“…! Yes!”
Flora replied, startled.
“What’s for dinner tonight?!”
He questioned, realizing this was probably the effect of the paralysis poison. For a moment, he wondered what he was doing, but he felt an overwhelming urge to know.
“It’s a stew with plenty of beef!!”
Flora’s bright response filled him with warmth, as if she were encouraging him to return safely.
—That’s right. If I act like a fool and die here, I’ll leave everyone sad without being able to do anything. I can’t let that happen.
Gilbert checked the distance and came to a halt, raising his battle axe. First, he needed to land a blow to reduce the number of pursuers, then he could run back to the carriage.
“I have too much to protect; I can’t afford to die now.”
As he muttered this, a sound like something exploding rang in his ear.
There was no time to confirm it. Before him, a massive wave of Undead Beasts surged forward.
The strike of his battle axe cleaved through the wave, but at the same moment, small white lightning bolts crackled and spread from the gash.
The flickering lightning soon engulfed the wave of Undead Beasts.
Then, the rotting flesh that fell to the ground dissolved into the earth as if carried away by the wind. In the fading vision, that was the last sight Gilbert saw before his consciousness faded away.