Return to the Royal Castle II
Undead. A type of monster, but it possesses a unique distinction in its methods of creation: natural occurrence, corpse transformation, and artificial generation. They are special monsters that can be categorized in these three ways.
Typically, they arise and become active during the night when the sun sets. However, if they encounter a group known as a Parade or are transformed by a powerful entity, Undead may begin to move even during daylight.
The worst trait of the Undead is their instinctual ability to sense living beings, particularly in places densely populated with humans, and march toward them. If a massive Parade of Undead were to become active in broad daylight, even in an area where their presence is undetectable, the resulting devastation would likely extend beyond just a village or town. For this reason, I called out to Fana and took off running.
Then, I caught sight of a truly disastrous scene.
“…What a jackpot, damn it.”
“Y-Yeah, it’s definitely a mess.”
“I’ll take care of the giants and lizards. You stand at the front and hold them off.”
“Leave it to me.”
We dashed through a slightly uphill field that resembled a hill, and the moment we reached the edge of the slope, a nightmarish sight unfolded before us.
What I had sensed and recalled from my memories converged into a single thought: there was a massive Parade of Undead, numbering in the thousands, complete with their grotesque accessories.
Four Giant Zombies and two Dragon Zombies.
These were among the worst of the Undead, leading a throng of thousands of zombies and skeletons, marching with an air of triumph. Fortunately, as I scanned the surroundings, I couldn’t spot any large groups of people nearby. This meant that no one would be panicking or rushing toward the Undead after witnessing this Parade.
After instructing Fana to halt the advance of the Undead at the front, I lunged toward the sluggish Dragon Zombie trailing behind. I regretted not picking up a few wooden sticks earlier, but I pulled out the Earth Dragon Bone I had taken from my Magic Bag just in case and gripped it tightly.
“Alright, time to clean up this trash.”
With that, I charged in, swinging the bone before the Dragon Zombie could register my presence. The sensation of slicing through a mass of mud coursed through the bone as the Dragon Zombie’s body exploded, scattering its remains around me.
I landed, discarding the shattered bone, and dragged the remains of the Dragon Zombie toward the other one that was beginning to notice me. I swung the extracted bone again.
Just like the first, it burst apart, its remains flying in all directions. I then approached the now motionless remnants, weaving through the chunks of flesh to extract another bone.
‘‘‘‘――――――――’’
“…Tch, just you guys, huh?”
As I pulled out the bone, the surrounding Undead reacted, and the Giant Zombies halted their advance, turning toward me. However, the other Undead resumed their march as if nothing had happened.
Cursing under my breath, I hurled the bone at the farthest Giant Zombie’s chest without checking for a hit, then dashed to the nearest Giant Zombie and kicked its decaying, crumbling leg.
With its support gone, the massive body collapsed, and I sprinted toward the remaining Giant Zombies.
‘‘―――――――――’’
A voiceless sound, an unnameable noise, echoed as the decaying body moved, reaching out with its sunken, rotting arm toward me. I seized the hand and twisted it, climbing up its arm. The other arm, from another Giant Zombie, reached out to grab me, but its movements were sluggish, mere twitches of a rotting corpse. I quickly climbed to its shoulder, grasped its neck, and tore its head off.
Just as I was about to snap the neck of the third Giant Zombie, I sensed a powerful presence approaching, sending the marching Undead flying as it tore through the ground. I threw the third Giant Zombie in that direction and then headed back to the first one I had toppled, crushing its head beneath my foot and kicking its lower half into the midst of the Undead horde.
‘―――――――’
As I did this, I caught sight of the fourth Giant Zombie, its chest pierced by a bone, raising its body to crush me. I rushed over and kicked its leg out from under it, sending it crashing down with a loud thud, scattering dust and flesh.
Climbing up from the fallen Giant Zombie, I kicked away the arm it had tried to use to push itself up and smashed its head into the ground, pulverizing it. As I confirmed the flesh scattering around me, I pulled out the bone embedded in its chest and ran toward the remaining Undead, swinging the bone with all my might.
~~~Undead, extermination in progress~~~
“Still a hassle to clean up after these guys.”
“Indeed… but we’ve gotten quite dirty ourselves.”
“Given the number of zombies, it’s likely that some fools didn’t handle the corpses properly and buried them in a graveyard, or perhaps some beasts are attempting to control the Undead… Either way, it’s clear that not all of this occurred naturally.”
“Is that so? I thought it could be a natural occurrence on this scale.”
“Except for the giants and dragons, there are no corpses of anything other than humans.”
After dispatching the Undead and gathering the scattered remains to set them ablaze, I exchanged words with Fana.
Both of us were smeared with the flesh of the Undead, the stench of decay assaulting our noses. However, we prioritized the cleanup of the dismembered Undead over washing ourselves to prevent any resurgence. Generally, unless their heads are crushed or they are completely dismembered, Undead do not die or cease their activity. If we leave the remains unattended, they would gather back together and reanimate within an hour.
To prevent that from happening, we needed to incinerate the remains we had dismembered, regardless of whether this group had naturally occurred or was the result of someone’s handiwork.
“…Now that you mention it, that does make sense.”
“Right? No matter how they came this way, the sheer number of them moving without involving any non-human corpses is abnormal. If there had been a Lich or a Necrosis, it would be a different story, but there were none of those around.”
“Yeah, I haven’t seen any of those either.”
“This leads to the conclusion that someone must have created all of this. While it’s possible that the giants and dragons attacked villages or settlements along the way, causing their corpses to rise in this manner…”
“Hmmm… could it be the Demon Race?”
“Perhaps. After all, we destroyed a research facility where someone was mass-producing Undead not long ago. It’s not impossible that someone else is attempting the same thing.”
“Hmmm… should we search for them?”
“Not a chance.”
Even if there was a possibility that this was artificially induced, I couldn’t afford to search for something whose whereabouts were unknown. While it was essential to deal with anyone attempting to produce and mass-produce Undead, searching for them would take at least a month. I needed to report back to the Royal Castle, so I couldn’t afford to do that right now.
Besides, they were just Undead; no matter how many gathered or how large they became, they were nothing more than weaklings, not worth worrying about.
“Hmmm… I would prefer to search, but I’ll accept your decision.”
“I appreciate that. It would be a hassle to drag you back to the Royal Castle, and after all, they’re just Undead that can be crushed with a single blow.”
“Is that so? …Well, you’re right. With even a single torch, we could easily handle them.”
“Yeah… more importantly, let’s finish this up, wash off, and get moving again.”
“Agreed, let’s do that.”
I found myself delayed by something I hadn’t anticipated, and we had been diverted from a direct route that would have surely led us home. I needed to grasp our current location and decide which path to take. I wanted to finish the cleanup quickly and wash off the remains clinging to us.