Chapter 36 (2/2)

“I get to try it out on rotting flesh, huh…Unfortunate.”

“Do you have time to be complaining?”

“Not much, apparently.”

As he spoke, he took off the cloth around his weapon and pulled it out completely and took a wide swing.

As the giant blade ran through in a sideways arc, zombies and revenant alike were cut down or crushed, and flesh and blood rained down in its wake.

Loren’s attack didn’t end there, and when he swung it in a return arc, more zombies flew away, reduced to chunks of meat.

“Whoa, how are you even able to swing that around?”

As the weapon stopped in front of Broas’ surprised eyes, its black blade was noticeable even in the dark of night.

There were patterns engraved in gold on the blade, but what was the most surprising was its size.

It was longer and thicker than the great sword that Loren used before, as well as slightly wider, and the grip was slightly shorter because of that. But after swinging it around a few times, Loren decided that there was no problem and he could use it just fine.

A long, thin strip of leather was wrapped around the grip to stop his grip from slipping, and the leather itself was pitch black as well.

“It’s called getting used to it. Anyways, what do we do about this?”

Loren swung the sword around one more time with his hand and set it on his shoulder and patted Shayna, who was still clinging onto his waist, with his other hand to try to comfort her. He then asked Broas, who was able to run towards them thanks to the number of undead being reduced.

The number of undead attacking the camp didn’t seem to falter no matter how many they killed.

In fact, it seemed like they were increasing in number as time went on.

Although the question of where all of them were coming from lingered, there was no time to be thinking about that, but instead if they didn’t figure out a way to escape this situation, it was obvious that they would be overrun sooner or later.

“Why are there so many of them?”

As Loren took another swing with his great sword and mowed down a few of the undead, Lapis, who was dancing around dodging the zombies’ grasps, answered.

“It must be because we are the only living beings in the area. To the undead, living beings are like bonfires. They swarm to it like moths to flame.”

“That’s not a good sign. Broas, moving forward or heading back, which do you think is better?”

Loren asked Broas which was the better decision, getting past the undead and continue on to Hanza is better or if going back to Kauffa.

At that point, almost all of the adventurers were wiped out, and it was difficult to continue on with the quest. Broas groaned at the two options he was given.

“It’s not like I’m the leader of everyone here, you know.”

“Even so. I won’t complain after.”

Broas should’ve been in a party, but Loren didn’t see anyone of the sort with him.

Loren wasn’t sure if they got separated or they fell prey to the undead, but he decided that the opinion of a veteran like Broas was the most reliable in this situation.

“Then we should head towards Hanza. It’s not about the quest anymore. There might be less undead towards Kauffa, but it’s better if we go to Hanza even if there are more undead because it’s way closer. There’s no way it’ll be overrun.”

“You got a better idea Lapis?”

“Can’t think of any.”

“Are you fine with that Shayna?”

Loren asked the girl still clinging to his waist, and she nodded.

“Then it’s settled. Is there a caravan that we can still use?”

For some reason, undead such as zombies or revenants didn’t attack living things other than humans.

They only attacked those that were similar to them, and didn’t attack animals such as horses.

So all the horses were okay, but two out of the three caravans were being dragged around by the panicking horses.

The last one was the one Loren was riding, and it escaped damage because they released their horse from the caravan and tied it onto a post.

“I’ll take care of the undead in the area. Broas, you go connect the horse to the caravan. Lapis, put Shayna in there so that we could depart at any time.”

“Got it.”

“I got you! Dammit, none of my party’s alive!”

Broas cried as he got to work.

Lapis took the Shayna from Loren’s waist, ran to the caravan, and put her inside.

While they were working, Loren took the great sword from his shoulder and swung it once again, using brute force to drive back the undead that were nearing them.

“Those who are still alive get over here! We’re going to force our way through to Hanza!”

Although he had no intention of helping anyone else, he didn’t want to leave anyone behind so he called out, but no one responded to his voice.

Loren thought gloomily that they must be the only ones alive, but then he saw undead being cut down in a line coming straight towards them.

“Can’t believe that out of everyone, you’re the one that’s alive, low rank.”

“That’s my line.”

The ones who came were Klaus, who was cursing as he came close, and his party members.

Although they were covered in blood and dirt, the fact that they were still alive told him how skilled they were. But to Loren, they weren’t really ones that he would welcome with open arms.

“Going to the city of Hanza? What are the odds?”

“Very low. If you don’t like it go to someone else.”

Klaus scowled as Loren spat at him, but there was no one else alive in the area, and every one of them knew there was no time to be thinking about another way.

“Klaus, this isn’t the time to be arguing.”

“That’s right Klaus. We need to work together to get out of this.”

At Layla and Roll’s argument, Klaus grudgingly followed Loren to the caravan.

No matter what he thought of them, Loren had no intention of kicking anyone who was still alive out, so he pointed to the caravan with his head, telling them to hurry up and get in.

Klaus returned a glare as they proceeded to walk towards it.

As Loren thought maybe they should’ve left them behind, something behind the magician girl from Klaus’ party, who was the last one in line, caught his eye. When he saw what it was, he reflexively shouted in a loud voice.

“Duck!”

“Huh?”

Loren wasn’t sure if the magician named Ange realized his warning was meant for her.

She looked at him with a bewildered expression and let out a small voice.

Immediately after, something caught her with a sideways swipe, s.n.a.t.c.hed her up, and held her high above the ground.