Chapter 44 (1/2)

Chapter 44: Moving On and Using Magic

Loren and Lapis ran through the dark city.

It was bright around the clinic because they made sure to secure vision, but since they were getting far away from it, the only source of light they had were the moon and stars.

While they were running at almost full speed, they exterminated zombies that popped up occasionally.

“My eyes are infused with mana so they’re fine, but”

Lapis said while running ahead of Loren, in a slightly impressed manner.

“I’ve noticed since before that you can see in the dark quite well.”

Loren had carried Lapis on his back and ran through a pitch-dark tunnel in one of the earlier jobs they were on.

“Things like these are all about getting used to.”

Loren’s opinion was that anything can happen on a battlefield.

Ambushes and night raids were common, so seeing in the dark was something you needed to survive, and Loren wasn’t an exception, so since he was young, he had trained himself to be able to move around in the dark.

“But the problem is that undead have nothing that indicates where they are. It’s so hard to sense them.”

“Well, your senses are unbelievable, since you’re still able to cut them down.”

Unlike people, undead aren’t alive.

That is why it is very difficult to sense them.

Loren was very anxious because things almost undetectable kept suddenly jumping at him.

Although he could see them when they moved, and the fact that they were slow was helping him defeat them, it was a situation where he could be dealt a fatal blow any time, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

“I can’t keep this up, dammit.”

Loren cursed as he swung his great sword again and sliced a zombie that flew at him into half.

He heard something splatter onto the street, but it was too dark to see what flew how much, and Loren was a bit thankful that it was night time, as he didn’t have to see the unpleasant objects and colors.

“Can’t you conjure light using magic?”

“Running around with a light in a lightless city like this will basically be shouting out our location.”

“Who’s going to care about that?”

Loren felt that there were no living humans in the city.

If there were, there was no way it would be overflowing with undead.

The feeling that they were being focused onto him and Lapis was one reason.

If there were other survivors, the undead should be going to them as well.

“At least Shutel would care, don’t you think?”

If the only undead were zombies and revenants, Lapis wouldn’t have cared too much about showing off their location.

But their opponent was a wight, which has the same amount of intelligence as a human.

In addition to that, the wight was the cause, or in a position that led to the situation they were currently in.

“Having more zombies sent over is going to be annoying, but it’s going to be a problem if she sends over something like a bone dragon.”

“If that happens the only course of action is to run as fast as we can.”

“Leaving Shayna behind?”

Loren was stuck on an answer.

If he thought like a mercenary, the only option was to leave Shayna and retreat.

But when he asked himself if he could do that, he couldn’t find an answer.

“I’ll worry about that once that time comes.”

“Ah, you’re trying to change the subject, aren’t you?”

Loren tried to fool her, but when Lapis pointed it out he frowned slightly.

But Lapis didn’t seem like she was going to go any further with it and closed her mouth, seeming to wait for Loren to say something.

It cut their conversation, so Loren continued what they were talking about earlier.

“This whole situation, do you think it will be resolved if we defeat Shutel?”

“I don’t think so.”

The response to his question was very simple yet very cruel.

As Loren took a sharp breath without realizing, Lapis started explaining like it was nothing.

“There is probably a culprit behind this whole disturbance. And it’s not Shutel herself, but the being she was talking about. I’m not sure what he did, but he did something to Shayna and failed, then left this place.”

“Looks like it.”

“And this ma.s.s outbreak of undead. It is probably all his doing but he isn’t here anymore, so even if we defeat Shutel, the undead will still remain the way they are.”

Lapis said it easily, but the contents were showing an unbelievable reality.

It was unknown at that point how much of city state’s population became undead, but if the whole population of its capital city became undead, the numbers would definitely be over ten thousand.

If that many undead were let loose without any sort of control, it was already past the control of a few individuals, and it was a situation where the government or the army would have to make a move.

“Loren, two from the right.”

Loren unconsciously almost stopped thinking, but Lapis gave him a warning against the zombies that popped up, and he was able to cut down both of them with a single swing of his great sword.

“That’s not funny at all.”

“No, it isn’t. In fact, my prediction is only an a.s.sumption based on if the casualties are kept at a minimum.”

Loren looked at Lapis, wondering if there was anything more, but she took no notice of his gaze, and shrugged her head as she ran.

“I’m more concerned about the treasure that was given to Shayna. A wight alone is quite bothersome, but if something greater than that decides to show up, these zombies and revenants will look cute compared to it.”

“I don’t think these guys look cute at all, though.”

Loren cut down another zombie as he said that.

As he heard liquid splattering onto the dark alley, Loren gave his great sword a light swing, worried that the same thing was all over the blade.

“d.a.m.n, there’s so many undead, it’s kind of depressing.”

“We’re lucky it’s night time. If it was during the day it would be quite a mess.”

Undead rarely came out during the day.

And night time was when undead could display their full potential.

If that is the case you usually wouldn’t say that you were glad that it was night, but Lapis was thankful that it was night time.