Chapter 15 Part4 (1/2)

<chapter 15.=”” new=”” relations.h.i.+p=”” -=”” 4=””>

The city, several dozens of years following the fall of the Empire, looked truly wretched. It had only been dozens of years since, yet the st.u.r.dy bricks and cement, and the houses formed of a material foreign to them had mostly fallen apart.

The undead curse not only transformed living beings into the undead, but also withered away and killed anything that was still alive, so it was only natural that the city was in this state. It truly was a curse that killed the world itself. Whenever he looked at it this way, he realized how frightening the curse actually was.

”The other cities we've gone to weren't like this.”

”That's because those cities were small. And they were on the outskirts... Since there wasn't much in those cities, it didn't look as bad.”

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was definitely right. The cities they'd pa.s.sed by until now didn't have an a.s.sortment of goods, but this unknown city, possessed huge walls, a commercial district, as well as a slum area.

There were streets leading to the houses, a city hall, as well as traces of various people in different places trading with each other. It wasn't just leftover goods; there were also traces of people.

[The weather's great. It seems like it'll rain soon.]

[Ha. Did you hear that the Lord is coming to visit this street today?]

The only undead they'd met before entering the city had been an undead battalion in the middle of patrolling, but after entering the city, their surroundings were littered with undead.

It might've seemed obvious, but just because it was a danger level 2 zone didn't mean that there were high level undead everywhere. Rather, most of them were level 1 undead. They didn't really have any special features and the only piece of information that appeared was [Lv1 Skeleton]. If they were still human, they probably would've shown up as [Lv1 Human].

[Haha, that costs 3 Perium. I can't give you a discount.]

[That's too expensive. Then throw in that small one, too.]

”...How is this possible?”

Jin had forgotten that they were travelling incognito and spoke stiffly. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo could understand how he was feeling. That's because the skeletons were haggling over a valueless rock.

”They're repeating what they did when they were still alive. The lower leveled the undead, the more the rely on their instincts...”

”... I was looking forward to it a little bit.”

Jin, who realized that speaking a little louder wouldn't release Stealth, spoke bitterly.

”I may just be speaking nonsense as the skeletons you've made into your subordinates abandoned their still 'alive' general and decided to follow you as their Captain, but in any case...”

”They're acting based on their own will.”

”Yeah.”

One couldn't say the Pauls' conditions were normal either. But despite being tricked by Lee s.h.i.+n Woo, they definitely understood that they had become skeletons and moved accordingly. Just that was enough to make them look 'normal'.

”I've restored their egos and even give them a name; I really am like their savior.”

”No, that's not what I'm saying.”

Jin denied him right away. At the beginning, he wondered why Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had set the skeletons free, but he'd ultimately turned them into his subordinates once they seemed like they would be useful!

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's fickleness was truly frightening. The only thing he was sure of was that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo would always be true to himself. It felt a bit awkward thinking about it any further, so he decided to change topics.

”...Is killing them the only way to save them?”

”Don't misunderstand. They're already dead. Even if you talk to them, they probably don't even remember their names.”

”Then what about us? We're undead, too.”

”We can say our names. That means we're not dead.”

It sounded quite simple, but there was a much more complicated meaning within that statement. Whenever Lee s.h.i.+n Woo would say something like this, Jin would admire him a bit, but he didn't really want to accept that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had more knowledge or wisdom than him when he was already stronger than him as well, so he didn't say it out loud.

”There're a lot of level 1s here, but it's not a danger level 2 zone for nothing. The closer we get to the center of the city, the more tightly-guarded it'll be, so focus on your connection with me.”

”Mine's at Beginner Lv7, so it won't be tough for me.”

Of course, Jin didn't have the ability to learn Stealth, but while going through a few small towns, they discovered a rural rat nest dungeon; Lee s.h.i.+n Woo gave Jin all of the rat bones, and as a result, he was barely able to learn Stealth. Both of them knew the same skill, so it was easy to raise the effectiveness of his skill through their connection.

[Through the connection from the Horseback Riding skill, the Stealth skill's effectiveness increases. In special situations, the skill proficiency rapidly increases.]

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo and Jin took the opportunity and escaped the notice of the two skeletons, who were stuck in the past, and slowly went around the city like ghosts. The shadows cast by the ruined buildings easily concealed them, and they observed the city, as if they were memorizing every facet of it.

”We shouldn't even worry about the level 2 ones, right?”

”They're at least level 3 elites over here. We don't need to count them if they're not even level 3 elites.”

No matter how strong they were, they wouldn't be able to handle overwhelming numbers. That's how Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had thought in the past. However, that was something that only applied to Earth. Even if thousands of level 3 golems came rus.h.i.+ng at him right now, he was confident that he could take them all on without even breaking a single bone.

There was the fact that there was an overwhelming disparity between their stats, but also because undead possessed the special characteristic of never physically tiring.

'And that's also the same for skeletons, as well.'

But that also meant that there was a high possibility that he would be helpless against a higher leveled undead. Those were the ones that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had to find and kill first.

Of course, it wouldn't have been too difficult for them to just straight up attack them since they had the level 6 magician, Kratia, but since she would reduce their contribution, they had moved quickly.