Chapter 31

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Chapter 31: Battle

On the fifth day, all the Amazonian soldiers who participated in the night raid were lying quietly in the isolation ward, covered by Natural Aura brought in from various dungeons, struggling against the curse that brought decay.

The Druids had some resistance to the Blight Convention curse and wouldn’t die until they exhausted the Force of Nature they could muster. Without Druids present, Tasha had to make do with Natural Aura, which couldn’t remove the curse or stop its progression, only slowing it down considerably. For now, it was considered a fortunate situation. There were hardly any normal creatures left in the Angaso Forest, and if the human army could see the slowly wandering animals with their almost museum-like appearance, they would get a preview of how their own wounded soldiers would end up.

"This is the result of the collaboration between the high-level Necromancer and the Blight Convention," said Victor. "Blight Convention needs to extend the effects of the spell to cover animals, while the Necromancer seeks to find new ways to create an Undead Army. They have indeed succeeded in part."

The watchtower with its own Natural Aura was temporarily unusable (showing the current mixed blessings and curses of the dungeon’s mini-nature setting), as ghosts peered down at the human army from the ground. Tasha saw the curses they unleashed spreading over themselves, then the army broke camp and hurriedly retreated towards the nearby town.

After using Natural Aura to combat the curse, Tasha could faintly sense the traces of the Blight Convention spells. They said the withering curse only lasted for five days, but Tasha could still feel the uncomfortable atmosphere lingering on the ground. Out of caution, she didn’t plan to let the Amazonian soldiers go up and experiment with their flesh and blood. The humans on the ground were excellent subjects for experimentation, as Tasha watched them slowly turn into mummies, gradually confirming that there was no solution for humans in this situation.

Meanwhile, the dungeon was never idle.

The pathway extended into the human town, with roads disguised as natural caves. Craftsmen Dwarves made Trap Doors at intervals to prevent anyone digging into the dungeon. These one-way doors looked and felt like rock walls, impossible to open from the other side unless Tasha opened them. When the dungeon needed to send out troops, the Trap Doors could easily be pushed open, allowing smooth passage.

The first transformed body was buried in the human graveyard, and Tasha had foreseen the future.

The city plan of Deer Horn Town was better than Tasha expected, advanced several hundred years compared to the fantasy medieval era. Some public facilities truly showed the development of human civilization, with underground waterways keeping the town clean and public toilets improving hygiene. However, for Tasha, the best public facility was obviously the graveyard.

Just like discovering a treasure trove.

Deer Horn Town had existed in the southeast corner of the Aryan Empire for at least a hundred years. During this time, all residents’ bones were collectively buried under the town’s graveyard thanks to the tradition of earth burials. Gnomes bit open the decayed bottoms of coffins; these organized grave robbers had no interest in grave goods but sought the corpses themselves.

Tasha built her own graveyard beneath that cemetery. The bodies were moved and buried nearby. The new graveyard was packed full, and this bountiful harvest would bring the undead army of the dungeon to life. While on one side, spirits watched the human army retreat, on the other side, spirits watched as the first batch of soldiers returned stiffly stood up in Deer Horn Town, and the dungeon’s arsenal continued to operate non-stop.

And as the first decayed soldier killed was buried in the graveyard secretly occupied by Tasha, a new prompt appeared.

"A new undead race has appeared in your graveyard. Graveyard upgraded."

"By burying bones with over 60% flesh intact and over 40% bone integrity, you can use magic to produce zombies (withered) with varying qualities over a set period. The higher the bone integrity, the greater the chance of successful transformation."

"Withered zombies: move slowly, can withstand cuts for a long time, their flesh-covered skeleton makes it harder to destroy in one blow. They are the sturdy shield among the cannon fodder, and the cheap cannon fodder within the shield. A collaboration between Blight Convention and Necromancers, this mutated version of zombies has a longer shelf life than regular zombies, but cannot spread toxins widely through decaying body fluids."

The zombies explained by Victor sound similar to the undead and zombies in Earth movies and TV shows. They attack living beings everywhere, satisfying their endless hunger and hatred towards the living. Regular zombies keep decaying, their dripping body fluids are toxic, contaminating water sources and land. After entering wounds, there’s a chance they may poison weaker individuals and turn their bodies into new zombies.

"Actually, the zombie toxin is not very effective," said Victor. "Melee meat shields can withstand it, even the lowest-level warriors have enough resistance to resist a bit of wound contamination, at most, they just get some injuries. The physically weak magic users don’t need to worry at all. Clergy’s purification spells are undead spells’ bane, and each wizard has several banishment spells. Even if rogues and other non-casting, fragile professions are affected, they can buy some antidotes in the city. Withered zombies are definitely an improved version of troops."

Withered zombies are not self-walking toxic bombs, nor do they slowly decay into skeletons, which sounds much more environmentally friendly. Tasha has many normal living beings under her command, not as wealthy and expansive as the human population, with so little control over the area, less pollution is better.

Are soldiers considered warriors?

Whether today’s soldiers can compare to past adventurer professions, Tasha is not sure. But one thing is crystal clear: the residents of Deer Horn Town are definitely just ordinary civilians.

The zombie toxin isn’t very effective?

Tasha wanted to introduce Victor to a series of movies called "Resident Evil."

Withered zombies do not have dripping decayed body fluids, but the introduction doesn’t say they have completely lost their infection ability. The ghosts stare at the wounds on the surviving residents, watching as they nervously retreat. Now, all they can do is wait.

Waiting for humans to come up with a solution, then Tasha will use it to cure the Amazonians in the dungeon. Or, if humans are helpless, Tasha will wait for them to fail without a fight, then use their blood to honor the dead in the dungeon.

The ending is becoming clearer and clearer.

If humans already knew what would happen, why did the residents and soldiers scream in horror at the reanimated living dead? Where were the wizard, clergy, and antidotes when the first bitten person stood up straight? What happened to those people and things?

Tasha suspected that the former soldiers were probably resistant warriors, so they passed on the idea that "our own won’t be infected" as common sense—maybe later people didn’t even know that the infected might turn into zombies. Later on, the Druids, Blight Convention, and Necromancers disappeared from the public eye. The warriors who had not been in contact with them for a long time, like a new generation not receiving a vaccine anymore, felt as helpless as their ancestors when facing a disease that had re-emerged after a long time.

The reinfected individuals bit their own loved ones and slowly walked down the streets. The army once again took to the streets, but this time, they could not slowly eliminate these people as they did last time.

The cemetery outside the town cracked open with a loud noise, revealing a large hole from which figures continuously climbed out. The sunlight shone on the "people" with their pale skulls or shriveled skin, Skeleton Soldiers wielding bone swords, with a few dry corpses among them. The gravekeeper was so scared that he couldn’t even shout "enemy attack" until the blades struck him.

The undead army surged into the streets, and the army only realized the seriousness of the situation at this point. The residents along the way had long since fled, none had the courage to come forward and report, the pressure caused by the dry corpses was greater than that of the Skeleton Soldiers—they had familiar faces of the residents, possibly buried not long ago.

The armies of the dead and the living clashed on the streets of Deer Horn Town.

The battle was intense and chaotic, the streets were narrow, and the power of crossbows was unable to be fully utilized in the close combat. Humans were stronger than Skeleton Soldiers, more agile than zombies, and more organized than brainless undead; the undead could continue fighting under injuries that would shock humans, with more coming after them, tirelessly waging war. The battle temporarily reached a stalemate, but the astute could see that the longer it went on, the smaller the chance of humans winning.

Some clever soldiers became deserters.

They chased after a skeleton, running out of sight of their comrades. They hid in a secluded alley before the undead could get close, climbing over a low wall to the other side. They noticed that skeletons and zombies could hardly jump, were too clumsy to climb, and couldn’t break through doors. The soldiers entered a house, pushing through and kicking doors open. A family huddled together in the room let out short cries of shock. The soldier at the front held a knife to their necks, ordering them to be quiet.

"If you attract monsters, we’ll kill you!" the soldier threatened. "Give us… give us your most valuable things, then lead us to the cellar, or the safest room you have!"

His comrades drew their weapons, glaring threateningly at the family. They had already decided to escape from this place. Who would want to be cannon fodder in a place swarming with monsters? Forget about "for Aryan," these soldiers were just trying to make a living. They weren’t here to die. They wanted to make some money and get out as quickly as possible.

Perhaps the sight of several intimidating men with weapons scared the family to the core. They trembled uncontrollably and their legs went weak, not a sound escaping their lips. The lead soldier, impatient, was about to use his knife to persuade them when the shaky man who seemed to be the father raised his hand and pointed behind them.

No, he was pointing behind them.

The person standing at the back coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and looked at the blade piercing through his chest. As soon as the knife was pulled out, his tall figure collapsed.

Behind him, there was someone… something?

At first glance, that thing looked like a hybrid of a skeleton and a zombie, with a bony skull and a body covered in fleshy tissues. Upon closer inspection, the limbs exposed from the armored skin were smooth and full of life. The figure appeared to be that of an ordinary woman, but which ordinary woman’s eye sockets would gleam with red ghostly flames? The head wasn’t even human bone; it would fit better on the wall of a skilled hunter.

The monster holding a sharp blade stared at them, and the eye contact only lasted for a second.

The soldier closest to the monster roared and charged forward, swinging his long sword forcefully towards her neck. The attack was powerful enough to sever the delicate spine, but the monster agilely dodged to the side and as the soldier passed by her, she swung her blade, the blade piercing his neck from the back. The soldier clutched his neck and kneeled, the monster tilted her head, seemingly unsatisfied with the attack that had lost half of its force. She took a step back and delivered another strike.

The half-severed neck was now completely disconnected, and the head dropped to the ground.

The sound of the head hitting the ground startled the remaining soldiers, who instinctively gripped their weapons and rushed forward in a disorganized manner. The monster suddenly crouched amidst the flurry of swords, rolled forward, and rolled out of the range of attack. One soldier’s long sword got stuck in the floor during a swing, while the other two quickly reacted and lunged towards the monster before it could steady itself. The monster dodged one steel knife, but couldn’t evade the other, lifting its hand to block. The long sword struck with full force, piercing through the lightweight armor into the flesh, blood dripping from the wound.

"It will bleed!" exclaimed the soldier.

The hand drooped down, possibly injuring the bones too. The discovery that the enemy had flesh and blood emboldened the three surviving soldiers, who relentlessly attacked the monster’s torso and body. Though the monster evaded most strikes, its wounds kept accumulating.

A soldier successfully struck the monster’s shoulder, the blade sinking deeply into its right shoulder with a cracking sound of breaking bones. The steel knife got stuck between the bones, but the soldier grinned through gritted teeth. The other two quickly took advantage, thrusting their weapons viciously into the monster’s chest. At this point, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, certain that no one could continue to fight back under such injuries.

No one could.

The inhuman monster suddenly lunged forward, wielding the three weapons on its body towards the soldiers in front of her. A long sword had pierced her from behind earlier when three people surrounded her in the attack, one end poking out from her chest. Her lunge hit the soldier in front of her straight on, the sword protruding from his chest as he greeted victory.

The two people left were shocked and stepped back from the suicidal attack, afraid of being dragged to hell by this monster.

This was not the right choice. They made a mistake: the monster was not yet at the end of its strength. She did not intend to take more people down with her before dying.

She grabbed the handles of the swords on her body, gave a low shout, pulled one out, and then the other. Blood sprayed out, painting the ground like a slaughterhouse. The fleeing soldiers were stunned, wondering what she was doing and how she could stand firm in such a state of injury.

The reason for her hands moving so freely was the same.

Tasha stood on the ground, only a few meters above the dungeon, her magic penetrating the ground, repairing her body. Torn muscles and broken bones healed, lost blood replenished. She gasped in pain, luckily the head turning the pain calls into intimidating growls, hiding her distorted face.

The soldier, witnessing Tasha fully recovered, had a look of despair, no longer posing any obstacles.

"As your battlefield debut, this was really terrible," Victor commented, "a few scraps managed to push you to this point."

"That’s true."

"Hmph, even if you deny it… what?" Victor, halfway through his habitual retort, was left speechless.

"I said, right." said Tasha.

Afterward, looking back, Tasha could see where she reacted too slowly, where she didn’t anticipate enough – a real fight wasn’t like on TV, with everyone taking turns, others cheering on the sidelines. Four soldiers could pose a significant threat to her, if she couldn’t cheat self-healing, the one lying here would definitely be her.

Yet, in the first battle, Tasha felt the door for the first time.

Coming down to the ground with this new body, half of the reason was to see if the ground cursed by the Blight Convention was now safe, this body’s condition was similar to an Amazonian, and could be abandoned and replaced without fear of the curse. But when she impulsively tried to join the fight, Tasha truly understood the feeling of "battle" for the first time.

Before, using the[full moon]skill’s attacks was like handing her body over to an instinct to attack, now every step was her own achievement, every mistake was her own fault. She could identify her problems, summarize her mistakes, and have confidence in improving in the future. The Amazonian sparring partner had always dominated Tasha until her first battle with an ordinary person, then she discovered how far she had progressed from being once powerless to win against an ordinary person and felt the thrill of narrowly winning with all her might for the first time. The wounds hurt, the intense exercise just now brought a bit of exhaustion, but the battle did not stop there, it went further.

It was temporarily abandoning countless calculations, challenging one’s limits in a limited body, with an exhilarating feeling.

Tasha found she liked this.

Victor probably prepared only for Tasha to refute, as soon as Tasha readily admitted, he was left speechless. When the last soldier fell, and Tasha prepared to leave, he spoke again, "Hey, there are still four people behind."

Tasha turned around to see a family in the room huddled tightly together, trembling as one. The little son let out a sob as she turned, the parents competing to hug the child to themselves.

"No benefit, waste of time," Tasha replied shortly.

She turned around, continued walking outside, and casually closed the door. Following Tasha’s instructions, the Skeleton Soldier and zombies would not attack the civilians or unarmed individuals. Deer Horn Town was now considered Tasha’s imminent property, and she did not intend to cause any more losses.

Outside, on the main street, there were many people that she could practice on.