Chapter 141

Chapter 141 - Zombie Apocalypse (7)

Valda's nanny Grace was a Dryad. Warm blood did not circulate, and not a single bit of soft skin was attached to her.

However, she was a guardian capable of providing true warmth and coziness.

When strict, she knew how to combine softness and firmness like a grandmother. When hugging, she imbued love like a mother breast-feeding her baby.

She was an existence composed of pure affection to the point even Eugene, who had merely been with her for a few days, could tell.

However, the massive Dryad standing alongside the spirit summoner right now was the exact opposite.

'If there was a god of shrikes, would it be exactly like this?'

He faced a pitiful yet dangerous existence entirely incapable of understanding the happiness a hug gives.

[Retreat. This area does not permit the approach of humans. If you do not wish to bloom flowers upon your corpses, do not come again.]

The forest spirit that had borrowed the Dryad's appearance spoke.

"I stated my name... If you intend to demand something, proudly reveal yourself as well."

[I am Ninloth. The master of this forest who has existed since the era when not a single human was in this mountain range.]

Beside her, the spirit summoner Balthazar's eyes widened. Because it was a Ninloth who had simply ignored and killed the people they had encountered thus far no matter what they babbled.

This was the first time she obediently responded to an opponent's words.

"...Flower? I don't know the word in front, but the word behind it is flower, right?"

"Correct. 'Nín Lóth' (Tears Flower)."

At the question of Eugene, who recently started learning the Elvish language, Valda nodded.

Being still in the toddler stage, she was primarily teaching him beautiful and positive words.

[If you return now, we will not pursue you either.]

"Ninloth... Why don't you just kill them? You are still hungry, right?"

Balthazar could not understand Ninloth's moderate attitude. Because they were ones who had easily massacred warriors on a larger scale than the army Eugene had brought.

However, Ninloth felt an extraordinary pressure from Eugene.

An unfathomably long time inherently grants a powerful intuition. That intuition was advising her to resolve things with the knight before her eyes through conversation.

[This place was originally the land of spirits. I merely permitted intruders because I lacked vocal cords to speak and arms to push them away. However, no longer... Now that I have arrived, humans must return to the lands originally permitted to them.]

"Or they can become one with nature and remain."

Balthazar pointed at the monsters who met their deaths while being eroded by mycelium. For Eugene, it was merely dumbfounding.

"Are you sugarcoating that horrific state of being neither alive nor dead as becoming one with nature?"

"People also tear the earth with hoes, sow seeds, and suck up its earth energy, don't they? Similarly, someone has the right to sow seeds upon their bodies and prosper too."

Eugene's subordinates looked at Balthazar as if wanting to vomit. Because with just one conversation, they realized he was a madman impossible to associate with.

"Earth is just earth... Do not attach unnecessary meaning to it... The farmer reaps the harvest, and the crops prosper, making both satisfied... However, what is left for those monsters other than misery?"

"Though they might look bizarre, they have become existences boundlessly faithful to nature... Why can't you understand that blessing? This is rather something to rejoice over."

"Hah, wow."

In terms of diversity, this land was incomparable to the world Eugene knew.

Therefore, even in a state where science, philosophy, and productivity were not sufficiently developed, some fields often yielded outputs leaping lightyears ahead over dozens of centuries.

That wasn't limited to inventions but also applied to ideologies, one of which was eco-fascism. Its vanguard were the spirits and the spirit summoners sympathizing with them.

"For all that talk, your body is far too clean... Wouldn't it be fair to say such things with at least one pitch-black mushroom dangling from your eyes or neck?"

"I am different... I have never cultivated the land once in my life... I am honorable before nature."

Balthazar's tone hardened. Having not conversed long with people normally, fatigue seemed to rise after just a few exchanges.

"The bread you've eaten, the clothes you wore, the shoes, and all sorts of tools you used must have dropped out of the sky then? Those, too, were created by damaging nature in their own ways... Don't make others do those things and act clean all by yourself."

"That..."

Balthazar mumbled with his mouth, but it didn't come out outwardly as language. It was natural. Because an eco-fascist's end always defaults to silence.

Eugene withdrew his gaze from Balthazar, who lost his words.

"O Ninloth... I have come here to find the Blackhand Tribe... They are under my protection, and I possess the duty to protect them. If you say they have died, I must take back even their corpses."

Eugene pointed at the Dark Elf corpse attached to Ninloth's body, its nutrients sucked dry. It was a state half-mummified with bones exposed here and there.

The tribal female warriors on standby behind Eugene glared with eyes burning with loathing. Eugene demanded, representing their hearts.

"Hand over the child of the forest attached to your body... And state the locations of all the others."

[Child of the forest my foot! They are prodigals without hesitation in damaging nature. They are bastards as pitch-blackly corrupted as their skin dyed in darkness.]

Ninloth didn't seem to harbor very good feelings toward Dark Elves.

Unlike Elves, the cause seemed to be their lack of any particular respect for nature. Because Dark Elves were ones who would unhesitatingly set forest fires if necessary.

"I have no interest in your values... What I want is simply to get the Blackhand Tribe back."

[I refuse. Everything belonging to this mountain range is mine. I will let nothing in, and I will let nothing out.]

"So you are saying you will run rampant throughout the entire Appen Mountains if left alone... Easily millions of tears will shed."

Perhaps he struck the bullseye, Ninloth also shut her mouth.

Most knights are simple conformist existences whose thoughts are buried in the glory or profit right in front of their eyes. However, the man before her eyes appeared to enjoy conversation more than crossing swords.

Neither Ninloth nor Balthazar was adept at dealing with such types.

"This is my final warning. Hand over the corpse of the Dark Elf attached to your body immediately and confess the locations of the others."

[Just try it if you think you can!]

The moment she said those words, the corpses adhering to Ninloth's body rapidly dried up and withered. Exactly as if even their remaining nutrients had been sucked dry completely.

Brushing off the skeletons falling apart like crumbs, changes also occurred to Ninloth's body.

The Dryad's body, which was twice the size of a robust man, morphed into the shape of a martial artist. Her limbs resembling twisted thick dead wood felt as though harboring massive strength just by looking at them.

Sensing that the negotiation had broken down, Eugene sent a hand signal with the hand hidden behind his back.

'Kill the spirit summoner.'

Homi, Cassandra, Rex, and the tribal female warriors threw arrows and daggers all at once.

"Hmph!"

However, perhaps predicting the surprise attack already, Balthazar swiftly hid behind Ninloth. The numerous projectiles were blocked by the solid wooden torso and fell powerlessly.

"Homi, that's..."

Nod.

While the wood itself was hard, the black light coating its surface. That was something Eugene and Homi also knew.

"It is the witch's secret art sap."

Cassandra also recognized it.

"When living in my hometown, I fortified my club with that and used it quite fruitfully."

However, the sap coating Ninloth's body right now seemed to be of a much higher level than that.

Because aside from some minor scratches, not a single arrowhead could embed itself and all fell off.

[Lovely child... Come into my embrace.]

"Gladly!"

Balthazar spread his arms with an ecstatic face. Doing so, Ninloth's wooden body opened, and dozens of vines shot out to swallow Balthazar.

Curling his body roundly like a fetus, the spirit summoner sank into the feeling of becoming one with nature.

Seeing Ninloth entering combat preparation like that, Eugene was slightly flustered.

"Martial arts you say?"

The massive Dryad was taking a refined stance martial artists would take. The subordinates under him were similarly surprised.

"I thought she would use magic or curses..."

"Or utilize summoning."

"No, where did a spirit learn something like that?"

Only one person. Valda alone calmly opened her mouth.

"In general, the origin of all martial arts and weaponry stems from mimicking beasts... If it is a spirit of the forest that old, it must have observed countless beasts since archaic times. It is not strange for it to have mastered those movements and know how to utilize them."

Golden eyes cautiously glared at Ninloth.

"Do not be careless... Think of it as opposing a martial artist who has trained a few movements for thousands of years."

Perhaps jolted awake by those words, everyone's faces stiffened.

Simultaneously, Ninloth kicked the ground. Along with dirt dust soaring explosively, she charged toward Eugene.

* * *

Long arms easily 2m long swung, but Might dodged sideways by jumping.

However, the Dryad's arms had no bones and received no restrictions on joint mobility range like humans.

The arm that sliced the air immediately bent tenaciously like a snake and pursued him. The grip attached to its end opened wide like a hippo's maw. It seemed ready to snatch the knight and warhorse and squeeze them tight.

"Back."

Four steel-like legs kicked with momentum that could smash the ground. Ninloth's grip swiped the empty air once again.

Then, wooden fingers explosively elongated and transformed like 10 spears. They seemed ready to pierce Eugene and Might flying backward.

Swoosh!

As a silver flash glinted, they were simply cut and shot down.

When Might landed on the ground, Eugene aimed his sword without wavering.

"It's not an attack wildly swinging strength without thought."

It was a martial art refined by continuously observing hunting and territorial disputes over thousands of years.

Primitive and linear, but its excess was whittled down to the extreme. Mixing in cunning concealed moves here and there.

[Rise!]

Ninloth rustled her leaves and emitted an intense wave of magic. Doing so, the monsters collapsed everywhere wriggled.

The fissures destroyed by hammers and stones were rapidly filled as mycelium and tree trunks grew.

Pop!

The monster corpses collapsed on the ground opened their eyes one by one.

"This crazy...!"

The dwarven warriors making eye contact with them felt goosebumps rising. It was a different kind of displeasure from the creepiness given by the undead.

Everyone fell into confusion deciding whether to maintain the encirclement or leave their positions to block those guys' resurrection. Left alone, the resurrected monsters would attack the rear of their phalanx.

At that moment, Marbas stepped forward.

"Wandering souls above the earth. Take a brief rest here."

As Marbas' hands damp with reagent formed hand seals, the monsters that had stood up collapsed back down.

Because the hastily used necromancy drew in various souls and residual thoughts wandering the area. They permeated into the monsters' bodies without exception.

Of course, shoving them in randomly like this triggers internal conflicts over ownership within the corpses' bodies, causing chaos to unfold.

Because their entire bodies jerked around willfully like broken cats, they couldn't be used as minions. That was what Marbas intended.

"Please forget the magic I used... Because I do not wish to be dragged off to the religious order and interrogated!"

"Of course!"

"We didn't see anything, Mage."

The dwarven warriors eagerly nodded their heads and responded.

Blowing spirits into corpses was forbidden magic. Around 500 years ago, one could be dragged away to the religious order and face trial simply based on suspicion of its use, and if unlucky, they were sentenced to the stake.

Summoners were akin to a sort of hemp clothes artisan. Received treatment as existences providing benefit to society, but the moment they tried to utilize parts other than the stem, punished like drug dealers.

[To think there was a necromancer! Why are you taking the side of humans? Necromancers were always excellent allies of nature!]

"What era's story are you talking about? Nowadays everyone changed their names to summoners and lives law-abidingly."

It seemed the forest spirit was slow to update on worldly affairs.

Crouched inside Ninloth, Balthazar suddenly felt his anxiety amplifying.

The reason Ninloth brazenly attempted to fight Eugene wasn't merely relying on her own strength alone.

Because they could revive the monster corpses scattered around the manor over and over and utilize them as an army of immortals.

Unlike the undead, they couldn't be neutralized with silver, and no matter how much they were destroyed, if they filled the gaps with mycelia and plants and resurrected them, it would be over.

However, the strategy shattered due to the unforeseen existence of a summoner. Suddenly, they had practically jumped into the middle of an elite army willingly.

"Might. I entrust my life to you."

As Eugene's legs tightened around its torso, Might with purple flaming eyes charged forward.

Ninloth tried to strike back at the knight rushing head-on, but felt terrifying sounds crossing the air flying from all sides.

"Smash it to pieces!"

The Hammer Brotherhood warriors simultaneously threw the weapons they were wielding.

Stones flying from slings slinging were limited to softly scratching Ninloth's surface.

However, the hammers flying now possessed destructive power on a different dimension. The weight difference alone was 10-fold.

Ninloth didn't even dare to receive them with her body and dodged hastily.

"Keep throwing! So that bastard cannot catch its breath!"

"Huo!"

Inherently, dodging all the dozens of hammers flying in an encircled situation was impossible. Struck here and there, Ninloth leaked screams along with sap.

[You coward! Are you still a knight while doing that?]

"Indeed... It truly pains my heart. I'll have to offer a prayer of atonement to Goddess Banas when I return."

At Eugene's smiling attitude, Ninloth's face contorted.

As the dwarves practically exhausted the hammers they were holding, the throwing subsided.

However, since they were encircling her roundly, the hammers thrown by each other were rolling around in front of each other. Everyone ran to pick those up.

Ninloth didn't just spectate that sight. Changing to a four-legged posture, she charged like a bull, causing the dwarves in that direction to quickly step back.

Thwack!

However, Eugene's javelin embedded itself into the flank of the distracted Ninloth like that.

[You son of a biiiitch!]

At the spear that pierced effectively at the level of a shish kebab, the forest spirit howled.

"Charge!"

"Assist the Lord!"

Hind and the tribal knights also charged wielding their spears respectively.

"Do not engage in close combat! Attack while keeping distance!"

According to Eugene's command, the knights maneuvered ceaselessly targeting only Ninloth's blind spots. Attempting to face an existence of that level head-on isn't courageous, it's madness.

The javelins thrown approaching on horseback flew in aiming at vulnerable spots much more precisely than the hammers.

[These bug-like bastards!]

Pulling out the spear lodged in her body, Ninloth hurled it back in reverse.

Hieeeegh-!

The spear that flew with immense momentum pierced through the warhorse a tribal knight was riding, instantly killing it.

Running toward the unhorsed knight, Ninloth lifted her foot to trample him just like that, but was forcibly forced to halt her movement.

"Bind her!"

Because Cassandra and her centurions threw lasso ropes from all directions.

Clench!

The tightly wound ropes passed through Ninloth's wrists and instantly tightened rapidly, restraining her.

As the other female warriors also simultaneously grabbed the ropes and pulled, Ninloth's arms were drawn apart side to side exactly as if undergoing crucifixion.

And Eugene's presence rushing in rapidly. Just like a lizard cutting off its tail, Ninloth severed her own bound wrists to escape.

However, she was a step late, and her back was slashed deeply by the silver blade.

[What on earth is that horse?!]

Because of Might's mobility deviating from common sense, she could not take her eyes off Eugene for even a single moment.

Whenever she was sliced by the ether blade, Ninloth felt the mystery composing her falling apart in chunks.

Beyond getting injured and suffering pain, the feeling of her status as a spirit being whittled away! It was incredibly unbearable and horrific.

Perhaps thinking there was no solution like this, Ninloth prepared her ultimate secret technique squeezing all her power.

From all over her pitch-black dead wood body, faces reminiscent of Mandrakes sprouted.

"Everyone cover your ears!"

Even those ignorant of magic could clearly predict what would happen if they had tact.

By the time the warriors covered their ears, the Mandrakes screamed concurrently.

Kiyaaaaah-!

Covering ears didn't help much. The bizarre shriek emitted all at once by dozens of Mandrakes was already akin to a magical tidal wave.

At the tsunami of mystery piercing their flesh and shaking their spirits, the warriors rolled all over the place.

Ordinarily, she would have leisurely torn apart the neutralized warriors, but Ninloth heard the sound of horse hooves with horrifying momentum.

[What did you say?]

Eugene, who hadn't even covered his ears, had approached right next to her. She couldn't believe how exactly he had endured the Mandrake's screams, but this wasn't the time to think about such things.

Kiyaaaack-!

She squeezed out her final strength and poured out the curse screams once more.

However, as Eugene swung Last Autumn horizontally and vertically, the Mandrake magic was ripped to shreds.

[W-wait...]

That was Ninloth's last will.

Slash!

A pure white slashing attack splitting from top to bottom like a lightning strike.

The Dryad's body, the forest spirit residing within it, and the spirit summoner crouched inside were perfectly bisected.

A mystery that had existed for an unfathomably long time and the ruler of the mountains that triggered massive disasters. Even as such, the end was an empty death.

* * *

"Ugggh, my head."

"Like a damn bitch... To think she had a hidden move."

As his subordinates staggered and regained their senses, Eugene searched the surroundings of the battlefield.

"What are you searching for?"

Cassandra, who had endured without serious damage as expected of a witch, asked.

"This right here."

"Ah..."

Eugene knelt completely before the Dark Elf remains that had detached from Ninloth's body early in the battle.

With its remaining nutrients rapidly stolen, only bone fragments and some mummified skin remained. Eugene carefully gathered it, placing it on the handkerchief taken out from his bosom, and tied it.

"Since we disposed of the prime culprit behind the disaster, the search should be leisurely."

Cassandra also nodded and offered a short prayer before those remains.

Fighting the pirates, the monsters, and the forest spirit was merely a bonus. The core mission of finding the disappeared Blackhand Mercenaries began from now on.

"Everyone needs to be alive..."

While the female warriors mumbled, honestly, they had no confidence.

It was fortunate because they were a powerful army led by Eugene, had they been an ordinary mercenary corps, they would not have survived the battle just now.

Having already seen the corpse of one tribe warrior, everyone couldn't help but form entirely ominous imaginations.

"Why are you all acting so sullen, unlike yourselves?"

"Straighten your shoulders! Have a drink of this at least."

The dwarven warriors who had been exchanging curses even offered mushroom wine, trying to cheer them up.

However, the full-scale search halted directly from the starting phase.

"Lord! A magic seal is attached to the manor's main gate!"

It was dark deeply under the lamp.

After arriving at the manor, fighting the monsters, and facing even Ninloth on top of that, Eugene's army hadn't been able to touch the lord's mansion.

Taking care of the manor properly when granted some leeway, the subordinates discovered the firmly sealed entrance of the lord's manor. It was wrapped with charismatically handled charms and straw ropes.

"It is made by our family."

Recognizing it immediately, Cassandra yelled full of exuberance.

"Rampage... Put down your tower shields. Given the situation, survivors inside might panic and attack."

"Understood."

Eugene moved aside the seals and destroyed the locked door along with the dwarven warriors standing behind their large shields.

Since those spells were types for chasing away spiritual energy, they had no effect on people.

The inside of the mansion was a mess, indicating a fierce battle had taken place. Bones that seemingly belonged to the lord's private soldiers, servants, and maids were already just rolling around.

However, not a single person wearing the uniform of the Blackhand Mercenaries was visible among them.

"This way."

Eugene followed the scent of magic rising from a remote area of the mansion.

At the end of it was a door leading to a basement, and it too was sealed with iron chains and charms.

Knock knock. Knock knock knock.

Eugene knocked with the password secretly passed down among the Blackhand Mercenaries.

"...!"

"Hah!"

Doing so, breaths full of astonishment and joy were loudly heard from the basement.

Breaking the silence, as dozens of presences seemingly rose all at once, Eugene breathed a sigh of relief.

"It is Eugene Meyer... Is everyone well?"

Eugene's voice transmitted, penetrating through the wooden door separating the first floor and the basement.

"The Prophesied Knight!"

"What did I say? I said he would definitely come, didn't I?"

The sounds of breathing directly transformed into a clamorous commotion.

Clack!

And as if about to break, the basement door opened.

And along with the appearances of the Dark Elves who had turned into beggars, a stench hit hard!

"This is no time for this! Quickly hide inside!"

"There's a mad spirit wandering around outside!"

Grabbing the hands of Eugene, the dwarven warriors, and the tribal female warriors, they tried to lead them to the basement.

"Urp!"

Some individuals with weak stomachs felt their minds go blank at the smell wafting right in front of them.

"Were we like that back then?"

Seeing the situation they themselves were in not long ago overlapping, Cassandra and the female warriors smiled bitterly.

Despite several people pulling, Eugene, who didn't budge an inch, calmly opened his mouth.

"Calm yourselves down... The monsters outside and their prime culprit, the forest spirit, have been punished."

"I-is that true?"

"Indeed... Therefore, let us all return together now... To the place that shall become your new nest."

Eugene said to the tribal warriors with a warm smile. While breathing through his hidden mouth.