Chapter 199

「A squad of undead soldiers, huh…… this isn’t funny . 」

「It’ll be bad if they pincer us! What shou-……」

Before Irijina could finish her sentence, I rush towards the skeleton .

There is no time or meaning in holding a question-and-answer period here .

「We’ll crush one side, of course!」

They concentrate their arrows at me as I charge at them, but their accuracy is not as precise as earlier .

I don’t even need to deal with the three arrows that missed their mark and only twist my body to avoid the two arrows which came somewhat close to hitting me .

I smile, thinking to myself that even after turning into bones, part of their former human selves still remain in them and cause them to panic when I run out so suddenly .

「H-he’s smiling……」

Kroll, nothing good will happen if you make such a tense face .

It might be difficult to go up against an army of corpses though .

「Should we get backup……」

I reply to Alice, telling her that it’s unnecessary to call for reinforcements .

「Doryaaa!」

When I enter close-combat range, the skeletons holding rusted spears step forward to meet me .

If I take the time to squish each one individually, the zombies would close in behind me .

I’ll have to finish them all in one blow .

Fortunately this is a cemetery and the ground hasn’t been tidied up, meaning many large rocks are buried underneath .

Using the momentum of my swing and my forward movement, I drive my spear into the ground instead of in the enemy .

This signature heavy-class spear made by the dwarves combines with my full strength and digs deep into the ground .

With a loud rumbling sound, a lump of earth rolls up and numerous rocks and crushed stones, which were embedded in the soil, and is flung at the enemy .

They’re made of bone, so it’s more effective to bash them with a blunt weapon than cutting them up .

The countless stones flying at them are more than enough to fulfill that role .

Skeletons don’t have tongues or throats so they can’t scream .

However, the sound of shattering bones tells me how effective my attack was .

I flung the stones at them with full force, but they’re still just stones so they aren’t enough to completely destroy the skeletons .

Even so, they drop their spears because their wrists were shattered and they fall to the ground because their legs were crushed .

Now that they’re rendered helpless, they’re no different from a mere pile of bones .

「Only four left who are still in one piece…… Kroll! Finish off the ones who have collapsed!」

Irijina and Alice are holding off the zombies at the back .

They most likely don’t need Kroll’s help .

I advance forward before getting a response from them and then swing my spear across my body using a spinning motion .

This skeleton must have been a decent warrior when it was alive because it propped up its spear to block my attack .

But it’s a little sad . The worn out spear and the bony arms don’t put up any meaningful resistance, shattering into pieces after taking my attack .

The skull stared at its broken body through the hollow eyes and then the ominous light burning in the eye sockets disappeared into the night sky .

「Take that!」

I violently sweep at the next individual’s legs .

I might have used too much strength as both of its legs shattered into pieces, and it crashed to the ground head-first after one rotation in midair .

「And that…… is the end of this one!」

I thrust at the ribs of the third skeleton .

My thick spear couldn’t be contained by the gaps in its ribs and crushed the bones to pieces as the tip penetrated the rib cage, but that wasn’t enough to completely finish the skeleton .

As its arms were being raised to draw the string of its bow, I lift my spear to pick up its lightweight body and then I fling the bony frame at the final skeleton .

I forcefully pull my spear out from its shattered rib cage and send it flying .

It was quite the accurate shot if I do say so myself, as the mass of bones strikes the fourth skeleton and both monsters explode into pieces after colliding into the mausoleum wall .

With that, the enemies in front are taken care of .

Now that I look, Kroll has finished off five of them and is fighting with the last one after it lost an arm .

「Eei! Take that! Oraah!」

「……What are you doing against a one-armed opponent?」

I kick the skeleton from behind .

Its body was destroyed in a single blow and then its skull was crushed underfoot .

Without delay, I turn to look at Irijina and the others .

「Irijina, the situation is…… just barely under control, huh?」

Irijina is slowly but steadily mowing down the zombies while retreating and Alice is sending fireballs at the places where they bunch up to burn them .

Even so, the dead are still approaching from the side, which forced them to retreat .

There isn’t much distance left between them and the mausoleum .

「The front has cleared up! Let’s run straight to the mausoleum . 」

「B-but we need a key……」

The stone door is covered in moss and the entrance is wrapped in a old chain lock of some sort .

Fortunately, the lock is a simple chain one because we don’t have the luxury of taking our time to open it .

「Fuunn! ……ugggaah!!」

I grip the chain from both sides and pull hard .

The metal chain is stretched to the limit until there was a sharp metallic sound of the links snapping .

「H-he broke the chain with his bare hands…… incredible . 」

Kroll needs to train his body so he can do this much too .

The inward-opening door is extremely heavy, although it shouldn’t be a problem with my strength .

「Irijina and Alice, hurry and get in!」

I stand at the entrance of the mausoleum and shout .

Irijina and Alice are already starting to get surrounded .

「Yeah!」

Irijina swiftly uses one arm to pick Alice up by waist, turns 180 degrees, and then sprints to where I am .

Right before rushing in the entrance, Alice, who is hanging in Irijina’s arms, conjures a creeping carpet of fire, unlike her usual fireballs .

The area close to the entrance of the mausoleum turns into a fiery sea and the zombies that try to chase after the two girls gets engulfed in flames .

「Kroll, we’re closing it!!」

Kroll and I push the door from the inside and there was a heavy stone-grinding sound as it closes shut, similar to when it first opened .

Probably because the entrance is protected by the fire, I don’t feel any zombies pounding on the door .

「There’s a small chance something might happen if the door opens inward . Let’s leave something heavy behind it . 」

Kroll and Irijina rolls a stone behind the door and also stack up a pile of rusted objects to seal any gaps .

That will reassure us for now .

「Is everyone okay?」

「Umu, nothing much but scratches . No big deal!!」

「Me too…… not hurt . 」

「I’m fine as well . 」

Oh, so I was the only one who got an arrow in the stomach .

It’s kind of uncool, but since I stopped it with my muscles, it’s only a scratch .

「Now…… we’ll have to wait here until the sun rises . 」

「This is so frustrating against mere zombies……」

Irijina has a somewhat annoyed look on her face when she muttered that, but she’s breathing pretty hard after fighting her way through .

Alice’s hair is also a light pink color, so she probably doesn’t have much magic energy left .

Kroll also seems to be fairly agitated after doing combat with the corpses and skeletons .

I might be the only one out of everyone who can put up a fight right now .

「Let’s calm down for now . We’ll catch our breath and check the condition of our bodies . 」

We can take a look around while we’re at it .

If I peek through the protrusion near the entrance, I can see the building is dome-shaped with an approximate radius of 10 m and the ceiling being roughly 5 m in height, with the middle part being the highest .

Being a mausoleum, there is not a single window, so we don’t have to be scared of the zombies bursting in from anywhere .

The only unpleasant thing is that all the walls around us are filled with the caskets that have corpses in them and I can see the skeletons from the gaps where the containers have broken off .

「It won’t be good if they start spawning inside . I’ll go take a look around, you guys stay here . 」

I circle the perimeter of the not-so-large mausoleum .

It seems like for the caskets in the walls, the corpses are placed lengthwise with the head deep into the wall .

And then a stone lid is mounted on top .

I see, it’s pretty well made, more bodies can be stored in this way and even if the corpses were to revive, they would not be able to move and can’t escape outside .

I only check the corpses in the caskets with lids that have pieces broken off, although all of the ones I saw have either completely weathered away or was left in so many pieces that it seems unlikely for them to revive .

It doesn’t look like I have to worry about skeletons or zombies spawning inside this place .

「But still, it’s so narrow in here . Rafen may be small, but this mausoleum is nowhere near enough to accommodate the entire city . 」

I was talking to myself, but Alice gave me a reply after she calmed down .

「Underground…… maybe . The main part of the mausoleum is underground……」

I look to where the girl was pointing and see a ladder leading downwards .

「I see…… I’ll put a lid on it just in case . 」

We didn’t come here to visit a grave .

We are just here to take refuge until the morning, so there is no need for us to dive underground where there may be corpses wandering about .

It’s a little pathetic, but it’s best to turtle here and wait until the sun rises .

「With that said, there are no windows here so we can’t even tell if the sun has risen or not……」

The mausoleum is completely sealed shut so there may not be any gaps for the sun to peek through .

「Don’t worry! I get hungry in the morning! I will know what time it is when I hear my stomach growling!」

Relying on Irijina’s stomach to tell time is regrettable but we have no other choice .

I’m bored now…… and I would like to embrace a woman right now but I’m sure Alice or Irijina wouldn’t get wet with all the corpses in here and the zombies waiting outside .

「U-uhm……」

Kroll leaks out a shaky voice .

「What is it? I won’t embrace you, since you’re a guy . 」

「That’s not what I meant! Don’t you think it’s strange!?」

「Of course it is, there are hundreds of zombies prowling about and skeletons are even forming ranks . If that’s not strange, then I don’t know what is . 」

I’m not sure why Kroll is bringing that up now, though Kroll shakes his head repeatedly .

Well I have time anyways, so I’ll hear out his fairytale or whatever .

「There are no windows here!」

None, that’s why the air is stale .

If there were windows, I’m sure it would stink of zombies .

「We don’t have torches either!」

We threw them away before we got here .

Don’t be so focused on torches, you’ll be a small man just like the size of your dick .

「And yet…… how come we can see so much of our surroundings!?」

「Well isn’t Alice’s……」

In the corner of my eye, Alice shakes her head .

「I don’t have much magic energy left…… that’s why I’m not producing any fire . 」

Irijina and I hold up are spears .

Looking around again, the place where the light is coming from is…… the floor, and it’s almost as bright as the moonlight .

And that’s what is illuminating the interior of the mausoleum .

「T-this is…… really from underground……?」

「Alright, you go check it out . 」

When I point to the ladder, Kroll clings to my leg while crying and shaking his head .

It was just a joke, but how about showing me your manly side .

Fine, I’ll do it .

「During the times I don’t want to go…… I’ll do this!」

I stand in the center of the mausoleum, raise my spear high above my head and slam it down against the floor .

Stones crack and the entire floor shakes .

「Be careful…… the building’s going to collapse」

Alice is crouching and covering her head with her hands .

My bad, I used too much strength .

But it seems to be effective .

The faint light under the floor increases in intensity, instantly making our surroundings as bright as it would be outside during the day .

「Let’s see what comes out . 」

This is purely intuition, but the mysterious phenomenon happening here in the center of the cemetery might have something to do with the horde of zombies .

「Something is coming out…… what is that……!!?」

It’s pushing up from the floor…… no, the hole in the floor isn’t that big .

It isn’t climbing up, but rather passing through the hole .

Something black slowly rises up…… and floats all the way up to the ceiling .

「What is that thing……?」

「I don’t know! I’ve never seen it before!!」

「Hieeeeh . 」

That thing was covered by a hood and mantle, it was shaped like a person, half transparent and is emitting something darkish…… something like miasma around it as it floats in the air .

It briefly appeared to be a large man, although that was because of the overly large mantle and its main body is not as big as I thought .

However I can feel the prickling sensation on my skin, like something is burning it, from the thing’s sinister aura

「Monster!」

「Uwaaah!」

Irijina and Kroll shouted after they saw a glimpse of its face as the wind from the miasma emitted from its own body blew up its hood .

I don’t blame them, what they saw was literally a skull, although it has some extremely dried skin attached to it, which is somewhat different from a skeleton .

In the cavity where its eyes are supposed to be are pitch-black hollow eye sockets, which seem to suck you in, but two red lights dance around in the holes like eyeballs would .

「A formidable enemy no matter how you look at it . 」

I’ve seen a few undead monsters in the past but I don’t know anything about this thing .

I have no knowledge about this one, but I can tell from the overwhelming pressure that this thing is not your average skeleton .

「Ooooooooh」

It lets out a creepy voice that seems to come from the very depths of the earth and raises both hands .

In that moment, the miasma surrounding its body expands outward .

We can’t escape because of this enclosed space so all of us gets wrapped in the miasma .

「Everyone, don’t breathe it in!」