Ark Undead

The Undead was just one of the unlucky ones randomly drawn in today's round of 16 to quarterfinals competition.

There's not much to describe about the battle itself; to paraphrase Mob, it was...

"The undead charged forward! The undead raised his longsword in his right hand! Was he about to attack?!"

"The opponent clearly underestimated the undead's strength and speed! Before they could even react, the undead got close. 'Pierce' Tia tried to block the undead's attack with her spear, but the undead's strength almost forced her to her knees! The undead moved again!"

"A brilliant front kick completely shattered the opponent's defensive stance! Tia tried to regroup and defend, raising his spear! Oh no, the Undead used a shield bash, not a longsword! Tia froze! He took two steps back!"

"A brilliant pursuit! The Undead's blade pierced Tia's shoulder blade, followed by another shield bash! Can Tia regroup?! With the blade at her neck, Tia has completely lost the ability to resist! Let's congratulate the Undead for securing first place in today's quarterfinals!"

It was a very simple attack and pursuit, but it was extremely effective.

Did Maria understand it? Of course she understood it, but could she do it? No, she couldn't.

First and foremost is a heavy, close-range slash. Without the terrifying instantaneous acceleration of an immortal, how could one possibly get close? And without sufficient training, how could one nearly break an opponent's balance with a simple, heavy slash?

Adding to that the shield bash following the kick completely shattered the opponent's defensive stance, and the match was essentially over at that point.

The Undead's victory may seem like just two or three simple attacks, but they effectively utilized the opportunities that followed each attack.

Zofia, who was in the audience, was preparing to explain things to Maria, but seeing how easily the Undead won, she didn't know how to explain anymore.

You can't exactly say, "Maria, you need to work harder! When you have the strength and speed of your teacher, you'll be able to do it!"

What she lacked was not just ordinary strength and speed, but also that terrifying combat instinct and experience.

What will truly give Maria experience is yesterday's chaotic battle, and how she performs in that battle. Only then can Zofia provide Maria with explanations.

However, such a victory can still bring joy to everyone.

Because he is immortal.

In everyone's eyes, his victory meant that the Independent Knights' resistance had taken another step forward, successfully securing a place in the quarterfinals.

All the independent knights were watching him, because he was the only one who had managed to reach this position after leaving the company.

Although he may not have participated in the Major for the Cavaliers' honor, at this moment, he has been portrayed by all the media as such a player.

In today's Kazimierz, even if the Undead has no contract, his news will still become part of the media's profit-making, simply because he has enough popularity.

But the immortal didn't care about all that fancy stuff; in his simple mind, this wasn't even a significant victory.

He has more important things to do.

During this period of time, I think about things related to an old friend every day. Those old things unearthed from ancient memories fill the thoughts of the immortal man.

But whenever he tried to piece these fragments together, a thin film blocked his way. No matter how hard he tried to recall, he could only remember fragments of the scene.

Moreover, something seemed to be burning intensely within the black ring on his chest.

Strangely enough, even though he no longer had a mission, the intuition of an immortal still told him that he had unfinished business to attend to.

Moreover, despite having no clear goal, he did not lose his mind and fall into a deep sleep, nor did he begin to turn into a zombie.

On the contrary, my body has been reacting more and more quickly lately, as if the curse is gradually being lifted.

That started from the first time I used a miracle.

The miracle [Restore] was used when Maria first witnessed a miracle.

As he continued to use these spells, the connection between the undead and miracles grew stronger. He always felt as if he had forgotten something, overlooked some fact, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The Undead finished their quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals the following day.

The opponent fell, and the Undead pulled out the longsword that was stuck in the enemy's abdomen.

If the opponent still decides to stand up, the Undead wouldn't mind giving him two more hands, but then he probably wouldn't have the hands to receive this gift.

"Alright, alright, the Undead finished the fight in a minute again. Okay, I admit I'm pretty much used to it by now. A clean and swift counterattack—after deflecting a heavy slash from the Greatsword Knight 'Whirlwind' Pudo, he followed up with a close-range kick, a shield bash, and a thrust. I couldn't even see the whole sequence of movements he made!"

As before, the audience erupted in praise and cheers for the undead.

As before, the immortal walked down from the platform indifferently and left to prepare for tomorrow's match.

Mob suddenly realized that commentating on matches where no one dies is the easiest, but also the most boring.

The undead who was leaving put away the longsword in his right hand and met Zofia and Maria as he left the backstage area.

They rode in the two people's car back to Zofia's house.

Today is the day to check Maria's training results. For the past few months, the Undead haven't sparred with Maria. Zofia has been in charge of Maria's training.

The Undead arrived at one end of the training field, grasped the iron bar placed on the side of the field, and turned to face Maria on the other side.

Maria, feeling that she had made progress under Zofia's training, excitedly gripped the iron rod and awaited the Undead's attack.

"You hit me."

The Undead then spoke up, demanding that Maria attack first.

Maria took two steps forward, raised the iron rod in her right hand, and delivered a heavy blow from top to bottom!

The Undead casually blocked Maria's iron rod from the middle, using the rod to guide Maria's force to the side while adjusting the direction of the iron rod, and then thrusting it straight at Maria's chest with a backhand.

Maria had almost developed muscle memory from being beaten by the Undead, so how could she not know their tactics? She raised her right foot, took a step to the side, tilted her upper body to dodge the straight thrust, and then, taking advantage of the moment when her right foot was bearing the weight, swung her right arm outward and then pulled it back sharply, about to smash the Undead's waist with her club!

Ding!

Unfortunately, the Undead reacted faster than Maria. The Undead quickly returned to defense, holding the iron rod to his side and blocking Maria's attack along the direction of his arm.

He spoke, his familiar hoarse voice ringing out.

"can."

With that, the Undead took another step forward, determined to press on!

At that moment, the iron rod in his right hand was stuck on his left side. He quickly straightened up, his right arm pulling him up from the lower left with the force coming from his entire spine.

If it weren't for the fact that this was a straight sword, it would have drawn a huge gash across Maria's right abdomen!

Maria reacted quickly; the moment she saw the Undead step forward, she immediately realized that the Undead was about to attack!

Before the Undead could even raise his hand, she withdrew her weapon and held it horizontally in front of her.

But experience counts. The Undying Man's upward thrust missed his weapon. He even leaned forward, almost squeezing into Maria's arms. This upward thrust actually hit Maria, causing a blow to her abdomen that was enough to make her bend over!

"cough."

Maria took two steps back, her right hand still gripping the iron rod tightly, and even after the blow, her eyes remained fixed on the iron rod in the Undead's hand.

"Attack, but be mindful of defense. Weaknesses, but be careful to conceal them."

The Undead offered a merciless critique of Maria's attack.

Although Maria still lost after two attacks, her reactions and thinking were completely different from before.

If the enemy weren't immortal, her parry would actually have been effective.

"Hehe...cough."

Maria wanted to laugh, but the pain in her abdomen made it difficult to breathe, so she couldn't help but cough.

So she took out a portable staff from her bosom, placed her left hand on her lower abdomen, and a ball of white light shone.

Miracle (Recovery)

A few seconds later, Maria stood up straight.

Although there is still some slight pain, the injury should be under control.

"Teacher! Again!"

Maria raised the iron rod in her right hand with great spirit and launched another attack on the man in front of her who was as steady as a mountain.

The immortal nodded slightly, seemingly showing some appreciation.

Half an hour later.

"Ten-minute break, then continue."

The Undead put down the iron rod, turned around, and went into his small room.

We're running out of firewood; it's time to add more.

Maria put down the stick she was holding and lay on the ground, panting heavily.

The teacher's attack is indeed different from Zofia's attack... more stable, more deadly, and even harder to find his weakness.

Maria mentally compared the differences between the two and summarized her own shortcomings.

Meanwhile, he also began treating the more serious injuries that had just been inflicted on his body.

I used the recovery function quite a few times today, but I still haven't reached its limit.

Maria practices the miracles taught to her by the Undead diligently every day. She has made great progress, from only being able to use the miracles a few times a day at the beginning to now being able to use them more than ten times.

What puzzled her was why she still couldn't use the only aggressive miracle her teacher had taught her.

Maria struggled to sit up from the ground and went to the undead's hut, where she watched the undead adding fuel to the fire.

"Teacher...

Maria sat down next to the undead, and a piece of firewood was thrown into the fire in her eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

The Undead looked over and saw Maria staring blankly at her portable staff.

"Yes."

Maria was feeling very uneasy. She was worried that something had gone wrong, which was why she couldn't use the Thunder Spear properly. Maybe she hadn't tried hard enough?

"Teacher, I still can't fully recreate the miracle of the Thunder Spear."

Maria held a staff in her left hand, while a ball of lightning crackled in her right. Although the lightning had materialized, it was still just a ball of lightning, with absolutely no possibility of expanding into a gun.

"I would like to see you use the Thunder Spear again, and hear you tell the story of the Thunder Spear once more."

Maria carefully voiced her request, feeling that it was her fault and hoping the teacher wouldn't blame her.

The undead noticed Maria's predicament and turned his head to look at the campfire.

"No need to be nervous. Miracles are not toys, so don't be impatient."

He meant that Maria shouldn't be impatient; it's normal that she can't use it yet. Miracles are spells that require the accumulation of faith to work. If every spell were like Restoration, Maria could learn it instantly.

Maria can be considered a living saint.