A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

In reality, Levy didn't quite understand what these walking corpses in front of her were, but she just felt sorry for them.

That's right, for Levy, it's "them," not "them."

“I hope they can find a home.” After saying that, Levy leaned towards Bray, looking somewhat dejected.

Few of these zombie corpses were intact; most were quite strange.

It's not hard to understand why these corpses are like this. Most of them either died directly at the hands of the Silver Seeds or indirectly from the disasters they caused.

It's quite an achievement to be able to maintain a single outline.

From this vast horde of zombies, you could pick out just a few and they could be the subject of an independent horror film.

“Hmm… I hope they can go home.” Bray lowered his right eyelid and also referred to this group of walking dead as “they.”

Naruko and Levy both had the same thought, which meant it wasn't a coincidence, although Bray didn't know what was so pitiful about these zombies.

Perhaps it was the aimless wandering, like a child who couldn't find their way home.

Well, these things have absolutely nothing to do with the word "children".

"Let's go, don't lie there, we need to take a detour." Bray grabbed Naruko, who was still staring at the group of zombies.

---

Minimize fighting, prioritize survival, and most importantly, investigate the unknown.

The group of zombies in front of us are clearly also subjects that need to be investigated.

However, it is clearly unwise to make a move rashly without the other party taking the initiative to attack.

Eric also wanted to know where this came from, but he couldn't come up with a good idea for the time being.

We can only bypass this for now; who knows, we might be able to figure out what these zombies are through something else later.

However, no one expected that these zombies would appear in more than one place.

They had never seen such walking corpses before in the capital.

But as the expedition passed through some destroyed villages, they repeatedly discovered such things.

Bray had never left the capital before, nor had he ever gone to these abandoned villages. This was the first time he had ever seen such wandering corpses.

As they walked along, everyone began to look at each other, each with their own suspicions.

These zombies only appear in places with a large number of casualties, so why don't they appear in the capital?

"Could it be because there weren't any intact corpses in the capital back then..." Eric muttered, stroking his chin and gazing at the walking corpses in a certain village.

When the Silver Race invaded the Central Plains, many of them were heading straight for the big cities.

The capital city was practically a hell on earth back then. People outside the safe zone died on the day of the apocalypse, and not even their corpses were left behind.

The fact that no such zombies appeared inside the capital or even in the vicinity... seems to make sense to some extent.

Although these corpses can move, they are not aggressive and often do not resist when bitten into pieces by monsters.

The expedition team witnessed monsters devouring these creatures more than once.

However, even with monsters hunting, countless walking corpses still roam around, which is enough to prove just how terrifying their numbers are.

"Luo Shiqi, haven't you seen this before?" Eric glanced at the boy beside him.

"After the safe zone was destroyed... I saw some on the way when I was escaping."

“But the number isn’t that terrifying,” Luo Shiqi said, shaking his head. When he left, these walking corpses were few in number and were once considered monsters.

"Also, we're very close to the safe zone I was in before."

They had been traveling for several days, and along the way they had only encountered small to medium-sized monsters, so their progress was exceptionally fast.

Of course, no one knows why this expedition went so peacefully.

Bray, who seemed to be doing nothing, was being held by Levy while staring blankly at the sky.

"I want a hug too," Naruko said shamelessly.

"..."

On the tenth day, the expedition finally arrived at its destination, the safe zone where Luo Shiqi had been.

Although Luo Shiqi had said on the fourth or fifth day that they were very close to the safe zone, the number of the zombies increased as they advanced.

The expedition, forced to take a detour, ultimately took twice as long as planned to reach its destination.

"Is this the safe zone outside the capital?" Eric murmured, bending down to touch the edge of the faintly visible magic circle on the ground.

Apart from Luo Shiqi, everyone else was seeing the safe zone outside the capital city for the first time.

Once upon a time, many people lived in this safe zone, just as well as the people in their Imperial Capital Safe Zone.

However, looking straight ahead from this position now, it is not difficult to see that this place has been abandoned.

Scattered, collapsed timber, rotting food on the ground.

But not a single body could be seen.

If a safe zone were to be devoured by monsters, it should be littered with corpses, but in reality, that didn't happen.

"Kid, what's going on here?" Eric asked Luo Shiqi.

"Back then, a large number of ape-like monsters swarmed in and instantly flattened this place."

"Those who didn't have time to leave are basically all dead." After saying that, Luo Shiqi looked around with a puzzled expression.

That's right, they should all be dead, so he was very surprised that he hadn't seen a single corpse so far. Could it be that they had all turned into those walking corpses outside?

"Go inside, stay alert," Eric said to the people behind him, then prepared to stand up.

But just as he was about to stand up, an arrow shot out from the shadows of a dilapidated building.

Almost at the same time, Alice kicked Eric away from his spot and used the recoil to leap backward.

"Ding!" The arrow pierced the ground, landing where Eric had placed his hand on the edge of the magic circle.

“Looks like we don’t need to go in and be on high alert anymore. I think we can get into battle mode now.” Alice drew her gun with her right hand and, with her left hand, carried Eric, who was not far away, back to the expedition team.

"Gently..." Eric gasped in pain. Alice hadn't held back at all and had kicked him away with all her might. His ribs were still throbbing with pain.

“If you hadn’t kicked like that, your hand would have been shot right through.” Alice didn’t feel guilty at all about what she had done to Eric.

“I know… but you don’t have to go all out,” Eric said weakly.

“I can’t stop myself,” Alice replied expressionlessly.

After seeing that Eric was safe and sound, Bray, a member of the expedition, glanced with his right eye toward the shadow from which the arrow had been shot.

“There are fifteen men,” Bray said calmly, drawing his own sword.

"They're brimming with murderous intent." Naruko pouted; she had a feeling that the other party was there specifically to kill.

"Has this safe zone been occupied...?" Eric said after coughing a few times, supporting Alice.

“It seems so.” Bray nodded.

“I wasn’t asking you, I was just talking to myself,” Eric said irritably.

"..."

However, Eric didn't rush to complain to Bray; he quickly got everyone into the safe zone and found cover.

Bray leaned against the wall, his brow furrowing. He hadn't expected that his first battle would be against a monster, but a legitimate low-level species.

It contains elves, orcs, barbarians, and imperials.

If it's a large monster, Bray thinks it's easier to deal with, but if it's a flexible team, it's actually more troublesome.

Especially when the enemy had the terrain advantage, Bray felt that even when he went out, he was constantly harassed and nearly killed by the continuous attacks.

"What do you mean?" Bray completely gave up thinking and turned to Eric to ask.

Bray isn't stupid, so why did he give up on thinking? Of course, it's because there's someone smarter than him around, so he's too lazy to think.

"You want to rush out and kill them? Forget it, we don't even know who they are..." Eric could see the word "reckless" in Bray's eyes.

How could such a skilled and experienced swordsman turn into a reckless brute under your own hands?

Eric was just beginning to consider whether to negotiate with the other party or bite the bullet and fight.

With a blind guy on our side, combat strength is of course not a problem. The main issue is that we don't want any expedition members to be helplessly and speechlessly sacrificed.

The other party was completely unknown, and it was impossible to determine whether the attack was an act of plunder or self-defense.

"That guy who shoots an arrow out of nowhere and doesn't even say a word, so annoying," Eric muttered.

However, Eric didn't have to worry for long before the other party made the choice for him.

"Why can't you just accept death properly?" A sinister voice rang out, and a dark figure suddenly appeared in the expeditionary force.

The next second, a scream rang out, and one of the men in the group was executed by the scythe in the shadowy figure's hand, without even a chance to resist.

“…” Bray coldly watched as the dark figure wielding the enormous scythe kicked away the person he had just killed like trash.

The other party arrived at this place instantly without any movement.

Therefore, even though Bray understood that there was murderous intent coming, he still couldn't block the attack for the man in the expedition.

The shadowy figure was finally fully exposed to everyone.

He was wearing a black, tattered robe that was unusually long, with the hem even dragging on the ground.

The only arm that was exposed, covered by a long robe, was so pale it looked like it had been deprived of blood for a long time.

Because he was wearing a helmet made of bones, his face was completely obscured.

Without a doubt, this is a human being, not some monster or demigod.

But the aura he exuded was so sinister that it made people instinctively resist contact with him.

In an instant, the mines were struck.

The entire expedition team moved along with Bray.

Faced with a horde of people rushing towards him, the black-robed man wielding a scythe did not hesitate to slash at the nearest person.

It was as if his purpose was to kill, and he didn't care about his own life or death at all.

"Go!" Naruko lashed out with her whip, catching the expedition member who was about to be struck by the scythe and pulling him sharply toward her.

"Shh—" Because Naruko didn't hold back, the person who was pulled over was rubbed hard on the ground, and the skin was probably rubbed red even through the clothes.

However, thanks to Naruko's casual move, he avoided being cut in half.

"Why can't you just die peacefully and become an undead?" The black-robed man's hoarse voice was filled with anger, as if not being killed by him was some kind of heinous crime.

"Whoa, this guy's insane," Naruko muttered, shrinking behind Bray and Levy. The black-robed man roared in a hoarse voice, brandishing a massive scythe.

And this sickle is not made of iron at all; it even gives the impression of being "alive."

"I'll take this one, there are fourteen left." Bray said as he took a step, causing everyone to stop in their tracks.

"Save your own life." As soon as he finished speaking, Bray approached the man in black.

The raised, bloodthirsty scythe hung naked above Bray's head.

"I grant you a merciful funeral," the black-robed man said softly, his eyes beneath the skull helmet fixed on Bray.

"No need." Bray slightly turned to the side, and the scythe slashed at the ground, just past him.

Then Bray leaped up and stepped on the other man's shoulder.

The man in black robes almost instinctively tried to throw Bray down, but before he could, Bray's sword had already drawn a crescent moon.

"Crack—" The long handle of the sickle, and even the blade itself, were cut off by the smooth arc at the same time.

Not only that, Bray stepped on the black-robed man's shoulder and with a sudden force, stomped the man to the ground.

"BOOM!!!!!" The loud noise was enough to show how heavy the force was that brought the opponent down.

"Behave yourself." The blade pierced through the man's shoulder, pinning him to the ground, unable to move.

The moment Bray finished dealing with the man in black robes, the other men in black robes who hadn't hidden themselves couldn't sit still any longer.

Fourteen figures in black robes appeared around the expedition like ghosts. They were both men and women, and their weapons and even their bone helmets were different.

The only similarity was in their worn-out black robes.

They were like death gods at midnight, and the temperature around them plummeted the moment they appeared.