Chương 19: The Undead Express

Ch 19 - The Undead Express This group of undead soldiers should have been able to cover a much greater distance by now. But their movements were painfully slow, exactly as one would expect from undead. The journey felt incredibly boring and, honestly, like a complete waste of time. The undead marched steadily across the surrounding land, a place that looked completely dead and lifeless. Every plant was dried out and withered, as if the entire region had lost its vitality long ago.

The harsh landscape only made the journey more difficult.

The terrain was littered with jagged rocks, and several sections forced them to climb uphill. More than once, a few undead lost their footing and tumbled down the slopes, only to rise again and continue their slow, relentless march. Zeph simply stayed behind the marching undead army, not doing much of anything. He was actually a little impressed with himself. The rotting stench of the undead barely bothered him anymore. He could even casually chew on dried meat while walking among them.

Maybe he smelled just as bad as these undead by now, which was why their odor no longer stood out to him. Zeph glanced toward the sky several times.

"If I calculate it correctly, a full day inside this rift is still twenty-four hours long. It's just that the night lasts much longer, maybe around eighteen hours, while the remaining time is daylight." Judging by the moon's current position, it was probably still only about a third of the way through the night. In other words, these undead would likely keep moving for who knew how much longer before they finally stopped. Zeph noticed something strange in the movements of the undead around him.

Some of them came to an abrupt halt, while others walked straight into those standing ahead of them. He looked around in every direction. It seemed that something was approaching their position.

"Is it a monster attack?" He moved toward a less crowded area to get a better view of whatever was coming from the direction of the forest. At that exact moment, he caught sight of movement shifting within the darkness between the trees.

"An undead army this size should be enough to deal with the monsters," he whispered. The trees shook violently, as if announcing the arrival of something massive. Moments later, heavy impacts echoed through the forest one after another, like giant drums beating against the earth. Then, with startling speed, enormous figures burst out from the woods, forcing the trees to part around them as they charged forward. Zeph's eyes widened when he saw what was approaching.

Their bodies resembled those of bears, though they were at least twice as large and far more imposing. And there wasn't just one of them. At the same time, more figures emerged from the darkness. Five. Six. The number kept growing until around seven of the beasts had appeared, all of them sprinting directly toward the undead horde. Zeph prepared himself and reached for the hilt of his sword. At that same moment, however, the undead began to move as well.

Unlike before, they were no longer shuffling forward at a sluggish pace. They suddenly burst into motion, charging ahead with surprising speed. Several of them rushed past Zeph, bumping into him repeatedly and nearly causing him to lose his balance more than once.

"The undead always seem to prioritize the monsters whenever they show up," he muttered. Still, these monsters did not seem as powerful as the one Zeph had fought earlier. At the very least, that was the impression he got from the speed of their charge and the force of their footsteps pounding against the ground. The clash erupted moments later. The charging monsters slammed into the undead ranks with tremendous force, sending countless undead flying through the air.

Bodies crashed into one another as the impact tore through the formation. Yet despite being thrown aside, many of them quickly rose again and threw themselves back into the fight. Zeph tightened his grip on his sword and carefully watched the battle unfold. If he could find an opportunity to kill even one of those monsters, it would already be worth the effort. And if he managed to obtain another monster core from one of them, the profit would be substantial.

He ran closer, weaving through the battlefield in a zigzag pattern as he tried to avoid the chaos around him. Both sides were attacking each other relentlessly. Honestly, the battle was so chaotic that it was difficult to keep track of what was happening. Zeph focused on one of the monsters that appeared to have suffered the most obvious injuries. He rushed forward, searching for an opening to strike. But just as he was about to make his move, a powerful impact echoed from another direction.

He turned and saw that one of the monsters had already been killed. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Damn, that was fast." The undead were attacking with savage brutality and complete disregard for coordination, making it incredibly difficult for Zeph to find an opportunity to join the fight. Several times he was shoved aside by charging undead. At one point, he even stumbled forward and was trampled as dozens of feet marched right over him.

"Seriously, could you idiots fight in a more organized way?" Before Zeph even realized it, before he had the chance to do anything meaningful, the undead had already begun slowing their assault. He finally managed to get back on his feet, his body aching from being stepped on by those mindless undead. At the same time, his gaze landed on the massive monster corpses scattered across the battlefield.

"They were killed pretty quickly." Not exactly quickly, but still much faster than the previous battle he had witnessed among the undead before. Seven monsters. Seven monster cores. Confidence filled his chest. Without wasting another second, he hurried forward and grabbed the nearest weapon he could find, intending to dig through the corpses and claim his rewards. Meanwhile, the undead had already started moving again.

They gradually reorganized themselves, returning to the same wandering formation they had maintained before the battle. Zeph rushed toward one of the fallen monsters and slammed the axe into its chest. Up close, the creature looked even more like a bear, though its body was far more monstrous in size and shape. Its claws were enormous, and its fangs were long enough to tear through flesh with ease. He struck the creature's chest repeatedly, but the hide and bones were incredibly tough. This was going to take time.

And the undead had already begun marching away.

"Hey, why are you in such a hurry?" Zeph grumbled as he swung harder, bringing the axe down with as much force as he could muster. Again and again he hammered into the monster's chest, even as the undead procession steadily moved farther into the distance. There simply wasn't enough time. Although Zeph could technically catch up to the undead later after finishing the job, he still had to extract the monster core first.

And at the rate things were going, that task was proving far more difficult than he had expected. After some time, Zeph finally dug down to the area where the monster core should have been located. He switched to his dagger and carefully carved deeper into the corpse until... Until...

"Damn, seriously?" This one hadn't left behind a monster core. Zeph swallowed hard and glanced toward the undead army, which had already traveled farther into the darkness. But since he hadn't gained anything from tonight's battle yet, he moved on and ran toward another corpse. He worked faster and more efficiently. He already had a rough idea of how deep he needed to dig to reach the center of the creature's chest. A few minutes later, he had exposed the area where the monster core should have been.

Zeph used his dagger to carefully clear away the remaining flesh and bone as he approached the delicate section. Then... Yes! Yes! A monster core. A faintly glowing crystal revealed itself within the corpse. Zeph quickly pulled it free and broke into a wide grin before storing it away safely.

"An incredible loot," he said with a satisfied smile. He looked into the distance once more. The undead were already gone. He could no longer see their figures, and even the sound of their marching footsteps had faded into the night. Should he continue collecting monster cores? Or should he chase after the undead? Zeph clenched his fists tightly. In the end, with obvious reluctance, he threw the axe onto the ground and made his decision. He turned and started running.

He had to hurry before the undead disappeared completely. He couldn't afford to be left alone in a place as brutal as this. At the very least, one of the safest ways to survive inside the rift was to follow wherever the undead army was heading. There was no point collecting a few extra monster cores if he ended up lost and surrounded by monsters without any meaningful way to fight back afterward. As frustrating as it was, he had no choice but to let this opportunity go. This was strategy.

Giving up a small gain in order to secure a much greater one later. It wasn't stupidity. It was a strategy. Zeph took a deep breath and repeated that thought to himself several times, doing his best to convince himself that he wasn't making a terrible mistake. Only then did he pick up speed and successfully catch up to the marching group of undead soldiers once again. The journey continued much like before.

This time, however, Zeph paid much closer attention to the path ahead and the area around them, staying ready in case another monster attack happened. The same pattern repeated itself for the next several hours, without any major changes. This rift was truly enormous. There was no telling how long it would take a team of ten Rank 1 Apprentices to fully clear a place like this. Had the other nine people perhaps discovered the same trick he had and were using it to help them conquer the rift?

It sounded crazy, but they should have encountered these undead as well. Even after traveling through the night like this, he had not seen a single sign of the others anywhere. Or could it be that he was actually inside a different rift from everyone else?

"That could not be possible... right?" If Zeph remained among this group of undead, then the chances of running into the others should be much higher. A massive formation of undead soldiers like this would be impossible to miss. Then again, if the sight of such a large army of undead soldiers caused the others to retreat and avoid the area entirely, that would create a different problem altogether. Well, he would just have to see how all of this turned out.

Not long after, another monster attack came from the forest, just like before. And as usual, Zeph searched for an opportunity to join the fight himself. He managed to kill one. He rushed to recover the monster core before the undead soldiers resumed their march. He successfully obtained the monster core once again, yet another major victory. If this kept going, Zeph could gather a huge number of monster cores without putting in much effort.

If things continued this way, he could leave the rift carrying enough resources to exchange for a significant amount of money. He would have more than enough materials to build whatever he needed for his next expedition. This was going to be easy. However, Zeph's excitement that night was soon interrupted. Or at least, it was pushed to the back of his mind when the undead soldiers suddenly came to a halt once more.

"What is it this time? Another monster attack?" He tried to locate the source of the disturbance, but then his attention shifted forward. In the distance stood a hill that rose above the surrounding terrain. And from beyond it, he saw them. Dozens. No... hundreds? Hundreds of figures emerged from the shadows beneath the moonlight, advancing from the front as if preparing to launch an attack.

"That's a lot of monsters..." Zeph muttered under his breath.