Chapter 176 - Undead World ( 2 )

Just now, Cyril heard someone running to his location.

He immediately pulled out the Doom Knight's Incomplete Black Sword.

'Hmm? The gloves' effect also disappeared… Tsk, it's better to wear the Death Knight's left glove at this rate…'

Cyril realized that the effects of his Artifacts couldn't stack. Nevertheless, he didn't immediately change his equipment since he has to deal with whatever was coming to him.

Soon, he saw a figure of a woman running desperately.

Cyril realized that the familiar woman was being chased so he didn't make a noise to observe the situation first.

Right now, he's wearing his Transcendent Shoes, Lycan's Leather Armor, and of course, the ineffective Shaman's gloves. He did not equip his Magi's Robe yet since he thought that he may not have to use his Conqueror Staff in this exploration.

As for his weapon, he felt that the Black Sword and the unused Tier 1 Elven Emblems would be enough.

He didn't use the emblems before when he raided the Nine Crows Guild since they aren't effective against S-Rank Awakened at all. The emblem's usefulness would only be shown if they were used against Magical Creatures like the undead.

"Ohh… Those are elite Zombies. Four, six, ten, twelve… That's a lot. No wonder Melody decided to run. These zombies don't just use their mouths and limbs to attack but they can also use their weapons!

"Haa!"

Melody shouted as she thrust her spear to the leading zombie… It seems that she wasn't just running away but she's trying to line them up so she could kill more than one zombie in a single thrust!

Her Enchant Spear lit up with white light as she tore a hole at the bodies of the two elite Zombies!

Seeing that there's nothing to worry about, Cyril decided to show his presence… He immediately called out Melody's name so she wouldn't mistake him as an enemy.

"Melody, I'll help you!"

Melody recognized the man's voice behind her so she immediately agreed.

"Alright. They're quite tough… Even after destroying their head, they can still move. We have to destroy their core on their chest."

"Got it!"

Cyril then moved forward and started his fight against the zombies. If he is wearing the Death Knight's glove, he could probably destroy their cores just by punching a hole in their chest. However, he has to use his sword for now to do this.

Without covering the black sword with his Aura, he thrust the sword in his hand and targeted the Zombie's chest.

Crack!

The core was cut in half after being hit by the tip of the sword.

As soon as he did this, the Zombie indeed stopped moving.

The two continued working together as they repeated the same technique until they finally killed all the elite Zombies…

"Thank you, Cyril. It would probably take me a while to finish them off myself."

"No worries… Right, do you know what happened to the plan? I thought we're not going to be separated after entering."

"Haa~ It's probably a problem with the Entrance Crystal of something. Perhaps this happens if we filled all the slots." Melody answered as she looked at the Zombies before she started looting them.

Unfortunately, their weapons are in a terrible condition which is a common thing for zombies.

However, the lady seemed to have different targets…

"What are those?" Cyril asked after seeing the small plates that Melody took from the zombies. They seem to be dog tags that he had seen in the human world.

Well, if he thinks about it, these zombies were previously alive. They should be some kind of soldier, guards, apprentice knights, or even low-level knights before they died.

"These tags are made of a special alloy… Collecting five of them is similar to having one Rank-E Artifact."

"Oh~ Is that so?"

"You can take the tags of the zombies you killed."

"Nah, you can take them. Thank you." Cyril said as he thought that this woman needed them more. He'd rather take other valuable things later on.

Unlike him who has personal Arcane Worlds, this woman is just relying on these explorations to earn money.

He learned from Karen that her family wasn't rich and they all had to work hard in order to live and have food served on the table. After Melody left, Karen probably had a harder time living and this seems the reason why she wanted to become rich and decided to work as an Arcane Explorer even though it's dangerous since she's only F-Rank Awakened.

Anyway, the amount that Melody will earn in these dog tags wasn't that much in his eyes at this point.

After she collected them and made sure that there was nothing more valuable, she looked at Cyril and asked for his opinion about their situation.

"It seems that there was a problem with the information we received. The previous scouts who surveyed this tomb only has two members. I'm guessing that the problem we experience only happens if there are 10 Awakened who decided to enter this world." Cyril made a random guess based on his over a decade of experience.

"Is that even possible? Ugh… I still have a lot to learn about these Arcane Worlds. This is too dangerous. What about those C-Rank Awakened? I wonder what happened to them…"

Melody recalled Eron and Evalia but she immediately shook her head after remembering how many explorations they've had when they introduced themselves.

If they will talk about experience alone, those two C-Rank Awakened should have more experience than the two of them combined.

Anyway, she finally learned that although Cyril has a few records of exploration, he seemed to be quite knowledgeable.

"I noticed that your eyes is glowing blue. That's a decent Night Vision Potion. Perhaps a Grade 2?" Melody commented.

Currently, her eyes are also glowing but in red. It's a weaker version of Night Vision Potion or at Grade 1 tier.

"Yeah… I have a few more potions with me. Tell me if you need one. I know that Grade 1 only lasts for an hour or maybe less."

"Alright… I'll pay you once we're outside."

"Instead of paying me some money, how about allowing me to purchase you Spear Arts instead?"

"No way… That's my secret technique." Melody immediately replied as she picked up her spear. Anyway, she doesn't seem to be offended after Cyril said that.

The two continued walking to where Elite Zombies came from. They were either hoping to find more of their fellow explorers or find some creatures they can kill. Well, it would be better if they managed to find some kind of treasure trove.

"Eh?"

"T-this… Is this what I'm thinking about?"

Cyril and Melody were dumbfounded after seeing a huge stone door in front of them.

They've been walking around and killing Elite Zombies for over an hour now. There are a few Skeleton Warriors but they haven't seen any Skeleton Mages at all.

"Is this the boss room?" Melody muttered to herself after seeing the door engraved with a demonic skull.

Both of them could feel the menacing Aura coming from it without even needing to enter the room.

"It seems so. However, it means that we were actually sent past to the explored area by the scouts."

"Yeah… Should we wait for the others?" Melody asked Cyril.

Though this handsome young man is younger than her. He's very strong and reliable inside the tomb.

In truth, she had been very nervous as soon as she realized that she was alone after entering this Undead World.

After all, she has a team on her previous explorations and her teammates were always stronger and better than her.

That was why it put a lot of pressure on her when she was immediately chased by the Elite Zombies as soon as she arrived here until she met Cyril, the inexperienced A-Rank Awakened.

She thought that she has to lead their small team at this rate but she was wrong!

This young man proved that he's capable. He has always remained calm as if the hideous monsters popping out of nowhere are nothing but bugs…

In short, during this period, she unconsciously recognized Cyril as the leader she could rely on.

"I guess it's better to wait for them… We don't know what's inside. Anyway, we can also go back and see whether we could find the others. What do you think?"

"No way. That's too dangerous. We can't repair our Artifacts if they lost too much durability... Those skeletons are quite tough too since we don't have bludgeoning weapons. We also encountered three or four different paths before getting here, we might get lost if we leave this place. Anyway, considering the beasts we encountered, only the Elite Zombies are quite difficult to handle… They should be here in several hours. Maybe a day or two if really slow."

They have some idea about how large this place was after Arvid discussed it in the briefing room.

If some of them appeared from the "starting point". It should take them half a day to arrive at the third safe zone recorded by the scouts!