Chapter 130: Conscious Zombies
Nathan moved several meters ahead of Cain with his bow already in hand, his gaze constantly sweeping across the unfamiliar terrain.
The dark ridges in the distance had barely grown closer despite them walking for several minutes.
"This place is much larger than it looked from the entrance," Professor Ian said from behind them.
Cain nodded.
"And we’ve only seen the Southern Region."
He glanced toward the north.
The thin column of gray-black energy remained visible beyond the distant ridges, continuously flowing toward the center of the Invasion Corridor.
From their current position, the World Gate City was still hidden behind the terrain.
As they traveled farther away from the entrance, their surroundings gradually began to change.
Fragments that clearly came from their world became increasingly rare. The broken asphalt and street lamps eventually disappeared entirely, replaced by debris that none of them recognized.
A large stone slab lay partially buried in the black soil ahead.
Cain initially assumed it was another ordinary rock until Dragon’s Eyes caught several faint patterns carved across its surface.
He approached more carefully.
The slab was nearly three meters long and covered in unfamiliar symbols.
"What language is that?" Elara asked.
"No idea."
Cain crouched near the edge without touching it.
The patterns were too deliberate to have formed naturally.
Whatever civilization had created this slab had clearly possessed intelligence.
They continued onward and soon discovered another fragment.
This one resembled part of a metal wall.
Most of its surface had darkened with age, but several geometric grooves could still be seen running across it. The material itself was unfamiliar, and nothing around them matched its design.
Cain stood again.
"The farther we go, the less this looks like something created only for invading our world."
Nobody disagreed with Cain’s opinion.
They then continued moving.
Another kilometer passed without anything attacking them.
The silence surrounding the area gradually became uncomfortable.
Occasionally, Cain noticed something small moving between patches of dark grass, but whatever creatures lived there kept their distance and disappeared before he could inspect them properly.
It was when they approached a shallow depression between two large rock formations that Nathan suddenly stopped and raised his right hand.
Everyone immediately halted.
Cain looked toward him.
Nathan remained silent for several seconds as he focused on something farther ahead.
"There’s a movement."
"How many?"
"Only five."
Cain rested one hand on the sword at his waist.
"What about their strength?"
Nathan concentrated for another moment.
"Four should still be Unranked. And the last one feels just a little bit stronger."
Cain’s lips curved upward.
"1st Echelon?"
"Most likely." Nathan nodded.
Sonya immediately looked toward Cain.
Cain glanced back at her.
"Looks like you got lucky."
Her Advancement Mission had remained unfinished precisely because she had never gotten the opportunity to properly damage a 1st Echelon being.
Now one had conveniently appeared before them.
The group continued forward, though their pace became noticeably slower.
A few dozen seconds later, five figures emerged between the dark rocks ahead.
They were zombies.
However, Cain immediately noticed that something was wrong.
They were not wandering aimlessly as they moved together in an organized formation.
Two remained several steps ahead, while the others watched the surrounding directions as they walked.
The zombie in the center carried a dark spear across its back. Another had a short curved blade hanging from its waist.
Their appearances were also slightly different from the zombies Cain had encountered in their world.
Their skin still carried the familiar grayish color, and dark veins could be seen beneath parts of their exposed flesh. However, they wore actual equipment.
Dark leather covered parts of their bodies, while pieces of crude metal armor protected several vulnerable areas.
Cain’s golden pupils narrowed faintly as information immediately appeared before him.
The four weaker zombies were all above Level 20.
The last had already entered the 1st Echelon.
Cain raised one hand, his group stopped.
At almost exactly the same moment, one of the zombies looked toward them.
Its expression immediately changed.
"Humans!"
Cain froze for a fraction of a second when it spoke.
The other four zombies immediately turned around.
There was no mindless growling and reckless charge toward the nearest living person.
The 1st Echelon zombie quickly swept its gaze across Cain’s group before making a decision without hesitation.
"Retreat!"
All five immediately turned away and ran without hesitation.
Ron stared at them.
"What the fuck?"
Nathan had already raised his bow.
Cain’s lips slowly curved upward.
"So that’s how it is."
The zombies inside the Invasion Corridor were clearly different from those on Earth.
The infected creatures outside behaved almost entirely on instinct, attacking anything alive without caring whether they would survive.
However, these zombies could think and understand danger because after seeing an unfamiliar group whose strength they could not immediately determine, their first reaction had been to retreat and most likely report what they had discovered.
The Zombie Race truly was a race.
"Nathan, kill the four weaker ones and leave the 1st Echelon alive."
Nathan pulled the bowstring back.
The first arrow disappeared.
Wooosh!
One of the retreating zombies collapsed forward as the arrow pierced through the back of its skull.
Nathan’s hand was already reaching toward his quiver before the corpse touched the ground.
Another arrow followed.
Then another.
The final Unranked zombie realized what was happening and abruptly changed direction, trying to disappear behind one of the nearby rock formations.
It survived for less than another second.
Four bodies fell across the black-gray ground.
The remaining zombie glanced backward with widened eyes, mana immediately surged through its legs as it desperately increased its speed.
"Too slow."
Nathan released one final arrow.
Wooosh!
The arrow pierced straight through the zombie’s right calf.
Its injured leg immediately collapsed beneath it and the zombie rolled across the black soil before crashing shoulder-first against a stone.
It tried to push itself back up.
At the same time, a flash of bluish-white lightning crossed the distance and Ron immediately appeared beside it.
The spearhead stopped several centimeters from its throat.
The zombie then became completely still.
Cain approached at a leisurely pace, its eyes moved from Ron toward the others gathering behind Cain.
The creature’s expression gradually became ugly as it realized that escaping was no longer possible.
Cain stopped in front of it.
"Can you understand me?"
The zombie stared at him.
"...Yes."
"Good." Cain smiled as he continued, "That makes things much easier."
The zombie narrowed its eyes.
"What do you want?"
Cain glanced toward Sonya.
"I’ll give you a chance to live."
Ron looked toward him suspiciously as he had known Cain for far too long to believe those words as easily as the zombie apparently did.
The zombie’s tense expression immediately changed.
"What do I need to do?"
"Just do the challenge that I will give you."
"What kind of challenge?" The zombie asked with a frown.
Cain pointed toward Sonya.
"Take one attack from the weakest member of our group."
Sonya’s eyebrow twitched as she clearly disliked being introduced like that, but Cain ignored her reaction.
The zombie looked toward her.
It did not need anything similar to Dragon’s Eyes to understand her current situation.
Level 25—Meaning that she was still unranked.
The tension on its face visibly eased.
"Only one attack?"
"Yup." Cain nodded.
"And after that, you’ll let me leave?"
Cain smiled calmly.
"I promise I won’t kill you."
Ron slowly turned his head toward him and raised an eyebrow.
That wording...
However, the zombie failed to notice anything unusual as it immediately responded.
"Fine."
"Well, I have a few questions first." Cain said as he crouched in front of it.
The faint hope that had appeared on the zombie’s face immediately disappeared, replaced by wariness once again.