Chapter 111
Slurp.
Winter had ended, and at the tail end of spring where a slight chill still lingered, Karl watched the steam gently rising from his tea and took a sip of the warm black tea.
Drinking tea on the terrace in front of the room prepared for him in the Count's castle was exquisite in itself.
As the warm sunlight shone down on the terrace, Karl gazed blankly at the scenery of the county from atop the castle.
The view now was so different from when he first arrived here.
The County of Collo had more than doubled in size compared to when Count Calido had ruled it.
Because it was a location with inherently good conditions, trade became more active, and as the Knight of the Lighthouse established themselves, they gained the upper hand even in minor disputes, embedding the perception that Collo was now truly a safe zone.
In addition to that, those who heard of Karl's fame and wished to enter his service, along with Free Knights wanting to join the Knight of the Lighthouse, gathered, equipping the county with military power incomparable to ordinary domains.
‘Good.’
Being able to feel happiness just by peacefully drinking a cup of tea like this was a great blessing.
Since it was a type of emotion and feeling he had never experienced before, Karl was fully enjoying the present moment.
‘This must be the calm before the storm.’
He knew well that as long as the system had called him here, it wouldn't let him rest comfortably until death.
Having moved ceaselessly until now, a considerably long period of peace had continued, making Karl feel that the events to come would crash over him like an even larger wave.
[Progress Rate 30%]
The environmental changes that began starting from the 25% progress mark were becoming increasingly distinct.
Many stories heard from the surroundings were proving this change.
[Inhumans], [Demi-humans], [Demons], [Heretics]
The storm that suddenly swept through the West Continent, which had been stagnant like still water, was engulfing people.
The time Collo could remain quiet was also running out.
Slurp.
Once again, the warm tea flowed down his throat, warming his body.
The fragrant scent of the tea calmed his mind.
Whatever lay ahead, what was important to him right now was this cup of black tea.
Just as he was enjoying his leisure, Karl's face momentarily distorted.
[The attack of the living corpses has begun.]
[Sudden Quest: Stop the Corpse Attack.]
The system window that suddenly popped up threw out just one sentence in red text and disappeared.
His mind began to spin rapidly at the incident thrown at him by this trash game after a long time.
‘This didn't happen here.’
The County of Collo was under the influence of the intelligence organization Karl had separately established.
With a well-equipped reporting system and a firmly established intelligence network, albeit limited to the vicinity, he could quickly grasp events occurring nearby.
On top of that, Anne's intelligence organization was currently established like a branch office, so if an incident had occurred here, it was impossible for him not to know.
‘A corpse attack? Sounds like undead... The location is the key.’
His steps were heading towards where Sancho was.
Tinkle, tinkle.
With a familiar sound, the door opened, and Karl quickly approached Sancho, who greeted him with a bright face.
"Undead."
"Pardon? What do you mean by that all of a sudden?"
"Look into places where undead are appearing."
"Now? Right away?"
"Yes, right away."
"No, we are not Sir Karl's private organization..."
"I'm not joking."
"Around where should I investigate?"
Seeing Karl's stern face, Sancho realized he shouldn't be joking.
"Focus on the north first, then the west, central, and south."
"I'll move immediately."
"If Anne is near an undead appearance site, tell her to get out quickly."
"...I will keep that in mind."
After his brief meeting with Sancho, Karl knocked on the door of Count Vito's office.
"Sir Karl? What brings you here?"
"We need to send messengers to the nearby domains. Urgently. Tell them to report immediately if they see walking corpses or skeletons, any undead. Tell them not to fight but to flee to the County of Collo."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"It may be hard to believe, but I've learned that undead have appeared. We must prepare."
Even as Karl said it himself, it was content he wondered if others would believe.
"...I will move immediately."
"...Doesn't it sound strange to hear?"
"Isn't this the word of the Saint acknowledged by the Pope? It seems there's something I don't know."
"...!"
Karl realized why Count Vito mentioned the Saint.
"Tell them I relayed the words of Essus. That a crisis is coming, so they must be careful."
Smirk.
Count Vito nodded.
And a short while later, messengers began to move quickly to each domain.
"Urgent report!"
Not long after the messengers began to move.
Just as the Knight of the Lighthouse were being summoned, messengers and informants from all directions began to flock to the Count of Collo's castle.
***
"Kelly! Run! Hurry!"
"What about Mom? Mom, you have to go quickly too!"
"Mom can't go any further! Run quickly, hurry!"
The young girl was fidgeting, watching her mother who couldn't run properly due to an injured leg.
The wound on the woman's leg was a bite mark, but somehow, it clearly wasn't from an animal.
"Ke...elly... Ah, Kelly...! Hurry, hurry... Go! Quickly!"
The injured woman desperately screamed for her daughter to leave, but the daughter just stood there crying.
Then, the woman's pupils slowly began to change.
"...Hurry ...go!"
The woman was drooling without realizing it, her mouth agape, and her joints were twisting erratically.
Her injured leg bent at a bizarre angle as she tried to stand up.
A sound unlike anything that could come from a human throat vibrated deep within her.
"Mom?"
"Hur...ry... Grrrrr."
The girl was startled seeing her suddenly changed mother, then became afraid and started running.
The woman, transforming into a monster, tried desperately to maintain her consciousness, but instinct told her.
Resistance was impossible.
So, she gripped her own neck strongly with both hands.
Crack, crunch.
With strength unbelievable for someone not a knight, she twisted and tore off her own head.
The woman's body collapsed just like that.
Cold blood flowed from her body, and her eyes, on the boundary between human and monster, slowly lost focus.
"Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!"
After parting from her mother, the running girl saw people screaming and fleeing beside the village.
It seemed no one had discovered the girl who had fled into the mountains.
The sight of villagers being torn apart by monsters, blood splattering as they fell to the ground, was etched directly into the child's eyes.
"Hic! Sob! Sob!"
The child forcefully held back the tears threatening to fall as the image of her mother dying moments ago suddenly surfaced, and she continued to move her legs.
Mom told her to run away quickly.
She told her to survive no matter what.
The child endured her sorrow and ran endlessly.
Without knowing which direction to go, she just ran straight ahead blindly.
Then, after climbing onto a low tree and closing her eyes for a moment, the child ran again.
After doing that for a long time.
She fell into dehydration.
She no longer had the strength to move.
"Mom... Mom..."
The best the child's body could do was call for her mother and shuffle her small, unmoving legs.
Just then.
"Grrrraaaaargh."
A cry, neither beast nor human, came from behind the child.
The child turned her head in terror, but her body, already at its limit, didn't move as she intended.
The monster charged madly.
Rustle, snap, snap.
The sound of the approaching monster sweeping through bushes and branches was terror itself.
‘Mom…’
The child blamed herself for being unable to move further and collapsed.
And the child's tired eyes closed.
The moving corpse leaped into the air.
Just before the monster's form could cover the fallen child.
Slice.
A brilliant white light slashed the corpse's neck.
Thud.
The monster's head and torso separated.
The man lifted the fallen child onto his back and began to walk.
***
"It's already too late, Commander. It seems this girl is the only one alive."
Kelvin, who had just put down the child he carried, spoke as he let water trickle into the child's mouth.
Other members returned one after another, but he heard no news of survivors from them either.
During the three-day walk from Marquis Baltimo's domain to Stinco village, the Knight of the Lighthouse had fought several large and small battles.
The number of zombies they had killed during that time seemed to easily exceed 300.
While cutting down those numerous zombies, the number of survivors they rescued was barely 20.
"What on earth has Marquis Baltimo been doing for the situation to get this bad."
Karl wondered how things had gotten to this point.
Considering the knights who had returned to Marquis Baltimo, the number of knights he commanded was over 100.
Yet, while such a zombie horde roamed the nearby domains, no measures were visible.
"We can't even tell how many zombies there are. We have to assume at least the entire nearby area is covered with these things."
"What on earth are the nobles of the northern region doing?"
"Come to think of it, we haven't seen the lords anywhere we went... Perhaps, they ran off amongst themselves."
Hearing the current situation, the rotten northern nobles might have fled first.
"First, check the nearby villages and subjugate the ones around."
It was a familiar task they had already done several times.
The Knight of the Lighthouse naturally tidied their positions and checked their armaments.
Having specifically packed the holy water provided by the Order, they quickly lined up and mounted their horses.
"Kill them all before dawn."
The undead roaming around now hid themselves astonishingly well during the day and did not show themselves.
When exposed to sunlight, the creatures didn't die, but they showed a definite weakening phenomenon.
Thanks to this, they thoroughly utilized the night hours after sunset.
Furthermore, since the zombie symptoms were contagious, every single one had to be wiped out.
If the zombies hadn't had the tendency to congregate and form colonies, they would have been truly troublesome undead.
Thudududududu.
The cavalry, led by Karl, began to gallop at high speed towards the village the girl had run from.
"All units, prepare to charge!"
The 100 knights galloping at high speed drew their weapons in unison behind Karl.
"One-point breakthrough!"
Thudududududu!
The sound of horse hooves shook the earth once more, and golden aura erupted from the sword of Karl, who rode at the vanguard.
Craaaaash!
Starting with the wave of golden aura that flew towards the front, 100 cavalry horses broke through the zombie horde and dashed forward.
While the line of cavalry that pierced the front followed Karl, instantly changing direction and turning, the zombie horde filled the empty spaces as if they had never been trampled and killed.
"I'll stomp you all until you fall!"
Karl's sword erupted with a golden wave once again, followed by Kelvin's white flash sweeping the surroundings once more.
Behind them, the knights began to sever the corpses' necks.
The formation of the knights, who had already coordinated their attacks against zombies numerous times, trampled the creatures without faltering.
After several breakthroughs, the knights dismounted and were beheading the remaining zombies when the surroundings began to dimly brighten.
As they removed their helmets to cool the heat of battle, sunlight began to peek down on their heads.
"Mom..."
Just then, the child, who had regained consciousness at some point, got off the horse and ran somewhere to kneel.
There lay a headless corpse, with traces showing she had torn off her own head with her hands.
This damn trash game.
Karl felt disgusted by that bitter feeling.
Striding towards the mother's corpse, Karl began digging the ground without hesitation.
"Commander, it hasn't been confirmed what effect an undead corpse has on the living."
"So?"
"...Never mind."
Seeing his expressionless face, Diogo took a step back.
The Commander right now should not be provoked.
Watching him silently dig the ground, the other knights also began digging around him without a word.
That strange scene was both surreal and yet utterly natural.
They loaded the corpse onto a cart found in the village, buried the scattered undead corpses nearby as well, sprinkled some holy water received from the Order, and covered it with soil.
Karl, having procured a large rock from somewhere, even hammered it in as a gravestone and carved an inscription.
[Grave of a Girl's Mother and the Villagers.]
Watching the endlessly crying young girl, the knights felt their noses tingle and turned their heads towards the sky.
After the girl's short farewell with her mother ended, the mercenaries arrived.
Karl and the knights handed the girl over to the mercenaries who were handling supplies, support, and patient transport in the rear, then turned their horses once more and began riding north.