Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 232
Chapter 527 - Critical Breathing!
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Prior to this, Zhang Xiaohou never thought nightfall would be so dreadful. As the sun slowly set on the horizon, the remaining peace in his heart was dissipating at the same rate/ A great fear loomed over the vast land...
"It's...it's dark again," someone among the group had to say. Everyone felt their legs weakening for a second, as if countless filthy claws had suddenly grabbed onto them.
"Let's hope that we were just unlucky last time, finding ourselves close to a burial pit," murmured Shi Shaoju.
"Brace yourselves; I don't want us to be ambushed again like last time," warned Qin Hu.
The mountains in the south were very tall, like a giant black dragon lying across the land on their left, covering a distance of a few kilometers...
The group departed straight to the west. The sun was like the hour hand of a clock, serving as a timer. Its brilliance was red, like the color of blood, scattered across the mountains in the distance, and on the black soil the group was stepping on.
Darkness had already filled the place behind them, as if there was no turning back from this point onward. The smell of rotting flesh and the dead lingered in the air.
The group still remembered when they first set foot onto this land, they were still joking around and laughing, not treating the Undead seriously. However, none of them were speaking along the way now. Their footsteps felt heavier, and their hearts began to race all of a sudden.
"Will the trick that the chief told us actually work?" Wang Tong asked uneasily.
The chief had told the group that the Undead did not rely on their vision to track their prey. Some of the zombies' heads were completely smashed, leaving them with no eyes. However, they could capture the scent of any living thing...
The Undead had extremely bad vision, especially the low-grade ones, but whenever something alive walked past, every Undead within a few hundred meters would be attracted. It was because they were able to capture the scent of the living.
Places filled with the Undead lingered with a deathly aura. Even their breath held the scent of death.
The breath blown out by a living thing was alive. Science said the majority of it consisted of carbon dioxide.
The Undead had bad vision and average hearing, yet due to the scent of death, they could easily smell any living thing within a few hundred meters. The scent of something alive was like a plate of delicacies to them. They could smell it from a great distance away...
The Undead were always starving, and a living thing always needed to breathe. As a result, the Undead nearby would simply follow the 'pleasant aroma' to their next meal.
The only way to avoid the Undead was to deal with the problem of breathing.
Servant-class Undead lacked intelligence, hence as long as a human concealed their breathing or slightly modified it, it was difficult for the Undead to locate them.
As for the Warrior-level Undead, their senses of smell and hearing were a lot stronger, with average vision. Therefore, if they stumbled into a Warrior-level creature, not only would they have to deal with their breathing, they had to be extremely still, too...
"This thing looks just like garlic. I wonder how bad it's going to taste," said one of the soldiers, Bi Lu.
"It's turning dark. Eat it, one each!" ordered Captain Qin Hu.
The group followed the captain's order. They quickly took out something with a shape similar to garlic, but pitch-black in color, out from their bags.
The thing was called Ash Garlic, one of the few crops that would grow in the Land of the Undead.
Its taste was a lot worse than garlic. Once they ate it, the breath they exhaled was extremely foul. However, the locals carried a few with them at all times, as a safety precaution...
Once they ate the Ash Garlic, their breath would turn foul, strong enough to cover their scent. The Undead would simply mistake them as their own kind who forgot to brush their teeth at night, and would not chase after them.
In ancient times, there was a saying that garlic was able to keep devils away. It was most likely because the devils would not want to get close to you after smelling the garlic...
As soon as night fell, everyone ate an Ash Garlic each, and immediately came the sound of retching.
"F**k, it's worse than eating poop!"
"You sound like you've tried poop before."
"It's disgusting… allow me to puke for a while."
Everyone was a soldier in the group, who had eaten all kinds of things when surviving in the wild, yet they all still felt like vomiting after eating the Ash Garlic, showing how bad it tasted!
"Hang in there, if you don't want to die..."
"Captain, please don't face me when you talk."
"Shh, quiet!"
Shi Shaoju suddenly urged the group with an alert look.
Everyone immediately paled and held their breaths.
The ground began to loosen up, like someone trying to crawl out from their grave. They could clearly hear the sound of something knocking on a coffin.
Everyone glanced at one another, before staring at the ground under their feet.
Suddenly, a head covered in worms poked out from the soil!
Its hair was dry, and only half of the scalp remained, exposing a shiny skull, an eerie sight...
The head appeared right beside a Battlemaga, Xiao Jing, her face as pale as a sheet of paper. She subconsciously wanted to draw a Star Pattern to blast the disgusting head away, yet Shi Shaoju quickly grabbed her and stopped her from doing so.
Shi Shaoju had made a wise choice, as a few other heads with half-exposed skulls crawled out from the ground...
In just a few minutes, more zombies rose up from the soil. They were enjoying the 'darkbath' and breathing the dead air. If their eyes looked slightly more alive, they could be mistaken as a pack of creatures coming out to enjoy some fresh air!
The group of eight turned into statues. They could feel their hearts pounding, like they would pop out at any second.
Two zombies had crawled out of the ground close to Zhang Xiaohou, right in front of and behind Wang Tong...
Zhang Xiaohou was so close that he could see the empty hole at the back of the zombie's skull. It was obvious that the person had died when his brain was punctured by something sharp.
He did not dare to move, nor breathe.
However, it was impossible for anyone to not breathe. Even if he could hold his breath for a minute, he would simply die from suffocating if he held it any longer.
Finally, Zhang Xiaohou reached his limit. He started to exhale some air through his nose...
As soon as he exhaled, the zombie in front of him turned around instantly. Its bloodshot eyes were staring right at Zhang Xiaohou, and it raised the rusted saber it was holding, too!
Zhang Xiaohou's heart skipped a beat!
The two zombies were not enough to pose any threat to him. A simple Wind Disc would blast them into the sky...
The problem was, there were at least a hundred zombies around them. If he attacked, the zombies would simply sense the energy from his Magic, and completely surround them!
Zhang Xiaohou did not dare to move, but he was already at his limit. He had no idea if the Ash Garlic was working effectively. No one could possibly stay calm under the circ.u.mstances; surrounded by the Undead, the filthy creatures could easily strip them to the bones in seconds!
Chapter 528 - Why Did You Leave Me?
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
Zhang Xiaohou's face turned blue from holding his breath too long.
He finally exhaled a mouthful, as he would lose consciousness if he did not breathe.
The zombie in front glanced at Zhang Xiaohou confusingly, as if it was completely unaware of the guy that had somehow appeared behind it.
The zombie lowered the rusty saber, and did not attack Zhang Xiaohou.
Meanwhile, the zombie behind Zhang Xiaohou completely ignored him, and continued to roam aimlessly. It would glance into the distance at times, or lower its head, trying to find the arm it lost yesterday.
"Phew~!"
Zhang Xiaohou let out a relieved sigh. The others could feel their legs cramping because of the tension, and they almost fell to the ground.
The trick worked!
Neither the skeletons nor the zombies attacked them. They were simply glancing at the humans who were uttering the foul breath in confusion. However, these Undead did not possess any intelligence. As long as the thing was not alive, it was meaningless to attack them. Maybe they were just stinky?
Captain Qin Hu raised his head without saying a word, signaling the group to continue forward in formation.
The group quickly gathered. They were still alert at the start, afraid that something would go wrong. However, as they walked past the Undead at very close range, the zombies would only groan at them in warning for straying too close, without lunging at them. As such, they began to lower their guard.
"If we knew about this trick all along, why would we still be afraid of the Undead?" Wang Tong seemed elated from the success.
"These Ash Garlics are extremely rare. You might find them on the black market, but there won't be many. The chief has spared us some of their stock they had saved up..." said Shi Shaoju.
"Either way, it's good that we don't have to fight those things. Once we locate the bodies of the scouting squad, we'll go back at once," said Bi Lu.
"It seems like us talking won't attract their attention, either..."
The group realized that it was fine talking in front of the Undead. As long as their breath was covered by the foul scent of the Ash Garlic, the Undead would not notice their presence.
However, everyone began to panic slightly as they continued along the journey across the vast land. Every few steps would lead them to a few more Undead...
The density of the Undead had completely surpassed their estimation. Every one hundred square meters would have one or two Undead roaming around. By that standard, the whole area would be showing as bloody red on the electronic map!
As they proceeded, they suddenly saw a group of several dozens zombies ahead...
The zombies were stacked together like a wall, standing right in the path they were heading in. The zombies slowly dragged their bodies along, uttering unpleasant cries.
Before any living thing captured their attention, the zombies would simply roam around aimlessly, like walking corpses.
"Let's just walk past them. They won't attack us anyway," Wang Tong led the way with a smile.
However, when Wang Tong was less than twenty meters away, the group of zombies suddenly turned around and stared at Wang Tong with bloodshot eyes...
Wang Tong was stunned!
The zombies began to scream and charged in Wang Tong's direction.
As the zombies sprinted across the land, it swept a huge cloud of dust into the air!
"Quick, the Ash Garlic!" yelled Shi Shaoju.
Luckily, Wang Tong reacted fairly quickly. He took out an Ash Garlic and munched it.
The effects worked fairly quickly. Wang Tong was almost knocked out by his own foul breath.
The zombies were right in front of Wang Tong, yet they suddenly lost their target and came to a stop. They simply stared at one another in a foolish manner.
A moment later, the zombies returned to their aimless roaming as if they had forgotten why they were running in the first place.
Wang Tong stood in the middle of the zombies, having almost wet his pants in fear.
As everything returned to normal, Wang Tong finally burst out cursing, "This stinky thing only lasts for such a short time?"
"We don't have a lot of the Ash Garlics, and it seems like they don't last long either. We have to make use of the time," said Shi Shaoju with a frown.
Since the effect of the Ash Garlic ended for Wang Tong, it would be the same for everyone. The others quickly took out an Ash Garlic and ate it...
------
The cold moon hanging high up in the sky shone down, observing the moving dead.
The land was cold but restless, as the Undead who had overslept would rise from the ground and roam aimlessly like a homeless scavenger.
When there was nothing alive for them to feed on, the Undead would pick up stuff or dig things up from the ground. The broken limbs they found would always come in handy. Occasionally, they would dig up a burial pit and found themselves a nutritional habitat. Spend a few years there, and they might even evolve into stronger Undead...
Along the journey, the group had witnessed the vicissitudes of life. They had no idea why these things would even exist in their world.
A tide suddenly erupted ahead, sweeping the black soil into the air, fairly shocking under the moonlight.
The tide was dragging dead bodies, torn clothes, and zombies that happened to be in the area forward.
The whole ground began to vibrate, as an Undead with a body as strong as an ox crawled out from the hole...
The Undead poked out of the soil, revealing sturdy muscles as impenetrable as armor plates.
Its limbs were thick and sturdy. It had four limbs in total, and somehow two of them had were fused with hatchets stained with blood. The other two were like long sabers. It was no different than a meat mincer when it started to swing the weapons!
"It's the Hatchet Corpse General!" blurted out Wang Tong in shock.
"Has it been following us around?"
"Or perhaps we were still inside its territory all along!"
The group of eight subconsciously backed off when they saw it. The Corpse General was the actual reason they almost got wiped out in the first place, and now, the giant creature had appeared once again.
"Don't panic, we've eaten the Ash Garlic, it won't notice us… right, don't move, stay right where you are. The chief has mentioned that the Warrior-level Undead have good hearing, they can tell if we are Undead based on our movements. So don't move, and you'll be fine," said Shi Shaoju.
The group clearly remembered the chief's warning. They turned into statues, staring at the Hatchet Corpse General in astonishment.
Zhang Xiaohou did not move his gaze. He realized that the Undead's head was gone, but as he took a closer look, it did not seem like it was beheaded.
The others were aware that the Hatchet Corpse General looked slightly different than before, but none of them made a noise. God knew if talking would attract the Hatchet Corpse General's attention.
The sound of something digging its way up from its flesh was heard.
An out of proportion head slowly stuck out from the neck of the Corpse General.
Disgusting black hair stained with blood appeared first, clumping on the Corpse General's neck.
A head appeared after, which looked the same as a human's.
Finally...
The head turned one hundred and eighty degrees, revealing a face covered in blood and ichor, but most importantly full of gall and hatred!
"Why...why...why did you leave me!?" its mouth opened, shrieking hateful words.
The group could feel their scalps exploding on seeing this. The head that had popped out from the Hatchet Corpse General's body was the dead Battlemaga, Jia Xi!
Chapter 529 - Dark Abyss, Ten Thousand Corpses Pit, Part One
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
There were two ways for the Undead to evolve. First, using the presence of death to nurture themselves, like the fermentation of alcohol, allowing their strength to grow as time went by.
Second, by merging with and devouring others!
Combining the body parts of dead corpses to their own bodies with brute force would grant them the capabilities of the corpses when they were alive to a certain degree!
The Corpse General had used Jia Xi's head to grant itself a human's vision. Since she had only died recently, her hatred still remained, hence she had come looking for the team as night arrived.
Ash Garlic, staying still, none of them were effective against a Corpse General consumed by strong hatred, as she could still recognize their faces within a day of her death!
"Come...stay with me! I want you all to come stay with me!" the head on the Corpse General screeched at them with terrifying hatred.
The Corpse General had the ability to command the Undead. Following the scream, the zombies within a few hundred meters away obeyed its summon, sharing the same target as the Corpse General!
The zombies too began to scream, their rotten legs that were initially dragged around like puppets suddenly received a strong burst of energy, turning them into the most savage beasts, which charged toward the humans and surrounded them...
Countless black figures were running at them. The density of the Undead in the area was high to begin with. The entire place trembled as the summoning took place. The Undead had gone totally mad. The eight soldiers that were hiding in the middle of the Undead suddenly became the freshest meat available!
"Run, quick!" yelled Qin Hu.
There was more Undead around them than previously, including a Corpse General driven by hatred. They had no chance of fighting them whatsoever...
The eight soldiers quickly fled into the distance, casting Magic continuously as they ran, summoning wild fiery fists and erupting tornadoes. Despite the bodies scattering in the air together with the splatter of blood and liquid, the zombies were still chasing them relentlessly!
"AHHHH~!"
As the group was running, no one had time to look after Lu Hongjing, whose legs no longer had any flesh.
Lu Hongjing was a Water Magician. He barely had a Water Barrier protecting him from the Undead...
However, there were simply too many crashing onto him, like rugby players stacking on top of one another as they fought for the ball. More zombies desperately tried to squeeze themselves between the gaps.
Lu Hongjing's cries were completely blocked off. The group could only see a pile of zombies where he was. They saw parts of his flesh being thrown out from the pile, which were immediately taken away by the zombies nearby. Not a single drop of blood was left, as the zombies even fell to their knees to suck it all up.
