Versatile Mage c1-2021, page 248
The stronger the presence of death, the greater the number of undead that would appear. Without needing food, the undead could only rely on the presence of death to evolve further. It was the same with demon beasts who needed to become stronger.
The villagers were in good shape physically. The group made significant progress during the day.
It was safe during the day, hence everyone was rather relaxed during the journey. However, after three in the afternoon, an uneasy feeling began to loom over the group, which continued to grow stronger as time passed.
None of the villagers could tell if they were still under the protection of the God of the Well. They had no idea if Zhang Xiaohou's friend was reliable, either.
"Let's take this route. We don't have to pass by Sunny Goat Village," said Chief Xie Sang to Mo Fan.
"Is it quicker this way?" Mo Fan glanced at the map and saw that by taking a straight route, they would still pass by Sunny Goat Village.
"That route is passing through a pulsating terrain. It might look shorter on the map, but it's going to take a longer time. Trust me, I know this place better," replied the chief.
Mo Fan nodded and followed Chief Xie Sang's guidance.
---
The day gradually turned dark. The villagers obviously trusted Chief Xie Sang and Hong Jun more. They walking closer to the two. It would not be surprising if they ended up hugging them tightly.
Su Xiaoluo was surrounded by a few people, too. The girl was quite reputable in the village. Some of them subconsciously followed her around. Most importantly, the retarded man whom Su Xiaoluo had saved was incredibly strong. He had simply wiped out the zombies that had invaded the village with two Wind Spells!
"Liu Ru, look after the kids at the back," said Mo Fan.
Liu Ru nodded and said, "Take care of yourself."
"We'll check the situation out. We have Ash Garlic, and the villagers are under the protection of their god. If the undead doesn't attack us, we'll just walk past them."
"Acknowledged."
The route that the chief had selected was indeed a lot smoother.
As the night inevitably arrived, the starving cries of undead came from all directions.
"Err, Brother Mo Fan, if the undead does attack us, we won't be able to protect so many people," Shorty came up to Mo Fan and whispered.
Mo Fan was well aware of it too. He was merely hoping that the villagers were still protected by their god.
"It feels like… they are not focusing on us," Shorty glanced at the undead who had woken up the earliest.
"Mm," Mo Fan held his breath.
The group proceeded. Normally, the presence of such a large group would surely attract the undead, yet even when the group had traveled a kilometer, the undead still did not show any reactions. It clearly implied that both Ash Garlic and the protection were still effective.
When the villagers saw the undead were ignoring them like usual, they immediately let out a relieved sigh. Their pace became more relaxed. Otherwise, it felt like each of their steps was walking on nails.
"Strange... if we are still protected, why would the zombies invade our village?" Su Xiaoluo was utterly confused.
"This means those zombies were mutated. It feels like it's meaningless for us to move away from the village now," admitted Hong Jun.
Hong Jun would follow Su Xiaoluo wherever she went, as if the guy had completely forgotten that he had fled for his life on his own when they were in danger before. Su Xiaoluo never had a good impression of him, and now, his existence alone was annoying to her.
"That's enough. Either way, we'll be safe when we reach the Ancient Capital," Chief Xie Sang was determined to move away.
Mo Fan glanced at Chief Xie Sang. He somehow felt that the chief was hiding something. After all, the chief of a village would usually obey the rules of the village strictly...
------
The group was unharmed throughout the night. As everyone was relieved that the undead did not attack them during the night, they were even more confused about why their village was attacked.
The night did not pose any threat, and the clouds had cleared away the next day. After a brief rest, the group continued their journey to the Ancient Capital.
"Brother Mo Fan, what do you say?" Shorty nudged Mo Fan and whispered.
"How would I know, I'm not familiar with this place," Mo Fan glanced at Shorty, who seemed to have something to say. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Have you noticed something?"
"Hehe, to be honest, I do know something, and it's from before I met Fang Youmiao..."
Chapter 567 - Ambushed in the Day
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
"Just say it!" said Mo Fan in an unpleasant tone.
"Do you remember the cave we used to hide from the rain?" Shorty purposely glanced at the villagers and asked after knowing that they were all at the back.
"Yeah, the one that you found when you're hunting a Blood Beast, what's wrong?"
"After killing the Blood Beast, we decided to rest up at Sunny Goat Village. However, we stumbled into a scouting team on the way there who had just left Sunny Goat Village. They gave us some replenishment, so we returned to Ancient Capital straightaway using this path. Not long after we returned to the Ancient Capital, we heard that the scouting team went missing..." Shorty lowered his voice, as if he did not want anyone to hear him. He was at ease when he realized that only the guy who had lost his memory was close to Mo Fan.
"Mm, it's most likely that they were killed by the undead in the wild. My brother's squad was ambushed by the undead along their journey too," Mo Fan glanced at Zhang Xiaohou beside him.
"Mm, I assumed so too, but do you know what the scouting team told us when they bumped into us?" Shorty wore an evil smile.
"What did they say?" asked Mo Fan.
"They told us Sunny Goat Village is completely empty. They told us there's no point in going there," said Shorty.
Mo Fan was utterly confused.
However, Zhang Xiaohou, who was also listening to the whispers between the two, shuddered violently as his blank eyes widened!
"Don't you think it's strange? The chief is also avoiding the path to Sunny Goat Village. It's obvious that the chief doesn't want us to go there," added Shorty.
Mo Fan glanced at Xie Sang and fell into deep thoughts.
---
The group continued on with the journey. Everyone was still unharmed during the second night.
They were fairly close to Ancient Capital after the second night. They would arrive close to the Ancient Capital today.
"It's daytime, we'll move on once everyone is ready. We should arrive at the Ancient Capital before night time," yelled Hong Jun, waking everyone up.
"Hong Jun, you spent a few years learning Magic outside of the village. Are you able to find places for us to live once we arrive in the Ancient Capital?" asked a woman.
"Don't worry, don't worry!" Hong Jun patted his c.h.e.s.t, implying that he would handle everything.
"Sigh, feels like we're safe now. I thought we were abandoned by the God of the Well."
"Gouzi, look at how you've scared everyone, humph!"
The villagers felt more at ease, each wearing a faint smile on their face.
The group had stayed safe for two nights straight, and their journey would come to an end after today. Their lives were no longer in danger.
Since it was daytime, everyone was more scattered across the place. Mo Fan remained at the front of the group...
Shorty never stopped talking. The guy came up to Mo Fan to boast about his achievements. Mo Fan snorted disdainfully at Shorty and simply boasted about his achievements in Bo City...
"So you're from Bo City! I do know a few friends from there," exclaimed Shorty, surprised.
"How do you know people from Bo City?" Mo Fan was confused.
"Oh, I talked to them a lot. They were brought here to stay in the Ancient Capital after the calamity. They were told to live in the outskirts in the past, but a rich young man called Mu Bai bought a street to sell Magic Ores, so the refugees from Bo City ended up working for him," said Shorty.
Mo Fan was startled, but then recalled the arrangements made after the calamity.
The refugees of Bo City were arranged in batches. The first batch was allocated to the outskirts of Shanghai, while the second batch was sent to the Ancient Capital. Mo Fan chose Shanghai, and he was arranged to stay at the edge of the city as he hoped for. Now that Shorty had mentioned it, he immediately recalled that the other batch was sent here to the Ancient Capital!
It was rare to bump into people from his hometown. He would have to pay them a visit soon...
"I would also sell Magic Ores to their stores sometimes..." said Shorty.
"AHHHH~!" Suddenly, a cry of agony came from behind them!
The scream was distorted due to great pain. The sudden sound simply gave the entire group a great scare.
Shorty instantly stopped talking, while Mo Fan quickly turned around and saw blood mist spraying in the sky, followed by the villagers screaming and fleeing in a panic!
"Undead, it's the undead!"
"My uncle is being dragged away, dead, he's dead!"
"AH~!"
Another terrifying screech appeared. A woman who was running away in fear fell to the ground after tripping. A long claw burst out from the loose ground. Its incredible force instantly penetrated the woman's body, leaving those who witnessed it with an uneasy feeling in their stomachs!
"There's one here!"
"Help me! Help!"
"Don't panic, everyone stay calm..."
The villagers who ran the furthest were the easiest prey for the undead. Mo Fan quickly scanned the place and saw the undead that were assumed to be nocturnal climbing out from the ground and attacking the fleeing villagers.
It had only been a few seconds, yet the whole place had blood splattering everywhere!
"Holy crap, these undead are insane, killing people in the day!" screamed Shorty.
"Head to the side; Liu Ru, protect the kids, don't let them run away in panic," yelled Mo Fan.
More undead were appearing from the ground. The protection the villagers were under was completely useless. As a matter of fact, the undead were only targeting the villagers.
Normally, the undead would feed on their targets after entrapping them. The zombies in the surroundings would simply stack on top of another following the scent of fresh blood. However, the undead that were attacking them were not feeding instead. They continued to hunt the next target down. It was a bloody massacre!
"Lightning Strike!"
"Swift Star Wolf!"
"Giant Shadow Spike!"
Mo Fan was furious when he saw the villagers being murdered. He was not in the mood to preserve his strength. He simply used every move he could.
However, the villagers had already lost their minds and were running in all directions.
Even Mo Fan was unable to save everyone under such circ.u.mstances. He could only watch them being torn into pieces by the zombies.
"Houzi, Rock..."
"Rock Barrier!"
Mo Fan was just about to tell Zhang Xiaohou to cast the Spell, but it seemed like the amnesia did not take away his rationality. He followed his instincts and cast the Intermediate Earth Spell.
Two consecutive Rock Barriers quickly formed walls around the group, stopping the villagers from running too far away while blocking the zombies from coming in.
Mo Fan jumped onto the barrier and screamed at Liu Ru who was still outside the walls, "Liu Ru, gather all the kids inside the barrier. Zhang Xiaohou has strengthened the ground in this area. There won't be any undead coming out!"
Chapter 568 - The Undead Kid
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
It had all happened so quick. Everyone was taken by surprise.
Who would have thought that the undead that would only appear at night would ambush them in the day, and seemed extremely keen to murder them.
After Mo Fan finally managed to get the situation under control, half of the villagers had died.
Mo Fan had started killing the zombies as soon as the ambush took place. If the villagers had not run in all directions and stayed together, the only casualties would have been the ones that were attacked first. Mo Fan could simply blast most of the zombies coming out from the ground with a single Spell.
Unfortunately, despite warning the villagers not to panic when anything happened, they had totally forgotten about it. Their instinct to run simply lead them to dead ends.
Zhang Xiaohou's Rock Barrier was fairly effective. He had somehow set up a wall surrounding the group in a circle. The villagers would be safe as long as they stayed inside the circle, as the undead would have to climb a wall that was around seven to eight meters high!
The chief and Shorty stood on top of the wall to prevent the undead from making it to the top. The zombies' jumping ability was only average, but their claws were very sharp, allowing them to climb the wall quickly. The two were responsible for killing the zombies that were climbing the wall.
Zhang Xiaohou was inside the circle. Apart from maintaining the Rock Barrier, he was also keeping an eye out for any zombie trying to enter the circle.
Mo Fan and Liu Ru were outside of the wall. Several villagers were still running wildly in the open. They were trying to save them.
Not far away, Liu Ru was lifting the villager called Gouzi up as if she were picking up a little chick. The villager did seem like he was given quite a nice name, since dogs were tough to kill. A few other zombies were chasing after another middle-aged villager, yet none of them seemed to be interested with that guy after Liu Ru came to rescue him.
{TL Note: The name 'Gouzi' here means dog.}
"Help...help me!" a young kid screamed. His legs were torn apart by a zombie. The deep wound had reached his bones.
Grabbing Gouzi with a hand, Liu Ru leapt forward and glided in the air before landing right before the kid.
Liu Ru let go of Gouzi. She clenched her hands into claws and swept sideways. Ten crimson flickers like blood-colored slickers slashed at the three zombies that were running toward them.
The three zombies were slashed into several sections by the blood-colored sickles. Their bodies stiffened and fell beside Liu Ru.
"Kid, stay behind me," Liu Ru helped the kid to his feet.
At that instant, Gouzi glanced at the young man and immediately had a weird expression.
He pointed his trembling finger at the kid who Liu Ru was helping and yelled, "He...he's not from our village!"
However, it was too late when Gouzi screamed. As soon as Liu Ru went over to help the kid, an eerie grin appeared on his pale face. He reached the hand he was hiding with his body forward, which only had white bones left...
The hand with only white bones was sharp as a dagger, stabbing fiercely at Liu Ru's heart!
An icy flicker flashed across the air. Liu Ru was so close to the young kid. There was no way she could react in time. The kid's hand went right into Liu Ru's c.h.e.s.t through her heart.
Liu Ru's face was filled with disbelief.
She did not expect the kid to be an undead too, and one that possessed such a vicious mind!
The kid was a different kind of undead compared to the zombies.
"That's what you get for being a busybody, now die," the undead kid burst out laughing. He pulled his hand out from Liu Ru's c.h.e.s.t and was about to enjoy her fresh blood...
However, as he withdrew the hand toward him, he was shocked to discover that the hand did not have a single drop of blood on it.
The kid was stunned. He could not understand; why was there no sign of blood on his hand after he had stabbed the woman's heart with it/ He was not moving his hand that quickly.
"Knowing how to trick someone at your age, with such a vicious manner," Liu Ru stared at the undead kid without showing any sign of pain. Her eyes were displaying a hint of disappointment instead.
"How...how is this possible!" the undead kid screamed as if he had just seen a ghost.
"Sister will now send you to reincarnation. Stop trying to hurt people," Liu Ru smiled, completely displaying the natural charm of the Blood Tribe.
The stab into Liu Ru's heart did not hinder her movement. She simply grabbed the undead kid by his throat and suddenly applied great force.
The undead kid was still experiencing great fear when his neck was snapped by Liu Ru. His head slanted sideways with the same terrified expression...
Liu Ru's smile did not disappear when she glanced at the undead kid who died after his neck was snapped.
"Stop teasing me; I've never seen an undead that would die after breaking their neck..." Liu Ru's eyes curved into crescents when she saw the undead kid pretending to be dead.
Saying this, Liu Ru slowly moved her hand to the undead kid's skull, as if she were going to fondle his head gently.
"No, no!" the undead kid pleaded horrifyingly when he realized Liu Ru's intention.
Liu Ru did not show any mercy. Her index finger turned into a long claw, which extended and penetrated the undead kid's head from above...
The undead had something like a crystal that allowed them to move, similar to a human's heart. As long as the crystal was not destroyed, the undead would not die...
Liu Ru soon discovered the Undead Crystal in the undead kid's brain. She simply crushed the crystal with her claw and sent the living dead to the underworld!
The crystal was pierced by the claw, leaving the undead kid crying in agony.
Black gas immediately came out from the holes on his face, as if it had drawn all the energy from his body. The undead kid turned into a dried corpse within a few seconds.
After confirming that the undead kid was dead, Liu Ru rose to her feet and fell into deep thought.
She did not understand. The undead she had encountered before were all zombies and skeletons. Why would a living dead appear out of nowhere...
"Follow me, don't run away on your own," Liu Ru said to Gouzi, who was standing behind him.
