Chapter 138: Xiaohou in danger
Prior to Mo Fan arriving Xiaohou and Mo Fan had a chat and he was tellling Xiaohou about the cultivation tools he was goning to bring but somehow the Black Vatican appeared and began their operation even sooner.
“Hello, Brother Fan...”
“You’re asking about Boss Zhan Kong? I don’t know either, I had completely forgotten about him if you hadn’t mentioned him. I haven’t heard from him for a long time!”
“I’m in the middle of a mission, so I won’t be able to contact him for some time, but I heard that he went missing after returning to Bo City with the Darkwing Wolf’s head.”
“Alright, I’ll call you immediately if I hear anything from him, but I will be on a mission for some time, I don’t know when I’ll be back at headquarters.”
“How’s the Flame Belle doing?”
“I’m fine, I’m the best at running in the whole team. How could I possibly not outrun my enemy if I can’t beat them in a fight? We’re all soldiers, so none of us will desert the others. Those who manage to make it back safely will report on the situation back to headquarters. Even if the others are dead, I’ll still be fine.”
Zhang Xiaohou was talking to Mo Fan with his earpiece. They had not arrived at the area around Xianchi yet, thus they were not required to stay on high alert.
After hanging up on the call, Wang Tong glanced at him with a gloomy look and blurted out unpleasantly, “Who were you cursing to be dead? I can guarantee that if someone’s going to lose their life on this mission, it will be you for sure!”
“Hehe, I was just using it as an example,” said Zhang Xiaohou, scratching his head.
“You can’t even use it as an example... who’s the guy on the phone, I heard you call him brother. Didn’t you say you’re an only child?” Wang Tong continued on with the conversation in boredom.
“We grew up on the same street. He’s just like my brother, looking after me since I was little, even now,” said Zhang Xiaohou.
“You’re a soldier, talented among the Intermediate Magicians. Why do you sound like you’re still a kid, being looked after?” said Wang Tong.
“He’s a lot stronger than me.”
“Alright, alright, we’ve got plenty of those talented maniacs in the army, yet none of them were able to clean up these filthy things...”
——
The nine-man team gradually made their way toward Xianchi.
Xianchi was merely the name of a place where there were rarely any plants on the surface. The soil was soft, and usually covered in thin white sand...
The white sand was in fact the dust from corpses that had undergone long exposure to the sun and wind. It looked exactly the same as salt sprinkled over the ground. The locals did not call it salt literally, but referred to the place as the salty land.
Xianchi was the land between the Qinling Mountains and Xi’an Territory. Since the place was slightly sunken, it looked like a pond on the map, hence it was called Xianchi (Salty Pond).
A lengthy safe zone was constructed along the northeast border of Xianchi. Usually, the safe zone mostly consisted of boundaries set up with fortresses, depots, watchtowers, and supply stations, with cooperation between the army, Hunters, and Magic Association guarding the boundary.
However, the demon beasts in the vicinity of the Ancient Capital were fairly different, so the safe zone of the Ancient Capital was not very stable, only consisting of a long wall around the boundary area.
The wall, constructed by Earth Magicians, served as a layer of defense. As the walls were moved around quite often according to the activity of the undead, some of the villages that were initially within the safe zone would suddenly be excluded from it at times.
If a village was located along the coastline in the south or north, it was extremely dangerous to be outside of the safe zone. The village would be trampled to ashes within a few years, leaving not a single survivor behind.
Meanwhile, the villages located on the edge around the Ancient Capital had their unique methods of avoiding the undead. Hence, there were still villages outside of the safe zone... quite a lot of them, actually. These villages were commonly referred to as the Villages of Miracles by the Magic Associations in other countries, since the villagers were utterly fearless, living outside of the safe zone!
—
“Our first destination is here, the Sunny Goat Village. It’s located around the foothills of the Qinling Mountains, with around thirty villagers.” Captain Qin Hu had come down from the sky holding a seemingly new map in his hand.
It was extremely important to get their hands on the latest maps if possible, as only the new maps contained information about the recent changes to the landscape in the area. As for old maps... eleven out of ten would result in a trap!
“The name of the village sounds quite cheerful,” said the ‘naughty kid’ in the team, Lu Hongjing.
“Enough with the nonsense,” Qin Hu straightened his face, not giving the others a chance to express their comments.
“The Sunny Goat Village is around four kilometers away from here. The sun is setting soon; shouldn’t we think of a plan?” proposed the female Battlemage in the team, Shi Shaoju.
“Let’s go straight to the village. I don’t think it’s that complicated. Are you telling me we can’t handle a bunch of weaklings? We’ll just kill every single one of them when they appear!” said Lu Hongjing.
“Don’t be naive! Did you forget that this place has already been inspected before, it’s categorized as an orange zone!” Qin Hu was obviously a cautious leader, and immediately spoke up sternly when he saw his team dropping their guard.
“It’s just orange zone, I spent lots of time roaming the red zones...” interrupted Wang Tong.
The people of the Hunter Union were in charge of discovering the distribution of the demon beasts in the area, and tagged the areas with different colors to represent the density of demon beasts.
The higher the density of demon beasts in the area, the stronger the color used to tag it. The colors started from white to orange, then red, and finally black, correlating to the color of alerts.
Green was used to tag the areas in a safe zone.
White meant there were only a few demon beasts roaming in the area.
An orange zone implied that there were packs of demon beasts residing in the area, so it belonged to a dangerous zone. Only experienced Hunters, special squads and powerful Magicians were allowed to enter the area.
Red, or simply a blood-colored zone, represented death. It was extremely easy to be flanked by packs of demon beasts, as the number of demon beasts in the area was like a surging tide.
There was still purple between red and black. A red zone referred to a kingdom of demon beasts. Even Super Magicians had no chance of making it back alive from a purple zone.
As for a black zone, any life form was forbidden within it. No one had ever gone to a black zone before, and it seemed like even the demon beasts did not dare to enter one, either.
Green, white, orange, red, purple, black. There were six colors in total, and the last four correlated to the four types of alerts.
The red alert that Bo City was placed under was the second level alert for a city.
The Ancient Capital was located near the Kingdom of Undead, hence it was the city with the most alerts raised in the entire country. The alert was so common to the residents of the city that it was simply treated as an alarm to wake them up every morning. Those who were drinking tea continued to enjoy their tea, those gossiping continued to gossip, and those who were responsible for protecting the city made their way to the battlefield!
That being said, due to the unique traits of the region, when the sun was high up in the sky, the electronic map only displayed green and white zones, and occasionally an orange zone when the beasts from Qinling Mountains got lost and trespassed into the zone...
However, as soon as the sun set into the horizon, when the light protecting the land was withdrawn, all the zones across the map, apart from the safe zone of the Ancient Capital, were turned entirely red!
Once night fell, humans no longer reigned across the land...
——
Currently, the special team from Lintong headquarters was outside of the safe zone. The final glimpse of sunlight had disappeared, leaving the scent of death lingering in the air nearby...
A strange noise was heard coming from under the white-covered ground. It sounded like someone munching on something, or something beating...
Zhang Xiaohou was the first person to step into the Land of the Undead. He was extremely nervous, his alert scanning his surroundings...
All of a sudden, pairs of dried, rotten, arms poked out from the ground and began to wave and grab wildly in the air less than five meters away from him!
“My leg, my leg!” someone began to scream suddenly. The cry of agony echoed in the darkness which had just descended upon the place.
Zhang Xiaohou turned around and discovered Lu Hongjing standing right on top of a pile of rotten arms, which were holding tightly onto his legs. The hands grabbing onto Lu Hongjing’s feet were as strong as steel, totally impairing his movement.
The rotten hands and claws were scratching and tearing at Lu Hongjing’s legs. One of the corpses that was seriously starving sprang out from the ground and stuck its head onto Lu Hongjing’s hamstring and bit it...
The group was unable to react in time. When they finally realized they should be saving the poor lad, all that remained under Lu Hongjing’s knees were bloody white bones. He was falling backward in extreme pain!
“Don’t fall!” yelled the captain Qin Hu.
Once Lu Hongjing fell to the ground, he would turn into a pile of bones. The bites and scratches of the corpses were faster than a school of piranhas!
“Earth Wave!”
Zhang Xiaohou was the first to react. He quickly cast the Spell.
He manipulated the soil in the area and utilized the second characteristic of the Flowing Mud to turn the soft soil into solid rock.
The Flowing Mud was able to turn soil into swamp or quicksand to entrap his targets and impair their movement. When reversed, it was able to harden the soil into rocks, too! Zhang Xiaohou forcibly turned the ground Lu Hongjing was standing on into solid rocks, trapping the claws of the corpses and stopping them from moving freely!
His Earth Seed was extremely effective in a situation like this. The claws stopped attacking Lu Hongjing and started smashing the suddenly-solid soil instead. Lu Hongjing finally hit his limit and fell to the ground. Luckily, he was lying on the hardened soil. Otherwise, he would have instantly lost his life!
“Save him,” said Qin Hu ordered Wang Tong.
Wang Tong was stunned for a second, before he quickly dashing toward Lu Hongjing.
The bones below Lu Hongjing’s knees no longer had any flesh. Wang Tong straightaway carried him back to the team...
The cries of the undead, which sounded like their mouths were filled with soil, rose once again as their eerie heads poked out from the ground. Their bloodshot eyes were glaring at the nine living humans. The scent of blood had driven them berserk, and they could not wait to break out from the ground and enjoy their meal.
The buried undead mostly looked like humans. The Ancient Capital had gone through lots of dynasties and huge wars between humans and demon beasts. The number of humans who died here significantly surpassed that of demon beasts. With all the deaths in the area, the ground was no longer made of ordinary soil, but filled with a deathly aura that nurtured the dead. Once the sun disappeared, the undead would poke out from the ground like the shoots of fertilized plants. Even if they were destroyed, they would rise again after the next season arrived!
Due to some unknown curse that the land was under, both the demon beasts and the humans that died here would resemble humans after they turned into the undead...
Even though they had bones of the demon beasts, the bones would somehow be structured into a weird-looking skeleton giant. Their head was still the same head of the demon beast that was half-rotting under the ground, but their bones would be rearranged into the shape of a human.
Some looked like a beast with a rotten body and four limbs standing on the ground, yet the head was a rotting human head...
Either way, the undead would do all they could to assemble their dead body parts into a human figure, be it half-human, half-beast, or the combination of a few dead bodies, or a giant human corpse made purely from the bones of demon beasts!
The undead that the group of nine had bumped into so far all had the appearance of humans. It was most likely due to the villagers that had died here lately, the nutrients in the ground had stacked up, so as soon as their new bodies were constructed, they immediately burst out from the ground and attacked their prey.
“Kid, nice reaction speed, you managed to save this overconfident guy!” Qin Hu said to Zhang Xiaohou.
Zhang Xiaohou forced a smile on his face. It was all possible because of the Earth Seed he acquired at Xizhao Valley, the Flowing Mud. Zhang Xiaohou was able to suppress anything coming out from the ground with it.
“Let’s move forward. We’ll be safer once we reached the Sunny Goat Village. These things took us by surprise by showing up before the place was completely dark. Perhaps the thick aura of death has blocked off the remaining sunlight,” said the female Battlemage, Shi Shaoju.
The team did not have a Healer, hence the others could only wrap his legs up to stop the bleeding.
Lu Hongjing lost a significant amount of blood, so it was important to treat his wounds as soon as possible. The serums they had brought with them could merely help him last a little longer. If they dragged the time out, not only would Lu Hongjing die due to excessive loss of blood, he would simply be killed by the poison from the undead!
“I’ll lead the way!” volunteered Zhang Xiaohou bravely.
“Alright, your Soul Seed is able to slow them down when they try to come out from the ground.”
“Holy crap, lots of undead are heading toward us...”
“Why are they so many? Even a red zone would not have this many undead when night has just arrived.”
“It’s most likely that lots of people died nearby recently.”
The team took some time to prepare themselves. Although the ambush had taken them by surprise, everyone quickly calmed down and started drawing various Star Patterns under their feet. The energies of the Ice, Fire, Lightning, and Wind Elements lunged at the filthy creatures and utterly destroyed them!
“Forest of Kun!”
The female Battlemage Shi Shaoju was a Plant Magician. As the path ahead was blocked by a pack of a dozen walking corpses, Shi Shaoju quickly cast the Intermediate Plant Spell to entrap them.
The branches from the Forest of Kun immediately wrapped around the undead and formed a thick cage. The undead had a limited level of intelligence. They simply tried to bite anything that they came across, resulting in a weird scene similar to the game Plant versus Zombies, where the zombies were biting through the wall-nuts...
The only difference was, the zombies were not as lost and adorable as those in the game. The appearance of the savage creatures was, well, ghastly. They would simply chew any person nearby into bones, something that Lu Hongjing had already experienced first-hand!
“Let’s go, it’s impossible to kill them all!” yelled Shi Shaoju when she saw the team was still trying to eliminate the creatures.
The team quickly withdrew their Spells and followed behind Zhang Xiaohou.
As Zhang Xiaohou led the way, the soil of the area he walked on would simply harden instantly, preventing someone from being dragged into the soil again.
It was still four kilometers away from the village. They should be able to arrive safely if they moved at full speed.
The villagers had their ways of avoiding contact with the undead. Once they arrived at the village, they would be able to escape being surrounded by the creatures.
“Magic Vine: Entangle!”
Shi Shaoju’s hands were agile as she waved them around; flexible vines were summoned instantly around her, turning into sturdy ropes entangling the legs of the giant creature before her!
They were nowhere near the village, and the Zombies had managed to surround them. Now, the squad of nine was fighting for their lives!
The enormous creature leading the Zombies had a body similar to a giant ox. The rotten flesh on its body was falling to the ground, from which wriggling worms burst out. Plague-bearing worms crawled toward the soldiers.
The Magic Vines had trapped the creature’s legs, but its hatchet-like arms hacked down wildly. The impact almost broke the ground open!
Brown Rock Barriers were established around the soldiers in an arc to protect them, but the situation did not look favorable. Lots of undead were breaking their way through the barrier to reach their prey on the other side!
Their sharp claws were able to slice through the stone like it was mud. They almost broke through the Rock Barrier. The rotting corpses had no sense of pain; some even slammed their skulls into the Rock Barrier, resulting in their heads falling apart and their brains splattering everywhere. However, their claws continued to dig through the stone!
Zhang Xiaohou’s forehead was covered in sweat. He had encountered many kinds of demon beasts before, savage, cunning, and cold-blooded, but this was his first time encountering a demented horde like these walking corpses.
The corpses had no sense of pain, no consciousness, no fear. They were merely chasing and tearing apart any living things nearby. Their only weakness was sunlight, but the day had fallen dark a few moments ago. By the time the sunlight came, their group would have turned into more undead...
“What should we do? Once these things break through our defense, we’ll simply be slaughtered by that giant corpse!” yelled Wang Tong.
Similar to demon beasts, the Undead were also categorized into Servant-class, Warrior-level, Commander-level, and Ruler-level...
The Undead attacking them were only the common Zombie Undead. They were most likely dead for less than ten years. Their buried bodies had not fully rotted yet.
The rank of the Zombie Undead was the lowest, the Servant-class, yet their numbers were overwhelming. They always attacked their prey in groups, so it was extremely dangerous to stumble into them in the wild.
Within the groups of Zombies, those that were buried longer and had absorbed more essence of death would evolve into generals among the walking corpses.
The huge creature with a body of a strong ox, a tiny head and limbs like hatchets was an infamous Corpse General. It was categorized as a Warrior-level creature, yet it was definitely stronger than an ordinary Warrior-level demon beast.
Normally, it was possible to inflict damage on demon beasts. When their legs were attacked, it would affect their speed and movement. If their limbs were attacked, it would weaken their attack. If their critical parts were damaged, their body would become weak and force them to retreat.
However, there was no such thing as being injured for these corpses. Even when destructive Spells penetrated their abdomens or blasted their limbs apart, they were still mobile as long as there was still energy in the body parts. Even a broken arm on the ground would still rise on its own and grab onto its prey.
A Corpse General was able to take on three Warrior-level demon beasts because of this!
Most importantly, this particular one they had stumbled into turned out to be a superior Corpse General, which had been nurtured in this land for more than ten years!
Trying to fight against it was no different than asking for death. Even if they managed to kill the Corpse General by teaming up, they would still be bitten to death by the horde of hundreds of Zombies surrounding them.
They had no choice but to run... there was slightly over a kilometer left until they reached Sunny Goat Village. They were able to see the wooden fences around the village once they crossed the little hill before them. They had to escape from these filthy creatures.
“Sink, you bastards!”
“Flowing Mud: Earth Wave!”
Zhang Xiaohou’s hands glowed brown. He channeled the Spell for quite some time, stacking up a few Earth Spells on top of one another, before slamming the energy into the ground!
The nine of them were all in the same area. Everywhere apart from the ground they were standing on suddenly became slimy. They could easily tell that the soft soil had turned into mud, and some even had the shape of a whirlpool...
Anything standing on mud would naturally sink, and together with the spinning and sinking motion, it was similar to quicksand; a huge number of Zombies were now half-sunken into the ground!
When Zhang Xiaohou had arrived at the Ancient Capital, he immediately sold the diamond he found at the Burning Valley and bought himself an Earth Element Magic Tool. It allowed him to stack up his Basic Earth Spell to a certain degree before releasing it, multiplying the effects of Earth Wave!
Although it would take a longer time to channel, it was more effective than casting the same spell many times!
The Earth Wave cast with the Earth Seed Flowing Mud had a shocking outcome. As lots of the Zombies sank into the mud, Zhang Xiaohou immediately hardened the ground to stop them from coming back up!
In the end, the Zombies were stuck in the ground with half their bodies on the surface and half below. They could neither rise to the surface nor sink into the ground!
The group was overjoyed. As they were about to give some compliments, Shi Shaoju screamed, “Run, quick!”
The Corpse General had already broken through the last line of defense. Due to its enormous size, the muck produced by the Flowing Mud Seed could barely cover its ankles. Even when the mud turned as hard as concrete, it was nowhere enough to hinder its movement!
Blood splattered as its hatchets swung wildly. It was impossible to tell who was injured in the midst of the chaos. They could only take hold of the chance to run down the hill.
The furious roar of the Hatchet Corpse General rose behind them. The soldiers felt a chill running down their spines as they felt the gust of it sweeping across their back!
However, no one dared to turn around; they could only run with all their might. Under the icy brilliance of the moon, they could vaguely see black shadows charging in their direction while uttering hungry cries!
Unlike the slow-moving Zombies in the movies, both the Corpse General and the Zombies were extremely fast while their legs were still intact. A Magician running at full speed would still be easily caught by them without relying on movement Spells or Boots Equipment...
In addition to that, their jumping ability was shocking. They could easily leap over ten meters, even the Servant-class Zombies. As such, the Undeads chasing after the group were not slowly dragging their legs, but sprinting and leaping like wild beasts!
“AHHHHHH!”
A painful screech came from behind. It seemed like someone was caught by the Undead, resulting in a cry for help.
“Forget them! If not, our whole squad will be wiped out!” ordered captain Qin Hu mercilessly.
The group did not dare to turn around. They could only hope that the one caught was not a friend.
“She’s not dead yet!” Zhang Xiaohou turned around and saw the person to be the other Battlemaga in their group, Jia Xi!
The Battlemaga Jia Xi was entangled by the long tongue of the Corpse General. She was an Ice Magician, hence she barely sealed off the Corpse General’s movement with Ice Lock. Otherwise, the Corpse General would simply have swallowed her with one bite!