City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 103: Fighting Undead

The undead zombie is only twenty meters away from me. Seeing that, I took a deep breath and adjusted my position.
 
I do not have a weapon, but I could fight unarmed. 
 
Instructor David had made sure of that, but most of his training was aimed at fighting unarmed against the humans and orcs, but the undead are a different thing.
 
Unlike humans and orcs, they do not feel pain and their bodies do not have the same limitations as we do.
 
Though not everything is bad. 
 
I will be fighting a dumb undead, which is the biggest advantage I have against it.
 
My first purpose would take that sword from its hands. I need it. It is the only way I could kill it. My hands and feet are not enough to decapitate or crush its skull.
 
Gaaaa!
 
It appeared in front of me and attacked with its sword while making a strange noise from its salivating mouth. 
 
The attack is fast; faster than I had thought it would be. Thankfully, it only possesses the raw power and speed; there is no technique or skill involved in it.
 
I immediately dodged the attack using Quick Steps, but it was barely by an inch; it was too close for my comfort. 
 
The tiniest injury could spell doom here. The death energy slows down the healing and gives a way for death energy to seep inside the body.
 
As I dodged the attack, the undead attacked again, with a strange noise coming from its mouth.
 
This time, I was more prepared and able to dodge, with a healthy distance, but it had come at me again, and again.
 
I did not immediately go for the sword. I wanted to get used to its power and know how to it fight.
 
In just a few seconds, I come to know that the undead, or the person he was before, had barely any knowledge of fighting. As the instinct remains, even when they turn undead, it is why the death practitioners love warriors so much.
 
They would take warriors of lower attributes than normal people three times the number.
 
As even after turning undead, the warrior fights with instincts that are imprinted in every muscle through years of practice.
 
It did not surprise me. The man’s physique, his clothes, and especially that sword. All are an indication that he was a wealthy person; that sword is just for the show.
 
It is a dress sword for christ’s sake. 
 
The zombie kept attacking me, and I dodged all its attacks with my skill.
 
The undead are utterly unskillful, but it is powerful. It might be due to the man's high attribute before turning undead, the dense death energy of this place, or maybe both.
 
A few minutes passed, and the undead kept attacking me without stopping even for a moment. Its relentless attacks had given me an estimation of its strength and speed.
 
‘It is time,’ I thought and moved with Quick Steps. I only needed a take three steps before I appeared in position, before throwing a punch at it with all my strength.
 
Bam!
 
My punch hit its fist, right at the base of the knuckle. It hit hard, but also gave me the sharp pain that I was barely able to stop myself from crying out loud.
 
I would have made the sound. If not for seeing the sword flying out of its hand.
 
It couldn’t help but surprise me. I had not thought it would be this easy to take the sword from the zombie. Zombies’ grips are unnaturally tight; unless you decapitate them, it is very hard to get something from their hands.
 
Maybe it is because it is a new zombie, and its nerves are still yet to be fully zombified, or it is just luck.
 
I don’t care, as I quickly took steps back with Quick Steps to avoid another attack from the zombie, before moving toward the sword.
 
I reached for the sword and picked it up; I did not have to bend much, as it was buried vertically.
 
This is a dress sword, a type of short sword. It has a steel grey blade and a red handle. It is shorter than my rapier, but its blade has about the same wideness. Most importantly, it is an enchanted sword, just like my rapier.
 
Though, it only has one enchantment, while my rapier has two.
 
I wouldn’t have minded if it did not even have an enchantment; as even a simple sword would have made me more than happy.
 
Gaaaa!
 
I just picked it up when the undead reached me and attacked with its hands. I dodged its attack, before appearing at its left with Quick Steps.
 
The moment I did, I attacked.
 
The runes on the blade begin to light up as it moved toward the zombie, and I was glad. This man had kept the enchantments in perfect condition.
 
Pachac!
 
My sword reached the neck, and the enchantment of sharpness cut through the neck like butter. A second later, its neck was completely cut clean, with the head falling and foul blood leaking out of its neck.
 
It is more than normal zombies should have. This is yet another proof that it is a new undead.
 
Thud!
 
The body and the head fell one after another, while I watched.
 
It had taken me a few seconds to calm down, and I moved toward the zombie.
 
Since he had enchanted a sword, he must be a rich man, and I want to see what else he would have. 
 
I am not above stealing things from the undead.
 
Soon, I used the sword to cut through its clothes and used my feet to flip over before cutting the rest. 
 
The only thing he had was a wallet. Inside it is a checkbook which is useless to me and twenty-one thousand imperials in Navr currency. Which I gladly took and put in my bag before resuming my journey.
 
The undead had given me a lot; the sword alone cost over twenty thousand imperials.
 
I had defeated the undead zombie, but it was not a big thing. The undead are never powerful individually. 
 
Release a horde of the weakest zombies and even the strongest enemy will fall to their knees.
 
Since I had encountered one zombie, there might be another. I might even find people who might not have turned undead.
 
I really hope. I want to meet someone who has a freaking idea what this place is here and where its exit lies.
 
Hun!
 
I was walking in the direction where the zombie had come from when suddenly I stopped before turning toward the temple.
 
The oppressive aura had disappeared, but a second later, it had appeared again. Now, it is stronger than before.
 
‘What is happening?’ I couldn’t help but ask myself.
 
I shook my head and push those thoughts. I do not have any idea of what is happening and if I kept thinking about it, I will give myself a headache. 
 
It is better I focus on things I could do, like finding the exit.
 
Soon, I reached the place where the zombie had come from; it is a little different from the verdant grass I had walking till now. The grass here is overgrown and there are also trees.
 
The grass is one thing, but the trees are completely different in a place where death energy is so thick.
 
This place is different from the overgrown gardens I am seeing between the buildings. Just looking at them sent chills down my body. Here, I did not get that feeling, but travel here will not be a cakewalk.
 
With the trees all around; I will not be able to see the zombies before they reach really close to me.
 
I want to return to the verdant grass, but there is no choice; I had to keep moving to find the exit. Find the people who might know how to get away from this place.
 
I did not immediately move ahead. Instead, I took out a water bottle and took a measured sip before placing it back in the bag.
 
There are many things in my bag, including water and food that will last for four days. I am glad, I listened to Stone and others and packed these things or I would have one more thing to worry about.
 
If I am careful, I can make it last longer and that is what I am trying to do.
 
I don’t know how long it will take me to get out of here. I need to be careful with my ration and, if possible, find something to eat here.
 
Till now, I did not do anything edible, but there are chances. I will find something in these trees.
 
With that thought, I resumed my journey with more caution than before.
 
Minutes passed as I walked through the grass as tall as my waist and the trees around me. Not a single one of them has a single fruit on them. Though I have spotted a couple of mushrooms, I am not going to touch them.
 
Even an idiot knows you shouldn’t touch the mushroom unless you are very sure it is safe.
 
Hun!
 
A few more minutes passed when suddenly I stopped and become alert. I heard the faint sounds; I concentrated and could hear them clearly and they are getting louder by the second.
 
In just a few seconds, I saw the first zombie, and it is not the only one. Four more came behind it.
 
“Fuck!” 
 
There are five of them, but it is not what made me curse; what made me curse is two people wearing armor and one of them is not even a complete human.
 
A half-orc zombie.
 
Like the human zombie beside him. He is also wearing standard armor, with the emblem of Hafran City.
 
It is a city west of Jalrux. I had memorized emblems of all cities of Talgek region of Navr. It was one of the easiest ones to memories. It is a staff burning in black flames above the mountain of skulls.
 
Hafran is the only city that uses skulls as its emblem. Other cities, including Jalrux, had much more civilized emblems.
 
Aside from the two guards, there are three human zombies. One is as young as me, wearing tattered clothes, which did not look old. He also has iles bag, but it did not seem like it belonged to him.
 
His clothes, even when torn, are normal, and so are the shoes he is wearing. He does not look like a person who could have a bag worth of million imperials.
 
I might be wrong, but that seemed unlikely.
 
The last two were a middle-aged man and the old man. Both had their clothes torn like the young man and had injuries all over their body. They also been attacked first, before turning undead.
 
The same could happen to me. If I am not careful.

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