Thousands of Undead marching vanished as if they were evaporating.
From low to mid to high ranks, they all ascended, and I, left alone in their place, lightly landed on the Earth.
I can sense cheers coming from the Castle far away.
If I had left them be, something similar to what happened in the previous city would have occurred.
[Ahh]
[That was refreshing]
[Ahh]
[So neat, lol]
[One-hit cut]
[What? Is it over?]
“It’s over indeed. Well, technically, it’s just the beginning.”
To the residents and civilians, the thousands of Undead may seem like a disaster, but this is just the appetizer.
According to the information I got from the Couple Zombie, there will be at least 7 million zombies coming our way.
We can expect this magnitude to come hundreds, even thousands of times in the future.
After checking if any Undead remained nearby, I returned to the Alliance.
■
Headquarters of the Challenger Alliance.
Just like last year, it’s the place where the Knight, who acts as the Alliance Leader, is stationed, and compared to last year, quite a fancy facility has been built.
Inside the facility, nearly a hundred users were coming and going. As I entered the meeting room, the sound of chatter grew louder.
“I think we need to support the Avendi Kingdom.”
“We’ll provide as much support as possible from the Magic Tower…”
“There’s a swarm of zombies appearing at the southern coastal area! About a thousand of them…”
“The situation in the west is serious. We need to handle that first.”
“Where did Miss Yena go?”
“She went to block her own House.”
“Then ask her to block the south too. The direction is the same.”
“Is there anyone available to help?”
“What’s going on with the Iteen Kingdom? It was quite serious over there too.”
“Oh, they…”
“I just got back.”
As I entered the meeting room, about ten users welcomed me.
It feels like it’s been only a day since the Undead appeared, yet everyone looks worn out.
Due to Deoen’s nature, the body might not be tired, but mentally, it can be very exhausting.
I guess it’s because attacks are coming from all sides simultaneously.
“Welcome.”
“Are you busy?”
“Busy, indeed. But you came at the right time.”
[Hey~]
[Why does the Knight look so tired?]
[The Alliance is at a crisis, lol]
[Crisis!!!]
[They’re coming in like crazy right now, yeah]
[You must be having a tough time, lol]
[Info) The Knight said he wants to be the Alliance Leader.]
[The West is in chaos, huh?]
The Knight told me to sit comfortably while sipping coffee.
Despite everyone bustling around, the chairs in the meeting room were eerily empty.
I sat down and reheated my cold coffee.
“Looks like everyone’s gone.”
“Yeah. East, West, South, North… There’s no place not under attack. The large guilds and rankers, along with the alliance members, are doing their best to hold the line.”
“They say the West is the worst.”
“Exactly. That’s why we have people like Black stepping up from the large guilds.”
They say tens of thousands of undead hordes have appeared in the West.
Moreover, it’s been reported that from mid-tier to high-tier undead, even the ‘top-tier’ undead, equivalent to lower-tier angels and demon races, have joined in.
There are so many large guilds in the West that defense shouldn’t be a huge problem, but they can’t afford to leave their posts.
The moment they do, the West would completely crumble.
“It seems like the Angel Guild is holding the North. There’s been no special signal, but we keep getting reports that the undead are being hunted down steadily.”
“That’s a relief.”
Whether they act with the angels or not, as long as it helps with taking down the undead, it’s all good.
Aside from that, guilds and users in the East and South are also putting in the effort to hold their ground.
In the siege war, users who would usually be eager to fight each other are now compelled to unite against the true disaster.
As I said this, the Knight shook his head with an even more tired expression.
“That’s not entirely true.”
“Huh?”
“Along with the Raider Grim Reaper, some medium and small alliances and various banded groups are ignoring the undead’s city attacks and looting instead. Some are even riding along to fight.”
“……”
[Hahahahahahaha]
[Those crazy bastards]
[Already in one day?]
[Let’s kill them]
[Aaaah]
[Are their mouths the only thing that works?]
[They really lost their minds]
[We need to deal with them]
[This is insane]
[Lily, let’s use the Hammer once]
The Knight sighed.
“On a normal day, the large guilds would have been able to exert some pressure, but…”
“They can’t do that right now.”
“That’s right. We’re even short-handed on hunting the undead.”
It’s familiar territory.
Those who seek to profit in evil ways amid war and chaos.
They were common in the past as well, showing up quite a few times even during last year’s Kraken War.
Though back then, they didn’t get to shine much since the scale of damage and attacks wasn’t this severe.
At best, only coastal cities suffered major damage.
Saw it.
Due to the characteristics of the Kraken, it can’t exert much power if it’s not adjacent to the sea.
“Last year, the Empire was still standing. So it would have been even harder to make moves.”
“That’s right. Compared to last year, the situation is much more difficult.”
“First of all, I’ve already put in a word with the Empire, so they will make a move.”
Now that Duke Huangyeol is gone, the Spirit Lord and the Crown Prince will immediately head into the Undead hunt.
The head of the Empire has vanished, but they still hold the most land on the continent.
The situation is complicated in many ways, but we have to do what we must first.
“Rankers can handle the mid-tier undead just fine. The important ones are the top-tier undead. We need to take them down to stabilize the situation.”
“We’re gathering as much information as possible. Once we receive it soon…”
“Emergency!”
Bang!!
A woman dressed in fantasy-style formal wear burst into the conference room.
She slammed the door so hard that it almost cracked, but she didn’t care and got right down to business.
“Vandy, the door…”
“There are about 20,000 zombies appearing on the eastern coast! And apparently, there’s one exceptionally strong zombie!”
“The east? Where exactly in the east?”
“There’s a large city in the southeast. It’s managed by the Medium and Small Guild Alliance…”
“Medium Alliance…”
The Medium and Small Guild Alliance is strong.
It was the most active group in the Siege War aside from myself, renowned for having a plethora of Hidden Job holders.
Before I joined the fray, it had enough strength to occupy the east and south, as well as parts of the north and west that the Angel Guild had missed.
Even if I don’t go, they could probably hold the line like the current west.
But what if they act like the ‘case’ the Knight mentioned?
“……”
[Hmm]
[What’s with that?]
[I feel uneasy]
[Are they going to cause trouble?]
[Just tell them to handle it themselves]
[Hmm…]
“What should we do? There aren’t enough hands left, so they should just hold it with their own strength…”
“I’ll go.”
■
Grrr…!
Grrr…
Graaah!
“Wow~ this is something!”
“Hahaha!! This is insane!”
“Wow, crazy…”
Somewhere in the southeast of the continent. A fallen kingdom.
The Medium and Small Guild Alliance had been partially dismantled since the Siege War, but the individual strength of its members hadn’t diminished.
Lily, who tore the Medium Alliance apart, had even provided opportunities for the defeated, enabling them to defend their land.
Especially this disaster was extremely favorable for the Death Guild.
The leader of the Death Guild, Deathron, was a Necromancer.
His job is Necromancer.
He was a similar profession to the Rank 4 Sorcerer Crack.
The ability to control and dominate the dead.
Deathron, watching everything from the spire of the kingdom turned into the Land of Death, chuckled as he listened to the awe of the guild members.
“I always thought a day like this would come when I transitioned to being a Necromancer… but I never expected it to be today.”
“This is like a complete jackpot, right? To take the Koko Kong Guild’s land so easily.”
“Those bean-like guys. I always hated beans.”
“Right, right.”
“Bean bean.”
This place was not actually the Land of Death.
It was the territory of the ‘Koko Kong’ Guild, which lived near the Death Guild, and the sudden assault of the undead was the reason Deathron received a support request.
Although their relationship wasn’t exactly good, they maintained some friendliness through trade.
The leader of the Death Guild, Deathron, was a Necromancer, so the Koko Kong Guild thought he would have an advantage in fighting the undead.
That was indeed true.
The problem was that this advantage applied to the Koko Kong Guild as well.
“We’ll definitely send a fake signal to the Alliance.”
“Yeah. Make the plundering quick. Time is life.”
“Yes~”
In an instant, Deathron seized control of the undead and ruthlessly ravaged the Koko Kong Guild and the kingdom’s residents.
The Koko Kong Guild, filled with betrayal and fury, counterattacked, but the power disparity was already significant.
With overwhelming numbers of undead mobilized, they were simply not opponents they could defeat.
Thus, the kingdom of Koko Kong completely transformed into the Land of Death.
Deathron watched the guild members plundering the city and thought.
“There weren’t many high-tier undead. Thanks to that, it was easy to control them.”
According to the information Lily provided, controlling up to the upper tier was somewhat manageable.
From the top tier onward would probably be impossible, but fortunately, there were no top-tier undead among the horde.
Deathron fiddled with his badge.
As he stood with the undead, the contribution degree of his chosen black badge was rapidly increasing.
“I’m still leveling up quickly… if I devour just a few more cities like this…”
It might just be possible!
“When do you think you’ll remain the best? I’ll thoroughly crush you. Hehehe…”
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