Chapter 84 : Chapter 84

Chapter 84: The Madness of Icata (2)

Even now, my mouth was dry.

The area around the workshop, hit by the zombie outbreak, was surely swarming with knights and soldiers.

If I’d managed to stay hidden, great.

If I’d been caught, surviving would’ve been tough.

“Any other incidents besides the workshop attack?”

I asked, and Saika shook his head without suspicion.

“No, nothing reported yet.”

That was a relief.

“There was a desertion incident before. You saw them, right? The Defense Force soldiers.”

I recalled the zombies felled by my Dual Illusion Sword.

“They went out last night and didn’t return. I thought they deserted, but now it seems they were attacked.”

“So the Defense Force wasn’t breached.”

“Right. We’re investigating recent disappearances. Could be undead-related. No other undead sightings reported.”

I nodded.

Guess I have to take his word.

I’d said I “picked up” Clatter to Guartes, and that wasn’t a complete lie.

Unlike Sylph or Peter, Clatter wasn’t bound by a summoning contract—he was an independent entity.

I really had just picked him up.

So, if he was far away, I had no way to find him.

No summoning bond meant no Phase Shift, and I couldn’t sense if he was alive or dead.

Clatter’s special.

That was my only comfort.

A guy like him wouldn’t die so easily.

“I’ll take your statements into account. Thanks for cooperating.”

Saika closed his file.

“Anything else to add?”

I urged, “I mentioned before, but these aren’t normal zombies. Be extra careful.”

“Zombies are zombies. Cut off their heads, they die.”

Saika tapped his head.

“True, but these aren’t ordinary. Simply put, they’re stronger than they were in life.”

“Hm.”

“If one of your knights gets turned, it’s irreversible. It’ll be a tough fight.”

Ignoring zombies as mere pests, only to get bitten and have the whole base wiped out—that’s a cliché straight out of zombie flicks.

Knights, honed in body, were strong, and Central Knights were monsters among them.

But they were still human.

And humans always repeat mistakes.

Saika, perhaps taking my words as dismissive, stared at me silently, then curled his lip.

“When I said ‘head,’ I didn’t mean 'the zombies’.”

“Huh?”

“The necromancer. We plan to strike the necromancer behind this directly. Once he’s gone, the zombies revert to corpses.”

Necromancer.

The word instantly brought Guartes to mind.

That bastard’s screwed.

I’d planned to find him today anyway.

I had business with him.

But I needed to hurry.

Delay a day, and my only question might be, “Why’s only your head left?”

“Thanks for the concern. Wait outside, someone from the Academy will—”

Saika saluted, looking somewhere.

There stood a familiar face: Baron Tesda.

“Doing well, Saika? Here for my students.”

* * *

After arriving at the Academy with Baron, we were summoned to the Vice-Dean’s office to repeat our story to senior professors.

No one knew what consequences this zombie incident would bring or how it’d affect the Academy.

I hoped it’d pass quietly.

And for that, Clatter needed to be at my destination.

Crack!

Under a gloomy dawn, moonlight shrouded by clouds, I left the Academy and headed straight for the Sewer District.

If Clatter had safely left the workshop, I figured he’d go one place.

Zad.

Clatter wanted a rematch and his thoughts.

Since Zad, who attacked the workshop, had fled through the river to Guartes, Clatter likely followed to the sewers.

Find Clatter, then kill Zad.

Guartes?

The knights would handle him.

This random zombie outbreak would end.

That was my ideal scenario.

But—

“…”

My hopes shattered the moment I reached the Sewer District.

Something’s wrong.

At the alley with the manhole to the sewers, a beggar always guarded the entrance.

Oh, he was there.

Graah.

But as a zombie.

“Hoo.”

Sighing at the rising unease, I threw a dagger.

Thud!

The dagger cleanly struck the beggar’s head.

I approached, retrieving it.

“As expected, a variant zombie.”

Zad’s doing.

Why? No need to turn even the gatekeeper beggar.

I couldn’t grasp Guartes’s intent.

I’ll find out down there.

I entered the sewers.

Immediately, I frowned.

“What the hell?”

Corpses floated on the water, some stuck to the walls like gum.

Everywhere I looked, decayed bodies sprawled.

All zombies.

Or rather, former zombies.

Roughly twenty by my count, maybe more.

Clatter’s work?

I thought briefly but shook my head.

The corpses were all mangled.

Limbs torn off, cross-sections ripped jaggedly, as if they’d fought each other.

Clatter’s cuts would’ve been clean.

Zombies fighting each other? Why?

I stepped over the bodies, heading to Guartes’s lab.

When I arrived, the sewer’s carnage seemed like paradise.

“…”

This was hell.

Blood, as if splashed from buckets, caked the walls.

Organs, flesh, fat, and body parts littered everywhere.

The horrific scene shook even my coolheadedness, leaving me speechless.

“Ha, damn it.”

It’d been a while since I’d cursed so sincerely since possessing this body.

Right, this was that kind of place.

Heroes of Frey, an Academy story with a grim, dark fantasy edge.

I’d forgotten for a moment.

This wretched world.

Holding onto my reeling senses amidst the rotting stench, I stepped into the lab.

It could hardly be called a lab anymore.

A slaughterhouse.

Smashed tools and blood-soaked, torn books were useless.

I spread Detection, but felt nothing.

No sign of Guartes.

Thinking he might be dead, I checked the body parts, gruesome as it was.

But they were all decayed, zombie corpses.

I shut my eyes, muttering, “Damn it. What the hell’s happening here?”

And where was Clatter?

It felt like sinking deeper into a complex maze.

* * *

The next morning, Baron summoned me to the Student Affairs Office.

There, I heard shocking news.

“Investigation team?”

“Yeah. You know there was another zombie attack last night?”

I nodded.

I’d read it in Royal Dream that morning.

Last night, zombies hit the residential area by the south gate.

“So Central Knights Headquarters sent a request for Academy support.”

“Why?”

“They’re short on manpower.”

No one knew where the next zombie attack would strike.

This world had no CCTV.

Countering zombies required stationed forces, but the Central Knights alone couldn’t cover it.

“What about the Capital Defense Force?”

“They’re on it too. They’re pulling all personnel, except wall guards, inward.”

“And it’s still not enough?”

“That’s why they’re asking us.”

Icata was absurdly vast.

“Why build a city this big?”

“Agreed.”

“But what’s the investigation team got to do with me?”

“They brought up putting you as team leader in the meeting.”

“?”

“Actually, I suggested it.”

I stared, dumbfounded, as Baron grinned proudly, patting my shoulder.

“Gotta earn those Merit Points.”

“…”

“Remember, I’m the only one looking out for you, Gerard.”

I was speechless.

“So? It’s set?”

“If you agree, it’s set.”

There seemed to be another candidate.

Not to brag, but honestly, the professors had few better options.

With third- and fourth-years away on field activities, I was the senior-most cadet left.

Plus, I’d faced variant zombies and held an Honorary Merit Medal.

Not a bad deal. Merit Points aside, I need to find Guartes and Clatter anyway.

Sneaking around at night might be less efficient than this.

No, this was definitely better.

Double the time to work with.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

Thus, I became the leader of the Academy’s investigation team.

“Don’t worry about classes; they’ll all count as attended.”

“I’m not worried. Isn’t that obvious?”

“…”

Leaving the Student Affairs Office, I killed time at the dorm before heading to Lecture Hall 101, where the team was to gather.

Clank!

The empty classroom greeted me.

“First place, huh. Those slackers.”

Truthfully, I’d arrived early with nothing else to do.

I grabbed a chair and sat, organizing my thoughts.

Guartes and Zad’s relationship.

I’d been pondering since that dawn’s carnage.

Only one conclusion made sense.

Internal conflict.

Something had gone wrong between Guartes and Zad.

I didn’t know why.

But Zad, enhanced by the Elixir of Death, seemed a higher-order being.

Could Guartes control such an entity with necromancy?

Honestly, tough.

As a result, Zad went berserk, causing that dawn’s massacre—my most plausible theory.

Then these zombie outbreaks are all Zad acting alone.

So where was Guartes?

If he’d escaped alive, had he fled Icata?

Maybe I can ask Bishop Cristiano for support. Would he bring reinforcements?

Madness.

I could picture it.

Icata turning into a mess.

“Senior!”

Someone called through a slightly open window.

“Huh? Yuria.”

It was Yuria.

She entered, sitting beside me.

“What’s up?”

“What do you think?”

She grinned at me.

No way.

“You too?”

“Yup.”

I just laughed.

Lately, seeing Yuria made me smile for no reason.

My trusty insurance.

“Baron put me on the investigation team.”

My smile faded.

That guy.

In my mind, Baron gave me a thumbs-up.

“I’m the only one looking out for you, Gerard.”

No sane people around me.

“Probably because of yesterday. We fought zombies, right?”

True.

As a magic swordsman, Yuria was a great asset against undead.

“Slacking off, huh?”

A sinister voice came from behind.

“Oh.”

I felt Yuria’s face stiffen.

The ominous sound of approaching steps.

Should I tell Baron I can’t lead the team? I considered it.

I looked at Karina approaching.

“When’d you get here?”

“Just now.”

I rubbed my forehead.

Fatigue has hit already.

“No, I mean the Cathedral.”

“Yesterday.”

“You’re on the team too?”

“Can’t you tell?”

Karina casually pulled a chair and sat beside me.

Of all the seats, why here? I couldn’t fathom.

“Why not rest more?”

“Why should I? Me, miss this?”

Snorting, Karina glanced at Yuria with a rotten smile.

“Long time no see.”

“Yeah.”

Their eyes met, and crackle!—sparks flew.

Not a joke.

I was sitting between actual sparking electricity.

Stings like hell.

Ignoring the glaring women, I stared out the window.

The weather was cloudy, ready to pour.

Like a glimpse of our team’s future. I closed my eyes.

Then the door opened, and the next team member entered.

“Kyahaha! Yuria!”

Rain fell.

In my heart.

Should I rethink this now…?

I seriously considered it.

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