CH 221

T/N: The title was confusing when I did a literal translation of ドーンとゾンビを倒すオブ・ザ・デッド it says “Dawn and Zombie, Killing of the Dead” and I was like, “what the heck?” I’m not sure if it is a reference to Dawn of the Dead but the words were scrambled so I just made the best of it. I really want to put “Zombie Subjugation and the Dawn of the Dead” but it really doesn’t fit.

The next day, I get up early in the morning and leave the inn. Today I think I will go to the second floor of the dungeon.

By the way, I’m using the term “second floor”, but I don’t know if that place can really be called “second floor”.

I just call it the second floor because it’s the second area after the first one, but some adventurers call it “the second level” or “the second underground floor”.

I turned onto the main street and headed north. The adventurers told me that the church was located here.

Before heading to the church, I bought some masks at a stall near the dungeon. They are simple masks with string sewn into the corners of the cloth.

When I first came to this town, I wondered why there were so many stores selling masks here. Is there some kind of pandemic going on? I wondered, but the simple fact is that these masks were the ultimate weapon against the undead.

After a while, I saw a large, long wall along the main street. It was a wall surrounding a large site, and from the top of the wall one could see the roofs of several buildings. The gate on the wall was open, and adventurers were coming and going.

I followed them into the compound and saw adventurers entering a large wooden church in front of it.

The church was surrounded by knights in white armor guarding the perimeter.

I have seen a few churches in my life, but this may be the first time I have seen a church protected by so many soldiers.

A little nervous, I followed the other adventurers into the church.

There were already many adventurers inside the church, and they were looking toward the back of the church. I turned my head in that direction and saw a large golden water jar on a stone altar at the back of the church, there was a priest-like man and several nun-like women. Around them stood several knights in white armor, protecting them.

“Let us begin.” (Priest)

The priest said, and a nun brought a ceramic water jar and poured water into the golden water jar.

“Offer your prayers to Tessretia-sama.” (Priest)

As the priest turned to us and said this, the adventurers with me dropped to one knee and hung their heads.

For a moment, I thought, “Huh?” I thought for a moment, but then I quietly went along with the others and got down on one knee.

“Goddess! Give us your blessing!” (Priest)

As the priest said this, I felt a slight glow inside the golden water jar.

When the priest confirmed it, he looked at the nun and nodded. The nun used a ladle to transfer the water from the golden water jar to a vial.

“So, please line up.” (Nun)

The adventurers lined up to receive the ceramic vials, handing the nuns silver coins.

I see… so this is how holy water is made.

When it is my turn, I hand over the silver coins and receive the holy water. I quickly exit the church because it is crowded, uncork the vial, and take a look inside.

[Holy Water]

[Incomplete Holy Water]

“…Um, I see.” (Rook)

Half as expected, half unexpected.

I thought that if this was real holy water, I should be able to identify it because it is a holy object. However, I didn’t expect to find “incomplete holy water” in the explanation column.

But well, even if it is incomplete, there is nothing I can do about it. I’ll just have to use this.

I then headed into the dungeon, entered the rift, and arrived at the first floor. I went straight through the first floor with no difficulty, and in less than 30 minutes I arrived at the rift that led to the second floor.

“Well…” (Rook)

I took out my mask and holy water and dabbed a little holy water on my mask. Looking around, I saw several adventurers doing the same thing. Apparently, this would neutralize the zombie smell a little.

“Shion, you’re going to have to put on a mask.” (Rook)

“Kyu?” (Shion)

“It’s supposed to be a little stinky up ahead, and wearing this will make it a little less stinky.” (Rook)

“Kyu…” (Shion)

Shion replied with a slightly disgusted expression and squeaked, “My, oh my…”

I tied the mask on Shion and put one on myself.

I feel a little sorry for Shion, but I can’t just leave him anywhere and now I have no choice but to take him with me.

I made up my mind that I was ready and went through the rift to the second floor.

“…” (Rook)

“Kyu…” (Shion)

As I entered the second floor, I could feel a change in the air.

Not in the atmospheric sense, but in the sense that the atmosphere was just the same. However, there was a subtle smell. Shion, too, looked a little uncomfortable as he slipped back into my hood from my shoulder.

“I think I’ll try fighting zombies for now.” (Rook)

Looking at the map, I walked among the adventurers and headed out of the meadow toward the direction where there were fewer adventurers.

After walking for a while, I spotted a party of young adventurers fighting zombies.

“Waaagh.” (Zombie)

The zombies were rotting human beings, dressed in tattered clothes. They move at about the same pace as a person walking, but not as fast. The zombie makes a strange, mysterious noise as it trudges toward the adventurer.

“Go!” (Adventurer)

“Turn around!” (Adventurer)

One of the targeted adventurers swings his club and knocks the zombie’s arms off, while other adventurers club the zombie from the side and back. The zombie, however, do not seem to be very affected, perhaps because of their high durability.

“Ora!” (Adventurer)

The adventurer on the side swung his club up as hard as he can, and the zombie’s arm flies through the air, splattering with a liquid that looks like it could contain a U15 regulation. [T/N: I can’t find what U15 is.]

“Here!” (Adventurer)

The adventurer in front of him swung his club forcefully from the side. The zombie’s head spun in the opposite direction, nearly smashed into a thousand pieces, and the zombie plopped down on the ground.

“Bwaaah!” (Zombie)

A new of zombie? I thought, but it was the sound of one of the adventurers vomiting.

“I always told you not to let a zombie’s arms fly! You idiot! I got some in the face!” (Adventurer)

“I can’t help it! That’s what happens.” (Adventurer)

I muttered to myself, “That was tough…” as I watched the adventurers continue to argue while wiping their faces with a rag.

If I simply compare them in terms of fighting power, zombies are probably the easiest of the monsters here to fight. Also, they are slow but that’s not the point.

After walking for a while, I had a chance to fight a zombie.

“Waaagh.” (Zombie)

The zombie that was in the forest saw me and started to walk slowly.

I didn’t want to get too close, so I used my Mithril Alloy Cudgel and threw a thrust at the zombie’s head.

“Va…” (Zombie)

With a popping sound, the zombie’s head snapped off and fell to the ground behind it. The body part fell to the ground, spraying liquid.

“Ugh…” (Rook)

“Kyu…” (Shion)

A foul odor spread throughout the area.

But this is not the end. I’d like to go home now, but the magic stone has to be removed. That means we need to open up the zombie’s belly.

“Oh… I hate this, I really hate this.” (Rook)

Having said that, it didn’t end there, so I took a knife and gouged out the zombie’s chest and took out the magic stone.

“No… I can’t stand this! To the impure, may your soul rest in peace.” (Rook)

I used [Purification] to cleanse the whole body at once.

“Phew~! I feel refreshed!” (Rook)

At first, I thought I would try to defeat it physically, but this is a bit unbearable in many ways. Let’s find another way to defeat it.

However, I might have come to a disadvantage of using the convenient magic of [Purification] here. I am not accustomed to keeping things dirty because I am in the habit of cleaning things up with [Purification] as soon as they get dirty. And recently, with the Goddess’ Blessing, my magic power has been increasing, and even if I use [Purification], it only consumes about 15% of my total magic power, and my magic power recovers over time, but if I use [Purification] every time I defeat an enemy, I will soon run out of magic power.

“This might be harder than I thought…” (Rook)