Chapter 31

The two wolves approached Jun-sang. Adding to the strange scene, an odd woman clung to the red-furred wolf.

Crrrk…

As he clenched his fist, the zombies, as if on cue, let out grotesque screams and charged. Perhaps it was the darkness. The zombies surged towards Jun-sang and the wolves on either side of him with even more ferocity. And then, Thud! The battle began, signaled by Jun-sang’s fist, like a large hammer, crushing the head of the lead zombie.

“Tsk… I wanted to pet him more…” As the red-furred wolf charged towards the zombies, Seo Yoo-mi, who had been completely absorbed in petting its fur, grumbled and diagonally slashed her chef’s knife at a zombie charging at her. With that simple motion, the zombie that had been lunging at her was cleanly decapitated diagonally and fell to the ground.

“How dare you… how dare you…” Seo Yoo-mi muttered with a smile at the zombies. “Interrupt my… and Jong-i’s time…”

It seemed she had already named him without his owner’s permission. If Jun-sang or the Crimson Wolf himself had heard that, they would have instantly scowled, but unfortunately, the only ones who heard Seo Yoo-mi’s words were the zombies charging at her. But the zombies couldn’t relay those words to anyone else. Even if they could speak, they were unable to move any further after being sliced apart by Seo Yoo-mi’s enraged chef’s knife and rolling on the ground. Until now, she had approached combat as if she were idly playing, but now, she was literally slicing through zombies with ghost-like movements.

“S-she’s scary.” “I know, right?”

But even with Seo Yoo-mi’s awakening (?), the number of charging zombies was too great to handle all of them, and soon, a dozen or so zombies broke through Jun-sang and Seo Yoo-mi’s defensive line and charged towards the palisade. Jin Sea-ah and Lim Seo-yoon did their best to snipe them, but Jin Sea-ah’s Flame Arrow skill had a long cooldown, making it insufficient for handling large numbers of enemies like this, and Lim Seo-yoon’s crossbow also had the drawback of needing to reload.

Ultimately, this time, even the villagers, who had been holding their breath in tension behind the palisade, had no choice but to join forces to face the zombies. At first, they managed to hold on thanks to the palisade, but as the number of zombies surviving and reaching the palisade steadily increased, the situation became more and more perilous.

Just then, Jin Sea-ah spoke to Lim Seo-yoon. “Hey!” “Yes?” “Can you protect me?” “Huh?” Lim Seo-yoon, confused by what this woman was saying in the midst of such chaos, stopped reloading and looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“Why are you just standing there blankly!” “No, that’s…” “Can you protect me?!” He wanted to retort and ask why she was asking such a thing, but given the situation, Lim Seo-yoon first answered her question. “I will protect you!”

Then Jin Sea-ah grinned and looked at the zombies beyond the palisade. “Tsk… I just had a bath too…” Muttering that, Jin Sea-ah extended her hand towards the palisade and began to gather her strength. Instantly, Lim Seo-yoon realized that an unusual energy was emanating from her body.

“Hyaah!” Jin Sea-ah, with her hand extended, closed her eyes and murmured something, then released her gathered power with a light shout. And then, a wall of fire, reminiscent of a fountain, erupted in front of the palisade. As one wall rose, another wall of fire rose consecutively beyond it, engulfing the zombies clinging to the palisade and setting them ablaze. A total of three walls of fire erupted, completely encircling the outside of the palisade.

“Ugh…” Jin Sea-ah frowned, her hand still extended. The smell of burning zombie bodies, trapped within the wall of fire, drifted towards her. The thought of the smell of burning human bones and flesh clinging to her made Jin Sea-ah shiver, but there was nothing she could do to stop the zombies.

“A-amazing,” Lim Seo-yoon said in awe, looking at the wall of fire rising before his eyes and incinerating the zombies. Jin Sea-ah grumbled in response, “I can’t move after using this skill, so Mr. Seo-yoon, you have to protect me.”

“Ah… if that’s the case, no problem.” Although he felt a little deflated, as if his expectations had been dashed, the kind-hearted Lim Seo-yoon nodded and knocked down the zombies that were still rushing towards the palisade, their bodies ablaze, in front of her.

Thanks to Jin Sea-ah unleashing her ultimate move, the Wall of Fire, the palisade’s defense became solid, allowing Jun-sang and Seo Yoo-mi, who were fighting outside, to fully focus on the zombies without worrying about their rear being breached.

Jun-sang slammed his fist down on the crown of a charging zombie, using the recoil to launch his body into the air. In mid-air, he spun around once, brought his military boot down on the shoulder of a trailing zombie, forcing it to its knees, then delivered a straight punch, smashing its head.

“Open Shoulder Charge.” Jun-sang, having equipped Shoulder Charge in the card slot instead of the Two-Hit Combo which was on cooldown, shot forward like a cannonball towards a swarm of surging zombies.

Thwack! The swarming zombies, directly hit by Jun-sang’s powerful Shoulder Charge, scattered and tumbled like bowling pins. The fallen zombies were then bitten in the neck by the wolves, which launched themselves after them, bringing their movements to a halt.

“Open Two-Hit Combo.” Jun-sang stomped on the head of a squirming zombie crawling on the ground with his military boot, then re-equipped Two-Hit Combo in the Shoulder Charge card slot. And with his arms tucked at his sides, he lowered his body, dodging the zombies’ flailing arms, and swung alternating hooks with both hands. Perhaps because they had been dead for so long, the severely decayed zombie’s waist folded and its body tilted when Jun-sang’s fist struck its side. And when another punch exploded on its folded waist, its waist completely severed.

Jun-sang finished off the zombie’s upper body as it fell to the ground by crushing it with his military boot, then, dodging the flailing arm of yet another zombie lunging at him, he delivered a counter to its face.

Crunch! Jun-sang’s counter, which landed precisely on its face, not only crushed the zombie’s nose but utterly shattered its entire skull. Jun-sang, having pulverized a horde of zombies like a storm, suddenly noticed Seo Yoo-mi, dressed in a pristine white dress, brandishing her chef’s knife in the darkness. No, to be precise, his gaze was drawn to the white light emanating from her body.

“Hoo…” That white light was undoubtedly the light of a level up. Indeed, with this level of combat, rapid leveling up was only natural. As the level-up light flowed over her body, Seo Yoo-mi quickly pulled out her phone and began operating it with the hand not holding the chef’s knife.

“Come out, Jong-i… Come out, Jong-i…” But despite her fervent wishes, the random box spat out a skill called Triple Slash.

“Ahhh…” Seo Yoo-mi slumped to the ground in despair, as if she had lost everything in the world. But that was only for a moment.

“Open Triple Slash.” No sooner had she equipped the newly acquired skill than she once again unleashed her fury on the surrounding zombies.

“Why… whyyyyy!” Seo Yoo-mi’s frenzied chef’s knife was truly terrifying. In an instant, the dismembered bodies of zombies began to pile up around her, and the people watching from beyond the Wall of Fire could no longer face her directly and had to avert their gaze.

“Sh-she’s scary.” “I know, right…”

As Jin Sea-ah and Lim Seo-yoon had that dazed conversation, this time, the light of a level up emanated from Jin Sea-ah.

“Ohh…” The villagers looked on with awe as the white light enveloped her body and then faded.

“This is… a bit embarrassing.” “Haha, congratulations.” However, since she couldn’t move while activating the Wall of Fire, she couldn’t draw a random card immediately like Seo Yoo-mi.

“I… I need to work harder too.” “Hehe.”

And sure enough. No sooner had she spoken than the light of a level up emanated from Lim Seo-yoon’s body as well.

“Ah, congratulations.” “Haha… looks like we’re power-leveling today.” “I know, right? Hehe…”

But as they chatted, Jin Sea-ah suddenly realized something strange. Everyone else had leveled up once, but Jun-sang, who had defeated by far the most zombies, had not yet shown any signs of leveling up. Including herself and the two large wolves, the number of zombies he had defeated was almost comparable to the total number of zombies defeated by the other three combined. What’s more, he had just now obliterated the sabretooth tiger zombie, which could almost be called a mid-boss, with an absurd single blow. Yet, the fact that he still hadn’t leveled up could only mean one thing.

“Just how high is his level, for goodness sake…” Lim Seo-yoon immediately reacted to her murmur. “Huh?” “No, it’s nothing.” Jin Sea-ah quickly mumbled an excuse, but Lim Seo-yoon soon understood her meaning.

“Are you talking about Jun-sang?” “Yes, well…” “Now that you mention it, that is strange. He should have leveled up first…” Lim Seo-yoon said as he reloaded his crossbow with a new arrow. “Should we ask him later? What level he is?” At that, Jin Sea-ah shook her head. “Forget it. He’s not the type to answer if we ask anyway.” “That’s true. Haha…”

Jin Sea-ah hadn’t used the Wall of Fire from the start because if the two people ahead were in danger, it could act as a dangerous obstacle, threatening their lives. But when push came to shove, Jun-sang and Seo Yoo-mi were not as weak as Jin Sea-ah had feared. No, it was more accurate to say they were on an entirely different level of strength.

Meanwhile, the people who had thought it was the end when the zombies reached the palisade were now chatting amongst themselves, watching the four defeat the zombies with gazes of admiration and awe. And receiving such gazes, the four steadily continued to defeat the zombies. And the fierce battle, which lasted for about ten more minutes, ended as the last zombie was crushed by Jun-sang’s fist.

“Phew…” A faint heat shimmered from Jun-sang’s body. Others were able to alleviate their fatigue through the process of leveling up, but Jun-sang could not, so his body had begun to recover on its own. Jun-sang looked around and slowly began to check the zombie heads, while Seo Yoo-mi, as if uninterested in seeds, quickly went to the Crimson Wolf and began to wipe the zombie fluid from its fur.

Usually, wouldn’t one clean oneself first? Jin Sea-ah shook her head and, after deactivating the Wall of Fire, shouted to Jun-sang, “It’s dangerous, so come back now, clean up later!”

But Jun-sang merely glanced at Jin Sea-ah once, then continued his inspection. “So full of himself.” “Haha…” Finally, after a long time, Jun-sang finished his inspection and returned to the village. As he returned, Seo Yoo-mi, who had been making a fuss about cleaning the Crimson Wolf’s fur until then, also followed him in.

“You both worked hard.” Jin Sea-ah and Lim Seo-yoon, who had been resting earlier, brought the two of them some water for a quick wash. Jun-sang nodded lightly in gratitude, then quickly washed off the zombie fluid from his body.

“Phew…” Suddenly, Jin Sea-ah grumbled as she watched him. “What sin did I commit in my past life to have to go through all this?” Then Seo Yoo-mi, who was using the towel given to her to clean herself, but instead was wetting it to clean the Crimson Wolf’s fur, replied, “I… actually like it now.”

“…” “If this game didn’t exist, I might have become a serial killer.”

Instantly, the atmosphere among everyone turned chilling. Then Seo Yoo-mi chuckled awkwardly and said again, “It’s… a joke. Don’t you know this line? It’s quite famous.”

But neither Jin Sea-ah nor Lim Seo-yoon, nor even Jun-sang, could possibly take her words as a joke. At least, anyone who had seen her rampage with a chef’s knife would not be able to take her words from just now as a joke.