Every time Jeongwoo swung his whip, the air hummed coldly. Though Jeongwoo’s swinging motions looked effortless, the whip itself was no light thing—whenever it happened to strike a streetlight or asphalt road, it would gouge deep holes. But everything was shrouded in darkness and couldn’t be seen clearly. All around was still dark, and the only light was the soft glow emanating from the veil.
Those inside the veil trembled and flinched at the violent sounds.
Jeongwoo wiped the sweat flowing down his forehead as he swung his whip frantically. He checked the time and sighed inwardly. There were still at least 5 hours until sunrise.
This mission, the Night of the Dead, was ostensibly about fighting and enduring against the dead, but in reality, it was a complex mission that required consideration of many more factors.
The first and biggest problem was the dead themselves. They had to be repelled, but the dead don’t actually die. Since they’re already dead, they can’t die again. Jeongwoo glanced down at the crumbled piles of rotten mud at his feet. They were dead whose forms had been destroyed by the whip, but given time, he would see them rise again as if nothing had happened.
Even if he dealt with those dead, there were several more problems.
One was the humans outside the veil, and another was…
Yes, those upgraded dead were the problem.
“Jeongwoo-ya. Why… why are you doing this to me? It hurts… it hurts…”
Though the face was blurred and smudged, it wasn’t hard to tell who it was imitating. Jeongwoo burst into incredulous laughter seeing it.
“…At least make it similar. Isn’t this just too half-assed?”
Jeongwoo glared at the dead before him, grinding his teeth.
Those things, which Jeongwoo called upgraded dead for convenience, were ones that imitated the forms of people close to their target who had died. The problem was that there were humans who fell for it even knowing it was an imitation.
If it looked exactly like Jaehee, it might actually be better—the clumsily imitated face only evoked disgust.
Jeongwoo swung his whip more ruthlessly. It didn’t crumble in one hit, so he had to strike two, three times repeatedly, but eventually it returned to a handful of rotten dirt.
He had once seen Jaehee’s illusion so often that he’d grown sick of it. There were times when he desperately wished to see Jaehee’s face, even if it was just an illusion. But now, with the real thing beside him, would he be fooled by such a mere phantom?
Moreover, unlike Jeongwoo’s memories, the current Jaehee wasn’t dead, so they couldn’t properly imitate Jaehee’s appearance.
“Insolent things. Tsk.”
Jeongwoo shook his body lightly to loosen up. It seemed the preliminary skirmish was over, as the wave of attacks had stopped for the moment. Jeongwoo took this opportunity to glance back and check on those inside the veil. There didn’t seem to be anyone particularly injured. Seeing traces of the dead here and there, it looked like they had fought a little within reasonable limits. Instead of blaming them, Jeongwoo nodded and praised them.
“Fortunately, it seems no one is injured.”
“Ah, yes…”
Several faces reddened at Jeongwoo’s words. They thought he was mocking them for not actively participating in combat. Jeongwoo pretended not to notice such reactions and continued.
“You did well. After all, today isn’t the main mission but merely an eve-of-battle preview—we can’t have injuries today causing problems tomorrow. All of you are important fighting forces of our Eternal Guild.”
“R-right. Tomorrow is what’s important!”
“That’s right, Vice Guild Master. Watching from behind made my fists itch, but…!”
With a little thought, it was obviously just an excuse, but those who had been hiding inside the veil quickly latched onto the justification Jeongwoo offered and discarded their guilt. But instead of rebuking them, Jeongwoo enthusiastically encouraged and comforted them. Everything right now was being filmed by Yang Yumi’s camera.
Those who still hadn’t chosen a King would see this footage. So it would be problematic if they appeared too strict or if the Awakened Ones appeared incompetent.
Those without a King would already be in a semi-panic state just from encountering the dead. So it was important to project a relaxed attitude that gave confidence that this situation could be handled. As long as Eternal Guild maintained this composed demeanor, other guilds wouldn’t dare make rash moves either.
Jeongwoo bit his lip firmly as he recalled the Night of the Dead he had experienced long ago.
Back then, it had been pandemonium—literally hell on earth. The dead and the humans who, bewitched by them, eventually had their bodies taken over were problems, but the bigger problem was humans with power.
In the past, many Kings died in this mission. Not by the dead or monsters, but by other Kings.
From the Night of the Dead mission onward, Kings become absolute beings. While Kings had been building their forces before while watching others’ reactions, from this point on it becomes serious.
In other words, if you just kill the King, that King’s subjects will serve another King just to survive.
Ultimately, the real content of this Night of the Dead mission isn’t a fight against the dead, but a fight against the living.
“For tomorrow’s sake, I’ll handle cleanup for now. Everyone save your strength. Think about how to deal with the dead. What I’m doing now might not be the best approach. Also, did you notice that the last dead one that appeared earlier was different from the others?”
“Pardon?”
They must not have been watching properly while inside the veil.
Once this mission ends, he would train them all properly. Though he’d have to filter out those who needed filtering first.
Jeongwoo cursed inwardly but nodded with a calm and friendly expression on the outside.
“I understand you couldn’t see properly since it was dark. Looking earlier, the last one that appeared had a fairly human-like face, unlike the others. At a glance, it also seemed similar to my grandfather who passed away when I was young.”
“Y-your grandfather?”
“No way… so what we were saying is true? That dead people we knew will come for us…”
Jeongwoo shook his head at the murmuring people.
“How could that be? There’s no way they’re real. They’re just deceiving us.”
“B-but…”
“If you look closely, you’ll see differences. You’re just too flustered to notice at first. The reason I’m telling you this is because, unlike the others, that last dead one couldn’t be easily repelled. From now on, it seems too much for me alone. I’m telling you in advance so you can steel yourselves mentally.”
“U-us?”
“Good! I was feeling burdened just standing back here anyway. I only stayed still until now because you were handling it fine alone, Vice Guild Master, but from now on we’ll also actively step forward.”
It was Kim Jisu who stopped several people from retreating with troubled expressions. Kim Jisu was currently moving as part of the attack team with Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo looked at Kim Jisu and lightly bowed his head to express his thanks. Kim Jisu answered by pulling out a sword from her inventory.
Once Kim Jisu stepped forward, others followed one by one. They had been startled when first seeing what was called the dead, but after seeing Jeongwoo destroy them easily, they began to think it was no big deal. In fact, each individual dead one’s combat power wasn’t that high.
“Yeah! We can’t just stay back here like cowards forever. Besides, this is a mission, isn’t it? No matter that he’s our Vice Guild Master, we can’t let the Guild Master eat up all the experience points alone. Haha.”
There was no system where you leveled up by accumulating a certain amount of experience like in a game, but it was true that skill levels increased based on frequency of use. And since various items and points could be obtained during combat, it wasn’t exactly wrong.
Someone’s bold cry completely changed the atmosphere.
Jeongwoo lightly loosened up and stared ahead. Then those behind him also began to stare ahead one by one.
In the pitch-black darkness, uninvited guests were slowly rising.
Watching them, Jeongwoo thought it was fortunate that everything was covered in darkness. If they saw those things now, the warriors behind him who had barely mustered their courage might all run away.
It would be much more comfortable to move alone, but he couldn’t do everything by himself.
They would eventually become Jaehee’s hands and feet.
Someday, they would have to become Jaehee’s faithful soldiers in his place.
Jeongwoo pictured in his mind each and every action of those behind him.
Being timid was fine. Eventually, going through these damn missions, they would realize they couldn’t just be scared and retreat. But traitors were a problem.
Those who might stab Jaehee in the back someday when he wasn’t around needed to be eliminated in advance.
Without any warning, Jeongwoo dashed forward and swung his whip.
At the same time, those behind him let out battle cries and charged forward.
It was the second battle against the dead.
