Chapter 50 – Hometown (1)

I had definitely become stronger since coming to this world.

No, I was continuously getting stronger.

The ghoul leading the undead horde lost its head to my sword.

Taking down the corpse golems afterward wasn’t difficult either.

I could handle them much more easily than when I encountered them at the military base.

After half-demolishing the corpse golems and climbing back onto the moving car’s roof, Hofmann made a fuss.

“Good heavens. You’re far more impressive than the rumors suggest! Were you hiding your abilities before?”

Since cases of sudden power increases like mine were rare, it was understandable for Hofmann to think that way.

“Don’t stop! I couldn’t destroy the golems’ cores! They’ll regenerate over time. Keep pushing forward!”

Although taking down the ghoul first had made the other undead disorganized, undead were fundamentally beings that attacked humans.

While their organization was gone, more zombies were rushing at the car.

Moreover, with zombies swarming in, there wasn’t time to destroy the corpse golems’ cores.

I had only cut off their limbs and partially destroyed their bodies to immobilize them.

Of course, this would prevent them from interfering with us anymore, but since I hadn’t destroyed their cores, the corpse golems would be able to regenerate over time.

Splat, splat.

Even now, zombies were clinging to the thrashing body of the fallen corpse golem.

“Then, hold on tight!”

Despite having just started driving, Hofmann shouted what seemed like a reckless driver’s catchphrase.

VROOOM!

The car, which had slowed down to let me ride on the roof, charged forward again.

Thud! Thwack! Thud!

Zombies rushing at the car were sent flying in all directions,

Crunch, Crack! Crack!

Some zombies were crushed under the car, their bodies shattered.

I also switched from my sword to a rifle from my pocket and shot at the zombies charging from the front.

Ratatatata!

After a burst of gunfire, the path ahead cleared up.

We had broken through their encirclement.

At that moment, a horrific cry came from behind.

“GRAAAH!”

One of the corpse golems had already regenerated its body and was getting up.

Whoosh. BOOM!

But that corpse golem’s legs were blown off again by a glowing grenade.

It was Zahina’s shot.

The corpse golem, which had barely pieced itself together with zombies, collapsed back to the ground as its legs were destroyed.

“That was the last round!”

Zahina’s regretful voice came from inside the car.

She started firing with a sniper rifle.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Without even using the scope, her single shots pierced through the heads of zombies rushing at the car.

The car broke through the zombie horde and sped down the highway.

The zombie horde occupying the road and the regenerating corpse golems grew more distant.

As we moved away, the zombie horde began to disperse.

Some went off the road, while others wandered freely north and south.

The corpse golems sat down on the ground like their batteries had died.

The undead showed completely different behavior from when we approached them.

Probably because I had taken down the ghoul controlling them.

After confirming no undead were visible from my position on the roof, I climbed back into the car through the open window.

As I got in, Hofmann asked excitedly.

“Could it be that you’re actually as strong as the Sword Saint?”

I laughed at Hofmann’s question.

“Sword Saint? That’s nonsense.”

Sword Saint.

It was a title referring to exceptionally powerful individuals ranking within the Empire’s top ten.

While mages and priests had occasionally been included, I heard the title was mostly used for knights and mercenaries.

Me, being comparable to such beings?

It was absurd.

Honestly, even before coming to this world, I thought I was stronger than an average knight.

At best, I might have been comparable to a senior knight in a regular knight order.

While I’m certainly stronger now than before, comparing me to a Sword Saint was absurd.

I had met a Sword Saint once in my life.

That encounter taught me what it meant for a person to be a force of nature.

Heroes could face Demon Lords because they had holy power; without it, even Sword Saints wouldn’t match up to heroes.

‘If it hadn’t been for the Death Demon Lord, perhaps the Sword Saints, rather than the hero, might have dealt with it…’

When I shook my head seriously, Hofmann closed his mouth awkwardly.

“I was just joking…”

Hofmann mumbled quietly, but his words were drowned out by Zahina’s comment.

“Rather than hiding your abilities, haven’t you gotten stronger here?”

At Zahina’s words, Hofmann’s eyes widened.

“What? Is that really it? I haven’t changed at all… Could it be that you’ve changed too, Lady Zahina?”

Hofmann’s treatment of Zahina had also changed from before.

While he disliked long-ears just like me, he seemed to make an exception for Zahina, just as I did.

“No. I’m still as weak as before.”

Zahina said this while continuously staring at the back of my head from the back seat.

Both her words and her intense stare suggested she was certain I was growing stronger in this world.

She probably had this conviction due to her naturalist abilities.

“I’m the same as before. I haven’t gotten stronger.”

Though she was certain, I denied her words.

I was lying.

I couldn’t tell them I was growing stronger by absorbing miasma.

I still didn’t know why I had gained the ability to absorb miasma.

The problem was that if word got out that I was growing stronger by absorbing miasma, death energy, I might be branded as a Demon Lord’s servant.

‘I can’t risk being burned at the stake as a maine when the estate is right in front of me.’

Hofmann had already seen miasma flowing into my body, so I couldn’t risk further misunderstandings.

Zahina said nothing in response to my answer.

Judging by her unchanged gaze, she clearly didn’t believe me.

‘This is troublesome…’

It seemed I would need to resolve this issue before the gate opened again.

After that, we encountered several more traps left by the Demon Lord’s army.

Fortunately, these traps had no ghouls. Only wandering zombies and corpse golems greeted us.

“The people at that rest area were just unlucky.”

After breaking through the third trap, Hofmann spoke while looking in the rearview mirror.

In the mirror, a corpse golem could be seen flailing with half its body destroyed.

“If there hadn’t been a ghoul, the road wouldn’t have been so blocked… Someone among those who died there must have awakened as one.”

“Well, could they have passed through even without a ghoul forming?”

Even if some had gotten through, they would surely have been blocked further down.

However, if that had happened, we wouldn’t have been able to come down here so easily.

Thanks to the cars being blocked at the rest area below, we encountered almost no interference except for two traps while coming down the highway.

There were hardly any abandoned cars, and few zombies attacked our vehicle.

Because of this, we were able to exit the highway while the sun was still up.

The car stopped in front of the tollgate after taking the connecting road.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t drive through this tollgate.

Both the exit and entrance were completely filled with cars.

Hofmann expressed regret as we got out of the car.

He had grown to enjoy driving during our journey here.

“What a shame. I wanted to drive more…”

Hearing his words, I initially thought he was saying this because it was his first time driving.

“It’s incomparable to driving a carriage. No need to force stubborn horses to move, no sore bottom from rough roads, there’s a roof, and it’s neither hot nor cold!”

But with these follow-up words, I understood. Comparing it to a carriage was unfair.

Zahina, who got out of the car with us, looked at the tollgate and said.

“Dae.jeon. Right?”

As she said, “Daejeon” was written above the tollgate.

We had stopped at the Daejeon tollgate.

We had arrived at our destination, Daejeon.

The city where I lived in my previous life.

A place where connections from my past life might still remain.

While I was staring blankly toward the city, Zahina’s voice reached me.

“Are we going into this city?”

Her question made me somewhat uncomfortable.

During our journey here, we had tried to stay outside cities as much as possible.

It was to avoid the zombies that filled the cities.

Now, it wasn’t easy to say we needed to enter the city here.

I looked around the area.

The area in front of the tollgate had turned into a parking lot.

Cars were abandoned in front of the payment booths, unable to pass through the tollgate.

While cars filled the area, fortunately, no zombies were visible on the road.

Though corpses and seat-belted zombies remained in the cars, the zombies that had been on the road seemed to have gone somewhere else.

Fortunately, it seemed there would be no interference.

I stood there and closed my eyes.

Moving my mana to awaken my senses, I began scanning the surroundings with mana detection.

100 meters, 200 meters, …, 1 kilometer, 2 kilometers.

Standing in front of the quiet tollgate, I continued expanding my senses.

When my head hurt from excessive information, I discarded unnecessary data.

Ignoring the positions of individual people and undead, I focused on identifying groups and territories.

As I continued expanding this way, I could find what I wanted.

“Are you alright?”

When I opened my eyes, Hofmann and Zahina were looking at me with shocked expressions.

Drip. Drip.

The sound of liquid hitting the ground could be heard, and my nose felt sour.

“A nosebleed…”

I pinched the bridge of my nose with mana-infused fingers.

The nosebleed stopped immediately.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had a nosebleed. It seemed like the first time since I first started expelling mana.

Unfortunately, while my power had increased, it seemed I hadn’t adapted accordingly.

This time too, I had gotten a nosebleed from expanding my senses without knowing my limits.

Though I showed an unsightly appearance to my party members, fortunately, I got what I wanted.

“This place is still in combat with the undead.”

Though no sound could be heard, by expanding my senses I could feel undead fighting with other beings.

While it was surprising that there were still places fighting against undead, I learned something even more important.

“More importantly, there’s a safe zone in the city.”

“Could it be that there’s a priest and temple here too?”

Hofmann looked at me with a surprised face.

Like Hofmann, I didn’t understand it either, but there was a holy place in the city that undead couldn’t approach.

Now that we’d found a safe zone, we needed to check what was going on.

The safe zone was the perfect excuse I needed to enter the city I wanted to visit.