Chapter 122
Aron continued explaining the detailed rules of the performance evaluation.
It was just past noon, and the test could be conducted until exactly midnight. Once the time limit expired, regardless of where they were in Deathland, Keyzen would trigger a mass teleportation.
Aron and the teaching assistants would set up camp at the destination point and wait. If someone brought a zombie in their subspace to the camp, Aron would evaluate it, and that team could return to Keyzen. Evaluation was only allowed once per team.
If a problem occurred during the search, team leaders could send a distress signal using the Tongue Pad provided. Aron or the assistants would immediately rush over, but any further testing would be considered forfeited.
“There are all sorts of undead in Deathland. Especially natural-type zombies,”
Aron began.
“Zombies are typically Grade-2 monsters, but some powerful ones even exceed Grade-4. You’ve studied zombies by now, so you should know, combat is not recommended.”
Simon nodded as he listened to the explanation.
Zombies reacted sensitively to sound, and once a battle broke out, more would be drawn in by the noise. If one wanted to avoid being swarmed, avoiding confrontation was the best course of action.
“Because it's a dangerous area, combat between Keyzen students is strictly prohibited. Also, there might be corpse scavengers or other necromancers in Deathland gathering materials. Do your best to avoid them. They’re more insane than zombies in the truest sense.”
“Yes!”
“Then disperse.”
Aron said, checking his wristwatch.
“I now declare the start of Class A’s Summonology performance evaluation.”
* * *
Deathland was more a massive city than a forest.
Once their eyes adjusted to the dark, the outlines of buildings became visible. It was large enough to rival the major city of Langerstine.
But it was dark, gloomy, and completely devoid of people. It was no different than an empty ghost city.
“…Tsk. This atmosphere is insane.”
Dick muttered, glancing nervously around.
Kamibarez clung tightly to Simon’s sleeve. When he walked, she would scurry along behind him in tiny steps. She looked frightened, but when their eyes met, she giggled.
“You okay, Kami?”
“Yes!”
She answered cheerfully.
“We came to a scary place, but all four of us are together, right? Just that alone makes me feel reassured!”
“Yeah, let’s do our best together.”
Meanwhile, Maelyn was more eager than anyone to search the city. Striding into an alley, she brushed her palm against a wooden building.
“It’s amazing how the structure is still intact like this. Except for the darkness and zombies, it just looks like a regular city.”
“Hey, don’t go off alone!”
Dick exclaimed in horror.
“What is she, fearless or something? There are zombies lurking everywhere!”
Maelyn grinned back at Dick.
“Scaredy-cat.”
“…!”
That one word made Dick freeze stiffly.
“H-Hey! Who are you calling scaredy-cat? I’m a necromancer from Keyzen! My job is literally to deal with zombies, why would I be scared of them…?”
Clatter.
Maelyn lightly kicked a loose stone nearby. Already on edge, Dick and Kamibarez yelped and hid behind Simon’s back.
“If you really can’t handle it, stay at the camp.”
Simon said with a wry smile.
“Maelyn and I will find a good zombie and bring it back.”
In reality, there were students who were too terrified to enter Deathland at all. They were staying behind at the camp under Aron’s protection.
“T-That won’t do!”
Kamibarez pressed her forehead against Simon’s back with her eyes tightly shut.
“Please don’t abandon me! I’ll try my best!”
“Huh? Oh, no! I didn’t mean it like that…”
“We’re going all the way.”
Dick added with a shaky voice, forcing a smile.
“If I bail now, Maelyn’s going to nag me about teamwork for the entire semester.”
“You know me well~”
Maelyn replied, standing on her toes to peek through a window.
“No one’s inside.”
“Well, of course not! There are no people here. Only undead!”
“But Dick.”
Simon said, scanning the eerie cityscape.
“Did people really live here once?”
“…Huh? Oh. Of course.”
Dick nodded, lowering his voice.
“Professor Aron uses this place for evaluations every year, but apparently, there’s a lot of internal opposition in Keyzen.”
“Because it’s dangerous?”
“That’s part of it, but mostly because this place is like a hidden scar for Keyzen.”
Dick continued, his face growing solemn.
“This used to be a city of the former Talhern Empire.”
Simon knew Talhern well.
The empire that defied Keyzen, only to be annihilated by the 'Rebellion Rose’ of the Ten Necromancers.
And during the Talhern era, Deathland was the second most prosperous city after the capital.
“According to history books, the emperor was captured in the capital after the 50,000 troops sent to attack Keyzen returned as undead during the ‘Rebellion Rose’. But that’s actually not true.”
Before they knew it, Maelyn and Kamibarez were also listening closely.
“The emperor escaped the chaos in the capital and tried to form a new base to resist Keyzen. That base turned out to be this place—Deathland. Back then, it was ruled by one of the empire’s strongest Swordmasters and had a large garrison stationed here. The emperor planned a massive counterattack from this location.”
Deathland had been a fortress city, protected by towering walls and a large population.
It was the ideal place for a prolonged war, especially with a Swordmaster capable of fighting high-level necromancers.
“Keyzen feared the empire might regroup and fight back. They decided an overwhelming show of fear was necessary. So they dropped a black magic spell here, something on the level of a strategic weapon.”
Dick spread his arms.
“And that’s how it ended up like this.”
“…!”
Kamibarez covered her mouth, eyes wide.
“When the empire’s second city was wiped out in a single blast of black magic, the emperor completely lost the will to resist and surrendered to Keyzen. That’s roughly how it went down.”
Suddenly, everything around them fell silent. Maelyn put her hands on her hips and said,
“Still, it couldn’t be helped, right? If the emperor had made it here, he would’ve dragged the entire empire into war just to preserve his pride! A full-scale war between Keyzen and the empire would’ve been a massacre. Millions could’ve died! HQ made the call to stop it before it escalated, and I can understand that.”
“But…”
Kamibarez said softly.
“…I feel bad for the people who lived in this city.”
“W-Well, yeah.”
Maelyn sighed, conceding the point. It might’ve been a strategically sound decision, but it wasn’t something she could call right.
“Okay! That’s enough history talk. Back to business.”
Dick clapped his hands.
“To use zombie summoning magic, we first need to find corpses. Not everything in Deathland turned into a zombie. Some remain as intact corpses, not yet zombified. Finding those is the priority!”
Maelyn stretched out her hand.
“Then let’s search the houses nearby. We might find something.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“How about this?”
Simon suggested. For efficiency, he proposed splitting into two teams—Maelyn’s team and Simon’s team.
But—
“Hey! Are you trying to send me off with that scatterbrain? She’s no help at all!”
“Since we still have plenty of time, maybe we should all stick together?” Kamibarez said.
“It’s such a dangerous place…”
Indeed, as Kamibarez said, there was no need to rush. Safety came before grades.
Team 7 decided to search the houses as a complete group.
Knock knock.
With a serious expression, Dick knocked on a door.
“Anyone home? We’re coming in. Sorry about this.”
“Quit your nonsense and just go in, you idiot!”
Maelyn pushed Dick aside and strode confidently into the house. Simon followed behind and scanned the interior.
It looked like a normal family home. The place had been preserved just as it was before the curse struck.
“Nothing on the second floor either!”
Maelyn came clattering down the stairs and called out.
“Let’s move on to the next house!”
“Okay.”
The four of them diligently searched through house after house.
“Nothing here either!”
“Next!”
For nearly two hours, they thoroughly searched every house they could, but in the end, they found nothing.
“Wow, this is harder than I thought.”
“Let’s take a break here.”
Their stamina was running low, so they decided to rest.
The four of them went into a house and locked the door. Sitting comfortably, they took water bottles out of subspace and quenched their thirst when—
—Oooooooohhhhhh.
“Holy sh—! That scared the crap out of me.”
At the eerie scream from outside, Dick rolled across the floor in panic.
“Be quiet, you idiot!”
Maelyn warned him, placing her finger over her lips.
The four exchanged glances in silence. From outside, they could hear something dragging its feet.
Scrape—scrape—
Very close. The footsteps were right next to the window.
‘Damn.’
Simon peeked at the window and gestured quickly. All four immediately flattened themselves to the floor.
When Simon looked up, a silhouette appeared beyond the window.
A corpse with a horribly mangled face was moving.
“…!”
Kamibarez covered her mouth. Dick stared fixedly at the floor, while Maelyn prepared to cast black magic, just in case.
Thump-thump—
Their hearts pounded. The zombie’s drooping head turned slowly toward the window. Its neck was torn open, the bones clearly visible.
“……”
“……”
An unbearable silence filled the room.
Scrape—scrape—
Then, with its signature dragging sound, the zombie slowly moved away from the window.
“Haaaahh…”
Everyone exhaled in relief. Dick patted his chest and said,
“Ugh, I’m alive. Seriously felt like I lost a year off my life.”
Maelyn stood up.
“We should change locations. Zombies are starting to roam this area, and I don’t think there’s much point in searching nearby anymore. I think—”
Just then, Simon’s eyes widened.
Behind Maelyn, something shot out from the window frame of the storage door, where nothing had been moments before.
“Watch out!”
A pale, corpse-like gray hand clamped over Maelyn’s mouth and dragged her into the storage room.
Thud!
“Mmph! Mmmph!”
She struggled desperately. On the other side of the bars, the zombie’s other arm pushed through.
Crunch!
Simon was the first to react.
He dashed forward like lightning and struck the arm holding Maelyn with his elbow.
Smash!
As Maelyn broke free of the zombie’s grip, Dick threw his entire weight against the door to slam it shut.
—Kyaaaaaargh!
From behind the barred window of the storage door, the zombie flailed both arms. The door was locked from the inside, but one of its feet stuck out through the crack.
The door rattled, threatening to burst open at any moment.
“I got this!”
<Blood Silk>
Remaining calm, Kamibarez completed a black magic spell and sent a rug of blood through the bars.
Cleverly, she wrapped the rug around the zombie’s neck and yanked it back. At that moment, Dick fully shut the door and placed his palm on the handle.
‘Enchant!’
Dick reinforced the rusted blackened hinges with Darkness.
“It’s done, Kami!”
At Dick’s shout, Kamibarez nodded and released Blood Silk. The zombie shrieked and rammed into the door again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
But thanks to the enchantment strengthening the hinges, the door held firm.
All four sighed in relief.
Simon looked at Maelyn.
“You okay, Maelyn?”
“Ah, yeah. Thanks.”
She took Simon’s hand and stood up. Dick scratched his head.
“Damn, I thought my heart was going to stop.”
“I’m sorry! I should’ve checked more carefully.”
“No, no, it’s okay.”
Despite being terrified, they had all reacted swiftly in the crisis. Simon couldn’t help but feel proud, they really were Keyzen students.
He looked warmly at his companions, then turned toward the window. In the darkness, more and more howls could be heard.
“The zombies must’ve heard the noise. We need to get out now.”
It wasn’t that each individual zombie was powerful, but once a few appeared, more would follow the noise. That was the real danger. Everyone nodded and began preparing to escape.
Simon took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob.
“Alright, I’m opening it.”
All eyes focused on the door. As Simon opened it and stepped outside—
‘…Ah!’
He locked eyes with a group of zombies shambling past the front door.
At that moment, Dick hurled the table he was holding straight at them and shouted,
“Run!”
Superb.