Deep beneath Death Land, within the underground catacombs hidden beneath the ruined city, a lone figure sat in the darkness.
Swish. Wipe.
A piece of cloth carefully traveled along the length of an upright sword, removing every trace of dirt from its blade. The one holding it wore robes patterned with the emblem of a red flower, but beneath those clothes there was no flesh or skin to be found.
His entire body consisted of dry, white bones. He was a skeleton.
"Have you heard the legend of the Zombie Prince, Manus?"
The skeleton polishing his blade slowly turned his head toward the voice. Leaning casually against the nearby wall was an old human man with two cigars held between his lips.
"They say the true body of the Zombie Prince sleeps somewhere in Death Land. If you obtain the crown it wears, you'll gain control over all the zombies wandering throughout this land. And beyond that, you could effectively claim Death Land itself as your own."
Manus stared at him for a moment before turning back to his sword and resuming his careful polishing.
[Not interested.]
"I know you very well."
The old man unfolded his arms and slowly approached.
"You want to bring down Kizen and the Dark Alliance, don't you? You still want revenge."
[…]
Manus offered no answer, but the old man continued, his tongue moving almost like that of a snake trying to tempt its prey.
"If that's what you want, then taking control of Death Land should be your first step. After all, wasn't this originally your own fief?"
A faint smirk appeared on his face.
"Swordmaster of the old Talhern Empire."
Swish.
In an instant, Manus raised his sword and placed its edge against the old man's neck. The sudden movement forced the man to freeze in place, but despite the blade resting dangerously close to his throat, his mouth continued moving.
"Your eventual clash with the Prince is unavoidable anyway. And you possess enough overwhelming strength to change the course of that battle by yourself, so what exactly are you hesitating for?"
The old man's confidence wasn't entirely baseless. Manus had already reached the realm of an Ancient Undead, possessing power far beyond that of ordinary skeletons.
After a brief silence, Manus finally spoke.
[Where is the crown?]
"I'll find that out."
The old man rubbed his palms together, his grin widening now that Manus had finally shown some interest.
"More importantly, the Zombie Prince has left his usual territory. This is the first time he's done so in nearly ten years. An opportunity like this may never come again."
Manus slowly lowered the sword from the man's neck, although the cold sharpness within his gaze remained unchanged.
Kizen.
To Manus, that name represented the axis of evil responsible for destroying his homeland, the proud and ancient nation of Talhern. He had fallen victim to that destruction as well, reduced from one of the empire's greatest Swordmasters to nothing more than dry, white bones.
Yet even after becoming an undead, one thing had allowed his will to endure.
Revenge.
"The Rebellion Rose plunged the entire continent into terror by turning fifty thousand elite Imperial soldiers into undead. But just imagine this."
The old man smiled as he continued feeding the hatred that had survived within Manus for all these years.
"You, together with your former people who were turned into undead, marching against Kizen and bringing it down with your own hands."
[…]
"Wouldn't that be glorious?"
Manus slowly turned his skull toward the old man once more.
[Why are you helping me?]
"As I've told you again and again, I have a grudge against Kizen too. We share a common enemy! Isn't that reason simple enough?"
The old man's lips curled into a chilling smile.
"That's all there is to it."
***
Back on Group 8's side.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
BOOM!
The street that had previously been overflowing with zombies was now covered with corpses.
...Well, perhaps saying that sounded a little strange, considering the zombies had technically been corpses to begin with.
Anyway, after fighting for a while, Knox, Cindy, Claudia, and Merida finally finished clearing out the entire horde. In truth, Knox could have wiped them all out by himself with a single large-scale attack, but whenever possible, he preferred giving his group members more actual combat experience instead of solving everything for them.
There was another reason for that as well.
Flema's attack on Kizen isn't that far away anymore. The more experience they can gain before then, the better.
"Phew! Finally!" Cindy exclaimed, lowering her scythe after confirming that nothing around them was still moving.
"Eww..." Claudia stared at the remains scattered across the street with undisguised disgust. "I don't think I'll be able to eat meat for a while after seeing all this."
"...I really want to take a shower," Merida muttered as she looked down at herself.
"Good job, girls, but let's save the reactions for later~." Knox turned his attention toward the direction Group 7 had disappeared earlier, only to find that Simon and the others were nowhere in sight. "Looks like Group 7 already disappeared."
Claudia followed his gaze and examined the surrounding streets before noticing where most of the remaining zombies seemed to be gathering.
"Hmm... judging by the direction they're moving, Group 7 must have gone inside that mansion."
Following her gaze, the others spotted a large, dilapidated mansion further ahead. Much of the building had already fallen into ruin, yet dozens of zombies were still crowding around it, surrounding the structure from nearly every direction.
After taking a brief moment to recover, Group 8 headed toward the mansion. As they drew closer, Knox's expression changed slightly while his senses swept through the ruined structure.
"There's no movement inside." He frowned before checking once more. "Fortunately, I can't detect any living presence either, so Group 7 must have already escaped somewhere else."
"But... the zombies are still surrounding the mansion." Cindy looked between the undead and the ruined building, slowly realizing the contradiction. "So where could Group 7 have gone? Unless..."
"They didn't escape through the outside of the mansion," Merida finished calmly.
Cindy immediately tightened her grip on her scythe.
"Then first, we have to clean these guys up!"
She was just about to charge forward when Knox raised a hand and stopped her.
"Wait. We need to hurry, so let me handle this one."
Before any of the girls could respond, Knox pulled the tachi from his inventory. His right hand closed around its hilt while the sheath remained steady at his waist, and for the briefest instant, his body became completely still.
Then he disappeared.
Shing!
A sharp sound of steel cutting through the air suddenly rang out from the direction of the mansion.
Cindy, Claudia, and Merida immediately turned toward it, only to find Knox already standing beyond the crowd of undead. For a moment, the zombies surrounding the mansion remained exactly where they had been, as though nothing had happened.
Then thin cuts appeared across their bodies almost simultaneously.
One after another, the zombies collapsed onto the ground, leaving the path toward the ruined mansion completely clear.
".....Well, I've already gotten used to scenes like this."
Cindy stared at the fallen zombies with an unusually calm expression, her eyes somehow carrying the clarity of someone who had finally accepted that questioning Knox's absurdities was a waste of energy.
Claudia and Merida gave her a brief glance, but neither bothered to disagree. Instead, the four quickly entered the dilapidated mansion and began searching for traces of Group 7.
It didn't take long before they found signs of their passage leading toward an entrance connected to the underground sewer system. The moment the entrance was opened, however, an unpleasant stench immediately drifted upward, causing all three girls to frown at almost the same time.
"...Do we really have to go down there?" Cindy muttered.
"Group 7 went this way," Claudia replied while covering her nose. "So yes."
Merida said nothing, but the slight twitch of her expression made her opinion perfectly clear.
Despite their disgust, none of them hesitated for long. With Knox taking the lead, Group 8 descended into the sewer and followed the traces left behind by Simon and the others.
They had been running through the underground passages for a while when several voices suddenly echoed from somewhere ahead.
"Meilyn!"
"Urgh!"
"Argh!"
The moment those pained cries reached them, Knox's expression sharpened.
"Let's go!"
He immediately accelerated, with Cindy, Claudia, and Merida following close behind. The four rushed toward the source of the commotion, and when they finally emerged into a wider section of the underground passage, the sight waiting for them caused the three girls behind Knox to freeze in horror.
Rick and Cami were lying on the ground, both clearly injured.
But before they could even call out to them, their attention was drawn toward two figures further ahead. One was a man clad in skeletal armor of an unusual color, while the other looked almost like a young boy at first glance. His corpse-like skin, however, immediately revealed that he was anything but human.
More importantly, Meilyn was slung over his shoulder.
"Meilyn!" Claudia shouted.
The zombie boy glanced in their direction, but rather than staying to fight, he immediately kicked off the ground with tremendous force. Carrying Meilyn with him, he shot upward and smashed straight through the ceiling, sending chunks of stone and debris raining down as he disappeared toward the surface.
Cindy, Claudia, and Merida could only stare at the newly opened hole above them, stunned by how quickly everything had happened.
Knox, however, knew exactly who they had just seen.
The former Ancient Undead of the 7th Legion, and the ruler of the zombies of Death Land, Prince.