Besides Guy and Kakashi, these two Jonin who weren't afraid of the stench, the only others unaffected were the crows, wolves, and bears.
After all, they are emotionless summoned creatures; a mere stench means nothing to them.
"Bang!"
The battle at the front lines had already begun.
Naruto endured the foul smell, taking down opponents one by one with his axe.
Even if they were enhanced tenfold, 'Zombies' were still 'Zombies,' the trashiest monsters in this game.
Naruto stood at the entrance of the passage, blocking the way like an unyielding fortress. The narrow cave was practically sealed off by him, and the Wandering Dead had their heads separated from their bodies before they could even emerge.
Besides Sakura and Kakashi, the two Elemental Mages who could occasionally sneak in a couple of spells, everyone else could only fret outside the passage, lacking any chance to intervene.
However, this situation didn't last long. This was a game optimized by the System, meaning even monster corpses wouldn't be instantly despawned.
As the corpses piled higher and higher, blocking the entrance, the Wandering Dead inside continued to push their way out.
Although Naruto's axe remained fierce, he was forced to retreat slightly, no longer able to keep the monsters confined.
The rest of the people behind him finally stopped being spectators, and as the space increased, they all began attacking the 'Zombies.'
But as more and more Wandering Dead poured out of the passage entrance, the situation gradually became critical.
Initially, when Naruto blocked them at the passage entrance, he only had to face enemies head-on, which was still manageable.
Now he was surrounded by Wandering Dead. Although the space was slightly larger, there wasn't much room to dodge either.
Although his speed in killing enemies didn't slow down much, his Health Points were rapidly decreasing.
If they were outside, this group of 'Zombies' would have been dealt with in minutes, unlike now, where he was actually surrounded.
Surrounded, he could only rely on Red Health Potions to sustain himself. He had just chugged one, and the moment the one-minute cooldown was up, he quickly drank another.
Even Sasuke's summoned creatures had died once, but after he revived them, they rejoined the fight.
By this point, the number of 'Zombies' killed had exceeded sixty, but the central passage continued to spew out these foul-smelling monsters endlessly.
Fortunately, everyone's Rank was high enough and their strength sufficient. Even though the monsters kept pushing forward, as the corpses accumulated, the Wandering Dead had less and less space to stand, and the previously precarious situation gradually eased.
At this moment, no one bothered conserving Magic Power anymore; they all started unleashing skills wildly.
Before long, this entire pile of Zombies was completely wiped out by the squad.
"I think... maybe we should go out and rest for a bit?"
Sitting amidst the pile of corpses, Naruto said, panting heavily... After such an intense battle, only Naruto looked utterly wretched, his already sparse armor stained red and green.
The red was blood, and the green was the corpse fluid of the Wandering Dead.
Because Naruto and Sasuke's summoned creatures had blocked the front the entire time, everyone else was fine, except for Tenten and Sakura, who were pale.
Well, their paleness was due to excessive vomiting; they weren't actually injured.
The group walked out of the cave, and a gust of cool breeze from the wild made their breathing feel much smoother.
While resting, Sasuke didn't let the wolf and bear he summoned remain idle; instead, he sent them into the cave to clean up the corpses.
Otherwise, they would have to go back in later, and these untreated corpses would ultimately be a nuisance.
Not to mention how bad the smell was, if they encountered danger deep inside the cave and needed to retreat, those corpses would become genuine stumbling blocks—or perhaps stumbling corpses?
After this battle, everyone's Rank improved further.
They rested while allocating points, and after about ten minutes, although the wolf and bear hadn't finished clearing all the corpses, they had cleared a path allowing them to continue forward.
"If it weren't for the time limit, I'd really want to rest a bit longer."
Thinking about the fight just now, even Naruto felt a slight fear.
Not because of the danger, but purely because the 'Zombies' were disgustingly nauseating.
"If we want to make it into the top three, we have to race against time."
After resting for about ten minutes, Kakashi and Guy felt ready.
Since they were leading some Genin, if it were just the two of them, five minutes of rest would probably be enough.
"Alright, let's keep going... Think about the championship, think about the magical items Boss Ge sells. Doesn't that excite you?"
Kakashi could tell that the team's morale was currently a bit low.
The boys were somewhat better, but girls like Tenten and Sakura were extremely 'afraid' of the scene they had just witnessed.
Therefore, he needed to say a few words to encourage them and restore their morale.
What could be more morale-boosting than securing first place?
Thinking that they could exchange for magical items from Boss Ge after winning the championship suddenly made them feel that corpses, foul smells, and the like were insignificant... When the group entered the cave again, the mountainous pile of corpses had been cleared to the sides, revealing a passage wide enough for people to walk through normally.
Of course, small debris like severed limbs, skull fragments, and eyeballs were still left in the passage, but compared to having the path blocked by corpses, this was already a vast improvement.
After all, the ones clearing these corpses were just a wolf and a bear.
At this moment, the faint glow on the ground caught everyone's attention. These were the spoils of war they hadn't had time to collect during the previous battle: about a dozen Gold Coins and a few Red and Blue Potions. They were suspended about one or two centimeters above the ground, visible thanks to the cave's natural light.
Speaking of natural light, one had to 'admire' the System; it completely removed the setting for torches and introduced the setting for natural light.
Even in this eerie and dark cave, players could clearly see about five meters ahead.
"You all take these potions."
They ignored the Gold Coins on the ground; they were participating in a competition and had to race against time.
Therefore, even if they had Gold Coins, they couldn't possibly return to the camp for supplies.
The Red and Blue Potions dropped by monsters were their main source of supply.
Since supplies were limited, Guy naturally handed everything over to Team 7, who were better at 'playing' the game.
Whether it was Naruto acting as a meat shield to block the path or Sakura and Kakashi providing magic output, they all needed these potions.
"Understood."
Kakashi didn't decline either, keeping one Blue Potion for himself and giving the rest to Sakura and Naruto.