Chapter 272 - Day CMLXVI, Part II

The travel took me few hours, as I wasn't really in a rush. It was kinda annoying to have to walk this much, when I had my anchors I could now travel much more effortlessly, but since I didn't want to move them, and didn't have many of those not in use, I just had to use my legs.

On my way, I decided to start working on covering at least a few hunting grounds from now on, and really invest in the shadow pilgrim class, and its next tiers. I also needed to upgrade Hospitaler, and who knew what it could allow me to do if I invested enough in it. I had a pretty good idea about the future skills because of the manual, but that wasn't the same with testing them in practice.

I eventually reached, just as I thought, a new gate, that formed where the mountain range collapsed. There was a short piece of regular grassland there and behind it was a freaking graveyard.

There was a metal fence with a low wall at the base. A brick post was separating each part of it. Those were damaged, just like the fence itself. Bent and devoid of some fragments, ending with sharp decorative tops. All black and partially corroded, clearly old.

The soil was also dark with the grey tombstones overgrown with lichen. Seemingly lifeless, dry. There was also fog, that existed only low to the ground. Clouds of it covered parts of the cemetery, sometimes obscuring it completely, and sometimes leaving parts of it completely visible, with thin pools of it in-between.

It was enormous. All the way to the horizon, and beneath. I noticed also a few mausoleums looming in the distance.

There was a gate, half-open, broken and bent, leading inside. Made out of the same corroded metal as the fence itself. I went there and squeezed myself through the opening. At first, nothing happened, so I made few more steps, and then skeletal hands emerged from the seemingly loose earth all around me.

The further I looked, the more of them I noticed. I made myself a sledgehammer out of the void essence, but that was a stupid idea, as it lacked the necessary weight. I made it disappear, and instead created the usual pudao. Breaking bones would be easier than cutting through them, but I had to work with what I had.

The skeletons dug themselves out of their graves. All had some kind of jagged, damaged, and corroded weaponry, that they brought from their coffins. Swords, axes, spears, and much more.

They were fast, and swarmed me, just to find for themselves how little chances they had with me.

Neither their weapons nor their bones were able to stop my void blade, which was cutting through them like butter. There were hundreds of them, but I was dealing with them fairly easily, changing the color of the fog black because of all the smoke created by them turning into crystals.

They kept coming, and coming, without end. I had to destroy at least a few thousand of those. It became hard to move with all the stones under my feet, but I managed somehow, finally ending the assault. No new monsters came after me, so I decided to summon my shadows, and made them pile up the score by the gate.

Then I went even deeper into this necropolis. After around a mile the same thing happened. The ground in front of each tombstone started moving, but this time it was not skeletal hands. Those had some flash on them and seemed a little bit slower. Zombies - I immediately thought.

I waited for them to dig themselves out, and confirmed that I was indeed right in my assumption. Next was the annihilation process, during which I observed few things. Those creatures were slow, but actually very sturdy. On top of that their strength was way more than I anticipated. If those were to get to the city currently, all people would die to them. That was a piece of pretty bad news.

The fight was way shorter compared to the one with skeletons because of two reasons. There were simply way fewer things to kill, and I was still way stronger than those monsters.

Done with every creature, I kept walking even further, and after around one mile more, the fog thickened. To the point, I actually had to use 'Eyes of the Void'. That was a great idea because it allowed me to detect the third type of creatures around. Bulky, four-legged species with nasty mouths, full of sharp teeth.

Those things just charged at me, but unfortunately for them, I was like a freaking tank, with the speed of a sports car. I avoided easily every attack and retailed with powerful punches, strong enough to break their bodies like they were made of cardboard. My pudao had an even worse effect, as I could cut them in half with barely any effort.

Overall they were stronger than zombies and definitely faster. Maybe not as durable. I killed quite a lot of them. A number was comparable to zombies.

I tried to go further, but the graveyard ended not too long further, so I returned, and passing by my shadows, made them go and bring the rest of the crystals.

Then I ran back to the city center. If we were to gather the crystals and bring them back before night, I needed to be quick.

I gathered people and helped them in the transport process. There were many questions about the monsters, and some people really wanted to explore the necropolis, but I just told them to go back, as I was tired after all that walking and fighting. Not physically, but more mentally. I didn't have my usual drive, as I was doing things that were not benefiting me almost at all.

After bringing everything back, counting, and dividing, I called it a day, promising Alexandra and Slaven to tell them what I saw the next day.. I ate something, created the usual barriers, and finally went to well-deserved sleep.