Chapter 3 - A Ruined Metropolis

Chapter 3 : A Ruined Metropolis

The dungeon where I was right now was a place where many dangerous and powerful demons dwelled. But surprisingly, none of those monstrosities could even leave a scratch on my skin.

Well, most of the demons who saw me became frightened and began running for their life immediately. There were also several demons that did a desperate charge towards me. But they all ended up crushing their own limbs and escaped with their tail between their legs, just like that Armored Grizzly I met previously.

Moreover, I found out that the traps in this dungeon were practically useless against me. I had activated and jumped into all the traps I found along the way, whether it was a pitfall, a falling ceiling, poison, and even a direct explosion trap. But all of it couldn’t even let me feel a thing. It seemed like that no amount of traps were enough even just to hurt me.

「Hasn’t this body of mine… become needlessly too powerful?」

I just want to die as fast as possible. Yet, this unnecessarily sturdy body of mine didn’t even let me 「Die」.

I continue walked thoughtlessly, still completely at loss on how to make this body rest an eternal sleep, when suddenly, the surrounding went bright.

「It’s… outside」

I realized that I had finally reached the exit of the dungeon which was brightly lit from the light pouring from outside. If I was still alive, I might be jumping in joy to be able to survive from this kind of place.

Unfortunately, I was dead, and worst, I was also turned into an undead.

I didn’t even feel a shred of happiness when I finally left this gloomy place.

As I pondered about that matter, I stepped further outside of the exit which was pretty bright due to the sunlight.

Come to think of it, it had been a really long time since the last time I basked under the sunlight. I hope I could feel the warmth of it again, but I guess I wouldn’t feel anything because I was an undead.

No… wait a minute?

That’s right!

I was an undead.

Undeads should be weak against the sunlight. That’s why they only appeared during the night, in a dungeon, or inside a dense forest. Long exposure under the sunlight would burn the Undeads into ashes and killed them.

「Rather… This is what I need!」

I knew it.

What I wished for was death.

If the sunlight was strong enough, it could be something that might possibly grant my dear wish.

Without further ado, I dashed forward and leaped towards the dazzling sunlight that was raining incessantly from the sky. The result was…

「… Uhm, it neither hurts nor is itchy…」

I was disappointed to the fact that I received no damage even after fully exposed my body to the mercy of the sunlight. Although it might eventually show a little bit of its effect on me if I basked long enough, I had already concluded that sunlight wasn’t my weak point either.

Nevertheless, it seemed that the sunlight is quite powerful around this area huh.

Even though my undead body was impervious to it, but upon a closer look, I could see a faint haze emanating from my skin. The sunlight should be especially strong here to actually affect this uselessly strong body of mine.

It might be midsummer right now.

While I was still savoring the taste of the sunlight, I scanned the dungeon’s surroundings. It seemed like the dungeon was surrounded by a wasteland. I couldn’t see any vegetation grow near it, not even a speck of grass.

Despite my hazy memories, I still remembered that the dungeon where I met my demise wasn’t a place like this before. The dungeon should be in the middle of a forest, surrounded by lush vegetations.

It seemed that as I was loitering in the dungeon as a mindless undead, the environment and climate around the dungeon had changed drastically.

However, the one that surprised me the most was not the changes of the area surrounding the dungeon, but the dungeon itself, or to be exact, the dungeon entrance.

「WHAT THE!?」

The entrance was replaced with a giant dragon’s head.

Well, it might be a dragon’s head when it was alive a long time ago. But now only its skull was left though.

As I observed the dragon’s head a little closer, I roughly measured that it was 10 meters tall. I also discovered that a row of fangs sticking out from the ceiling of the entrance, which was located in the gaping jaw of the dragon’s head. I couldn’t see the body at all though. It might be buried all the way underground.

Although I couldn’t imagine just how huge its overall size was, but if you looked at the size of its head alone, this thing must be extraordinarily massive.

「… If I was stomped by this giant dragon… I guess not even this strangely tenacious body of mine would be safe….」

Anyhow, putting the dragon’s head matter aside, I clearly remembered that the entrance of this dungeon wasn’t like this before.

The entrance should be more like a cave.

Just what the hell had happened here to produce such extreme changes?

I seriously thought over that matter for a bit, but it only produced more complicated questions. As such, I could only give up since I knew that I wouldn’t find the answer by myself no matter how long I think about it.

When I was still busy pondering about it, my surroundings suddenly turned dark.

When I looked up, the clear sky that was accompanied by brilliant sunlight just a moment ago had been changed to multiple layers of pitch-black clouds.

Suddenly, a heavy downpour fell down from the sky. I couldn’t even recover from the shock of seeing the sudden change in weather when I was already wet from head to toe.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

It was as if the clear sky from a moment ago was just a lie.

Lightning struck the ground again and again which followed by numerous thunderous noises.

I hurriedly ran back to the dungeon’s entrance to take shelter and waited for the rain to clear.

The heavy rain continued for a while.

It formed several puddles of water in the middle of this wasteland.

But due to its size, rather than a puddle of water, ponds or a lake might be a better description of it.

The water even started to flood the dungeon’s floor.

As I looked down at the floodwater, I saw a reflection of myself.

「Wait, is this… me?」

The person in the reflection was a young man with snow-white hair and blood-red eyes.

My hair was supposed to be black and the color of my eyes wasn’t red either though.

But aside from those features, I looked exactly like a normal human being.

With this appearance, I believe that nobody would realize that I was an undead even if I met them directly.

+++

After the heavy downpour, several sudden weather changes followed.

But, the changes were a bit too extreme.

After the heavy rain cleared, a heavy snowstorm fell. Then after that came a sweeping gale and tornadoes which ransacked the wasteland.

Then just as I thought it was back to fine weather again, a severe heatwave assailed the wasteland.

As such, I could only conclude that the climate in this area was insane.

I understood now, no wonder there was not even grass growing near here.

Anyhow, I walked away to leave the wasteland.

「There should be a village close by….」

That village was usually used by the adventurers as their base before exploring that forest cave dungeon. Well, now it was a dungeon inside a dragon’s mouth.

It was often raided by demons since the village was built inside a forest, but the villagers themselves were extremely skilled. They can fend off the demons themselves.

「… Around here huh.」

Naturally, that village seemed like got wiped out, along with the forest. What remained of the village was a faint trace of the wall which was built around it as a protective measure against the attacking demons.

Nevertheless, the faint trace of civilization left here proved that my memories about the surrounding areas, despite being hazy, was right.

Thus, I decided on my next destination.

I walked towards the direction of the capital city of the surrounding region, Balkaba.

I mean, I couldn’t imagine that such a huge capital city such as Balkaba would be destroyed too.

Although the distance was too far away that it normally couldn’t be covered by just walking, it wouldn’t be a problem with my current undead body.

I had no need for food and sleep with this body, thus I could basically walk both day and night nonstop.

As I walked further and further from the dungeon, the abnormal weather change lessened.

On top of that, I also noticed that demons and plants started to appear sporadically.

However, all of the demons escaped at full speed as soon as they saw me.

They seemed to be weaker than the demons I met inside the dungeon who couldn’t even hurt me. So, their instinct might tell them to flee immediately if they caught a glimpse of me.

I had no intention of attacking them though.

Soon enough, I saw it.

The giant rampart that protected the capital ci――

「Seriously… this place is ruined too.」

I muttered in disbelieve as I looked at the sorry state of the once solid, fortified wall.

The massive and thick rampart which was said to be able to withstand the attack of the dragon had transformed into a mere shadow of its former glory.

With a majority of it ruined, there was nothing they could do even if mere bandits attacked the city.

Naturally, the city itself was in an equally tragic state.

The large and beautiful townscape that boasted its status as the capital city of the region had been lost, leaving only its tragic ruins behind.

I walked along the main street which I could still recognize from my memories.

It was once a lively place with an almost endless amounts of people gathered and many stores lined up along the street.

But now, what left of that festive street was only ruins.

I might be the only person in this ruin right now. Well, that was if an undead like me could be counted as a person though.

「Don’t tell me that humanity has perished….. Wait, what the hell I’m talking ab—?」

As I despaired with the worst possibility that could ever happen to my former race.

I heard voices came from afar.

「OOOOH!」

「TAKE THIS! FIRE JAVELIN!」

「Human? Is that a… Human voice?」

As if finally found a glimmer of hope, I ran in hurriedly towards the direction of that voices.

As I started to run, my body feels unnaturally light.

This is the first time I tried to run with this undead body I was surprised to find that I was able to run at this breakneck speed.

Nevertheless, I hadn’t reached the sources of the voices after around five minutes later. I realized that the distance between me and that voice was really far apart.

Could it be that my hearing was also enhanced to be able to hear voices came from long distances?

My hearing ability was also overpowered huh.

And then, I finally saw them.

There was no mistake.

They were humans.

It was an adventurer party consisted of four people.

They were currently in the middle of fighting a demon.

The demon they fought was a huge wild boar with over than two meters long body, adorned with a pair of sharp tusks.

But then, as soon as they saw me, both parties suddenly stopped fighting immediately――

「BUFUUUU!?」

「「「NA…..」」」

The next moment, the wild boar turned tail and escaped as if its life was at stake.　On the other hand, the four adventurers showed a look of despair on their faces.