Chapter 122

Chapter 122: The first undead

A lot of footsteps reverberated throughout the mansion.

Those were villagers who had been genuinely scared of the zombie. They brought weapons and even mighty knights from the capital to deal with the undead existences.

The soul grave-keeper and Alex had been watching them from the side.

The old man carried on with his monologue, “Zombies are failures. They are people who couldn’t accept their death. They couldn’t bear being failures in their lives.

That mayor was not a bad mayor. In fact, he was loved by everyone. However, his son wanted to take his position. He poisoned his own father, then waited for him to die.

Alas, the mayor’s life goal always had been to ideally play a specific symphony. A symphony his mother loved,” the old man’s emotionless voice gripped Alex’s soul.

Alex understood that the soul grave-keeper was immensely disappointed in the zombies from the past.

He stopped thinking as villagers and knights surrounded the mayor zombie.

The old man chuckled, “Zombies have a good trait, though.”

[You monster! Let this piano go and die! Stop haunting your own people!]

[As the knight of the Magenta Kingdom, I shall eradicate the heretic!]

Villagers and knights hurled their techniques at the mayor zombie.

That was when the aforementioned good trait kicked in.

The mayor zombie jumped away from the piano at speed going beyond human capabilities. He swirled in one place, kicking out a few villagers. His strength left them breathless.

He then pounced at the knights. His quick moves and simple, brutal strength didn’t scare them.

But after a few clashes, a drop of sweat formed on the knights’ faces. That sweat trickled down their temple.

“Zombies will kill everyone who tries to stop them. If those villagers destroyed the piano, he would embark on a journey to find a new one. He would bring that piano back home and play the song again.

Destroying the house wouldn’t help, either. The villagers could take drastic measures to build a wall or trap the whole house, but that would be suicidal for their economy. They also don’t have any money to spare for one peculiar zombie,” the old man explained.

Alex nodded.

The old man chuckled for the first time ever since appearing here, “If you are looking out for that mayor’s son, then you won’t find him. He already got killed by the zombie.”

Zombies were also efficient in their killing.

To quickly return to what stopped them from passing away, they would efficiently erase their all enemies. They would pierce through the chest to take the heart away, they would shatter the skull to destroy the brain, or they would use other fast means.

The soul grave-keeper continued his talk after everyone in the mansion died, “Zombies are failures. They lack killing intent.”

The scene changed.

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“Skeletons,” the old man’s staff pointed at the skeleton, “The first skeleton’s return was even more bizarre.”

The first skeleton came out of the grave.

He was a soldier of an old empire. As no empire’s reign could last for an eternity, his old empire’s days were already counted. But the deep loyalty and love for his home merged in his bones, bringing him back to life.

The soul grave-keeper emotionlessly spoke, “The bones of powerful existences never die with time. And as people are naive beings, they always want to leave something behind. Some do it through status, some make significant changes to the world, but all want to reach the peak of their power to leave their bones behind.”

The first skeleton howled; his red wisps within his skull were flaring up.

Since his home became a battlefield, he picked up the random fallen soldier’s weapon before rushing at his enemies.

Alex had been watching the scene with wide eyes, not daring to miss anything from this peculiar exchange.

The old man sighed, “Skeletons of the past protected their beloved. They would return to their graves after confirming the safety of their people. They also lacked killing intent, a genuine killing intent!

Fortunately, people’s greed never disappoints. Many races, including humans, started researching life and death magic. They forcefully stopped skeletons from returning to their graves, gaining a new power.

If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t exist,” the old man chuckled brightly.

The scene changed.

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“Ghosts,” the soul grave-keeper pointed his staff at the couple, “The first ghost came out from this sweet couple. As you can see, the man is on his deathbed. He will soon pass away and leave his beloved behind.

Listen to her cries,” the old man said again without emotions behind his voice.

[Darling! Darling! I will… I will always hold you dear in my heart… You will live within me! We will pass together, okay?]

The woman’s cries were painful to listen to.

The old man’s staff tapped the ground.

[A few years later.]

[Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh god! So big! You are so big!]

“You didn’t really have to show me such a scene,” Alex squinted his eyes as the very same woman was in bed with someone else.

The old man laughed, “Getting shy?” He chuckled, “Just look at the man’s face then.”

Alex’s face scrunched, “Just tell me when the ghost comes out.”

At last, the ghost came out.

He came out of the woman’s heart!

He took over her new man’s body.

[You… liar…]

He grasped the woman’s throat, then suffocated her to death. After she died, the man killed his wife’s new sweetheart in the same way.

After that, the ghost left the body.

He wandered mindlessly across the whole world.

“The ghost passed away after seeing the happy couple dying together. It took him some time to truly find genuine love, though. Sigh… Our world is so twisted…” the old man threw some lame jokes before returning to the hall.

Alex lifted his eyes in that dark place, “You were disappointed in the first generation of the undead because they lacked that killing intent to kill people, right?”

The old man nodded with a smile, “The Undead should hate people… Once upon a time, I found an interesting book. That book was written in a foreign language I wasn’t aware of, but I managed to decipher it.

That book was about the ghoul. The ghoul was the undead creature who ate dead and alive people. That was when I understood the undead’s path,” the soul grave-keeper spread his arms widely.

He laughed maniacally, “Even as an average human, I was always disappointed in the necromancy. People used the undead for their own gain. They called themselves the lord of the undead, yet they couldn’t guide the undead onto a proper path!

I changed that, Alexander!” the old man’s eyes turned mad as if he was the mad scientist.

He changed the undead creatures by controlling their souls. For so many generations, he studied souls, then erased attachment and other unnecessary emotions, leaving pure and feral instincts behind.

He also found natural sources of the death mana, the mother of the first undead.

Just a profound attachment, the will to protect, or resentment, wouldn’t be enough to create zombies, skeletons, and ghosts.

“What’s the undead?” the old man asked, “The existence who wants to devour all living beings, ultimately ingesting the whole world.

I am close to my goal? Not really,” he shook his head.