Chapter 142: Witch Dance

Chapter 142: Witch Dance

As Crucis walked on through the tunnel, he found that the zombies mostly had their backs turned to him at first.

They must have been pursuing the man who had passed through first, until he left their range. They were still facing the direction he had fled in.

This made attacking them fairly straightfoward, since they took a while to turn with their stiff movements. Even for the few that sensed him early and turned around, Crucis began hanging back and leading them from side to side or sneaking past them and forcing them to turn in order to pursue him, since he noticed how difficult they found this. Often, they were practically teed up for him to slash at their necks while they were still trying to change direction. Although he had found them easy already, this cut out the unnecessary effort of anticipating enemy attacks and dodging.

Seemingly, the effective use of movement against zombies could make the battle itself almost perfunctory.

Continuing on through the tunnel, he eventually heard a loud, female scream. "What did you just say to me? Don't even come near me!"

Walking towards it, he noticed a chamber to the right, where the man from earlier was loudly shivering as he cowered against the ground.

"I'll get you if I find you!" the voice came again. It sounded like a fairly young girl, and Crucis could tell that she was scared during this event. "I saw you have no sword, it's over as soon as I found you!"

Crucis raised his sword, anticipating the new arrival.

She had clearly heard the man hiding in the chamber, and took long steps towards him as soon as she glimpsed him. However, on seeing Crucis' sword, she suddenly froze.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Hesitating for a moment, she soon began to charge away through the tunnels.

Crucis followed her, getting close because his high Agility was useful in the uneven, rocky terrain of the tunnel.

However, soon, they came to a narrow pass, with a low ceiling at just under shoulder-height.

As he neared, his sword flashed up in a [Rising thrust], which she blocked with some effort. Seemingly, the [Frenzied] had expired. He feinted a further thrust, causing her hips to sway far to the left, then quickly swiveled his sword around to [Slash] straight at her chest. This forced her to adjust late in order to catch his blow, and she only managed by bending her arm over sharply through the flexibility given by [Newt Body].

Her improvised defence was awkward, and her sword slipped backwards, allowing Crucis to step into close range as his sword moved forwards to follow. She wouldn't be able to escape now.

Flustered, she attempted a counter-attack, with a [Slash] of her own towards Crucis' right flank. He easily parried this, then lunged his own sword forwards in a counter-attack. Her sword rose firmly to deflect his out of the way to the left.

He quickly flicked his wrist and attempted a [Slash] from the left, but she cut this off as well, and then hastily attempted a further counter-attack with a [Lunge] of her own. Due to the potency of the Divine Weapon, she was jumpy and rushed to try and get first blood.

However, his sword was already resting horizontally across hers, and he easily raised it to jostle hers out of the way.

His sword ground against hers as he raised it to above his right shoulder, and her sword slipped off to his right. With an opening in the centre, he swiftly delivered a diagonal [Slash] through her neck and shoulder, beheading her.

Her body dropped to the earth, with short, black hair spreading in a circle around her head.

Although dead, her square face was pale and still wore an affrighted expression.

As a reward for killing her, he received Divine Mana, Ivaldi Gold, and an item named [Odin's Decree] which could be used to raise either INT or DEX by 10% while in the heavens. He used it for the Dexterity increase. He looted [Newt Skin], a CON-raising helmet, and a scroll for a skill named [Stone Elegance] which halves movement speed but increases damage and accuracy of attacks. This peculiar skill said that it was reserved for the [Holy Spirit] class, so he couldn't use it. It wouldn't be that useful during this event, anyway, since combat here was mostly quite fast-paced.

Crucis looked around. The vines clinging to the ceiling around this part of the tunnel probably meant that an exit was near. That wouldn't be surprising, since there were more players here and they had probably come from somewhere.

Soon, he found a hole which led down into the water, with some deep-green vines arranged artfully around its edge. There was an opening not far away, next to what looked like the legs of a white statue partially submerged in the water.

This must be where everyone came here from.