Ch.215Chapter 215 – Contaminated Land

At the forefront of the undead horde stood a ghoul.

“Grrrrrr……”

Unlike other undead whose vocal organs had rotted away, ghouls could still make sounds because their mutation occurred before their bodies decomposed.

Furthermore, the fact that mutation happened before decomposition meant that most of their physical form remained intact.

Therefore, when undead hordes formed, ghouls typically acted as leaders at the front of the pack.

“O God of the Sun, today we have encountered unholy beings in this place.”

“Grant us the power to vanquish these abominations.”

“By His protection, we shall be victorious.”

While the priests chanted prayers to prepare their holy magic, the paladins imbued their weapons and armor with divine power.

“Kyaaaak!”

When the ghoul at the front let out a screech like metal scraping against metal, the skeletons and zombies standing behind it began to advance.

“They’re coming!”

“Maintain formation!”

The paladins knew well that maintaining their battle formation was crucial when facing the undead.

Ghouls and other undead with intact bodies could still think, albeit in a limited capacity.

However, most undead had deteriorated bodies, with the parts responsible for thought rotted or corrupted, making normal thinking impossible.

“They don’t have the capacity for thought anyway! But be careful with the ghouls! They’re the undead that still have somewhat functioning brains!”

Apart from ghouls, the rest could only act according to what their bodies remembered from life, or simply swing their arms and legs in crude attacks.

But to those who couldn’t wield holy power, the undead were harbingers of death.

Even the slightest wound would become infected, making treatment difficult.

And those who died this way would rise again as the undying.

“Haap!”

The paladins wielding maces and hammers with shields struck down at the zombies and skeletons with blows infused with holy power.

The holy power exploded, burning the zombies and reducing skeletons to bone dust.

Swinging a weapon imbued with holy power against living beings merely added a bit more impact to the blow.

But to the undead, holy power was the deadliest of poisons.

“Grrrk?”

“Hyah!”

When a ghoul appeared confused after seeing zombies and skeletons instantly vanish, a paladin decapitated it.

The paladin had targeted the head because it was the ghoul’s only weakness.

“The power of the Sun protects us! [Holy Shield]!”

“Dead ones, do not defy the natural order—return to nature! [Brilliant Radiance]!”

As the priests who had been preparing holy magic chanted their prayers and activation words, protective barriers filled with the Sun’s power formed around those fighting the undead, and brilliant light began to melt the flesh of zombies and ghouls.

“Kiyaaak!”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

While everyone was fulfilling their roles admirably, the most exceptional among them was Eterna.

Each time Eterna swung her mace, an explosion erupted as if a bomb made of holy power had detonated.

Anyone caught in these explosions would see at least a dozen undead literally erased from existence.

The few surviving ghouls regained their senses and tried to flee, but Eterna’s attacks were faster.

“I told you there’s no escape, didn’t I?”

With Eterna’s physical abilities honed over years of training combined with her powers as a Holy Maiden, sweeping away fleeing ghouls was truly an easy task.

After Eterna had disposed of all the ghouls, the paladins slowly advanced while maintaining formation, sweeping away all zombies and skeletons in their path.

After about 30 minutes, the horde of 1,000 undead that had attacked them was completely annihilated.

Had they not been clergy capable of using holy power, it would have been troublesome, but they were experts at slaying the undead.

For this group composed of paladins, priests, and Eterna the Holy Maiden, dealing with 1,000 undead was merely equivalent to a morning jog.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Yes, Holy Maiden. Everyone is safe, thanks to the Sun God’s protection.”

Eterna sighed in relief at the words of the paladin escorting her.

‘How strange. It seems like undead attacks have been increasing lately…’

Eterna found the recent frequency of undead attacks very puzzling.

The undead were beings that defied the natural order.

Therefore, the probability of undead appearances was typically high only when life was extinguished through abnormal means, such as war or massacre.

This meant that under normal circumstances, undead rarely appeared naturally without war or massacre.

Moreover, there had been no wars between countries in the last 50 years, nor had there been any massacres.

‘That’s why it’s even more strange.’

Eterna’s suspicions grew the more she thought about it, but unfortunately, she couldn’t resolve this question immediately.

“Holy Maiden, it’s time to move on.”

“I understand.”

The journey was long, and there were many places to visit.

Eterna and her entourage began moving again and arrived at a certain city.

“Something seems off about this city.”

Unlike other cities that usually welcomed the Holy Maiden and her entourage warmly, this city they were now visiting seemed devoid of vitality.

The people walking the streets looked as weak as if they hadn’t eaten for days.

“Could someone find out what happened here?”

At Eterna’s request, one of the paladins went out, stopped someone on the street, had a conversation, and returned.

“Holy Maiden, it seems the undead horde that attacked us is connected to what’s happening in this city.”

“What do you mean?”

“I sensed faint undead energy from the people.”

“What?”

Eterna was shocked by the paladin’s report that living people were emanating undead energy.

But soon she could think of one possibility.

‘They’re not undead themselves, but perhaps they’ve consumed something influenced by the undead?’

Eterna had seen something similar in another country before.

“I’m issuing orders now.”

“Yes, Holy Maiden.”

“Everyone form groups of four and investigate all food imports and water sources in this city.”

“Understood. Everyone move quickly!”

At Eterna’s command, people formed groups of four and scattered in all directions.

About three hours later, they returned, each carrying something.

“Has everyone returned?”

“Yes, Holy Maiden.”

“Place what you’ve brought on the ground. We need to examine everything.”

Eterna first examined the food being sold in the city.

She detected no undead energy in unprocessed ingredients.

Nor did she find any undead energy in prepared dishes.

From this, Eterna could draw one conclusion.

“What about the water source investigation?”

“The water source itself showed no abnormalities.”

“The water was actually very clear.”

When told that the water was very clear despite people being affected, Eterna realized the water source itself wasn’t the cause.

“Were there any unusual findings at the wells in the city or along the route connecting the water source to the city?”

“Well… we did encounter a few undead on the way to the water source.”

“Where exactly was this?”

Eterna decided to overlook the fact that the paladins hadn’t reported their undead encounter to her.

Instead, she and her entourage began moving toward the location where the undead had been spotted.

Following the river that ran through the city, Eterna and her companions reached the place where the paladins had encountered the undead.

“I smell rotting corpses.”

“That’s strange. There was no smell until just now.”

Upon arrival, the stench of decaying bodies began to assault their noses.

Hastily using the Sun’s blessing to block the smell, they walked toward the source of the odor and…

“Good heavens…”

“By the Sun…”

They could see a small stream flowing into the river connected to a patch of land that had turned pitch black.

Grotesque things were growing on that land, so repulsive to look at that one might think this was hell itself—an extremely abhorrent terrain.

“This is it. This is what’s contaminating the water flowing into the city.”

Eterna sensed an intensely malignant undead energy emanating from that land.

She couldn’t tell exactly what had happened, but it certainly wasn’t good for any living being.

However, even Eterna had no idea how to purify such a vast area of land.

“We’ll need to request help from Count Severio.”

All she could do was contact someone who might be able to resolve this situation.

That’s how terribly contaminated this land was.