episode_0006

006

Mountain Hideout

“Ki… Kieek… Kik.”

The zombie that had been repeating burpees finally collapsed.

“Alright.”

I took out the [Lowest Grade Zombie Enhancement Potion] received as a reward from 2-2 and used it on her.

The zombie twitches as if it’s ticklish.

‘That pain is all turning into blood and flesh.’

“Kekek…”

The zombie became very healthy.

Its flesh and muscle volume increased quite a bit, and its skin also improved greatly.

If dressed properly, you might mistake it for just a large dwarf, not a zombie.

“Let’s stop exercising here.”

I wiped off the dripping sweat with the torn bedsheet.

Now it’s time to make shields.

The enemies in this round come out carrying bladed weapons.

Unlike clubs, they are difficult to just take a hit from.

Furthermore, I don’t know if all boss stages are like this, but this time too, we are the ones invading.

Since there are also guys shooting arrows from the watchtower, it seems best to be thoroughly prepared.

I tied suitable tree branches together with plant vines to complete a crude shield.

That’s it for the zombie. Now it’s my turn to make one for myself.

Crack – Crack –

I went to the cabin and broke all the legs of the table.

And I secured plant vines in an X shape to the remaining parts of the legs to create handles.

A chair in my right hand, a table in my left.

Furniture set complete.

‘How reassuring!’

All preparations for the Stage 2 boss battle are complete.

I pressed [Start Battle] without hesitation.

Crackle – Crackle –

I hear the sound of a path being created.

And in the distance, I see a hill rising up.

The mountain bandits’ hideout is being built.

The hideout is mostly hidden by trees, but one tall structure catches the eye.

‘Is that the watchtower?’

The watchtower that caused so much talk in the community.

Everyone complained that the difficulty of the Stage 2 boss skyrocketed just because of that one thing.

Well, I agree.

In battle, having or not having a wide view of the terrain makes an enormous difference.

Perhaps because of that, there were even posts analyzing the watchtower specifically.

According to the user ‘Level 2 Expert’, the mountain bandits on the watchtower rotate shifts every 3 hours.

‘If that’s true, doesn’t that mean the author observed that watchtower for at least 9 hours…?’

I don’t know what kind of person they summon.

Because ‘Level 2 Expert’ stopped uploading with a note saying they were challenging the Stage 3 boss.

But I am confident they are alive.

Because he was a man of tenacity who lured the Stage 2 mountain bandits 50 times and defeated them one by one.

‘Or maybe he’s just a crazy person…’

Anyway, the reason I rate ‘Level 2 Expert’ highly is for something other than tenacity.

This man has excellent information organizing skills.

He left a total of 13 posts about Stage 2.

And if you look at the 11th post among his [Stage 2 Observation Logs], something called ‘Traces of a pack of wild dogs’ appears.

I believe the key to Stage 2 lies there.

‘Pack of wild dogs.’

From the sound of it, they are definitely not on the side of the mountain bandits.

Making those two fight and aiming for a third-party gain is probably the core of Stage 2.

The rumbling of the ground changing the terrain has stopped.

Taking the zombie with me, I moved towards the place where the ‘pack of wild dogs’ were observed.

A stream that appears a little way out from the cabin.

If you follow that stream downstream for about 5 minutes, the stream flows into a cave.

This area is the habitat of the dogs.

‘Oh… They’re right there.’

Perhaps it was good luck, a dog appeared immediately.

It’s smaller than I thought.

‘About the size of a crouching zombie, maybe?’

As I approached, the dog growled defensively.

“Hey. You rascal?”

Thwack! Yelp –

‘Luring wild dogs to fight the mountain bandits.’

That’s actually the mindset of weaklings who no longer have the strength to deal with the mountain bandits.

Then why did I come here?

‘Isn’t a dog corpse a corpse?’

That’s right. I came to make a zombie dog.

I broke the neck bone of the dog that was wriggling on the ground, killing it.

‘Preparations are done… But what should I say?’

For [Feed], I just had to say “eat”, but I don’t know what the command is to make it a zombie.

“Um… Summon!”

Nothing happens.

“Rise up?”

‘Not this either? Isn’t this usually right?’

“Become a zombie!”

It’s hopeless.

I tried 10 more things but failed each time.

‘This is… Is real-time summoning not possible? Then do I have to leave it as a corpse until the round ends?’

At that moment, the zombie approaches the dog.

“Uh oh? Zombie, you shouldn’t eat that. It’s dirty, dirty. I’m going to turn him into a zombie later.”

The zombie glances at me, then slightly cuts its arm with its claws and sprinkles blood on the corpse.

“Ah…?”

Good heavens, am I perhaps stupid?

The way to make a zombie is to infect the target with the zombie’s bodily fluids.

After waiting a bit, a zombie dog is created and crawls over sluggishly.

The zombie points at the dog with its claws and shouts something.

“Kikeke!”

‘What is it telling it to do?’

Then the zombie dog repeatedly bends and extends its front legs.

‘This is… push-ups?’

That’s right. The zombie has now acquired a subordinate it can make exercise.

The zombie laughs wildly.

“Kekekeke!”

My goodness. Exercise is not a cruel act.

I should quickly tell the zombie this fact… Hmm.

Actually, as long as it concludes that it’s exercising, isn’t it good?

I decided to leave it be.

After that, we wiped out the dogs in this neighborhood.

That’s how I got my hands on 25 zombie dogs.

‘Maybe it’s time to name the zombie.’

The zombie is a zombie and the dogs are also zombies.

It’s confusing.

I think I need to give the zombie a name when I finish this round.

The zombie is leading the dogs around and running, like a shepherd girl.

She looks happy, but now it’s time to work.

“Zombie. Let’s get going. Tell the dogs to exercise around the cabin.”

“Kekek.”

The dogs are exempt from this battle.

Just looking at them, they seem like they’d die if hit a few times, so I plan to keep them on the bench until they grow.

Alright. Now it’s time to seriously attack the mountain hideout.

And here again, the information from ‘Level 2 Expert’ is helpful.

His 13th post mentions a ‘side path’.

It’s a back path that doesn’t get caught by the watchtower, which he used to lure the mountain bandits and defeat them one by one.

Of course, we won’t be doing any luring.

Muscle loss is happening in real-time, what kind of luring?

We will use that path to surprise attack the mountain hideout.

Rustle – Rustle –

I crawled through the rough bushes.

After about 10 minutes of that, I reached a small hole through which I could enter the mountain hideout.

A gap in the strongly built wooden palisade.

It’s big enough that I can squeeze my body through.

‘Oh… It really is here? Level 2 Expert. If I meet you in the future, I’ll reward you.’

Honestly, I was half in doubt.

I don’t know who he is, but if he’s shown this much goodwill, he must be someone worth helping.

Entering through the gap in the palisade, I immediately see the backs of three dwarves.

They are chuckling while looking at the dogs trapped in a cage.

‘He said there were 15 more dogs inside the mountain hideout, right?’

Thump. Thump. Thump.

When I gave the signal, the zombie poked the back of their necks with its claws once each.

I said in a low voice.

“Let’s clear the watchtower first.”

There are three key facilities within the mountain hideout.

Watchtower, armory, main gate.

The main gate and armory are in open areas, making it difficult to sneak in.

However, the watchtower is located in a corner of the hideout.

Above all, if we don’t secure the watchtower first, our location will be exposed to the enemies in real-time.

The power of numbers is strong.

If we fight the dwarves 10 at a time over 5 separate encounters, we could say we’d win every time.

But being surrounded and attacked by 50 dwarves is a different matter.

You never know where a stray attack might hit.

We removed the three dwarf corpses outside the hole and moved quietly towards the watchtower.

And in that process, we took care of four more dwarves.

We left the corpses there.

In this operation, it’s more advantageous if these corpses are discovered quickly.

The zombie and I reached the watchtower and climbed the stairs.

Creak – Creak –

The old watchtower transmitted the sound of someone climbing upwards.

But the dwarves on the watchtower were calm.

That’s because we deliberately timed our arrival with their shift change.

As we reached the top, the mountain bandits turned their heads.

And just like that, the three dwarves on the watchtower met their end by the zombie’s claws.

Creak – Creak –

The sound is heard again.

Three mountain bandits are climbing the watchtower for the shift change.

And as soon as they reached the top, three more corpses were added.

‘Okay. The first step is well taken.’

Now we just have to wait for the corpses we left below to be discovered.

The wait wasn’t long.

A commotion is heard from below.

Creak – Creak –

I also hear the sound of someone else climbing the watchtower.

They must be mountain bandits coming to report that there’s an intruder and to have someone check from the watchtower.

“Kiik…!”

The two who came up were dealt with by my axe.

My axe, taken from the mountain bandits.

Now it’s the zombie’s turn.

The zombie switched to wearing the hat the mountain bandit was wearing and poked its head out of the watchtower.

From below, it would look like a mountain bandit keeping watch.

The zombie, having confirmed the number and location of the enemies, conveys the information through gestures and body language.

“Kikkek Kikkegek.”

’20 at the main gate, 8 by the dogs, and 5 below the watchtower?’

I smiled inwardly.

‘Easy, easy.’

Creak – Creak –

We descended the watchtower.

The five mountain bandits who were waiting below were startled when unexpected figures came down.

But they quickly collected themselves and drew the axes from their waists.

What does holding an axe matter.

Just five of them pose no threat to us.

Thwack. Bang. Bang.

Blocking the axes with the shield, I used the chair to twist their necks in the opposite direction.

Ah, I discarded the axe I had taken.

The chair’s reach is longer than the hand axe, which makes it more convenient.

‘By the way… I wondered why so many dwarves were gathered by the main gate.’

I hadn’t given it much thought, but now I understand.

The sound of dogs barking continues from far away.

Woof woof woof woof!

This area is originally where wild dogs live.

So I just thought it was some other dogs barking again.

Thinking about it, I had captured all the dogs outside the hideout.

The zombie dogs I told to stay at the cabin had come to the front of the hideout and were continuously barking.

I looked at the zombie.

“Was this your doing?”

“Kekek!”

‘This zombie… It doesn’t seem like it at all, but was it actually an intelligent character?’

Anyway, it worked out well.

Thanks to it, most of their forces were concentrated at the main gate, making the task even easier.

“Well done. Let’s go.”

We headed towards the cage where the dogs were trapped.

There were eight dwarves there.

The difference was that they were very lightly armed, perhaps not expecting combat.

Only one was holding an axe. The rest had clubs.

“Ah ah. Are you guys off-duty or something? An emergency has broken out in the hideout, how can you be like that?”

We massacred the dwarves.

It was easier than dealing with five.

“Before we finish, shall we do what needs to be done?”

The zombie and I turned the dogs trapped in the cage into zombie dogs.

Since they were restrained, there was no need to kill them.

We just needed to put the zombie’s blood on its claws and lightly stab them anywhere.

‘Don’t feel unfairly treated. If I hadn’t taken you out, you were all going to be eaten as food.’

This is why the dwarves here were holding clubs.

These were the individuals who would beat the dogs to tenderize the meat.

“Alright. You guys go out through the hole in the back, then go back to the entrance and bark with your friends.”

I tried ordering that, but they didn’t understand.

Perhaps seeing the zombie’s highly intelligent action just now made me expect too much from the dogs.

Command changed.

“Alright. You guys move with me and bark! Let’s bark a lot at the guys who trapped you when you were alive!”

Woof woof woof!

‘Okay. They understood this.’

We led the pack of dogs towards the main gate of the hideout.

And at that moment.

A message suddenly appeared right before my eyes.

[Haha. Looks like I got a funny one?]

Something I had thought was the system until now spoke to me.