episode_0019

1vs100.

It’s not the name of a quiz show on any broadcasting station.

No, I wish it was the name of a quiz show.

Thud, thud.

I was digging the ground with a shovel on the path from the graveyard to the village.

How does a minority face a majority, or a weakling face a strong opponent?

That would be asymmetric warfare.

Of course, it would be great to have overwhelming power like a raid led by the gold-grade adventurer Mileia.

But I was just a novice adventurer, and I didn’t even know how strong the monsters coming out of that graveyard would be.

So, it’s natural to assume that I can’t win against a large number of monsters alone through normal means.

That’s why I chose traps.

Operation name: Trap Hell.

I had a clear advantage against the monsters that would attack me tonight.

The ‘information’ that they would wake up in the graveyard and attack the village.

Knowing the exact location of the graveyard, I could pursue extreme efficiency in setting up traps.

Since there was no evidence to convince others, I had to do everything alone.

I even thought about digging up the graves, but the villagers wouldn’t stay quiet if I did that.

Fortunately, my body, trained through daily magic conversion, was more efficient than several strong laborers.

“Phew….”

Even so, it was inevitable that I would feel a little tired doing all this alone.

In fact, it was more of a mental fatigue than physical fatigue, but there wasn’t much time left.

Dig deep under the hill, fill it with dry grass, and cover it with branches tightly.

Then cover it with grass again to complete the pit trap.

I found rocks around and moved them one by one with my hands to narrow the path from the graveyard to the village.

On top of the hill, I stacked large logs and piled straw and dry grass at places where monsters were expected to pass through.

I considered the types of traps based on the types of monsters that would come.

There is a high possibility that the monsters attacking tonight are undead.

Physical traps like sharp wooden spears or projectiles would be less effective against undead.

So, I mainly set up traps that would delay their movement and restrict their path.

As I was almost finishing the work, the sun had already set.

By now, the raid team would have arrived at the monster’s lair and started fighting.

Finally, I carried several unlit torches in an empty wooden barrel up the hill.

All preparations were complete.

I stood on the hill overlooking the graveyard, waiting for the night to come.

* * *

It was a night when everyone was asleep.

But I couldn’t sleep tonight.

As the night grew deeper, the graveyard was almost invisible from the hill.

I had to go down to the graveyard with a lit torch, stick it into the ground nearby, and run back up.

The fact that I was alone in the middle of the night, looking at the graveyard, somehow sent shivers down my spine.

After sticking a torch below, the landscape of the graveyard was faintly visible from the hill again.

Despite quite some time passing since it became night, there were no special signs from the graveyard.

“When will it start….”

As time passed, I became more anxious.

Based on my experience, the information provided by the narration had never been wrong.

Surely, monsters would appear from this graveyard tonight.

But as the night grew deeper and no signs were seen, I started to feel uneasy.

“Yunoa recalled the peaceful appearance of the villagers she saw during the day.

The innocent face of the child who handed her a flower was still vivid in her mind.”

The narration flowing in my mind reminded me of my past.

Stop. There’s no need to dwell on it so much, I won’t run away now.

It’s rather burdensome.

To relax, I looked up at the night sky.

The large moon was partially hidden behind the clouds.

Honestly, I still wasn’t sure if I could protect this village.

This time, I hoped that what the narration said was wrong, and I stood there hoping that the night would pass without any incident.

But that hope shattered with the chilling sound coming from the graveyard.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A chilling sound coming from the graveyard through the silent night air.

It was the sound of corpses rising from their graves and tombstones falling.

“It has begun….”

I swallowed dryly, mentally preparing myself to face the monsters rising from the graves.

Clack. Clack. Thud. Thud.

The sound of skeletons rising from the ground in the pitch-black darkness was not a pleasant experience.

If these beings were not a part of the ordinary world, I might have been terrified to the point of fainting.

Soon, the creatures revealed themselves from the area illuminated by torches below.

Several skeletal skeletons with only bones left.

Some corpses that hadn’t completely decayed underground had turned into zombies and were approaching the hill where I stood.

The sound of bones clashing with each movement of the skeletons was unpleasant.

At first, the creatures moved slowly, but gradually, their movements became faster and more noticeable.

Clack… Clack…

Clack… Clack…

Clackclackclackclackclackclackclackclackclack!

Skeletons with empty eye sockets suddenly emitted a blue light and rushed towards me at an incredible speed.

I immediately rolled the logs I had piled on the hill towards the creatures below.

Rolling down the steep slope, the large logs struck the skeletons and zombies running towards them.

Setting up rocks and various obstacles to guide the monsters from the graveyard towards the hill where I stood was effective.

Crunch! Crunch!

However, the creatures were not to be underestimated.

Skeletons pushed back by the logs got up and began to swing their arms with terrifying force to break the logs.

Where did such strength come from in these creatures, with barely any muscles or flesh attached?

The skeletons, whether their bones broke or not, continued to break the logs blocking their path and advance towards the hill.

The logs rolled down from the hill.

Dozens of skeletons were once again climbing the hill with fierce momentum.

But the effect was not completely ineffective.

The arms and legs of the skeletons climbing the hill were not as intact as before.

Many of them seemed to have been damaged from being hit by the logs and breaking through obstacles.

“Not yet.”

But what I had prepared was not the end.

On the hill where the creatures were climbing, I had scattered dry grasses in clusters.

I took out a torch from the side and lit it.

Then, I lit the torches in the barrel with the torch I was holding and threw them towards the monsters.

Whoosh.

As the torches flew from my hand and landed on the dry grass piles, a fierce flame erupted.

There, the flames continued to be thrown, igniting new torches from the mound and hurling them again and again.

Initially, the fires burning in a few places began to grow as more torches were thrown.

Skeletons and zombies climbing the hill were engulfed in the hot flames, illuminating the surroundings.

As a result, the overall view of the graveyard, which was not visible in the darkness, came into sight again.

The graveyard, now in disarray as if it had been ravaged by a group of grave robbers.

The dismal sight of fallen tombstones, holes, and unearthed ground scattered around.

Skeletons climbing up the hill, spewing flames from their eye sockets and mouth holes.

The peaceful view of the graveyard seen during the day had completely disappeared, replaced by a hellish spectacle.

“Are there still so many of them….”

Several skeletons, almost reaching the hill where I was, climbed up through the flames.

There were many more creatures staggering up with their bodies still on fire behind them.

However, unlike the logs that only slowed them down, the flames were clearly effective against them.

Stacking piles of grass to create larger fires, some creatures stopped moving within the flames.

Still, it seemed like the firepower was a bit lacking.

If only there were barrels filled with oil or explosives, I could have definitely wiped out these creatures.

There was no time to find a solution in the urgent situation, so it couldn’t be helped.

Putting aside the fleeting regret in my mind, I drew my sword.

Now, I had to reduce the number of creatures climbing up the hill as much as possible.

The traps set behind were the last line of defense.

But there were still many undead creatures climbing up the hill.