Chapter 303
‘What is this…?’
Temporary tents were lined up in the village square, and white-clothed bird tribe members were busily moving, carrying clean cloths and medicines into the tents.
Zeke recalled seeing a similar scene.
‘When the Hong-hwa disease spread.’
Unlike his previous life, in this life, Zeke had created a cure and stopped the Hong-hwa disease at its early stages in the Allencia border region, preventing it from spreading across the continent.
However, similar symptoms were now spreading within the autonomous district.
While Zeke was surprised by this unexpected situation, a bird tribe member approached him.
“First, cover your mouth and nose with this.”
The bird tribe member handed Zeke a clean cloth to cover his mouth and nose.
Then, he led Zeke into a building prepared on the outskirts of the autonomous district.
The bird tribe member with white feathers did not feel as threatening as the combat tribe, the Black Wing tribe.
The bird tribe member bowed his head in greeting.
“I apologize for showing you such a scene. My name is White Moonlight Breeze’s .”
Zeke noticed from the colorful strings and ornaments decorating White Moonlight Breeze’s feathers that he was a tribal leader.
He asked White Moonlight Breeze.
“From what I see outside, it seems the Hong-hwa disease has spread. Is that correct?”
White Moonlight Breeze nodded at Zeke’s words.
“That’s right. The disease started spreading in the city when monsters appeared a few weeks ago.”
Zeke asked,
“If it’s the Hong-hwa disease, Allencia should be distributing treatment as relief supplies. Why has the disease spread so much?”
At this, White Moonlight Breeze clicked his beak CLACK and said:
“We tried using the Hong-hwa disease treatment sent by Allencia, but it was useless. The healers say that as the disease spreads among our tribe, it seems to have mutated, rendering the existing medication ineffective.”
Hearing White Moonlight Breeze’s words, Zeke’s expression turned serious.
“If it’s a mutated Hong-hwa disease… it might be more infectious than the original.”
“That’s right. The mortality rate has decreased, but the infectiousness has increased, and the number of infected people grows daily. Some elderly among the infected are dying. Particularly today, we had an unusually high number of deaths. Moreover…”
White Moonlight Breeze furrowed his brow.
“For a few days now, monsters have been attacking. We’ve fortified all possible entry points to the city, but we can’t identify where they’re coming from or what they are.”
Zeke realized the situation was more serious than he had thought.
“An epidemic, and unidentifiable monsters…”
“Even the elders who insisted we should never seek help from humans have fallen ill. Given the situation, I’ve requested this meeting to seek your help…”
As a tribal leader, White Moonlight Breeze had set aside his tribe’s pride and self-esteem to request assistance.
Zeke asked,
“Do you mean the monsters are hiding somewhere in the city?”
“We suspect so, but with the continuous increase in patients, we lack personnel to dispatch tracking teams.”
Zeke considered the possibility that the Empire might have spread the mutated Hong-hwa disease to pressure Ghetto, even releasing monsters into the city.
In such a situation, the autonomous district, which had been enduring, would likely be the first to request help.
The Empire would probably have a treatment for the mutated Hong-hwa disease and use relief and treatment as a pretext to station troops inside Ghetto, gradually preparing for an invasion of the central continent.
‘The Empire is certainly capable of such a thing.’
If this was the situation, other autonomous districts in the Ghetto region might be experiencing similar circumstances.
‘I must find a Hong-hwa disease treatment before things get worse.’
He needed to find out if the Imperial garrison had the treatment.
And before that, he first needed to capture the monsters hiding in the city.
Zeke accepted White Moonlight Breeze’s request and decided to catch the monsters.
* * *
Zeke waited until night, discreetly positioning ghost warriors throughout the autonomous district to monitor the movements of hidden monsters.
As the night deepened, something suddenly caught a ghost soldier’s vision.
‘Are monsters really hiding here?’
Zeke flew towards the location where a ghost soldier had detected an anomaly.
The reason this barren wasteland could function as a city for the autonomous district was the presence of water.
And the monster’s movement was seen at the most important place in the autonomous district: the well.
Zeke drew Roland and surveyed the well area.
His dragon eyes pierced through the darkness, seeing the unidentified monster.
WHOOSH!
Zeke threw Anexi ‘s dagger towards the monster.
SWISH!
The Anexi dagger with its attached chain flew towards the monster.
But the monster was caught by the dagger far too easily.
Zeke captured the monster with the chain and slowly approached the well to confirm, then was shocked.
‘A bird tribe member?’
The one bound by the chain was an elderly bird tribe member.
He quickly examined the Bird tribe member.
The captured bird tribe member was clearly lifeless.
‘He’s clearly dead… then how was he moving?’
Suddenly, the bird tribe member bound by the chain opened his eyes and began to scream.
KEEEEEEAAAAK!
It was a bizarre scream mixed with the bird tribe’s unique resonance.
Zeke suspected an undead when he saw the dead bird tribe member moving and screaming, but he couldn’t feel the characteristic dark energy.
At the moment he was examining the situation seriously, something flashed through Zeke’s mind.
‘The plague that occurred in Mycenae…!’
Many people had died from the plague that occurred in Mycenae 50 years ago.
His grandfather Rufus Agamemnon, a survivor at the time, had said that the dead would come back to life and move at night.
Zeke realized that this Bird tribe member’s condition was exactly like what his grandfather had described.
The moment he realized this, Zeke took out Agamemnon’s mask and used the purification skill.
WHOOOOOM!
A golden aura permeated the bird tribe member’s body.
Only then did the dead Bird tribe member stop screaming and return to a complete corpse.
Zeke undid the chain and examined the corpse.
Lifting the feathers, he saw traces of the Hong-hwa disease.
‘It’s definitely the plague that occurred in Mycenae.’
Zeke’s expression hardened as he realized this fact.
This meant the corpses here would soon rise.
He recalled the tribal leader mentioning an unusually high number of deaths today.
At that moment:
KEEEEEEAAAAK!
A bizarre scream erupted from the central square of the autonomous district.
What started as a single scream soon spread with other screams chaining together.
Evidence that the dead were beginning to move.
Zeke rushed urgently to the central square.
The square was already in chaos.
Bird tribe members who had died from the Hong-hwa disease were rising, screaming bizarre sounds and attacking living Bird tribe members.
KEEEEEEAAAAK!
As the dead attacked, the Bird tribe members treating patients seemed unable to accept the situation and didn’t even think of running away.
At that moment, Zeke roared towards the central square.
GRRRRRRRR!
His roar helped the Bird tribe members, who were in a state of panic, barely regain their senses.
White Moonlight Breeze discovered Zeke and ran towards him.
“Sir Zeke! The dead have suddenly come back to life!”
“The monsters you mentioned seem to be these. It’s a curse where those who died from the Hong-hwa disease come back to life at night!”
Hearing Zeke’s words, White Moonlight Breeze’s feathers trembled.
He clicked his beak and said to Zeke.
“We must flee from here first! SirZeke, please follow me quickly!”
Then Zeke said to White Moonlight Breeze.
“I have a way to stop them.”
This shocked White Moonlight Breeze.
“A way to stop them?! How is that possible?!”
“First, tribal leader, please take the others and escape. I’ll try to stop them.”
White Moonlight Breeze nodded, as if grasping at a straw.
The tribal leader moved the Bird tribe members to the city hall.
Meanwhile, Zeke wounded his arm and sprinkled blood to lure the risen ones.
“Come this way!”
They reacted sensitively to the blood of the living and chased after Zeke.
Zeke, having heard from Rufus how Agamemnon’s head had lured them 50 years ago, sprinkled as much blood as possible to draw them to himself.
KEEEEEEAAAAK!
The dead Bird tribe members screamed and chased Zeke.
Zeke ran towards the iron gates and shouted to those guarding them:
“Open the gates immediately!”
His charisma, one of his powers, was activated.
Those guarding the gate hurriedly opened the iron gates.
KRRRRRRR!
The gates opened, and Zeke led all the pursuing dead Bird tribe members into the moat.
KEEEEEEAAAAK!
The Bird tribe members who fell into the moat screamed, and Zeke wore Agamemnon’s mask and raised Roland high.
He used the grand purification skill towards the screaming Bird tribe members.
WHOOOOOM!
A golden aura flowed out from Zeke’s body like waves.
The Bird tribe members watching from the watchtowers knelt unconsciously when they saw Zeke emitting a sacred energy.
The golden aura Zeke released permeated the bodies of the dead, and those purified returned to being corpses.
The grand purification aura from Zeke’s body spread throughout the entire city.
WHOOOOOM!
The golden wave created a beautiful light cluster, and the Bird tribe members in the city experienced a miracle.
* * *
The next day, as the sun rose, the autonomous district escaped from the terrifying night.
Thanks to Zeke’s power, the dead returned to being corpses, and those infected with the Hong-hwa disease stopped progressing.
They could even recover sufficiently with the treatment provided by Allencia.
White Moonlight Breeze considered Zeke a benefactor and warmly welcomed his return.
“Thank you so much, Zeke Draker. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened to our city…”
Though he was human, the sacred light Zeke showed last night was enough to inspire awe that transcended tribal boundaries.
As a result, Zeke and the Black Sword Knights were able to enter the autonomous district.
The Bird tribe had a custom of placing the dead’s bodies in designated areas.
However, to prevent the epidemic from spreading further, they broke their custom and cremated the bodies together.
After the Bird funeral, Zeke asked White Moonlight Breeze about Helen and the others isolated in the old fortress.
“That’s one of the ancient ruins. It can be considered a sacred neutral area where each tribe meets to discuss important matters.”
The problem was that the old fortress had lost its function as an autonomous district. In other words, it was difficult to live daily life there.
If they were isolated due to monsters, they would have limited ability to survive with insufficient food and water.
Zeke received a map showing the route to the old fortress from White Moonlight Breeze.
He handed over the map, explaining that monsters were blocking the paths and canyons to the old fortress.
“We’ve tried, but it was impossible to go in that direction.”
If they didn’t cross the canyon, they would have to go around, which would take too much time.
‘If that happens, those isolated won’t be able to hold out before we arrive.’
They would have no choice but to break through the path blocked by monsters.
‘I can go alone, but the problem is returning.’
The real question was whether he could lead the long-isolated people and protect them from monster attacks while returning.
Zeke left the field command for exploration to Decker and Farrell, and headed towards the canyon where monsters were gathered with Boris, Clonne, Felix, Liam, and others.
Riding horses across the wasteland, Zeke’s group saw the canyon and was stunned.
“Are all of those monsters?”
An astonishingly massive number of monsters were spread across the canyon and the path to the old fortress.
Zeke surveyed the canyon’s terrain and told his companions:
“First, we’ll camp here. We’ll set up a base and explore the surroundings.”
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