madnovel Chapter 61 He's already a corpse, what's there to be afraid of?
Chapter 61 He's already a corpse, what's there to be afraid of?
Chapter 61 He's already a corpse, what's there to be afraid of?
"Gurgle!"
The goblin's fragile flesh and blood collided with the heavy armor, and blood splattered all over his body, but Don Quixote felt no discomfort at all. Instead, he was extremely excited and joyful.
That was her magnificent medal as a hero.
"Roar!"
Clad in heavy armor, she rampaged through the narrow passage, crushing everything in her path like a storm.
Sprint, go!
Watching her rampage ahead, Rhodes drew his dagger and arrows, dispatching the stragglers, and couldn't help but sigh with envy, "She seems so happy."
"After all, we don't usually have such good conditions for fighting." Milan squinted and led the few terrified children behind her to stand a little further away to avoid getting blood on themselves.
The passage quickly fell silent, the ground littered with goblin corpses, green blood seeping down the cracks in the stones.
"call----"
Don Quixote stopped, leaning on her greatsword, panting heavily. Her armor was splattered with blood, and a few drops were on her face.
However, she didn't seem uncomfortable at all; instead, she smiled brightly, showing everyone her white teeth.
"How about that! Aren't we amazing!"
She stood at the cave entrance, turned back against the light, and waved to the crowd.
"Amazing, amazing." Rhodes led the applause with great enthusiasm, leaving Alina speechless in her consciousness space.
Milan glanced at him in confusion, not expecting that someone as aloof as Hiro would actually be able to coax a child.
As for Susanna, although the scene before her was a bit bloody, she had been down into the Goblin Cave with the team before, so she was able to remain calm.
The children behind them weren't in such good shape.
The sight of monster flesh and blood scattered on the ground, coupled with the girl's innocent smile, was so shocking that they all turned pale with fright and dared not utter a word.
Rhodes remained silent, but skillfully drew his dagger and cut off the goblin ears he could find.
This is all hard-earned money; we can't waste it.
"Lord Don Quixote, are you alright?" Susanna stepped forward and asked Don Quixote, who was covered in blood.
"No, no," Don Quixote waved his hand, "these goblins can't even cut through our armor."
"It's filthy," Milan complained, using a cleansing spell to remove the filth from her body and then dispel the surrounding blood and stench. "Where did these monsters come from? They weren't here before—"
"They must have smelled the emanating scent," Rod replied calmly.
"Really?" Milan was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. "I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize," Rhodes shook his head. "If we hadn't come, they would have come out for fresh air and to look for food sooner or later anyway. Now that we've attracted all the monsters in the vicinity and killed them all at once, it's just right."
"Don't try to comfort me, Hiro," Milan turned to look at him. "I'm certainly not as experienced as you are in these matters."
"I'm not trying to comfort you," Rod said, giving her a questioning look. "I'm just stating the facts."
"That's good." Milan gave Rod a half-smile upon hearing his reply.
"You didn't have to say that," Alina sighed in her consciousness space.
Although Rod has performed well so far, there is still a lot of room for improvement in his communication skills.
"Um—now that this place has been discovered," Susanna whispered, interrupting their conversation, "should we go back and call the others to move together?"
"There's no need for that," Rhodes shook his head. "Since it wasn't just one but a group that just crawled in, it means that all the monsters in the vicinity should be here. There's no need to worry for the time being."
"If we bring them out, the open terrain will make it difficult to hide and defend them," Rhodes explained. "It's better to leave them here."
"Wouldn't it be strange if we just left like this—" Susanna hesitated.
"So we need to leave someone behind to prevent any accidents." Rhodes had already thought of this.
"You must have already decided who should stay and who should leave, right?" Milan asked, seemingly anticipating his question.
Rhodes nodded. "I'm quick and agile, and I'm also good at reconnaissance—"
Upon hearing this, Don Quixote immediately raised his hand and said, "I also want to go to the village with you and kill all the remaining monsters!"
"No," Rod immediately rejected her suggestion. "You stay."
"Why?" Don Quixote's face immediately fell. "I am the strongest warrior, so I should be at the forefront!"
"It's precisely because you're the strongest that we need you to stay and protect everyone." Rhodes pointed to the narrow passage and explained, "This entrance is very small. If you stand here in your heavy armor and block the entrance, even if another group of goblins comes, they won't be able to break through your defenses."
"I don't feel comfortable letting anyone else guard it."
Don Quixote thought about it and realized that what he said made a lot of sense. He immediately straightened his chest and patted his breastplate.
"You're right, only we can protect this place!"
"Go ahead with confidence! With us here, we will not let a single demon in!"
Seeing that Don Quixote had been persuaded, Milan silently canceled the silencing spell in his hand.
"To be honest, you're quite good at coaxing kids—" Alina murmured in her consciousness space.
Whether it was calming the villagers earlier or arranging the team now, Luo De's well-organized arrangements gave people a sense of calm and reassurance.
Susanna immediately stepped forward, her fingers lightly gripping her staff, and asked softly, "Lord Hiro, what about me? Should I stay too?"
Even though she knew she might not be able to help much, Susanna was still worried that he would get hurt.
"Yes," Rhodes nodded, "You stay here to assist Don Quixote, and you can provide immediate assistance if there are any casualties."
"Okay," Susanna nodded vigorously, "I will definitely keep an eye on everyone and take good care of Lord Don Quixote."
Don Quixote patted his chest and laughed heartily: "Don't worry, we will protect you too."
"Then I'll go check out the village myself." Rhodes carefully put away the goblin ears he had cut off, dusted off his hands, and said, "You guys guard this place. I'll be back soon."
"Wait, you're planning to go alone?" Milan suddenly spoke up, stopping him. "I'll go with you."
Rod paused for a moment, then turned to look at her.
"My presence here is of no use; in fact, it will only hinder their fighting."
Milan, holding her staff, pointed to the cave entrance. "I can't cast any offensive magic in such a narrow place. A slightly stronger spell might even collapse the entrance."
"Let's not end up getting crushed to death by rocks before the monsters kill us."
She paused, then added, "It's different when I go to the village with you. The place is open and there aren't many people there, so I can cast spells more freely."
"If we really encounter that two-headed monster, at least you and I can look after each other. It's better than staying here as decorations."
Rhodes stroked his chin and thought about it seriously.
Milan's point is valid.
Although I have now mastered a pseudo-area-of-effect skill like [Arrow Rain], when it comes to dealing with large numbers of monsters, the mage Milan is still better at it.
After discussing the results, Rod and Milan stealthily headed one after the other toward the village ruins.
The two walked along the path into the village. The dilapidated mud houses had dark, gaping windows that looked like eyes staring at people. Broken pottery shards and broken farm tools were scattered on the ground, and dark red bloodstains spread across the soil.
Everything here speaks of the dangers that have occurred, but the absence of human or monster corpses only adds to the unease.
"This must be the only mill in their village," Rod murmured, looking at the building with the large windmill on top.
He had previously confirmed some of the village's landmarks with the surviving villagers so that he could determine his location and route.
Since we're going to conduct an investigation, the first step is to identify the highest point in the village.
The mill in front of us is the tallest and most sturdy building in Thornwood Village, apart from the lookout tower at the village entrance, with a large windmill turning slightly on the side.
"I'll go up and check out the surroundings. I'll be down soon," Rod said to Milan beside him. "You stay here and hide for a while."
"You—" Before Milan could speak, she saw Rhodes take two steps back, then take a running start, jump, and use his hands and feet to quickly climb onto the roof of the mill and disappear.
"This guy—he's really agile." Milan unconsciously recalled the nimble figure that had shielded her from the goblin leader's desperate counterattack.
"To make a dignified and noble mage wait for you—I really can't do anything with you."
Milan seemed to complain, then found a relatively clean rock nearby, sat down, and began counting the pebbles on the ground while holding her staff.
One, two, three... "Did that guy forget me here?"
Milan's face darkened at the thought, and he immediately lost his patience, deciding to go up and see for himself what that wandering knight was up to.
As soon as she stood up, she heard a slight rustling of wind coming from behind her not far away.
Looking back, I saw Rod land silently on the ground, gently brushing the dust off his body.
-
"I'm back."
"Looking at you—you've been there for so long and haven't gained anything?" Milan said mockingly, noticing his indifferent expression.
But she quickly realized her mistake and wanted to change her words, but couldn't bring herself to say it because of her pride. "As expected, I'm the only one who can find any clues—"
"I've found a clue," Rod said, holding up two fingers. "Which one would you like to hear first?"
Seeing Milan's stunned expression, Rod didn't keep her in suspense any longer and pointed directly ahead, saying, "I discovered traces of a monster, and I also found a corpse over there."
At this point, Rhodes paused for a moment, "A very strange corpse."
"Since you've said it's strange," Milan paused, "let's go check on the body first."
"That's what I think too," Rod nodded.
"I'm quite curious—what exactly does this 'strange' corpse look like?" Milan teased casually. "It can't be a corpse with two heads, can it?"
"No, that's not it—anyway, you'll see when you see it," Rod said, leading the way.
The two used the dilapidated houses along the way as cover to walk towards the west end of the village.
The further you go, the stronger the stench of decay becomes.
It smelled even worse than a goblin's corpse, and had a strange, sweet, fishy odor.
Milan covered her nose, frowned, and said, "What smells so disgusting?"
""
"The smell of rotting corpses," Rhodes replied casually.
He pushed aside the waist-high weeds in front of him, and a corpse appeared before the two of them.
The body looked no different from a normal human being, dressed in a faded coarse cloth shirt and trousers, the attire of an ordinary villager.
But upon closer inspection, Milan felt a chill run down his spine.
The corpse in front of me had already begun to decompose in some areas. The exposed skin was covered with a dense network of small holes, and on the white bones beneath the rotting flesh, there were many abnormally proliferating tissues that looked like bubbles.
Half of his face was still that of a normal human, but the other half, his face, was decaying and the skin was a dark green, the same color as a goblin's skin.
However, tufts of grayish-white wolf fur grew on his neck and arms, and his fingernails were sharp, long, and shiny with black oil.
Milan gasped, instinctively taking a step back, almost slipping and falling to the ground: "What is this thing?"
""
"A person," seeing Milan staring at him in horror, Rod hesitated, unsure of his guess, and changed his words, "It should be a person?"
"Aren't you scared?" Milan felt uneasy about his calm yet frightening reaction and unconsciously swallowed.
"He's a corpse now, what's there to be afraid of?" Rod asked, puzzled.
"This is different—" Milan glanced at the corpse on the ground again, then quickly closed her eyes, unable to look directly at the horrific scene.
"I thought you mages would feel—" Rod paused, seemingly considering the best word to describe it, "happy? excited?"
Milan thought to herself, "I'm not one of those necromancers who have a penchant for the bizarre; I don't have that kind of peculiar hobby."
In fact, Rhodes's words did sound a bit like someone who talks without understanding the situation.
After all, as a corpse collector, he had handled this kind of thing quite often.
However, the fear of death is an instinct for most living beings. Even setting aside life's inherent fear of the concept of death, simply witnessing a corpse decompose over time is enough to leave a profound and unforgettable impression.
And coincidentally—the corpse Rhodes discovered was in an exceptionally beautiful state.
"This corpse is very strange," Rhodes murmured, stroking his chin.
"Anyone can see that," Milan couldn't help but complain.
"He was very corrupt, but he hasn't been dead for very long." Rhodes ignored her criticism and went on to state his conclusion.
"Really?" Milan gritted her teeth, suppressing the churning in her stomach, and a faint purple light shone from her fingertips.
A magical wave swept across the corpse, and her face instantly turned deathly pale.
"There are remnants of dark magic."
"It's very faint, but very pure, and definitely not something that low-level monsters like goblins could possess."