Chapter 404 - 402: Never Cross the Boundary?

"What’s wrong?"

"She—she saw me."

"Village Chief, quick, look! They’ve changed direction. They’re heading out of the mountains."

The Village Chief, of course, also saw that the commotion had changed direction and was no longer heading toward them.

He didn’t think they could have made it all the way here, but seeing them choose to change direction after realizing someone was in the area, he couldn’t help but sigh.

"If we run into them next time, we can lend them a hand."

Faye Yardley was starting to wonder just how many talismans Master Veridian had made. He’d been tossing Blast Talismans around the entire way as if they were free.

Whenever too many mutated animals converged, Faye Yardley would use her Illusion to briefly distort their vision. This made them lose their targets, making it easier for her group to rack up points.

By the time they emerged from the forest onto a rural path, everyone had already racked up several thousand points.

If the path hadn’t been paved with gravel, it would have long since been completely obscured by weeds.

What was even more unexpected was that they hadn’t been on the path for long before they heard a rustling sound.

’Well now, so the insect army was waiting for us here.’

’Was it because they couldn’t survive in the forest?’

CRACK—

With a single crack of Lucy White’s whip, it wasn’t just the hidden insects on the path that were sent flying; so were gravel and bits of grass.

"Heh heh, allow me to show you my Fiery Flame Talismans." Master Veridian was delighted. As he spoke, he flung two talismans, one from each hand. They landed in the grass on either side of the road, and two columns of scorching flame immediately erupted.

This was clearly no ordinary fire. The flames quickly formed two burning lines, and a loud CRACKLING and POPPING sound emerged from within them.

Faye Yardley used her Illusion, making the auras and figures of all five of them seem to vanish.

Lucy White cracked her whip from time to time. Zephyr Sterling and Cole Kensington remained still, but at some point, Zephyr Sterling had caught a large, fat, brown beetle in his hand.

"These beetles are strange. They seem to be infected with the virus, but they haven’t been zombified. Their mutation seems to have strengthened them instead," Zephyr Sterling said, genuinely surprised.

Of course, he couldn’t identify the species of beetle he was holding.

He had only used his superpower to analyze the insect’s abnormalities.

"It smells amazing~" Even with her mask on, Lucy White found the charred aroma from the heaps of burnt insects on either side of the road to be overpowering.

Master Veridian took out two more Fiery Flame Talismans and unleashed them on the road ahead. Soon, not only were the insects on the path sizzling, but the surrounding vegetation was also reduced to ash.

’Are insects afraid of fire?’

Despite so many being burned, the rustling sound was unceasing.

Since their main goal was just to rack up points, the five of them were in no hurry. After all, killing these insects counted toward their total too.

Master Veridian was burning them with great enthusiasm.

He even remembered to instruct Zephyr Sterling to catch a few more insects to take back for research.

Master Veridian even casually handed out a few Fiery Flame Talismans to everyone.

Looking at the fires still burning fiercely all around, Faye Yardley asked, "Master, you didn’t make these Fiery Flame Talismans from those strange fish in the Black Sea Water, did you?"

"Haha, not bad! You’ve got a good eye. Do you have any of those strange fish left? If so, spare some for this old Master."

"Alright."

But that was a matter for later. Right now, they had to deal with the endless army of insects rushing to their doom.

Cole Kensington pointed ahead. "Faye, there’s a village over there... or its ruins."

"Then let’s head that way."

They weren’t worried about the fire spreading to the mountain, as the flames weren’t advancing. Any small embers carried away by the insects were quickly smothered by the onslaught of more insects.

It seemed as if each region was the territory of a specific type of mutated animal.

As they approached the village, the insect army retreated, no longer in hot pursuit.

The village’s houses were long since collapsed, broken, and overgrown. As far as the eye could see, not a single structure remained intact.

"Careful, they’re here," Zephyr Sterling warned. He suddenly threw the sword in his hand toward a ruined wall to the side and leaped into the air.

There was always something bizarre about seeing a group of mutated cats, dogs, rats, and sheep appear all at once.

Without needing to be told, Faye Yardley and the others charged in before the mutated animals could surround them.

Some of these mutated animals even had superpowers.

After decapitating one with a single strike, Faye Yardley split open the mutated dog’s head and thought, ’So there really aren’t any Crystal Cores?’

After all, the elephants on her island had Crystal Cores for their superpowers. She had expected to find something similar here, but it seemed she was wrong.

’It seems that while both have superpowers, they are fundamentally different.’

Since they held no value, the group began to cut them down with even greater speed.

Ever since entering the Dungeon, it had been non-stop killing, yet none of them showed any signs of fatigue.

The slaughter was so relentless that Faye Yardley even had a moment to idly wonder, ’Just how many farm animals can one village possibly raise?’

’The number we’ve killed must far exceed what a single village could support.’

’So, does that mean mutated animals can still reproduce?’

Other than being a bit of a hassle, the mutated animals didn’t pose much of a threat.

So, after dealing with all of them, Faye Yardley’s group found a flat spot, burned away the weeds, spread out a ground mat, and sat down.

Lucy White opened a bottle of water, took a sip, and said, "These mutated animals are a little too territorial, don’t you think? They don’t cross the borders."

"Yeah. It’s definitely not normal." The Master looked around. "I thought this Dungeon would be full of zombies."

Faye Yardley quietly removed her gloves, took out some dumplings and buns, placed them on a plate, and handed everyone chopsticks.

She recalled how, when she entered Dungeon #1 alone, she had encountered nothing but zombified animals. But as for finding a pattern, she couldn’t, since she had been confined to a single street.

The explorable area in Dungeon #3 was much larger.

They ate and drank, replenishing their energy.

"Yardley, we clearly saw people over there just now. Why didn’t you want to go talk to them?"

"Oh, I guess I just subconsciously try to avoid contact with other people inside Dungeons."

Lucy White swallowed a mouthful of her bun. "Faye probably just didn’t want to bring them trouble."

Zephyr Sterling added, "I think we could go back and check now. Since the mutated animals here are divided into distinct territories and don’t easily cross over, doesn’t that mean they probably won’t enter the mountain where those people are either?"

"Maybe," Faye Yardley said. "But what would we even talk to them about?" Her thoughts drifted to Yvonne Lynch and Chloe Hughes.

After meeting her, they had all left the confines of the Dungeon and gone to live with the Zombie Clan.

’But could those people on the mountain be considered part of the Zombie Clan?’

’Compared to them, the people we killed around the Wooden House seemed more like the Zombie Clan.’

Master Veridian paused for a moment before saying, "Ah, we could talk about anything, couldn’t we? As long as they’re willing to communicate. Who knows, they might even have some unexpected goodies."