I froze for a moment, then asked, "That's all you've got after all these years? It does look like a lot, but after decades, just this much? I drew dozens myself just a few days ago."
As I spoke, I pulled a small stack of Talisman Paper from my bag and showed it to him.
Martial Uncle's mouth twitched. Then, putting on a fierce face despite his inner weakness, he said, "It's not like I draw talismans every day.
"Besides, can your talismans compare to mine? Enough nonsense. Try them later and you'll find out."
As soon as he finished speaking, the foremost group of corpses was visibly drawing closer and closer.
As the corpse horde behind them kept shoving forward, the leading corpses moved faster and faster.
Martial Uncle said urgently, "This place is too spacious. It looks like this really is a Corpse Nest.
"If they all come over and surround us, we'll be attacked from all sides, and it'll be even more dangerous.
"Let's run up to that platform. There's only one narrow path there.
"With the path so cramped, even if the corpse horde climbs up, their numbers will be limited.
"We can use the terrain to keep them at bay. If we really can't hold out, we'll retreat.
"As long as we hold that platform, we can attack when advancing and defend when retreating."
I hurriedly answered, "Oh," then turned around and scrambled back up on all fours.
In that brief moment, some of the corpse horde had already come within two or three meters of me.
I was frantically climbing with both hands and feet, while Martial Uncle was far more relaxed.
With a light tap of his toe against the ground, he flew four or five meters away.
From a distance, the corpse horde had looked slow and leisurely, but now, perhaps because they had caught the scent of humans, they became even more frenzied.
Roaring hoarsely, they lunged at me, nearly grabbing me several times.
Martial Uncle occasionally struck to block them, and every now and then, a bamboo rod flew past me.
A swath of corpses behind me would collapse, and a layer of fine sweat covered my forehead.
I kept climbing like that, while Martial Uncle helped fend them off from time to time.
Before long, we reached the platform where we had first descended. I ran behind Martial Uncle, lay on the ground, and gulped down breaths of air.
Martial Uncle stood alone before the passage leading down from the platform.
Whenever the corpse horde was about to pounce on him, he raised a hand, and a bamboo rod shot out, piercing through an entire cluster.
That bamboo rod streaked out like it was skewering candied hawthorns. Everywhere it passed, it carved out an empty lane.
But that lane was quickly filled again by the corpse horde, as if they could never be killed.
Watching this made me anxious. Would we be worn to death like this?
I glanced at the passage behind us and felt slightly reassured, thinking that at worst, we could just run.
Besides, seeing Martial Uncle's calm expression gave me an inexplicable bit of confidence.
Watching Martial Uncle casually basic-attack them over and over, my whole body relaxed.
Before long, I got up and looked down from the platform. On that winding little path below—
the corpse horde was desperately squeezing upward, and some even fell from halfway up.
Martial Uncle's decision had been right. Because the path to this platform was narrow, only a limited number of corpses could climb up at once.
I shouted, "Martial Uncle, are we just going to keep fighting them here?"
Martial Uncle said that would definitely not work. We would surely be worn to death.
He was thinking of a way. Then he told me to draw as much of the corpse horde over as possible.
I asked how, and he said to make some noise—the louder, the better.
Draw all the corpses over, then he would use a killing move and see if he could wipe them out in one go.
After thinking for a moment, I picked up the talismans Martial Uncle had given me, searched through them, and selected several Explosion Talismans.
Then I threw them into the air and shouted, "Explode!" A thunderous boom rang out.
A massive echo rolled through the entire underground space. That power... left me utterly dumbfounded.
If my talismans were compared to Martial Uncle's, mine were firecrackers.
His were grenades. The difference in power was as clear as day.
I said I wanted to use an Explosion Talisman on the corpse horde ahead, but Martial Uncle said no.
I asked why. He said it would blast this place down. I jumped in fright and said nothing more.
Maybe I had relaxed too much and felt there was no danger. At worst, we could run.
My mindset settled considerably, but things often refused to go as one wished.
Just as I was about to sit down and light a cigarette, I had barely put it in my mouth.
Before I could even reach for my lighter, my body suddenly sank, as if I had instantly begun falling.
When I came back to my senses, I discovered that the entire passage, including the platform we stood on, had collapsed.
Perhaps there had been too many corpses on the path, and it could not bear such immense weight, causing it to cave in.
My whole body plummeted toward the ground at high speed, wind howling past my ears as I fell.
I flailed wildly in midair, clawing at nothing amid scream after scream.
But it was useless. My body kept falling.
I'm done for. Falling from this high, I definitely won't survive. I'll be smashed into a pile of rotten flesh, won't I?
Just as I had fallen halfway, Martial Uncle flew down and grabbed me by the collar.
We continued dropping underground. Though we landed steadily, Martial Uncle had expended quite a bit of strength.
He was breathing slightly hard when we landed. Not long after our feet touched the ground, corpse hordes from every direction surrounded us.
As Martial Uncle blocked the corpse horde, he said that being attacked from all sides now was troublesome.
I asked what we should do.
Martial Uncle gritted his teeth and said, "I'm going to use a powerful spell. I need a little time.
"You hold them off yourself for a while. Just a little while."
After saying that, he told me to use the talismans in my hand against them. Before I could reply, Martial Uncle let out a furious roar.
Powerful Spiritual Energy burst forth, clearing an empty space several meters wide amid the surrounding corpse horde.
Taking advantage of that brief opening, Martial Uncle spoke to me rapidly:
"Use the talismans against them. Buy me some time, and be careful yourself."
I answered, "Okay."
Then I grabbed a handful of talismans in one hand and threw them into the corpse horde with the other.
I had no idea what kind of talismans they were. I simply grabbed them and hurled them out.
One talisman left my hand, followed by a boom. That power... was far too great.
The next instant, my whole body was blasted backward, and I crashed hard onto the ground.
The fall left me dizzy and disoriented, my mind blank, blood spilling from my mouth.
It felt as though someone had smashed my chest and abdomen several times with a massive hammer. The pain was so intense that I could barely breathe.
I could not help cursing myself for being a fucking idiot.
Since coming down here, the corpse horde had not injured me, but my own attack had hurt me badly.
I shook my head hard, and my mind cleared a little.
I got up and ran backward. As I rose, I placed an Explosion Talisman on the ground.
Since the power was too great, I figured I just had to run farther away. The area cleared by the previous blast had already been occupied by the corpse horde again.
After running some distance, I shouted, "Explode!" Another deafening blast rang out.
Another empty patch appeared on the ground, while severed limbs, broken arms, sand, stones, and clumps of dirt rained down from above.
Two or three hundred meters away, I spotted a huge boulder. I wanted to climb onto it.
Thinking that if I stood somewhere high, the corpse horde would not be able to climb up for the moment, I made up my mind and ran toward it.
On the way, a corpse clawed my back. I turned and slammed a fist into its head.
Because Spiritual Energy had been channeled into my fist, the blow carried tremendous force.
White stuff splattered all over my face. At a moment of life and death like this, I had no time to feel disgusted.
I viciously wiped my face and ran, thinking that staying alive came first and everything else could wait.
But because of that brief delay, another corpse crawling on the ground clawed my thigh.
The pain made sweat break out on my forehead. Looking down, I saw that it had no lower body—only an upper body crawling across the ground.