Person in the Rain (Part 2)

The Person in the Rain (Part 2)

The dam was a good several hours' journey from Naspar. Though it could indeed be considered nearby, ordinary civilians would never travel this far.

The group crowded by the window facing away from the dam, munching on dry rations as they peered outside. The torrential rain severely restricted their vision, and with the dim light, they could barely make out anything beyond twenty meters.

So they stared for quite a while before they vaguely spotted the figure Litia had mentioned.

What was strange was that the figure moved extremely slowly through the downpour. Normally, no one wanted to get drenched, and upon spotting a little shack where they could shelter from the rain, they should have hurried over.

Moen was practically pressed against the window as he asked in puzzlement, "Who is that? One of our classmates?"

Quite a few students were carrying out assignments nearby, so it would not be strange for one of them to run into the shack to escape the rain.

"Maybe...?"

Even Anna, the half-elf with the sharpest eyesight, could not be sure. The rain was simply too heavy.

Just then, Litia, who had first noticed the person, twitched her ears. "Don't you feel like it's gotten colder?"

"Colder?"

Pei Renli glanced back at the hearth. With plenty of fuel, the flames showed no sign of weakening.

"I feel a little uncomfortable, like someone's breathing on the back of my neck."

Moen immediately said, "Let me state for the record, it wasn't me."

"It's just a metaphor."

Litia reached behind herself and tugged her tail into everyone's view. "Look, all the fur on my tail is standing on end."

"Wasn't your fur like that from the beginning?"

"Of course not! I specially groomed it before we left!"

Spotted catfolk possessed keen senses. More accurately, among all intelligent races, humans had the dullest senses. That was why no one else had noticed anything wrong.

Pei Renli rubbed his chin, recalling the descriptions of spotted catfolk in the books. Better to believe it existed than dismiss it as nothing; they should be careful.

"Get your weapons ready. If it really is a classmate, that would naturally be for the best. If it isn't..."

In any case, they should prepare first.

They put away their half-eaten rations, shouldered their packs, and donned their cloaks, staring unblinkingly at the figure that flickered in and out of sight through the rain.

As time passed, the discomfort Litia felt was clearly no illusion. Pei Renli and the others gradually noticed that the temperature around them was steadily dropping.

Or rather, perhaps it was not the actual temperature that had fallen, but the temperature they felt. Eventually, just as Litia had said, it was like someone was blowing cold air against the backs of their necks.

That gave Pei Renli some very unpleasant associations—such as those ghosts in Horror Castle that loved to literally open people's eyes for them...

"Look, the rain's letting up."

Just as those thoughts ran through his mind, Anna pointed outside to warn them.

Storms in the Great Tree Sea came suddenly and disappeared just as suddenly. After all, it was not yet the rainy season, when rainfall was at its heaviest, so they generally did not last long.

As the curtain of rain gradually thinned, the distant figure became somewhat clearer, though they still could not make out any details. The only thing they could confirm was that something was indeed wrong.

At first, they had thought the figure was moving toward their shack. But in reality, it seemed more like the thing was circling in place, barely drawing any closer at all.

Circling around in a rainstorm? Was something wrong with its head?

Everyone swallowed and tightened their grips on their weapons.

—Crack!

—Boom!

Lightning split open the sky overhead, and the rolling thunder made everyone's hearts clench.

The pouring rain and deafening roar of thunder swallowed every sound from outside. Even the lightning, which lit up the land for an instant, was not enough; the distant forest was nothing more than a hazy blur in Pei Renli's eyes.

Then, as if it had finally sensed their attention, the black figure stopped circling in place. Its body swayed as it began walking toward the little wooden shack, looking more like a warped shadow.

Just as they were hoping to get a clearer look at it, the number of figures...

Increased!

Moen said, three parts excited and seven parts frightened, "Look! There are more!"

"Calm down! Stop pulling my fur!"

Behind the first figure they had spotted, several more pitch-black shadows passed through the rain curtain and entered their sight like ghosts walking through thin mist, staggering toward the shack.

The lightning vanished, and darkness and rain swallowed everything once more, blurring the figures into indistinct shapes. It seemed as though a long time had passed, yet it also seemed no longer than the beat of a heart. Then another magnificent bolt of lightning descended, piercing the darkness, and in that instant, everyone finally saw the nearest figure clearly.

Anna's eyes went wide.

"It's skeletons!"

"That can't be. There shouldn't be any undead around here!"

Litia, whose senses were the sharpest, turned to look out the window on the other side. Through the torrential rain, several humanoid shadows were also closing in on them.

"Quiet!"

Litia finally fulfilled her duty as the captain, signaling for everyone to keep silent.

Undead was the collective term for things like skeletons, zombies, and ghosts. Awakened by negative energy, they had "come alive" again from mere corpses.

The vast majority of undead had no self-awareness or memories. The only thing left within them was hatred for all living creatures, a desire to drag life over to their side.

Because of this trait, undead were extremely sensitive to the scent of the living. The downpour had concealed it just now, but now that the rain was beginning to ease, they had likely detected the four people hiding in the little cabin and were gradually approaching.

As they drew closer, they became easier to see.

They were not merely moving anatomical skeleton models. Some still wore remnants of rotting clothes, or had scraps of flesh and skin that had not fully decayed away. Pale undead fire burned in their hollow eye sockets as they advanced step by step over the muddy ground, braving the wind and rain.

Pei Renli definitely had no good impression of undead. His experience in Horror Castle had given him nightmares for two days straight. Still, compared to ghosts, corporeal undead like skeletons were relatively easier to deal with, and far less terrifying.

But things were not that simple. Moen had said earlier that undead should not appear around here.

Undead generally appeared in graveyards or on battlefields. After all, they were "dead people revived"—places without dead people simply would not do.

Naspar itself had been an outpost built to oppose the Demon King of Tyranny. Back then, quite a few adventurers had set out from there for Demon King Castle deep within the Great Tree Sea. It was not impossible that some had died along the way, so the condition of having corpses was fulfilled.

But there was one issue: undead could not be exposed to sunlight. Sunlight was their absolute enemy. The negative energy that drove them would vanish the moment sunlight struck it, and the undead would revert to nothing more than ordinary corpses.

The storm might have blotted out the sunlight for now, but storms could come and go. And while the dense tropical rainforest around Demon King Castle could indeed be so dark within that one could not see one's own outstretched hand, fulfilling the conditions for undead to appear, the vegetation here was nowhere near that extreme. The moment the sun came out, the undead would vanish into smoke, making this fundamentally unsuitable for skeletons to form.

After all, without outside interference, undead did not come into being overnight. They needed time.

After waiting a little while, the rain grew lighter and lighter. As long as the dark clouds and howling wind had yet to disperse, the scent of the living only became more obvious. Everyone who had hoped the skeletons would wander away was thoroughly disappointed. As the rain eased, the skeletons drew closer and closer.

"Move. Everyone, get outside. It's not safe here anymore."

Gritting her teeth, Litia grabbed her shield and hand axe, deciding to head outside and fight.

There was no possibility of communicating with undead. Once they caught the scent of the living, they would pursue it relentlessly.

So although the skeletons moved very slowly through the wind and rain, and everyone had more than enough time to flee in a flash, they might chase them all the way to Naspar. They certainly could not enter the city, but they would still threaten the residents living nearby.

The tightly shut wooden door opened, and fierce wind mixed with fine raindrops swept through the hoods of their cloaks and struck Pei Renli's face. Everyone filed out in a rush.

The scent of the living became clearer, making those skeletons move faster. They had only been staggering along before, but now they were practically jogging in short steps.

Rainwater slid down Litia's fur. It was clear she hated the feeling of getting wet, and equally clear that she had wanted to charge straight in and bury her axe in the approaching skeletons. Fortunately, she held herself back.

The skeletons' appearance was far too inexplicable, nothing like a natural occurrence. The moment everyone left the cabin, they widened their eyes and searched their surroundings.

But perhaps the storm had not fully passed, or perhaps they were overthinking it. Other than the skeletons, they found nothing else nearby.

"Anna, keep an eye on the surroundings. The moment you see anything strange, report it. Moen, start playing—we need it. Pei Renli, don't stray too far. Support me with magic."

Litia swiftly assigned their tasks. When the skeletons came within roughly ten meters, she raised her hand axe and charged.

It sounded serious, but skeletons were not particularly powerful undead. Still, they could not afford to be careless, because the strength range among undead was enormous.

The weakest were known as animated bones—nothing more than bones activated by negative energy. They might not even be able to beat a goblin. The most powerful skeletons, meanwhile, were called Death Knights, and were above level 70!

What was even more screwed up was that even a Death Knight, if it took off its armor and stood there, would be impossible to distinguish from the weakest animated bones for anyone without deep knowledge of undead.

Amid the howling wind, Moen plucked at his lute. The cold made his fingertips slightly numb, but thankfully he did not strike a wrong note.

In the dim light, a ring of faint magical radiance burst from the strings. The glow could clearly be seen connecting to everyone, effectively giving them a buff.

Pei Renli casually traced a circle and activated Light. Milky-white magical illumination dispelled the darkness around them. Though it was somewhat nauseating to see the skeletons more clearly, that was something they had to endure for the advantage of being able to see the battlefield.

Just then, Litia's axe struck a skeleton squarely on the skull. The undead fire burning in its eye sockets leaped violently, then shattered apart.

It changed from an active undead creature back into nothing but bones.

Taking care of one was easy, but the black shadows appearing in the dim, rain-soaked mist in the distance numbered far more than one or two...