Stepping up (P.2) – Chapter 11

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"Grrrr…." "Grawwlll…" "GRrrrRRrrr…." "Graahrrr…."

In a similar hallway-like underground place, growling noises could be heard.

"There are too many of them. Aoi, pull back!"

"O-okay!"

Upon finding ourselves almost surrounded by many creatures that could only be described as zombies, I told Aoi to retreat a few steps behind. Then, without letting any of the walking human corpses get any closer, I used my glock to blow their brains out, each with one shot.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Our current formation right now could only be described like this: Aoi would be taking advances and cutting to pieces many zombies, while I, on the other hand, would keep their number low so she could easily manage to not get overwhelmed by them.

Since I mostly use my glock to blow the zombies' brains out, I decided that keeping this sort of formation suited us best. This way, Aoi will not only be able to get more experience in close combat but also gain confidence when fighting against stronger monsters.

Compared to the previous dungeon, where Aoi had to deal with the weakest kind of monsters, the zombies in this round were rather sturdy and harder to kill. They were basically hardened walking corpses, so injuring their bodies wouldn't stop them from advancing.

But just like most zombies I've seen in many movies, the ones we were going against were the same. One bullet in the brain, and they would drop down. 

Aoi would act the same way by aiming either their legs or slicing their necks off with the blades of her whip-sword.

After clearing out all of the zombies that were coming our way, we continued heading deeper into this dungeon until we came across a weirdly shaped room with a cross in the center.

"That doesn't seem like the boss's room…."

"The boss room usually has a bigger entrance, so I doubt this is a boss room."

From what I can remember, in this room there was supposed to be some sort of puzzle, which I can't seem to remember. This happened so long ago that I'm not even sure how I was able to get past this place.

"What should we do?"

I'm not one hundred percent sure, but once we enter that room, we won't be able to get out of there unless we kill all of the monsters or complete it's tasks. But this is the second time I have entered this dungeon with Aoi, so I figured that this dungeon has synchronized the entries in chronological order, starting from the easiest to the hardest one.

"We're going inside. However, try to remain on guard because I feel like this room has some sort of trap inside it."

"Eh? Traps?"

The moment I mentioned the possibility of traps, Aoi's eyes widened in surprise and concern.

"There's nothing to be worried about. For as long as you are careful, this dungeon should be easy to clear out."

"....okay."

After also giving Aoi a few more instructions on what she should be careful around in case there are traps, she took a deep breath and looked at me.

"I'm ready."

"Great. Then let's get moving."

Once we made up our minds, I pushed open the door, which emitted a prolonged, eerie creak. The entrance was rather dark, but the moment we entered inside, several white glowing balls lightened the whole room, which also revealed to us what was inside the room.

The room was a significant one, which contained many trees growing from the dry soil, mostly dead-looking plants, and everywhere there were graves with headstones on top of them.

After making sure that there were no traps lying ahead, both of us entered the creepy place.

"This… I've never seen something like this before…"

This graveyard was something I couldn't seem to recall for some reason. I was sure that this dungeon was basically just wandering zombies that would attack me. But for some reason, this time there were a lot of changes, which included these graveyards.

"....Maybe it changed after I arrived here. You did mention that a lot of things changed in the mansion the moment I was summoned." Aoi gave her speculation.

"Yes, that might be the reason…"

Once we had entered completely inside, the door behind us slammed shut as if it didn't want us to change our minds and leave. Fortunately, there were no monsters or zombies in this room, which left me wondering if this room was a room in which we had to figure out a way out. 

As I was wondering what sort of challenge awaited us in this place, I saw Aoi fidgeting on my side.

"Is something wrong?"

"Ah…. N-no…. It's just that this place is kind of creepy. It almost feels like zombies are going to crawl out of the graves."

So despite being able to cut down the zombies all the way down here, she still seemed nervous about zombies crawling their way out of the ground.

Honestly, compared to attacking walking zombies in the dungeon, I can understand why Aoi would feel uneasy when a dead corpse would rise up from the ground. They stink, and their faces are gross to look at. Not to mention that some Zombies would have their guts dragging on the ground as they approached you.

Getting the sense of protecting this girl as a man, I grabbed her by the waist and tightly embraced her on my side.

"E-eh?"

"If you're feeling uneasy, then you should stay closer to me."

She looked at me with her adorable, surprised eyes before looking to the side with an embarrassed look.

"...O-okay."

I could tell that she already seemed to be forgetting that right now we were in a graveyard where we could be attacked by zombies at any moment. However, she seemed to have been lost in our love circle after I tried to reassure her that I was with her.

Honestly, her bashful side gave me enough encouragement to do hundreds of dungeon levels all over again if it meant that I could stay with Aoi. But our lovely moment was soon interrupted when we heard the growling and rustling noises coming from somewhere inside this graveyard.

Both me and Aoi tensed up for a moment before we observed our surroundings in order to judge the situation in this room. And soon enough, somewhere between the graves, a zombie struggled to dig himself out of the ground, as if it were a mole. 

"...It's right there." Aoi pointed out, her sword ready to reach for the approaching zombie.

*BANG!*

Without letting the chance for the zombie to walk towards us pass, I shot its brains, rendering it motionless. 

"So that's the setting of this challenge…" I thought out loud after confirming that the first zombie crawled out of its grave.

"I think I understand as well... Does that mean that we have to kill all of the zombies that will come out of each of these graves here?" Aoi speculated, her eyes trying to count all of the graves that were in this room.

After Aoi finally counted almost forty-five graves, another zombie began to crawl out. Of course, I shot it down once again before it could even look in our direction.

"No…. I don't think killing all of the zombies that come out can clear this stage."

"...It won't?"

Aoi concernedly looked at me before looking at the next zombie, which I had shot down.

"If it were just about killing zombies, this room would already be swarming with them. But since there are graves here, I think there must be some sort of puzzle that we must figure out."

"A puzzle? Like the in-game Pl*nt's vs. Z*mbies?"

"Yes. But the more zombies we kill, the quicker these zombies crawl out. And from what I can see, two zombies came out of the same grave."

"Doesn't that mean that this whole room will continue to spawn zombies intently until we figure something out?" Aoi looked at me with concern and fear in her eyes while gripping her sword for some sort of comfort.

"Yes. But I promise to you that I won't allow us to get trapped in here." I reassured the girl as I hardened my eyes before shooting another zombie straight in the head without even separating my eyes from her.

Once I managed to get a bit of Aoi's spirit back again, we walked around the graveyard in order to see what we could do to find a way out of this place.

There weren't any more doors in this room anymore, no ventilators, and no hint whatsoever of where or what we should do. It almost felt like this was going to be our next turn to become zombies in this graveyard.

After looking around the place for what I would say was around five to ten minutes, Aoi called out to me.

"....Um, Sora."

"What's wrong?"

"Can you come in here for a moment?"

After I approached the pink-haired girl, she pointed her finger towards the headstone over a grave.

"Look."

What Aoi was pointing at were some words carved on the old-looking gravestone. 

"It says something here. It's not the date of death or the name of the deceased." 

While it was a bit hard to figure out what was carved on the stone due to how unclean and badly damaged the stonehead was, it was also a bit difficult to figure out what was written. But after carefully forming the characters in my mind, the following sentences were shown.

"Beneath this stone, something stirs and creeps. Remove the curse, eternal slumber it seeks."'

"Remove the curse?" Aoi wondered, "Is the curse something that turned all of the corpses into zombies? Is this what we are supposed to do in order to complete this dungeon?"

"That's the logical thing someone would think… But the question is. How do we remove this curse?"

"Maybe if we make some sort of offering, or perhaps help the deceased pass on by helping them with their regrets?" 

Aoi wondered out loud, her face clearly showing she was creeped out by the word deceased. 

"I've read a few novels that described how ghosts or undead creatures would pass on after settling their regrets."

As we were wondering for some more seconds, several more zombies began to arise from their graves at the same time. 

It was clear that the number of zombies was beginning to grow. And they didn't plan on stopping unless we would figure out this curse this gravestone was pointing out.

No, wait. If one of the stones contained the first clue about being cursed, then shouldn't there be more clues on the other ones as well?

"Aoi, can you check the other gravestones as well and see what's written on them?"

"Huh? Yeah, o-okay."

While Aoi was walking towards a narrow path that would lead to another part of a grave, my eyes caught another gravestone covered by some bushes. I quickly uncovered the Stonehead and figured out what was carved in it.

'In shadows deep, the restless rest. Erase the darkness and break the spell's behest.'

Another similar riddle. This confirmed that some sort of curse should be removed in order to clear this room.

"I figured out what it says on this gravestone." Aoi suddenly announced, trying to grab my attention.

"What does it say?"

"It says: From graves they rise, the silent dread. Unbind their fate, and peace shall spread."

This confirms it. All of the graves had different riddles with similar meanings about some sort of curse. But the question is. How do we remove this curse?

As we were trying to figure out these riddles, zombies began to come out of the graves at a faster rate. Right now, almost ten zombies are emerging from the grounds at the same time.

I had a few more magazines left on my vest, so my quick ways of clearing these zombies out at an instant were becoming less of an option for me. This is why I went for my katana and began slaying the nearest zombies that were near me quite easily. Aoi also didn't stand by as she joined after me, taking out the rest of the zombies near her.

We must figure something out before the number of zombies increases. The longer we wait, the more zombies will arise from the ground, which will leave us with no time to either rest or think of a solution.

"Maybe there is some sort of virus that causes the corpses to become zombies."

"A virus can only be spread through alive hosts, in this case humans. So I doubt that a virus is the curse." I responded back before finishing another group of zombies that tried to arise near my feet.

"Then… What if the curse itself is the grave?" Aoi hypothesized, her face filled with cold sweat. "It's impossible that one grave can bring out an infinite amount of zombies. So if the graves are destroyed, it should basically stop zombies from arising."

The element of supernatural phenomena was already possible, so going by this logic, it should work out. No, it should be the only way out since there were no other hints.

With that in mind, I swung my katana at one of the gravestones and crumbled it to pieces. Aoi was startled for a mere second, but after seeing my intention, her eyes widened in awe.

And to my surprise, the zombie that was trying to get out was stuck halfway through the ground. I didn't want to leave it as it was, which is why I finished its head off.

"It worked…."

However, before Aoi could even finish her sentence, some more meters away from here, another similar-looking gravestone emerged from the ground, followed by twenty zombies who came out of their graves at an instant.

"Destroying them completely seemed like a foul thing to do. The dungeon considered this as a penalty."

"If it's not their gravestone…. Then what is the curse? Is it the dead trees? Or the white orbs that are lighting this room?" Aoi wondered, panic slowly rising from her voice, "There are no other hints other than that…."

As both me and Aoi began dealing with zombies coming out at a quicker rate, I began thinking about this in case I would recall some sort of hint.

The puzzle in this room is clearly related to the riddles carved in the stones. And it states that a curse should be removed in order to make these zombies return to being simple corpses.

But something seems to be missing. None of the riddles specify what sort of curse it is or how it can be removed.

No, wait… Maybe it's not necessary for the curse to be removed. And the gravestones were quite brittle, which allowed me to break them very easily.

Okay, this is a bit risky, but I should test it out. 

And as I thought that, I rushed towards one of the graves and quickly read the carved words.

'Beneath this stone, something stirs and creeps. Remove the curse, eternal slumber it seeks.'

Then, with the tip of the sword, I scratched away the word 'curse' until it was completely unreadable. The gravestone's surface was almost as soft as butter, which also confirmed my suspicions about something.

In the next moment, almost twenty-five zombies began arising from their graves at the same time. With the exception of the gravestone I was standing on top.

"I figured it out!"

"Really?!" Aoi responded as she was trying to keep all of the zombies from approaching.

"Yes. The curse itself is the riddles carved on the gravestones. You were right about them."

"But another grave will appear if we destroy them!"

"No, we aren't supposed to destroy the gravestone. We just need to modify the riddle so it sounds like there is no curse."

"That does make more sense. But I think we should hurry up. I can barely keep up with these zombi.. HYAA!"

As Aoi was struggling to keep away ten zombies coming towards her at a normal human walking speed, one of the zombies swung its arm and barely managed to scratch her. Her eyes immediately shut for a second, and her guard was down due to the sudden shock.

I already saw this coming from where I was, which is why I didn't waste another second before my muscles became fried in power and I launched myself towards that same zombie, obliterating it and the rest of the zombies near it.

"Are you okay?!"

"Ah…. Y-yes. T-thank you."

After confirming that Aoi was unharmed, I charged towards the remaining zombies and killed them all one after another.

"I'll deal with the next wave of zombies. In the meantime, read out loud the next riddle."

"...O-okay."

As she was trying to maintain normal breathing, she clenched her trembling fist before rushing towards one of the graves.

"This one says: The stone's command, the risen throng. Undo the spell, bid them goodbye."

As several zombies were beginning to arise from the ground, I quickly went through the puzzle in my mind before responding loudly.

"Scratch the word 'Spell'"

After adjusting her whip-sword back to its normal shape, she lightly scratched the gravestone.

"O-okay! Done!"

Then, after confirming doing so, a great number of zombies began to come out of the ground. Their numbers would easily reach thirty. Which is why I quickly charged towards them without letting them get closer to Aoi.

"Read the next one quickly!"

"Ehm! The next one is: Whispers of doom, echoes of fright. Banish the fear, restore the light."

"Remove the word 'fear'!"

"...O-okay! I did it!"

As she quickly finished removing the word, more than thirty more zombies began rising from the rest of the graves.

"The next one is: With words of power, the undead wake. Silence their call, for life's sake."

"'Undead'! Get rid of the word 'Undead'!"

"G-got it!"

Having finished removing the next word, I cleared almost half of the previous number of zombies. The next wave of zombies has already started upon scratching another word.

"This one reads: From graves they rise, the silent dread. Unbind their fate, and peace shall spread."

"Remove 'Silent'!"

"D-done… K-kyaa!!"

Once another riddle was cleared out, from behind Aoi, a zombie managed to arise from the next nearest grave. 

Shit! I was too careless. I almost forgot that I was no longer alone in this place. And Aoi had barely any experience with fighting in every possible scenario.

"AOI!"

Leaving behind the remaining zombies that were slowly creeping their way out of their graves, I charged towards Aoi and beaded the zombie that had managed to trip the girl on the ground.

Several more zombies were already coming towards us at a quicker pace, so without wasting any more time, I slayed most of them that were around us before rushing back towards the fallen girl. I quickly offered her my hand and helped her get up.

"Get up! I still need you!"

"....."

Aoi had fallen silent for a moment, but after looking at my stern expression, she simply nodded before heading towards the next gravestone.

And this continued for around five more minutes before Aoi reached the final gravestone.

"....In the shadows deep, the restless rest. Erase the darkness, and break the spell's behest."

"It's darkness!"

"O-okay!"

Then, once the last riddle was fixed, the remaining twenty zombies that were coming towards us fell to the ground and became dirt, as if they had returned to their original origin. 

In the next second, on the other side of the room, another door opened up, revealing our next path to this dungeon. 

We both looked at one another, rather glad that we had managed to complete this riddle. But after passing through the door, I noticed how fidgety Aoi had become.

"What's wrong?"

I was wondering whether she was still scared or anxious after clearing that puzzle. So I was beginning to think of new lines that could smooth the heart of a girl.

"....I think you should continue without me."

".....?!"

But what Aoi said next made me completely baffled. My eyes widened to almost their full extent, and my heart began to pound in fear and anxiety. A feeling that brought back thousands of bad memories that I never wanted to experience again.