"Is that a zombie?" Red asked as they watched the fight.

"...I think so." Narcha didn't seem too confident in her response.

"Is it supposed to fight like a human warrior?"

"Don't ask me those kinds of questions!" She grumbled. "I'm as confused as you are!"

In the following moments, another bandit fell at the zombie's hands. The undead twisted the man's neck in a practiced and swift motion, immediately moving to dodge incoming attacks afterward. It didn't seem like the zombie was overwhelming its opponents with monstrous strength, but rather skill and quickness. Even when the bandits managed to land hits on the undead, it remained unfazed and continued to move as if nothing had happened.

For some reason, Red thought this scene was even scarier than what he had been expecting.

"What do you think?" The youth turned to look at Narcha.

"I'm not sure..." The woman frowned. "This is too weird to explain."

"Let's sneak past them while they're occupied, then." Red suggested.

Narcha had a grimace of hesitation on her face. The boy could guess she was uncertain about leaving such a threat behind. In the end, though, she eventually nodded.

"You know, if you weren't here, I would have probably already joined the fight." She explained. "This might be connected to the monsters' disappearance, after all."

Red didn't reply. He had some guesses about the matter too, but he wouldn't share them with anyone else.

"Let's give that area a wide berth." Narcha instructed. "Last thing we want is to get involved in that mess."

The boy wholeheartedly agreed with her. They were just about to move downhill, though, when Red noticed something strange. The zombie had raised its head and was looking up in the duo's general direction. A few seconds later, and the youth could swear he felt their eyes meet.

A shiver ran up his spine.

In the next moment, the undead suddenly disengaged from the bandits and began to sprint in their direction.

"He saw us!" Narcha barked at Red before dragging him away.

The boy didn't protest and followed behind the woman in retreat. He didn't understand how the zombie had managed to notice them from that distance or why it chose to run in their direction. Red didn't have the opportunity to think too deeply about it, though.

The youth pushed his newly opened Upper Leg Vein to the limit. He was already running faster than he ever had before, but even then, he couldn't compare to Narcha. The woman deliberately slowed down to keep up the rear, and the two of them breezed past the dead trees and deeper into the forest.

The warrior looked behind them every now and again to check for anyone approaching them. Suddenly, though, her expression changed.

"He's too fast!" Narcha roared at the boy. "We need to stand our ground!"

Red immediately nodded in understanding. He dove behind a tree for cover as the woman also came to a stop. Standing in the open, the warrior unsheathed her great saber and turned around, getting into a combat stance. Meanwhile, the boy readied his bow and aimed in the same direction she was staring at.

A few seconds later, Red also began to hear the approaching footsteps. From far away, he noticed an approaching shadow. The youth held his breath and narrowed his eyes, his muscles pulling taut in preparation. He felt his heartbeat speeding up as the image of the zombie gradually became clearer.

Finally, once the creature stepped in full view of him, Red let loose. The arrow found its mark, stabbing into the zombie's thigh and making it stumble. Narcha didn't waste this opportunity and charged ahead like a mad bull.

Her saber swung through the air with a savage and unrelenting strength. She sought to split the undead in half with the slash. However, at the last second, the zombie abruptly spun on its own heels and leaned back. The weapon missed its body by a small margin, and the undead took this opportunity to jump away.

Narcha looked surprised at the undead's swift movement. Before she could follow up on her attack, the zombie had already gotten more than ten meters away from her. At that moment, the two of them carefully sized each other up, and Red could also see the creature's appearance more clearly.

The elderly zombie was unnaturally thin. Its blueish skin was pulled taut against its bones, and the only thing covering its body were two pieces of ragged and torn white clothing. Its face looked hauntingly frozen, only its yellowed eyes barely moving. Small patches of white hair covered its almost bare scalp, and dozens of cuts and festering wounds covered its body.

By all means, this was a corpse, and yet it was alive and moving with strength and skill. There was no breathing in its chest either, and Red couldn't help but feel his mind tremble at the strange sight.

"What are you?" Narcha suddenly asked.

The boy was surprised at the woman's attempt at communication. Wasn't this an unthinking beast?

'No, that's not right...'

As if to prove Red wrong, movement began to appear in the zombie's face. Its muscles slowly contracted and twisted until a human expression formed.

A smile.

"Go to hell then, you bastard!" Narcha roared and charged ahead.

The zombie, however, was prepared this time around. With surprisingly nimble steps, it closed the distance to the woman in an instant and slashed with his claws. The warrior was surprised, and she ceased her attack midway through to block with her saber.

A sound of scratching metal echoed through the forest as the zombie's nails struck the weapon. Narcha pushed her opponent back, but the undead managed to keep its balance.

That was when another arrow flew in its direction, as Red took this opportunity to strike. The zombie, however, didn't even bother dodging, simply turning its back to receive the projectile. The arrow stuck into the undead's flesh without any problems, but it didn't even give the creature pause.

Narcha struck forward once more, but the zombie successfully moved out of her way. The undead didn't give her any room to breathe and was on the offensive in the next moment. The woman could only roar in anger and give up on her attack to block the opponent's nimble blows..

Despite the ineffectiveness of his last shot, Red didn't give up. This time, he tried to aim for the creature's legs again. Unfortunately, though, the zombie was too fast, and the youth was also fearful of accidentally hitting Narcha. Most of his shots were dodged, not even serving as a distraction to the undead.

At the same time, the zombie continued to press his attack on Narcha. The woman was like a fortress, none of her opponent's attacks even so much as making her arms tremble. Still, it was clear that she was completely on the defensive.

Every time she twirled her saber for an attack, the zombie had already moved out of the way. It continued to circle the warrior, and she had no choice but to keep parrying its blows. This type of passive attitude didn't really fit what Red had seen from Narcha before. However, he was immediately able to identify the problem.

'She doesn't want to get hit.'

Of course, that went without saying. But when it came to this zombie, this was a completely different issue. Any scratch or fluid the undead spilled on her might cause her to become infected. Not to mention, they had both seen what the zombie's claws had done to the bandit's armor earlier. It was in question whether Narcha's protection would fare any better.

All of this was unfavorable for the woman's aggressive combat style. She had to be particularly careful since even if her blows connected, it would still be the end of her if the zombie managed to scratch her.

Red's mind started to work on overdrive as he considered how he could help. Suddenly, he remembered Rog's confrontation with the bandits, and an idea came to him.

"Put some distance and wait for my arrows!" The boy screamed.

Narcha didn't respond, too focused on the combat. However, a few seconds later, as she was parrying the zombie, she pushed its claw away and jumped back. The zombie was about to chase after her when it suddenly heard the shrill sound of an arrow coming its way.

Red had aimed a shot at its feet, but after their first encounter, the undead had become wiser to it. It took a step back, avoiding the arrow proficiently.

That was, however, when Narcha struck. Her saber swung down at the zombie, who still successfully managed to dodge the blow. When the undead was about to counterattack, though, Red shot another arrow at its feet, forcing it to sidestep again. The woman followed up with another strike, putting the zombie once more on the backfoot as it dodged the slash.

In a rhythm dictated by the boy's arrows, the zombie was continuously pushed back by the duo's attacks. Red had that idea once he remembered how Rog had tricked the bandit leader. The man had used one arrow to force his target to dodge and another to hit him. Although the youth couldn't shoot two arrows in such a short interval, he had a better follow-up in the form of Narcha.

With the duo's cooperation, the zombie found itself unable to react. Eventually, their efforts paid off. With a swift strike, the woman managed to lop off one of the zombie's arms. The creature looked unconcerned about the loss of its limb, though. In fact, it took the opportunity to dive behind a tree before Red could shoot it.

Narcha was about to give chase when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. From another direction, bandits started to emerge in large numbers. A few of them were armed with bows and immediately aimed them at the woman.

"Who the fuck are you?" A bandit asked. "Where is the fucking zombie?"

The group was in a panicked and fidgety state. Both Narcha and Red, who was still hidden, could tell that any wrong step might just start another fight between them. Meanwhile, the zombie had disappeared from sight, and the woman was looking around, alarmed.

"I was just fighting it!" She roared and pointed at the severed limb not too far away. "It ran away because of you morons!"

The bandits were all taken aback. Some sense seemed to return to them, and they turned to stare at the man who had spoken in the first place. Their leader seemed to hesitate.

"We can worry about the woman later!" He screamed at his subordinates. "Finding and killing the zombie is the priority!"

The bandits nodded at his words. Just as they got ready to move, though, Red saw something behind them.

"Behind you!" Narcha was the one to warn them.

Something jumped into the midst of the group from high up in the trees. Immediately, bloodcurdling screams resounded in the area, and blood and limbs started to fly up. The bandits all panicked and turned around to retreat from whatever had attacked them.

As soon as the area cleared up for view, there were already five bodies visible on the ground. In the middle of the gore of chopped-up body parts, a strange creature stood. A humanoid monster with a body fully covered by crimson red scales and claws as sharp and as long as daggers. Two large horns protruded from the sides of its head, and Red couldn't help but feel this monster looked like a twisted image of the human form.

It wasn't the zombie.

"It's a demon!" Narcha yelled.

At the same time, the zombie also took this opportunity to strike.