Chapter 19: Party Hunt II

[You made Zombie Lv 1 your subordinate]

[-10 Leadership]

[Duration: 06:48:00]

Teo felt a connection linking the zombie to his mind. The monster now seemed like an extension of his body, a part he could freely move like hands and feet. So, he tried doing the same.

Hands up. He mentally commanded his subordinate through the link. It felt as natural as moving his hands and feet.

The undead pretending to be a dead fish on the floor suddenly raised both hands up, startling Gloria in the process. She whipped her gun out, then pointed the barrel at the zombie’s head.

“Put that down. I have it under my control now.” Teo said, pushing his palm at her. “Look.”

On his mental command, the zombie flailed its arms, then curled its fingers into a fist. “See?”

Gloria raised an eyebrow, putting her gun away. She trotted over, careful not to get too close to the zombie. Teo was the one who had immunity, not her.

“So it’s now under your control? How does that work?” Gloria asked, curious. “Can you, like, communicate with it or something?”

“No. I can only dictate what actions to perform. That’s about it.” Teo informed.

“I see. How many can you control?” Gloria asked, nodding. She would think of an optimized plan to attack the zombies if he could control a decent amount.

“For now, only two.” Teo lied. The appearance of [Dominator] skill had reminded him of a rather unpleasant memory. He didn’t want his fate to become the same as that pitiful girl who was killed by her own mother in the end. Abilities that affected human minds were considered taboo. He would rather not use this skill at all than let anyone get wind of it.

“Two? Hmm… More than what I expected.” Gloria scratched her chin, deep in thought. Her eyes, though on the zombie, were unfocused. The cogs in her spun lightning fast as various strategies were simulated. The ‘Art of War’ auxiliary class she took during her third year assisted her in devising a way to use two expandable soldiers most efficiently.

The only idea that came to her mind was to have them act as meatshields. Unironically, this method would suit them the best. She was a ranged specialist. From afar, she could literally one-shot level two zombies. However, that overwhelming damage would fall off quite a bit if she had to go melee. Due to this, she tried adding points to agility so that she could quickly reposition in case an enemy got too close. And it was working just fine until now.

“I think we should use them as meatshields,” Teo said, getting Gloria’s attention. “These zombies don’t really have that much damaging ability. But they can take hits. As long as their heads are not touched, they can hold back at least tens of zombies.”

Teo might not have gone to school, but he had been to the field with [Players]. He had seen how they hunt monster hordes with relative ease. One of the tricks they liked to use the most was sending a ‘bait’ to attract attention while they used their skills from afar.

Be it the zombies, moon-marked bears, or even the blood-thirsty orcs, the [Players] would easily hunt them with this method. Teo wanted to employ the same method. His zombie subordinates, who don’t fear death and will never get tired, were the best for the said job.

“I was thinking the same too. But—” Gloria leveled Teo with an even gaze. “Do you have any long ranged skills?”

“I don’t. But I have something that could get rid of a mass at once.” Teo said, taking out the flask of flammable he bought from Marcy and forgot to use. His face morphed into an ugly shape. He bought it to kill the level two zombie… then forgot about it during the actual battle.

“That’s a flask of ashening powder! You have something like that and yet got done in by those zombies?” Gloria snickered, shaking her head.

Teo felt his face burning. He scowled at giggling Gloria but didn’t say anything. He decided to be the grown-up and not respond to her. It was his fault for being dumb anyway. Who asked him to not stick to his initial plans?

“I can already guess what went wrong. You must’ve felt confident after killing a few level one zombies. After taking the antidote, you should’ve felt that you could take them all on since the level two was injured.” Gloria narrated everything that had happened to him, word by word, much to Teo’s astonishment. He narrowed his eyes and looked at her warily. How could she be so accurate? Was she watching him from afar?

“Relax that face. And yes, I saw everything from afar.”

“You were watching me?” Teo questioned, his defense going up a little.

“I was not watching you per se. It was the level two zombie I had my eyes on. Didn’t you see that it was missing its legs? That was my doing.” Gloria revealed, shedding light on the cause.

Teo had wondered for a split second why the zombie was half dead, but he later ignored it out of his idiocy. So that’s why it didn’t have legs. Now that I think about it… Teo stared at the level one zombie on the floor that was missing everything from its waist and below. The pattern indeed matches.

“I could have taken its head in one go. But I was scared the bullet will destroy the core. That’s why I took aim at its legs. How would I know it will run inside that cavity in the wall and stay cooped in?” Gloria sighed.

Teo, on the other hand, bristled with indignation. “So, you used me?” He hissed, narrowing his eyes at her. Perhaps it felt its master’s anger; the zombie stopped flailing and curled its fingers into a claw as it leaned in Gloria’s direction.

Gloria fixed him an even gaze, not showing any extreme emotion on her face. Her eyes bore deep into his as she maintained an infuriating calm expression. The joking atmosphere came to a sudden halt as a formless pressure lingered between them.

Moments later, she began: “Don’t jump to conclusions, Teo.” She said, her voice carrying an edge. “Think clearly. I never met you and didn’t even know you exist in this dungeon before. If I could see the future, I would not be lingering on the first floor instead of advancing. Besides, I came rushing when you were in danger. How could you accuse me of something this disgusting?”

Teo shut his mouth, then relaxed his shoulders. She was right. How could she plan something when they have never even met? Teo realized he was still sensitive to the near-death experience and would lose his reasoning ability whenever it crops up, directly or indirectly.

“I am sorry. That was insensitive of me. I was just out of my mind, I suppose.” Teo apologized, looking down at his feet as his face burned with shame. He clenched his fingers into a fist, nails digging into his palm.

Gloria exhaled a long breath, then turned around. “Let’s go hunt zombies.” Her voice carried no warmth as her legs carried her deeper into the dungeon in the dim light of soul lamps.

‘Shit!’ Teo groaned. He wished he could go back in time and give the Teo of the past a tight slap across his cheeks.