Free Web NovelChapter 42: Unlikely Discoveries
Shinon stepped out of the tent, still chuckling about the earlier misunderstanding. He looked around the base, and his eyes fell on the moat where the corpses of the undead had gathered. He walked towards the moat’s edge, patting Rico’s back as he passed him.
"Sorry about that, Rico. It was all a misunderstanding," he said with a smile.
"Of course it was," Rico laughed along. "I have known Kira for years, and she isn’t that kind of a girl. I was just taken aback by the situation and the awkwardness around it."
"It’s okay," Shinon said, still grinning. "Kira was just helping me with a scratch on my leg."
Kira, following Shinon out of the tent, blushed and looked away. "It was just a small wound, nothing to worry about. Smartass..."
"Yeah, I get it." Rico shook his head.
Shinon waved a hand dismissively. "No worries. Let’s focus on the task at hand, shall we?"
He raised his hand, and his shadowy tentacles emerged from the ground, reaching out to grab the zombie corpses. He also altered a couple of the tentacles to wield shadow weapons so that Rico could take a much-deserved break from chopping zombies’ heads.
"No matter how often I see your shadows at work, I’m always amazed by them," Kira mumbled before sitting back, enjoying the cool night breeze.
"Well, thank you," Shinon replied. "I’ve been working to improve them a bit more, or at least control them better."
As the trio worked to clean up the zombie corpses, Kira couldn’t help but cover her nose and mouth with a cloth to avoid the stench. She grumbled about the smell and how it seemed to linger even after the corpses were removed. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Kira wrinkled her nose in disgust. The pungent smell of decaying zombies filled the air, making her feel sick to her stomach.
"Ugh, this smell is unbearable. We need to get rid of these corpses as soon as possible," Kira said, shaking her head.
Rico noticed her discomfort and suggested burning the corpses to eliminate the smell. Kira immediately perked up at the idea, but Shinon quickly shot it down.
"One would think you would’ve gotten used to the smell after living in this... world." Shinon laughed before getting serious again.
"If we burn them, the smell of burning flesh will attract even more zombies," he explained, "But if we don’t, the smell of the corpses will mask our own scent, fooling the zombies."
He continued, "That said, even if we eliminate them without burning, we’ll be more vulnerable to attack, and I don’t think any of us would want that to happen."
Rico nodded, understanding Shinon’s concerns. "Now that I think about it, you are right. We don’t want to attract more of those things to our base."
Kira sighed, realising they had a point. "I guess you’re right. But how are we supposed to deal with this smell, and what if the corpses spread diseases?"
Shinon thought momentarily before replying, "Let’s bury the corpses, and we’ll mask the smell with something else. Maybe we can gather some fragrant flowers or herbs from the forest and use them to make a natural air freshener."
"That’s a great idea! I know some wildflowers that have a strong scent. Maybe we can use those to make a sachet or something and keep it on ourselves inside the base." Kira snapped her fingers, brightened at the idea.
"Leave it to Kira to know all about flowers and herbs. Rico grinned. "I’m sure you’ll find something that smells good enough to cover up the zombie stench."
Kira rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but smile, "I’ll do my best."
With a plan in place, the trio continued to work, using shovels and buckets to remove the remaining corpses. As they worked, they talked about their next steps and how they could improve their defences.
Shinon suggested reinforcing the walls of their base with more robust materials, while Rico recommended setting up more lethal traps and alarms to alert them of any incoming threats.
After all, they couldn’t always depend on their abilities to defend the base. A good base should be able to protect itself!
"Yeah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves." Shinon smiled, shaking his head. "We can’t build automatic turrets out of wood to do our work, can we?"
"I guess you’re right." Rico scratched the back of his head.
Shinon was moving the last of the zombie corpses from the moat when he saw something glittering in the darkness. He paused and looked again, thinking his eyes might be playing tricks on him. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
But he saw it again - a glimmer of light reflecting off something amid the dead bodies.
Curious, he summoned a shadow tentacle and directed it towards the source of the light. As the tentacle wrapped around the object, he pulled it towards him, examining it closely. It was a small crystal, no bigger than his palm, but it seemed to glow faintly in the darkness.
"There’s no way..." Shinon mumbled. By now, Rico and Kira had joined him as well.
Shinon examined the crystal closely, turning it over in his hand. It was smooth and polished, emanating a strange glow from its surface. It was definitely a Monster Core.
As he looked at the crystal, he remembered more about the dungeons they had in his past life.
The monsters that inhabited those dungeons differed from the zombies he had seen in this world. They were fierce and dangerous, but they also dropped valuable items like these crystals that could be used to create or imbue weapons with unique abilities.
But how could this be? They were in a world overrun by zombies that had never seen any monsters belonging to Shinon’s past.
Perhaps there was a connection between this world and his past life that he had not yet discovered. If that was the case, he could find a way back to his world and, if possible, take his allies with him!
’Who am I kidding? It’ll take months, maybe years, before I find a way back home.’
In the meantime, Rico and Kira looked at Shinon quizzically, unsure of what he held in his hand.
"What is it?" Kira asked, her curiosity piqued. "That crystal in your hands?"
"It looks like some kind of ore to me," Shinon replied, examining the glinting crystal in his hand.
He could say it was a Monster Core, but he wasn’t in the mood to explain everything about his past life to them.
"Ore?" Rico asked, his interest also sparked. "What kind of ore?"
"I’m not sure," Shinon said, turning the crystal over. "I might need to perform some tests on it before I can say anything. Let’s finish up here first, then get some sleep."
"Yeah, the sooner we finish, the more sleep we can get." Kira yawned, pulling her hands over her head.
As they continued their work, Shinon couldn’t help but wonder how something from his past world had ended up in this place. It was a mystery that he couldn’t solve at the moment, but he knew he needed to keep his eyes open for anything else that might be out of the ’ordinary’.
