Those from the games are usually are capable of a slow run, sometimes a short burst of speed if the developers are feeling a bit spicy. In the movies, they are slow but relentless. Attacking in a large horde that run down their prey until they collpased from exhaustion. These are the Zombies that I know, the living dead that run towards the living to devour them but are slow and unthinking when none are present.

What is in front of us is different. It was very different from what I know.

None of us made a sound while the Zombie in front of us covered the hole beneath him Olivia was rearing to cast [Greater Purify] on the entire graveyard but Maria stopped her. 

"Look, other Zombies."

I pointed to the other shapes shuffling in the distance.

"Hmm... The spirits of this place must've been roused by something."

Wait, that could happen?

I stared at Olivia while she thought about what to do.

"I could just purify them, this entire place even. But it's still strange to see this..."

Olivia watched closely as teh Zombies seemed to... talk to one another.

"The spirits are conversing. It is not the language of the dead but that of the Common Tongue."

"Strange. Pretty Stra-"

"Can we just hurry up and finish this quest already? This place is giving me the creeps!"

Jin shuddered at the sight of three bodies shambling around just ahead of us. Weirdly enough, they didn't seem to be moving in the way I expected. They were just... standing there in a small huddle.

I wasn't about to stop Olivia from doing whatever she needed to do, in fact, I also wanted her to just finish the damn quest already. But something caught our attention in this dark place. It was a spine chilling sound that made all of us stop and stare at the three bodies in front of us.

They were speaking to each other. Their tone so casual one could mistake them as workers or gravediggers working the night shift.

"...My body feels strange. It's like I'm missing something important."

"Yer dick's gone. Well, it's not like ya had a use for it anyway."

"Oh piss off. My manhoods gone! Gone! How the hell will I call myself a man?!"

"As if you had other uses for it other than taking a piss. You died a virgin and you'll rise up a virgin."

The Zombie they were picking on smacked the one on his left on the back of his head. Jin nearly threw up a the sight of a rotting eyeball popping out of its socket.

"Anyway... At least we're back in our bodies now. The graveyard is looking a tad bit brighter than usual though, but corpses can be beggars."

The Zombie leaned on one of the tombstones and shrugged his shoulders. 

"Gods, this is shit. The hips on this thing's killin' me. I'd rather be a spirit than walk around with this hip o' mine."

"Well, I'm just glad to be back in a body for once. But thanks a lot for ruining my eye, asshole! Can't see shit on my right anymore."

"Sorry about that. Anyways, now that we have bodies again. What do you want to do?"

"The usual I guess? I'd give an arm just to go drinkin' again but the usual ain't bad either."

"So just hang around like everyday, then?"

"Yeah. Good plan."

The three of them looked like shambles. Rotting bodies being held together by what remains of their flesh or by small bits of bones and tissue. But they moved around naturally, like living people. They stood around while they talked about their past lives like a bunch of old people reminiscing about their youth.

Strange. Strange, weird, and a bit surprising if I do say so myself. It didn't look like there were any other Zombies around, that's good. But it's still a strange sight to see a bunch of dead bodies talking about how they miss drinking outside.

"... Right?! Folks up north don't know what good beer tastes like! Speakin' of beer, I wonder what would happen if we drank a bunch of the stuff."

"Probably just pass through us. Look at me, I have a hole in my stomach. Look, look."

The Zombies laughed as the one in the center showed off the empty cavity where his intestines were supposed to be. 

"Hurk, I t-think I'm gonna throw up."

Jin looked green, not as green as the Zombies, but green. Maria patter her on the back while she tried to stop her dinner from going up.

"I have had enough of this! Stop- Oh Gods, w-w-"

The Zombies turned towards our direction while Olivia heaved behind one of the tombstones. I could stil see bits of the meal she ate earlier as she emptied the contents of her stomach.

"Oh! So that's why it was so bright! There's an Archpriest out here!"

"That's a relief... I was hoping to wrap this up soon, but it's still surprising to see one.

The Zombies nodded while they watch Olivia stagger back up onto her feet. The three of us just watched from the sideline as she raised her staff at them.

"You abominations will no longer stain the face of this world! Y-You- Hrk, excuse me."

"By all- Oh, she already started puking again."

"I think it's because of your eye is hanging out."

"Aye. It might be the case."

"Wait, it is? So that's why I can see my foot! Sorry."

The Zombie pushed the dangling eyeball back into its socket while they waited for Olivia to steady herself. I put away my sword at this point since those things are clearly no threat.

In fact, it looked like they were waiting for this kind of thing to happen. Albeit with a disappointed look in their eyes.

"Sorry about that. Anyway, I'm here to purify this place!"

The tip of her staff glowed once more while she wiped her lips with the back of her sleeve.

"Oh, of course! By all means! Go ahead!"

The response blind sided not just Olivia, but us as well. We all stared at them wide-eyed while we waited for them to do something. Anything.

But they didn't. They just stood there and waited for the Archpriest to purify them.

"W-Wait, you're not gonna stop me?"

The Zombies looked at one another in confusion then back to the also confused Archpriest.

"Y-Yeah... Is it alright with you? Isn't that your job?"

The Archpriest blinked at them a few times, the Zombies tried as well but their eyelids didn't seem to work anymore. Olivia's arm dropped to her side as she glared at them angrily. Suddenly, she waas stomping at the ground in anger while she shook her head.

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"T-This is not how it works! You guys are supposed to start growling and charging and I'd start blasting Holy Magic at you! W-Why are you acting so cool about this?! What's wrong with you?! Are your brains even in your heads?!"

The Zombies immediately hid behind a gravestone in fear while the Archpriest started stomping angrily.

It was rare to see Olivia getting so worked up since her default setting is basically a Priest that spends mornings and evenings drunk with a smile on her face. Now here she is, wacking one of the Zombies with her staff while it cried out to us and his companions for help against the fuming Archpriest.

"Damn. Undead. Ruining. My. Fun!"

"Please! Have mercy! Have mercy!"

The poor guy curled up into a ball as the Archpriest continued to kick and hit him with a staff.

"You were supposed to be a giant horde! I put off this quest for a month hoping that more undead will show up and you're just three guys hanging around in a graveyard?! Damn it! Damn it! Repent! Repent for not raising up more of your friends!"

I didn't know hot feel about those words and by the looks of it, so did the otehrs. It sounded irresponsible. Dangerous even. But then again, I'm also not sure about-

"W-We beg you! It's not our faul-"

"You two better shut it or you're next! Wait, no! I'll deal with you after I beat this guy!"

I stare at them while the Zombie tried to cry but no tear came out of his eyes.

Shapes are beginning to form around us, vague silhouttes that slowly approached the Archpriest in the midst of her assault. They looked like people, no, they are people. Or at least they were.

"The lingering souls of the dead..."

Her voice was shaking as she eyed the spirits warily.

"They... They look..."

"Disappointed."

The three of us let out a sigh while we continued to watch Olivia's rampage. A few gravestones have been destroyed already and one of the poor guys was already missing an arm.

I could feel the disappointment of the ghosts while they looked at the girl that was supposed to release them. One of them even muttered something before groaning in despair.

Look, I'd be pretty fucking disappointed as well if my doctor started beating one of his patients or if the priest just started punching someone in the middle of mass.

"Olivia. Just start purifying them."

Those words made some of the spirits smile a bit.

The Archpriest stopped for a moment, then kicked the Zombie one last time before walking back towards us. The poor thing whimpered as his friends helped him up to his feet. The spirits weren't pleased with this violence, but what could they do against this person?

Olivia grumbled a bit more before raising her staff once more, this time she wasn't doing it to pick a fight with the three Zombies. 

"May the light of Illyria guide you. [Greater Purification]!"

The tip of the staff glowed white at her words. In an instant, the spirits around us were around her, each disappearing with a content and relieved smile on their faces as they faded. Slowly, their numbers dwindled until the only ones left were the three Zombies shuffling their way towards her.

"Not so fast!"

The three halted and was about to run away when Olivia pointed at the three of them.

"I still have questions for you guys!"

The three of the Zombies sat in front of us while they waited for Olivia to finish up her spell. They stayed quiet, unmoving, and lifeless. They didn't breathe, didn't blink, and they just stared at us while we kept an eye on them. It was unsettling, having the dead look at you with those blank, empty eyes of theirs.

"Arthur. Can you perhaps tell them to look the other way?"

"We heard ya', lass. Does our appearance scare ya' so much?"

The Zombie beside him nudged him with his bony elbow before looking back at us.

"Sorry for my friend here. Also pardon our appearance, it is-"

"It's ugly as hell."

The three of them chuckled as they took tried to avert their gazes from us.

"Are they bothering you?"

"Ow."

A bit of flesh popped out from one of the Zombies after Olivia hit him on the back of his head with her staff. The sight made Jin gag and Maria avert her gaze.

"Anyway, why did you become Zombies? Why did you possess your bodies?"

The three looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders.

"We didn't know what happened."

"Aye. We were restin' during the day when we suddenly felt our souls pulled by somethin' nasty."

"Yes. The next thing we knew, we were in our bodies and we couldn't leave it."

The Zombies nodded in unison while Olivia scratched her head.

"Strange. Very strange. But that's all I needed to know."

Olivia sighed while she pointed the glowing end of her staff towards the three of them.

"You must've been stuck here because of your regrets, huh?"

The three nodded while they sat back and relaxed. Their faces showed hints of happiness despite, you know, being green and rotting. Still, it was pretty gruesome to see some guy's jaw suddenly come loose.

"Ah, thanks for helping us."

"I'm just doing my job."

The three Zombies nodded one last time before finally slumping forwards. Whatever unnatural life that was left in those bodies disappeared. Olivia cast one last [Greater Purification] on the bodies before letting out a sigh, her eyes eyeing the bodies laying on the ground in front of her.

"I hope you found your way."

There was no reply from any of the bodies. There was only silence.

But for a moment, I thought I heard someone laughing happily in the distance.

----------------------------------------

"What's the quest today?"

"Don't know. Olivia locked herself in her church today and Maria's still sleeping."

"Maria I understand, but what happened to Olivia?"

The tough jerky looked really painful to eat, but Jin tore through it effortlessly. It was her favorite food after all, for some reason.

I tried it once, it didn't taste like the ones I bought at the convenience store. Too salty for my taste.

"Olivia just told me she needed to look through some things. She said-"

"Morning!"

It caught me off guard that I nearly choked on the bacon I was chewing. Olivia gave me a few pats on the back and thankfully, but a bit of ale helped as well.

"Woah there! Relax! I'm not a Zombie! Ahaha!" 

She pulled out a chair beside me and sat down. She eyed the salty jerky Jin's eating then the meal in front of me.

"Breakfast... Well, guess I better order some for myself."

She flagged down one of the passing receptionists then ordered some eggs and toast. He nodded and walked alon but not before grumbling something under his breath while he took a sip of his tea.

"Rude. Well, they must be from the night shift. Anyways, I found something odd last night."

"What? More dead bodies?"

Olivia glared at me while I chewed on a piece of toast. 

"No! This is... different. Where's Maria? I'm not good with these kinds of things. Is she still asleep?"

"Yeah. She won't be waking up anytime soon by the looks of it."

She frowned at Jin's words and slumped back into her chair.

"Tsk. And Zel's away too... She should be the one to hear this but..."

"Look, just tell us what you found. I want to enjoy my breakfast not worry about some magic experiment gone wrong."

Her glare was pretty cold, but it was shortlived.

"Rude. Why are you so grumpy all the time? Hmph! To think I revived you that one time... Now I feel like a mother after her son starts to drift away due to his rebellious phase."

I shoot her a glare and she pouts back at me. Jin just watched quietly, clearly amused by how the Archpriest is pestering me this early in the morning. 

"Back to the topic. Arthur, do you remember those three Zombies from last night?"

I nodded meekly. God, the smell of rotting flesh is still fresh in my mind. Jin herself stopped chewing her jerky and shivered.

"Well, i asked around last night and..."

Her silence waas a bit unnerving, but she probably just forgot some word-

"And it's pretty bad."

"How bad?"

Everyone turned to me as I immediately pushed away my half-finished meal and leaned closer.

"I had someone in the church use [Message] to contact other towns. It seems that there was a commotion last night."

"This is bad. Here, I've got a map of the area."

Jin pulled out a small parchment and laid it across the table. It was a pretty well drawn map of the region but i's pretty clear that time hasn't been kind to it.

"Thanks. Anyways, the towns of Rieton, Essel, and Werron had similar incidents as well as the surrounding villages. One of the messages also failed to get through, the one going to the city of Rivergard."

She drew a line  on the map with her finger that head North. It was more a curve than a line and the last city she referred to was pretty far off from the line. It was a long ways off from Lorren to the West.

Wait a minute.

I traced the cities with my finger again. It wasn't a line, it was a curve. My brows furrowed together while I looked at the affected villages Olivia pointed out. Everything west of the curve experienced some Undead related activity while everything to the east were unaffected. 

This is problematic... But-

"It's a circle. A large circle..."

A chair was pulled back softly and the Archmage took a seat beside me. She let out a yawn before taking a look a t the map.

"Are you teaching Arthur the geography of the land?"

"N-No, it's something else. This four towns were affected by something last night. Oh! You're great at magic, maybe you can tell us what's wrong?"

Maria blinked a few times before groggily looking at the map. 

"It's the town of Lorren, Rieton, Essel, and Werron that were affected."

Jin chimed in and Maria simply nodded at her. Maria's eyes furrowed and she frowned at the map in front of her. Everyone was waiting anxiously for her answer, but she continued to stare at the map in complete silence.

"Well, I see nothing wrong. Perhaps it was jsut a surge of magic in the area."

Everyone sighed at her answer while she looked for a barmaid to get her order.

For a moment, I thought she was on to something. I was about to forget about it when she suddenly grabbed the map and slammed it down on the table. This time, she had a more serious look on her face as she traced the towns with her finger.

"My Gods... It's a circle. It's the radius of a spell."

She shakily slammed a finger down on the town near the center of the said circle. She looked at Olivia with a grim expression before asking her a question.

"Did the [Message] get there?"

The Archpriest didn't answer. It was Jin who answered, although she only shook her head at Maria.

"It's a Blocking Spell. Someone is blocking the communications. No, this is different... Olivia..."

Everyone around us was silent. 

At this point, the entire guild has heard the commotion on our table.  In fact, even the other tables were now listening closely to what was supposed to be a private conversation. Not far off from us was a small group of receptionists standing near. They kept a close eye on us nervously as everyone's gaze turned towards Olivia.

"What happened in the other towns?"

Olivia gulped. The tension of the air seemed to snap like a taut fishing line the moment she answered Maria's question.

"The Dead rose from the ground and began to march."

Maria slumped back onto her chair, beads of sweat trailing down her face while she wiped them with her robes. The adventurers and receptionists began to murmur amongst themselves as a gloomy and dreadful atmosphere descended upon the guild.

"Necromancy... And to cast a spell that large, it would only mean-"

Her eyes bulged and she suddenly stood up from her seat.

"Zel's in danger!"