DEATH ZONE

“That… Was… Just… Too… Much.” Said Hamon between wheezes.

“Oh, come on, get up. I twisted almost all of its joints before you began fighting.” Theo looked down at him.

Hamon managed to get up with some difficulty. “What is that even? A zombie? The predator?”

“You name it.” Theo laughed as he looked at the three meters tall creature. It was black and human-like, except its face. “I told you to not let it grab you,” Theo said as he pointed to the white ribs jolting from the outside of its belly.

“Why are we here even?” Hamon waved his arms around. “There were wooden signs all over the entrance, clearly written ‘Don’t enter or you will die.’ Are you insane, Theo?”

“Maybe? But that has nothing to do with it, I’m prepared. And you,” Theo pointed at Hamon, ”just a few minutes ago thought it was pretty cool barging into some death zone to hunt zombies.” Theo turned around. “Now shut up, and let’s keep going. They are not that packed here, and probably there shouldn’t be anything else in those ‘zombies’ habitats.” Theo motioned some air quotes during the word zombie.

Hamon stood up. “Okay, maybe not zombies. Something like venom-predator-zombie. Why didn’t you warn me the ribs could move?”

Theo inspected the surrounding trees, black and devoid of life. The ground was dry and cracked. The air, still, with a brown mist swirling on their feet. “It’s training Hamon, training- Run!” Before they could banter much more, both bolted away to the right.

After a few minutes of running, Theo stopped. “I guess that’s far enough.” He observed the fluffy pink monster he had been carrying like a balloon.

“The left side is not black anymore. It means we are safe, right?” Hamon said while looking around. “I really didn’t see it coming.”

“Yes.” Theo motioned for Hamon to continue walking. “You won’t be able to see the death cloud, just forget it and trust our fluffy friend.” The place they were in was a subtle graveyard. It was one of the few level four areas in the region and certainly the most dangerous. Theo had walked far looking for it. Despite the strong monsters, it had an invisible mist that kept moving around. Those it came into contact with would turn into a dry black crisp. The bodies would then emit an unnoticeable smell, attracting the skeletal ghouls. Since almost no one who had seen the mist’s effect came back to tell the story, most people assumed the deaths were due to the monsters. It was a cursed land that most learned to avoid in due time.

After the event in the village, Theo had gotten all the way to level four due to the experience he obtained from the killer. The life force from every dead person had been stored inside him. It was no surprise for him how Anchieta got so strong from killing people. The ten times experience bonus during those events was insane. If those killing events didn’t involve so much human killing, he would be trying to follow them around.

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They had been traveling further and further from the weaker zones. Hamon did almost all the killing those days. The surrounding area was the first one Theo considered challenging enough for Hamon, even if the boy in question begged to differ. In his eyes, he had been through hellish training without rest.

Theo observed Hamon fighting. It was slow, but sure, challenging the boy at every waking moment did have an effect. If not from his blessing, it was from the boy’s sheer willpower. The combination of ‘Unwavering defiance’ and ‘Strong will’ was deadly. Hamon stopped struggling so much after the fifth ‘skeletal ghoul,’ as the people Theo knew called them.

At each subsequent fight, Theo allowed the monsters to fight in better shape. One less joint twisted or one less bruise. Nevertheless, that wasn’t the sole reason he came to these cursed lands. With his skill in mana manipulation and the ability to exploit the low magical resistance of monsters, there would be better hunting spots.

“We found it!” Theo had insane eyes as he squatted down. “So lucky, we won’t have to go back to the village now.”

Hamon looked from behind. “A tomb? We came looking for a tomb? I thought the shovels were for treasure hunting.”

“We are, in a way.” Theo pushed one of the shovels to Hamon and began digging. Seven feet below, they found a coffin.

“Great, we are indeed desecrating someone’s tomb.” Hamon swept his sweat away from his forehead, which just dirtied it even more.

“Now think, Hamon. Whose tomb?” Theo smirked.

“Well, I don’t know. How will I know some random person?” Hamon waved his arms.

Theo facepalmed himself. “I meant… who would have been buried in such a neat tomb in the middle of some cursed lands during the apocalypse? There sure is something good in here.”

Hamon widened his eyes, and Theo removed the lid from the coffin, revealing stairs leading downwards, prompting even more curious looks. “Close the door when you come in,” Theo said as he went downstairs.

The place was damp. The stairs expanded downwards into a wide corridor of stone walls. Equally spaced pillars supported the structure. The only light present was a torch that Theo brought.

“When did you prepare a torch?” Hamon asked as he tried not to trip on the stairs.

“When you are whining on the ground, I’m usually preparing our stuff for our journey.” Theo touched the walls. “Maybe next time I should teach you to prepare better. Now stay still for a while.”

Theo heard about this place from a temporary friend he had in the past. It was impossible to sneak into this guy, and he was always bragging about this piece of earring. Eventually, he lost it in a bet after not being able to escape an underwater crevice hundred meters deep.

Right now, Theo was looking for traps. The man bragged about how only him, a master, could disarm the traps and cross the corridor in one piece. To be honest, the man indeed had the skill, being an aficionado for such contraptions on his old life gave him an edge in the area.

Theo, however, had other plans for this place. He spent the night sweeping inside the walls with mana, trying to feel for inconsistencies. Every time he found one, he inspected the place, thought over the mechanism, and disarmed it using mana to move things around. Luckily all the traps here were sophisticated and needed some sort of trigger.

“You know? I was kinda scared before, but now it’s just getting boring.” Hamon said as he looked at the roof with his legs in the air.

“I will remember you love excitement at our next spar.” Theo chuckled as Hamon shrugged. Theo pondered if it was his personality or the blessing that was giving the boy so much confidence. Or maybe sheer stupidity, who knows?

Poison clouds, arrows, fire throwers, cutting wires, and collapsing traps. Theo managed to disable all those before getting to the end. There was a metal door with a wheel. Theo turned it to unlock and pushed in. He couldn’t feel anything close to the opening, so he braced himself, and sure it came.