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I Became A Zombie Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Stampede

When we exited the Plainevelt Labyrinth, we found ourselves in a rocky area of Green Plains.

「Oh? Plainevelt’s entrance and exit are pretty close to each other. Kinu, in order to let you get used to fighting in human form, we’ll head to Recuria while hunting.」

「Nn. Got it. I think… I can fight without problems.」

Originally, the monsters in green plains were about E rank. With Kinu’s current status, they shouldn’t pose a problem.

Even so, she needs to get accustomed to it a little.

…Well, judging from the results, it was pretty much a one-sided slaughter. A single fire arrow from Kinu turns goblins into ashes.

The potency of her magic has increased by an order of magnitude since she evolved.

As we slowly advanced towards the town, I found a horse galloping at a tremendous speed.

The rider was the beastfolk peddler, Barbaru.

He didn’t have his cart with him. I wonder what happened?

「Hey! Barbaru! What’s wrong?」

I approached him while calling out as loudly as possible.

Barbaru noticed us and changed course towards us.

「Aun-san!? Huh? Who is that person?」

「Ah, it’s Kinu. When we met last time, there was a fox magic beast with me, wasn’t there? She transformed into a human with the Humanization skill. It would be more accurate to say that she transformed into a beastfolk, I suppose.」

「This is the first time I’ve seen such a cute beastfolk! I envy you…Ah! Aun-san, please help me!!」

「Hmm? Come to think of it, you seemed to be in quite a hurry. What happened?」

「Actually, there is a dungeon near Nyahar Village, and it’s about to cause a stampede!

The reason why the number of strong monsters has increased recently seems to be related to the monsters that came out of the dungeon!

At this rate, the people in my hometown, my family… will all die!」

「Hold on. Calm down for a minute.

I’ll try to do something about it, so please guide me to Nyahar Village.

Both Kinu and I run faster than a horse, so please explain the situation while moving.」

「Understood! Aun-san, Kinu-san! Thank you very much!」

I received more information about the situation while running side by side with Barbaru’s horse.

「To start with, did you say Stampede? That means a large number of monsters are coming out of the dungeon, right? What’s going on at the dungeon right now?」

「When I left the village to seek help, the beastfolk warriors in the village said they would try to buy some time near the entrance of the dungeon. But they probably wouldn’t last long. They will retreat depending on the situation.

While the warriors were defending the entrance, the village chief was working towards gathering the villagers, preparing to evacuate.

However, there isn’t anything more that they can do. I even heard some people say that they can’t abandon the village, so I don’t think the evacuation is going smoothly.」

「The situation sounds bad… What should we do?」

「Aun… Evacuate to Plainevelt?」

…Hmm, if it’s in Plainevelt dungeon, I can assure their safety.

If there are beastfolk who can fight even after evacuating, they should be able to defeat the goblins and one-horned rabbits in the surroundings without any problems.

In addition, work personnels are also needed for my future Dungeon Village plans.

It would be a great advantage for us if they would move there.

Well, I wouldn’t force the beastfolk to migrate if they don’t want to.

「Nice idea, Kinu!」

「Plainevelt?…Where is that? I’ve never heard of it.」

「Barbaru, I trust you and will tell you our secret. Can you promise not to tell anyone else?」

「Secret…? Of course! I will never tell anyone the secret of my benefactor who is willing to risk his life for us beastfolk! I swear this on my pride as a beastfolk and a merchant!」

「I’m relieved to hear that. To tell you the truth, I am a dungeon master, a person who manages a certain dungeon. And the dungeon I manage is in Green Plains. The dungeon’s name is Plainevelt.」

「Dungeon… Master? Aun-san, you’re such an amazing person!」

「If it’s that place, I promise you’ll be able to evacuate safely. The problem is that we have to prevent the monster stampede while the evacuation is underway… I’ll think about that for a while, so let’s keep heading towards the village. Once I’ve got my thoughts together, I’ll share my strategy. Will that be okay?」

「Understood. Originally, we couldn’t do anything on our own. So I’ll follow Aun-san’s instructions!」

As soon as I heard those words, I contacted and instructed Ars and Irs via telepathy.

≪Ars, Irs, can you hear me?≫

≪Yes, we can you hear you.≫ ≪Yes.≫

≪On the way to Recuria, I met an acquaintance, a beastman peddler. He says a dungeon near his hometown is about to start a stampede. Tell me more about stampede.>>

≪Then, allow me to explain.

A stampede is a phenomenon that happens once every few decades. It happens when the magic essence supply around the dungeon becomes extremely low. If the supply is extremely low, the star will try to make up for it by summoning a large number of monsters into the dungeon at once.

This action cannot be stopped by the dungeon core. If you want to stop this phenomenon even just a little bit, you need to defeat a large number of the overflowing magic beasts and temporarily increase the amount of magic essence absorbed by the dungeon.

Actually, Foret Noir was almost about to start a stampede before Aun arrived.≫

≪So that’s what a stampede is. Does that mean that the stampede will stop if you defeat a large number of the monsters that appear?≫

≪It’s just a temporary measure.

When a stampede happens, the dungeon will go out of control, so unfortunately the monsters will not stop spawning until the core is destroyed.

The monsters will come out in waves – the 1st wave, 2nd wave, and 3rd wave – and increase with each wave. Once you’ve completely wiped out a wave, you’ll have a few days of time until the next wave comes.≫

That means that if we eradicate the first wave, we’ll be able to buy time to evacuate.

≪Understood. I’ve made a strategy based on that, so please follow my instructions.

First, Ars you will be in contact with me and support Irs at the same time.

Irs, I want you to quickly carry out the work to create the buildings on the first floor that I was talking about earlier. For the time being, please set up about 10 houses. You don’t have to expose the 1st floor to the green plains yet. I will give out the instructions later on.≫

≪Roger.≫ ≪Understood.≫

Okay, the strategy and plan is ready.

Let’s share it with Kinu and Barbaru next.