It was a phenomenon that was happening in certain parts of the world. There were bodies that were erupting from their graves, exiting their eternal slumber in order to reak havoc and possibly feast on the living and still breathing. Some say that the phenomenon happens once in a while and that there would always be someone to stand against them and put the undead in their place. However, the horde moved at a frightening pace and sometimes they always managed to get a casualty that that ruins the rest of the existing countries that aren't prepared for it. Hassan figured that this was the ultimate training tool for him to test his expertise and endurance in general. He might feel good about defeating about 20 zombies at once, but what if they were stronger than average? Would he be able to defeat 200 of them if that was the case? Besides the difficulties that the horde may pose due to their swarming techniques and mechanism, he took a look at a map and tried to see if he could track them. From what Hassan managed to figure out while tracing the zombie horde, it seemed to be traveling to Bosco. The army there in such a war-ridden country would be able to handle themselves, but Hassan was mostly concerned with his allies.

He sent a message to the sleeping calamity members in Bosco through the proper channels. They might not have had a super-duper amount of influence, but they knew of ways to contact each other when they needed to. With Hassan's leviathan, he was able to travel on both air and sea to reach his destination. It cost him nothing, he could hunt for fish and cook it with his lightning magic, and he was able to withstand the temperature changes of going into a different area that he isn't too accustomed to.

---

After arriving at the destination safe house, Hassan drew out a cigarette and lit it with his magic. He sat down and waited to see if any one of his comrades in the country if they were still in the country would notice the sign and come to him. He was mainly here due to the zombie horde appearing, something that was more of a pet project for training that became more serious. In Hassan's opinion, when things got a little too serious, he would have rathered them be together to handle it than be apart.

"It should take about a week for the sign to circle around if I did it correctly...... " They didn't have a lot of time and judging the fighting power of those zombie monsters was something that Hassan didn't have any information on. He was hoping that they brought something new to them each time in order to increase his preparedness. At the same time, Hassan didn't want to work too hard due to just getting into the city and not knowing how the military would act.

"I guess I shall wait."

504/2000

Ikazuchi made his way through Bosco as he searched for new opportunities to take advantage of the circumstances for employment. Hildegard’s victory over her siblings had calmed the situation slightly, but it didn’t immediately settle the chaos that had spread through the country. It wouldn’t last forever, so Ikazuchi intended to capitalize on it as much as possible.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t encountered any noble or royal who may have employed him for an exorbitant amount. It seemed that other than the extreme circumstances, the country intended to mostly rely on their army. It was something that he had expected now that multiple factions had unified under Hildegard’s banner, but he still felt disappointed by the matter.

Without any particular work or situation, Ikazuchi found himself simply roaming through the country freely. He heard rumors during his travels about the undead rising, something that the young man couldn’t help but connect to Samhain. He had experienced the mysterious place last year, so he knew that the activity of undead during this time was incomparable to any other during the year.

The young man knew how serious it could become, but he didn’t feel particularly involved with the situation until he received a message through a particular information channel that someone from his guild was seeking to gather the members together at a safehouse. ‘I guess I will check that out.’ This was what Ikazuchi thought as he traveled directly towards the specified location.

Along the way he stopped in a particular area in order to camp for the night and encountered some of the rumored undead. There weren’t many, but the varying degrees of decomposition and distinct stench still couldn’t be ignored. Ikazuchi felt disgusted, but he didn’t hesitate to face them as he didn’t know how common it was to encounter a small group of them. He particularly took note of one undead that had wriggling flesh and a dull red gem formed on its forehead.

He didn’t hesitate to draw his weapons and charge at the nearest undead and unleash varying types of strikes at different locations on its body. He took note of the fact that the undead was able to move without functioning tendons as he quickly severed the main tendons in its limbs. He wasn’t surprised as he had seen simple skeletons move without them, but he had to confirm it as these undead still possessed their flesh. It was worth noting that the movements of the undead creature were slowed due to the damage, but he also noticed the damage recovering relatively quickly.

At this point multiple undead were closing in from different directions, so he was forced to move evasively around the undead attacking him. His attack target shifted during the process as he tested various vital strikes, even going as far as to remove an arm from one of them. It was only at that point that one of his attacks showed any amount of success.

Eventually he was able to exhaust his many options as he learned that there wasn’t any lasting damage able to be dealt to the undead short of removing or destroying a limb. ‘What about the head though?’ This was the final target that Ikazuchi left as he suspected that it would be the only way to truly stop the undead due to various rumors.

Ikazuchi didn’t hesitate to move and quickly removed the head from the damaged undead, excluding the one with the dull red gem on its forehead. His assumption had been correct as those undead didn’t move after their heads were removed. ‘You’re all that’s left.’ His attention was focused on the red gem undead as he thought this. He had noticed that it moved as if it possessed a certain level of intelligence as it avoided damage to itself by using its comrades as shields. It was distinctly different, but it could only be described as slightly more intelligent.

The previous scene played out once again as Ikazuchi proceeded to test the differences between the two types of undead. He quickly learned that the regenerative capabilities of the undead with the gem far exceeded those without. It was to the extent that limbs rapidly reconnected or regrew when he dealt damage to them. When he finally severed the head of the undead and though it was over he received a strike that he hadn’t expected. “The fuck?” Ikazuchi couldn’t help but curse as he retreated and assessed the situation.

It had been the headless body of the undead that had struck him, and it was only when he retreated a bit that he caught sight of the lively head on the ground watching him intently with wriggling flesh at the wound. Ikazuchi rushed to where the head fell and proceeded to attack it further. It continued to regenerate rapidly until the gem on its head was coincidentally shattered by an attack. That was when he realized what was required to put down such an undead.

Afterwards, Ikazuchi decided to depart the area unaware that a horde passed through the area a few minutes later. It was a few days later when he finally arrived at the location that was specified in the information and entered it without concern. Waiting inside was Hassan who Ikazuchi immediately greeted after he confirmed that no one else was present. “Seems like I’m the first one to arrive?”

WC: 890