"So dying once is easy, but dying again isn’t so easy," Malin said as he and Eleven climbed over the hill ahead of them. Zombies slowed down on the incline, reaching speeds slow enough even a sixty-year-old could escape.
"There are some more ahead and further on, but they’re too far for clear sight. I can only see a few large targets, not like humans."
"Trust me, they’ll still turn out to be human... they seem to be Nagoth’s corrupted corpses, thankful that it’s winter now." Malin spoke while charging down the hill with Eleven, who had been slaughtering quite a few decayed bodies along the way. The increasing number of ’weapons’ in their hands made Malin more certain of his judgment—the local townsfolk and villagers had fought against the Chaos decayed, but ultimately failed.
But Malin witnessed their indomitable spirit.
Advancing further, Malin saw the large entities Eleven had mentioned—figures in black medieval armor. They were called figures because their heads had transformed into a paradise of decay and blisters, yet their long-dead eyes could still rotate, those cold-glowing visual systems locking onto Malin and Eleven.
Their weapons, tarnished with rust, along with their twisted and enlarged arms, revealed their identity.
The warriors of Chaos Nagoth, whether from this world or another, at least, were medieval warriors, which made Malin feel a strange kinship seeing their exposed gut—better than facing Powered Swords, Blaster Bolt Guns, or some other messy 40K Nagoth warrior weapons.
Eleven had probably never witnessed such a scene: "My circuit boards, what is all this mess, I’ve never seen anyone with their whole abdominal cavity exposed and still able to move."
"Trust me, you’ll see a lot more from now on." Malin sighed as he raised his assault rifle and took out three Nagoth warriors on the left with headshots—blessed bullets were deadly stings to the Nagoth warriors.
Eleven, swinging the Longsword, decapitated a Nagoth warrior, then was unexpectedly splashed by its bursting head.
It threw the Longsword, pinning another Nagoth warrior to the ground, then kicked up a kitchen knife that fell from the hands of a decayed, throwing it to take down the last Nagoth warrior. Eleven began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Lord Malin! Why is this happening?! I hear strange whispers!"
It’s not you who heard them; it’s me hearing your whispers.
"Pour this over your head! Quick!" Malin retorted while tossing over a bottle of Holy Water Number Three. Eleven wasted no time and poured it over his head, the armor steaming profusely in an instant.
Eventually, Eleven’s voice came back: "What is this, I actually felt those corpse fluids altering me! And this water is saving me! But I know I’m waterproof!"
"Chaos is how they change your comrades, the corruption of the Evil God Nagoth doesn’t care whether you’re human or waterproof," Malin spoke while administering another dose of healing for fatal wounds to Eleven, finally feeling at ease, "I’m giving you my Shotgun; isn’t it better to deal with these things with it?"
"Fine," Eleven took the Shotgun and its ammo bag, glancing back at the hill they came over: "They’ve climbed over."
"Yes, let’s go," Malin said, as there were no more enemies ahead, they both started running.
Bippo cast an Acceleration Spell on them.
"I feel my speed increasing!" Eleven exclaimed in surprise.
"Times have changed, Eleven," Malin laughed as he noticed a large boar ahead, seemingly attracted by the previous battle: "Haha, I’ve got a new mount."
After ten minutes, Malin no longer had to rely on his legs to keep up with Eleven’s pace, as a saddle and reins made from World Tree Saplings allowed for an effortless ride.
Eleven, looking at Malin on the boar’s back, felt his common sense today was completely shattered: "My lord, I really have never seen such a big wild boar. In my time, there were no boars that weighed in tons."
Riding atop the giant Spirit wild boar, Malin raised an eyebrow: "In Carterburg, I have a bear even bigger than this, also my mount." As he finished, the giant wild boar Spirit leaped over a ditch and quickly became Malin’s mount amidst the prospect of countless food, the comfort and communication of the World Tree upon its back.
Of course, its broken tusk, bruised swollen left face, and hind leg that was a bit awkward due to recent spell and not quite readily agile, weren’t Malin’s fault.
It’s all your own doing, right? Emergency Ration Number Two!
Eleven fell silent for a while, finally letting out a genuine sigh: "The world really has changed, at least in my time, there were no humans growing to three meters, no boars growing to three and a half tons."
"Yeah, that’s what I think too." Malin responded, urging Emergency Ration Number Two up to the top of a small hill, furrowing his brow at the sight of a town burning in the distance: "Eleven, let’s go!"
As Malin and Eleven approached, they could see that the town had completely fallen into a sea of flames. Other than the decayed and town guards’ corpses on the ground, nothing else remained. Malin circled the town once, finally spotting some abandoned luggage to the North. Following it, Malin and Eleven set off in pursuit.