At Fountain Lane, near the entrance of a park where old and young go to enjoy morning walks, a house was burning with scarlet-red flames.
It was a glorious sight, but also a terrifying one.
The heatwave that engulfed the nearby area had touched many Fountain Lane residents, who had gathered to watch in wonder and disbelief.
It wasn’t cold anymore as they basked in the heat of the burning building.
The flames danced and crackled, consuming every bit of the building.
The residents could only hope that no one was inside the building when it exploded.
A moment later, Ambrose arrived at the scene of the burning building and sighed heavily.
He saw the residents gathered on the other side of the street, looking distraught and fearful.
“Excuse me, what happened here?” Ambrose walked over to one of the residents, who was visibly shaken.
“Uh… I am not too sure.” The man said. He had just arrived and was trying to piece together what had happened.
“Was there anyone living there?” Ambrose asked while looking at the tall flames, sending smoke into the already dark sky.
“Yes…” The man sighed. “I didn’t know him personally, but he was the gravekeeper at a nearby cemetery.”
“I-I saw him not long ago.” Suddenly, a disheveled-looking woman spoke beside the man.
The man and Ambrose turned to look at her, seeing her reddening face caused by the heat.
“Abigail, you saw him?” The man asked, aware of the woman’s name and her background, as they weren’t living too far from each other.
“Y-yes.” Abigail stammered, her voice barely audible. “I think he was coming from the cemetery, as his face was smeared with dirt and he looked rather tired.”
“So, he was most likely inside the building.” The man sighed. “What a tragedy.”
‘Was this just an accident, after all?’ Ambrose frowned. ‘I should get back; Bella must be worried.’
“Hey, what the hell is that?”
A sudden shout came from one of the residents, who was pointing towards the burning building.
Everyone turned to look at the building, feeling the heat touching their faces, and saw thick black smoke billowing out from the windows.
However, inside the burning building, there was a person standing, its flesh black as charcoal and its eyes consumed by the flames.
“Oh my god!” Abigail covered her mouth in shock. “Someone help him!”
“I can’t believe he’s still alive.” The man murmured in shock, wanting to also help, but it was impossible.
No one would be foolish enough to run inside a burning building, trying to save a person who wouldn’t survive such wounds.
It was a hopeless situation.
“Stay away from the building!” Ambrose suddenly shouted and grabbed his sword from its sheath, his eyes blazing with seriousness. “This is not a living being!”
“What do you mean?” The man looked at him with confusion and concern.
His answers soon got revealed as the figure trotted out of the burning building, its flesh smoking and its movements rusty as if it were a metal toy neglected for years.
The resident’s faces turned into shock as they saw the person’s true form—a zombie!
“T-this is not him!” Abigail shouted. “I-its height and figure are all wrong!”
Ambrose raised his eyebrow and frowned.
‘He is a gravekeeper, so perhaps a zombie had followed him from there. However, why are they acting like this? Is it their first time seeing a zombie? How can they stop zombies from rising every crescent moon night, and why did it happen now?’
“T-they had most likely failed the salting!” The man exclaimed.
“Salting?” Ambrose glanced at him sideways while keeping most of his focus on the burning zombie.
“Y-you must be very new if you don’t know.” The man wiped his sweat and explained. “To stop people from rising back from death, we do something called salting.
“We stuff corpses with a special kind of salt called anti-necrotic salt.
“It’s an old product from Dark Continent, which allows us to stop anyone from rising from death during Crescent Moon!”
‘I see, so someone must’ve forgotten to do that.’ Ambrose started understanding more.
He had the crazy idea before that they must’ve chained the coffins and buried them tens of meters into the ground to stop them from coming back.
However, this was clearly a more effective way.
But, unfortunately, there was a possibility of human error leading to disastrous consequences.
“D-does that mean there are more zombies roaming the town right now?” Abigail asked with a shaky tone.
“I hope not.” The man said with cold sweat drenching his back. “I hope it was just one corpse, but we definitely have to report this to the guards!”
“I’ll take care of it.” Ambrose stepped forward and traced his finger down the black blade.
“D-don’t do anything reckless!” The man shouted. “This zombie is very high-level if it can survive the explosion!”
“We can’t let it leave either.” Ambrose said. “The wisest would be to get rid of it right now.”
“Aoooooor!” The charcoal-skinned zombie screamed and lunged at them, its arms flailing wildly.
“Aaah!” The residents scurried away in a hurry, escaping in all directions.
“Shit!” The man grabbed Abigail by her arm and pulled her with him after seeing her completely frozen.
Swoosh—a black-haired silhouette appeared in the path of the charcoal-skinned zombie, the black blade gleaming in the crimson moonlight. 𝑜𝗏𝐿xt.𝓒𝑜𝚖
“Mortal Style, Nachbilder!” Ambrose shouted and started stepping around with a mystifying pattern around the zombie, soon looking like dozens of afterimages who were running around it.
The zombie, unable to keep up with Ambrose’s speed and illusions, came to a stop, looking around while baring its fangs.
Nachbilder, another skill Ambrose had learned, was a Talented-ranked skill that allowed Ambrose to use specific footwork to make himself look like a bunch of afterimages.
He wasn’t any faster than before, but because of the dizzying footwork, it made him look like he was incredibly fast.
Swoosh—the black blade then zoomed past the zombie, leaving a deep gash on its neck.
“Aroooo!” The zombie stumbled back, its neck crumbling apart as it was basically only made of ash and dust now.
It may have survived the explosion, but its body was ruined, making its defense horrible.
Ambrose came to a halt, the afterimages fading away like erased pictures.
He then reeled in his arm, putting the sword into a thrusting stance, and then lunged forward.
“Mortal Style, Kanone!”
Swoosh—like a ship-wrecking cannonball, the sword impaled through the zombie, sending shards of burned flesh flying in all directions.
The zombie’s charcoal body crumbled apart like a dying ember, leaving nothing but smoke and ashes.
“Whoo!” Ambrose stepped over the ashes, slowly slipped the sword back to the scabbard, and once it was securely fastened, he let out a sigh of relief.
Kanone, another Talented-ranked skill from Mortal Style.
It was a powerful thrust attack that was as powerful as a cannon shot.
“I wanted to test all the skills I had learned, but aye.” Ambrose looked at the scattered ashes. “It was too weak.”
A small distance away, the residents had stopped running away, looking at the black-haired young man with admiration.
Abigail and the man looked at the sight with relief washing over them, happy that the nightmarish night might had finally come to an end.
Behind a corner, Sara looked at the sight with stars in her eyes.
“Please tell me that you got it!”
“Yup, I got it.” Aaron replied, showing thumbs up with a smile.