I reincarnated as one of the Three Stooges in a fantasy world.

Chapter 15

Evolved Zombies – Part 1

Enrico opened his eyes and found himself in what appeared to be a basement.

"That's strange… so this is the first change from the original story. Everyone used to appear in the same place. System..."

A system warning screen popped up in front of him.

[Sorry, but I won't be able to stay with you during the arcs. I'll only be able to talk to you once you accept the pact.]

Enrico sighed. 'I see, so that's how it's going to be.'

He began walking around, looking for something useful.

In dungeons, there could be items scattered around that might increase magic, grant a magical technique, or a magic weapon. They were rare, but possible to find.

The true rewards were the monster cores. All the monsters here were supposed to be just level one Zaras, but with the increased difficulty, there could be at least one level two Zara, which could be a disaster.

"So I'll have to find the others as quickly as possible, while trying to locate an item."

A zombie appeared in front of Enrico, who raised his hand and fired a fireball at the blue-blooded zombie.

"Wait, the blood was supposed to be black… so why does this zombie have blue blood?"

The zombie vanished and reappeared behind Enrico, who, surprised, defended against its claw that shattered the floor below them.

Enrico's arms trembled. 'That speed and strength…'

The zombie vanished and appeared behind him again, its claw aiming at his head. Enrico turned and his fist ignited with flames.

"Flame Fist!"

Both attacks clashed, and the zombie was pushed back. Enrico raised both hands and launched two fireballs, which split into six each.

"Let's see you dodge this!"

The zombie vanished again. "Damn!"

Enrico immediately ducked, placing his hands behind his back and charging two fireballs.

'He's repeating the same pattern, so…'

The two fireballs hit the zombie as it appeared behind him and sent it flying. Enrico stood up to continue the attack, but the zombie stopped, stared at him for a few seconds as the punch approached, and then vanished.

Enrico jumped to the side to dodge any attack and leaned against the wall, waiting for the next move.

"Wait, did it run away?"

Enrico couldn't see the zombie anywhere. 'Damn, have the zombies become intelligent—or is it just this one?'

---

Several zombie corpses with black blood fell to the ground as Caelan and Elian breathed heavily.

Elian looked at the bodies. "Caelan, doesn't this seem strange? From what I know, zombies are the third weakest type of Nartheis—why are they so strong?"

"Yeah, I think so too. We need to find the others."

A noise came from behind them.

"Hey, are you lost like I am?"

It was Cris, smiling, and both of them sighed in relief.

"You're the guy who was with Enrico, right?"

Cris looked at them for a second, hand on his chin.

"I don't really trust you guys… but yeah, I am. And you should probably look behind you."

A two-meter-tall zombie behind them brought both hands down together. The two narrowly avoided the strike, and a crater formed from the zombie's blow. That zombie's eyes bled constantly in red.

Elian looked at the zombie, stunned by the strength of the blow, then at the eyes. "Damn… is that blood?"

"Now's not the time for that."

Before they could attack, Cris was already in front of the zombie and punched it, slamming it into the wall, which shattered.

"He really is strong."

"Yeah, and no one has fought him before, so no one knows his magic."

Cris turned to them and grabbed them both, dragging them along.

"We better run."

"What are you talking about? Didn't you already defeat it?"

Cris looked at Caelan and smiled. "Nope. He's way too strong for me."

Cris kept running, and when the two looked back, they saw that the zombie, now seemingly larger, was chasing them. They immediately broke free and ran ahead of Cris.

"They're pretty fast when escaping."

Cris looked back, and the zombie stopped, turned to the side, and walked away. Cris then looked forward again and followed the two.

---

"Why won't this thing die?!"

Valença ran while firing fireballs one after another, hitting a zombie that bled brown, but the attacks didn't seem to cause deep damage. The creature chased her.

Calm down and focus. She spun her staff, and a large fireball engulfed the zombie, throwing it back.

"Finally."

She pointed her staff forward, preparing another attack of the same level, but just as she was about to strike, the zombie raised its hand and resisted the blow.

"What the hell is this?!"

The zombie charged, but was pushed into a wall.

"Peasant?"

Valença trembled and turned to see Serenya with her arm raised. But before they could say anything, Serenya's hand—using control magic—trembled, and she released it. The zombie emerged from the wall.

"Peasant, what kind of mess have you gotten into?"

Serenya was sweating, and so was Valença. For now, any past rivalry was put aside.

"I was just passing by, and this zombie showed up out of nowhere."

They both stared at the creature and launched an attack together.

"Flame Tornado!"

"Control Boost!"

A tornado formed and was condensed into a point. Upon impact, it caused an explosion.

"Do you think we got it?"

"Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"I don't really know, but Enrico told me it's bad luck."

They looked at the zombie as it stood up and stared at them.

"I guess he was right, then."

The two used magic to collapse the ceiling and block the zombie's path, then ran.

---

Several zombies were being cut down rapidly, black blood flying everywhere. Kai breathed heavily, having killed at least fifty zombies.

"There's so many."

He began running again. 'They seem stronger than what Professor Sir Drenholm warned me about yesterday. Was he wrong?'

Kai kept running. "I need to find the others."

He stopped upon seeing five bodies on the ground. He seemed to recognize them and was horrified.

"What happened here?"

They were members of his class.

"Also… their watches are gone. Where are they?"

Kai looked sadly at the dead and picked up his own watch.

"I'd better call the prof—"

An attack struck his back, sending him flying.

"What the hell was that?!"

It wasn't a normal zombie. It moved on all fours like an animal, had no face, and its head looked like the images the professor once said resembled "Jupiter," a discovery made by a Ninth-Circle mage years ago.

That zombie was holding Kai's watch.

Kai drew his sword, calmly staring at it. "Damn it… everything's going out of control."

---

On the other side, Tolen was running with six other students, being chased by more than 200 zombies. In front of them, a gap eight meters wide split the ground, and they stopped.

Tolen reached out his hand and helped a student jump across, adding explosive magic to his own hand to launch them to the other side, repeating the process.

The zombies nearly caught him, but he used explosive fire magic on his shoes to propel himself to the other side, while the zombies fell into the pit that seemed to have no end.

Now barefoot, he was helped up by the students.

"Thanks for saving us."

"No need to thank me."

This place was strange—there was a hole that big, yet it still felt suffocating, full of walls and confusing paths.

"Did you alert the professor?"

"I tried, but it seems like nothing works in this area."

That confused Tolen. "Why?"

"When I entered the dungeon, the watch worked. But when we got near the pit, it stopped working."

Tolen checked his own watch and realized it wasn't working.

"Let's move away. Maybe it'll start working again."

"Right."

A fly buzzed through the air, observing everything—transmitting it all to a skull seated on a throne.

[Boss Rirus – Level Two Zara – Necromancer of the Lost City]