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

Chapter 19

Evolved Zombies – Part 5

Opening her eyes, Serenya saw that she was being carried by someone—and upon looking closer, it resembled Enrico.

Serenya fully woke up, jumped off Enrico's back, and grabbed his cheeks. "Subordinate, what happened to you? Was I in a coma for several months? What happened to your cheeks that made me want to squeeze them?"

She didn't stop asking questions while Enrico tried to come up with an excuse.

"What? You didn't know I was training, Miss Serenya? Were you by any chance thinking I couldn't do it?" He put on a shameless face, telling an obvious lie.

Serenya froze. "That's not it. I believe you can do it, it's just… that was really fast."

"I was using fire magic to accelerate weight loss."

He really had no shame.

Tolen stood expressionless, witnessing it. 'Isn't that too obvious a lie?'

Serenya coughed into her hand. "What an interesting method… of course I already knew you could do it."

Tolen was dumbfounded. 'Only she would believe that.'

"Oh, it must be some amazing magic," Kai appeared next to Enrico with stars in his eyes.

"You can teach me too—I want to lose weight as well!" Silvia also had starry eyes.

'Looks like there are two more idiots here,' Tolen muttered, then looked to where the staircase should be—but it was gone.

"What? Where did the staircase go?" Everyone began touching the area, but it wasn't an illusion.

"Maybe they change positions?" Enrico scanned the area carefully.

Serenya immediately spoke up. "I knew I wasn't wrong about not finding a staircase."

Vanessa looked worried. "But why was it in the same place where I first found it?"

Sitting down against the wall, Enrico thought for a moment and realized, "Maybe it's not random—it could be based on timing. If that's the case, it'll come back soon."

Everyone sat down and decided to wait. Enrico called out, "Kai, I'd like to talk to you about something."

Kai sat next to him, and after twenty minutes, the staircase reappeared. Everyone sighed in relief and then proceeded to the third floor.

A sound of someone running on the stairs was heard. They quickly turned in defense, but it was Elian, Caelan, and Cris.

"We finally found you," Enrico ran over to them with Serenya right behind, both breathing heavily.

Caelan looked suspiciously. "Who are you?"

Serenya started explaining everything to them while Kai glanced at his sword and then at Enrico. 'So this is a prodigy? He came up with a plan and evolved during that battle… and I'm still stuck.'

Kai closed his eyes and began thinking about his conversation with Enrico, swinging his sword. Elian poked Enrico's stomach and back. "How did you manage that magic?"

Seeing this, Tolen put a hand on his chin. "Could he be…?"

"What?" Silvia asked, curious. Tolen whispered to her about Enrico, and she covered her mouth in surprise and blushed.

"You did it! Do you have the other oil I asked for, Cris?" Cris looked at Enrico, smiled, crouched down, and opened his bag.

Enrico raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you usually don't—"

Suddenly, they were knocked to the ground. Three zombies had appeared—the same ones they had discussed before, though one of them now looked different.

"That's the pressure they were talking about?" Liam struggled to stand.

The floor beneath them vanished, and they began falling into a deep pit.

Tolen recognized it. "Wait—that's the huge pit I mentioned. And not only that—the floor wasn't an illusion, it was real!"

They passed through the first floor. Serenya used her control magic to pull them out of the pit—but she only managed to grab the ones closest to her, saving six others and herself.

Liam stabbed his spear into the wall, and Kai drove his sword in, extending his hand to Enrico—but a blue flash snatched him away and dragged him deeper into the pit.

Kai pulled out his sword and leapt down, but a hand grabbed his clothes—it was the zombie with the Jupiter head. It dragged Kai into a tunnel that opened in the wall, and Liam, pulling out his spear, followed him.

"Tsk." Serenya prepared to jump in after Enrico, but a zombie with brown eyes clung to the ceiling, blocking her path. Tolen immediately caused an explosion that made the zombie fall in front of them.

Tolen narrowed his eyes. "Serenya, let's distract it. You have the most mana left—you're the only one who can help Enrico now."

Serenya ran forward. Tolen cast a fireball, followed by Valença doing the same. The zombie dodged downward, and Serenya leapt over it. The zombie spit acid at her back, but she used control magic on her own body to maneuver mid-air, kicked off the wall, and dove into the pit.

Tolen smirked at the zombie. "Looks like you let one escape."

Tolen, Caelan, Elian, Silvia, Vanessa, and Cris prepared for battle.

---

Enrico kicked the zombie to the side, using the momentum to grab onto a rock, while the zombie clung to another. Below them was a deeper pit with a platform in the center.

Enrico checked its stats and smiled. "So your name is Azure? You should have introduced yourself earlier—that's rude."

Azure approached, his arm already aiming for Enrico's face, who narrowly dodged and used a fireball against the wall to gain momentum.

He flew past Azure and fell deeper into the pit. Azure pressed his foot against the wall—which expanded slightly—and struck, sending Enrico crashing onto the platform. A foot came down toward Enrico's head, but he punched with fire, and both were knocked backward.

Breathing heavily, Enrico began forming his fire bow, but Azure struck him from behind—he barely dodged.

"Now I can move this body better," Azure said.

Enrico looked at him. "Looks like we both evolved, huh?"

Azure smiled. "Yes…"

"You can tal—" Enrico was kicked in the chest, the air knocked from his lungs, but he raised his hand and blasted Azure's head with an explosion, sending him flying.

Taking a deep breath, Enrico calmed himself. "This is bad… but not impossible. I have to beat him to survive—but that speed…"

"Enrico!" a voice called from above—it was Serenya descending.

Enrico looked up at her and smiled excitedly. "That's my leader!"

---

Kai attempted a rightward slash that hit the zombie's ribs and knocked it aside. It recovered, and its head rotated, making Kai's body heavy.

"Not this time. Crescent Slash!" Kai forced himself to move and unleashed his strongest slash yet, but the zombie rotated its head and charged forward.

"That was just a feint." Kai reappeared in front of it and slashed its shoulder, forcing it back.

Then the zombie began rotating its head in both directions, surprising Kai—it slammed him into the ceiling and then the floor repeatedly.

Kai tried to stab his sword into the wall, but the creature grabbed his hand and threw him. He quickly stood up as the zombie approached—but a spear struck the zombie's shoulder and knocked it aside.

"Mr. Kai!" Liam stood in front of him, smiling—which surprised Kai. Wiping the blood from his mouth, Liam took the lead.

"My rematch. This time I'll beat you." Kai smiled excitedly, sword pointed at the Jupiter-headed zombie.

Kai recalled what Enrico had said: "You can beat it alone if you have time—but we don't. So… want me to give you a hint?" Enrico had said it cheerfully.

Kai charged at the zombie, and Liam followed right behind him.