Newbie Guardians

Chapter 42 The Living Corpse Who Died for Love

Jin Jun looked bewildered and turned to his teammates for help.

Although Huang Xin had lost his ability to speak the language of the underworld and couldn't hear what it was saying, he could still glean some information from the skeleton's movements. (A gentle reminder follows.)

"Brother Jin, you must have kicked its arm bone, that's why it's arguing with you. Quickly apologize to it!"

Upon hearing this, Jin Jun hurriedly bowed and repeatedly apologized. Seeing this, the skeleton gradually stopped and turned to look at Huang Xin.

Huang Xin quickly walked a few steps, picked up the arm bone from the grass, and handed it to the skeleton. The skeleton nodded, set the bone to its shoulder with a snap, and it was perfectly set. Then, it pushed itself up from the tomb with its hands. It kept gesturing with its hands, as if trying to tell Huang Xin some information.

Huang Xin was also completely confused. To deepen his understanding, he imitated the skeleton's movements while explaining:

"You mean, someone comes here, touches their head, throws it forward forcefully, and then rushes forward, hacking and slashing?"

The skeleton nodded, then stood ramrod straight, seemingly waiting for something. Huang Xin suddenly understood and bowed repeatedly in thanks. The skeleton gave him a thumbs-up, indicating that the young man was quite good, then skillfully climbed back into the tomb and never came out again.

Hannah stepped forward, took Huang Xin's hand, and asked curiously:

"Huang Xin! Did you understand what it just said?"

"I'm not entirely sure either. In short, we need to be careful and take precautions."

Mu Lingshan added:

"The full meaning should be that there was a monster that cut off its head and smashed it hard against its target, then rushed over and hacked at the target wildly, which was extremely ferocious."

Elise nodded in agreement:

"That's how I understand it too. That action is about holding the head in your hands, not touching the head."

This sent chills down everyone's spines. Huang Xin muttered to himself:

"Who would use their own head as a weapon? What if it belonged to someone else!"

The words abruptly stopped, and a scene flashed before everyone's eyes: all the villagers' heads had been chopped off! Was it just a coincidence?

After a long pause, Jin Jun said:

"Everyone stay close to me, keep an eye on your surroundings, and beware of sneak attacks!"

The group moved forward again, this time Jin Jun walking more slowly to avoid stepping on bones. After seven or eight minutes, a strange scratching sound came from under his fingernails, followed by a muffled whimper. The group scattered and gathered around, only to see a figure lying prone on the ground beneath a brand-new, wordless tombstone, scratching at the tombstone with his fingers while repeatedly banging his head against the ground.

Hanna glanced at Huang Xin, meaning:

"You're familiar with this place, would you like to go over and say hello?"

Huang Shen scratched his head. The person in front of him didn't look like a living person at all. What if he ripped off his head and threw it at someone later?

There's no other way; we can't just stay stuck here forever.

Huang Xin slowly walked over, gently patted the thing's shoulder, and asked:

"Excuse me! Is there anything I can help you with?"

The thing suddenly jumped up, its eyes flashing a ghostly red light, its back against the tombstone, its arms outstretched in a protective gesture, seemingly full of vigilance.

Huang Xin slowly backed away while apologizing:

"Sorry! We won't bother you anymore! We'll leave now!"

The group retreated to a distance of thirty or forty meters, and the creature lay down again, repeating the same action as before.

Hannah's voice was somewhat sad:

"Huang Xin! I think it's guarding the most important thing. Could the person buried in the grave be its most beloved?"

Elise nodded and added:

"This person is not a zombie, but a living corpse. His body is dead, but he still retains human consciousness and seems to be in great pain."

Teacher Liu sighed:

"Sigh! They're all pitiful people. Let's go around them from a distance!"

The group moved forward again, and after walking for another two or three minutes, they came to a clearing with a stone platform in the middle, on which were placed three human heads.

Jin Jun assumed a defensive stance and lowered his voice:

"Everyone be careful! The enemy is nearby!"

Elise gestured for everyone to stop, first having Amoniko stand guard in front of Huang Xin, then summoning three vines to drag the three heads over. The three were middle-aged men in their forties or fifties, their faces still bearing expressions of extreme terror; the blood at the severed necks had long since dried, clearly indicating they had been dead for some time.

Elise then sent Amonico to check. Amonico arrived at the stone platform, and suddenly, with a crack, a slab of stone beneath her feet sank in. Elise shouted:

"Get out of the way!"

Amoniko planted her wooden spear on the ground, her body leaping into the air. Countless arrows flew like a dense swarm of locusts, weaving together an area twenty or thirty meters wide and seven or eight meters high. Clearly, her opponent had planned ahead; no matter which direction she went, there was no way to dodge them. Amoniko jumped more than ten meters upwards. Although agile, she couldn't fly, and the moment she landed, she was riddled with arrows and disappeared from sight.

The arrows continued to fire for about a minute before stopping. The scene had attracted everyone's attention, and no one noticed that a headless corpse was quietly approaching from behind, holding a guillotine in one hand and its own head in the other.

Huang Xin felt a tremendous crisis approaching and shouted:

Watch out behind you!

Everyone turned around and saw the headless corpse pull back its left arm. With a whoosh, a head came crashing down. Elise swung three vines, forming a net that caught the head. In the instant the head was caught, the headless corpse leaped and slashed, appearing in front of the vines. With a swift stroke, the three vines snapped, and the head returned to the headless corpse's left hand.

The headless corpse brandished the guillotine, seemingly puzzled. Strange, it had clearly struck the head, so where was it? It spun around several times, as if trying to figure out where the head had rolled off to.

Elise said in a very low voice:

"This is its ultimate move. The target hit by it will be decapitated instantly. It's called the Decapitation Strike. That last attack was at the sixth level of cultivation. Everyone, be careful to dodge its head and avoid being hit. Face it and slowly back away to create distance. Wait until Amonic's skills are off cooldown before counterattacking."

Everyone nodded, indicating that they understood.

Hannah remained protectively in front of Huang Xin. Seeing her like this, Elise knew she wouldn't dodge if hit, so she whispered a reminder:

"Hanna! Shouldn't you be worried about whether Huang Xin will suddenly go and die? How can you protect him if you can't even see him?"

Hannah thought it made sense and changed her mind to stay behind Huang Xin and keep an eye on him at all times.

Huang Shen whispered his assurance:

"Everyone's being so careful, there won't be any danger. I won't do anything foolish. You all need to stay vigilant too. Sister Elise! How often can you summon your vines?"

"Call me 'wife' and I'll tell you!"

Huang Shen opened her mouth, but in the end she held it in.