"What is it!" Orvel asked in a hushed tone.
Liebeld closed his eyes and then pointed at an elderly woman standing at the door. From the looks of it, she knew Ectal and was telling him something important.
Not much longer, Ectal came to the side of the group and started talking. His eyes clearly showed that there was a deep fear within his soul as he spoke.
"This woman—"
"This woman that you don't know tells us that your friend who was cursed and died got up and attacked one of his people."
"Villagers escaped, and he is weirdly walking around and attacking..."
Liebeld took a deep breath and shook his head.
"Now, that I did not expect."
Conrad, on the other hand, closed his eyes for a moment but said nothing.
"What are we going to do?" Orvel asked loudly to the room, mostly to Liebeld, as he was the only one in the room who was experienced.
Liebeld thought for a moment and then looked at the elderly woman and asked,
"Tell me what you saw. Do not miss any details."
The elderly woman gulped, and with some tears in her eyes and fear deeply integrated into her voice, started to speak.
"I—"
"I am not sure..."
"I was walking towards my home after lighting up one of the torches close to the center, as it was my turn to light the torch..."
"Then, I saw that strange man in the gray clothing. His eyes were gray, his body smelled like death..."
"Then—"
"Then, he started running towards me."
"One of our friend's sons saw it and stepped between us with a pitchfork to stop the man..."
"But he could not. The man swiped with his right hand, and the head of the young man with the pitchfork flew..."
"I cannot..."
The elderly woman then started crying loudly, sitting on the ground, holding her head in agony and fear.
It was clear that she was traumatized from the whole experience and no longer in any shape to tell more.
Liebeld frowned.
"If Melboue's corpse is able to swipe and detach a head from an adult man's body, other than myself, there are no other people capable of taking him down..."
"What to do now?"
"I do not want to risk my life because of these people."
"As long as I keep clean of the darkness and stay alive, this trial will be ending in two and a half days' time at this point."
While Liebeld thought, Leylis—who was not much of a speaker—spoke.
"Melboue..."
"I think he is like a zombie?"
With the words of Leylis, the room and the people inside all shared a look.
Other than Ectal and Elaris, all the others exchanged a look of understanding.
Conrad, Liebeld, Orvel, as well as Leylis (since she was the one who suggested it), knew from now on that they were from the same kind of universe—
Where the word "zombie" meant something.
Elaris wanted to ask about its meaning, but she did not.
She didn't want to make it clear that she didn't know what they were talking about. It may have been ego-driven behavior or some kind of protective instinct.
She was scared that if it became known she didn't know something that others did, they might use it against her in some way.
Ectal asked,
"What is a zombie?"
"What does it mean...?"
Orvel was about to speak and tell the man about it but was stopped by Liebeld before he had the chance.
"It is not important."
"I will be looking into it,"
Liebeld said, and then turned to look at the others.
"Anybody who wants to join me?"
Conrad stayed silent and said nothing, but inside, he thought,
"He's looking for a dumb one to be put in front of the zombie Melboue, so that he can hunt it without any danger."
At that time, all the group members—including Liebeld—suddenly felt something, and then a small holographic screen manifested in front of their eyes.
"Side Trial"
"Hunting Trial"
Melboue, one of the members of the first trial group, turned into some sort of undead creature.
Undead creatures should stay dead and not wander around attacking the living.
Hunt it down.
Time Limit – One Day
Reward – Calculated according to damage dealt to the "Melboue (Undead)"
Punishment – If Melboue is not taken down within the time limit, all members of the trial group will be executed.
Conrad and all the others shared the same look.
Liebeld smirked and nodded.
"It seems like everybody will be joining the hunt..."
Conrad let out a cold breath and then thought:
"I should focus on the survival aspect instead of attacking the 'undead' to earn more rewards."
Despite thinking like this, he turned to Ectal and asked,
"Do you have anything here that we can use as weapons? Preferably ranged weapons..."
Ectal nodded and went to his room in hurried steps, then brought up a medium-sized chest.
He opened the chest and said,
"These are some of the weapons that some merchants passing by gave me when they couldn't pay in copper or silver coins..."
"You can use them. They're collecting dust otherwise."
Conrad scanned the weapons and nodded.
He picked up a crossbow and then took the bolts—sixteen of them. He then looked at the others and said,
"I have some experience using a crossbow, and I'm the one who suggested getting weapons."
"Any disagreements with me using the only ranged weapon?"
None of the people said anything, but Liebeld just smirked. He was starting to understand more about Conrad than the others.