Surviving the Apocalypse as an All-Time Best Overpowered Necromancer - Chapter 58

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 58
58. Stockpiling Supplies (6)
“Ugh… I think I got greedy. It’s heavier than I expected.”
As Seo A-rin, laden with a backpack full of provisions, swayed and barely managed to stand, Lee Gang-hyuk let out a small sigh.
“You only need to carry what you can manage. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes! I’m fine! I can carry it! If it seems too heavy, I’ll drag it with me if I have to. Don’t worry!”
‘If she drags it and the bag tears, what then…’
A sigh escaped Lee Gang-hyuk at her words, and he removed the Bulldozer’s Bracelet and ring he was wearing, handing them to the two women.
“If you wear these, it should be more manageable.”
“But what about you, Gang-hyuk? You must be heavy too…”
“I only need to carry it as far as the rails. From there, I’ll fashion a cart and have these creatures pull it.”
From the start, once they secured the provisions, he’d planned to repurpose the Bone Beads into a cart.
The problem was that if they encountered zombies on the way back, they’d have to fight while protecting the cart.
But once he decided to use the railway for the return journey, that concern disappeared.
Still, Seo A-rin seemed a bit uncertain, eyeing the zombies carrying bags with a slight frown before asking.
“…Do you think they’ll be able to pull a cart?”
It seemed she was worried whether they could manage it, given that their muscles had decayed.
Lee Gang-hyuk also looked at the zombies with the same concern before shrugging and speaking.
“If need be, we’ll have to pull it ourselves.”
“Ah…”
At those words, Seo A-rin let out a short exclamation and approached the zombies.
When he wondered what she was doing, she began encouraging them, saying ‘You can do this! Let’s do our best!’
The sight was absurd yet rather endearing, and when Lee Gang-hyuk chuckled, Seo Hwa-rin approached him and asked quietly.
“It’s good that we have more provisions… but I’m worried about the other place. How were things when you contacted them?”
“They said it was fine. Since it’s a place they culled not long ago, it shouldn’t be as serious as we thought.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
Not long ago, when the three of them had cleared the area around Nowon Station.
The Jungnang-gu Alliance was forming a subjugation team, hunting zombies.
They’d even established strongholds and conducted it on a large scale, so the zombie population must have decreased significantly. It shouldn’t be as dire as they’d feared.
Only then did Seo Hwa-rin, relieved of her worry, nod with a reassured expression.
* * *
Shortly after.
The three of them, having left the Driver’s License Test Center and arrived at Changdong Station, peered beyond the screen door to transfer to Line 1, which connected to their hideout.
“There are none.”
“The explosion must have drawn their aggro and they’ve gone outside.”
“Then let’s move directly along Line 1. We’ll move as quietly as possible.”
“Yes!”
To move from Line 4, where the three were standing, to Line 1 which connected to their hideout, they had no choice but to pass through the platform.
Even though no zombies were visible at the moment, they expected them to be abundant during the crossing, so the three entered the platform area with tense expressions.
“Grrr…”
“Grrrgh.”
As they stood before the stairs leading into the station, they heard the growling of zombies.
‘Wait.’
Whoosh.
Since they didn’t know how many zombies were below the stairs, Lee Gang-hyuk signaled the two women to stop, and Seo A-rin created a water snake.
She sent the water snake down the stairs, and having assessed the number of zombies, she spread all her fingers to show him.
‘Five.’
‘Wait. I’ll go first.’
Five zombies.
That many could be tamed.
With that, Lee Gang-hyuk descended first and used his skill immediately.
“Corpse Control!”
“Shriek!!”
Having successfully tamed the zombies in the station in an instant, he stood still and scanned the area again.
During taming, the noise the zombies made might draw others from other locations, so he was allowing a time delay before moving.
‘Move.’
Fortunately, no others appeared.
Signaling the two waiting behind him, he led the zombies toward Line 1.
Upon safely reaching the Line 1 tracks, Lee Gang-hyuk turned to the two women, speaking without delay as he wanted to return quickly.
“Now I’ll fashion a cart, so gather the bags in one place.”
“Yes!”
“Grab that one.”
“Grrugh…”
At his words, the other zombies seized the one he’d indicated.
Simultaneously, Lee Gang-hyuk released control of the seized zombie, forcing them into combat.
Then he scattered the Bone Beads across the rails and used his skill.
“Tactical Processing!”
Crunch.
Crunch-crunch.
After using the skill, he reshaped the Bone Beads, recalling a mining cart he’d seen in a movie, but
only the lower half was completed due to insufficient material.
Still, it seemed adequate for transporting bags, but the moment he lifted a bag onto it,
Crack.
the cart’s base couldn’t bear the bag’s weight and cracked.
“Hmm.”
After examining the cause briefly,
it seemed the structural integrity had weakened when he’d enlarged the size while lacking materials.
That meant he simply needed to add more material.
“It looks like we need more material.”
Saying so, he scanned the surroundings.
He briefly considered killing one of the tamed zombies to use as material,
but if he reduced the numbers further, there wouldn’t be enough to pull the cart, so he decided to hunt only what was necessary for material.
‘Hmm, will this work?’
But as he was about to hunt, the explosion at Junggye Station came to mind.
From Line 4 to Line 1, they’d encountered only five zombies.
That meant…
The zombies that had reacted to the explosion must have ramped up and, once their aggro wore off, congregated somewhere in this vicinity.
There was a real possibility of encountering a horde of zombies just to gather a small amount of material.
As worry crept into Lee Gang-hyuk’s expression and he hesitated, Seo A-rin, as if remembering something, clapped her hands and spoke up.
“How about hunting the way you did before—using the zombies on the second floor to lure and capture the ones outside?”
“Huh? What do you…? Ah! You saw that back then.”
What did she mean? Then he recalled—it was just before they’d hunted the Grolar Bear in the underground parking garage with the women.
He’d thought they hadn’t noticed, but they’d seen everything.
Embarrassed, Lee Gang-hyuk scratched his cheek, and Seo Hwa-rin lowered her head and apologized.
“I’m sorry. I was too worried back then…”
“It’s fine. No need to apologize. But as A-rin suggests, there’s nowhere to hide for abducting them one by one. I think it’s better to gather material from the ones here and then tame them one by one as we move.”
At that time, he hadn’t fully trusted the two of them, so he’d been bothered by their lower level and anxious. That’s why he’d hunted secretly.
It was a situation borne of that uncertainty.
Lee Gang-hyuk assured the apologizing pair it was fine, then gathered the zombies in one place for hunting.
And for good reason—
Changdong Station was simply too large for covert hunting, as A-rin had said.
It was difficult to even estimate how many were inside, and places like this had a high probability of harboring Mutant Zombies. There was no need to risk unnecessary danger.
It was far safer to tame any zombies they encountered while moving.
“That sounds good. We can pull the cart ourselves anyway.”
Seo Hwa-rin, convinced, nodded, and Seo A-rin didn’t particularly object either.
“Your opinion was sound, A-rin. Please keep sharing your thoughts like that.”
“Yes!”
Lee Gang-hyuk then reassured Seo A-rin that her judgment wasn’t poor, and proceeded to kill zombies and complete the cart.
Though three zombies were sacrificed,
thanks to them, a cart capable of transporting bags was created. The three moved along the rails, honoring the spirits of the zombies who’d sacrificed themselves for their survival.
“Is it because of the sound barriers? There really aren’t any zombies in here.”
“Right. If I’d known this, I should’ve used the rails from the start. Don’t you think?”
Responding to Seo A-rin’s observation, Seo Hwa-rin posed her question, and Lee Gang-hyuk pointed ahead.
Where he pointed, Banghak Station lay ahead.
“The rails are fine. The problem is the stations. At least the screen doors keep zombies from entering, but it’s a problem when we have to exit.”
“Ah.”
True—the rails were clear of zombies, but the stations inside were filled with them.
Changdong Station had relatively few because the zombies that reacted to the explosion had moved elsewhere, but
this place, untouched by the blast, was different.
So it was that
Seo Hwa-rin’s expression hardened with concern as she asked worriedly.
“Will there be many zombies at the station near our hideout too?”
“Since it’s a transfer station, there’ll likely be many, but I plan to climb over the wall on the way, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
At his continued words, Seo A-rin’s eyes widened and she objected as though bewildered.
“What? But you just said the stations were the problem!”
“That was a warning not to let your guard down.”
“Mmph.”
She had nothing to say.
Just as he’d pointed out, she’d been letting her guard down because there were no zombies.
With that realization, she let out a frustrated sound and shook her head.
Seo Hwa-rin, who’d been quietly watching her, let out a relieved sigh and asked in return.
“Even if we’re fine, can the zombies make it?”
“We can reshape this into stairs.”
“Ah! There’s a way like that? I thought we’d keep using the cart. That way we wouldn’t need to expend mana every time.”
“True. Now that you mention it, that’s a point. Expending mana every time we use the cart and moving with that burden is taxing.”
Now that he thought about it, leaving the constructed object idle was better than expending mana with each use of Tactical Processing.
Material was easy to come by anyway.
“…We’ll leave the cart behind.”
But the moment he decided to leave the cart, he thought of ways to utilize it rather than simply abandon it.
“Hmm.”
“…”
The two women fell silent, not wanting to disturb his thoughts.
Thanks to that, Lee Gang-hyuk was able to concentrate, and soon an idea came to him. His eyes lit up as he spoke.
“While we’re at it, we should discuss how to use the railway to exchange with the Jungnang-gu Alliance. That way we can receive help immediately if needed.”
“Help? But if we do that carelessly…”
Seo Hwa-rin voiced her concern immediately upon hearing him, having only considered moving secured supplies.
If railway transit between the two locations began, it wasn’t clear what benefit this side would gain.
It was a point Lee Gang-hyuk understood as well.
But thinking about today’s explosion caused by the Chungmuro Alliance, he couldn’t simply keep pushing the Jungnang-gu Alliance away.
“The Chungmuro Alliance is the bigger problem. That explosion we saw earlier proves it. Like it or not, we need to create ways to use them for survival.”
“Yes, that’s true too.”
The Jungnang-gu Alliance was still friendly toward them, but the Chungmuro Alliance was not.
Since that group could attack them without warning, it was wise to establish a way to receive help from the Jungnang-gu Alliance at any time.
And now they’d found that method.
The remaining question was how to reach Myeonmok-dong, the heart of the Jungnang-gu Alliance.
“I’ll discuss this with them and let you know.”
“Yes. Then while you’re discussing, we’ll organize the provisions we gathered today.”
“Let’s do it together. They’ll need time to wrap things up on their end anyway.”
“Yes!”
As the conversation was winding down, Seo A-rin, who’d been listening quietly from the side, suddenly furrowed her brow as if she’d noticed something.
In the Banghak Station platform—which they absolutely had to pass to reach their hideout—there was an enormous horde of zombies.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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