章 71: Second Zombie

Arthur's voice echoed down the hall. There did not seem to be any force behind this shout of his. In other words, Arthur did not utilize his power, he was merely shouting using his normal voice. If there was anything different about this, it was the volume, which was higher than usual.

The sound waves bounced against the walls as they travelled down the corridor. They separated into splits and junctions before reverberating back to their spot of origin.

Arthur focused on the echoes and the map of the underground maze was slowly forming in his mind. Based on the time it took for the echo to return and the difference in frequency, Arthur managed to make educated guesses on how the maze would twist and turn.

Sound was something shapeless and the maze was concrete so technically, this was like filling up a maze with water. The sound morphed according to the shape of the walls and that gave the auditory clues Arthur needed to form the mental image of the map in his brain.

Essentially, Arthur was acting like a moving and living sonar. The young man used his voice to map out the maze in his mind.

The young man was inspired by the bats in the maze. During his battle with the rotting zombie, his loud voice interrupted the peace and quiet of the flying critters. Arthur noticed how the animals used their voices and echoes to navigate their way in the dark and that was the thing that inspired Arthur. This was essentially the theory of echolocation in the work.

The map slowly built up in Arthur's mind. He did not have the full view yet, the maze was so large that parts of it were beyond the reach of his voice. He would need to move forward and shout for a few more times to get a fuller picture.

However, based on what he had so far, he seemed to be on the right track.

Arthur walked down the corridor and took the turns at the splits without any hesitation. The young man clearly knew what he was doing. At every few steps, Arthur would stop and shout again to refresh the mental map.

The bats in the ceiling would flap their wings and move about every time he did that. Arthur was truly a menace for the poor creatures down there in the abandoned crypt who just wanted their peace and quiet.

Arthur who had been moving steadily for quite some time suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. There was a frown that appeared between his eyes.

Based on the map in his mind, he detected the maze led to a large space that seemed to sit in the middle of the maze. Arthur was unable to tell the purpose of the room based on his voice, all he knew was that the place was large and open.

Arthur hesitated. He had to consider the possibility of this being a trap.

In the end, Arthur chose to press forward. It was only a possibility that this could be the trap so viewed from the other perspective, this could also lead Arthur to the exit. Furthermore, Arthur believed there had to be a reason why the maze was designed in such a manner.

He expected danger but if he was afraid of danger, he would not have become an adventurer in the first place.

With the destination in mind and the route needed to head towards it, Arthur picked up his speed. He raced through the maze.

However, the young man stopped when he turned a right corner. Based on the map, he was supposed to take another right turn in another few metres but placed in the middle of the corridor was a wooden box. The size was similar to the stone coffin that he came across earlier. It was leaning against the wall.

The first thing that Arthur was reminded of when he saw this was a standing coffin. It was the reason why he had stopped in his tracks earlier.

It was as Arthur suspected, before the young man could decide what to do with this discovery, he heard a groaning voice coming from inside the box.

Arthur took on an offensive stance.

A pair of hands poked out from the front and tore the wooden board apart.

Arthur's enemy this time was another zombie. However, there was something distinct about this zombie compared to the rotting zombie he faced earlier.

Yellow and fraying clothes were wrapped around this monster, lending it the appearance of a mummy. The binding did not cover the monster fully so as it moved, some of it fell apart to reveal the rotten flesh underneath.

'So it is a rotting zombie with a mummy outfit.'

The monster escaped from its coffin to come after Arthur. The zombie's movement was slow. Even though the distance between the monster and Arthur was not big, it would take the monster quite some time before it could reach Arthur.

Of course, Arthur was not going to give it the chance to do that. With the lesson from before, the young man already knew what to do.

He was not going to waste time.

Arthur channeled his vocal materialization and shaped it in the form of a blade. He shouted and the blade flew right at the monster's neck.

The zombie persisted for some time before it met the same fate as his brethren. It was cleanly decapitated. The head detached but it was not sent flying because the skull was still connected to the rest of the body via the yellow bolt of fabric.

The head rolled to the ground and the rest of the body soon followed suit.

Arthur waited for a moment to make sure that the monster was officially dead. When he confirmed the zombie had stopped moving, he moved on from the battle and continued with his journey.

After Arthur turned the corner, the mummy wrap untangled itself from the lifeless zombie and slithered after the young man.