CHAPTER 360: CHAPTER 203: MECHANICAL ZOMBIE_2

Within him, remnants of decayed organs were still visible, yet there were also pipe-like structures connected throughout his body.

Looking at his metallic arm, although the metal extended down from the shoulder, the fleshy part only truly ended at the forearm. The section above was merely encased in metal; the metallic fragments on the skin seemed less attached and more as if they had grown there. There were clear signs of growth, rather than them being sewn or glued on.

Alka gently sliced open the pipes within its body.

The group watched Alka expressionlessly handling the corpse, and they couldn’t help but step back. The scene was, to some extent, still hard for them to accept.

When had Alka become like this? It seemed to have started with his research into flesh puppets. He had become largely immune to such gory scenes.

Lucilia and Chadite had even turned their heads away and begun to watch their surroundings warily.

Only Pororo stood nonchalantly nearby, even watching with great interest.

Jason was also fighting back some nausea, his eyes wide with curiosity.

Juanlu simply observed, watching the black liquid pour from the pipes. He, too, found it rather peculiar, forcing himself to watch despite his revulsion. So the black liquid in the monster’s pus came from those pipes, he realized.

"So this is a half-human, half... mechanical monster?"

Upon hearing Juanlu’s words, Alka, who had been studying it for a while, shook his head.

"No, to be precise, it’s a half-undead, half-mechanical monster. The Magic Power within it carries the scent of the undead, right?" Alka asked uncertainly, tilting his head towards Julia, who was watching them from a short distance away.

Julia nodded, confirming Alka’s assessment.

"This corpse might have been quite powerful when alive, perhaps around five to six Spirals. Its muscle tissue has that kind of strength. But the Undead Energy that awakened it wasn’t particularly strong; theoretically, it shouldn’t possess the strength of Four Spirals. However, this unknown mechanical structure, along with the Black Oil pipes within it, strengthened its power. And this Black Oil contains potent Magic Power. In short, its undead capabilities weren’t very strong, so it compensated with Spell constructs."

"A very interesting and practical design," Alka couldn’t help but say. "It’s disgusting, but certainly practical."

I could use this on some of the Puppet Girl models later, Alka mused, now observing with the intent to learn.

"However, this machinery and its metallic skin-like Outer Armor are too strange."

"Why?" Jason asked curiously from the side. Though he understood nothing, he was certainly curious.

"This metallic, shell-like skin seems to have grown on it. If this were simply an undead creature, it should have been attached or sewn on by some means."

"Grown on?" Jason asked, puzzled. He didn’t quite understand that.

"Yes, this metal and the flesh have grown together. Do you understand?"

In front of them, Alka forcefully tore a piece of metal from the skin, much like ripping a fingernail from a finger. It tore away a large piece of skin and flesh.

Witnessing this act, Chadite and Lucilia, who couldn’t resist turning their heads back to look, frowned with extreme disgust. Er, who was standing on Chadite’s other shoulder, also showed the same expression.

EWW!

Then they all turned their heads away in unison.

Finally, Alka moved on to another corpse and began to examine it.

This undead walking corpse was relatively intact and had no limbs resembling Spell constructs. Apart from some Metal Armor on its body, there were no Black Oil pipes inside it. This made it much weaker than the walking corpse with the metal arm.

After studying both corpses for a while and confirming there was nothing more to learn, Alka dragged them together and cleared away the surrounding vegetation. He then set them on fire.

Perhaps due to the seeping Black Oil, they were extremely flammable and caught fire instantly. Billowing black smoke rose upward like a dark pillar.

Only when they were nearly burnt to ashes did Alka extinguish the flames.

For creatures like the undead, especially those with flesh-and-blood corpses, incineration is essential. This was emphasized in countless books as a critical disposal method; otherwise, these corpses might be reawakened and continue to cause trouble. All their previous efforts would have been for nothing.

After dealing with the corpses, the group set off once more.

Learning from their recent experience, the group no longer moved in a fixed formation. They spread out slightly, but remained close enough to support each other, and periodically checked above their heads. They had looked up into the trees earlier but still couldn’t figure out where the monster had fallen from.

ROAR!

As they had advanced some distance, another monster, similar to the previous walking corpse, appeared before them.

However, this walking corpse was bisected at the waist. It was dragging itself across the ground with its hands, slowly crawling toward them. Large sheets of metal were fused to its back. Its lower body, from the waist down, had been entirely replaced by a Spell construct. However, it was incomplete, forcing the creature to crawl. Its right lower leg was missing, and only half of its left thigh remained, exposing some metal components and stone-like chunks of solidified Magic Power. Black Oil could even be seen slowly seeping from within it, leaving a trail as it dragged its body forward.