Chapter 21: Confronting the Elite Zombie’s Deadly Surge

“Is that what I think it is?”

Kang Juho broke the silence first. He had already guessed the nature of the purple tombstone.

“Yeah, it’s either an elite, a boss, or a field quest. Not sure which,” Kim Seokju replied.

“A boss at the entrance seems unlikely.”

The chance wasn’t zero, but it was close.

“With our current stats, we could probably handle an elite or a field quest easily. What do you think?” Kang Juho asked.

Thanks to the Hydra’s Tattoo, Kang Juho had grown significantly stronger.

He was confident he could take on an elite monster or complete a field quest with ease.

“Might as well try! If it’s a boss, we bolt,” Kim Seokju said.

“Alright, buff me up!”

“Got it! Physical Enhancement…”

[All defense increased by 12% for 2 minutes.]

[All speed increased by 11% for 2 minutes.]

Buffed by Kim Seokju, Kang Juho began walking toward the purple tombstone alone.

As he got closer—

Crack!

Cracks spread across the tombstone, and it collapsed, a massive arm bursting from the ground.

Kang Juho flinched at the sight of its thickness.

“What the…?”

It was absurdly thick.

Fearing it might be a boss, he checked for messages.

Fortunately, no warning or quest notification appeared.

“Elite it is, then.”

He turned back to the creature.

The arm wasn’t alone—its upper body had emerged.

“What kind of poison is that?”

Regular zombies emitted green poison, but this elite zombie radiated a purple aura.

“As long as it’s not paralysis…”

Poison didn’t just deal damage—it could cause status effects like paralysis, chills, or weakness.

–Roar!

The elite zombie fully emerged, its lower body now visible.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It advanced toward Kang Juho with heavy footsteps.

He stopped, bracing for combat.

The elite zombie swung its massive arm as it closed the distance.

“Good.”

Kang Juho dodged to the side with a smile.

It was faster than regular zombies, but only relatively so.

At this speed, he was confident he wouldn’t get hit.

[You are poisoned for 3 minutes.]

[Movement speed reduced by 20%.]

Avoiding the physical attack didn’t mean escaping the poison.

The moment the arm passed, Kang Juho was poisoned.

Thankfully, there were no paralysis or weakness effects.

He sighed in relief and checked his health.

“26% resistance, huh?”

Thanks to his boosted poison resistance, the damage wasn’t too bad—about 50 HP per second.

Boom!

The zombie’s arm slammed into the ground.

Kang Juho swung his hammer at it, thinking, ‘Does this thing have a special condition too?’

Elite stone goblins had a “Blood” state, a condition so absurd for a low-level hunting ground that it seemed like a boss mechanic.

If this elite zombie had something similar, Kang Juho decided to avoid elite fights until fully prepared.

Thwack!

–Roar!

The hammer struck, and the elite zombie let out a pained scream.

‘What if I hadn’t bought this hammer?’

The hammer, purchased from a man at the forge, had been a game-changer.

If he’d settled for an ordinary-grade one, hunting would’ve been brutal, and challenging an elite would’ve been unthinkable.

Whoosh!

The zombie swung again.

Boom!

Kang Juho dodged easily and countered with his hammer.

Thwack!

–Roar!

The zombie screamed again.

He continued dodging and countering, maintaining the fight’s rhythm.

But then—

“Damn it.”

Pulling back to create distance, Kang Juho cursed inwardly.

The elite zombie was changing.

Its skin turned purple, and its countless wounds healed rapidly—every single one.

Drinking an antidote potion and restoring health, Kang Juho thought, ‘Why do low-level zones have these crazy conditions?’

High-level zones having such mechanics would make sense, but Desolate Tomb was for low levels.

“This is too much!”

First stone goblins, now zombies—it felt unfair.

“Huh?”

But the next moment proved him wrong.

–Roar!

The now fully purple-skinned elite zombie let out a monstrous cry. Its body began inflating like a balloon.

“That’s…”

Kang Juho’s face twisted. He knew exactly what this was: self-destruction.

“Damn it!”

Cursing again, he turned and shouted to Kim Seokju, “Seokju, run—”

But he stopped mid-sentence and started running.

Kim Seokju was already sprinting, not looking back.

Boom!

Less than five seconds later, the elite zombie exploded.

Fragments and poison sprayed everywhere.

Kim Seokju, far enough away, escaped the blast, but Kang Juho, closer, couldn’t.

Hit by the debris and poison, he stopped.

[You are poisoned for 5 minutes.]

[Movement speed reduced by 30%.]

[All defense reduced by 20%.]

Messages flooded in, but Kang Juho couldn’t focus on them.

He’d restored his health to 11,000 when the zombie’s skin turned purple, but the explosion dropped it to 1,000, and the poison was draining it fast—over 100 HP per second.

He opened his inventory, drank an antidote potion, and sighed.

“Phew…”

Relieved to be alive, he checked his health: only 500 left.

He quickly drank a health potion to recover.

“Phew…”

Watching his health climb, he sighed again and checked the drop window, excited to see what the elite zombie dropped:

-Poison-Soaked Ragged Skin x3

-Zombie Gloves

-Poisoned Dagger

“…!”

Kang Juho was stunned.

Getting even one equipment drop was lucky, but two?

He collected them and checked their details.

Zombie Gloves [Special]

Restriction: Excludes Priests, Level 50

Durability: 100%

Physical Defense: 100

Effects:

+5% additional damage when attacking undead.

+10% damage taken from undead.

Poisoned Dagger [Special]

Restriction: Level 50, Agility 110

Durability: 100%

Physical Attack: 200

Effect: 10% chance to poison the target on attack.

Kang Juho’s expression turned slightly disappointed.

“The glove options are such a shame.”

The dagger was unusable and irrelevant to him, but he’d had high hopes for the gloves.

They offered 50 more defense than his current pair and a 5% damage boost against undead, which was great.

But the +10% damage taken from undead—including poison damage—was a dealbreaker.

“Sell them both.”

Both were Special-grade with decent restrictions, especially the dagger, a popular weapon.

They’d fetch a good price or trade.

“Hyung, what dropped?” Kim Seokju approached and asked.

Kang Juho shared the item details.

“Whoa, not bad.”

“You?”

“Well…”

They chatted as they headed to Villeme.

***

“Battle Blacksmith, huh…”

Hearing Yoo Janghyuk’s report, Kim Yuri trailed off with a sly smile.

“Finally, we can post the announcement.”

“Announcement?” Yoo Janghyuk asked, puzzled.

“Yeah, we need to announce the first special class change,” Kim Yuri nodded matter-of-factly.

“Not revealing the class or identity, so don’t make that face.”

“Oh, got it.”

Yoo Janghyuk, realizing his misunderstanding, scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

Kim Yuri chuckled and asked, “What was the bonus?”

The first special class changer received a Hero-grade box, containing various Hero-grade items—equipment, consumables, or otherwise.

She was curious.

“A tattoo.”

“A tattoo? Nice luck.”

In the current meta, any Hero-grade item was valuable, but tattoos were the most efficient due to their lack of equip restrictions.

“Exactly. The options were pretty solid too,” Yoo Janghyuk added.

Even within the same grade, item performance varied widely.

The Hydra’s Tattoo Kang Juho received ranked in the upper-mid tier among Hero-grade tattoos.

“What’s he doing now? He logged out at dawn, so he should be online by now.”

“He’s hunting.”

Yoo Janghyuk had checked Kang Juho’s location before reporting.

After logging in that morning and finishing maintenance, Kang Juho had returned to Desolate Tomb to hunt.

“Is it that Kang Juho?”

“His playstyle is one thing, but his party member’s name is Kim Seokju.”

Kang Juho had one party member: Kim Seokju.

And among Immortal Stamina’s executives, there was a user with that name.

“Then it’s very likely that Kang Juho.”

“Yup.”

“Keep an eye on him.”

“Huh? Is that necessary?”

“Even if things have changed since the PC days, they’re users who’ve seen the endgame. If it’s that Kang Juho, he’ll have massive influence in the virtual world too.”

High-influence users couldn’t be ignored—they could sway public opinion.

Monitoring was essential to prepare for that.

“Got it. I’ll add him to the special watchlist.”

“Good!”

“And the task we just got, should I pass it to Cheolyong—”

“No way,” Kim Yuri cut him off firmly.

“Alright, I’ll get to work!” Yoo Janghyuk replied with a sly grin, returning to his desk.

He added Kang Juho to the special watchlist and checked his status.