The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 109 - 2.4

The sight of the gate of Kentucky laying shattered on the ground was gruesome and disturbing.

The wooden structure that was thick and tall which had stood strong for so long had been decimated into nothing, its heavyweight reduced to little more than rubble.

Thick splatters of blood stained the ground, churned and muddy, on the wood and the area around it, the evidence of the brutal and bloody violence that might have been required to bring it down to the ground with few scratches can be seen on the surface.

The air was thick with the stench of decay and death, reeked of a nauseating scent of rotting flesh that lingers like putrid mist.

"Ugh.. This disgusting smell.." Jeriel spoke up, stealing the words that wanted to escape from everyone’s mouth while covering the lower part of her face, "What the hell happened here?"

Jannah and Duke Eulicies exchanged looks, both of their faces scrunched up in confusion.

"We left this town in a perfect condition." The Countess said, leading the group through the entrance, the horse’s hooves clamping loudly against the wood beneath them.

Tak.

Tak.

Tak.

"Goodness gracious.. What happened here?" Princess Huenazia murmured, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

The interior state of the town was worse than what they saw outside— the town was empty, the streets eerily silent and devoid of any signs of life.

The only indication that something had happened in the town were the countless scratch marks that marred every surface they lay their eyes on, coated in a layer of thick, dark blood, the viscous substance seeping into every crack and crevices.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Saved for the sound of dripping water, silence covered the place like a blanket.

"What the hell.." Jannah muttered under her breath, which seems the only thing she could say right now as her bloody red eyes scanned her surroundings and took in every sign of struggle around her.

The streets were scuffed and scratched, the marks clearly made by nails or claws or any type of sharp blades.

The houses stood intact, their walls still solid and unbroken, but the lack of any other signs of life made the town seem ghostly, everywhere that the eye could see there was only blood, dark and sticky against every surface.

Due to the state of the town, Jannah expected to see one undead creature laying somewhere.

However, there was not a single body to be found.

There was only one sound coming in every direction, but Jannah landed on one of the spots where she could hear the dripping and lead her stallion over to that direction.

Wordlessly, the others followed behind her, afraid that something much worse than the flesh eating monsters might jump out of the mist.

When Jannah reached where the dripping came from, she looked up and from the tip of the roofing was dripping blood.

"Did a zombie get up there?" Jeriel commented, her eyes also glued on the dripping blood.

"Beats me." Jannah shrugged her shoulders.

It was barely midnight when they arrived at Kentucky and it would take them another six hours to reach Chivahon, she would risk it, but she knows full well that the first town of the north would be crawling with zombies.

Jannah frowned as she smacked the reins of her stallion in the air softly, urging the horse to move forward.

Everything looked absolutely dead.

The state of the town before she left it with the Duke and his knights was much better than its state right now.

As Jannah led her party towards the other gate of Kentucky, the fog grew thicker— almost blocking her vision and blinding her of her path three meters ahead of her.

"Stay close." Jannah said, her voice ringing out in the mist and making her people grow alarmed further.

Due to Jannah’s nervousness, she had opened the system’s map and made sure that she could see the six people trailing behind her through the thick fog that surrounded them.

She tightened her grip on the reins of her horse, swallowing thickly as she did so.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

The notification sound of the system broke the silence for Jannah, alarming her and making her jump on her horse.

The horse suddenly jerked its head up, its nostrils flaring and its ears pricked forward in alarm, his ears flicked back and forth as it felt its rider tense up, sensing her sudden shift in emotions.

The horse’s muscles coiled like a spring, preparing for a burst of speed and in a split second, it threw itself into motion, its powerful legs propelling it forward at a reckless pace.

"Ack!" Jannah could only gasp out of shock as her stallion charged down the street, taking a sharp turn, his hooves pounding the ground in a rhythmic gallop.

"Sis!"

"My lady!"

"Countess!"

The six people behind her simultaneously screamed after her, each one of them kicking the stirrups on their horses and forcing their companions to follow her.

"Stop, Demo!" Jannah hissed towards the horse, but he continued to run, whines leaving his lips as he picked up the pace.

Whatever had startled Demo,it was clear that it had clearly rattled him.

With the horse racing through the streets of the town, its hooves pounding against the cobblestones and sending up a shower of dust and dirt in its wake, Jannah could only look at the map to see where Demo was heading.

Her eyes went wide when she realized that the horse was running towards the town hall at full speed.

He let out a loud whinny of alarm and could feel the horse’s muscles tensing with his hooves dancing on the ground as he fought to regain his composure, the sounds he let out loud and resonating in the air.

Jannah clung tightly to the reins, her body pressed against the horse’s mane as she desperately tried to coax him to calm down.

"Demo!" Jannah called out to the stallion, "It’s okay, boy! There’s nothing there! No need to be scared— woah!"

The Countess let out a surprised yelp when the horse suddenly skidded into a stop, his hooves digging on the hard ground, sending Jannah forward and making her slam her body against his flank.

She coughed, the horse’s reins accidentally pressing her gut.

[Congratulations, Player Jannah!]

Jannah’s eyes snapped up to look at the system, the familiar sound of the notification echoing in her head.

[You have discovered Zone 1 of the North.]

Upon reading the system’s texts, an ominous glow from the corner of her eyes had caught her attention which made her turn her head slowly in that direction.

The front half of the town hall had been completely torn down, reduced to a pile of debris, planks, and pillars.

The remaining half of the building still stood, its stone and wooden walls blackened and had blood splotches on the surfaces.

The interior of the building was exposed, the walls torn open and the roof collapsed, though, that was not the only thing that had caught her attention, but the single door that doesn’t seem to have any scratch on it.

If Jannah remembered correctly, that was the door that leads to the basement.

She wouldn’t have paid attention to a single door, however, that door was anything, but ordinary— the air around the door seemed to crackle with an uneasy and unfamiliar energy.

Jannah could hear the silence that surrounded the area broken only by the sound of the wind whistling through the entryway of the basement door, but it was too dark for Jannah to see anything.

The room beyond the door was dark and quiet, the only sound the faint pulse of magic that seemed to emanate from within.

[You will have the ability to unlock the Zone once you have activated the Statue of Tranquility at [Starlian’s Capital].]

She shot a quick glance at the system, her eyebrows creasing in confusion.

Though her attention went back to the door, her eyes scanned the damage surrounding it as it remained standing and pulled the reins of her horse.

"Move, Demo." Jannah urged her stallion to go forward, to go to the basement door.

Every hair on her body stood up as she got closer to the door, the hooves of the horse evaded every debris on his path and trot his way towards the direction Jannah wanted him to go.

She eyed the darkness within the door, swirling dark substance that seemed like it looked like it was wriggling, the substance similar to a liquid that kept shifting and twisting like a living thing.

"This door has the same thing as the transportable landmark I have." Jannah murmured, holding out a hand and taking out the said item from her inventory.

Sure enough, when Jannah took a closer look inside the sphere, the substances inside shifted just like how the darkness in the door twisted, wriggling and occasionally mixing with the other substances inside.

She put the transportable landmark back inside the inventory and stared at the door.

She held her hand out, reaching for the darkness within the doorway, and felt the hair on the back of her neck stood up abruptly.

Though, nothing happened.

Jannah pushed her hand further, her limb slipping through the strange substances that didn’t seem to have any texture, but were cold to the skin.

[Ding!]