I Got Reincarnated as a Zombie Girl-Chapter 408 - 405 – The Silent Massacre Night
The tenth night since the epic battle against the Elder Dragon descended with a heavier and more oppressive darkness than usual. Nocture’s black mist hung thick like a living blanket, enveloping the entire castle area and the surrounding forests. The red moon that usually shone faintly in Nocture’s sky was now completely covered by dense dark clouds, making the darkness perfect not a single point of light could penetrate it. The air felt cold, damp, and filled with the scent of wet earth mixed with a faint metallic smell that had begun to drift from afar.
Inside the castle’s main healing chamber, the atmosphere remained quiet and full of hope. Sylvia still lay motionless on the cold black stone altar, her body wrapped in thin black silk cloth that left only a little room for the Chains of Abyss coiled around her wrists and ankles. Her breathing was now far more stable, rising and falling in a strong and steady rhythm. The dark aura around her body grew thicker, swirling slowly like living smoke, spreading to the stone walls and making the air in the room feel heavier. Occasionally her eyes opened halfway, her cold red pupils flickering faintly before closing again. She was not yet fully conscious, but the soul of the Queen of Death had begun to recover from the deep wounds she suffered during the battle against the Elder Dragon.
Beside the altar, six loyal figures gathered in silence. Alicia stood closest, her transparent spirit hand occasionally touching Sylvia’s forehead to channel healing energy. Stacia sat on a stone chair, holding her ancient grimoire whose pages rustled softly as if responding to her queen’s aura. Sofia stood upright with her golden wings neatly folded, her gentle light becoming the only warm source of illumination in the dark room. Velthya leaned against the wall with her wolf tail swishing slowly in impatience, her fangs occasionally visible as she growled lowly. Celes held her still-cracked crystal sword, while Aurellia played with a small dark red flame at her fingertip, her expression calm but full of vigilance.
Meanwhile, outside the sturdy city walls, that night came alive with long-planned malice.
More than two hundred infiltrators, a mix of treasure-hungry human mercenaries, fanatical dark cultists, and cunning followers of minor Greek gods moved silently from four different directions. They were convinced that Nocture was in its most vulnerable state: zombie patrols deliberately reduced to only a quarter of normal numbers, no signs of the top-tier beings, and widespread rumors that the Queen of Death was still unconscious after the fierce battle against the Elder Dragon. They used high-level stealth spells, shadow cloaks that absorbed light, and rare trace-erasing artifacts. Their steps were light, their breaths held, their eyes filled with sly glee.
They were gravely mistaken.
The moment the first group passed the line of thick trees at the southern forest edge and stepped onto Nocture’s sacred ground, the darkness reacted like a living creature awakening.
From the shadows of the crooked old trees, the cracks in the stone walls, and even from the low-hanging black mist, shadow zombies emerged without making the slightest sound. Their bodies were perfectly pitch-black, their skin like living liquid night, blending seamlessly with the darkness until invisible to ordinary eyes. They left no footprints on the damp ground, emitted no rotting stench, and made no breathing sounds. They were Sylvia’s most lethal creations for night combat living shadows born from pure death power, specially designed to kill in silence.
A human infiltrator at the front suddenly felt a sharp, piercing cold at the back of his neck. He tried to turn while raising his sword, but a pair of long, cold black hands had already clamped tightly over his mouth, preventing any sound. A shadow blade formed from the darkness itself slipped straight into his heart schlick. His eyes widened in horror for a moment, his pupils trembling, then went completely dark. His body was dragged into the darkness as if swallowed by an invisible giant maw, vanishing as though he had never existed in this world.
Beside him, a dark cultist who was muttering a detection spell jerked hard. Before he could finish his last words, shadow claws shot from the side and cleanly severed his neck swish. Blood spurted out in a brief warm gush that was quickly swallowed by the mist. His body was lifted and disappeared into a small shadow dimension created by the shadow zombies.
One by one, they died without making a sound. No screams. No alarms. No triumphant shouts or warning cries. Only the night wind continued to blow calmly, as if the night itself had conspired with Nocture. In less than ten minutes, more than seventy infiltrators in the southern sector vanished without a trace, no blood on the ground, no scattered weapons, only thicker mist and a faint metallic scent that quickly faded.
In the eastern sector, the infiltration ended in a far more brutal and noisy manner.
The group there was ambushed by Velthya’s subordinate lycanthropes. The wild and primitive humanoid wolf creatures leaped out from the thick underbrush with low roars that shook the chest GRRRRR... Their fur was dark gray mixed with black, their yellow eyes blazing savagely in the faint moonlight, their long claws and fangs gleaming like freshly sharpened knives.
A human infiltrator leader managed to shout hoarsely, "Attack—! Kill anything that moves!"
His shout was cut off instantly as a giant lycanthrope leaped from a tall tree THUD... BOOOOM!!! The nearly one-ton wolf body slammed into three people at once, crushing iron armor and rib cages with ease. Its sharp claws tore through flesh and metal in one long swipe CRUNCH... SCHLAAAKKK!!! Warm blood sprayed into the night air like red rain, its metallic stench instantly filling the forest.
The other lycanthropes charged like a starving storm. Roars thundered, the sounds of breaking bones, and short screams quickly muffled filled the entire forest GRRRROOOAAARRR... CRACK CRACK BOOOOMMM!!! An infiltrator trying to fight back with a fire spell was ripped in two before he could finish the incantation. Those who tried to run were chased down in seconds, their bodies struck from behind and torn apart. In a short time, the eastern sector turned into a bloody graveyard filled with body parts and pools of blood seeping into Nocture’s black soil.
At the northern and western gates, the infiltrators’ fates were no less horrific, but colder and more emotionless. Some who managed to pass the first line immediately stepped on hidden death runes in the ground. The moment their feet touched them, black chains erupted from the earth with a metallic rumble CLANK CLANK CLANK!!! The chains wrapped tightly around their bodies, their thorns piercing the skin, and began slowly draining their souls. Their muffled screams lasted only a few seconds before their bodies dried into shriveled black mummies, their skin cracking like parched earth.
The night’s infiltration failed completely.
Not a single one of the more than two hundred infiltrators managed to enter the city of Nocture. Their bodies were swallowed by shadows, devoured by lycanthropes until nothing remained, or left to rot in the forest as a silent warning to anyone who dared approach. Only a faint smell of blood and thicker mist remained as proof.
The next morning, as the mist began to thin and the red light of dawn crept in, the leaders who had sent the infiltration forces received devastating bad news in their respective territories.
In a hidden fortress in the cold northern mountains, a dark cult leader sat arrogantly on his throne made of bones and obsidian stone. One of his subordinates entered with a deathly pale face, knees trembling.
"All... gone, Master. None returned. Even their communication artifacts went completely dead."
The leader frowned deeply, his fingers tapping the handle of his darkness staff. "Impossible. They carried our best artifacts..."
Before he could finish speaking, a low rumble sounded from outside the fortress. The ground around his residence began to move as if breathing. From the fertile black soil, earth zombies emerged, muddy creatures with bodies as hard as stone, their red eyes blazing savagely RRRRRUMBLE... CRACK CRACK!!! They rose from underground like the living dead emerging from a mass grave.
From the fast-flowing river near the fortress, the water suddenly turned pitch black and smelled of rot. Water zombies emerged from the surface, their bodies transparent like dark poisonous liquid, their hands stretching like living water whips SPLASH... GLOOORP!!! They crawled onto land with horrifying flowing movements.
In the overcast sky, fire zombies floated with bodies blazing dark red, burning the air around them FWOOSH FWOOSH!!! They formed perfect ranks above the fortress, ready to reduce everything to ash.
The cult leader stood up, his face filled with undisguised terror. "This... this is impossible! The Queen of Death is still unconscious! How could—"
From afar, Zark’s hoarse voice echoed through the cold wind, as if speaking directly into everyone’s ears inside the fortress:
"The Queen is indeed still resting. But Nocture never sleeps."
Similar fates befell the other leaders in various regions. An arrogant minor Norse god found his ice mountain residence surrounded by ice zombies and wind zombies that froze everything. In the ruins of an ancient Greek temple, a treacherous nymph watched in horror as thousands of plant zombies and blood zombies emerged from the ground and trees, living roots and streams of black blood encircling her hiding place like an unbreakable spiderweb.
Sylvia’s zombie army was not merely a castle defense force. They were a web of death that had secretly spread to various enemy territories for days, waiting for the right moment to drain the life from anyone who dared touch Nocture.
Inside the castle, news of the silent victory finally reached the residents through Zark’s communication crystal. His hoarse voice was filled with satisfaction as he recounted every detail, bodies vanishing without a trace, lycanthrope roars echoing in the forest, and the elemental zombie encirclement of enemy fortresses.
Velthya laughed lowly with a satisfied growl, her tail sweeping the stone floor hard. "My lycanthropes did their job perfectly. Not a single one escaped. I can smell their blood all the way here."
Sofia smiled gently, her golden wings fluttering softly and radiating a calming warm light. "The strategy of reducing the guards turned out to be the best trap we’ve ever made. They thought we were weak, and that became the fatal mistake they will regret for the rest of their remaining lives."
Alicia nodded coldly, her voice like an autumn wind that pierced deep. "Their souls have now become nourishment for Nocture’s power. I can feel the new energy flow entering this altar. The Queen will surely be very pleased when she wakes up."
Stacia opened her grimoire wide, the ancient pages rustling softly as if sharing in the joy. "With this, our enemies will think twice, even three times before daring to touch Nocture again. The black threads connecting the three of us have grown stronger. I can feel it in my chest."
Suddenly, from the castle’s underground chamber, Noir’s roar echoed louder and deeper than before GRRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!! The entire castle trembled slightly, fine dust falling from the ceiling. The zombie dragon’s evolution had entered its final stage. Its new scales gleamed with dark red veins similar to the Elder Dragon’s, giving it a far more terrifying aura and power.
Celes smiled weakly while holding her nearly fully healed crystal sword. "Noir is almost finished too. When the Queen wakes up, we will have unimaginable new strength. The enemies who laughed at us fighting the Elder Dragon yesterday must be considering hiding deeper in their rat holes today."
Aurellia blew on the small flame at her fingertip until it burned brighter. "And the surviving leaders must be panicking right now. Some of them have already started sending secret peace envoys. But I think it’s already too late."
Outside the castle, the black mist grew even thicker as if celebrating the victory. Zark stood firm on the main tower, his pale yellow eyes gazing into the darkness with satisfaction. The shadow zombie troops returned to their positions silently, their black bodies melting back into the shadows of trees and walls. Velthya’s subordinate lycanthropes ran back into the forest in silence, leaving behind trails of dried enemy blood on the ground.
A zombie captain approached Zark and reported in a low, hoarse voice, "Commander, all enemy territories involved have been completely surrounded. Some leaders are requesting negotiations. They are offering treasures, ancient artifacts, even their own territories in exchange for their lives."
Zark smiled widely and cynically, his sharp teeth glinting in the torchlight. "Tell them... to wait until the Queen wakes up. Only then will we discuss terms. And make sure they know that our terms will not be easy."
Inside the main healing chamber, the atmosphere grew tense yet filled with victory. All eyes turned to the black stone altar as Sylvia suddenly stirred slightly. Her movement was small, but enough to make everyone hold their breath.
For the first time in ten long nights, she opened her eyes fully. Her sharp, cold red eyes stared at the stone ceiling with clear and authoritative awareness. Her voice was still hoarse from disuse, but every word carried the undeniable power of the Queen of Death.
"...They dared."
Everyone immediately turned quickly. Sofia smiled widely, her golden wings opening slightly. Velthya growled happily while clenching her fists. Alicia and Stacia approached with quick steps, their faces full of relief and respect. Aurellia and Celes exchanged satisfied smiles. The dark aura in the room exploded with new power. The Chains of Abyss on Sylvia’s wrists clinked louder clink clink clink as if welcoming their queen’s awakening.
The silent massacre night had become a clear and unforgettable message to the entire world.
