Bound To The Dead: The Deceptive Class-E Farmer
Chapter 87: The Empty Path and The Waiting War

Chapter 87: The Empty Path and The Waiting War

At the edge of the third core, the morning air was cold but gentle.

Isaac sat on a flat rock near a crooked tree, chewing slowly on a piece of dried meat. Hopper sat beside him, using his tiny front legs to nibble on a chunk of dried fruit. Their small fire from last night had already burned out. The ashes had gone cold.

He looked up. It’s too quiet.

He stood and checked his weapons. His sickles were secured on his hips. His axe, clean and sharpened, was slung across his back.

Hopper fluttered his wings once and crawled up to his shoulder.

Isaac didn’t speak yet.

He just stood there for a moment, letting the silence sit.

Then finally, he said, "Let’s move."

They headed into the Fourth Core.

Isaac walked in silence, each step careful but steady. The 4th Core had always been the deeper part of Dudael, a place filled with danger. That’s what he remembered. But now?

It was empty.

No monsters.

No sounds.

Not even the smell of blood or decay.

Just trees. Tall and still.

"...Too quiet," he muttered.

Hopper twitched on his shoulder. His wings didn’t hum. His antennae didn’t move. Even he didn’t sense anything.

"That’s impossible," Isaac said. His voice was soft, almost a whisper, but it didn’t feel right to raise it. It might echo too loudly in this kind of silence.

They had been walking for nearly two hours.

Still nothing.

No signs of movement. No scratch marks on the trees. No broken nests. Not even dried monster dung.

Hopper finally spoke. ’There’s no presence at all. Not even minor energy traces. It’s like... the 4th Core was wiped clean.’

Isaac paused.

He looked up at the thick canopy above. The sunlight barely reached the forest floor now. Everything was dim, even though it was still morning.

He tightened his grip on one of the sickles at his side.

No monsters didn’t mean no danger. In Dudael, silence was never safe.

—----

They reached the end of the 4th Core by noon.

A wide clearing stretched ahead. On the other side, the terrain changed.

And just like that, they were standing at the entrance to the 5th Core.

Isaac slowed down.

"...This is it."

The fog had faded. The air was heavier now, humid and strangely warm.

The ground dipped slightly, forming a natural basin surrounded by blackened trees. A thin line of dark mist hovered just above the surface like a curtain.

Hopper’s voice was low.

’We’re not alone anymore.’

Isaac stepped forward.

Then stopped.

He saw them.

Hundreds of monsters stood ahead, lined up like soldiers waiting for war.

Shoulder to shoulder. Silent.

Their eyes glowed faintly. Their bodies twitched with restrained energy.

They didn’t charge.

They just watched.

From mutated boars with cracked tusks, to sharp-clawed ravagers twice the size of bears. From insectoids with steel-hard shells to shadowy panther-like beasts with glowing spines. There were Class A monsters... and stronger ones.

In the center of the front line stood five Class S monsters.

And still, not one of them moved.

Hopper stiffened on his shoulder.

"...They gathered everything here," he said. "All the monsters from the fourth Core. That’s why it was empty. They joined this formation."

Isaac’s brows furrowed.

"So someone’s commanding them."

Suddenly...

The stillness was broken.

Not by sound.

But by a voice.

"You’ve come far... deceptive one."

Isaac’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t move.

The voice wasn’t spoken aloud. It came directly into his mind, clear, deep, and layered, like a hundred voices speaking as one.

It wasn’t the voice he had heard before.

Not the one that whispered during Overdrive.

This... was new.

Older. Sharper. Heavy.

"You are not afraid. Good. I’ve watched you."

Isaac didn’t reply right away. He looked ahead at the army of monsters, all still motionless.

Then the mist in the back began to shift.

Something was coming.

Even the monsters stepped back as the air grew heavy.

Hopper let out a soft hiss and jumped off Isaac’s shoulder, crouching low behind his leg.

Then it appeared.

From the shadows of the largest, dead tree in the clearing, its bark black and hollowed, a figure emerged.

A towering insectoid creature with a humanoid frame.

Its body was wrapped in jagged black chitin, like armor forged from the corpses of a thousand fallen beasts. The armor didn’t shine. It absorbed the light.

From its chest to its abdomen, a glowing emerald core pulsed rhythmically. It was faint at first... but Isaac could feel the power inside it. Alive. Watching. Breathing.

Blood-red wings unfolded from its back, torn but massive, veins glowing like cracks in stained glass.

Its arms were long, with forearms that ended in curved scythe-like blades. Its legs bent backward, ending in clawed talons. Each step cracked the earth beneath it.

Its face was inhuman.

Unblinking, multifaceted eyes stared down at him. Two large antennae twitched slowly, and serrated mandibles clicked once in greeting, or warning.

It didn’t walk. It flew.

With one slow beat of its wings, it rose above the others.

Then, like a ritual, it descended onto the thick branch of the dead tree behind the monster army. The bark creaked but held. The branch was wide, wide enough to act as a throne.

It sat.

Not slouched. Not hunched.

Like a ruler.

Like something ancient that had waited a long time.

"You carry his scent," it said. "But you are not him."

Isaac finally spoke. His voice was calm.

"...Who are you?"

The insectoid king tilted its head slightly.

"The question is not who I am. The question is... why now?"

"Why did it take you so long to come home?"

Isaac’s grip on his sickles tightened.

He could feel something stir in his chest. The corruption in his veins moved, not violently, but like it was recognizing something.

And in the back of his mind, the being’s voice was silent.

"You seek answers," the insectoid king said. "Then come forward, Leader of the Swarm. Let me see if you are worthy of hearing them."

The monsters didn’t move. But their eyes followed Isaac.

Waiting.

Breathing.

Isaac took a single step forward.

The insectoid king spoke again.

"Let’s see what you’ve learned."

Isaac didn’t speak. His fingers curled tighter around his weapons.

The insectoid king tilted its head, one antenna twitching.

"Show me... how the swarm obeys you."

The monsters moved.