I Got Reincarnated as a Zombie Girl-Chapter 57 – After the Storm

After more than two hours of nonstop combat, the area around Sofia’s base had turned into a landscape of devastation—a battlefield recently abandoned by gods of war. The air was thick with the scent of blood, metal, and the faint trace of gunpowder, blending with the soft breeze blowing from the west as the sun began its slow descent.

Dug... Dug... Dug...

Sofia’s heartbeat echoed like a heavy drum in her ears. She let herself fall onto the now-cool asphalt, the sun slanting low in the sky. Her hands, still clutching her sacred spear, slowly loosened their grip, letting the weapon fall to the ground with a soft yet weighted clang.

"Hah... hah... more than three hundred... or five hundred? I... can’t count anymore..." she muttered weakly, her breath labored, but a faint thread of satisfaction laced her exhausted voice.

Around her, Altair leaned against a cracked concrete pillar, his body covered in minor burns. Yuna sat on the curb, hair disheveled and chest heaving. Vivi sat cross-legged in a meditative posture, eyes closed. Yuki was inspecting her nearly-frozen weapon, and Rina was changing the bandage of a wounded soldier. Viktor stood not far away, eyes vacant yet vigilant as he surveyed the field littered with kobold corpses.

Wounds and sweat coated their bodies. But for the first time in the past two hours—there were no screams. No gunfire. Just silence... and the sound of human breath.

Yet in that silence, something stirred.

Ssshhh...

From the heaps of kobold corpses, an eerie phenomenon began to unfold. They did not rot like normal creatures. Instead, their flesh and skin slowly unraveled into crimson mist-like particles, a bloody vapor dissolving into the air.

"...Sofia," Viktor murmured, straightening up slowly. "Look at that."

Sofia turned, her eyes half-lidded at first. But what she saw immediately sharpened her awareness. She had heard of this before—from Sylvia.

And now she saw it with her own eyes.

The mist continued to rise gently, leaving behind only rusted weapons, tattered clothing... and small, deep-red crystals falling to the asphalt.

Ting. Ting. Tink.

The sound of the crystals rang clearly in the quiet base. As if they wanted their presence to be unmistakable.

Yuki quickly approached. She knelt down and began counting and examining.

"Twenty-seven red crystals... and that’s just from the Rank 3 ones," she reported. "The rest... just junk."

Sofia nodded slowly, her face still serious, though a glint of satisfaction sparked in her eyes.

"Not bad... we can still put these to use," she said, turning to Viktor. "Combine them with the four crystals Sylvia gave us yesterday. Make reagents, weapons—anything we can use. Don’t waste a single one."

"Understood," Viktor replied, immediately collecting the crystals into a sealed black case. He walked briskly toward the laboratory within the base.

Meanwhile, Sofia pushed herself up on shaky feet, her body close to collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Cold sweat still ran down her back, mingling with dried blood and battlefield grime. Every muscle screamed for rest. But her face remained calm—she was used to enduring.

Without another word, she left the battlefield, slowly making her way through the base corridor toward her room.

Once there, Sofia carefully set her spear in the corner, then stepped into the bathroom and turned on the warm water. Steam began to fill the room, fogging the mirror above the sink.

As the water washed over her, she closed her eyes. Blood, dirt, and the day’s mental burden flowed away slowly, though the exhaustion ran too deep to be washed off by a simple bath.

Without even drying her hair or changing clothes, she wrapped a large towel around herself and stepped out of the bathroom. Her feet drifted toward the bed, drawn by an irresistible gravity.

Sreeekk...

The mattress creaked softly as she collapsed onto it. Her face pressed into the pillow, arms limply hanging off the side. The night air slipping through the window felt colder than usual, but Sofia didn’t care.

Within seconds...

Zzz...

She was asleep.

No dreams. No burdens. Just... peaceful darkness.

Meanwhile...

The evening sky slowly shifted in hue over the vast grasslands, right where the portal had previously appeared. Golden-orange light painted the horizon, framing a landscape still bearing the traces of chaos.

From the faintly pulsing portal, thousands of zombies—now calm and orderly—marched out one by one. They were led by ten elite Rank 3 zombies whose forms and auras had evolved beyond recognition.

And among them stood a figure unmistakable—Sylvia. Her long black hair waved gently in the twilight breeze, and her dark red eyes gazed silently at the sky as if welcoming the oncoming night. In her hand was a large sack filled with crystals from the battle, while several zombies dragged away weapons and supplies looted from the Orcs.

"Finally... level 50..." Sylvia murmured, nearly expressionless, though a subtle satisfaction lingered in her tone.

Behind her, Tyrant stood still, looming like a silent shadow—mute, yet menacing.

With graceful but commanding steps, Sylvia walked toward her villa, accompanied only by the wind and the footsteps of her army dispersing to rest around the property. Though her heart had long stopped beating, the rising anticipation within her felt like adrenaline surging through her veins.

One more step.

Inside the villa, Sylvia opened the door and stepped in. The creak of wood and soft click as it closed filled the quiet room.

Sreekkk... Tukk!

She climbed the stairs calmly to the upper floor, entering her private chamber—a dim room lit only by the light of the western sky filtering through a large window. An old mirror hung on the wall, reflecting an image of herself that had long ceased to resemble the creature she once despised... becoming something she could no longer fully define.

Sylvia sat in a large chair before the mirror, fingers interlaced in her lap. Silence.

"It’s time..." her thoughts whispered.

In that quiet moment, she spoke a single word in her mind:

"STATUS."

And at once, a translucent blue screen appeared before her like a curtain of light unveiling her fate.

[STATUS]

Name: Sylvia Hortensia

Race: Mortessa (Rank 3 – Special High Zombie)

Element: Death, Netherwood

Level: 50 / 50

Stats:

HP: 75,960 / 75,960

MP: 17,500 / 17,500

STR: 9,252VIT: 75,960

INT: 4,700

AGI: 14,100

LUK: ERROR

Active Skills:

~Infectious Bite (19/20)

~Razor Toxic Claw (40/40) ➜ ~Venom Reaper Claw (3/80)

~Shadow Piercing (18/40) ➜ ~Eclipse Piercing (2/80)

~Appraisal (10/10) – Max

Spells:

Gravebind – Forbidden Death Spell (Rank 4) – 1,500 MP

Nether Branches – Netherwood Spell (Rank 2) – 100 MP/branch

Void Steps (10/10) – Max – Void Spell (Rank 5) – 2,500 MP / 10 Km

Passive Skills:

Killing Stroke – +5 AGI/kill, max 10 stacks

High HP-Regeneration (35/40) – 1,750 HP/second

Med MP-Regeneration (5/20) – 1,250 MP/minute

Toxic Affinity – includes Neurotoxin, Hemotoxic, Corrosive, and Wither

Blood Instinct – +5% all stats for 10 seconds/stack if it comes into contact with blood, max 5 stacks

Original Skill:

Chain Technique

Form 1: Binding

Form 2: Shield

Form 3: Death Spiral

Form 4: Guillotine Blossom

Final Form: UNIFICATION

Equipment:

Dress of Death – enhances Death magic & physical resistance

Chains of Abyss – Living Weapon, reacts to user’s intent

Titles:

Reincarnated

First Evolution

Second Evolution

Third Evolution

Queen of Zombie

Blessing from Goddess of Life and Death (Persephone)

Sylvia stared at the status screen for a long time. A small smile curled on her pale lips, like a dark flower blooming in the shadows.

"This is it... time for the fourth evolution."

She slowly raised her hand. Jet-black light began to pulse under her skin, spreading like veins of living energy.

DUG DUG... DUG DUG...

The sound of a massive heartbeat echoed within her mind, filling the room with invisible pressure.

The blue screen abruptly flashed white—then went dark.

[RANK 4 EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS MET][PROCESSING...][SYSTEM SEARCHING FOR AVAILABLE EVOLUTION PATHS...]

Sylvia leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes.