The possibility of walking into a trap echoed in Matthew's mind, but he didn't want to escape without being completely sure of what was happening around him.
The need to increase his own Rank, to acquire coins, and to increase the Rank of his zombie dogs was something he could only achieve by hunting and devouring zombies or beings of equal or higher Rank; he knew this better than anyone.
Matthew lay down beside a tree nearly 20 meters tall. At that moment, the zombie dogs walked toward the city's perimeter.
"First, I'll carefully observe what's happening around the city. If I don't find anything suspicious, I'll enter the city with the zombie dogs."
Matthew sat on a tree root, closed his eyes, and silently perceived what his zombie dogs were perceiving.
In Matthew's hands were three pills of the "monster" and a bone spear.
The zombie dogs walked through areas covered with weeds and vines, dodged trees, and climbed hills.
The Rank D- dog caught a snake that was climbing a tree and began devouring it as it continued exploring.
The other zombie dog wasn't so lucky and only found small insects in the area it was walking through.
Night fell again, but that wasn't an impediment; the zombie dogs continued exploring, and Matthew remained attentive to everything they perceived and everything they overlooked.
This exploration process lasted several days.
"I haven't even seen a single zombie these past few days. That's strange, especially since I haven't seen any beings capable of killing zombies. In that place, it was the Troll, but what is it that eliminates or keeps zombies away from this place? I think I'll only find answers by entering the city."
It was night, and the zombie dogs had reunited at the other end of the city perimeter after thoroughly exploring the surrounding area. Matthew looked at the sky; the sun would soon rise. At that moment, he decided he would enter the city.
...
The sun illuminated the surroundings, some buildings on the verge of collapse and others still retaining their solid structures, but in that city, nature hadn't reclaimed it as relentlessly as in other places.
The cobblestone streets were barely touched by weeds, cracking the city's paths, but just as in the previous city, he saw iron posts from which hung the bodies of humanoid beings who had been hanged.
Matthew observed those almost mummified bodies, then continued walking, entering some buildings that still stood. Inside, there was dilapidated furniture and dust everywhere, but again, there were no signs of corpses. Matthew and his dogs entered other buildings in the opposite part of the city.
The views that Matthew and the dogs observed were almost identical.
Matthew looked for books, but found none. In one building, he only found a photograph in which the face of a man, possibly a nobleman, was barely visible. The furniture in that building still had slight traces of its best days, which made it clear that a wealthy family had lived in that residence.
Matthew opened some drawers, causing some furniture to topple over, but he found nothing of value or substantial information.
"In this city, there aren't even any books, pamphlets, or any source of information. It's as if everything was meticulously arranged to create a kind of ghost town."
Matthew continued exploring, day and night, unhurriedly, without drawing too much attention. His dogs did the same, thoroughly exploring that abandoned, gloomy, and silent city.
Yes, because that's what it looked like: an abandoned city that even zombies didn't want to go near.
After several days of exploration, Matthew walked toward the center of the city. His zombie dogs approached and growled at a Gothic-style fountain, a fountain that was now dry.
Seeing the zombie dogs' reaction, he couldn't help but think that he would have felt chills in the past.
Matthew walked around the fountain, and the dogs followed suit.
As they walked around the fountain, which didn't seem unusual, Matthew heard one of his dogs step on a cobblestone. The stone gave way, and the fountain slid to the side, revealing an underground staircase.
At that moment, Matthew felt an energy pulling him toward the deepest part of that underground staircase.
"This is exactly what I felt when I approached that city where there was a dimensional portal."