Fernandez sat in the cathedral for a while, waiting for his strength to return. After two sleepless nights and a final showdown with an ancient lich, Fernandez’s condition couldn’t be worse.
“I might die like this.”
-You’ve already died once.
Fernandez fiddled with the incense burner, lost in thought. Should he report this or not? Honestly, retreating to the Inquisition Keep seemed like the smartest move right now.
Since it was confirmed that Merlin Port had been corrupted by the lich, more support was needed…
-“Aaaah!”
-“Help me!!!”
-“Ugh!!! Mom! Mom!!”
“…?”
What’s all this commotion…? Fernandez flinched and grabbed his sword.
-Fssst…
“This is not good…”
As soon as he gripped the hilt, the Saintmetal Greatsword shattered into pieces. Blackened iron dust scattered everywhere. It seemed to have corroded while piercing the lich’s heart.
“Ugh, I’m so tired.”
Fernandez slowly got up and walked out of the cathedral. Whatever was happening now… hearing such noises from the central district of the city was anything but normal.
-Squeak…
As soon as he opened the door, a walker lunged at his face.
“Tch, damn it!”
-Crash!
Fernandez quickly threw a short punch, hitting the walker between the eyes. The walker’s neck snapped, and it collapsed.
“What the hell? Are these walkers?”
-Look around.
At Faijashi’s voice, Fernandez cautiously scanned his surroundings. Merlin Port was on fire. Flames engulfed everything, and people ran around in terror. No, they were either terrified or driven mad.
“What the hell, a walker outbreak?!”
Suddenly?!
Walkers, driven by endless hatred and hunger, seek out living people to devour. This plague turns anyone exposed to the infected’s bodily fluids into a walker within minutes to hours.
Blood, filth, saliva—it spreads fast. There’s no cure. The walker plague isn’t just a disease. It’s a forbidden art created by the High Council of Aseas, combining deadly alchemy and dark magic with demonic rituals!
-Squeak.
After closing the door, Fernandez leaned against it, trying to gather his thoughts. Screams continued to echo outside.
“Why now? Merlin Port was supposed to fall 40 years later… And I’ve never seen walkers in this timeline!”
-What could have changed from your past life?
“Too many things to count. The fall of Demdrizard? Maybe that?”
-There’s one more.
Did Demdrizard’s failure in Gloridaine provoke the Bronze Scales? As Fernandez groaned, Faijashi looked out the window and spoke.
-Zephis Sirahdast. That guy might have done something.
“The Phaeirn Royal Family…? That was just a smokescreen, wasn’t it?”
-There’s a high chance someone was hiding in the real royal family. And if Zephis stirred them up, causing this mess now? Totally possible.
“This is kinda making me feel guilty.”
So, Fernandez was partly responsible for this horrific walker outbreak. He approached the lich’s corpse. Ashes and a crimson robe lay scattered on the floor.
Fernandez tore the robe and wrapped it around his fist. There was no cure for the walker plague. While Demonica’s serum granted immunity to most plagues, avoiding infection was still the best option.
“There’s only one guy who could spread the walker plague ‘suddenly’ like this.”
-Yeah. Dale Pertas. That bastard is here himself.
“Lucky me.”
Fernandez stretched lightly and grabbed the doorknob. At that moment, he sensed movement from the window. He cautiously peered out… and locked eyes with a walker.
Its cloudy, maddened pupils stared back.
-Crash!!
“Huh?”
The window shattered as walkers began crawling in. Fernandez smirked and raised his fist.
His soul and body were exhausted, and he didn’t want to move an inch. He felt like collapsing into sleep right then. But Fernandez smashed the walker’s skull as it staggered toward him.
He had never lived a life of complacency.
“Hold the line, you damn bastards!”
“Hold it with what, you idiot?! With your mom?!”
Kirhas watched as the mercenaries cursed and swung axes at the walkers’ heads. The Red Axe Gang. They had rushed into the city as soon as the walker outbreak began.
“Lady, stop standing there and help us, damn it!”
“Sigh…”
Fernandez’s reason for recruiting these guys was beyond her. They were just a rough, barbaric mercenary group with no hint of heresy.
‘Though their mouths are pretty heretical.’
But Kirhas wasn’t a priest burning with faith in Vaitas. Her faith was closer to Fernandez’s.
A man with the savagery of a lion and the wisdom of a phoenix. Truly, he resembled the great hero from her tribe’s myths! Kirhas stabbed a walker between the eyes, thinking of Fernandez.
Right after going out to recruit the mercenaries, the walker outbreak suddenly erupted in the city. And in the chaos of the port city, the mercenaries swarmed in to seize the opportunity… and Kirhas got swept up with them.
In other words, Kirhas was now in the city as a looter!
‘Your Excellency, where are you…’
“Aaaah! Damn it! Stop! Please!!!!”
“Shit! F! Hey! Nathan got bitten!”
“Damn it! Nathan! You idiot! I told you not to grab weapons bare-handed!”
At the warehouse entrance, a mercenary guarding the barricade against the incoming walkers clutched his hand, tears streaming down his face. It wasn’t the pain in his hand but the fear of death.
From the rear, the mercenary captain, Jereil, who had been strategizing with a map, raised his axe.
“Nathan! You damn fool! At least five of our brothers survived because of the shield you carried! Bastard! Any last words?!”
“F… Please, Captain. I’m not ready yet…”
