The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 40

[Name: Birha / Gender: Male / Age: 33 / Occupation: C-Rank Hunter]

[HP: 364/800] [MP: 90/210]

[Status: Severe Bleeding, Zombie Virus Infection]

[Buffs/Debuffs: Strength, Haste]

[Detailed Status]

[Strength: B] [Agility: C] [Durability: B+]

[Mana Amount: D+] [Mana Manipulation: D]

[Intelligence: D] [Skill: C-]

[Special Skills]

[-]

—

Looking at that man’s status again, the eight characters spelling “Zombie Virus Infection” remained unchanged.

“What the hell…!”

I instinctively cursed and sprinted toward the group of survivors.

“Excuse me, coming through!”

I squeezed between the crowd. I could feel the eyes of those who had been waiting around, bored, suddenly lock onto me.

“Hey, you!”

I shouted urgently at the man sitting on the ground with a sword at his side.

“Ugh, what?”

He responded sharply a beat too late after hearing my call.

Upon closer inspection, this man looked worse off than I expected.

The bandages wrapped tightly around his right shoulder were soaked with dark, dried blood, and his complexion was as pale as someone about to pass out.

He wasn’t even wearing the usual leather armor expected of a hunter but ordinary cloth clothing.

“You’re looking a bit off.”

“…What? Huh… what are you talking about?”

Gasping for breath, he struggled to respond, angered by my remark as he staggered to his feet.

“What’s your deal… why are you startin’ something?”

“…You’re a bit dazed right now, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You’ve got a fever, and it must be hard to keep your balance… you’re showing symptoms as if you’ve caught a severe flu.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He paused, glancing around.

The attention of all the surrounding survivors was now directed at the two of us.

I had no choice but to step closer to him.

“Uh, what’s going on? Why are you getting so close?”

He seemed flustered, reaching for the sword at his waist, but I quickly said,

“Calm down. Anything I say from here on out won’t do you any good if the others hear it. Look, I’m unarmed.”

I raised both hands to show I had nothing and cautiously eased closer to him.

“…”

Despite barely being able to stand without wobbling, he still kept his hand on the sword hilt, shooting me a suspicious glare.

Step by step, I slowly approached him until our conversation wouldn’t be heard by anyone else.

“You’ve been bitten. By ‘them’.”

“!”

He flinched violently as if hit and reached for his sword—

“You really shouldn’t.”

Before he could react, I seized his hand holding the sword.

“Gah… what the hell are you…?”

Though he tried to break free, he glared at me while unable to suppress his struggle.

“…”

His consciousness was still intact. He was short of breath because of his injury but seemed able to talk.

I recalled the process when Gilrot turned into a zombie. That guy struggled for a while, vomited blood, and finally lost consciousness before completely transforming into a zombie.

This man before me didn’t look like he was at that stage yet. Fortunately, it seemed he had a bit of time left before he would turn.

“What the hell do you want?!”

“Don’t shout. It won’t do you any good for everyone around us to know you’ve already been bitten.”

Calmly, I tried to reason with him while swiftly analyzing the current situation in my head.

We were in a group of over a hundred survivors.

And it was clear the man in front of me had been bitten by a zombie.

How he managed to get past the kingdom’s inspection was beyond me, but it was clear that neither the surrounding survivors nor the soldiers managing them knew he was infected.

If all the survivors had relaxed their guard thinking they escaped the zombies outside the palace, and this guy suddenly turned into a zombie and started biting people…

And if that infection spread among the survivors, while the kingdom’s soldiers left in the palace failed to contain it…

I can’t let that happen.

“Let me go, you punk… Are you a doctor? Who do you think you are, spouting nonsense about being bitten? I’m NOT bitten! I’m NOT!”

If I had more time, I might have sought other methods. After all, according to him, I’m just an outsider here with no authority.

Fortunately, I was in casual wear given by the palace, but…

It would be much cleaner to quietly alert the surrounding soldiers rather than attract attention myself.

But as of now, I have no choice. It’s only a matter of time before he turns into a zombie. Besides, he’s a C-Rank hunter. He’ll likely transform into a far stronger mutant zombie than the others.

So I must isolate him from the others before that. It seems persuasion won’t work, so I’ll have to resort to force if necessary…!

“I’ll warn you one last time. Give up resistance and come along quietly. If you do that, I won’t resort to rough measures.”

“What the hell?!”

*Whoosh!*

He gave up on drawing his sword and swung a punch at me with his injured right arm.

It was a quick and precise jab, but he was way out of my league, and besides, I wasn’t going to let him hit me with a punch from an injured arm—

*Thwack!*

I barely dodged his punch by tilting my head and hit him in the gut.

“Ugh!”

As he staggered from the hit, I grabbed onto his arm tightly.

“I warned you. Now just give up and come along quietly.”

I tossed aside the sword strapped to his waist and prepared to drag him out when—

“Hey! What’s going on here?!”

As the crowd surrounding us parted, two soldiers in silver armor with swords at their waists approached us.

“Violence of any kind is not allowed within the palace! Step away from him immediately!”

One of the soldiers drew his sword and pointed it menacingly at me.

“Understood.”

Following his orders, I released the man and stepped back a few paces.

“Explain. Why did you hit that man?”

“…I think that guy might have been bitten by ‘them’, so I was trying to take him out of the crowd.”

“What?! Is that really the case?!”

*Murmurs*

*What?! He’s been bitten?*


*Isn’t that a huge deal?!*

Panic spread among the survivors. Thankfully, it seemed they weren’t panicking too much, possibly due to the presence of the kingdom’s soldiers.

The other soldier, who had been standing next to the one pointing his sword at me, hurriedly approached the man clutching his stomach.

“Hey, is what he said true?”

*Cough cough.*

“Answer me!”

Oh, wait. The man’s symptoms right now…

*Blergh!*

“!”

He suddenly vomited an abnormal amount of blood and sank to the ground.

*AHHHHH!*

Someone screamed.

Crap, am I too late?!

“Hey! What’s wrong?!”

The soldier speaking to him panicked and moved closer.

“Don’t go near him! He’s already changed!”

I urgently called out to stop him.

“Gah…!”

I needed to get to that man and handle it as quickly as possible before he turned into a zombie…!

With that thought in my head, I was about to rush toward him when—

“Stop!”

“?”

“We’ll handle the situation. So you, stay still and don’t make it worse!”

The soldier who had been pointing his sword at me thrust the blade closer, intimidating me.

“Are you out of your mind? It’s too late for that man! We have to deal with it immediately…”

“That’s for us, the kingdom soldiers, to decide! Outsiders need to stay out of it!”

Crap…!

It seems they mistook me for one of the survivors since I wasn’t in formal attire.

“You can’t handle this! That guy is a hunter! If a strong person turns into a zombie, it’ll be a far stronger mutant zombie!”

“What… zombie? What are you talking about?!”

“Seriously… get out of the way!”

Finally, I gave up on words and charged at the soldiers.

“What the hell are you doing—”

Before he could even draw his sword, I easily knocked him over and rushed toward the zombie-turned man, but—

*AAAAHH!*

“Argh! Aah!”

I was already a step behind.

As I turned my gaze to the two of them, a horrific scene unfolded where the zombie was viciously tearing into the fallen soldier’s face.

“Damn it! Seriously?!”

I grabbed the soldier’s sword lying on the ground and swung it directly at the zombie’s neck.

*SWISH!*

*Thud, thud…*

The zombie’s body fell limply onto the soldier it had attacked, its head severed.

*Grrk, grrrk.*

*Thump!*

I plunged the sword into the still thrashing creature’s skull to finish it off and locked eyes with the fallen soldier.

“Hik, hick.”

He was so paralyzed with fear that it seemed he couldn’t even feel the pain of his own flesh being torn from his face—just trembling in terror.

*AHH!*


*They’re coming! They’re coming!*

Snapping back to reality and looking around, chaos had erupted and survivors were screaming and scattering in all directions.

“What’s all the commotion?!”

*Pattering.*

In the distance, I could hear a lot of footsteps and someone shouting. Were the kingdom’s soldiers coming because of the ruckus?

“Haha…”

A laugh escaped me without my noticing.

…Looks like I really messed up this time.

—

“…So?”

Esmela looked down at me with a cold stare from beyond the bars.

Sitting on the ground in the prison, I struggled to find the words and could only attempt to avoid her gaze.

“How am I supposed to process this situation? Lanit.”