The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 48

I was the only one to discover the black girl.

No one else present, not even Arit, who had faced her directly, noticed the existence of the black witch atop the tower.

-Kwooooooaaaaa!!!!!

It wasn’t until a deafening scream shook the earth that everyone finally realized something was wrong.

After the terrifying roar subsided, when I looked back up at the tower, the black witch had already vanished.

“What on earth is happening?!”

“I-I don’t know. Did a monster appear…?”

Duke Tereed anxiously questioned the nearby servants, but they were just trembling in fear, clueless.

“It seems the sound came from the front of the procession. I’ll go check it out!”

“Lanit, wait a moment—”

Ignoring the head of the household, he pushed his way through the crowd.

The sudden appearance of the so-called black witch alongside that horrifying scream sent my heart racing with fear.

Arriving at the front of the procession, as I had expected, it was complete chaos.

Horses reared up in fright, and soldiers were in disarray when suddenly—

Bang!

A zombie came crashing down from the sky right in the middle of the road leading to the southern gate.

“W-What the heck is that?”

The soldiers at the very front of the procession shrieked in terror, trembling as they backed away from the gruesome sight.

-Grroooowwwl…

The hulking zombie, several times the size of an adult male, was barely recognizable as human.

Without its arms and legs entirely covered in bulging, explosive muscles, it would have resembled a pile of rotting meat.

-Siiih… siiih…

The muscle-bound zombie bared its teeth and growled like a rabid dog, fixating its gaze on the people before it.

“Captain! We need orders, quickly…”

The infantry, shaking in fear, pleaded with their commander, spears barely held out before them.

“Goodness… damn it…”

But he was at a loss. Faced with this unknown entity that had suddenly appeared, what orders could he give to his subordinates?

“Step aside.”

A warrior clad in black armor from the House of Larson pushed through the panicking soldiers.

“Heh, looks like we’ve got a fun one here. Until now, we’ve mostly dealt with pathetic weaklings.”

Although not as large as the enormous zombie, by human standards, he stood nearly 2 meters tall, swaggering forward with a massive greatsword drawn from his back.

“Just watch closely, you little kingdom soldiers. This is what fighting in the north looks like.”

He boasted to the soldiers while lifting his sword high with both hands, charging at the zombie.

“Uryaaa!! Accept the blade of Tachart, the strong of the House of Larson!”

Swish-

Crack.

His fierce slash cut into the zombie’s left shoulder.

Only about 10 centimeters into it.

“Uh…?”

He was taken aback when his strike failed to have any effect and tried to pull his sword back.

Crack-

But as the zombie flexed its shoulder, the sword lodged firmly in its muscular mass, not budging an inch.

“W-What’s going on, why is this happening, damn it…!”

As he twisted and struggled to pull the sword free, that ugly sight was met with—

-…

The muscle zombie merely watched him.

After observing Tachart for a few seconds, the zombie slowly raised its right arm and swiftly grabbed his head, helmet and all.

-Grrr…

“L-Let go… Aaaaaah!!!”

As he flailed, desperately trying to pry the zombie’s hand off his head, he suddenly let out a scream of agony.

Crack, crunch, squish!

His skull crumpled like a crushed soda can in the grip of the muscle zombie.

The muscle zombie tossed aside the now lifeless body of the warrior as if it had lost interest.

Whoosh-

Bang! Crunch!

The body flew at high speed, crashing into the mana barrier set up along the roadside, creating a dreadful explosion of sound.

Break!

Crash!

The barrier shattered completely, and the body slammed into a building wall by the road.

“Crazy…!”

I let out an expletive without realizing it as I watched the whole ordeal unfold.

There’s a limit to how monstrous a mutant zombie can be; that’s a creature worthy of showing up in a bio-hazard scenario!

‘System Eye!’

[〓§■ Mutant Zombie][Status: Alive]

[HP: 4175/4200] [MP: -/-]

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

[Mana Amount: – ] [Mana Manipulation: – ]

[Intelligence: – ] [Skill: – ]

[Traits]

[Resilient Body (Ver.Z): A modified version of the skill possessed in life. Inherited traits of a martial artist, possessing an above-average robust body. / Cannot level up]

[Ⅹ≪’s Grace: A conglomeration of zombies born from the mixing of dozens of zombie entities through dark magic. A great and unique existence, bestowed with the grace of Θ∝]

…Wow.

I’m losing my mind here. Is this some sort of urban legend?

Important parts of the font are all garbled, leaving me mostly clueless about what it says, but one thing is clear.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Oh no, it’s coming! It’s charging this way!”

That’s our cue to run.

We turned on our heels and dashed away, even more urgently than before.

With the crowd already mostly scattered, there was no need to push through people.

“Young Lady!”

“Lanit! What’s going on?”

“We need to run, now!”

“What in the world is happening?!”

“Lord, right ahead—”

I tried to explain the situation quickly and get the House of Herta’s people to evacuate, but—

-Grrr…

“Look, over there, at that building wall!”

A maid pointed in terror towards a third-floor window of some building.

The moment I confirmed the direction she was pointing, I realized it was already too late to escape.

Three zombies with hunched backs and abnormally long arms and legs were clawing at the wall.

[〓§■ Zombie][Status: Alive]

[HP: 1600/1600] [MP: -/-]

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

[Mana Amount: – ] [Mana Manipulation: – ]

[Intelligence: – ] [Skill: – ]

[Traits]

[Sharp Senses (Ver.Z): A modified version of the skill possessed in life. This skill, previously affecting all targets, is now limited to living beings, but the range has dramatically increased to a radius of 1 km, ensuring no prey escapes. / Cannot level up]

[Nimble Body (Ver.Z): A modified version of the skill possessed in life. Inherited traits of a thief, possessing an above-average agile body. / Cannot level up]

[Ⅹ≪’s Grace: A conglomeration of zombies born from the mixing of dozens of zombie entities through dark magic…]

Got it, whatever grace that is, it means they’re incredibly fast. I won’t be able to catch them even with Haste activated.

“Damn it…”

What the hell is this? We’re still on chapter one.

If they’re unleashing such monsters this early, what do they plan to do with the story going forward?

Are we going to see cosmic zombies or something later on?

“Servants! Reorganize your formation now!”

The servants quickly followed the lord’s orders, rearranging into a circular formation and readying their weapons.

I momentarily set aside my complaints and held Esmela’s hand, hiding her behind me.

Looking around, I noticed not just the survivors but even soldiers were in a panic, either rushing forward or fleeing backward, abandoning their posts.

“Anyone able to cast Haste, do it now! Their speed is beyond imagination…!”

Just as he was trying to warn the servants while keeping his eyes fixed on the special zombie—

Shwoosh!

“!”

Before I could react, the beasts had jumped from the wall right in front of me.

“Ugh!”

I barely managed to react to their ridiculous speed, swinging my sword at one of them, but—

Whoosh-

It easily dodged, mockingly grinning and sticking out a long, snake-like tongue.

“What the—! Haste!”

In a panic, I squeezed mana from my heart, casting the acceleration spell over my body and charged at the beast again.

Swoosh- Whack-

But no matter how I swung my sword, it never made contact.

The zombie before me simply leapt around, taunting me with its agility.

“Ha, huff…”

I ultimately had to stop my pursuit and face it instead.

Damn it, is there really no way? Looking at my durability stat, I figured I only needed to land one hit.

I glanced sideways at the other servants.

They too were struggling, desperately swinging their Flame of the Sword and daggers against three more zombies yet failing to land even a single hit.

“Lord!”

Someone called to the lord in distress.

“Stay in formation! We can’t rush into unknown enemies recklessly!”

But he had no real solutions, only reinforcing the need to hold their ground.

As this pointless back-and-forth continued…

Stiff.

Suddenly, it was as if the strings holding the puppets had snapped, and all four zombies simultaneously froze.

“What?”

Confused, everyone held their weapons and watched the zombies’ behavior.

The creatures stared blankly into space, appearing to have received some divine signal, with their mouths agape.

Then, a moment later.

-Kigik.

Once they regained their wits, they all lowered their bodies, poised like hunters stalking their prey.

Only after I noticed where their attention was directed did the meaning of their actions dawn on me…!

“Protect the Young Lady!”

Their speed was like lightning.

Before I could even shout, they sprang into action, diving straight for Esmela.

I swung my sword frantically at the spot they had just occupied, but by that point—

Fwaaaash!

They had already grabbed Esmela by the shoulders and leaped back up the side of the building, scaling the high wall.

“Esmelaaa!!!”