The Sequel to the Romance Fantasy Was a Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter 77

The appearance of the Wood Wolf is not much different from a regular wolf.

The only visible difference is that its silver fur is mixed with a green hue.

It’s a camouflage color to blend into the forest environment.

-Grrr, grr…

The Wood Wolf closest to Lanit turned its body completely towards the two of them.

Lowering its posture and baring its teeth in an intimidating growl, it signaled that the hunting target had switched from that woman to them.

A brief standoff before the clash.

Lanit quickly activated his abilities to assess the monster’s status.

‘System Eye.’

[Wood Wolf][Status: Zombie]

[HP: 472/600] [MP: -/-]

[Strength: C/(C-)] [Agility: B-/(C+)] [Durability: C]

[Mana Amount: -] [Mana Manipulation: -]

[Intelligence: -] [Skill: -]

[Entity Description]

[A wolf-type monster living in the forest that has become a zombie. It has lost most of its biological characteristics from its previous life after zombification. The only two things still remaining are its pack hunting behavior and its extremely developed sense of smell. Even in the forest where visibility is severely limited, their keen noses can’t miss the scent of humans.]

[Traits]

[Blood Chase – It tracks the smell of targets it recognizes as prey. Since it has become a zombie, it has only come to prey on humans, so naturally, its sense of smell specializes in human scents, particularly the scent of blood.]

[Group Hunt – When acting as a group, it receives additional buffs to strength and agility.]

‘Lanit thought the system’s explanations aligned well with what he remembered about Wood Wolves. Stat-wise, each individual seemed slightly weaker than an ordinary C-rank monster. Even novice hunters with 1-2 years of experience could easily hunt them. But…’

One, two, three, four…

Lanit counted fourteen Wood Wolves right in front of him.

‘However, a complete colony of Wood Wolves with a leader is B-rank. Likewise, it’s standard for guilds to suggest a party of three or more seasoned adventurers at least B-rank to deal with them.’

Of course, after having constantly trained and faced practical battles since quitting his hunter job, it would be an easy task for Lanit to deal with them now.

Even if various flame spells, including the Flame of Herta, were sealed off due to being surrounded by the forest.

But what he worried about now was…

“Young Lady.”

While keeping his eyes on the wolves, Lanit called out to Esmela behind him in a low voice.

“Yes.”

Her response revealed clear signs of tension.

Unlike Lanit, who had acted as a hunter, Esmela had never engaged directly in combat against monsters.

Although she had participated in monster subjugation several times, it was mainly as a rear support, using the Flame of Herta.

Moreover, after three years of only facing humanoid zombies, the fact that she must now face the unknown existence of monster zombies with her sword made her feel a bit pressured.

“Are you feeling tense?”

Noticing Esmela’s nerves, Lanit asked in a deliberately light tone to ease her.

“…You’re noisy.”

“You just need to respond calmly. Stay calm.”

Lanit said this, took a short breath, and started to explain the operation to Esmela in a serious tone.

“We don’t have time, so let’s make it brief. The Flame of Herta cannot be used. Our primary objective is to ensure the safety of the first rescue target, and the secondary is to eliminate the Wood Wolves. While I advance up front, you’ll deal with any Wood Wolves that come at you from the sides or behind. Aim for their weakness, assuming it’s their heads, but rather than striking the head of a quadruped monster directly, first target its abdomen or legs to incapacitate it before safely removing its head. And most importantly, never get bitten.”

“Understood.”

Seemingly sensing something from Lanit’s quick grasp of the situation and swift planning, this time Esmela replied without a hint of anxiety.

“Then… let’s begin!”

At Lanit’s signal, the two charged toward the pack of Wood Wolves like arrows.

-Graaah!!

Simultaneously, the pack of Wood Wolves lunged toward Lanit as well.

The first Wood Wolf jumped at Lanit, its mouth gaping wide, trying to bite into his neck, but—

Swish-

Lanit was quicker to draw a long dagger, longer than his palm, from the holster on his left hip.

Thud.

With a dull thud, as the blade embedded itself in the wolf’s forehead, the Wood Wolf fell limply to the ground, dead.

Quickly pulling out his dagger, Lanit re-assumed his stance.

-Grrr!

-Kgrr.

-Kraah!

Immediately after, three Wood Wolves charged at him simultaneously.

Thud!

The response Lanit chose was a rough but effective kick.

He forcefully kicked the abdomen of the wolf leading the charge, sending it tumbling back out of the front line.

Thud, whoosh.

The two who had been slightly behind quickly inserted their daggers into the wolf’s forehead without a miscalculation and withdrew them rapidly.

-Krrk. Graaah!

The wolf that had been kicked, nursing its grudge, charged at Lanit with renewed vigor.

“Enchant Lightning.”

As Lanit swiftly chanted the spell, a crackling sound erupted from the dagger in his left hand as flashes of light began to spark.

Meanwhile, the wolf lunged for Lanit’s neck, but Lanit was quicker to evade—

Whoosh-!

Crackle-

-Krrggh!

Immediately, Lanit stabbed the enchanted dagger into the wolf’s neck.

Electrified by the lightning magic coursing through the blade, it writhed and let out an eerie howl.

Thud!

Lanit didn’t even retrieve the dagger, but instead kicked the electrified Wood Wolf toward the center of the remaining waiting wolves.

“Young Lady!”

“Pour, Rain, Downward!”

Esmela chanted a mid-tier Water Magic that showered down rain in a designated area.

As the electrified wolf hurtled toward them, the remaining Wood Wolves looked on in confusion as rain poured down onto them,

Crackle, zap, sizzle!

The wet bodies of the Wood Wolves became conductors, and electricity spread rapidly around.

Just like the previous ones, seven Wood Wolves became electrified, rolling their eyes back in madness while shaking uncontrollably.

The pungent smell of their burning flesh mixed with the moisture of the rain, creating a peculiar scent that lingered nearby.

Among the sprawled-out thirteen Wood Wolves, only one remained far off in the distance.

Normally, a monster would choose to flee in this situation, but…

-Graaah!!!

A Wood Wolf, having lost its rationality due to zombification, had barely any intelligence left to make such a judgment.

Phew-

The dagger thrown by Esmela struck the last remaining Wood Wolf in the forehead, bringing the battle to an end.

“Good work, Young Lady.”

“…I feel like I barely did anything this time. What was the grand operation you explained before the battle?”

“Haha, it doesn’t hurt to be careful, right?”

Despite the brief, intense battle, the two conversed nonchalantly, showing no sign of distress.

“Um, excuse me…”

The stablehand girl, who had been watching them, gathered her courage after a while and called out to them.

“Oh! What am I doing… Stay right there; I’ll come to you.”

Lanit sidestepped the still-electrified bodies and approached her.

“Are you okay? Any bites?”

“Yes, um… I tripped and got scraped, but I wasn’t bitten.”

The stablehand responded with a trembling voice, still not fully recovered from the shock.

Lanit smiled to reassure her while quickly checking for any bite marks on her body.

“Can you stand up? Here…”

Having confirmed her words were true, Lanit extended his hand to help her up.

“What were you doing alone in this forest? Didn’t you know there were monsters living here? If we hadn’t shown up, you would have been killed by them, wouldn’t you?”

Esmela, following Lanit, interrogated the girl in an aggressive tone.

“Um, well…”

“Now, Young Lady, that’s not how you should approach her.”

Esmela, about to retort, fell silent with an unsatisfied look when she saw the small girl’s frightened face.

“Are there other monsters around aside from the Wood Wolves?”

The girl shook her head side to side, indicating no.

“Then we’re safe now. It seems there are no other monsters nearby as well. Now, let’s leave this place. We have our camp set up at the entrance, so let’s head there first.”

Tap tap.

As the sun completely set, night descended upon the great forest.

The three returned to the entrance and gathered around the bonfire.

“Tweet.”

Piyo, waiting on Lanit’s shoulder, observed the unfamiliar girl that Lanit and Esmela brought along.

“…”

Lanit examined the stablehand girl, who sat cross-legged by the bonfire, staring blankly into the flames.

Dressed as a stablehand, she had short brown hair and a somewhat androgynous appearance with faint freckles on her cheeks.

No matter how much one looked, she didn’t seem to be older than 15.

Moreover, her small stature, not surpassing 160 cm, made her look more like an apprentice boy just starting in stable work than a woman.

“Are you feeling calmer now?”

“…Yes.”

“That’s a relief. If so, may I ask you to introduce yourself?”

“…Kelya. My name is Kelya. I work as a stablehand in Pedina.”

Pedina.

As the name of the city they had set as their destination came from the girl’s mouth, the two and one bird exchanged meaningful glances.