A single nd rover driving through Yokohama’s desote national roads soon attracted zombies. However, it was no longer the same nd rover Eishi drove to the vil before, but a specially modified nd rover resting on his vil’s underground garage.
There are steel ptes on all sides. Its wheels and springs are strong enough to run through zombies without a problem. The windows are made with grenade-proof gss.
Every time he ran through a zombie, the car shook a bit. Mahiru gradually adapted to the bloody sight outside. The grip on her metallic baseball bat became tighter.
Their first stop was none other than Toyogasaki High.
Seeing the familiar sight turned into a hellhole felt surreal to the two of them.
“Eishi-kun. The gate is open.”
He looked at the school’s wide-open gate, and then to the zombies rushing behind them. He decisively drove the car inside.
“Wait for a while.”“...Take care.”
She chose not to doubt Eishi’s skills, instead offering support.
Eishi hopped off the vehicle.
Growl-!
The zombies’ guttural sounds were more pronounced outside.
‘Close combat…’
The dark crystal longsword appeared in his right hand. His other hand held the M9A3. Every step on the cement pathway filled him with tension—and slight anticipation.
Once he got out of the gate, he was greeted with a dozen zombies sprinting towards him.
‘Time to test it out.’
The mental image of a paper unfolding emerged. This time, the world did not turn completely still. The zombies moved at a much slower pace, around half of their previous movement speed.
Stacked with a “debuff”, Eishi’s sixteen times agility was a wolf amidst the sheep.
Psshk-!
The longsword beheaded a zombie’s head in one stroke. It felt like cutting air, unlike the anticipated flesh-like sensation.
His arms moved like the blur. Zombie heads flew high in the sky with each swing. Sometimes, he managed to kill two to three at once.
By the time twelve seconds passed, the world returned to normal. The growling was reduced by half. Headless zombies fell down to the ground successively.
‘Twelve seconds is the equivalent of a three-second time stop.’
Eishi slowed down time once more. He completely cleared up the dozens or so of zombie hordes outside. Be it piercing them straight to their foreheads or cutting off their necks, it posed zero trouble to the longsword.
Dark red blood dripped on the sword’s crystalline surface. He shook them off with one swing.
‘I don’t need to clean it up. Good.’
He walked back to the parked nd rover. After three knocks, Mahiru opened the driver seat’s door.
“It’s done?”
“Done.”
She heaved a sigh of relief.
“Let’s move out. We need to find a teacher of mine.”
“Okay.”
Eishi pced the nd rover inside his massive spatial backpack. Mahiru saw this and showed no surprise. He already told the three about his spatial backpack power.
Growl-!
Several zombies went out from within the school building. They were attracted by the zombie horde outside. Most of them wore formal uniforms, with some wearing school uniforms. These poor students happened to come across the zombie apocalypse while they were taking care of their papers.
Pssh-!
…
Eishi shot them dead until only two remained. Mahiru knew what he wanted to do. She slowly closed the distance between her and the zombie.
When it lunged its mouth towards her…
Bam-!
…the female zombie was sent flying with her baseball bat. The force behind it broke the zombie’s neck, bending at an unnatural L-shape. Her bloodied head kept leaking out dark red blood on the concrete floor. Her body twitched on the ground as it tried to stand up.
“Bash their skulls until they don’t move.”
She nodded and said nothing else.
Bam-!
Bam-!
The second male student zombie received greater force. The baseball bat bashed the left part of his skull. Red and white matter flowed from his head as it dropped dead. The same happened to the third janitor zombie. Finally, she finished off the first female zombie by bashing the top part of her skull.
The strong scent of blood and brain matter made her face turn pale. She vomited once more. Eishi came beside her and patted her back. The strong fishy smell made him frown, but nothing else. His mental state was stronger than he expected. Killing dozens of zombies did not push him to a weak state.
He handed Mahiru a bottle of water, to which the tter used to gargle and drink. Her face regained a bit of a healthy hue.
“I will leave behind a few zombies every now and then.”
“Mhm. Leave them to me.”
Seeing her gradually adapt to it, Eishi felt somewhat relieved.
‘She’s really like me…’
Her independence was honed through harsh childhood. Killing zombies should have been too much for normal girls, but Mahiru adapted fast enough.
‘I hope Hiratsuka-sensei is fine…’
*****
“We’re out of food. Calling the emergency line is useless, too…”
“Great. Can you tell us something we don’t know yet?”
“Tanaka-sensei! I didn’t know you were this rude.”
“So what if I am? What will you do?!”
The principal’s office was rge enough to house a box-like sofa and the principal’s wooden desk. Several teachers, seeing the abnormal sight of people attacking people, escaped to this room.
A total of six people were present. The burly PE Teacher with a crew cut, Tanaka-san, yelled at the short English Teacher. The women outnumbered men inside the room in four-to-two.
Soon, two other female teachers supported the English Teacher. Their argument grew worse. Two days of no food and confinement grated their mental states. If it wasn’t for the restroom inside, it would have been worse.
“Hush! Do you want to attract them here?”
Hearing Shizuka’s stern warning, everyone fell silent. She was the uniteral leader for a good reason:
She’s way too strong.
Two days ago, she suffered from a severe fever. Once it subsided, her body became stronger. She also awakened her “superpower”. Unfortunately, the ck of food left her in a weakened state. While she could still overpower everyone inside this room, she didn’t possess the heaven-defying physique of someone who stepped into the First Rank.
“That’s right. Hiratsuka-sensei! Can’t you go to the faculty room? I brought some snacks with me.”
“Me too…”
The seemingly unreliable PE Teacher went against everyone else. The typical troupe of a ‘brute’ did not apply in real life. There are still PE Teachers who acted the exact opposite than the doujinshis. Tanaka-san was beloved by the students due to this character.
“You… dumb fucks!”
“W-what?!”
Hearing him swear in English made the English Teacher freeze.
“Nevermind these stupid people. The faculty is overrun by those monsters. Why don’t we escape instead? You can’t? Then don’t ask Hiratsuka-sensei to throw her life away.”
His argument made everyone fall silent.
“...I’ll do it. The faculty room.”
Shizuka’s sudden words sparked a bright smile to everyone, save for the PE Teacher. He sighed helplessly.
“Let me come with you, Hiratsuka-sensei.”
“Tanaka-san… alright.”
The pn was simple. Tanaka-san will kite the zombies outside the faculty. Shizuka will come in, finish the remaining ones, take the snacks, and regroup in the principal’s room on the second floor.
With that, the two left the safe zone…
*****
“E-eishi-kun. These colors…”
“That signifies danger.”
The [Lucky Eyes] bond needed to be ‘activated’ for it to be used. It consumes a small amount of mental energy—spirit. Eishi did not use it on the road. He didn’t want to be distracted by matters other than saving Shizuka.
Under its effect, several light spots appeared on the school building. Two of them shone in green, with one being more vibrant than the other. There is also a light orange light. It moved on the second floor every now and then.
‘Green for opportunity, orange for danger? Then there should be red and bck…’
He mentally noted them before stepping inside the school building. The shoe lockers were stained in dark red blood. Its color and reduced stench indicated it has been more than a day since it was there.
He peeked his head along the hallways and saw zombies loitering the hallways. This left him with two options:
One, to stealthily search for Shizuka.
Two, to lure out the zombies outside.
Aside from the overpowered longsword, he possessed heavy ammunition. He is confident he can shred these ordinary zombies with high-caliber rifles.
‘She hasn’t replied to my messages at all…’
In the end, Eishi decided for the first one. His eyes scanned the surroundings.
‘The best spot for survival would be… the principal’s room. It has locks. Then the janitor’s room, and then the Physical Education storage at the gym.’
“Keep your eyes peeled. Tell me if we startled a zombie.”
“Um.”
Tap.
Tap.
The duo’s presence alerted the zombies near the stairwell.
Sou-!
Sou-!
Using the longsword felt like cutting air. Not an ounce of resistance was felt. Eishi’s proficiency in beheading and splitting apart heads increased.
Thud-!
The moment their heads fell, the rest of the zombies in the hallway looked in their direction. The school’s closure reduced them to a dozen at best.
Pssh-!
Psssh-!
Eishi aimed at the zombies’ head using his M9A3. This act reduced their numbers to a meager four.
Bam-!
Sptter-!
Mahiru’s newfound strength easily dealt with them. Though her shoulders could not stop shaking and her face turned pale, she no longer vomited. She managed to calm herself down after a few deep breaths.
Eishi stored the silenced pistol back to the spatial backpack. The silencer reduced gunshot noise, but not completely. While it wouldn’t be loud enough to spread to the entire building, the second floor is not out of option.
“Step back.”
Mahiru followed his direction. The two stepped back a dozen meters from the stairwell.
He opened the [Lucky Eyes] buff again. He saw the light orange orb sprinting towards the first floor stairwell.
Thud-!
Thud-!
An extremely fast zombie crashed on the stairwell’s wall twice. He recovered in an instant. The crazed running of the man wearing a bloodied suit looked intimidating. His speed exceeded that of ordinary zombies’. Not even Usain Bolt might be able to outpace him.
Click.
In an instant, time stopped. Mahiru’s reaction was frozen, and so was the zombie’s. Only he can move in this greyed-out world.
Eishi did not waste any time. He sprinted straight to the frozen zombie. Like a cleaver on a chopping board, his dark longsword severed the zombie’s head in one go.
‘Mutated zombie.’
Thinking about its abnormal speed, Eishi recalled a setting. In apocalyptic light novels, there won’t be just zombies. There will also be evolved zombies possessing superpowers. They will contend against humanity’s superpower users.
Knowing the true nature of the ‘blood rain’ and ‘endless snow’, he felt it wasn’t impossible. He felt uncertain about its prowess and sshed at its head several more times.
Click.
The three-second time stop ended. The headless body crashed two meters away from Mahiru’s feet. His head, which was sliced into pieces, spttered all over the floor.
Eishi eyed the zombie, ready to activate time stop once again. After seeing it remain motionless for five seconds, he rexed his vigince.
“He should be an evolved zombie.”
“Evolved zombie..?”
“Enhanced physical body… and they might also have superpowers.”
His sight suddenly caught a dimly shining red crystal amidst the brain matter. Eishi ignored its stench and brought it to his grasp.
[Mutated Zombie Core (First Grade)]
Details: The crystallization of a mutated zombie’s life, essence, and genetic power. Absorbing it can advance one’s own Mutant Core.
The description confirmed Eishi’s guess.
‘Mutant Core… So that’s the milky white core?’
He pced it inside the spatial backpack.
“Let’s go. I’ll let you deal with more zombies…”
*****
A monster.
That was what Shizuka faced. The pn was simple. They set their sights on the janitor’s room in search of food, and then the school cafeteria. The tter was empty due to the ck of students. There are no meat or vegetables present now, only bread and bottled water. Even then, it would be more than enough for them.
Carrying a golf club and a broken off wooden chair leg, the two made their way to the first floor. The fourth floor was empty. The third floor had a few zombies, though they managed to sneak past them.
The second floor was where the disaster came. Across the faculty room’s hallway was the Principal. His middle-aged, hollowed-out body made him incredibly unathletic.
Yet, when they came across him, his figure bolted in a fsh. Tanaka-san was tackled down in an instant, leaving Shizuka who was still in the third floor stairwell stunned.
His screams only attracted more zombies. The sounds of his flesh being torn, his throat being bitten…
Her mind bnked out.
Shizuka’s body instinctively moved away until she hid in one of the empty cssrooms on the third floor. All of her previous courage dissipated. She struggled to process what kind of monster the Principal was.
It wasn’t even a normal lunge. It was a fucking blur. Like the Fsh speeding through someone in an instant.
Amidst her mental incapacitation, screams came from the fourth floor. The zombie principal followed its prior habits. Shizuka has no energy left to think about its actions—on how it could destroy a locked door instantly. Their two days of survival was nothing but sheer luck.
She resolved herself to die today.
Just then…
Bam-!
The cssroom has two sliding doors. Shizuka locked them both.
She bnkly stared at the opened front door.
‘It’s over…’
“Is anyone here?”
