Dawn.
I woke up from a call by Dearmudin, who had just returned from the abandoned cathedral, and hurriedly went down to the reception room.
“The abandoned cathedral has fallen.”
Dearmudin was covered in blood, but fortunately, it wasn’t his own. It seemed to be the blood of others from the battle.
“And Cromwell… seems to have regained some level of intelligence.”
“…!”
Dearmudin explained in detail what had happened at the abandoned cathedral to my surprise.
After hearing the whole story, I leaned my chin on my hand and fell into thought.
‘Let’s organize the situation.’
The forward base, which served as a buffer within the dungeon, had fallen.
All the monsters that had filled Zone 10 had become zombies and were pouring out all at once for this defense battle.
The legion commander leading those zombies, Cromwell, had regained some intelligence, though she seemed quite mad.
It looked like she could command the zombie monsters like her limbs.
‘This is going to be a headache…’
If it were just a large number of zombies, it would be tiring but manageable without significant damage by leading them around skillfully.
However, with Cromwell having regained her intelligence and control, it was clear that there would be unpredictable variables.
‘If only she were the usual Cromwell.’
Currently, it’s hard to predict Cromwell’s thinking patterns. Based on Dearmudin’s report, she seemed to be completely deranged.
‘We have finished preparing tactics to deal with a basic zombie monster army…’
But how will the zombie army led by Cromwell actually move?
We have no information and can’t even guess. This is the troubling part.
At that moment.
“Your Highness, reporting!”
A soldier burst into the reception room, panting. Everyone had been working hard since dawn.
“What is it?”
“A monster army has emerged from the Black Lake!”
Everyone in the room flinched, and Dearmudin bit his lip quietly.
I raised one corner of my mouth and gritted my teeth.
“They’ve come out already…?”
“They’re crawling out endlessly! And just as Your Highness anticipated, they are monsters in a state no different from corpses… Strangely enough, they are moving in orderly rows!”
After hearing the rest of the soldier’s report, I shouted.
“Prepare the airship La Mancha!”
When dealing with zombies, the safest and most powerful force is?
No doubt, the air force.
From the safety of the sky, beyond the reach of zombies’ jaws or arms, we can crush them with overwhelming firepower!
“Let’s break their offensive.”
And also check their current state…!
***
As Stage 45 approached, the airship La Mancha had been on standby, fully maintained.
It was the only air force our World Guardian Front had, so this was a given.
‘The exhaustion from previous battles is hitting home.’
The once spacious hangar that housed more than ten airships was now empty, and watching La Mancha slowly move out alone felt strange.
Battling the King of Flies and the Black Dragon had decimated dozens of our strongest airships.
The city walls fell twice. Countless equipment and artifacts were destroyed.
And tens of thousands of people…
So many lives that tried to protect the front lines vanished.
‘At least we managed to recover the bodies of the fallen.’
We had collected all 30,000 troops wiped out by Night Bringer. It was a relief we managed that before the zombies arrived. They are now all laid to rest in the cemetery.
Returning to the point, the damage we sustained from the last two boss stages was too great, and recovery is still far off.
The walls, equipment, artifacts, and troops are all damaged.
This is the difficulty of this battle.
Cromwell and her demon guardian legion are objectively weaker than the King of Flies or Night Bringer.
But our World Guardian Front is also in a far worse state than back then.
With damage accumulated from repeated battles, how can we endure the remaining stages with minimal damage and preserve our strength for the final stage…
This is the key, but with all the monsters suddenly turned into zombies and Cromwell resurrected, it’s hard to gauge her state.
‘It’s troubling…’
The King of Flies and Night Bringer were unprecedented enemies that shattered our game experience.
The current zombie-Cromwell is similar in some ways. It’s hard to gauge her exact combat power.
“Departure preparations are complete, Your Highness!”
Air Force Commander McMillan shouted. Nodding, I boarded La Mancha.
Since it was dawn and I had no intention of engaging in a full-fledged battle, I didn’t summon other heroes.
Despite that, some heroes insisted on following me even at dawn, but I left them in the city.
“Kellibey, you need to finish the equipment you’re making quickly. Where do you think you’re going? Lucas, Evangeline, make sure your respective units are ready. Junior, you need to lead the mage unit. Damien, are the sniper training sessions complete?”
There was no need to bring busy people since we wouldn’t be fighting hand-to-hand.
When I pointed out each of them, they pouted but obediently walked out of the airship.
After leaving them all in the city, I took only Dearmudin and launched La Mancha.
Whoosh-!
The magic engine roared to life, and the airship floated up, soon shooting southward.
The heroes left in the hangar looked up worriedly at the departing airship.
I clicked my tongue. I’ll be back soon, so just do your jobs!
***
Inside La Mancha, flying toward the Black Lake.
“This is strictly a reconnaissance mission. Though we’ll drop some bombs since we’re loaded with gunpowder.”
“…”
Dearmudin, sitting in front of me and staring out the window, remained silent with a heavy expression.
I asked, concerned.
“Are you alright, Dearmudin? You must be exhausted from the previous operation. I should have let you rest more…”
“No, my body is fine.”
Dearmudin chuckled wryly and sighed.
“It’s just that the human heart is too fickle.”
“Fickle?”
“The demon survivors who perished in the abandoned cathedral. They would have been our enemies anyway, right?”
I nodded. Dearmudin exhaled deeply.
“They were invaders. We briefly formed a temporary alliance out of necessity. I know that well. But still…”
“You felt uneasy.”
“…Yes.”
Dearmudin looked at the bloodstains on his robe.
“Just because we spent a few days together, I felt empathy for their deaths… and pain for not being able to save them. Even though they were monsters.”
“…”
Silent, I shrugged and said.
“Isn’t that just human nature?”
“Human nature… Haha. Human nature, huh.”
Dearmudin clicked his tongue and fell into thought. It was a constant dilemma for me too.
What defines a person from a monster?
What is the line that separates humans from monsters?
‘Even though we are on the same front now, humans have always fought wars against other species.’
Elves, dwarves, beastmen, merfolk… and many other races besides the four main species.
Back then, other species were monsters to humans. Even if they could communicate, they killed and hated each other madly.
Humans also fought wars among themselves. Not long ago, there was a war between the Everblack Empire and the Bringar Duchy, and further back, a war between the Everblack Empire and the Camilla Kingdom.
At that time, could they see the people across the border as the same humans?
No.
They were monsters to be stabbed to death.
‘The ending I want to reach is…’
Watching Dearmudin in deep contemplation, I repeated to myself.
‘The conclusion I want to reach after this 3-year journey is…’
At that moment.
“Your Highness, we can see the Black Lake!”
McMillan shouted from near the cockpit.
“And… we can see the procession of monsters below! It’s an enormous number!”
“…!”
Dearmudin and I rose from our seats and went to McMillan. McMillan gestured toward the magic panels displayed around the cockpit.
“Look!”
In the center of the wide view from the sky was a massive Black Lake.
And from the lake entrance, an endless procession of zombie monsters was continuously emerging.
The reconnaissance team first reported the monsters’ emergence hours ago, yet they have been coming out continuously since then.
‘How many monsters were stationed in Zone 10?’
The number was far greater than I had estimated.
I checked the stage info screen to see if it would show the exact number, but there was no proper display. Just a series of question marks.
Aider is preparing for the final stage. We shouldn’t expect much help from the system anymore.
“However, these monsters are slow.”
“Indeed.”
As McMillan said, they were slow.
The monsters emerging from the lake entrance moved sluggishly. It took hours for them to advance out of the lake, partly due to this slow speed.
We could observe them closely while circling slowly in the air.
I checked the zombie-fied monsters.
‘What’s this, Fire Giants? These are giant monster armies like Frost Giants. They’ve become zombies too?’
‘Those are Hellhounds… a Cerberus-led army. Even Cerberus and his direct subordinate Orthrus are here. They turned into zombies too.’
‘Crazy, there’s a tentacle snail army too. How did they get bitten and zombified? As long as there’s some flesh to bite, they can turn into zombies?’
In addition, various named monster armies were all zombified, forming a long procession and slowly advancing north.
It’s truly an unprecedented and unprecedented monster coalition.
Though they are all zombies.
‘The King of Flies and Night Bringer were all beyond the norm…’
I broke into a cold sweat.
‘These guys also seem beyond
the norm…’
Thud… Thud… Thud…
Rotten and crushed, but never stopping, the zombie monster army advanced northward.
In this already insane defense game, another insane crisis had arrived.
‘If these guys came before the King of Flies or Night Bringer, it would have been manageable…’
Once again, the World Guardian Front was extremely exhausted from previous battles.
Even just this huge number of zombies pushing in is dangerous.
“Let’s get closer for a better look. Lower the altitude.”
I ordered McMillan.
“While we’re getting closer, let’s drop some presents… Did we bring enough gunpowder?”
McMillan grinned and nodded.
“Of course, Your Highness!”
Buzzing!
La Mancha lowered its altitude and approached the zombie horde.
At the same time, the bottom of the airship opened, revealing dozens of machine guns and bombs ready to be dropped for bombing.
“We’ll conduct the first bombing, followed by the second, and then switch to strafing with the machine guns. Hold tight!”
From high in the sky, La Mancha quickly descended towards the ground, starting carpet bombing.
The zombies marching in a line were easy targets. La Mancha followed them straight and dropped bombs.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom…!
The bombs fell from the airship, causing massive explosions, flames, and smoke among the zombies.
“Whew!”
I whistled unintentionally.
It felt good. Long live the air force!
“Proceeding with the second bombing and then transitioning to strafing with machine guns, lowering altitude!”
Listening to McMillan’s report and nodding, I looked down at the ground.
“…?”
And noticed something strange.
Not only the zombies caught in the blast but even those far from the explosion site.
The zombies, who had been staring blankly ahead just moments ago…
Were now all looking up at the sky, directly at us.
The eerie sensation of thousands and tens of thousands of pairs of eyes, glowing with a sinister green light, all focused on ‘me’ was anything but pleasant.
“…This doesn’t feel right.”
And from my three years of experience.
Bad premonitions always come true.
I shouted urgently.
“Cancel the second bombing! Raise the altitude!”
“What?!”
“No more talking, up! Now-!”
–TL Notes–
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/MattReading
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt