The corpses have started fighting my friends! Outside of a game, this scene makes no sense.

But the more often I come to this world, the more I feel nothing is impossible here. Like skeletons flying in the sky, tuna growing legs, pandas staying in the desert, etc. Although I can get used to nearly-extinct dragons, I still can’t stand zombies. I can’t stand the undead, and if they’re rotting corpses, thanks but no thanks.

It’s because their hearts have stopped moving. Just looking at that unhealthy skin color tells me their blood isn’t circulating properly. And yet, in that state, why do they still have lightning speed? And can tell the difference between friend and foe? Even if you want me to believe this is something biology cannot explain, it’s hard for me to believe you now that I’m at this age. Because my mind has stiffened up.

If you tell me these aren’t corpses, but some people infected by a special virus, then maybe you could convince me. But these are corpses, after all, not patients 28 days after being infected[1].

“Josak, they should be dead, right?”

“Mn, they should be. And they should have died at least a year ago, maybe even longer. The fermentation is coming along quite nicely~” “Then why can they still move at a normal speed? H-how are their nerve impulses transmitted!?”

“That I don’t know. The advancement of corpses changes with every day, maybe their functions have developed fairly well? Right, Lord Weller? Ah, the leg broke.”

“I’m not sure, either. After all, the last time I fought these fellas was almost 25 years ago, so they may have evolved a little.”

It sounds like a conversation between IT tech people. On the other hand, so they’ve fought these things before, I knew it.

The hands-on combat with the resurrected group I’ll hand over to those two veterans, and as the combat rookie I have to figure out a way to get out of here. The only exit, the stone door has been smashed to pieces and taken over by the resurrected group with their agile weapons. The enemy density in the room is off the charts, so much so that I can’t tell how many of them are there.

And they won’t die. No matter how those two alleged s.h.i.+n Makoku masters kill them, the carca.s.ses will gather and just stand up again. Since I’m worrying at the side as I watch, I find that the dead people’s weakness isn’t the head, but the legs. Because once they lose their legs, their speed will drop tremendously.

For some reason, I have that feeling after an entire night of playing video games, because by now I’m numb to terror. Even so, I haven’t gotten used to death, it’s just that it’s really hard to feel pity for people who are long dead. Watching them lose their arms and legs, and still try to stand and attack us, I can only describe this as ‘so annoying’, but the scene in front of me now is really comedic. c.r.a.p! Is this the so-called game brain[2]!?

It’s just that Saralegui, who doesn’t live in the era of video games, reacts differently. He’s crouching in a corner, his body curled up as he holds his head.

“Are you okay, Sara?”

“…Mother, she…”

“What are you saying, you want to go back to your mama!?”

“Yels.h.i.+ said, Mother isn’t feeling well… But…”

“What!? So one of those zombies is your mother!? You better point her out quickly then, what if they hit her by accident?”

No matter how you put it, maybe it’s Saralegui who got it wrong in his panic, because corpses can’t have kids. But just the fact that the selfish boy king is actually scared out of his wits, seems to say that he has some psychological trauma about zombies. Like maybe he had a scary encounter as a kid, or was forced to babysit zombies during his summer break.

“Anyway just sit here quietly! At the very least don’t be a burden to Josak and the others!”

I’m not familiar with swordsmans.h.i.+p or horse-riding, but even if I’m an idiot when it comes to fighting, I still picked up some of the most important sword-fighting principles and basic self-defense. For example, leaning on a wall will reduce the risk of being slashed from the back.

Still, even if I won’t get slashed, there’s still the occasional possibility of a weapon piercing through the wall. That’s why, if the wall isn’t thick enough, you have to pay special attention. On this point alone, this wall scores full marks. Its thickness and weight both seem more than sufficient.

“I just hope leaning on it won’t cause the wall drawings to imprint on my clothes… Waa!” The two of us leaning against the wall yell out in unison. Not because we’re attacked from behind, but because the wall has slanted on its own accord.

“…T-the wall, slanted.”

Falling onto my b.u.t.t, I turn around and see that part of the wall is leaning inwards like a rotating door, beyond which is a span of absolute darkness. Goodness, it’s just like a secret mechanism. Perhaps out of shock, Saralegui is also staring at the movable wall with his eyes wide and jaw hanging.

“What is this, there’s no end to them!”

Josak, who rarely makes such a loud fuss, starts yelling.

“What on earth is the expiry date on these things!? Just how many times must we cut ‘em for them to just die already?”

“Unless we defeat the one controlling them, there’s nothing we can do to them. These things don’t have a consciousness,”

“If so, where’s their leader—pull him out and get rid of him already!”

“If I knew I would have done that a long time ago.”

Lord Weller slashes with his sword, and so one of the resurrected team’s heads fly into the sky, splattering a foul-smelling liquid as it went, finally landing by my feet.

“Sorry.”

“I-it’s okay, it’s okay—”

I say it’s okay, but my quivering voice can’t hide how shaken up I am inside. Having heard our conversation, Saralegui tries to avoid those undead, swaying unsteadily towards the wall.

“Sara!”

Hazel’s persistent advice from back then flits across my mind.

“No, you can’t go in there!”

“Why?”

“Because that is…”

That’s the underground maze that even an experienced treasure hunter trembles to think of. It’s not somewhere people like us, who are unfamiliar with the maze, can simply enter and come out in one piece.

“But if we want to escape from Mother’s houjutsu, we can only go deeper underground where the power of the G.o.ds cannot reach… We have to dive somewhere deeper in.”

“What did you say?”

Mother’s houjutsu?

“So you’re saying that the person controlling these zombies, is your mother!? Wait a sec, there are houjutsu like this as well… W-what a disgusting hobby—”

Although she has abdicated, but she was once the ruler of a country. Judging from the bloodline of Saralegui and Yels.h.i.+’s mother, she must be an elegant, strong and beautiful Empress, who would have thought she’s secretly a zombie control expert. As a result, the image of an Empress in my heart, once more crashes apart.

“E-even so we can’t simply enter the maze, do you want to get lost and die in the maze!?”

“We’re just hiding inside for a while, Yuuri. Just until Mother can’t sense our presence anymore and gives up the attack.”

“Why do you… So you’re saying that your mom’s target isn’t us, but you?”

Just because he was born without houryoku, his relations.h.i.+p with his own mother is this bad? But that’s their family business. Right now the most important thing is still to get out of our current mess.

“It’s no use even if you want to stop me, I still want to go in.”

“No, Sara, I can’t let you go in alone.”

His expression pained, Saralegui takes another half step back, his body almost swallowed whole by the darkness. I have to figure out a way to make him give up, if I let him go on his own and something happen , then that’ll be bad.

If the king of the powerful Shou s.h.i.+maron dies in a mission with us, there will definitely be a serious international conflict. This isn’t something an apology can fix.

“Young Master, Young Master, I suddenly think what that puppet is saying isn’t half bad!”

“What are you saying, Josak?”

“I think there’s nothing wrong with hiding out for a bit, we just have to hide until these things back off.”

Maybe it’s because of the difference in their level of trust for Hazel, so the two soldiers have different opinions. Josak takes one step at a time, slowly approaching the wall we’re at.

“Yuuri, if you want to escape those things, your only choice is to run underground, y’know.”

“But that’s really dangerous! He doesn’t have a torch either, how can one person…”

Saralegui suddenly pulls my hand. And at the last possible second, Josak blocks off an enemy attack from the right. In order to avoid the attack, I lose my balance and fall into the darkness from the left.

It’s a very strange area inside.

It’s obviously connected to the room with the red wall drawings, but it feels like a different world altogether. It feels just like pa.s.sing through a tunnel or standing in an ascending elevator, when your ears and throat feel stuffy, and you can’t hear sounds too clearly. When I crossed that borderline, the scenes in the room look like a TV show on a square screen.

Surprisingly surreal.

“I still think this place isn’t too…”

Just as I’m ready to walk back out, the wall starts moving with what sounds like the noise made by an earthquake. Still in front of the borderline, Josak turns around immediately, holding his breath as he watches the entrance start to close. Although I want to pull Saralegui back into the room, there’s an unexpected force preventing us from going back. The same thought flashes through my mind, “I can’t leave him alone here”.

“Young Master!?”

Having noticed that I can’t move, Josak rushes in at the last moment. If he were a second slower, he may not have been able to make it.

Through the slit that a person can’t pa.s.s through anymore, I see Conrad das.h.i.+ng over here. When I want to yell his name, I realize that there’s danger behind him.

“Behind you!”

Lord Weller turns around and uses the hilt of his sword to block the heavy blade swung his way, and sparks fly everywhere.

“Conrad! What to do, there are still so many of those things!”

“I’ll be fine!”

He turns his head back a little, but has no choice but to face the enemy immediately. From what I can see through the slit alone, there are around 10 more corpses that can fight.

“You guys go on, I’ll be fine.”

“But…”

Conrad speaks before the entrance closes up completely, his voice coming through the slit.

“For sure…”

The wall makes a sound like the city doors closing, and seals up completely. The red light from the fire and the wall drawing which illuminated the whole room doesn’t penetrate the darkness at all. The only source of light here is the torch in my hand.

It’s a light that gives no sense of security whatsoever.

Saralegui mumbles,

“It’s no use, we had better go forward and look for another exit,”

“How can it be no use!”

Josak and I try to push the wall with all our strength again, but no matter what method we use, the stuck stone just won’t budge, and we can’t hear even a sound from outside. It’s as though there was never any mechanism there, no cracks or bulges.

When there’s nothing more we can do, I finally say those terrifying words,

“Are we trapped in here…?”

No, we’re not trapped, we’ve been swallowed.

I can even say this darkness has long ago been waiting for us.