novelraw Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter 99
There was one thing I had hoped for.
The zombie with the greatsword I had just fought—not as strong as Damond, but with brute strength incomparably greater than other zombies.
Wasn't that creature a very special individual?
And that, aside from Damond, there were no stronger individuals?
…Such a flimsy hope.
But there was no such thing.
“This is insane…!”
Two greatswords were pressing down hard on the horizontally held Ella 7 Sword.
My arms trembled, and cold sweat flowed incessantly.
If it were one-on-one, I was confident I could quickly cut off its neck, but with two greatsword-wielding zombies attacking at the same time, it was difficult to deal with them.
A graze would be a serious injury.
A direct hit would mean death.
The current situation felt even more difficult because their attacks were not something I could withstand by relying on auto-regeneration.
“Rian, I’m going to use magic.”
Celina, who had been steadily saving her mana in preparation for a contingency, finally released it.
A flame blossomed on Celina’s hand.
I was puzzled that it was not the gravity magic she was usually confident in and used mainly, but I quickly realized the reason.
Gravity magic is very useful, but it is not very effective against opponents whose physical strength exceeds her level of magic.
Furthermore, the zombies, lacking reason, neglected defense and focused all their attention solely on taking the opponent’s life.
As a result, they tended not to block or dodge attacks flying towards them, and thanks to that, they were easily hit even by attacks that were powerful but easy to evade.
Just like now.
BOOM!
The flame, which swelled in size as it raged, soared high before flying towards the zombies.
It was a flashy, eye-catching, and slow-moving spell, but the zombies, who were only focused on biting me, did not dodge the incoming flame.
A storm of hot air raged before my eyes.
The little remaining flesh on the zombies burned away, and the pressure on my sword gradually lessened.
Eventually, the zombies, reduced to ashes, fell away completely, and my two hands holding the sword trembled and screamed.
“Rian, are you okay?”
“This is nothing.”
I could not show any weakness here.
We were still engaged in a life-or-death battle amidst a horde of zombies.
If I showed weakness, the other members would become anxious, and anxiety would lead to mistakes.
Still, thanks to the storm of fire that blocked the zombies’ approach, we were able to catch our breath for a moment.
I raised my head and looked up at the sky.
The night was still deep.
If I closed my eyes and listened, I could hear all sorts of miscellaneous sounds.
However, most of the sounds were the meaningless roars of zombies, and the number of times I heard the sound of humans and zombies clashing in battle, or the screams of human soldiers being chased by zombies, had decreased significantly.
Even though I could not see ahead due to the darkness, I could not deny that the tide of battle was turning very unfavorably for our side.
Monora was done for.
If we were going to escape, now was our only chance.
“Celina.”
That one word was enough.
There was no need to drag on with a long-winded explanation.
Celina would know what I wanted.
She herself might not want to admit it, but she knew well what the best course of action was in this situation, what was best for Unit 917.
I waited for the retreat order that would fall from her lips.
However.
“Please wait a little longer.”
“……?”
An unexpected answer came back.
It could not be that she did not understand how dangerous the current situation was.
I thought she might be being stubborn, but listening to her voice, it was filled with a subtle confidence, as if she had some trick up her sleeve that I did not know about.
“…What are you preparing?”
“Oh, as expected, Rian. Did you notice?”
She smiled brightly, unbefitting of the perilous battlefield.
“I just got word. They asked us to hold on for just five more minutes, so let’s hang in there a little longer.”
“Hold on for five minutes…? Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you…”
One should never take their eyes off the enemy during battle.
Of course, the storm of fire was blocking the zombies’ path.
But fast-footed ones could charge with their bodies on fire, so taking one’s eyes off them was no different from offering one’s neck to a hungry beast.
Despite this, I turned my head to Celina.
That was how shocking her statement was.
“You requested reinforcements?”
“Yes.”
“……”
“What could I do? I couldn’t just send all the people to their deaths because of an incompetent lord. A little disciplinary action is nothing.”
She says that, but it is a serious matter for which she could be put on trial for a major crime of ignoring a superior’s order and even infringing on a noble lord’s inherent authority.
No matter how much she had the Verdin Margrave backing her, she would not be able to get away with just a light disciplinary action.
She too had made a momentous decision in her own way.
In that case, I had no choice but to trust Celina and hold my ground.
The storm of fire completely died down.
The zombies charged as if they had been waiting, and I met them, resuming the breathtaking and desperate fight for survival.
THUD!
The ground shook violently.
To be precise, the city wall I was standing on was shaking.
I quickly found the cause.
Zombies with abnormally large bodies, as if they were made from the corpses of giants, were pounding on the city wall.
After pounding on the wall with their fists until their hands were broken, they now began to ram it with their heads.
Each time, the wall shook violently, and the wall made of stacked bricks crumbled down.
I jumped onto the head of the nearest giant zombie and struck the top of its head with all my might.
The red blade pierced more than half of the zombie’s head, and the feeling of decisively splitting the brain was transmitted to my fingertips.
However, the zombie did not fall immediately.
The sight of it swinging its fists until the very end, pulling out even one more brick as it collapsed, was so marvelous it was almost grotesque.
Although I had succeeded in taking down one giant zombie, the wall was still vibrating.
There was more than one giant zombie, and they were spread out as if surrounding Monora, attacking the wall simultaneously.
“……”
There was only one of me.
No matter how much I ran around and raged, it was impossible for me to cover the entire wall of Monora.
If even the wall collapsed, then it would truly be the end.
But there was no other way.
To alleviate this frustrating feeling even a little, I looked up at the sky.
“……?”
I saw something sparkling.
At first, I thought it was a star.
I soon realized it was not a star.
It was approaching our location at high speed, and as it got closer, it scattered a brilliant light around it.
“They’re here! The reinforcements!”
Celina shouted, overcome with emotion.
The source of the light was an airship.
The airship shot a sphere of light towards the sky, and it rapidly swelled in size above Monora.
The sphere, which was only the size of a basketball, became a sun illuminating Monora in less than a few seconds.
Light returned to Monora, which had been consumed by darkness.
The scene revealed under the light was so horrific that it was frightening to behold.
The corpses of fallen zombies and humans were mixed together, rolling around haphazardly, and a part of the city wall, so damaged that it was hard to distinguish from Haram’s, was stained red.
Before the lights went out, the top of the wall had been filled with the soldiers of Monora, but now there were more zombies than soldiers.
The soldiers who had the means to fight the zombies were the lucky ones.
The zombies that had jumped into the residential areas were running wild like fish in water, as if they were aware that there was no one to stop them.
The screams and cries were endless.
It was a gruesome sight, but the reinforcements Celina had called for became a light that would save the poor people.
“A large-class…”
I had thought the reinforcements would be a medium-class airship at most, but surprisingly, the size of the airship that appeared in the skies of Monora was large-class.
The main cannon fired from a large-class airship has enough power to turn the tide of battle in an instant.
Of course, in the current situation where friend and foe are mixed in a chaotic battle, a main cannon aimed at mass slaughter without distinguishing between friend and foe is not helpful at all.
But the main weapon of a large-class airship is not just the main cannon.
There are numerous turrets deployed for small-scale engagements, and because the airship is large, it can carry a large number of personnel, so the number of combatants is also considerable.
And one more thing.
The commander of a large-class airship is, in nine cases out of ten, a top-class mage.
Two golden circles interlocked in the sky, and a magic circle unfolded.
Surprisingly, the size of the magic circle was large enough to cover Monora.
A golden spear created from the magic circle flew towards the ground.
The human-sized spear plunged into the head of a zombie that was about to bite the leg of an unknown soldier on the wall.
That was the beginning.
Soon, golden spears began to rain down from the sky.
The spears accurately targeted only the zombies.
What was surprising was not just the number and accuracy of the golden spears.
“Graaaaaaah!”
The zombies, who had charged without wavering even when parts of their bodies were cut off by swords, writhed in agony when they were touched by the spears of light.
With just one spell, the battle that had been one-sidedly unfavorable was overturned.
I could see the number of zombies that had invaded Monora decreasing at a rapid pace.
Although there were still countless zombies beyond the city walls, as long as the large-class airship was floating in the sky above Monora, all of them would be swept away soon.
“Wooooooo!”
A giant zombie burst into tears.
As if that were the signal, the zombies that had been running wild, not caring if their allies were dying, all turned their backs and fled towards the black plain.
The golden spears pursued them closely, with the intensity of not letting a single zombie escape.
Numerous zombies fell on the plain.
All the soldiers defending the walls of Monora, including the members of our Unit 917, stopped their hands as if possessed by something and stared blankly at the scene.
I was the same.
And a moment later.
“Everyone, you have worked hard.”
A clear, pure, and powerful voice that instilled will into people’s hearts came from above.
Without exception, everyone simultaneously raised their heads to the sky.
A beautiful woman with brilliant blonde hair, as if made from melted sun, and blue eyes was descending to the ground, relying on wings made of golden light.
She was in her late twenties.
A gentle smile hung on her lips.
“I am Lezarua Sharten, commander of the Mergan Kingdom’s 1st Unit. I express my deep gratitude for your noble determination to protect our homeland. From this moment on, we will deal with the enemies of Monora. Please rest easy.”