739. [STAGE 45] Flying Dead
“Mikhail, are you there…?”
Mikhail, who urgently picked up the receiver in response to the voice of one of the queens, answered softly.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“I’m sorry. I was out on the deck earlier… I met a zombie monster that secretly climbed on top of me. I dropped the monster outside of the airship, but my sisters got bitten in the process.” “….” “In an
instant
. The infection has spread to And I was bitten a little while ago…”
Mikhail spoke in an unwavering voice, despite his pale complexion.
“don’t worry. are you okay.”
“But Mikhail…!”
“We overcame the hell in our hometown. “Even when I thought everything was over, there was a way.”
Mikhail spoke with confidence.
“Trust me. “I will save you.”
The queen on the other end of the phone cried.
“I love you, Michael….”
“Me too.” So don’t worry and wait.”
Suddenly,
communication was lost.
“….”
Mikhail put down the receiver, caught his breath, and looked back at me.
“Prince Ash.”
“….”
“Can you tell me? “There is a way.”
There was a glimmer of earnestness in Mikhail’s eyes.
“I don’t have to lose my former colleagues, brothers, and wives here. tell me.”
I nodded immediately.
“don’t worry. “Because I have a way.”
Afterwards, I called out to Macmillan.
“Lord Macmillan! “When will communication be possible with Crossroads?”
“We entered the communication range a little while ago. “You can do it anytime.”
“Connect right away.”
Communication was established with Crossroads, and I called Chief Priest Rosetta.
I didn’t have to wait long before Rosetta came running and received the signal. Since it was already wartime, all heroes had been mobilized.
“This is Rosetta, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Ashe.”
“Rosetta, Chief Priest.”
I asked bluntly.
“Can you tell me about the ‘cure’ for the zombie plague?”
The opponent this time is a zombie monster.
Naturally, we were also taking measures against zombie infection in case any of our troops were injured.
This world has established a magical civilization solidly built on a system called magic. Countermeasures have been established at the national level to deal with all kinds of factors that afflict humanity – monsters, plagues, and natural disasters.
The zombie plague is no exception.
“There is a combination method for treating the zombie plague established by the church. But as I said before,
Rosetta repeated what she had heard before in a business-like tone.
“Each time the zombie plague spreads, the symptoms and lesions are different, so the treatment needs to be additionally adjusted depending on how much mutation has occurred.” “You
mean I have to see the patient in person?”
“That’s right. And in the meantime…”
It was not possible to bring in a ‘patient’ and study the disease.
That’s because they were all monsters that had already been turned into zombies.
Several corpse samples were obtained and brought to the temple, but no meaningful research data could be derived from completely dead specimens.
A living sample was needed, whether it was an infected person or a zombie that had died and been revived.
“Good. “I’m on my way home right now with an armful of patients.”
“Are there any survivors who are infected? “If you bring us to the temple, we will immediately identify your symptoms and prescribe medicine.”
“The number of patients is over 100.”
The crew of La Mancha and the Sky Knights.
A total of about 100 people are infected.
For a moment, Rosetta became speechless. I asked emphatically.
“Is it possible to treat it?”
“…There is always only one thing our priest can say, Your Highness.”
Rosetta spat out coldly and functionally.
“I will do my best. Please transport the patient as quickly as possible.》
“Go right away.”
Pop.
After ending the communication, I saw Mikhail standing next to me.
“Once we get to Crossroads, there will be a way. Hang in there.”
Not only is Rosetta, the leader of the Goddess Church, present, but healers from all over the world are waiting.
I don’t know, but Crossroads is probably much more adept at this type of treatment than the Imperial Capital.
“…I will, Prince Ash.”
Mikhail took a deep breath and shook his head.
“I too am a king now. I need to be dignified. “I’ll pull myself together and wait.”
After the communication with Rosetta, the atmosphere on the bridge was about to calm down for a while.
“It’s fortunate that there is a way.”
Macmillan opened his mouth, wiping his cold sweat-covered face with a handkerchief.
“Why don’t you start worrying about whether we can return to Crossroads safely?”
“what?”
As soon as I asked a question out of nowhere,
boom!
Kwasik-!
The bridge door shook violently.
As everyone turned around in horror, they saw a scene of infected people crowding outside the bridge, screaming and pounding on the door.
Quang!
Wood-dud-duk…!
The iron door began to buckle due to repeated impacts. Those standing at the bridge door hesitated and stepped back.
If it continues like this, it won’t last long and the door will break.
“The bridge door is only a secondary issue.”
Macmillan said as he operated the magic panel to check the situation inside the ship. I gritted my teeth and asked.
“Don’t go round and round, Lord Macmillan. “So what’s the real problem?”
“…the engine room has been occupied.”
Macmillan showed a view of La Mancha’s engine room on a magic panel.
The crew members, who had already infected each other, were sitting down in a dazed state, sobbing.
“The resident alchemist in charge of managing the magic furnace was also infected. And…”
“And what? “Say it quickly.”
“Output is decreasing due to main horsepower.”
For an instant, a cool silence filled the bridge.
Macmillan continued.
“It appears that the switch went off while fighting with the infected person in the engine room. Output continues to decline. “Currently, we are holding on with auxiliary horsepower, but if it continues like this, it will be difficult to maintain flight.”
“What about remote control?”
“I tried, but it didn’t work. “You have to go and reset it yourself.”
thud! thud! thud!
Meanwhile, the infected people filling the hallways were screaming irregularly and pounding on the doors. Through the broken window, you can see blinking bloodshot eyes.
Macmillan glanced in that direction and continued.
“The estimated flight time remaining to reach the crossroads was one hour, but if this continues, the main horsepower road will completely shut down within 30 minutes and we will have to make an emergency landing.”
“….”
Macmillan suggested to me who was silent.
“majesty. What I want to say is that if you have to make an emergency landing anyway, why not land safely beforehand?”
“what?”
“It is too dangerous to fly to the limit and then land. There is a high risk that the horsepower furnace will be completely turned off before then. “How about we land right now, safely in advance… to be more direct?”
“But doesn’t that mean you can’t get to the Crossroads? And the distance will be very long.”
“In return, we can ensure the safety of this airship and the people inside it. “If you confirm the landing point and inform Crossroads, reinforcements will come there.”
Macmillan’s proposal was very safety-oriented.
It meant not taking risks for no reason. If you land safely, call Crossroads reinforcements there, and hold on tightly to the bridge door. Then the situation can be resolved without further loss.
But…
“That’s why it takes so long.”
A one-hour flight by air means that it is an enormous distance that takes much longer than other means of transportation.
It will take time to suddenly gather reinforcements and dispatch troops from the Crossroads, it will take time for the deployed troops to reach the landing point, and it will also take time to sort out the situation and return to the Crossroads.
So it’s too late.
“The current situation is a race against time. “We need to buy even just one second more time.”
First of all, the main premise.
A group of monsters are coming north from the south.
In less than three days, these monsters will invade. There isn’t enough time to spend on defeating these guys, so it would be difficult to spend too much time returning to Crossroads.
And the second problem.
‘The longer the infection lasts, the worse it is for patients.’
You may be infected now, but in a few hours you may become a real zombie.
If I had taken him right away, he could have gotten better, but if there was a delay, treatment might not be possible.
Both stopping monsters and treating patients are a race against time. It must be resolved quickly and quickly.
“Then what do you plan to do? Are you continuing to fly with auxiliary magic power until it reaches its limit?”
Macmillan asked and I shook my head… then
turned towards the bridge door.
“Isn’t it a problem that just needs to be normalized in the engine room?”
“yes? That’s true, but…”
“Then it’s an easy story.”
thud! thud! thud!
I grinned as I watched the infected people filling the hallways and repeatedly knocking on the bridge door.
“Go to the engine room while suppressing the infected.”
“…!”
Everyone on the bridge was shocked.
It seemed like he had never thought of voluntarily going out into the open air full of infected people.
“There is no need for many people to come forward. “We are pushing forward with an elite few.”
I selected those on the bridge who were capable of combat.
“I, Diarmudin, and Mikhail. “Three will be enough.”
“Of course.”
“Okay, let’s try to control our strength as much as possible.”
Behind Diarmudin and Mikhail, who are warming up.
Macmillan followed suit, urgently raising his hand.
“Your Highness, I will go too.”
I blinked in surprise.
“But Lord Macmillan. Then, navigation will be hindered…”
“These pilot friends are the ones flying the aircraft anyway. “If the situation arises, we will be able to make an emergency landing as well.”
Macmillan laughed, his mouth quivering.
“More than anything, we need someone who knows how to handle engine room equipment.”
“….”
Macmillan is not a combat personnel.
However, he was a soldier who knew well when to step up and what role he had to play.
“Anyway, I’m also an officer. Combat training is received every year. At least it won’t be an obstacle.”
I nodded as he adjusted his gloves.
“Okay then, let’s go together.”
bang! Kuduk! Quagwagwang!
The bridge door was already half collapsed in the face of the infected’s successive hand-to-hand assaults.
The four members of the death-defying team heading to the engine room all took a deep breath.
If it were monsters that filled the hallway, it would be much easier to just kill them and move on.
This is an ally who has just been infected with the zombie plague. You have to go as far as suppressing them.
So it was going to be a much more difficult journey.
“The leader is Mikhail. Clear a path with bullets. Me after that. I will monitor the situation and give instructions. Macmillan behind me. Please guide the way to the engine room. Diarmudin at the end. “Use your magic gently.”
Diarmudin, who was listening to my order, stroked his beard and laughed.
“Don’t worry too much. “I will adjust my strength appropriately so as not to hurt many people.”
No, hurting infected people is also a problem.
‘If Grandpa exerts too much force, the secret itself is dangerous…’
I had to swallow my words. Because the situation began to unfold urgently.
Kwasik-!
Wow!
As soon as the bridge door was torn off, infected people poured into the bridge accompanied by a loud roar…
Whoa whoa!
Just like that, they all fell down the hallway in the opposite direction.
Mikhail rushed forward with both fists clenched and punched the infected people precisely in the solar plexus.
Perhaps because they were still humans and not zombies, the infected people who had been hit so hard in the solar plexus could no longer stand and fell to the floor with foam in their mouths.
‘It looks really sick…’
The number of infected people gathered in front of the bridge door was about a dozen. Mikhail finished clearing the hallway in an instant and shook his hands.
After the four members of the death squad escaped from the bridge, I nodded to the people inside the bridge and activated my magic.
I installed my magic wall instead of the broken bridge door and turned around.
“let’s go!”
There were less than 30 minutes left until the aircraft crashed.
Before that, you must penetrate the interior of an empty ship full of infected people and reach the engine room.
