741. [STAGE 45] Flying Dead (3)
A little later.
“Huh oh oh oh oh!”
I sweated profusely and looked at the infected people still camped out in front of me.
“really…! Hehehe, to me! “Don’t make me do something like hand-to-hand combat…”
Even though I wore a few crowns and gained many powers, my poor physical strength did not improve!
Still, it has the ability to beat up knights who have lost their senses due to infection.
I swung my fist hard. I believed in the strength of the Sky Knights who were attacking me and thought that they would not die from my prince punch.
So, they were neutralized one by one, one by one.
The problem is that they are all hero-level strong. And there are as many as 50 people. Moreover, they are crowded in a narrow hallway.
And above all, you have to keep them alive and subdue them… and there’s not much time left!
‘It’s too late like this.’
The hallways are narrow, so it’s not appropriate to summon an alter ego.
I have already used [Mystic Eyes of Command], but although it is possible to temporarily suppress it, it is difficult to completely neutralize it.
I am struggling with how to safely overcome them within the remaining time…
“Your Highness.”
Macmillan, who was standing behind me, called out to me.
Why do you do that? Let’s look back.
“I don’t have time, so I’ll use a rough method.”
Macmillan said so.
I placed my arm over the mouth of the infected person who had previously subdued me and was lying on the floor.
The infected person, who was lying unconscious, reflexively closed his jaw.
Wow…!
McMillan’s arm was bitten by the infected, blood splattering everywhere.
“Tsk…!”
McMillan gritted his teeth and endured the pain, then roughly pulled out his arm.
I couldn’t understand the situation and just blinked foolishly.
“Lord Macmillan? “What did you do now…?”
“Typically, the time it takes to lose consciousness after infection is 5 to 10 minutes.”
Macmillan said, deftly taking out a handkerchief and stopping the bleeding from the bite wound.
“And the infected people do not recognize fellow infected people as enemies.”
“…!”
“I have already been infected by being bitten, so the infected people in the hallway will no longer attack me, and the infected people in the engine room will do the same.”
Macmillan took a deep breath and stood up, glaring at the engine room across the hallway.
“I will go in alone and restart the magic furnace. And he will be resting like dead in the engine room… so please make sure to wake him up later.”
“Lord Macmillan… are you planning on doing this from the beginning…?”
“Hehe. “Isn’t it true that soldiers exist to prepare for the worst-case scenario?”
Macmillan began to walk slowly forward.
“Then let’s go.”
He walked forward towards the infected with a nervous gait…
and the other infected did not even look at him once. In fact, infected people do not attack each other.
I shouted and asked as he steadily walked away.
“Do you have anything to say to your family or something?”
If a cure is successfully developed, people may come to their senses without any problems.
If not, maybe…
“Nothing.”
Macmillan answered coolly and scratched the back of his head.
“That’s because I’m an orphan and I’m not married yet.”
“Eh.”
I didn’t know! For some reason, it felt like there would be a lot of wives and children!
“Haha. Instead, please introduce me to a nice lady later. majesty.”
He glanced back and gave a charming wink with his unique grumpy face.
Macmillan walked with long strides and reached the front of the engine room…
Jump!
He opened the door and disappeared inside.
And after a while.
Giiiiiiing…!
A loud mechanical sound began to be heard from inside the engine room.
Next, the bridge crew member’s voice was heard shouting from the speaker installed above the corridor.
「Restart successfully with main magic power! It’s a success, Your Majesty!”
Gooooooo!
I had the feeling that the entire space was floating slowly but surely.
“Phew…”
After sighing in relief.
“Okay then.”
Ttuduk. Ttuduk.
Unwrapping my fists from their chainmail, I looked at the remaining infected in front of me.
“I guess we still have some time left before we arrive at Crossroads… Shall we finish cleaning the ship?”
Shouldn’t we start treatment as soon as we return?
Before that, it was necessary to keep the patients calm.
Wow!
Kaaaaa!
As I approached, the infected people ran towards me, screaming one after another.
“I’m really exercising properly today!”
I grumbled and grabbed the infected people one by one and beat them to the floor.
***
Crossroads. Non-empty hangar.
Giiiiiiing!
The aircraft carrier La Mancha, which successfully returned safely, lands and at the same time the lower hatch opens…
rumble!
The Crossroad heroes who had been waiting in advance entered the airship with very nervous faces.
I waved my hand at those subordinates.
“Howdy-.”
To my left and right are Diarmydin and Mikhail, both looking very tired.
The three of us had just suppressed and captured the infected inside the airship together. This is really exhausting….
Lucas and Evangeline, who were fully armed with armor and shields and were entering the inside, spotted me and shouted.
“My lord!”
“Seniors!”
“Oh yeah, that’s my brother. As you can see, he’s safe.”
Lucas and Evangeline had complex expressions of worry and concern, but there were more important things to do right now than my well-being.
“The number of infected people is… 104 people. 26 griffons. They’ve all been tied up. Transport everyone to the temple. “Is the temple ready to receive patients?”
“I understand that Priest Rosetta is urgently preparing after receiving a call from the lord earlier.”
“Good. Implement it immediately. Oh, just in case you don’t get bitten while moving it. Because the main route of infection is through bites…”
It would be a big problem if something happened while moving. It was decided to use elite troops Lucas and Evangeline and white soldiers.
They entered the airship wearing armor all over their bodies and began moving the trapped infected people one by one to the temple.
“I’ll follow you too.”
Without resting even for a moment, Mikhail immediately went to the temple with the patients. Well, it’s worth it because they are his subordinates and wives…
“I will go too. “I’ll see you later.”
Diarmuddin also accompanied him. The old mage will give the priests all the necessary information.
“As soon as they joined, the Sky Knights marched out, saying they would support their lord…”
Lucas, who was watching the situation unfold, sighed.
“It’s impossible for something like this to happen as soon as we go to war.”
“So we need to make sure it gets better. “Let’s focus all of our remaining capabilities so we can treat patients.”
“But my lord.”
Lucas glanced south.
“I heard that the number of zombie monsters this time is not usually large.”
“….”
“Even if we put all our efforts on the front line now to build a defense against the zombie army, it may not be enough. How about considering the seriousness of the task? There is no time to waste energy on a place like this. It would be better to delay treatment a little and use resources to prepare for defense…”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“The Sky Knights will become an important force on our front lines in the future. “If treatment for them is delayed and power is lost, it could actually be a bigger loss.”
“….”
“Treating these people is very important. And…”
I said cautiously, resting my chin.
“I think this is the path that leads to the ‘strategy’.”
“yes?”
“It wasn’t our intention, but we were able to secure this many survivors infected with the zombie plague.”
I nodded.
“…Maybe there is a way to easily resolve this defensive battle.”
***
That night.
When I received a call from the temple, I went to see Rosetta, who had a haggard complexion as if she had worked hard all day, and greeted me.
“I will report to you, Your Majesty. “We have discovered the cause, mechanism, and treatment of the zombie plague.”
“Long live the Goddess Church!”
This is why they call it God of Justice! I will donate a lot!
“This is because we were able to secure this many infected survivors. As you know, when you are attacked by a zombie and become infected, the bleeding and wounds are so severe that it leads to death in most cases, but this time, we were lucky…” Of course, we couldn’t
save everyone.
It is said that during the treatment process, several infected people eventually died and had to be revived as zombies and put into eternal sleep.
Rosetta added quickly in front of me, whose expression hardened.
“You can grieve later… Anyway, while looking at the survivors, I was able to come up with a hypothesis, which I needed to verify later.”
“verification?”
“It was necessary to look at the actual infection process. So, I tried to bite it myself, but…”
I looked at Rosetta, who was calmly saying crazy things, and she laughed bitterly.
“…While everyone was trying to stop him, one volunteer volunteered and got bitten instead.”
“You got bitten voluntarily…?”
“He sacrificed himself for the greater good. “There was no time to stop him.”
I remembered Macmillan, who had voluntarily bitten his arm in the airship earlier.
Really, everyone… why are they so desperate?
“Anyway, thanks to that volunteer, the principles of transmission and treatment were established.”
Should I call this the romance of a fantasy world or the barbarism of it all?…
Anyway, it was no use saying anything since it had already happened, so I calmly walked after Rosetta.
“And that idiot volunteer is this bastard.”
In the center of the temple corridor that Rosetta pointed to… there was Zenith, tied to a chair and struggling with a gag on her mouth.
I opened my mouth slightly, and Rosetta calmly approached and pressed Zenith’s temple with her index finger.
“Its self-healing and divine power were so great that it took an hour for it to become completely infected. Thanks to this, we were able to identify most of the zombie plague.”
“….”
“Please hold me responsible for the radical experiment later… and I will continue reporting.”
After catching her breath, Rosetta picked up some potions that were lying on the table next to Zenith.
“This zombie plague is spread by parasites.”
“Parasite…?”
“yes. And it’s not just a parasite. “It is a magical parasite that originates from a demonic monster.”
I opened my mouth wider at the unexpected explanation.
Should I say it’s the origin of zombies in a fantasy world… Magic parasites?
“The parasite burrows into the target’s body through the infected person’s mouth and infects the target’s magic source, taking away the authority of the body.”
Rosetta continued her terrifying explanation.
“And when the target dies, the target’s life force is taken away and transferred to the owner using the demonic power of ‘sacrifice.’”
“What…”
“Afterwards, the parasite moves the corpse with its remaining magical power to find the next victim and spreads the infection indefinitely…”
Rosetta shrugged.
“Well, it’s a parasite-type infection. I see you are using such a vicious method. “Should we really call them a devil species?”
“…Was the zombie plague that once spread across the continent this way?”
“We don’t know that far. However, seeing that the treatment combinations used at the time are still effective to some extent, it does not seem to be very relevant.”
Rosetta began mixing several potions.
It was clearly the process of a tired, middle-aged priest mixing a cure, but perhaps because of his extremely skilled hands, it felt strangely cool, like a bartender mixing a cocktail.
“I think this will do.”
Rosetta stuck the finished cure into the crack of Zenith’s gag and forced her to swallow it.
Zenith glared at us with bloodshot eyes, twisted her body wildly, and swallowed a scream…
“Khaak!” “Cluck, cluck, cluck!”
I vomited something through the gag.
Rosetta deftly stretched out her tweezers and grabbed it.
It was red, long and thin… something like a very small earthworm. Rosetta thrust it in front of my eyes.
“This is the parasite. Can you see the horn on the end? “It is the symbol of the demon species.”
“…I understand, so can you clean it up quickly? “It’s a bit gross.”
At that time, Zenith, who was panting heavily, asked in a hoarse voice.
“Has it been resolved?”
“I guess it’s because you’re speaking so calmly.”
It was a series of reckless events, but a solution emerged.
Rosetta immediately gathered her priests and began mixing the cure.
I breathed a sigh of relief. As a result, treatment was possible for all surviving patients.
Right after
“….”
I saw Rosetta. Rosetta was also looking at me with a meaningful smile.
“Rosetta. if.”
“yes. “I knew you would ask.”
After transferring the parasite from the end of the tweezers to another glass container, Rosetta gestured toward the treatment on the desk.
“What would happen if you poured this cure on zombie monsters? That’s what you wanted to ask, right?”
