Zombie vs. Plant (4)
The low, guttural moans echoed all around me.
Uuuung— Uwooooooooor— Uuuung— Uwooooooooor—
I'd been weaving through the horde for what felt like forever, and my stamina was finally starting to give out.
“Ugh… why are there so many zombies…?”
Of course your stamina sucks… When we get out of here, you’re definitely doing some training.
“Was it my fault all along…?”
I kept pulling the zombies’ aggro, dodging their attacks, dodging the druids’ attacks, and just kept circling through the endless swarm.
“Second wave’s coming soon ya! Hero, you better watch yourself ya!”
“Huh??? What did you say???”
Look ahead! Weird zombies are coming out!
After holding out for so long, the usual zombies that just raised both arms to swing at me weren’t the only ones anymore. Strange new variants started appearing.
Rumble rumble rumble—
“Aaaah!!! It’s a rolling zombie!”
A zombie with no legs that attacked by rolling its whole body.
Uwooooooooor— Uwooooooooor—
“Aaaah!!! It’s a conjoined zombie!”
Two bodies fused together, with two heads and two torsos.
Flail flail flail flail flail flail—
“Aaaah!!! It’s a hundred-armed zombie!”
A zombie with hundreds of arms, like some kind of thousand-armed Kannon.
Uwooooooooor—
“Aaaah!!! It’s just a regular zombie!”
And… just regular zombies…
“Fight back ya!!!”
The druids seemed to have known multiple types would appear. They pulled out all sorts of countermeasures tailored to each variant.
Rumble rumble rumble—
They built wooden barricades to stop the rolling zombies.
Uwooooooooor— Uwooooooooor—
Hordes of druids transformed into animals and swarmed the conjoined zombies in coordinated attacks.
Flail flail flail flail flail flail—
They blocked the hundred-armed zombie from getting close and bombarded it with green energy orbs until it exploded.
Uwooooooooor—
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!”
Uuuung—
Of course, my job stayed exactly the same…
“Hup!”
Even Madireve was in the backline, throwing punches to keep zombies away from the druids who were firing spells.
But no matter how desperately we fought, the number of zombies showed no sign of decreasing.
“Huff… huff… why… won’t this… end…”
…This is definitely getting heavy.
Momotani Himeko sounded like she’d never seen this many zombies before either.
“Village chief!!! When does this end!!!”
“Just hold on a little longer ya! That guy’s about to come out ya!!!”
“Huh??? What did you say???”
While I was still struggling to hear the chief’s shouts, I dodged another wave of attacks.
Uuuung—
“Haa… haa… Huh? Something’s coming out…”
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
A massive arm, easily hundreds of times bigger than a normal zombie’s, was rising from the ground.
“A giant… zombie…?”
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
Finally, an absolutely enormous zombie burst out of the earth, scattering dirt everywhere.
“What the hell… what is that thing…?”
“Hero ya! Be careful ya! That’s the one we think is their leader ya!!!”
“Huh??? What did you say???”
Siwoo! That’s… it! The Zombie King has appeared!
“Zombie King? What the heck is that!”
Sometimes you find abnormally huge individuals among monsters. We call those the leaders—the Kings.
“So that thing is…”
…Yeah. We can call it the Zombie King.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
The Zombie King let out a thunderous roar and began dragging its colossal body forward.
“Is it like an Arch Lich…?”
A little different… An Arch Lich is an advanced skeleton type. But that thing is just a regular zombie like the ones in front of us. It’s simply extremely big.
Uwooooooooor— Uuuung—
Even while all this was happening, the regular zombies never stopped their assault.
“Ugh… how are we supposed to beat something like that…?”
Right then, green energy orbs started flying in from a distance.
“Fire ya!!! Keep firing ya!!!”
At the chief’s command, the druids kept launching sphere after sphere.
“At this rate, we might actually have a chance…!”
…You just raised a death flag.
“Ah…!”
But the King didn’t even seem to feel it. It simply ignored the barrage and kept advancing.
Thud— Thud—
Each of its footsteps shook the ground with a deafening boom. It didn’t care that it was crushing other zombies beneath its feet. It only had eyes for the druids.
“Ugh ya… guess it really was too much ya…!”
“Chief ya! Are you really going to do that ya…?”
Far away, the village chief pulled out his staff and began muttering something under his breath.
“Madireve!!!”
“Hero. Good to see you didn’t get trampled to death.”
“What’s going on? What happened?”
I returned to the druids’ formation to get a better grasp of the situation.
“I’m not entirely sure… but it looks like they’re doing something to stop that Zombie King.”
“Um… it won’t be dangerous, right…?”
“Hard to say. But stopping something like that probably won’t involve ordinary methods…”
At that moment, a green glow began gathering around the chief.
“O great ancestors! Mother of all! Father of nature! We offer our earnest wish—please lend us your strength ya!!!!!”
The moment the chief finished his chant, the branches, trunks, and vines of the surrounding trees began to move with a will of their own.
“What the…! The trees…!”
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
The wooden limbs wrapped tightly around Bob’s arms, legs, and torso.
“Haa ya… haa ya…”
“Now ya! Everyone, pour on the attacks ya!”
At the signal from a druid beside the chief, the remaining druids unleashed a ferocious barrage without holding anything back.
“Let’s go too! I’ll keep pulling aggro, so you protect the druids just like before!”
“Understood!”
While we each carried out our roles, I noticed the chief’s complexion growing worse by the second.
“Chief ya! Just hold on a little longer ya!”
“Ugh ya… I’m almost at my limit ya…!”
The magic was reaching its limit. You could see the wooden restraints losing strength in real time.
“Everyone retreat ya!!! Run ya!!!”
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
In the end, Bob snapped every last vine that had been binding him.
“This is bad…”
Thankfully most of the druids had already pulled back, so the casualties weren’t too severe… but some still got hurt.
“Ugh ya…”
“It hurts ya…”
“M-my leg ya!!!”
They hadn’t escaped completely unscathed.
“Momo, isn’t there… any way…?”
…Zombies are weak to fire, extreme physical force, holy power… things like that.
Fire would burn the entire forest down. Holy power—we didn’t have any. That left only extreme physical force…
“But we already attacked it nonstop while it was tied up and it didn’t do anything!”
That was simply because we didn’t have enough power. For something that big…
“Damn it…!”
There was no solution after all.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
Now that the druids’ attacks had stopped, Bob sped up its charge.
“…What if we go for the core?”
The core…? Well… it’s not impossible…
“When we took down that Arch Lich last time, breaking its core made it collapse instantly, right?”
Correct. But zombies are monsters created from human corpses. Its core is its heart itself.
“The heart…”
Still, if it was the heart… couldn’t we just stab a sword into it?
It’s not that simple. Think about the size difference between us and that thing. A normal sword would be like trying to stab it with a toothpick.
“Damn… even Sword Arts won’t work?”
Sword Arts only forces your body to perform perfect forms. It doesn’t increase the sword’s power…
A way… a way…
At this rate, every last one of us—including the druids—would be wiped out.
I returned to the druid formation, racking my brain desperately.
“Hero ya!!!”
“…Yakacham?”
In the distance, I saw Yakacham running toward me with something clutched to her chest.
“Why are you here! I told you to stay away!”
“Hek… hek… but Hero ya, this…”
Yakacham pulled back the cloth covering the object in her arms and held it out to me.
“This is…?”
“The sword you asked for ya!”
There it was—a branch that had grown into the rough shape of a sword. But it was incredibly crude. The edge wasn’t even properly sharpened; it was just a jagged, bumpy tree limb.
“Uh… can we even call this a swor—”
Suddenly, something clicked in my head.
“Yakacham… how did you make this…?”
“This ya? I made it grow ya!”
“Then… can you make it keep growing even in this state?”
“…? Yes ya?”
Perfect! We finally had a method!
“Yakacham, when I give the signal, make this branch grow like crazy! Like the World Tree!”
“O-okay ya…”
Yakacham nodded with a dazed expression, clearly not fully following what was happening.
“Madireve! Come here!”
“Hero… is that…?”
I quickly explained the plan to Madireve.
“Hmm… but there’s a critical flaw.”
Madireve pointed at the Zombie King with one finger.
“Yeah… it really is way too big…”
“Sigh… as expected, you can’t do it without me.”
“Huh?”
Madireve took me straight to the chief.
“Chief, we have a way to kill it. But first we need to make it kneel.”
“What ya…?”
“Can you use that thing you did earlier again?”
“That’s… a secret technique of the druids ya… it’s not something we can use lightly ya…”
The chief’s tone made it clear he couldn’t use it again.
“You can’t?”
When Madireve stared at him with serious eyes, the chief answered with resolve.
“Yes. Better that I die than everyone else. But I won’t be able to hold it for long ya.”
“That’s fine. One moment is enough.”
“Understood ya.”
“And—”
While Madireve and the chief discussed the details, I closed my eyes and focused.
“Momo, find the most effective form from Sword Arts.”
…Got it. No matter how much I raise your skill level, you’re still too lacking to bring out its full power.
“And I have to succeed in one shot…”
That thing in your hand is closer to a tree branch than a sword. If you swing it, it’ll break immediately… no, it might break while you’re swinging.
“Right, timing is crucial too…”
We should tell Yakacham in advance.
A short while later, after finishing all our preparations, we stood before the approaching Zombie King.
“Yakacham, you remember, right? The moment I stab the sword in—immediately—”
“I got it ya! I’ll do it right away ya!”
“Madireve, the chief…?”
“Ready. I’ll signal the moment you start running.”
Form Two is still the best. Given your skill level, that’s the optimal choice.
Everything was ready.
I took a deep breath and made sure Momotani Himeko was securely fastened.
“Let’s go!”
With a fierce shout, I sprinted forward. At the end of my path loomed the gigantic Bob.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
It must have noticed me, because it roared. At the same time, the surrounding branches began to move.
‘Nice! Madireve!’
It looked like Madireve had given the perfect signal. The branches were heading straight for Bob’s body to restrain him.
But this time they didn’t wrap around his whole body—only his legs.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
Bob lost his balance and toppled over. I quickly ran up one of his legs and climbed onto his body.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”
I sprinted across his massive frame, heading straight for the chest where his heart should be.
Center of the chest, slightly to the left! From your perspective, that’s the right side!
“Diiiiiiie!!!!!”
Kuwoooooooooooor—! Uuuung—
“Huh?”
Because his arms weren’t bound, Bob tried to grab me with his hand. The Emergency Dodge Maneuver interpreted it as an attack and launched my body flying into the distance.
“Hero!”
“Hero ya!”
Ugh… of all times for the Emergency Dodge Maneuver to trigger…
Lee Siwoo! Snap out of it! It’s not over yet!
I pulled up the status window in my mind and turned the skill off.
Emergency Dodge Maneuver : OFF
“Good… let’s go again.”
The thought that even the slightest mistake now would mean instant death made cold sweat run down my back. I tensed up once more.
When Madireve saw me start running again, she shouted something to the druids. They resumed blocking the zombies from reaching me and held the line.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
But the chief had reached his limit. The wooden vines around Bob’s legs began to loosen.
“Kraaaak ya!!!”
The chief broke out in a cold sweat and started losing his balance.
“Dad ya!”
Yakacham rushed over and supported him.
“Yakacham ya! Ugh ya…!”
“Dad ya! I’ll do it from now on ya!!”
“…! No ya! Stop ya!”
Yakacham grabbed her father’s staff and began concentrating. The chief looked horrified and tried to stop her.
“We have to do it now ya! Dad ya!”
“Kuuuugh ya…!”
Somehow they reached an agreement. The vines that had been loosening around the Zombie King’s legs suddenly tightened again, binding him even more fiercely.
Lee Siwoo! Hurry! There’s no time!
“I’m… already at full speed…”
Even with Momotani Himeko’s urging, my legs couldn’t go any faster.
Don’t use the arms! Go for the legs!
“It’s too far…!”
Because I’d been flung onto his torso earlier, getting back to his legs meant taking a huge detour. The question was whether the chief and Yakacham could hold out that long.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!
Bob was thrashing wildly with both arms. Climbing up his arms was no longer an option.
“Hero!”
In the distance, I saw Madireve running toward me in a hurry.
“Madireve!”
“Hero, get ready!”
Madireve stopped between me and Bob, crouched slightly, and clasped both hands together to create a platform.
“Can you do it?”
“I can! No… I will!!”
I leaped, planting my foot on her hands.
“Gooooooo!!!!!”
“Huuuuuuuuh!!!!!”
I soared through the air, eyes locked on the Zombie King’s heart.
Now!!!!!
“Sword Arts Form Two—Stab Like a Slash!!!!!”
The branch-sword slipped past Bob’s swinging arm and flew straight toward his heart.
“Yakacham!!!!!”
I gave Yakacham the signal and drove the wooden blade deep into the Zombie King’s heart.
The time it took for Zeldre’s sword to break was three seconds. The decorative sword I used to cut the bandit leader’s leg lasted only 0.5 seconds. It seemed the sturdier and higher-quality the sword, the longer it could endure.
This branch-sword was probably somewhere between those two, so it would likely last about one second.
The moment I felt the blade pierce the heart, I also felt cracks forming across the wooden sword.
“Haaap!”
But Yakacham didn’t miss the timing. The instant the branch-sword began to shatter, it started growing at an explosive rate.
Kuwoooooooooooor—!!!!!
The branch-sword transformed into a full-grown tree, devouring the Zombie King’s body from the inside as it expanded.
The monster screamed in agony. I lost my footing and fell from its body.
Emergency Dodge Maneuver : ON
Uuuung—
Thankfully I managed to reactivate the Emergency Dodge Maneuver in time and landed safely.
“Hero!”
“Hero ya!”
In the distance, I saw Madireve and Yakacham running toward me.
Good work.
“Haa… I really thought I was going to die…”
That was when a corpse-blue light flashed behind the two running figures.
“Yakacham!!!!!”
Uwooooooooor—
“Kyaaaaaaaaaak ya!!!!!”
A zombie’s mouth sank its teeth into Yakacham’s neck.