The Butcher's Blade
I retched violently, vomiting up everything I'd eaten earlier. The thought that there might be more zombies nearby crossed my mind, but my body refused to move. The sight before me was that shocking. In the novel, it had been described so lightly. But seeing it in real life was on a completely different level of horror. My hands trembled uncontrollably. It wasn't from fear. I was furious—seething with rage I could barely contain. Still, I clenched my teeth and swallowed it down. Then I scanned the surroundings, gathering as much information as possible.
The chunks of meat were all stripped clean to the bone. They hung from the ceiling, wrapped in spiderwebs and dangling like grotesque ornaments. On one side sat a dining table, its surface a tangled mess of bones and flesh. Finally, there were the dried, sticky patches of blood. There was only one kind of variant capable of this kind of atrocity.
The Butcher.
This thing had a right arm that looked like a massive, razor-sharp carving knife. It fought survivors using that very arm, a variant that was obsessively focused on its blade. Once it caught someone, it would crush their bones and chew them up. I'd read that it supplemented its calcium that way, making the blade on its right arm even larger and stronger.
Then, from nearby, an unnatural sound began to echo. It was like metal scraping across the floor, being dragged along.
“Alright, you bastard. I'll kill you.”
There was no need to hesitate anymore. The thing was already trapped like a rat in a cage. Thinking about snapping that proud right arm of its, I tightened my grip on Beopbong. But in the very next moment, a sharp pain exploded from my right side.
“…!?”
With a loud bang, my body slammed into the wall. This time, it was for an entirely different reason that strength left my limbs. It felt like I'd been hit in the waist with a sledgehammer. Stomach acid poured from my mouth. I knew exactly where I'd been struck. The spleen or kidney. One of those, for sure.
“…Ugh, fuck!”
The guard I thought I'd killed earlier was slowly rising back into a fighting stance. It looked like it was protecting the Butcher that had just emerged from the kitchen area. I used Beopbong like a cane and forced myself upright. Something felt off about all this, but I pushed the thought aside.
“You son of a bitch!”
I raised Beopbong high overhead and brought it crashing down. The guard easily crossed its arms to block the strike. But that wasn't what I was aiming for. I immediately kicked it hard in the stomach, and its posture faltered. If I charged in now and knocked it down, it would be over. I'd pin its arm with my knee and bash its head in.
“Graaahk!”
“…!”
With a sharp whoosh, something swung through the air. It looked like the Butcher had attacked to help the guard. Thankfully, I'd pulled back in time and only got grazed, but it was incredibly dangerous. That blade looked so sharp it could cut through anything. It probably wouldn't slice clean through a limb in one go like in the novel, but there was no way my body could withstand it.
So we were forced into a standoff for a while. All three of us instinctively understood the situation. If anyone moved carelessly, the damage would be irreversible. But I didn't have the luxury of stalling here. These weren't the only zombies in this school. The spiders already knew I'd entered the building. I needed to finish this before reinforcements arrived.
That left only one option.
I slowly spread both arms wide. I would trade flesh for bone. There was plenty of food around anyway, so abusing my body wouldn't be an issue. The moment I finished that calculation, the blade came slicing toward my head. Of course I couldn't take it head-on. I hastily deflected it with Beopbong, but then a brutal pain erupted in my abdomen. My breath was knocked out of my lungs in an instant, and a heavy impact slammed into my back as well.
“Grrraa…!”
“Graaahk!”
I ignored the triumphant grins on the guard and Butcher's faces as best I could, leaning against the wall to catch my breath. Stomach acid flowed from my mouth again, and it was getting harder to stay on my feet. I knew exactly what had happened. I'd forgotten that the guard wasn't just a defensive variant. It had probably charged forward with those powerful arms outstretched. Honestly, if I'd been a normal person, that last attack would've left me critically injured. No—it was precisely because it was me that I was still standing.
My stomach had taken so many hits over time that the pain was almost familiar, yet my legs kept going weak and recovering in cycles. The guard looked genuinely surprised. It clearly hadn't expected me to stay upright and began repositioning itself, looking for another opening. It would've been nice if it'd stayed cocky and let its guard down a bit.
The Butcher also adjusted its stance to swing its right arm more easily and hid behind the guard. Now I was the one backed into a corner. The Butcher's right arm was dozens of centimeters longer than my Beopbong. If it had just been me versus the Butcher, I would've had the advantage. I could've simply charged in like a mad dog, trading flesh for bone and winning that way. But with the guard in the mix, the situation had become strangely twisted. The trade-flesh-for-bone strategy wouldn't work anymore. If I took another hit like the one before, I'd definitely pass out for a moment. And that would leave me completely defenseless against the Butcher's attack. If it severed a major blood vessel, the tide would turn instantly.
In that case, I'd have to adjust my strategy a little.
“Grit your teeth… you fucker!”
“Grrraa…!”
I lowered my stance and pointed the end of Beopbong at the guard. Then, without hesitation, I charged like a knight wielding a lance. All I had to do was dodge the Butcher's attack once. Its right-arm blade was threatening, but because it was so oversized, it couldn't attack consecutively.
“…!”
Just as expected, the Butcher's blade came whistling through the air. Thankfully, because I'd kept my posture low, I managed to avoid it easily. Still, the chill that ran down my spine was unavoidable. And as payback for earlier, I drove Beopbong straight through the guard's defense and into its gut. The guard clenched its teeth and held its ground. It didn't retreat even a single step, standing firm to protect the Butcher.
Not that I'd expected that one blow to incapacitate it anyway.
“You. Fucking. Bastard,” I snarled.
The guard flinched for a moment, taking a step back, before baring its teeth and roaring back. Then, as if they'd made an agreement, the brawl began in earnest.
At first, I had the upper hand. Whether it blocked or not, I swung Beopbong with gritted teeth, and the guard could only defend with both arms as it was gradually pushed backward. But from then on, I started getting pushed back. The guard, which had been clumsily throwing punches in retaliation, soon began landing proper strikes. It wasn't as threatening as a professional boxer, but the problem was the guard's arms. Each forearm was as thick as my waist. When something that massive came flying at me, there was no way I could withstand it easily. I was basically just relying on my regeneration to endure.
Still, I gradually started gaining the advantage again. The guard fought desperately. It was certainly tough, but not as tough as me. It wasn't sturdier than me, and its regeneration wasn't as good as mine either. After several minutes of brutal exchanges, the guard was staggering so badly it could barely stand. It was time for the finishing blow.
“Grrraa…!”
“Just die already, you piece of shit!”
I smashed its head hard once, but the guard didn't fall. It somehow endured three full hits before dropping to its knees and pitching forward. Even then, it still had some consciousness left—it immediately grabbed my leg and began a meaningless resistance. I stabbed the end of Beopbong into its head to finish it off for good.
The moment I thought it was over once I took care of the Butcher—
“…?”
A sharp, stabbing pain tore through me. My stomach suddenly felt burning hot, like I'd been stabbed with a knife.
“Ah, aah…!”
The blade had pierced straight through my abdomen and was sticking out the other side. Fortunately, it hadn't gone in too deeply. But my mind went completely blank, and I couldn't think of anything.
“You can't… push it in any deeper!!”
“Graaahk!”
On top of that, the Butcher seemed to realize this was its chance and shoved the blade in even harder. I flailed around like a madman. The Butcher wasn't done—it tried to twist the blade at an angle. I reflexively threw Beopbong aside and grabbed the blade to stop it from turning. A brief contest of strength followed.
The Butcher slowly withdrew the blade, letting out a groan that sounded almost disappointed. It probably hadn't expected to fail to kill me in one strike. I snatched Beopbong back and slowly backed up against the wall. The situation had completely reversed. Now the Butcher was the one charging at me. But this time, I was at a severe disadvantage.
The Butcher hadn't taken much damage thanks to the guard. Meanwhile, I'd been beaten all over during that brawl with the guard, and now I had a hole punched straight through my stomach. The bleeding was also no joke—the floor was turning red in seconds. At least my regeneration was working properly, so the bleeding was gradually slowing. But still.
“…”
My head was ringing and my vision was blurry. I even sat down lightly on the floor. At this point I could take my hand off the wound, but the blood I'd already lost wasn't coming back. The situation really had taken a strange turn. If this had been the old me, I would've been crawling on the ground right now. I would've been begging for my life, crying out to Buddha. But now those thoughts didn't even cross my mind.
Even though my vision was blurry and my condition was terrible, once I confirmed I could still move, I immediately pointed the end of Beopbong at the Butcher. It swung its blade threateningly several times. And it seemed to have forgotten one crucial fact. That its oversized right-arm blade, while large and sharp, left plenty of openings after every swing.
I didn't hesitate. I dodged the blade and swung Beopbong. Before long, the Butcher's head was smashed open and it collapsed to the floor. And then I collapsed right beside it. No matter how good my regeneration was, the blood I'd lost wasn't going to come back instantly.