Chapter 728: Traitor (3)

The hostages who had been in this city.

They had not been locked up in the first place.

“Why?”

These things had certainly been the ones to bring them here.

If they had dragged them here by force like that, restraining them would not have been difficult.

But they had not done that.

They had left them alone so that it would not matter even if those hostages left the city, if they wanted to.

“Rea, son......?”

I was curious about the reason.

But.

“Is, a reason...... needed......?”

“.......”

“The prince’s...... command. No other reason, needed.......”

Even though that thing had done it itself.

It seemed it did not even know the reason.

It simply obeyed because the one called the prince had ordered it to.

It was strange, but.

What mattered was.

Slash—

That zombie with powerful strength.

Was taking charge of one axis of the battlefield.

'There’s room now.'

The zombies had been rushing in from every direction.

Once that thing blocked one of those directions, I gained some leeway as well.

Thanks to that.

[Force-Feeding]

The hostages inside the building.

I was able to feed them my cooking.

“This way!”

“Yes.......”

The hostages, who had come to follow my orders.

I attempted to escape with them.

Slash—

The goblin was cutting down the enemies trying to head toward us so that the hostages and I could escape.

Thanks to that, I was able to get out of that wave of monsters for the moment.

Then.

“Sergeant Shin!”

“You two......!”

When I turned my head toward the presences I felt nearby.

I found two chefs there.

They were the people that goblin had originally been protecting.

It must have left those two somewhere safe for the moment before joining the battle.

“Hey, Sergeant Shin. There’s something I need to tell you urgently......!”

But.

Howard came running toward me and tried to tell me something.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Even after you left, I kept researching those bugs, and there were a few strange points.”

“Strange points?”

“There were parts where I couldn’t figure out the cause at all...... but what I just saw in that battle.......”

However.

Just as he was about to continue speaking like that.

BOOOOOM!

“......!”

The building behind us collapsed.

The goblin was blocking the enemies headed toward us to some degree.

But those zombies began smashing even through the buildings blocking their path as they approached us.

“Let’s talk about it later for now.”

“Y-Yeah. I guess we’ll have to.”

Since this was something he was trying to tell me, it had to be important.

Unfortunately, there was no room to have that conversation right now.

“This way!”

I tried to retreat together with the chefs who had joined me.

But.

“.......”

“What are you doing? Hurry up and move!”

The other one of the two chefs.

That kid...... Doyun, was standing there blankly, staring into the distance.

“Just now.......”

With eyes full of disbelief.

Doyun stared at that goblin and the battle taking place in the sky.

“Those corpses protected us.......”

“.......”

At those words.

I felt like I could understand a little of what Doyun was thinking.

But.

“Hurry.”

PAK!

Even I could not give an answer to that.

I grabbed Doyun’s arm and quickly began to run.

How long had we run like that?

“Sergeant Shin!”

“We’re sorry we’re late!”

The unit members who had come north with me.

I barely succeeded in linking up with them.

“Please leave these people to us.”

In the end, I was one person.

I could not run while taking care of all those awakened and chefs, so I had no choice but to match my pace to theirs.

Clack.

But once the unit members arrived.

They each hoisted two of the hostages onto their shoulders.

With the physical ability of the unit members, they would be able to escape before those zombies reached them even while carrying two people each.

'The immediate crisis is over.'

After watching that.

I turned my head and looked behind me.

The battlefield where the fierce fighting was taking place.

And now.

'......The monsters on the ground.'

The monsters that had only been fighting on the ground.

I could see some of them beginning to intervene in the battle taking place in that sky.

There were still zombies remaining on the defensive side, but.

Had they judged that the overall situation had already tilted?

Rather than devoting all their strength to eliminating them, the zombies on the ground began dividing their strength toward dealing with the prince in the sky.

Thanks to that.

Ripple......

The gray-black energy in the sky.

That energy, which had held the advantage against multiple enemies until only a few dozen minutes earlier, began to shake in an extremely unstable way.

And before long.

FWAAAAASH!!!

The attack of one of the five zombies struck the prince directly.

Then.

Crack......

That gray-black energy.

The pieces of flesh inside it scattered into the air.

'So it did have flesh.'

Flesh stained with blackened, hardened blood.

The first bare glimpse I saw of that prince was a piece of flesh torn from the body.

“Sergeant Shin.”

“The preparations are complete. Please move quickly.”

“The other unit members should be adjusting their speed as well, so we should be able to link up with them soon.”

The soldiers urged me to move quickly.

Just as they said.

The number of those zombies was considerable, and each one of them was strong on a level that could not be compared to ordinary monsters.

'We’ve secured all the hostages that were the reason we crossed into North Korean territory in the first place.'

Against that wave of zombies.

There was not a single reason for us to remain here.

If I had to find a reason, it would be the horde of zombies that would be waiting in the place we had to return to.

But even without that goblin’s guidance, if I used my cooking, I should be able to get at least our unit members back to the unit.

Leaving this place was the right choice.

It was the right choice to leave, but.......

“......Haa.”

“......Sergeant Shin?”

When they saw me sigh.

The soldiers looked at me with eyes that seemed to say, surely not.

***

The battle continuing in the sky.

That battle was certainly fierce.

But.

-......As expected, foolish.

A single opening shown once.

That opening had completely overturned the flow of battle.

As they continued to dig into that one opening.

The battle situation, which had been even...... no, even slightly disadvantageous for them, was reversed.

And even.

Crack......

With their attacks.

They succeeded in tearing off a part of that prince’s body.

They were parasites inside corpses in the first place.

Normally, an injury where part of the body was torn off should not have been anything significant, but.......

There were slight exceptions among individuals that had achieved extreme evolution.

'Part of the mimic nerves was severed.'

Through evolution.

In order to make extreme use of that lifeform’s body, they replaced that lifeform’s nerves with their own bodies.

The fact that part of the body had been severed meant that, just as many nerves as had originally existed in that body part.

Their true bodies, the parasites’ bodies, had also been damaged.

In reality.

After that, the battle situation that had already been tilting began to lean to one side even more rapidly.

Eventually.

BOOOOOM......!

From the attack they unleashed.

The prince’s body was flung away.

BOOM!

The gray-black energy fell to the ground and crashed into a building.

Perhaps it had been a fairly fatal wound.

The energy that had originally been thick became much fainter.

-Foolish beyond measure.

The zombies on the ground nearby surrounded it.

And the five zombies that had been fighting in the sky also approached that place.

-We do not know how you obtained such power.

-To think that, even with such power, you ended up in this state.

-Did you betray your kin just to see this pathetic result?

-And even.

Then.

The will of all the zombies conveyed the same meaning.

-You lost while trying to protect the species you found after betraying your kin.

“.......”

-If you had not done such a thing, victory in this battle would have been yours.

The zombies gathered around.

They could not understand that prince.

The reason an individual with that much power had appeared.

Or the reason such an individual had used power where the humans were and lost.

-......You must have known that the end of a foolish act would not be good.

When the prince did not answer.

They conveyed their will without minding it.

-Answer. Where are the corpses of the kin you hunted?

“.......”

-Are you trying to hide them? But it does not matter.

PAK! and.

The gazes of countless zombies turned somewhere at the same time.

-Is it there?

A building in one part of the city.

Once.

It was the very building where the three chefs had gathered and conducted research on the parasites.

-Because of your foolishness, the evolution of our kin was delayed. We do not know the reason, but that must have been what you intended.

“.......”

-But. In the end, that is no more than a trivial incident.

A traitor that had appeared among their kin.

The damage caused by it certainly existed.

But.

-An error that occurred by chance. An incident within a sufficiently possible margin of error.

“.......”

-Nothing changes from an error of that level.

In the end, right now.

That traitor was kneeling beneath their feet.

The trivial error had thereby been corrected.

-We will fulfill the role given to us as if nothing happened.

Now, as if there had never been any traitor at all.

They would continue the actions they were originally meant to take.

Then.

-......Why?

From the prince, who had given no answer to their words.

A will was transmitted.

-What do you mean, why?

-Why...... do you intend to carry out that role to the end?

At that will.

The wills of countless parasites resonated and gave one answer.

-Is a reason needed?

-.......

-That is the command engraved into our genes. No other reason is needed.

At their answer.

Ripple......

The gray-black energy rippled for a moment.

As if hesitating over something.

The energy seemed to think for a short while.

But.......

Droop......

Before long, that energy sank down.

As if giving up resistance.

As if accepting death, the energy became calm.

-Have you accepted it?

-Do not worry.

-The evolution you achieved will become excellent nourishment for us.......

The zombies began approaching that now-quiet energy.

And.

Toward the true body of that energy, they were about to deliver the final blow.......

At that very moment.

“Sorry.”

Someone stepped between them.

“There’s still a deal left between this side and me.”

-......!

There was a man.

***

-......!

When I appeared.

The gazes of countless zombies stabbed toward me.

Through [Mental Language] and [Taste Bud Enhancement], even their wordless wills were translated to some degree.

'First of all, spicy.'

Unfathomably deep anger.

And mixed within it, faintly.

'A slightly astringent taste.'

A slight worry.

-Why are you......?

“I told you. You still have a deal left with me, so if you go like this, it’ll be a problem.”

I answered toward the astringent taste I felt behind my back.

-That deal had not even properly begun yet.

“That’s true, actually. So I was thinking about just leaving.”

I answered while gripping the kitchen knives tightly in both hands.

“But if I just left like this, it felt like it would bother me so much I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

-What.......

And.

The many spicy tastes I felt from the front.

-Human.

-It is a human.

-A human is defending the traitor.

In their emotionless feelings.

A massive anger rose.

-The traitor to our kin has finally joined hands with a human!

“GWOOOOOOOOOOOORGH!!!”

Countless zombies roared.

Countless zombies roared.

The soundwaves alone were enough to make buildings shake.

-......What you threw away your kin to join hands with was nothing more than a human like this?

And.

The place emitting the most intense spicy taste among that red flavor.

-We do not know why you did such a foolish thing.

The five zombies approached me.

-But the price for cooperating with that foolishness...... must also be paid.

The presence I felt from each one of them was equal to that chancellor.

In other words.

All five of them were monsters comparable to Ariella back when she had become a great noble.

'Mm, did I come here for nothing after all?'

Their pressure was strong enough to make me think that for a moment.

But what could I do?

I had already done it.

Not only could I not back down here.......

“I wanted to check something anyway.”

-......?

As it happened.

The hostages that had been restricting my actions had just been entrusted to the unit members.

“How much force I can bring out right now ‘without overdoing it’.......”

So.

“I think your level is just right for finding that out.”