Chapter 188: Crossroads (1)

Laurent rode toward Française.

Just as he had heard, troops with torches were blocking access to the city.

Laurent searched for an area with unusually weak surveillance and approached through there.

Several troops were gathered, talking amongst themselves. From time to time, the word “Française” could be heard, but he couldn’t clearly make out what they were saying.

Laurent dismounted and activated his mana method as he approached.

Thanks to his experience fighting with Yuri in skirmishes against the imperial army, his understanding of stealth had improved significantly.

He moved forward crouched, in complete silence. Even passing right beside them, the soldiers didn’t notice his presence.

“Have you entered Française?”

“No.”

“They say something serious happened…”

Laurent had to suppress the urge to confront them right then and there. He would confirm it with his own eyes soon enough.

With persistence, he pushed through the bushes. The line of surveillance was behind him now.

In front of him stretched the city of Française.

Laurent slowly stood upright. Strangely, no sound could be heard. Only his footsteps echoed with abnormal force.

Since he had left his horse behind to infiltrate, he had no choice but to run if he wanted to move quickly. He started running toward the castle.

That was when, suddenly, he came across a group of people.

Laurent felt relief.

“Excuse me…”

There were about six people, standing in silence, looking at each other.

As he got closer, Laurent’s expression hardened. At a glance, they didn’t seem normal.

Cautiously, he spoke.

“May I ask you a question?”

One of them turned his head toward Laurent. But he didn’t respond. They were under the shadow of a thick tree, so their faces were hidden.

The very fact that they were silently gathered in the middle of the night was already suspicious enough.

Laurent placed his fingers on the hilt of his sword and spoke.

“Can you hear me?”

Then, they all began walking toward him.

But their way of walking was strange. They limped, they staggered. And not just one—all of them did.

“Stop right there!”

Laurent backed away, frowning. Their figures soon became clearer.

Laurent was speechless. Their appearances were horrifying.

Torn faces, punctured bodies. Some had both arms ripped off and barely stood on their legs.

They let out shrieks and lunged at him.

But their movements were simple, incapable of harming someone like Laurent, who had reached a high level. They were clumsier than wild beasts.

Soon, they all lay on the ground, crawling with limbs amputated by Laurent’s sword.

“What the hell…?”

The most terrifying part was that they still weren’t dead. Even with bodies that should already be corpses, they kept writhing.

Laurent looked at them in horror. They were still trying to bite him, their broken teeth clashing.

When he stabbed them in the head, they finally stopped.

The head was their weak spot. Keeping that in mind, Laurent destroyed all their heads.

“They look like zombies out of a horror story.”

After contemplating the six lifeless corpses, he turned his gaze toward the city of Française.

“Something…”

Something was happening in there. Maybe that “demon seed” Sothers spoke of was this. A regular person would have lost their mind in that situation.

Laurent, with his sword gripped in his hand, moved forward again. Could the palace of Briol really be unaware of this situation?

He doubted it. The presence of those troops blocking the entrance made him suspicious of Cedric.

Even though he respected the Third Prince too much to doubt him, he could no longer trust Cedric.

He was involved, or directly responsible. And thus, Laurent disappeared into the shadows of Française.

***

Laurent continued moving forward, eliminating countless zombies. Even when dawn broke, those creatures didn’t stop moving.

Laurent had to accept it. Française had fallen.

Or at least, it was in an equivalent state. Maybe there were still survivors somewhere, but it would never be the same again.

“Excuse me…”

As he walked through the destroyed village, he suddenly heard a voice.

“Excuse me…”

Laurent turned.

It came from a storage shed attached to one of the houses. Through the broken door, a pair of eyes peeked out.

“Are… you human?”

Laurent approached and opened the door without hesitation. A young girl appeared and, scared, fell on her back.

She looked to be about twelve or thirteen. Her hair was tangled and dirty, as if she’d been lost for days.

“And you are?”

“I… My name is Stephanie. I was hiding here because I was scared.”

She was the first human being he had encountered in Française. The rest had turned into zombies.

“You are… human, right?”

“What else do I look like?”

“You look… human…”

Laurent inspected the inside of the shed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“It’s just that… there were many monsters that looked human. I can’t trust just because someone looks human.”

“Then don’t trust me.”

“Ugh…”

Stephanie timidly approached Laurent.

“You’re a knight, right? Are you trying to get out of Française?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“I’m going in the opposite direction.”

“Into the city?”

The girl made a horrified expression.

“Why? We have to get out! I want to leave too. Can I go with you?”

“I said I’m heading in.”

“Why?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Laurent looked at her coldly as he responded. He was tense from everything he’d experienced and from the situation in Française.

Stephanie shrugged.

“It’s dangerous in there…”

Laurent thought for a moment. If he left her there, she would die. But he had to keep moving toward the center.

Then he spoke.

“Stephanie.”

“Yes?”

“I’m heading to the feudal lord’s castle. Do you know anything about it?”

“No…”

“Whatever state it’s in, it’s probably still holding out.”

As he left the shed, he said without looking at her.

“If you’re coming with me, then follow. But I’m not promising to protect you.”

“I-I’ll go with you!”

The girl trotted after him.

“Sir Knight, why are you going to the castle?”

“…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to get out of here?”

“I want to go quietly.”

“Understood…”

Stephanie was quite talkative. Or maybe she talked like that out of anxiety.

Laurent eliminated every zombie he encountered. Since they didn’t know how to flee, all it took was to draw their attention to kill them easily.

Stephanie said.

“I watched from my hiding place. There are stronger zombies. Those should be avoided.”

“And how do you know they’re stronger?”

“Their skin is different. Like it’s been burned. Like…”

Just then, she screamed while walking behind Laurent.

“T-That one! That’s one of them!”

Laurent turned. Emerging from the remains of a half-collapsed building, a zombie approached.

It was different from the previous ones. Just as Stephanie had said, its skin looked burned and patched, and its eyes shone with a sinister light.

Even its gait was different—it seemed normal.

“That one…”

Laurent noticed a rag hanging from its body, as if it were part of a tunic.

It looked familiar—it was a knight’s uniform. He never imagined a knight could turn into a zombie.

“How…?”

He couldn’t finish. The zombie lunged at him.

Laurent swung his sword. But the zombie quickly dodged and counterattacked with its claws.

“Tsk!”

Laurent bent backward with agility and regained his balance. He activated his mana method.

A white light burst from his sword.

“W-Wow…!”

Stephanie exclaimed with admiration from behind.

Laurent focused on the zombie. Unlike the others, it was fast and seemed to have some sense.

Even so, it still showed a ravenous hunger for humans. Though it had retreated, it stared at him salivating, as if holding itself back before launching again.

Laurent stepped closer.

“Can you understand me?”

“…”

“Can you hear me?”

The zombie lunged.

Laurent gave up trying to communicate and attacked immediately. The zombie dodged a couple of times, but was eventually cut to pieces by Laurent’s sword.

Laurent approached the writhing body and placed a foot on its chest. The zombie tried to bite his leg, but with added pressure, it could no longer move.

“Last question. Can you speak?”

“Kieeek…”

It didn’t seem so.

Laurent crushed its head.

“Stephanie.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s go.”

Laurent turned away. Stephanie followed him, glancing sideways at the dead zombie.

“Amazing… Sir Knight, are you a famous knight? You handle the sword incredibly well.”

“You’re hungry, right?”

“Are you famous? …Yes, I’m hungry.”

“Here.”

Laurent handed her some jerky. Stephanie accepted it and ate it in an instant.

Laurent offered another piece.

“Thank you!”

Laurent and Stephanie walked together through the zombie-infested village, eating jerky.

***

Yuri was atop the wall, swinging his sword.

“Damn it!”

The Empire had resumed its attack.

Imperial knights used jump devices to climb the wall and attack.

Fiore was facing the Black Knight. He commanded several elite knights who fought alongside him, preventing Fiore from finishing him off quickly.

Even so, Fiore far outmatched them, even when outnumbered. But undoubtedly, he was being held back.

While Fiore fought the Black Knight, the rest of the imperial army continued to assault the fortress of Bezos like a swarm of locusts.

At one point, they even threw up ropes, allowing soldiers without jump devices to climb and draw their weapons.

They were at an even greater disadvantage than before.

“Damn it, Laurent!”

Yuri called out his name without realizing and clicked his tongue. He was gone now.

“Jared!”

“Yes!”

“Follow me, they’ve thrown up ropes over there. We have to remove them.”

While they spoke, imperial soldiers kept climbing the ropes.

Briol’s soldiers fired arrows, but the imperials shielded themselves with huge metal shields.

“Just the two of us?”

“Then get reinforcements.”

“Everyone’s busy… If only Laurent were here…”

“He has more urgent matters.”

“Understood. Let’s go.”

“Let’s go!”

They both ran to a critical point of the wall. A commander-ranked knight awaited them there.

“Third Prince!”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“I’m the captain of the Lance and Sword squad.”

“In the Empire, there are orders without numbers?”

“Only those from the imperial palace have numbers.”

Their swords clashed.

Yuri, from the start, used his chaos energy to pressure the enemy. The commander was surprised by his strength and stepped back.

“You’re formidable! Hahaha!”

“Stop laughing like a cheap villain and just die already.”

“What vulgar language!”

“Is that all?”

“You don’t seem like a prince.”

“So what? You bastard!”

Yuri’s sword fell like lightning.

The commander, overwhelmed, could barely block the attacks. Then, he was kicked by Yuri and fell to the ground.

Yuri didn’t hesitate and brought his sword down on him. The man rolled to dodge it, but Yuri kept attacking relentlessly.

The commander kept rolling.

“Wait! You’re even stronger than they said! Enough already!”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“We can talk…”

“Just die.”

“Why such a bad temper?”

Without replying, Yuri drove his sword into the armor.

“Urgh!”

“Don’t fake it.”

Just before being skewered, the commander twisted his waist and the sword only pierced the side of his armor.

They were so close now it looked like they were about to grapple.

The commander whispered.

“Listen to me, Yuri Briol.”

“Shut your mouth and—”

“I’m here to help you.”

“Trash…”

“Yekaterina.”

Upon hearing that, Yuri paused for a moment. Between his helmet, the exhausted face of the commander revealed a crooked smile.

“It was Lady Yekaterina who sent me.”