‘Got it, got it. I’ll treat you if we can safely return. Just one tart or two, no big deal.’

「It’s a promise!」

Delighted Zero aside, I extended the dagger that had cut my palm earlier and asked the group.

“So, who’s next?”
This time, the horrified gazes did not return. Instead, there were only those quietly raising their hands, eager to create the bait. We had to acquire the northern gate for sure in this operation disguised as suppression. Even if it meant thinking about those awaiting us.

‘I can’t retreat, no matter what.’

Keiran looked irritated as he gazed at the collapsed wall of zombies. He had left Linstead and hidden in a shelter he knew well. Although he had prepared strong whiskey, cheese, ripe grapes, and biscuits, he failed to witness the survivors facing their demise.

“Tsk. The taste of the alcohol has gone down.”

‘Couldn’t even carry out a simple command to push forward with quantity.’

“As expected, it was too much for these lower creatures who move only on instinct.”

Although he said that, Keiran’s face as he chewed and swallowed the biscuit was hideously fierce.

‘Like rat pups escaping.’

Where did he go?

Fortunately, thanks to the protection spell set in advance, even amidst the chaos, the eyes of the zombies Keiran shared vision with did not burst. His head was also intact.

Keiran, groping for the footsteps of surviving humans in real-time, muttered.

“They couldn’t have gone far. Surrounded by zombies on all sides, where could they escape?”

While the immediate crisis was averted, the plight of the hidden survivors was like mice trapped in poison.

‘There seems to be a magician thinking reasonably… But for an artifact made outside the Tower of Magic, it won’t last long.’

Keiran, who dealt with non-zombie magic, saw through the survivors who hid their bodies using magical artifacts.

The figures of survivors hiding with the use of magical artifacts flashed by like a momentary flash, but among them, Keiran noticed a woman with striking silver hair.

‘Her name was… What was it? Elizabeth Kitten?’

The woman, the current owner of the Kitten Duchy and where the survivors stayed, was commanding the survivors.

A woman who was neither a knight, a cleric, nor a magician but rather an incompetent person.

‘Certainly, that woman used to be different from what I remember…’

Stupid and incompetent. That was the Elizabeth Keiran remembered.

But now she was completely different. The woman with vibrant violet eyes, lively darting among people, was not the Elizabeth he knew.

Even though there was only fragmentary information about her, Keiran strangely felt repulsed by Elizabeth.

Very, extremely.

‘Unpleasant.’

It was a feeling similar to the intense disgust, anger, and hatred he felt when he first saw Sienna Evergreen, whom he hated, in the realm of death where she finally led the real Keiran to death.

Disgusting and dirty feelings towards the ‘protagonist’ blessed by the gods, coupled with resentment.
As there had been no particular contact with Elizabeth so far, Keiran couldn’t be certain that the energy he felt from her was entirely the same as when he saw Sienna, but one thing was clear.

“…I have to kill her.”

Leaving that woman alive seemed to promise troublesome events in the future. Although the saint in Sienna’s report had been the Second Prince, for some reason, Elizabeth Kitten felt like a thorn under Keiran’s fingernails.

‘It’s just a hastily made artifact; it’s over once the usable time runs out.’

It would take time to use it again.

Inside, hungry zombie hordes smelling human blood would swarm them, leaving no trace behind.

“Yes. It has to be done.”

Draining the whiskey in the crystal glass, Keiran indulged himself.

There was no way his plan could fail.

Soon, within the eyes of the zombies he shared vision with, the final struggles of the humans pleading to be spared would be captured.

However, an unknown anxiety kept creeping up.

The humans who should die in that place seemed persistently alive, giving him an unpleasant premonition that they might interfere.

And soon, that became a reality.

For us, who were prepared, there was not much time left to maintain the barrier.

“Grrrrrragaga!”

“Gueeeeaaah!”

In the distance, the cries of zombies, as if the drugs had suddenly kicked in, resounded. It sounded like a threat that they wouldn’t stay quiet if even one of them got caught, and my heart chilled.

‘It’s okay.’

I took a deep breath and asked Benedict.

“Let’s start!”

With only a few minutes left for the mobile barrier artifact.

We, who decided to use the remaining time to run towards the northern gate, took a strong stance to push forward.

We were ready to run with all our might.

【I’ll ask you. You have the role of luring them with bait. I believe you can do it well.】

At Benedict’s request, the spirits struck my chest and said.

【Leave it to us!】

With the power of the spirits, our appearance was projected onto the bloody chunks of meat that were floating in the air.

Including the setting that we got injured while being chased by zombies.

【Hmmm.】

【Let’s try hunting the starving wolves.】

As we exposed the chunks of meat outside the barrier, the eyes of the zombies showed signs of frenzy.

The fragrant scent of human blood, long-awaited by zombies.

“Kraaaaah!”

Without hesitation, I shouted as I saw zombies rushing towards the chunks of meat.

“Run!”