It happened in an instant.

The pungent smell of smoke, the scent of gunpowder, and the sound of bombs exploding all hit at once, leaving no time for rational thought.

Even with the strongest shield, it felt like our hearts were being torn apart in the face of such violence. The screams of zombies echoed—it was like the sound of hell.

Perhaps due to the tens of thousands of zombies attempting to climb the capital’s walls, there was a foul smell of decaying flesh.

“Damn. The gods must be able to say something like this when they look from afar!”

“Uwak.”

Several soldiers retched. I did too. So did Zero. The scene was that horrific.

Would even hell be like this?

“Sudo… completely gone.”

Zero muttered absentmindedly. My party members standing behind him had similarly blank expressions.

“A capital with a history of hundreds of years turned into this…”

“How pathetic.”

“Are all the zombies definitely dead?”

“That’s the hope.”

Michael, Ruth, Benedict, and Aston each spoke in turn. Aston’s expression was the most difficult to read.

“…The capital Agata, which I once so desperately wanted to return to, has become a pile of ashes.”

Ah, Agata was Aston’s hometown, even if it was a hated one. It was a place of nostalgic memories from his childhood.

Aston initially wore an ashen expression as he stared at the ashes that had flown as far as his feet, but he soon kicked it away, suppressing his sadness.

I looked at the burning capital.

The walls collapsed, and everything inside melted and burned due to the bombs.

There was nothing that could survive there. The mansion of the influential Kitten family, the palace of the now-humble imperial family, and the once-glorious papal palace—all destroyed, reduced to nothing but ashes.

Looking at the scenery where everything had been destroyed, I calmly gave orders.

“Begin the search. There might still be zombies that haven’t stopped moving. Find them all and deal with them.”

“Understood, Your Excellency!”

“Hurry. After confirming the extermination of the zombies, we must immediately head to Rinstead. We need to arrest the criminal Kirie Warei hiding there.”

“Yes!”

Countless troops scattered, scouring through the remnants of the collapsed capital.

“Ugh… Uwaaa…”

“Here’s a zombie!”

“Get a spear! Bring a spear!”

Indeed. Surprisingly, there were still some zombies that stubbornly refused to die even amidst the tremendous explosion.

Soldiers brought various weapons to strike and stab the zombie’s head, being careful not to be affected by forbidden magic.

Fortunately, as these zombies had already been affected by the explosion, their legs, arms, and other parts had melted away, rendering them immobile. The soldiers easily dealt with the incapacitated zombies.

“…Farewell.”
The zombies were ultimately ordinary citizens of the empire, and the soldiers who knew they were once living people shed tears while dealing with them.

I silently hoped that among the zombies the soldiers had to deal with, they wouldn’t find anyone they knew. It was too heart-wrenching of a task.

Magicians, priests, and holy knights roamed around meticulously checking for any hidden zombies. Typically, priests or holy knights would dispel zombies by sprinkling them with sacred power like insect repellent, while magicians attacked and dealt with the detected ones.

“Hooh. Even if we set aside the longstanding grudges, combos are good.”

“That’s right.”

Ruth and Michael were also pouring out excellent coordinated attacks, so it wasn’t a time to fall behind. Since they were also my superiors, Ruth and Michael wouldn’t just stand by.

Surrounding the remnants still burning with a fervent flame, we concluded the final battle with the zombies.

“Kiaaak…”

“Kkaak…”

“…Rest in peace.”

The number of zombies returning to corpses with their heads destroyed gradually decreased.

Thanks to our swift actions, the time it took to completely clean up the capital was not that long.

“Nothing unusual in the east of the capital!”

“We’ve dealt with everything in the west of the capital!”

“The south is calm too!”

Assigned to the north, I also couldn’t see any more zombies.

However, I could only witness the corpses of the victims who had fallen asleep forever along with the ruins of the capital.

“…Well done, everyone.”

After finishing the confirmation, when I gestured to Aston, he shouted.

“I, Aston Del Heinzworth, the second prince of the Kaladia Empire, proclaim in the name of the imperial lineage! Now, at this moment, we have confirmed the annihilation of the zombies that plagued our empire! This is a victory for us humans!”

“Waaaah!”

A fierce cheer resounded. Some tasted joy, while others tasted sadness, all shared in the triumph.

I also wanted to share in this joy, but… I couldn’t afford that luxury.

“Liz!”

“Got it. I got it.”