Chapter 19: The Decay

[Day 2]

Asahi sprinted toward the direction of the scream. Like the events depicted in the series, the very first undead attack on the academy took place at the academy's gate. Thanks to his sharp memory, he clearly remembered the incident that started everything.

A group of undead, donned in black suits, relentlessly attempted to breach the sturdy metal gate. A male teacher casually approached the undead to warn them, only to get his hand instantly bitten in the process.

Panic filled the air as a pretty, bespectacled teacher rushed to help her colleague. The bespectacled buxom lady with reddish brown hair was Kyoko Hayashi, a teacher and advisor of the Ping Pong club.

As Kyoko inquired about the teacher's well-being, he succumbed to death and was reborn as an undead.

The very next instance, the newly-turned undead teacher seized Kyoko and sank his teeth into Kyoko's neck, tearing away a grotesque chunk of flesh. Her agonized shriek reverberated through the school, filled with sheer terror and pain.

Asahi watched Kyoko getting bitten before his eyes. Strangely, the undead left her alone after she was bitten. Instead, it chased the other people present at the scene.

Kyoko was paralyzed on the spot, unable to escape or even rise to her feet.

'I might be able to save her.'

Asahi faced a daunting obstacle — seven undead, clad in tattered black suits, obstructing the entrance to the academy building. Each one bore nasty wounds — one with half of its rib cage exposed, another missing its right arm, and a third with a shattered skull, leaking fragments of brain matter. 

He suppressed the rising disgust.

'I gotta be quick.'

(My love, you must prioritize yourself.)

Klyscha wished for him to survive over the world — he didn't expect less from his stalker goddess wife.

'I'll only save people if it's not too much effort.'

Asahi swiped his thumb over his ornate ring. Immediately, an ax with a wooden handle and red blade emerged in his hands — it was the Primeval Ax he had previously bought disguised as a firefighter Ax to avoid suspicion.

As he clutched the ax, he felt a surge of energy in his veins — the passive effects of his mastery skill and equip bonus of his Primeval Ax greatly enhanced his strength and dexterity.

He crept up on the undead and swung his weapon. The ax sliced through their decaying bodies, leaving a clean, definitive line across their napes. Their severed heads tumbled to the ground, their lifeless forms collapsing soon after.

The remaining undead turned towards Asahi and set their bloodthirsty gazes on him. Stretching their arms, they hobbled towards him.

"Death…" They chanted in unison. "Death to every human…"

Their hobbled movements and unified chanting made them appear more like cult members than mindless zombies seeking human flesh.

Asahi smirked. "Lumberjack Asahi reporting for duty."

Clutching his trusty ax's handle, he did a diagonal swipe through an undead, bisecting it from shoulder to torso. Blood and intestines spilled out as the undead crumpled to the ground.

Yet, the man in black suit continued dragging himself with one arm, hellbent on devouring Asahi's flesh. The sight would've made most grown adults wet their pants.

Asahi, however, was prepared for the terror. He immediately stomped on the undead's head. The casual force generated from his 52 Strength completely crushed the undead's skull into dust.

(Four more!)

He took in a long, labored breath, feeling his throat constrict as the overpowering stench of blood and guts filled his nostrils. "Remind me to buy something for this stench later."

Giving a reminder to his goddess wife, he delivered a crushing kick to an undead, knocking it back with another undead. He easily beheaded the two undead with two casual strikes. The fallen undead struggled to get back to their feet, allowing Asahi to finish them off with ease.

A sense of refreshing feeling coursed through him, and he instinctively realized its nature. He had just leveled up.

(DND mode on system notifications until you're free!)

'How considerate.'

He chuckled and kicked down the metal gate. The feat was quite easy with his 52 Strength, 22 points of which came from his passive skills. The sound attracted the undead on the other side of the gate, as well as the attention of the teacher. Kyoko was sitting down in shock, suppressing the bleeding of her neck wound with both hands.

"Stay away, you!" Kyoko shouted at him in a trembling voice. "These people are dangerous!"

Asahi smiled and swept his ax in a reverse arc. Immediately, an undead's head flew and landed at Kyoko's feet, causing her to shriek and crawl back in horror.

Asahi maintained his calm and killed the undead while maintaining a safe distance from them. Due to his magic resistance, he won't get afflicted with the curse so easily. But getting hurt would be bad for his worrywart Nee-san's health.

He also refused to let the undead blood drench his clothes.

After crushing the last undead's head beneath his foot, he approached Kyoko, who was visibly shaken by his ruthlessness. She had yet to process the reality that people had turned into bloodthirsty undead. She still considered them sick individuals consumed by a bloodthirsty disease, akin to rabies.

From her perspective, he had just murdered multiple people without so much as a flinch.

Asahi reached into his pocket and pulled out a soft cloth to wipe away the thick, crimson blood that stained the blade of his ax. "Sensei, do you want to cry until you die, or do you want to live?"

There was no time for small talk as he directly asked her a serious question, leaving her feeling pressured to decide.

She lowered her hands from her wounds. "Help me. Take me to the nurse—"

Her brown pupils suddenly shrank to an unnatural degree. A web of black veins spread from her neck wound and immediately began to cover her body. Everywhere the black veins traveled, they dyed her flesh with a pale, deathly color.

The Decay curse had taken root within her.

A sharp crack echoed through the air as her bones shifted and popped out of place, her body contorting in a way humans were not meant to.

Asahi hurriedly withdrew the cure for the curse — a small injector filled with a shimmering blue fluid — and stabbed it right into her neck wound. He had spared aside a few thousand KP to buy tons of potions to cure the Decay curse. Yes, this was no virus that traveled through the bloodstream, but a curse that was transmitted through bite only.

Anyone with high magic resistance could overcome the curse's effects and thrive in the new world. However, once they were infected with the curse, it was game over. They would fall under the influence of the Decay and strive to end humanity.

Nobody except Asahi could cure the Decay curse.

Carefully discarding the now empty syringe, Asahi gently supported her trembling body with his hand. 

(She will live.)

He nodded and withdrew a vial of healing potion from his ring. The shimmering green fluid, which was worth 120 KP, was forced into her mouth. He made her swallow the potion while she was still struggling to fight back the grasp of Decay.

The black veins on her neck swelled momentarily before receding back into her body, as if retreating in defeat. The wound itself began to close, the skin knitting together with astonishing speed, leaving behind a renewed layer of flesh.

Most of her clothes were still covered in blood — a reminder of the horrible events that had just taken place.

***

Kyoko Hayashi