Chapter: 97

-A few hours later-

"So, it's time then? Time to return?" Sif asked me. We were back in Azazel's lab where I double checked the sheet with all of the coordinates.

"In a manner of speaking. We still have to correctly find the correct dimension coordinates. We have a 1 in 15 chance."

With my high luck stat, it shouldn't take too many tries. Hopefully, at least. I reached deep inside of me to my Orb of Anywhere Sacred Gear and activated it.

- 1500 MP!

A large chunk of my MP left me as a swirling black and golden portal appeared in front of me. It was incredibly hazy, and I couldn't see through it at all. That unfortunately meant I'd have to go through.

"Be wary," I said as I approached the portal. "We have no idea what kind of place is awaiting us."

"Of course," Sif confidently replied. In a flash of light, a set of pitch-black armor appeared around her body. It was a set I had borrowed from Penemue's room. Because it was Fallen Angel armor, it was much more form-fitting and sexy than her Asgardian armor ever was. I was starting to find it harder to take my eyes off of her the longer we were together.

I wasn't big on metallurgy, though, so I didn't know how its defenses stacked up.

I went through the portal first, and Sif followed close behind me. "It appears to be a city of some kind." Sif commented as she took in our surroundings.

"It's more than that. We're in Times Square." I said while also taking in the sights… except. Something with this Times Square was very wrong. Weeds were growing all along the sidewalks and streets. There wasn't a single person in sight. In fact, I couldn't hear anyone nearby at all. It was as if New York City had been completely abandoned.

That was not a good sign. On top of that, I was getting some bad vibes.

This clearly wasn't Earth Marvel. I spun around back towards the portal to tell Sif we should leave when, to my horror, the portal had faded away.

"SHIT!" I cursed loudly. We were stuck here until I recovered 1500 MP to send us back to try again. My MP recovery rate is comparable to my Intelligence per hour. That meant with 200 Intelligence, I'd only recover 200 MP an hour…

"We're stuck here for a few hours," I said to Sif's inquisitive look. "I don't have enough mana to send us back right now."

Sif nodded before once again looking around. "This is Midgard, yes. A version of it at least? I wonder what has befallen it for it to be abandoned so?" She commented. That was a good question.

We might as well search for some clues while we were stuck here. Did Thanos snap away the entire population in this reality? I looked into the sky and saw a few birds flying around, though. Animals were still here in the abandoned city, so that shouldn't have been the case.

"Layla, over here!" Sif called out towards me from behind an abandoned car that was covered in weeds and vines. I walked behind it and almost gagged at what I saw on the ground.

It was a corpse…

A human corpse. It looked like it had been eaten… recently. The bite marks also didn't look like they came from an animal.

[Oh, that's not good…]

'What is it, system? I'm getting some serious bad vibes now.'

[Quest Issued! Survive! → You have ended up in the Marvel Zombies Universe! Survive and escape!]

"Marvel Zombies! Oh fuck! Sif, we gotta get out of here!" I exclaimed before grabbing her arm.

"Uh, Layla. I think Midgard has a bit of a Draugr problem…" Sif said, and I heard groaning. They were coming from everywhere. From every single building nearby, I started to hear the shuffling of feet. Why the hell couldn't I sense them before!? In fact, I still can't sense them.

[They're nothing but animated corpses moving because of a virus. There's no magic in them to sense.]

A huge horde of walking corpses slowly started to emerge from all around us. We were completely surrounded!

I ran over to Sif and scooped her up in my arms before deploying my wings and taking to the air. Being able to fly was the best. Fuck you, zombies! I'll just stay in the air and wait for my magic to refill from up here safely!

CRACK!

-100 HP

I felt something violently slam into my back. What the hell just hit me!?

CRACK!

-300 HP

"Ow! You fucker!" It hit me again, but this time in the back of my head. I spun around and perched on a nearby rooftop was… The Punisher?

Or at least his zombie corpse.

And he was aiming a gigantic anti-material rifle right at me…

"Throw me at him, Layla! I shall skewer this pathetic draugr for daring to hurt the woman I love!" Sif yelled from my arms.

Eh, might as well. I did as she asked, and using my new improved strength, I was able to hurl the Asgardian a few blocks towards the Zombie Punisher. She slammed down nearby onto the same rooftop he was on.

He stopped aiming the sniper rifle at me and instead pulled a shotgun off his back and pointed it at Sif.

"Your mortal toys won't work on me, corpse!" Sif said confidently as she drew her sword. She charged forward to strike him down.

BOOM!

I watched almost in slow motion as the shotgun metal pellets struck her form. Thankfully, she was correct, and his shotgun didn't have any effect on her. It didn't have close to the stopping power the anti-material rifle did.

Sif ignored the pellets as they bounced off her armor and skin as she swung her sword downward. From his shoulder to his hip, the zombie was perfectly bisected. To my shock, though, he still wasn't dead.

"Grrrrrr." With only one arm and half a torso to work with, the zombie still tried to crawl its way towards Sif to bite her.

"Pathetic." Sif sneered as she stabbed her blade down through his head. That did it. The zombie stopped moving. It was dead–well, extra dead now.

Sif turned to me and gave me a victorious grin.

Uh oh. I know where this was going. Don't say it!

Sif smirked. "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? This dimension has nothing we can't handle!"

Fuck… she said it…

"…"

"ROOOOOOAAAAARRRR!"

And there was what I was truly afraid of… Down on the street hatefully glaring up at Sif and I was another zombie. It was big. It was green. It was very much dead and yet still moving.

It was a zombie Hulk…

XXX

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