Chapter Twenty-Three: The Hidden Realm

"Careful! It's a mutant!"

At the terrifying sound, even Chris, who had always been indifferent, widened her eyes. She swiftly turned and aimed at the monster, then pulled the trigger with force. With a thunderous bang, the energy shells from her shotgun sprayed toward the creature like a hailstorm. The monster was clearly shrewd; it roared and quickly drew back its thick arm to shield itself. The shells struck its club-like limb, but instead of tearing through its body, the pure energy bullets scattered like fireworks and vanished into thin air.

"Roar—!"

This is bad!

Seeing the monster stretch out its arms again, reaching forward, Chris didn't hesitate. She rushed directly to intercept, gripping her shotgun tightly. If she could block even a little of the mutant's attack, it would give her a chance to strike back. As long as she could protect the commander’s maid—

"Whoosh!"

Chris didn’t know what happened. All she felt was a cold wind brushing past her cheek, severing several strands of silver hair that danced away. In the next moment, she saw an enormous, almost exaggerated spiked club whistle forward like a cannonball, slamming into the monster's arm.

This unlucky mutant zombie clearly didn't possess the strength of the previous elite energy leech. Under the tremendous force, its thick arms snapped like dry twigs, and with unstoppable momentum, the spiked club carried the broken limbs and struck the mutant zombie’s head. With a wet pop, its skull burst like a water balloon. The massive body wobbled, then collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud, utterly still.

...

...

...

The three sisters were utterly stunned. Even Corona, hiding amongst everyone, stared in disbelief at the cat-eared maid beside her. Chris and Elka exchanged bewildered and astonished glances toward Derlin. They had always suspected that, as the commander’s maid, Derlin could not possibly be powerless, but this wild fighting style startled even them. Especially as Derlin slowly withdrew her spiked club, fragments of bone and brain matter falling from it, the trio shuddered in unison.

Noticing their gaze, Derlin offered a faint smile, lifted her skirt with her left hand, and bowed slightly to the three. As if she had merely done a small task, quite embarrassed...

The corridor was calm once more. The attackers always struck in waves—either they survived or died. Their assault had failed, leaving only corpses scattered along the hallway. The stench mingled with black blood oozing from their mangled bodies, filling the air with a nauseating reek.

"It seems there’s nothing left but these creatures... What a pity..."

Lifting his head and scanning the surroundings under the dim emergency lights, Ferren carefully took in the scene. This was the first basement floor, resembling a warehouse; there was no server equipment here, nor did it appear to be the energy core area.

"Shall we split up to search, Commander?"

Hearing Ferren's words, Elka immediately asked. To her surprise, Ferren smiled and shook his head.

"No, we move together. Just follow me."

Puzzled by his order, Elka said nothing more. If she’d once thought Ferren was just a delicate, powerless man, she had now completely abandoned that notion. When the attackers struck, Ferren and Elka had each blocked a corridor. Elka’s fierce firepower kept the zombies at bay, and any stragglers were blasted away by Chris. But Ferren was alone on the other side, which was worrisome.

Elka had braced herself, but she was still shocked by Ferren’s bizarre fighting style. As zombies lunged at him, Ferren simply pressed his wide-brimmed hat with one hand and kept the other in his coat pocket. It looked as if he were merely standing there, yet every zombie that approached was sliced into pieces and dropped to the floor. It was as though an invisible meat grinder separated him from the monsters, shredding anything that entered into fragments.

Recalling this, Elka shivered again, her gaze toward Ferren changing once more.

Her commander truly was an unusual man...

By not splitting up, their search of the basement took longer than expected. Though the attackers had been vanquished, there was no telling what else might lurk in such a place. Still, Elka and the others were far less tense than before. With Ferren and Derlin displaying extraordinary combat prowess, their priority was not protecting the commander but carrying out their duties efficiently. Unburdened, the three sisters moved swiftly. Yet after thorough inspection, nothing strange was found below.

"Let’s go."

With nothing gained in the basement, Ferren turned toward the stairs. Though his decision to investigate downstairs was puzzling, the others followed him, climbing the steps back up.

"Whew..."

Ascending the stairs and seeing the gloomy sky, Elka breathed a sigh of relief. The basement hadn’t been especially dangerous, but she disliked its dark, oppressive atmosphere. Ever since nearly being buried alive in an abandoned villa’s cellar three years ago, Elka kept her distance from such places. She preferred open spaces where the sky was visible; at least, if anything happened, she had a chance to escape...

Thinking this, Elka instinctively glanced at the wall by the stairwell entrance—and froze.

"Com-Commander?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Um... We just came up from the basement, right..."

"And?"

"But this..."

Staring at the wall marked "5F," Elka was at a loss for words. She rushed to the window and looked down, then recoiled two steps, trembling.

"Commander! This is the fifth floor, we've reached the fifth floor?!"

"Huh?"

Ferren and Derlin showed no reaction, but Chris and Corona were shocked. They hurried to the window and peered outside—defensive emplacements blazing, zombies surging from every direction. But—

The height was simply unnatural!

"We... only climbed two flights of stairs..."

Corona whispered, her head bowed as she examined the steps they'd just ascended—twelve steps per flight, with a landing in the middle. Even at twenty-four steps, there was no way they could have reached the fifth floor so quickly.

...

No one spoke. Though they hadn't counted the steps, it certainly wasn’t the height of five stories. Chris, Elka, and Corona weren’t physically enhanced; even the most sluggish person couldn’t climb five floors without feeling any fatigue. Women of the wilderness were tough, but still human—not superhuman.

"It’s nothing to worry about."

While the three fretted, Ferren’s voice brought them back to their senses. Elka and the others turned to see Ferren pushing open the door, heading into the opposite corridor.

"In any case, we need to clear this building. This just saves us time."