The zombie's body fell—its form and weight were different.
It didn't look like a simple mutation; it looked like a completely different type of zombie.
Instead of feeling like a dead body, it seemed more like a monster.
'Maybe it's a gift from Lucifer'.
In Fairy Tail, there were special enemies sent to kill Allen. These enemies carried the power of Lucifer, making them terrifying. There was a chance this mutant appeared only where Allen was.
'No point in overthinking it.'
The appearance of the first mutant—or zombie variant—was unexpected, but it was foolish to assume all zombies would be the same. Allen understood that now, and accepted it.
'Damn, this is complicated. Bastard, you really want to screw my life up, huh?'
Normally Allen would've been more relaxed, maybe even take the time to mess with people a little, but this was a dangerous gamble. His body was also wearing out. Even though his muscles were still fresh and strong like a bull's, fatigue was slowly building up. He could get hungry, he could get sleepy, he could get sick—and on top of all that, now he had to worry about mutant zombies that might climb walls or spit acid.
'The question is, what did I get in return?'
It was impossible that Lucifer had created a completely unfair world. Allen would never have accepted that. Since he didn't have any superpower outside of his abnormally strong body, there had to be some method to increase his chances of survival—a benefit, a path, a refuge, something.
Besides, even if there were mutations, there shouldn't be hordes of them, at least not yet. Otherwise, he wouldn't stand a chance with his current strength.
'Plan A won't work anymore,' Allen thought, narrowing his eyes.
He had planned that as long as his group stayed quiet and avoided drawing attention, he could lure away any troublesome zombies and kill them. Worst case, he could distract them and lead them off. But if there were zombies with better senses or superior traits, that could become dangerous for his group—especially since only Saeko and Kazu could fight without him. And even then, Kazu wasn't all that strong.
No matter how many there were, a single mutant zombie attacking while Allen or Saeko wasn't around could wipe out half the group. He needed to stay alert. But there was another issue—should he tell them?
Allen looked out the window. 'If I tell them about mutated zombies, it'll only scare them… but they need to know about the danger. They need to be prepared.'
"…?" Allen blinked when he noticed Saya and Saeko seemed to be arguing. They had stopped moving forward, but after a short exchange of words, they kept going. Only a handful of zombies remained before the girls and Kazu, so Allen didn't rush to catch up.
Saeko was strong. She took out four zombies in no time. But like Allen, constantly using enough force to crush skulls would wear her down eventually. Fighting nonstop wasn't an option.
Fortunately, Allen hadn't been wrong about Kazu. He didn't just stand around watching Saeko fight—he swung his metal coat rack at a zombie's head. The first strike didn't kill it, but after two more hits, the zombie finally stopped moving.
Kyoko, Saya, and Shizuka didn't join the fight, but that was expected. Allen wasn't about to force three women with no combat ability to face zombies barehanded.
Allen paused and checked the pockets of some fallen students, taking their phones.
'Lucky we live in the modern age…'
Nowadays, almost all phones have facial recognition or fingerprint unlock, which makes them easy to access even without a password. That meant Allen could use them as distractions for the zombies.
Just as he was about to rejoin the others, he heard a faint sound. Subtle—like a sonar ping.
"…?"
Allen thought for a moment, then pulled up the minimap. It was flashing with a dim golden light.
'What's this?'
[Can't tell you, but I recommend you don't ignore it.]
Realizing this had to be something he himself had left behind to survive the apocalypse, he decided to check it out. Could this be his advantage?
With that in mind, he approached the nearby classroom. As he got closer, the sonar pinged more frequently.
Allen opened the door. Two "girls" were inside, feeding on a student—unfortunately not in the H sense. One of them stood and rushed him. Allen struck her in the head with his wooden sword. The second didn't even notice him, too busy eating.
He wasn't about to leave her like that. Allen bashed her skull with a grotesque crack, and the zombie girl collapsed, unmoving.
"…"
At this point, Allen could only feel a little pity for this world. This doomed world. Who knew what kind of place it would become in the future—but returning to normal didn't seem possible.
He tore his eyes away from the girl and scanned the room. On the teacher's desk was a black box. Allen stepped closer, and a floating text window appeared.
[General Supply Box Tier 1 – Cost: 12]
Allen stared in silence, then opened his system interface. Over the last few days, he had gone through it carefully. Many functions had disappeared, but the home screen had a counter that had always been at zero.
Now, it wasn't. It showed (37). Not only that, but there was a second counter showing (01). He didn't need to be a genius to put two and two together.
Allen touched the box, and the first counter dropped to 25. At the same time, the box opened.
When he saw the contents, Allen's eyes lit up. At least he had left something behind to make things easier—or rather, less unfair.
Inside were three packets wrapped in silvery plastic, which looked like dehydrated rations. A combat knife—when he picked it up, information appeared.
[Combat Knife S.T.A.R.S]
[Store / Modify / Sell]
Allen won his second item with special features. He felt satisfied. A quality knife would be a huge help.
"S.T.A.R.S.?" Allen shrugged, then picked up the last object—a strange plant. 'Wtf?'
[Green Herb]
This time, the system didn't give him any information.
[The items from supply boxes depend on cost and tier. Sorry, that's all I can tell you.]
Of course, Allen wasn't about to throw away the plant. He stored it in his inventory. If it came in a supply box, it had to be useful for something more than decorating the bathroom.
Allen left the classroom and returned to the others—unaware that a small problem had already arisen.
....
Once Saeko's group reached the music room, the atmosphere grew tense. Saya called out for Rei to come out, but Rei refused, saying Allen had told her not to.
Saya grew annoyed hearing that and insisted that she and Allen were a team. Rei didn't believe her. From Rei's perspective, Saya spent all her time bothering Allen. There was no way he would accept her as a partner.
That's how the argument started.
"Hey, don't you realize this is the apocalypse?" Saeko said, unable to believe what was happening.
"Stay out of it!" both girls shouted.
Just as Saeko decided to break down the door, footsteps approached from behind. Saeko reacted instantly, swinging her sword—only for it to be caught mid-swing by Allen's hand.
"Is that your way of saying hello?"
Saeko's eyes widened and she blushed. She quickly pulled her sword back and bowed. "I'm sorry…"
Allen waved his hand, signaling it didn't matter, and turned toward Saya, who was nervously staring at the floor.
"Saya, wha—"
Allen's words were cut off when the music room door burst open and a beautiful girl with long brown hair lunged toward him, wrapping him in a hug.
"Huh?!" Saya pointed a finger at Rei, wanting to insult her in every way possible—but she held back, afraid of attracting more zombies.
"Ah—" Shizuka almost cried out, but Kyoko covered her mouth, making her pout.
"Don't make noise. Right now, the zombies are distracted, but if we cause a scene, they'll come…" Kyoko whispered fearfully. Her words convinced Shizuka, who nodded.
"What happened to the zombie horde?" Kazu asked as he turned. In the distance, they could see many zombies heading the opposite way.
Allen grinned and explained his distraction device—just phones.
It was honestly incredible that Allen had used cell phones to distract zombies. Not something most people could've thought of in such a tense moment.
"By the way, Rei, how long are you planning to hug me? I don't recall us having that kind of relationship," Allen teased. "At this rate, I'll have to ask you to take responsibility for tainting my purity."
The chat cursed Allen for his shitty comment. Purity? What kind of purity could that damn womanizer possibly have?!
"I'm sorry!" Rei's face flushed bright red, even to her ears, as she pulled away from Allen.
Allen laughed, and the tension eased a little.
....
Elsewhere in the school, both Takashi and Hisashi were running through the halls looking for Rei. They feared something had happened to her, but it was chaos—too many students had stampeded, making everything a hell.
Both feared the worst, especially Takashi, who didn't want his last words to her to be a fight.
"Over there, Takashi!" Hisashi shouted.
"That's…" Takashi tightened his grip on his baseball bat. Ahead stood a teacher, but something was wrong—his skin was gray, his eyes pupil-less, and there was a massive wound in his leg. "What the hell is happening?!"
"Damn it, we can't get past him. We'll have to fight!" Hisashi said in a deep voice, moving into a guard stance. He was a black belt and a member of the karate club, confident in his strength. Without hesitation, he attacked the teacher—a punch, then a precise kick. That would've knocked down a normal person, but the teacher only staggered.
"Impossible!" Hisashi thought he hadn't hit hard enough and struck again.
"Wait, Hisashi!" Takashi wasn't stupid. At this point, he could think clearly, and as much as he wanted to deny it, he could only accept the truth: that teacher was a zombie.
Hisashi ignored him. He had to be strong—otherwise, how would he survive? There were hundreds of these things in the school, and if he couldn't even take down one, then what good were all his years of training?
Hisashi kept striking the zombie, which in turn kept trying to bite him.
"It's a zombie!" Takashi yelled—big mistake. Several nearby zombies began to shuffle toward them.
Hisashi paid no attention and kept fighting. Unfortunately, zombies weren't people. They didn't feel pain. They didn't get tired. They didn't stop fighting. To defeat them, you had to destroy the brain or break the neck—and that wasn't easy barehanded, unless you were Allen.
Hisashi was nearly bitten, but managed to lock the zombie in a chokehold.
"Takashi!"
Takashi immediately understood—Hisashi wanted him to smash the zombie with his bat. But before he could, the zombie began to twist its head around.
"What? Why is it so strong?!" Hisashi panicked, straining like he was wrestling a sumo fighter. It was too strong. "Takashi!"
Hisashi shouted again, snapping Takashi out of his shock. But before he could move, a figure rushed past him—big, wielding a firefighter's axe. Without hesitation, Teshima swung it, cleaving the zombie's head before it could bite Hisashi.
Blood splattered over them both, but thankfully, Hisashi was saved at the last moment.
"What are you doing?! We have to go!" Teshima shouted before bolting. Hisashi shot Takashi a look, then followed.
Takashi went pale with fear. He had nearly let his best friend die.
'I'm such an idiot. First Rei, and now Hisashi!'
….
After Rei's embarrassing moment, the group continued forward, searching for an exit. Though Rei seemed to want to find her friends—after all, even if they had fought, she didn't want to leave them to die.
Allen didn't give her false hope. Not only was it possible that they were already dead, but if things got dangerous, they would escape. Rei, of course, agreed. She wasn't about to risk everyone's lives for her own convenience.
Allen's group moved through the second-floor hallways, which had turned into a nightmare. Walls smeared with blood, dismembered bodies scattered around. The sounds of chewing and tearing flesh, mixed with guttural growls, echoed from different classrooms.
Saya, Saeko, Rei, Kyoko, Kazu—even the airheaded Shizuka—couldn't deny the reality. This was the end of the world.
Movies often played with this idea: that one day, out of nowhere, society would collapse. Through disaster, war, or plague, the world as everyone knew it would end. But when it truly happened, no one could accept it easily.
"NOOO!"
"AHHHH!"
Saya looked out the window facing the track field. A girl was being devoured by three zombies. Not far away, a boy ran desperately, only for a zombie on the ground to grab his foot and trip him. Soon, four zombies surrounded him—one tore out his jugular, another bit off two of his fingers, the third ripped into his leg, and the last tore off his nose.
Rei stopped in her tracks, covering her mouth, nearly throwing up. She only snapped out of it when Shizuka placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry… and thank you," Rei whispered. She knew this wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself, to cry, or even to vomit.
Shizuka smiled kindly at the frightened girl. "Don't worry. Right, Allen-kun?~"
Up ahead, Allen released a zombie whose neck he had snapped. Calm as ever, he turned toward Rei.
"Of course, it's okay to be scared. You're a normal girl, suddenly forced to see corpses everywhere. It's impossible to accept it so easily. Don't worry, Rei, and you too, Saya."
Allen had noticed Saya also struggling not to vomit. Kyoko and Kazu were terrified too—their adrenaline was the only thing keeping them from being overwhelmed by the blood and guts all around.
"Thank you," Rei said, blushing. She had always known a colder Allen, and this change made her nervous—she didn't know how to interact with him like this.
"Don't worry about me. I'm a genius. This is nothing!" Saya declared with fake confidence.
Even so, she felt comforted that Allen paid attention to her and cared, even in this situation.
Not just her—the rest of the group was scared too. But Allen didn't pressure them. It was okay to be afraid. It was okay to cry. It was okay to feel weak. But they had to recover quickly, or this world would eat them alive—literally.
Those words gave them courage. Still, a question lingered in their hearts. Why was Allen so calm? Was it because he was strong? Or because he had already faced dangerous situations before?
Even after knowing him for two years, they realized—they didn't know anything about Allen.
Saeko stared intently at Allen, as if trying to see through him. Since childhood, she had been a prodigy with the katana, a girl who could defeat anyone placed before her. Meeting someone at her level was already difficult—but now she realized Allen was far stronger than she had imagined. So strong, in fact, that she didn't feel like his rival at all. But instead of discouraging her, it made her happy… and excited.
Allen could feel Saeko's intense gaze whenever he wasn't looking at her, but for now, it was better to ignore it.
Let future Allen deal with the stalker girl.
====
If you want to read more, there are up to ten chapters ahead on Patreon.
Patreon.com/_Aizen