[The current live feed has ended.]
[Would you like to continue with a Regular Simulation or a Free Simulation?]
Stables.
Silas snapped a piece of straw and rolled onto his side.
So, how far exactly did he have to go outside the Holy City to find living people? As for being "worshipped by ten thousand," there were barely any people in the Holy City right now. If the territories of the nobles were still intact, he should be able to complete the mission just by clearing a path and sending out letters, right?
That was assuming there were actually living people left in the world outside the city.
[You chose Regular Simulation.]
[Yesterday, you ensured Elisa would have no problems. You led Leitman and the others out of the city.]
[The area outside the Holy City is relatively open and flat, mostly grasslands. Occasionally, you encounter tumbleweeds of dry grass along the road.]
[...]
[The fifth day.]
[You arrived at another town more than 30 kilometers away from the Holy City.]
[You discovered that there are absolutely no living people here. Everyone has turned into mutated "Living Dead." Compared to the ones you met in your memories, these are faster, and most possess a certain ability to use weapons.]
[And these weapon-wielding Living Dead will not ignore you.]
[You did not choose to rashly enter and start clearing. Instead, you surveyed the surrounding terrain and buildings, trying to find a more efficient way to take them all out at once. The reason you entered alone was merely to confirm if there were any survivors.]
[...]
[Considering many factors, you left most of the heavy lifting to Leitman and the others. You followed behind holding a flintlock; once they faced an enemy they couldn't handle, you would shoot the one closest to them and use the gunshot to draw their attention.]
[...]
[Under your intentional guidance, Leitman seemed to realize you were grooming him. He simply told you that as long as he lived, he would never betray the Elisa family.]
I guess I'll just train him since I have nothing better to do.
After all, Elisa needs other capable people under her besides me.
But then again, once I log out of the game... does it even matter?
[The tenth day out of the city. You reached a place fifty kilometers away. The situation here seems different.]
[You found Living Dead wearing heavy armor who were clearly knights when they were alive. Their combat techniques are incomparable to the previous ones. You can still parry them, but Leitman and his men need three people working together just to barely hold one off.]
[...]
[Night fell. You set buildings on fire to lure them into the flames and wiped them out.]
[But before you could rest for long, you felt the ground slightly trembling.]
Hmm?
[Through your skills, your vision pierced through obstacles in the night. You discovered a massive, surging horde of Living Dead approaching like a tide of corpses. It contained knights, commoners, and even the occasional well-dressed merchant or noble. Perhaps they were drawn by the fire you lit.]
[Leitman and the others clearly sensed something was wrong and looked toward you.]
[You decided to...]
[Important Choice Triggered]
[Option 1: Find a place to hide and wait for an opportunity.]
[Option 2: Run away immediately.]
Wait, bro.
Am I supposed to fight a world-war-style zombie horde? Is this a medieval version of Whiteout Survival?
[You chose Option 2.]
"Run!"
Silas didn't want to waste simulation attempts for nothing.
He needed to know if these things were heading for the Holy City or if they were just drawn by the fire he had just started.
Good god.
With this many Living Dead, are there really any living people left within a hundred miles of the Holy City? Silas truly began to wonder.
"..."
Hearing the command, Leitman picked up his sword without hesitation and followed Silas.
At a distance from the burning town, everyone saw it.
The massive horde of corpses paused briefly at the fire, extinguishing the rising flames by sheer force of numbers. Some died, but more dragged their charred bodies forward, seemingly oblivious to pain. They continued onward.
They weren't coming for Silas.
They had a destination: the Holy City.
"Go back immediately!"
"Find a way to make full preparations before they reach the city!"
With so many Living Dead, it was impossible for Silas to stop them outside based on individual strength alone. He would be exhausted to death.
If the Holy City became a playground for the Living Dead, it wouldn't matter if Elisa became Empress—an Empress of a dead city is useless.
[You returned to an area ten kilometers outside the city. You tasked Leitman with secretly bringing manpower from the city. You began to build various trench traps along the vast perimeter of the Holy City. You even considered the possibility of rain and covered the fire-starting fuel and trenches with waterproof fabric.]
[Five days passed. You made sufficient preparations.]
[You personally went out to confirm again. Even if you killed Living Dead within the horde, only a small portion would be drawn to you; the majority continued toward the city. When they don't see anyone, they move at a walking pace, but once they spot you, they move as fast as a running man. You tried to lure away small groups to kill them, but compared to the vast army coming from all directions, your actions were like trying to extinguish a fire with a cup of water.]
[Perhaps in less than three days, they will reach the outskirts of the Holy City.]
[...]
[Unluckily, the weather changed faster than you imagined. A torrential rainstorm lasted for several hours.]
[Despite your good waterproofing measures, the open terrain around the city caused your stored materials to be submerged. Even after the water level receded, most of the fuel was unusable.]
[Now, everyone is waiting in terror for you to give a new order. You have become their final straw for survival.]
[You decided to...]
[Important Choice Triggered]
[Option 1: Immediately gather everyone in the Holy City and fight to the death!]
[Option 2: Have them find new materials to replace the old ones as much as possible. Sufficient protection around the city must be ensured.]
[Engaging Free Simulation.]
It's a horde.
If there were a wall of fire around the city, Silas felt that by the time they waded through it, at least eighty percent would be lost. That way, the thousand or so fighting-aged men in the city might stand a chance.
But without it, fighting tens of thousands of Living Dead... you'd literally die of exhaustion. Not to mention, these things don't stop moving just because they've been slashed; they feel no pain.
[You chose Free Simulation.]
Silas didn't have time to worry about the number of attempts.
He immediately grabbed Leitman, who was soaked to the bone, by his collar.
"You, immediately find a way to take men to higher ground to find wood or straw that hasn't been soaked so badly."
"I have to find the source."
"These things are coming to the Holy City with a purpose; maybe the Church is controlling them from behind. Pull yourself together!"
"..."
Leitman gritted his teeth and immediately took a group of men to find new materials as Silas requested.
Silas's thought was this:
There must be someone behind the scenes controlling this, but where in the vast world outside the city should he look?
He had no idea where these Living Dead were coming from or where the source was. As time passed, he began to feel it was over.
[You spent four days weaving through the piles of Living Dead or searching hidden corners for the mastermind.]
[Unfortunately, you found nothing. You cannot understand why they are so obsessed with the Holy City, with such clear intent.]
[You returned to the Holy City. You found that Leitman indeed followed your orders to stack as much new fuel as possible and burned some of the horde. But the numbers gathering from all directions were many times more than what you could see. They were packed together densely.]
[The city fell.]
[On the city walls, you saw Elisa leaning on her sword, covered in blood. Her eyes were bleeding; she seemed to have died of shock from overusing her powers. Perhaps because of her unique constitution, the Living Dead were unwilling to eat her. She was left as a complete corpse with only a few wounds on her limbs, but besides her, no one else was left alive; only fragments of limbs remained.]
[You knew the mission couldn't be completed. You tried to find any trace of the mastermind within the city, but found nothing.]
[You tried to abandon the Holy City and head further away to find traces of the Church. But in the towns you visited, no Church members existed. Because the Living Dead had all gathered at the Holy City, these places had become empty instead.]
[You returned to the Holy City once more to bury Elisa's body. You fought the Living Dead in the city to the death; you killed over a hundred, but eventually died of exhaustion.]
"..."
[Would you like to load from the current plot point or restart the simulation?]
There must be a mastermind.
But then again, if those Church bastards were far away and these Living Dead were set up long ago by some means, even if I found them, I wouldn't be able to save the people in the city in time.
Dammit, where is my protagonist's plot armor? Why did it have to rain so hard...
Ah.
Silas suddenly remembered.
He had been leading Leitman around burning villages lately. Could it be the smoke from those fires... Fuck!
I screwed myself over by being greedy for efficiency!
[You chose to Load.]
[Despite your good waterproofing measures, the open terrain around the city caused your stored materials to be submerged. Even after the water level receded, most of the fuel was unusable.]
[Now, everyone is waiting in terror for you to give a new order. You have become their final straw for survival.]
[You decided to...]
[Important Choice Triggered]
[Option 1: Immediately gather everyone in the Holy City and fight to the death!]
[Option 2: Have them find new materials to replace the old ones as much as possible. Sufficient protection around the city must be ensured.]
[Engaging Free Simulation.]
"..."
Before Silas's eyes was Leitman again, soaked like a drowned rat, his dry lips trembling.
"Go tear down the houses in the city! Bring it all out! Tell them, if we use it now, we'll build them better ones later!"
"Also, find anything that can burn from high-ground areas."
"Gather everyone who can move, men and women alike, to help!"
"..."
Leitman, grabbed by the collar, snapped out of it and immediately gritted his teeth, leading men away at a run. He had been out with Silas so many times and had seen the horde with his own eyes; he knew how serious the situation was.
"..."
Silas looked up at the dark sky even after the rain had stopped. Even if it stopped raining, he couldn't expect the soaked fuel to dry out.
Right.
The city gates need to be reinforced too. Do whatever can be done. Even if the fires can't hold back the Living Dead, a sturdy gate might. I thought about it wrong before; regardless of whether someone from the Church is hiding behind this, even if I find and solve it, the horde might not stop.
The top priority now can only be the defense of the Holy City. If the city is gone, the mission is over.