“Are you injured?”

The question was wrong. I should have asked if he’d been bitten.

Unlike his calm demeanor, Eden’s face and clothes were covered in splattered blood.

My gaze met the chillingly cold eyes of a man with strikingly blue irises. It was a gaze that sent shivers down your spine.

‘This is not the time.’

I hastily grabbed his hand. Eden’s eyebrows rose with doubt.

“Come with me. Outside of the village.”

“I know this situation is damned, but there might still be survivors.”

I thought he might say that. He was a man filled with a strong sense of duty as a police officer.

‘That’s why I’m here.’

Graaaah-

The number of monsters gradually increased, and now there were hardly any survivors in sight.

There were more monster heads than human heads.

The growing horde of monsters began to invade the village, blocking most of the escape routes and making it difficult to get to the outskirts.

If we didn’t leave now, we would be trapped.

“I’m sorry.”

Thud!

I struck the back of Eden’s head with the handle of the axe, knocking him unconscious.

Thud.

Then, I hoisted him onto my shoulder and ran. I dodged the charging monsters, and I ran.

Running past the outskirts of the village, I sprinted up a hill until my breath was nearly gone. Finally, I arrived at a large gate.

The gate was open.

‘Why is the gate open?!’

Of course, I didn’t have time to ponder deeply.

Thud!

Entering the gate, I closed it and gently placed Eden on the ground. Quickly, I closed the heavy stone door and locked the bolt. Then, I let out a sigh of relief.

Roar! Crunch! Squawk!

Outside the gate, the sounds of monsters’ roars filled the air. The thudding noise of them continuously ramming against the gate echoed. I peeked through the crack of the door to look outside.

“Damn, we can’t leave.”

The monsters that were chasing us were swarming outside the gate, and their numbers were increasing.

Due to the sturdy defensive wall we had put in place, it seemed impossible for them to get inside. However, the problem was that I couldn’t get out either.

Eden and I were trapped in this house.

Once Eden regained his senses, he might try to kill me in this absurd situation…

‘I don’t know. For now, I saved the world.’

More accurately, I had kidnapped the man who was supposed to save the world before he died.

Being trapped in the isolation of this house seemed better than being isolated in the swarmed village that the monsters were storming through.

Once again, I lifted Eden and crossed the vegetable garden. First, I needed to lay him down on the bed.

But before that, a wide-open front door caught my eye.

‘…Why is the front door open?’

Now that I think about it, wasn’t the main gate open earlier too? I specifically told Susanna to always close the gate securely.

I froze in place as a sudden sense of foreboding overwhelmed me.

Crunch-

Woong-

Unidentifiable sounds of impact echoed from within the mansion. It sounded like something breaking. No, was it the sound of something colliding somewhere?

I carefully set Eden down on the floor and gripped the axe in my hand. It was the middle of the night, and the mansion was dark because I hadn’t turned on any lights.

My palms were sweaty.

‘Could it be Susanna?’

No, it couldn’t be. It must not be Susanna. It shouldn’t be her.

Muttering to myself, I cautiously stepped into the entrance.

Creak- Creak.

The sound of something breaking continued. It was coming from the direction of the banquet hall on the first floor.

Apart from that sound, the hallway was eerily silent.

Cold sweat trickled down my spine. The tension was so high that even breathing felt difficult.

I walked slowly. This time, I didn’t have a Molotov cocktail in hand. So, I had to be even more cautious.

Thunk.

At that moment, footsteps that sounded like someone treading on sandy ground came from the direction of the banquet hall. But the steps were too short to be human. What on earth could it be?

It also sounded like the hurried steps of a four-legged creature, swift like an animal running.

Thunk-

Thunk thunk-

The sound gradually grew faster and closer.

Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk!

Thunk.

Then, just near the entrance to the banquet hall, the noise suddenly stopped.

I stopped near the entrance and held my breath.

Count to three, then rush in.

One-

Two-

T-

Roar!

Before I could even finish counting to three, something leaped out from the entrance of the banquet hall. Damn!

Sharp teeth were densely packed in the gaping maw, aimed directly at me. The teeth were stained with blood.

I barely managed to roll on the floor to avoid it.

Ugh, I might have twisted my ankle.

Thud.

The creature landed on the floor nimbly. Unlike the bizarre and spine-chilling appearance of the monsters I’d seen so far, this one took on the form of a wolf.

The problem was that if it was a wolf-like monster, it would be fast, and I was in no condition to run with my injured foot.

I wasn’t skilled in combat; I only had brute strength on my side.

‘So, let’s not waste time.’

I made up my mind and slowly picked up the fallen axe. The creature charged at me. I swung the axe without hesitation.

Thump-!

Crack!

Fortunately, the one that I hit directly in the torso was sent flying and slammed into the wall. I quickly approached, raised the axe, and struck the creature’s head.

Squelch-

The green liquid burst like a fountain. The legs of the collapsing creature stretched out limp and lifeless as I confirmed that it was completely dead. My grip loosened as I verified its breath had been cut off.

Thunk-

The sound of the axe blade hitting the marble floor resonated as I slumped down to the ground.

My body trembled. Facing such things for two years was terrifying.

I had mentally prepared for this, but now that it was happening, I couldn’t gather my thoughts properly.

If I hadn’t had that brute strength, I would have died instantly. If I didn’t have that strength, if that were the case, by now…

Still dazed, I turned my head while muttering such words.

“I need to find Susanna, I have to find Susanna.”

I moved my legs with a limp.

However, in the banquet hall, in the rooms on the first floor, and even on the second floor, Susanna was nowhere to be seen.

Back on the first floor, I stared blankly at the open entrance.

‘No way, did she go outside?’

Stay calm. You need to stay calm, Cherry.

I looked around again calmly. The kitchen door at the end of the hallway was wide open.

The kitchen door was shattered. Groceries were scattered all the way outside the kitchen.

‘No way.’

Limping, I approached the kitchen. And there, I witnessed a scene of despair.

‘This can’t be. My food…’

That damn monster had turned the food storage room into a mess. Flour bags were spilled all over the floor.

Cans of canned food that I had gathered so diligently were in disarray, and even the root vegetables and vegetables like sweet potatoes and potatoes were the same.

While the latter had to be consumed and cleared soon, the fact that even a single grain of rice was ruined during a critical time was a significant blow.

‘No… but there’s still a lot left.’

At least for Eden and Susan, there was enough to last half a year. In this world, refrigeration wasn’t advanced enough, so there was a limit to food storage anyway.

‘That’s why I tried to grow crops. It’s alright. It’s okay.’

Until the crops grew, I could go to the village whenever necessary or gather food from the mountains.

‘As long as I can deal with the monsters outside.’

The fortunate thing was that the water supply was intact. It was more important than food.

Thinking this, I suddenly felt worried about Knox’s well-being.

When I rescued Eden from the village, I hadn’t seen Knox anywhere. Perhaps he was hiding somewhere.

Actually, it wasn’t just Knox, I was worried about the other familiar faces I had seen.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Vanilla in the village recently. She should be alive, right?

‘No… let’s not think about that.’

First, I needed to find Susanna.

Clearly, the teeth of that monster earlier had been stained with blood.

But inside the mansion, there were only traces of items and objects being destroyed; there were no signs of human bloodstains.

First, I decided to clear the monster’s body from outside before moving Eden.

Thump- Thump-

I dragged the monster’s legs and brought it to the entrance.

‘Seems heavier than I thought.’

Even if I had brute strength, it had its limits; it just meant I had better strength than others.

Once I released the legs, they spread out, and the creature’s size was immense, matching my height.

I left the dead monster’s body in a corner of the distant garden from the vegetable patch. It would be best to cremate the body in the morning. It was too conspicuous at night.

Sigh. I wiped the sweat from my forehead while standing in the dim garden for a moment.

‘I’m exhausted.’

I had faced too much today. But I needed to gather myself. Eden was still here.

I was trying to gather my thoughts when suddenly, something unusual caught my attention from the wolf’s corpse.

Something was hanging from the back of the wolf’s head.

Tightly tied among the fur on the back of its head, it was clearly a hair tie. A women’s hair tie.

For a moment, my mind went blank.

Was Susanna wearing a hair tie?

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