Escape the Castle

Quest: Escape the castle with Princess Charlotte and Fey! Failure to escape the castle with them will lead to alerting the zombies and targeting you throughout your journey!] This was what my system said, and it wasn’t helping either.

“Princess, I’ll lead the front, while you protect the backlines. Fey will be in the middle, since that’s the safest spot that we could provide her.”

I had a quest to protect these women and escape the castle. But how could I achieve this task when the ladies were the ones who didn’t want any saving?

But I refused to give up. This was their life, but I wanted them to survive. And the only way for us to do it was to break through this wall of zombies, enter the library, and find the secret passage. Another problem would occur by the time we enter that place, but… that would be a problem for later.

“Are you with me or not?” I asked again. “Now’s the time to hear an answer from you, your highness!”

While that happened, the door finally shattered into pieces and my landmines exploded. The next thing we knew, a river of zombies came crashing near the entrance. And the only window we had, if we wished to survive, was to go now and kill the remaining zombies.

WIthin a few seconds, Princess Charlotte finally answered, “Yes. We will follow you, Kisei.”

Despite being the princess, Charlotte was no damsel in distress. As the zombie approached, Princess Charlotte stood from the ground and unsheathed her bastard sword. Her blade glowed glistening white, and the temperature in our surroundings lowered than usual. A chilling breeze emerged from her surroundings as Princess Charlotte swung his sword and killed two rushing zombies in front of her. It only took one sweep to kill them. And amazingly, the princess remembered the lesson I taught her, which was.

“You aimed for their heads,” I uttered, as I sent out a zombie’s head flying out from the room with the help of my Baseball Bat.

“Of course. Because you have suggested this, Kisei. And you look like the type of guy who knows a thing or two about zombies. I will never entrust our safety to a man who knows nothing. Which is why… We will have each other’s back. And by the way, what is that weapon you are holding there? Is that some sort of timbre found and made from trees?”

Princess Charlotte was querying me about the Baseball Bat I was holding as a weapon. She was basically disrespecting it, thinking this wasn’t a real tool to crush a zombie's face! But I did, and proved her wrong!

“Now’s not the time to ask, your highness,” I bobbed my head and answered, “But you definitely saw that, haven’t you? That’s the power of the Baseball Bat!”

“I have never heard of a Baseball Bat before. You truly are an interesting fellow, Kisei. Now, let us brace ourselves for these herd of zombies and march our way towards the library!”

“Hmph,” I snickered. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

"By the way," I added. "Did you mention embrace or?"

"Brace," Princess Charlotte corrected.

I didn't know why, but something inside of me tingled... in a disappointed way. But I brushed off the feeling aside and focused on what was in front.

We followed my suggested position and went straight downstairs. We were killing undead monsters left and right, but these zombies were the butlers, knights, nobles, and maids of Princess Fey and Charlotte. Although this was supposed to be difficult for her to digest, Princess Charlotte remained calm as she swayed her sword and cut countless zombies standing in her way.

“Wow! I didn’t know you’re this powerful, princess!”

“Believe me! When Fey grows up like me, she will also be a master in no time!” Princess Charlotte answered. Her eyes glanced at her little sibling, who had her eyes glowing like ball of stars

Since I was leading the charge, I prepared my molotov inside my backpack and threw one right near the steps. When the zombies reached the stairs, they were almost immediately welcomed by an orange flame that burned their entire body into crusts. A few survived, but most died from the blast. Among the undead I had killed, one of them was the king and queen of this Kingdom… or Princess Fey’s and Charlotte’s parents.

The two princesses tried looking for their parents in the middle of the fire, but their efforts were for naught. Since they didn’t see their parents die for the second time, I still called it a win.

I knew this was going to happen. The two princesses didn’t have to experience their loss twice and I saved them from the trouble.

As the flame slowly ran out, I told the two ladies to jump on the stairs. We stood on a seven feet tall floor, but I knew we could do it. This was the only option left, considering there was a panel made of fire blocking off the zombies path.

I was the first to jump and proved that the place was safe. Princess Fey, the little girl, should follow next. And that was what happened.

I had no idea what was happening upstairs, but I had a hunch. Princess Charlotte desperately defended her ground as her little sister tried launching herself off the rails. After steeling her heart, Fey leapt from the wooden stairs and landed right on top of me. Of course, I made sure she was safe and sound. And the moment Fey balanced herself on the ground, I resumed guarding our post and waited for Princess Charlotte to come around.

Charlotte eventually landed without having any problems. She was old enough to do that. I also readied my hands just in case Charlotte still needed my assistance. But it appeared she was strong on her own.

But at some point, my eyes caught something infernal. It was a greater threat than the ones flying above the castle. When I squinted my orbs, I found a musuclar dude standing among the zombies. He grabbed one of his undead friends and crushed the zombie’s head within minutes… in spite of being one of their kind. Zombies knew no allies or enemies. All they cared about was to sustain themselves and reproduce. And that hinted some of the darkest theories inside my head.

These zombies could eat one of their own and evolve because of it. And that somehow happened to this knight over here. Not only this zombie mutated, but his skin was covered in all sorts of armor.

My system also notified me that a zombie among the horde had finally evolved and was now immune to fire or from my molotov. Not to mention, this zombie now had twice the level compared to mine and an ability that protected himself from any blaze. It also had the power to cast magic spells related to Pyro, which was also the name of the fire element in this world.

When the flames touched the soldier’s body, it did nothing and even healed himself from the trauma it received. Basically, fire was his strongest element now. And I must remember that these molotovs would become useless against that specific soldier, but effect to those minor zombies.

[Monster Name]: {Pyro Zombie}

[Species]: {Zombie}

[Class]: {Evolved Form Zombie}

[Level 21]

[Ability: Immune to Fire and can cast elements related to Pyro.]

“No fucking way… I thought that’s never going to happen…”

I forgot that this world was a fantasy world and magic existed. It was safe to say that the zombies were once accustomed to magic, and they would adapt to their environment faster than the average humans from my world. 

Soon, after seeing the two princesses landing on their feet, I urged them to run away and never look back. For now, I never told them about the mutated guy to avoid panic. And I just hoped that this evolved zombie form wouldn’t chase us around and overwhelm us inside the library.

“Come on! Race towards the library and shut the door!” I instructed, and led the way.

It took us a while, but we finally went straight to the right hallway, went inside, and slammed the door shut. The zombies who couldn’t keep up crashed against the door, trying to open it. But they couldn’t. They kept punching themselves, hoping they could burst the door open, but it would take more than that to destroy this ingress. We bought ourselves a few minutes. But just like what had happened upstairs, these undead creatures would find their way inside with the help of that mutated one we met not too long ago.

Once we arrived inside the library, we began guessing the correct book. While we were at it, I checked my mission and found out I completed one quest. And the reward came flooding by.

[Side Quest: Complete! You have reached level 5!]

[Reward: Baseball Bat with nails!]

After a while, things became pretty dicey. The Baseball Bat, which I had been using to smash zombies one after the other, was now more dangerous than what it was. And since we first found a mutated infected among the horde of zombies in the ballroom, maybe I could kill it and stand a chance?