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"Let's go."
Julian led Mafuyu straight out of the gymnasium.
Nanami Kento and the four awakened underlings followed close behind.
The moment Julian stepped outside, several zombies lunged at him.
Before he even had a chance to move, Mafuyu casually popped their heads off.
"Mafuyu, do you feel anything?" Julian asked, looking at the sea of zombies stretching out before them.
Those few zombies earlier had attacked purely on instinct.
Amano probably didn't have the same ability as Julian to control zombies.
"Master, I can receive some signals… but that's all," Mafuyu replied.
Julian nodded.
Amano's ability was probably just incitement, nowhere near the level of control Hana had.
For a mutated zombie with self-awareness, having a few zombie followers around was completely normal.
To launch this attack, Amano must have spent quite a bit of effort gathering them.
"Brother Julian, look!"
"Amano's over there!"
Kento pointed toward the top of a nearby bus.
Amano's tall, skinny figure stood out immediately.
Half his face was covered in swollen tumors leaking green pus. Every time he coughed, a cloud of corrosive mist sprayed out.
"Heh… heh… cough…"
"Today… you're all going to die… cough…"
Amano spat green foam as he spoke.
In his mind, the reason he had turned into this monster was all because of Kento and the others.
They all had to die.
"Amano!"
"If you've got the guts, come down here and fight us yourself!"
"What kind of coward hides that far away?!" Kento shouted.
The shout immediately attracted over a dozen zombies nearby.
They rushed forward, but the group cut them down without much trouble.
"Heh heh…"
"You think I'm that stupid? Cough…"
"Why don't you deal with my zombie army instead!"
Amano laughed.
Kento tightened his grip on the fire axe in his hand.
Damn it. There was no way to kill Amano directly.
From here to where Amano stood was at least a hundred meters, and the entire path was packed with zombies.
Even if they hacked their way through, they'd run out of strength before getting anywhere near him.
"Master, he's releasing signals, constantly calling zombies from nearby."
"If this drags on, more and more will keep coming," Mafuyu warned.
Julian nodded.
If the number of zombies kept increasing, he and Mafuyu could still escape easily.
But the others…
Besides, when this many zombies gathered together, it was easy for more mutated ones to appear.
Amano had to be stopped quickly.
"Mafuyu, go kill him."
"Be careful. Try not to get hit by his toxic mist."
Julian patted her head.
"Okay, Master!"
Mafuyu's eyes lit up.
Another mission!
Maybe there'd be a reward too!
Without another word, she rushed straight into the zombie horde, heading toward Amano.
"Brother Julian your woman… she—"
Kento and the others were stunned.
Charging straight into a zombie swarm like that… wasn't that suicide?
Even if she was awakened and immune to infection, too many bites would still kill her!
"It's fine. Relax."
Julian swung his blade and cut down several zombies rushing toward him.
Then Kento and the others witnessed something shocking.
Mafuyu moved through the zombie crowd like she was invisible, weaving freely between them.
Not far away, Amano trembled.
The one charging toward him was…
A zombie!
One of his own kind!
So why was she obeying a human?!
No. He couldn't let her get close.
Amano had zero close-combat ability. If she reached him, he'd be finished.
"Bite her!"
"Go bite her!"
Amano roared at the surrounding zombies.
But none of them obeyed.
Amano could only communicate with them, not command them.
Soon after, the zombies began moving slowly toward the gymnasium.
They were hungry.
They wanted food.
The zombies that had been blocking Amano's surroundings all surged forward.
Now he stood alone on top of the bus, painfully conspicuous.
"Brothers, hold the gate!"
Facing the wave of zombies flooding in like a tide, Kento forced himself to stay focused.
The people inside the gymnasium weren't awakened like them. They had already exhausted themselves earlier.
If any zombies slipped inside, things would get ugly fast.
"As long as we're here, the tower stands! Let's do this!"
Ryuji gripped an axe in one hand and a shield in the other… well, technically a car door.
The other awakened fighters were fired up as well.
Julian, meanwhile, rushed forward with his blade.
With the Tang saber in hand, Julian looked like a harvesting machine. One slash could take down several zombies at once.
With him drawing most of the attacks in front, the five people behind him had it much easier.
They only had to deal with the zombies that slipped past him.
Soon, the steps in front of the gymnasium were piled high with zombie corpses.
The zombies kept charging forward one after another, the pile growing taller and taller.
Standing on top of the mound of bodies, Julian held the line alone.
Meanwhile, Mafuyu was already within a dozen meters of Amano.
Amano's body began trembling.
He could feel it.
This female zombie was far stronger than him.
He couldn't fight her head-on.
His throat suddenly wriggled, and a long tongue shot out, flying toward Mafuyu like a spear.
Unfazed, Mafuyu grabbed the tongue with one hand.
Then she yanked hard.
Amano was dragged straight off the bus and slammed onto the ground.
Before he could react, Mafuyu grabbed the tongue and began spinning it around.
Poor Amano swung through the air like a hammer throw.
Boom!
He was smashed violently against the bus.
The metal dented deeply, leaving the bus completely wrecked.
Amano didn't look much better. Several bones were probably broken, and he could barely stand.
Still gripping his tongue, Mafuyu slowly dragged him toward the gymnasium entrance.
By now, the steps were buried under more than two meters of zombie corpses.
Julian stood at the top of the pile, smashing zombie heads one after another with his fists.
His old Tang saber had already met its end earlier in the fight.
After finishing off the last few zombies, Julian and the others finally let out a long breath.
More than three hundred zombies…
And they had finally killed them all.
Mafuyu dragged Amano up the steps one at a time.
His head kept banging against the stairs, and he didn't even have the strength left to cry out.
"Master, what should we do with him?" Mafuyu asked, stepping on Amano's tongue.
"Kill him."
Julian wiped the blood from his fists.
"Let me do it!"
Kento stepped forward, his entire body soaked in zombie blood like he had crawled out of a sea of red.
Amano had killed so many innocent survivors.
Kento had to finish him with his own hands.
"....."