Hero Party After the Nuclear War

Chapter 13

Dante was prepared to fight back against whoever or whatever stood before him if there was even a hint of hostility from the other side.

Aiming at the zombie that had survived the grenade explosion, Dante grabbed the M4 slung over his back in his right hand and the secondary weapon, an M1911 pistol, in his left, ready to fire indiscriminately.

Just before pulling the trigger, Eris suddenly stepped between the Spirit-imbued Nightwalker and Dante. Though he could barely see, Dante noticed her urgent gaze through the glass lenses of her gas mask and shouted furiously.

"Hey! Are you crazy right now? Are you out of your mind and trying to die? Get out of the line of fire right now!"

Dante, who had nearly shot a 'comrade', was so enraged he screamed at the top of his lungs. She shook her head and shouted back.

"He was my comrade in the same Hero party 200 years ago! Please, don't shoot him! I'm begging you!"

As Eris desperately pleaded, Dante clicked his tongue and shook his head firmly.

"That's a zombie. It just happens to be imbued with a wild Spirit. I don't know which one was your 'comrade from the Hero party'. A zombie soaked in Maso until its brain rotted away, a Spirit that has forgotten what it even is. Neither of them will remember you from 200 years ago. Stop talking nonsense and move."

Dante snarled and pointed to the side with the muzzle, signaling her to move, but Eris also shook her head. It was a clear expression of her resolute will that she would not yield here.

To Eris, who was from 200 years ago, the Nightwalker crawling before her wasn't just a monster—it was a bridge between her world from 200 years ago and the post-nuclear war world.

But Dante didn't care about what happened 200 years ago or anything like that. He was just worried about Eris. Whether it was a zombie or a wild Spirit, both were generally hostile to survivors.

If you approached recklessly... you might actually get hurt.

Seeing that Eris had no intention of leaving the line of fire, Dante sighed and lowered his M4. However, he kept the pistol in his left hand aimed at the zombie's head as he cautiously stepped sideways.

"So what's your plan? I'm not ready to die before I even get to touch the Holy Sword."

"Just wait a little. Please, just a little."

As soon as Dante lowered his muzzle, Eris ran toward the zombie dressed in Ranger gear.

"Mr. Ranger. Mr. Siegmund. It's me. Me. Eris. The Hero's guide. The Fairy who blessed the Hero and led the way."

Even though it was dangerous because of the Maso, she removed her gas mask on the spot to show her bare face.

"Wait...!"

What the hell kind of crazy act is this? Before Dante could even protest, Eris walked toward the zombie, exposing herself to the Maso-contaminated air in real time, as the Geiger Counter screamed.

Thinking the zombie would immediately rip out Eris's throat, Dante aimed his pistol at it and prepared to issue a command to the Servants with his Summoner.

But surprisingly, the zombie did not attack Eris. The Spirit imbued in it also showed no signs of using any kind of magic.

White bones peeking through decayed flesh. The zombie slowly raised its bony hand and caressed Eris's cheek.

Is it really possible to talk to a Nightwalker?

Caught in that suspicion, Dante looked back and forth between Eris and the zombie in a half-shocked state and read the message displayed on the Summoner.

"It's me. Do you remember? My God. It's already been 200 years... What is... what is this..."

At that moment, the zombie shook its head side to side, then suddenly activated the small wrist-mounted crossbow on its left arm and aimed it at Eris's chest.

[Ah. No. You're not the Hero's Fairy.]

As Eris stood frozen in shock, staring into the hollow eyes of the zombie, Dante grabbed her by the nape and yanked her back, stepping in front of her and taking the crossbow bolt in her place.

"Grrk!?"

As if ancient magic had been fused into it, the bolt sent Dante flying backward, tumbling across the ground. Hit harder than expected, he quickly checked his Servant's remaining durability and back-tumbled to regain balance.

"Dante!"

"What did I tell you? The attempt wasn't bad, I guess? But that thing's just a walking corpse. Got your head straight now?"

Eris had nothing to say to Dante's fierce reprimand and coughed hard as she put her gas mask back on.

She had taken off her gas mask for less than ten seconds, but in that short time, she had inhaled so much Maso-contaminated air that her respiratory system and internal organs were clearly strained.

"Skaark!"

[Skaark: Spear Throw - Ge Bulgeu.]

A sharp javelin, like a flash of light, tore through the air in an arc from behind Dante.

Heroic Spirit-type Skaark had high agility stats, making it highly accurate with physical techniques and specialized in evasion.

Eris suspected that the zombie was the 'Ranger' from her former Hero party. To escape the enemy's ranged firepower, he judged that it was better to use agility-based evasion tactics rather than durability-based tanking like the Phantom-type Leviathan.

Just before the tip of Skaark's Ge Bulgeu reached him, the Ranger drew a strange mechanical sword from his waist and narrowly blocked it. As expected of a creature imbued with a wild Spirit, his combat power was clearly near Servant-level.

He quickly reloaded the wrist-mounted crossbow and pulled out the assault rifle slung on his back, aiming at Dante and firing wildly with magic.

Trusting in Skaark's agility boost, Dante also dove for cover and rolled flamboyantly sideways while firing both guns in his hands.

Kiiiing! Kikikikik! Kiiiing! Kikik!!!

Skaark, who had deflected several bullets that Dante couldn't dodge with his spear, was waiting for Dante's command. Just before issuing it, Dante received data from the Summoner, which had finished analyzing the enemy, and began strategizing.

[Spirit-imbued Zombie.

Strength: 3 Magic: 6 Agility: 8

Durability: 3 Intelligence: 1 Charisma: 1

The Spirit has enhanced the base stats compared to a typical zombie. However, this also hampers it, lowering Intelligence, Charisma, and Durability.]

If it has high agility, that means it's specialized in evasion.

The way to deal with evasion-specialized enemies is to either use 'guaranteed hit magic' to take them down, or inflict status effects to incapacitate them first, then beat them down.

Since its Durability and Charisma stats are already low, that means it's vulnerable to status effects. This might be a gamble worth taking.

The problem is, he didn't know the enemy's skill set.

His Servants specialized in status effects generally had low agility and durability, so if they took a direct hit from the enemy's offensive magic, they could be defeated immediately after being summoned.

Swapping Servants also consumes a 'turn', and during the swap turn, the enemy almost always gets the first move. Especially against a high-agility Ranger, it's nearly impossible to win initiative on a swap turn.

Dante completed all these calculations in barely over two seconds and made up his mind.

[Ranger: Turbo Fire.]

[Skaark: Lancer's Footwork.]

Almost simultaneously, 'Magic' was activated. Behind the Ranger, several large firearms were summoned and aimed at Dante, while Skaark began to cloak himself in wind energy.

At this moment, the agility of both Ranger and Dante was perfectly matched due to buffs.

In this clash where initiative would be decided almost by luck—

The one who fell slightly behind...

Was 'Dante'.

"Grrk?!"

Dozens of heavy weapons rained down bullets and explosions. Against such a bombardment, there was a limit to dodging each attack with agility alone.

KABOOM!! RRRUMMMBBBLLLE!!!

Dante desperately rolled this way and that to avoid the incoming bombardment, but unfortunately, Skaark was forced to retreat from accumulated damage before he could even use 'Lancer's Footwork'.

As soon as Skaark retreated, Dante remembered that Turbo Fire was a fire-type attack and that the enemy had been using firearms predominantly, so he swapped his Servant to 'Jack O'Lantern'.

"Jack O'Lantern!"

[Summon: Evil Spirit-type Jack O'Lantern.]

If he had won initiative this turn, he would've used 'Lancer's Footwork' to boost 'Evasion' for one turn, then immediately swapped to a Servant that could inflict status effects.

Skaark's 'Lancer's Footwork' is applied to the summoner's body, not the Servant, so its effect persists even after swapping Servants.

In other words, the next Servant would still benefit from the evasion boost, so even if Ranger took the initiative, Dante could've safely endured the turn and then subdued the enemy with status effects.

Unfortunately, since he lost initiative, that strategy was no longer viable.

"Tch..."

As Dante momentarily stood unguarded while swapping Servants, the Ranger fired his rifle sharply at Dante's chest.

The bullet was barely stopped by the ballistic fiber coat, so the damage wasn't severe, but if he checked under the coat, a nasty bruise was surely forming.

"Gah..."

Just as Dante was wondering what to do next, Eris, who had been unable to fight due to inhaling Maso, summoned her magical bow and fired at the Ranger.

[Eris: Arrow of Dawn.]

A brilliant blue arrow traced a path of light and struck the Ranger's right arm, the one holding the gun. With Eris's high magic stat, it was a powerful attack, and the Ranger momentarily dropped his gun.

As the Ranger's gaze turned from Dante to Eris, Dante judged that now was the only chance to inflict a status effect. He immediately issued the order to swap Servants from Jack O'Lantern.

"Please! Pixie!"

[Summon: Spirit-Type Pixie.]

[Yay!]

Just as the Pixie, scattering Fairy Dust, waved her hand upon being summoned, the Ranger swiftly closed the distance to Eris and pulled out the mechanical sword he had used to block Ge Bulgeu, attacking her mercilessly.

Despite being a former party member, his merciless swordplay showed glimpses of madness, prompting Dante to shout at Eris.

"Dodge, you idiot! Or block it!"

Eris blocked the sword at the last moment with the magical bow she had summoned in her left hand and glared at the Ranger.

"Sieg... mund... please!!! Remember me...!!!"

[No. No. No. No. You're not. You're not the Fairy. Not the Hero's Fairy.]

As the zombie muttered incomprehensibly and pressed the blade harder, Eris began to be pushed back. Was she losing in Strength stat? Dante quickly assessed and gave the Pixie a command.

[Pixie: Alluring Wingbeat.]

[Ah... uuh... uh. Eh?]

The moment the Ranger was caught in Pixie's seductive magic and froze, the Summoner displayed a notification.

[You have successfully Charmed the enemy. The enemy is now in 'Dazed' state for 2 turns.]

"Two turns is enough!"

[Summon: Jack O'Lantern.]

[Jack O'Lantern: Incinerate.]

After commanding Jack O'Lantern to Incinerate, Dante tossed aside his guns, pulled a grenade in each hand, yanked the safety pins with his teeth, and hurled them at the Ranger.

Just as Dante leapt in to shield Eris from the blast of the explosion.

At the same moment the Pumpkin-headed specter unleashed Hellfire from its fingertips, the grenades detonated, scattering sharp shards of metal in all directions amid black smoke.

KWAARRRRNG!!!!

"Did we get him?"