You’re Telling Me This Is a Slice-of-Life?

Rounding the corner, Yuuki found himself facing a doorless hall, its size impossible to gauge in the dim light.

Peering inside under the flickering glow of the wall-mounted lamps, he could barely make anything out—except for a red, cylindrical object against the farthest wall.

A fire extinguisher?

That unmistakable shape stunned him for a moment.

After spending hours searching the castle, he’d grown accustomed to its ancient decor—everything exuding an air of antiquity, even the elegantly crafted wall lamps showing no signs of modern wiring.

If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, this was the first modern object he had encountered here. But he had no time to ponder the implications, because the very next thing he saw made him curse out loud.

“Shit!”

The sound of rattling chains filled the air, followed by a sharp snap! As if bursting free from its shackles, a massive hand emerged from the shadows—so enormous it practically became the wall itself, lunging straight toward him.

It moved too fast.

Fortunately, Yuuki had only poked his head out. Instinct kicked in, and he immediately yanked himself back. A powerful gust of wind brushed past his face, and trailing behind the enormous palm was an arm thicker than a meter.

Boom!

The wall caved in under the impact, stone chunks flying everywhere as the entire basement trembled. At the entrance, Hayasaka Ai and Sakurajima Mai had been holding their breath, only to be so startled that they nearly jumped out of their skins.

What the hell was that!?

Before they could even process it, Yuuki came tearing back at full speed, grabbing them both by the arms and bolting toward the entrance.

“Run! That thing is way out of our league!”

He ran even faster than when he’d dodged the Licker earlier, not daring to look back. All he could hear was the sickening crunch of bones flexing and tightening. Without breaking stride, he dove into the stairwell, flinging the two girls upward before leaping onto the landing like a pouncing tiger.

Thud-thud-thud-thud…!

A barrage of debris pelted the walls and floor, pebbles slicing across his skin and leaving thin trails of blood. Glancing back, he saw that the corner wall had been reduced to a crater-riddled mess.

The three of them exchanged dumbfounded looks. Then, hearing another chain snap, they scrambled up the stairs on all fours, not stopping until they reached the first floor.

Panting heavily, Yuuki slumped against the wall, lungs burning as if they were about to burst. After running nonstop for hours without a drop of water, his lips were so dry they felt like sandpaper against his tongue.

“Huff… Looks like that thing didn’t chase us up.”

“You still have the nerve to laugh? That was dangerous just now! Good thing the hallway wasn’t that high.” Hayasaka Ai frowned slightly but didn’t scold him too much. “By the way, what was that thing?”

“What the hell was that?”

“A ghoul.”

“That ‘living corpse’ category is way too broad. Judging by the arm, its body must be at least five meters tall.” Sakurajima Mai picked up the conversation, unknowingly voicing the same thoughts that had been on Yuuki’s mind.

The creatures outside the castle were one thing, but if the “gift” he’d encountered earlier was modeled after a Licker… well, Biohazard monsters technically counted as ‘ghouls’ too.

“Losing biological life but still moving—that’s the simplest definition of a ghoul,” he muttered, using his knee for support as he pushed himself upright.

“You’re not thinking of going back to fight that thing, are you?” Hayasaka Ai eyed him suspiciously, already looking like she was ready to sit this one out.

“Relax, I’m not that stupid. Even with terrain advantage, we wouldn’t stand a chance.” He forced a chuckle, rubbing the hilt of his knife. “But I did manage to get something useful from that little stunt—possibly a key.”

“A key?”

“Yeah. I saw something interesting.” Yuuki tilted his head, gazing out the window while mentally calculating the distance they had just run.

Including the basement floor and staircase… roughly three hundred meters?

The castle was divided into two main wings. This one was on the southern side, and beyond the thick garden outside was—

The outer walls.

Both girls held their breath, careful not to interrupt his train of thought. When his eyes suddenly lit up, they found themselves unconsciously getting excited as well.

“You figured something out?”

“I’ve got an idea, but I’m still missing a few pieces. Acting now would be a gamble with our lives on the line.”

A life-or-death gamble wasn’t something to take lightly. Yuuki didn’t provide a definite answer, but both girls still exhaled in relief. At some point, they had started trusting his judgment.

That trust wasn’t just because of his combat skills—it was also because of the way his hand had gripped theirs so firmly while they were fleeing. In those desperate moments, he had made the right choices time and again.

The eerie moonlight dyed the corridor crimson, and their parched throats urged them forward. It had been hours since they last drank anything, and they were already approaching their physical limits.

“We should regroup with Li Dan first. We’ll need to borrow his—”

“Everyone, immediately regroup at the top of the castle!!”

Before Yuuki could finish, a voice roared from the radio, cutting him off mid-sentence. The sheer urgency made all three of them jump.

Something had happened.

Hayasaka Ai was the first to rush to the window, peering out anxiously. Soon enough, she spotted a staggering figure heading for the castle’s main gate.

Dark skin. Chef’s uniform.

It was the Black guy.

But something was off. His posture was unnatural, his head slumped to the side, and his neck—

His neck had been torn open. A massive gash had split it nearly in half, exposing raw muscle fibers that had started to extend outward—twisting and writhing like countless parasitic tendrils.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed across the castle grounds. A fist-sized hole blew open in the man’s side, but instead of collapsing, he only staggered slightly. From the gaping wound, even more tendrils sprouted, slithering outward.

“This guy must have gone off on his own and ended up like this.” Yuuki stepped up beside Hayasaka Ai, more or less guessing that the Licker had scared him into running blindly—breaking the rule.

So this is what happens when you go alone?

Sakurajima Mai felt a chill run down her spine. She had nearly ended up just like that guy. Seeing that he wasn’t looking back and was still running for the exit, she blurted out, “What’s he trying to do?”

“He’s opening the door! Damn it, so going solo not only causes mutation but also turns you hostile?!” Yuuki tightened his grip on his blade and quickly patted Hayasaka Ai’s shoulder. “We’re leaving. This is getting worse by the second.”

They had barely dealt with the last “gift,” and now this?

The moment he thought he could breathe, another crisis was thrown in his face.

A suffocating weight pressed down on his chest—but under that pressure, something inside him snapped.

Fine.

If this place wanted to keep throwing surprises at him…

Then he’d just have to start throwing punches back.

If you want me dead, then I’ll live just to spite you!

The three of them bolted toward the front wing. They had barely taken a few steps when a deafening explosion rang out behind them, making them instinctively whip around.

The black man had exploded in the doorway. Flesh-worms burst apart with the mist of blood, and the shockwave warped the heavy castle gates. The gate, already riddled with holes from the writhing mass of worms, gave way.

Thud—

The gate collapsed. The blood mist and flesh-worms were instantly swallowed by the darkness pressing in from outside.

Yuuki’s pupils contracted. His mind failed to find an appropriate analogy for what he was seeing.

It was like a cafeteria opening its doors at mealtime.

A tide of swaying corpses surged in, trampling over the fallen, reducing them to pulp beneath countless feet. The wave poured forward, crushing flower beds, spilling over the fountain, and in mere moments, blanketing the castle floor in a writhing, grotesque carpet.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire continued. That revolver was no ordinary weapon—there were no pauses for reloading, and each shot pierced through multiple ghouls at once. But against the sheer mass of the horde, it was like throwing a cup of water onto a wildfire.

“Their speed is faster than the undead in Resident Evil—about as fast as an adult jogging. And they’re smarter… they know how to vault over obstacles.”

Yuuki analyzed as he ran. The ghoul had already evolved significantly in just five hours. But it was too late to regret anything now.

Crash!

The moment they rushed out of the central banquet hall, Yuuki saw the massive floor-to-ceiling windows shatter. Shards of glass flew in all directions as clawed hands and twisted limbs tore through the wreckage, surging into the castle’s main hall.

“Mai, you take the lead! Hasaka, cover me! Aim for the head!”

There was no time for hesitation. Sakurajima Mai  shot forward like an arrow, sprinting up the stairs. Behind her, the sharp hum of a blade cutting through air rang out.

Swish—

A silver arc sliced through the chaos. Several heads flew clean off, fountains of blood spraying into the air. Yuuki stared directly into the gory display, but his feet never stopped moving. He was retreating, step by step.

The entrance was breached. The windows shattered. The horde never stopped coming.

And they were clever—scaling the stairway banisters instead of blindly climbing.

They advanced through the pools of blood, eyes gleaming with hunger.

Beyond them, looming over it all—

The crimson moon hung full in the sky.