Is this your first time seeing a cleric throw punches?

The smell of blood spreading thickly in all directions.

They must surely know well what emotions are reflected in my eyes shining through that.

Because they’ve been facing me throughout our conversation.

It would have been impossible to perfectly hide this anger I’m feeling now during our conversation so far.

“…Even if she’s a child, she’s the daughter of a mass murderer.”

Yet he speaks coldly.

Very proudly, despite half of his subordinates being knocked out.

“Don’t you think applying guilt by association at the genetic level is too primitive a notion?”

“Even so, it’s just one person. For the greater cause…”

-Boom!!

A stomp infused with mana.

As the shockwave spreading from that spreads across the floor of the alley fiercely, the bodies of those standing on it begin to rapidly fly upwards.

-Pop pop pop!!

Pebbles thrown to match that moment repel the bodies of the guys one by one.

Kicking away the bodies of the guys falling like that while leaping, I prepared to swing my fist towards the leader glaring among them.

“To hell with your greater cause.”

Bursting into mockery towards him.

“How can you guys who can’t even save one child in front of you talk about saving a country?”

-Boom!

The fist swung with all my might sends his body flying and slams it onto the roof.

It doesn’t seem like the guard worked properly, but does it matter?

It would be ridiculous to show restraint one by one against guys who choose to push children back into danger with their own stubbornness.

“Still, I’ll give you some respect.”

But they’ll think they’re right.

“You guys probably have ideals and justice, and have staked a lot. I’ll fully understand with my broad-mindedness that you’re struggling like this because all those efforts haven’t yielded results yet.”

If their will to even give their lives is steadfast, I too need to face them with respect as equals to match that.

“So from now on, let’s keep just one thing in mind.”

-Flick.

The spark lighting the end of a newly placed cigarette in my mouth.

The moment I took a puff of smoke, my clearly awakened mind turned towards the bug trembling in front of me.

“That what’s about to unfold from now on is a slaughter where we kill each other.”

Towards the guy shaking precariously, now finding it difficult to even fight after taking a direct hit to the chin.

“…A slaughter?”

The man answering while staggering his body at that moment.

As expected, the shock seems not light as his voice is trembling, but…

What’s this feeling?

“Such… detestable words…”

Despite his jaw being twisted, there’s strength in his voice.

As if he doesn’t feel much hesitation even in such a state.

-Crack crack, crack.

The sound of bones twisting following that.

I thought he was straightening his jawbone with his hand, but the friction sound wasn’t coming just from his jaw.

His limbs that had been twisted from the previous impact as well.

“How… foolish… No matter if you’re the daughter of the Empire’s Sword, to think you’re superior, to be so confident just from succeeding with a few attacks…!!”

-Crack!

Joints aligning one by one along with the words continuing with difficulty.

Along with the body straightened with that, bloodshot eyes soon turned towards me.

“Do you really think… we came to this city without any preparations?”

As the skin that seemed hidden by burn scars peels off greatly, and even the inner flesh and muscles underneath become clearly visible.

But even in the darkness barely lit by moonlight, it wasn’t difficult to observe that state with the naked eye.

“…What the hell is that.”

No vitality is felt from under the peeled skin.

Like a corpse… Yes, the appearance of this guy visible to my eyes now was hardly different from a corpse.

Not only the dilated pupils, but also the skin gradually turning pale.

Even the blood that had been flowing from his body until now was gradually hardening, and the smell of blood spreading from it was gradually being overlaid with a rotten smell.

“We do not die.”

It’s not just one that has changed to such a state.

Shadows gradually taking positions around the roof where I’m standing.

But they’re not new reinforcements.

The guys I had beaten down earlier have climbed up here, dragging their broken bodies.

“We are the inheritors of the will of the ancient beings you disparage as outdated.”

“We who have inherited that will shall not be broken by any adversity or hardship.”

“The power bestowed by that one will keep us moving until we fulfill our purpose…”

Voices even sluggish as if the respiratory organs have hardened in bodies like corpses.

Their appearance of moving despite rapidly changing to be like corpses could be seen as standing on the border between life and death itself.

“…Geez, I wondered what guts you had to enter this city.”

A phenomenon I’m seeing for the first time since coming to this world.

The reason that sight didn’t feel entirely unfamiliar was because I had seen beings like them in the game before coming to this world.

“Not just human trash, but trash recycled from humans. The rebel army has really gone all the way.”

Necromancy.

The crystallization of distorted divine power created by faith tinged with madness.

The techniques derived from it were, according to the game’s setting, handled by a cult group worshipping a god called the Great Ancient Being.

None other than the remnants and successors of those who worshipped the ‘Old Emperor’ who started the war that lasted half a century.

---

The game I played.

In World Wars, there were rebel forces for each country.

Even for the Empire, there were multiple rebel forces besides the ‘Astora Revolutionary Group’ facing me now.

Each one is small in scale compared to the whole country, but sometimes when they form alliances and attack, one had to be prepared for the possibility of complete annihilation of forces without empty words.

If one failed to deal with such groups and the flow of the game gradually moved towards the empire’s destruction, there was one force that invariably appeared in the game.

‘Elder Fanatics.’

Fanatics who worship the emperor of the old era as a god.

Their purpose is solely to overthrow the current imperial regime, and expressing the decline of the era, countless undead swarmed before them.

An army of the dead, alive yet not alive.

With countless corpses to revive due to the war, they often approached as the most dangerous existence for the empire or its friendly nations in the latter half of the game.

“But to stick with cultists for the sake of revolution when the war is already over.”

Well, there probably isn’t complete approval, but the long-running war has just ended.

Favorable evaluations of the current regime will likely be in the majority, so it can be said that the difficult position of the rebel armies was foreseeable.

“Still, the atmosphere was bearable until just now, but now that their brains have rotted, it’s even more painful to look at.”

“Nonsense…!!”

The leader who had tried to persuade me calmly until now, but after becoming half corpse-like, his voice was getting heated.

It can’t be helped.

The ‘corpseification’ technique they’re using now is applied to the bodies of the living, not the dead.

It’s a technique that turns half the body into a corpse, but maintains tenacious vitality through regenerative power using divine force.

“This power proves that our revolution we seek to carry out is by no means naive, born from mere sentiment… The likes of you have no right to disparage it!!”

As they’re in a corpse state, most bodily sensations are paralyzed, making them insensitive to pain, but several symptoms arise that cause distress, such as the heart not beating or the lungs hardening.

It makes them instinctively feel a great sense of crisis for their life.

As survival instinct is strengthened by that, they not only struggle without regard for their own bodies, but beyond that, their emotions are heightened, giving them a strong aggressive tendency.

“Everyone, charge…!!”

And mana is energy that responds to will.

The heightening of emotions means that attacks using mana become even more fierce.

“Quickly dispose of that bitch!!”

Intense shouts echoing in the middle of the night.

Along with that, the bodies of the guys rushing in become afterimages, and they begin to swing weapons fiercely honed towards me.

If before they were sharp blades, now they’re roughly rotating saw blades.

Certainly the power has increased, but as they’re in a half-irrational state, their movements have become monotonous. It’s not difficult to deal with.

-Whoosh!

Just by lowering my body, multiple small fries pass overhead.

Those who detected that movement tried to move their target directly below, but by then, the bandage released from my hand was spreading in the air, preparing to touch their bodies.

Bandages moving freely by mana.

-Swish!!

They intertwine like spider webs among them, and reverse their movement towards me into binding force.

The small fries crumple their expressions in panic.

I showed them the string of bandages connected to them in front of them, and prepared to put strength into my hand.

“Why are infiltrators yelling at the top of their lungs like this? It’ll be troublesome for you guys if you wake up all the neighbors.”

“You, damn bitch!!”

-Boom!!!

The flying body masses strike the bodies of the guys approaching from the opposite side, scattering them.

One youngster throwing a secret weapon through that gap.

I grasped the handle of the flying dagger he threw, then sliced through the shoulder of the guy approaching from the side.

“What!?”

“You shouldn’t be surprised by this much.”

My specialty isn’t catching, but throwing.

-Bang!!

The moment the thrown dagger pierces the shoulder of the thrower along with the swing of my shoulder.

They may be able to endure pain in a corpse state, but being insensitive to pain doesn’t mean their strength has increased.

The dagger already stuck in the guy’s shoulder disturbed his balance, and the bandage tied to its end was ready to pull his body.

-Thud!

One punch to the face of the guy dragged right in front of me.

Right after, as guys jumping onto the roof approached while drawing their swords, my rotating body brushed past and pushed them away.

My palm touched the sword swung to aim at my head.

My foot in shoes touched the secret weapon aimed at my waist.

-Whoosh!

Along with that, bugs whose limbs are crushed by the punches and joint techniques that continue while rotating.

The guys rushing in afterwards collapse helplessly all the same.

No matter how much their overall specs have increased, there were more than enough of these guys on the front lines.

-Boom!!!

The only one worth looking at is about one person.

The moment the leader’s fist coming through the scattered guys strikes my body.

Unable to ignore that impact, I stepped back and looked down at my arm.

An accurate hit that nullified even the attempt to deflect it in a split second. A precision that can’t be thought of as coming from a half-dead person who’s lost half their rationality.

“…Looks like you’re not just for show as the leader.”

“That’s my line.”

The leader with an even uglier appearance than before.

He raised his fist that had been crumpled by the previous collision and began to grind his teeth.

“As expected of the daughter of the Empire’s Sword… You seem to have skills worthy of being cocky.”

A body with a stopped heart and hardened lungs.

The muscles don’t function properly so the body breaks easily like a reed, but even that is rapidly restored by regenerative power from divine force.

Yet in those bloodshot eyes, there clearly exists something that can be called will.

A will to truly beat me.

“But even so, you’re ultimately human… There must be limits to your stamina and will. You can’t overturn the power of the dead who have transcended even death…!!”

If that will exists even when the body is broken, they will rise again and again.

Ghosts of the past rampaging with the force to destroy everything the living have achieved.

For those who have inherited even that will, lost rationality rather seems like the best drug that erases hesitation.

“Everyone, charge again… We’ll offer that foolish woman’s head to the great one!!”

So they won’t yield no matter how strong the opponent is.

Such confident shouts echoed, but in reality, only silence came and went on the rooftops of the city.

“Wh-What…”

“Sorry, but those guys can’t get up anymore.”

The bewildered leader.

I put a new cigarette in my mouth in front of him and glanced back at the small fries scattered where I had passed.

At the guys who can’t even muster the spirit to raise their corpseified bodies again.

“Ugh, uuu…”

“It, it hurts… Wh-Why…?”

“Cough!”

No, they can’t be called corpses now.

The cries coming out of their mouths while collapsed prove that.

Groans full of pain that would never be uttered in a state where sensations are dulled.

“What the hell, how…”

“Historically, zombies were always beaten with shotguns and crosses.”

To the idiot wondering, I immediately raised my hand to show him the reason.

The hand blade being honed with a light even more vivid than moonlight.

“What, is this your first time seeing a cleric throw punches?”

Divine power.

This power forged from pure faith was the best specific remedy to counter the impure power born from distorted madness.