Chapter 26

    Tanuki City

    "Have you ever watched a zombie movie and wondered what it would be like if it really happened? If so, we recommend Tanuki City, a place teeming with a variety of zombies throughout the city. Nowhere is safe as zombies could attack at any moment (except in hotels). As the number of people in the city increases, so does the number of zombies, ensuring you'll never run out of zombies to kill. Prepare to face the formidable zombie boss, 'Nemesis,' who can wield weapons and is waiting for you to challenge him.

    *Note: There are no announcements when encountering monsters in this city.

    *Being bitten by a zombie here will not turn you into one."

    The exciting welcome message was clearly written on the sign at the city's entrance. Now standing in front of the gate to Tanuki City, having Black Lightning made Möbius's journey much more comfortable since no monster could catch up to his car.

    "This city seems like fun,"

    46025967

    Möbius remarked as he stood before the city's double-gated entrance designed to prevent zombies from leaving the city. Once a visitor passed through the first gate, it would close, and the second gate would open, a measure to prevent zombies from escaping and also to enhance the atmosphere of the place.

    "I hate zombies."

    Leia said with a faint-hearted tone. She hated undead monsters the most because they were difficult to kill; even if beheaded, their heads could still roll and bite. For someone like her, whose profession focused on one-hit kills, zombies were particularly troublesome.

    [Ahem, with the lost technology I possess, even a hundred zombies couldn't stop my running. But, uh... I didn't install anything to block their debris, so... for the sake of cleanliness inside the car... could you please keep me in the dimension while we're in the city?]

    The voice of Black Lightning that Möbius and others was sitting echoed, and its words caused the young man to imagine the mess of zombie limbs scattering across his car's leather seats. Not to mention the many other disgusting things that made him immediately agree with the suggestion.

    "There, there… Black. Don't worry, I will take care of you."

    The fox mother gently stroked the screen showing Black Lightning's face.

    "Do zombies lose to fire?"

    Gumiho asked Leia, who nodded in affirmation. Aside from Leia, Möbius's group was indeed a zombie-killing squad, with a powerful fire mage and a gunslinger who could unleash a barrage of bullets.

    "Let's get out of the car first. I'll park Black, and then we can head into the city."

    Möbius said as he was the first to exit the vehicle. He wanted to keep his car first because it consumed a lot of energy, and driving over zombies would be a messy ordeal. The ladies followed his lead. As he parked the car, they all walked slowly into the first layer of the caged entrance, with the system operator instructing them to raise their hands when ready.

    "Young Miss, where is the market in this city?"

    Möbius asked Leia because he had heard that there were a lot of guns for sale in this city, and he wanted to check them out and possibly upgrade his weapon with the orbs he had obtained from the Arc Angel boss.

    "Probably at the big building over there."

    Leia pointed towards a large building in the city center that had an umbrella symbol on it. She had visited the city only once before and found that her combat style wasn't well-suited for fighting zombies. More importantly, this city didn't sell sweets.

    "Let's go, I'm hungry already."

    Gumiho, who along with Inari had been snacking on sweets they'd brought along, now fully charged with magical power and ready to signal Möbius.

    "Let's go."

    Möbius, holding his Thompson, gave the signal to the employee. As the inner cage door opened, the city's zombies warmly greeted Möbius and his crew.

    Ugh... Ah...

    Boom, boom, bang, bang, bang!!!

    Though Möbius's group had relatively low defensive power, their high destructive capabilities, especially against slow, flammable monsters like these zombies, meant they faced the horde unflinchingly, ready to blaze a trail through.

    "Hey, is that Möbius's group?"

    The archer from a group inside the building that Möbius was heading towards, pointed out Möbius slicing through the zombies at high speed. He was Kujikatsu.

    "Wow, when we came in, it took us nearly half a day. They just breezed in like that?"

    Teppanyaki, the group's defender, remarked. He had arrived in the city a day before Möbius, spending most of that time clearing zombies to slowly make their way to this safe zone.

    "If we invite Möbius's group to join our activities, it should make things a lot easier."

    Tempura, the beautiful girl standing next to Teppanyaki, said. Her group was more defense-oriented, which meant that having a group focused on offense could simplify everything.

    "I wonder if they will join us. It looks like they can handle it pretty easily on their own. Look at them."

    Sashimi pointed out, as Möbius threw grenades to the increasingly dense zombie crowd, causing them to be blown away with ease.

    "Let's ask, they're here now. Really impressive."

    Shabu-Shabu, the water mage of the group, commented, admiring Möbius's group's prowess.

    Actually, this Japanese cuisine-themed group was slightly higher in level than Möbius, but like Leia, they were not suited for dealing with hard-to-kill monsters like these zombies. They were more accustomed to dealing with monsters that were much higher in level by luring and killing them one at a time.

    "This city is really fun."

    Inari smiled fondly because their fire had a sacred element, making it easier to kill zombies.

    "Let's find something to eat first, Miho must be hungry."

    Möbius said as he led the way into the building.

    Inside this umbrella-shaped building, a hexagonal structure about 50 stories high, the center was a large hexagonal shaft reaching up to the roof. The lower floors were filled with various shops, resembling a mall in the middle of a zombie town. It seemed the upper floors were residential and hotel areas, while the ground floor entry area was an open space where player merchants would come to stake out spots to sell goods. Mostly, guns were sold because they were the most effective weapon against zombies and could be used by almost any profession, though they offered no additional attack skills. However, Möbius hadn't yet chosen a gun to buy.

    "I want to eat at that place. Let's go there." Gumiho pointed to a big sign that read 'Exquisite Braised Offal.'

    "Can we go somewhere else, Miho?" Möbius had just slaughtered some zombies that were quite messy, spilling their insides out.

    "How about that place?" The fox girl pointed to a raw fish restaurant.

    "... " There was no need to describe what the zombie became when exploded a while ago.

    "That restaurant," Leia pointed to a vegetarian food place that was the most crowded in the building. No need to explain why, but Gumiho frowned in dissatisfaction because she didn’t like vegetables at all.

    "Then that one," Inari pointed to a seafood restaurant because it had unusual creatures that she had never seen before plastered in front of the restaurant.

    "Agreed, let’s go there," Möbius agreed with Inari immediately, and both Gumiho and Leia agreed as well.

    "Mr. Möbius, hello."

    Teppanyaki and the Japanese Cuisine group greeted Möbius at the front of the restaurant.

    "Ah, hello Mr. Teppan."

    Möbius was pleased to meet Teppanyaki because he had very few friends. Afterward, Möbius's group and the Japanese Cuisine group sat down to eat together in this seafood restaurant. Möbius also had the chance to return the secret mission card from Paradiso City to Teppanyaki.

    "While eating, the main topic of conversation was about some activity that immediately caught Möbius's interest.

    "What's the activity?"

    "Oh, it's the 'Infernal Plague Crisis' event."

    Teppanyaki began before Sashimi took over, handing a detailed document to Möbius, which Inari took to read first.

    "It's a simple activity. Just get through the zombies in the inner city to the helicopter pad at the center of the city, and the points from killing zombies will be tallied to determine the winner. But this time, they've released the boss Nemesis too. If you encounter it, you'd probably have to run because it's said to be very fierce."

    "There's just one problem, as you can see our group lacks someone with high offensive power, and the activity is limited to no more than ten people per group, so we were hoping you, Möbius, could join us."

    Shabu-Shabu said, looking at Möbius intermittently with a shy expression because the young man looked very handsome in his new suit.

    "I agree, but I can't decide for others."

    Möbius responded before turning to look at Gumiho, Inari, and Leia. He didn't want to force his girls into doing something they might not want to do. The first to respond, the fox girl Gumiho, known for her destructive power within his group, replied in a bright voice.

    "Let's do it, burning those zombies sounds fun."

    "Let's go."

    Inari replied while reading the details, gesturing for Gumiho and Leia to read it too. The petite girl, who was also looking at the activity details, waved at Möbius and replied casually,

    "Yeah, okay."

    "Once we're done eating, let's go register and talk to the gamemaster about the event."

    Teppanyaki invited everyone, taking the opportunity to treat Möbius to a meal in return for Möbius having paid for his meal back in Paradiso City. This was the first time Gumiho and Inari were eating seafood because they usually lived in the mountains.

    "This is so delicious, what do they call this?"

    Gumiho, who was enjoying the fried lobster with garlic, asked. Leia, who likes seafood second only to sweets, answered.

    "Lobster."

    "And these strings here, Leia?"

    Inari, who was eating grilled squid, asked as she had never seen them before either. Leia picked up a piece of grilled squid with her fork, chewed it, and replied calmly while still chewing.

    "Squid. But it seems like it's not very fresh, not bringing out its best taste."

    "Fresh?" The two mother-daughter tilted their heads together in confusion, looking even more adorable since they appeared almost identical. Leia smiled a little before starting to explain.

    "Seafood is tastier when it's eaten right after it's just died."

    "The sea?"

    Both mother and daughter tilted their heads to the other side together again. Leia then flipped to the back of the paper she was holding, which had the details of the event written on it. There was a small picture under the asterisks at the bottom of the document, showing a white sandy beach with sparkling blue waters.

    "Look, a place with a sandy beach, lots of water, and palm trees is what they call the sea."

    Above the picture, the text read, 'Special prize for groups that defeat the boss Nemesis: a trip to the Southern Seas area opening in the next patch, before anyone else.'

    "So, there are a lot of these in the sea?"

    Gumiho imagined herself grilling a mountain of shrimp with Inari's silver fire and jumping into it joyfully.

    "Yes, a lot."

    Leia also wanted to go to the sea in the game, because in her real life, she hardly ever got the chance to travel, and importantly, Möbius would be there too. It would be a great atmosphere for… a couple to travel together.

    "Leia, are you okay, feeling unwell anywhere?"

    Inari asked with concern, seeing Leia suddenly blushing.

    "No... I'm fine."

    Leia smiled at Inari, thinking she had an older sister like her who would always be concerned about her.

    After their meal, Teppanyaki led Möbius and his group to a large square in the center of the building to register, as many other players also hoped to win the event's prize.

    "Participants are requested to sleep in the designated bedrooms for the event, which starts tomorrow. Please be prepared."

    A gamemaster dressed like a soldier announced. Möbius wondered why she emphasized that the event was starting the next day.

    "Then we'll take three rooms. How many rooms do you need, Mr. Möbius?"

    Teppanyaki requested rooms for his group—three rooms for the groups of Shabu-Shabu and Tempura, Kujikatsu and Sashimi, while he would sleep alone since the others complained he snored heavily.

    "Um, just the largest single room for me, please."

    Möbius politely told Teppanyaki, surprising Teppanyaki's group. The three beautiful ladies showed no reluctance to share a room with Möbius.

    "Let Inari sleeps on Möbius tonight."

    The fox mother said after taking out a notebook to check the sleeping arrangements for the night, leaving the three mean of Teppanyaki's group envious, while Shabu-Shabu couldn't believe that the sophisticated-looking Möbius was actually a sly fox with three female slaves, unaware that the real foxes were the ladies themselves.

    At 2:00 AM,

    Normally, the entire city would be asleep at this hour, tonight was an exception.

    "Seriously… this is how we're playing it? Hurry up and gather around."

    A voice exclaimed amidst the darkness in a rush, before starting to combat something creeping in through the windows and large doors.

    Screams... Bang! Bang! Bang! Whoosh.

    Flashes of fire erupted from nearly every bedroom, indicating attacks on the strange invaders that had infiltrated while everyone was sleeping. Sounds of chaos erupted repeatedly, with screams and ongoing combat resonating continuously.

    In one particularly large bedroom, scorched in parts and littered with bullet holes in the walls, a man who had slung a large guitar case on his back spoke out in the dark.

    "Miho, Inari, Leia, are you all here?"

    "We're all here, worry about yourself."

    A cool, sweet voice responded, as Leia had instructed. Inari and Miho, being foxes, naturally had night vision. Leia, now transforming into a half-demon, could also see in the dark.

    "What do we do, Möbius?"

    Gumiho turned to ask after she had unleashed fire on a zombie crawling through the window. The flash of her fire illuminated the room, revealing a considerable number of zombie corpses.

    "Let's go help Teppanyaki’s group first."

    Möbius instructed, before Gumiho led him out of the room to the adjacent one where Tempura and Shabu-Shabu were staying.

    The situation was dire; many were fiercely battling the zombies. Luckily, being attacked didn't turn them into zombies like in the movies, or else the situation would have been much worse. However, very few other players had the ability to see in the dark, resulting in many being bitten before they could even reach the corridor.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Möbius immediately fired shots into Tempura and Shabu-Shabu's room after kicking the door open upon arrival, not worried about friendly fire since he had already incorporated Teppanyaki's group into Leia's Desserts group.

    "Where are Tempura and Shabu?"

    Inari, who could see in the dark, entered the room to inspect. There were few signs of struggle, and most of the zombies that had climbed through the window had been shot dead by Möbius's gunfire.

    "Miss Inari, please heal Tempura."

    Shabu emerged from a closet, supporting Tempura's body in her arms, who was bleeding profusely from the bit. Inari pulled out her fan and waved it, healing her soon after. Fortunately, it was only superficial wounds, though the priestess had lost a lot of blood. Luckily, they had Möbius, a mobile water dispenser.

    "How are Tempura and Shabu doing?"

    The three young men who had come to aid the two women of their group, also attacked while asleep, ran into the room. They too had been injured in the zombie assault. As for Möbius’s group, Leia, a skilled assassin, woke up when she heard a strange noise, sparing them from injury. Sashimi sighed in relief to see everyone was safe, then urged everyone to quickly leave the building.

    "Thank you, Mr. Möbius. I just saw someone yelling for us to gather at the big building. Let's hurry there."

    After nine of them had assembled, they rushed towards the big building. Several other groups of players followed Möbius as they reached the entrance hall of this building. They were astonished by the massive number of zombies, so dense that there was hardly any room to move, packed in the way to the big building. Fortunately, several players with shield abilities were holding the entrance, preventing the zombies from having already surged in.

    "Tempura, Inari, boost their powers first, please."

    Möbius instructed the girls in the healer roles to enhance the group of players who were blocking the door. Several other clerics who had arrived earlier were present, but none were enhancing the players holding the door.

    "Shall we try to break out to the big building together?"

    Möbius addressed the group of players blocking the door, many of whom nodded in agreement to Möbius.

    "Alright, count to three, use Shield Charge, and then we run. Mages, priests, and archers in the middle keep attacking forward, speed-focused professions on the sides, and power-focused professions at the back. Let's move together."

    Möbius addressed the crowd in the hall. Many agreed to follow his lead, though some hesitated as they didn't know who he was. The young man then drew his gun, held it ready, and shouted loudly,

    "1... 2... 3... Go."

    Boom... Boom...

    As the front-liners used Shield Charge, the zombies gathering at the front were sent flying, crashing into those behind them. Inari and Gumiho, with their high destructive powers, cast fireball spells on the zombies piled in the front, clearing the path. The group of players then moved quickly towards the big building. Zombies approaching from the sides encountered rogues, warriors, and assassins, who cut them down efficiently. Those coming from behind were met with hammers and axes, smashing them to smithereens. Möbius had strategically positioned everyone correctly. The front continued advancing as mages alternated in blasting a way through. Within a short time, about 60 people reached the big building, only 200 meters away, with minimal injuries.

    Currently, the interior of the main building looks like an abandoned military command center with corpses scattered around. Inside, a female gamemaster was handling registrations. When she saw Möbius and his group, she ran towards them with a look of alarm.

    "Things have gotten really bad. Everything is out of control now. You all need to escape to the helicopter pad at the city's edge."

    The gamemaster said urgently.

    "As soon as the first rays of sunlight hit this building, the city will self-destruct to prevent the virus from spreading outside. Please, hurry."

    The same gamemaster urged Möbius, pushing a map into his hands and directing them towards a back exit of the building that led deeper into the city.

    Inside the city was laid out like a chessboard, with wide four-lane streets strewn with debris making grid lines, and derelict buildings with no entrances between those lines. They were currently at the bottom left corner of the grid, with the top right corner being their target—the helicopter pad. Moonlight and fires burning in cylindrical trash cans illuminated their path. Zombies roamed too densely to cross in one attempt.

    "Keep your backs against the wall. Everyone, conserve your energy because we'll encounter even fiercer zombies inside. Mr. Sashimi and Leia, focus on cutting their legs. Inari and Miho, use light spells just enough to set them on fire. Mr. Kujikatsu, use your fire arrows. Mr. Teppan, concentrate on herding them together so Miho can burn them. Miss Shabu, use any spells other than water ones."

    Möbius issued the commands and then drew his Thompson gun. The prize he desired was the third prize, a manual on gun maintenance.

    "Move slowly but steadily. We still have plenty of time."

    Then, Möbius's procession moved slowly through the horde of zombies. He used a tactic to set one zombie on fire and then push it into others that were not yet aflame to spread the fire continuously. If any zombies managed to get through, they would be crippled by having their legs cut off. Fortunately, in this game, there was no friendly fire, so the heat from the fire didn't harm them. Also, the fox girls were immune to fire. Möbius kept an Efrik as a backup in case things got too tough.

    Boom... Boom...!!!

    Another group that had just emerged from a building behind them moved swiftly, making Kujikatsu point them out to Möbius because moving slowly like this was somewhat boring for him.

    "Up ahead, there might be tougher ones, right? If we waste too much energy on these weaker ones, we'll be in trouble when we encounter the stronger ones."

    Möbius said, feeling that if there were only ordinary zombies, it would be an underestimation of the players. He also sensed that their journey had been too smooth so far, which likely meant something was amiss. Just as they had made it halfway,

    "Möbius, above the building."

    Gumiho, having heard something moving on the glass above, called out to Möbius to look up at the building wall they were leaning against. There were zombies with arms like toilet plungers silently creeping along the glass.

    "This is bad."

    Teppanyaki was shocked upon seeing the toilet plunger zombies above, because if they set them on fire, they might fall and scatter their group.

    "Let's cut through that way first."

    The young man pointed to the middle of the intersection where the main road intersected, where a large bus was parked, throwing grenades to clear a path.

    Boom, boom, boom!!!

    Gumiho, Inari, and Shabu used their destructive magic that was the signature of Möbius’s group to clear the way easily. Without hesitation, everyone rushed towards the bus. Möbius led, firing his machine gun at the zombies to keep them from blocking their path. In just a moment, they reached the bus.

    "Sashimi, carry Tempura up. Kujikatsu, carry Shabu."

    Teppanyaki ordered as he ran to position his shield against the bus to facilitate everyone's ascent. Sashimi and Kujikatsu swiftly hoisted the ladies up to the roof. Möbius's three girls also easily jumped up. Only Möbius was left, who slung one arm around Teppanyaki and used Grativa to reduce weight before leaping up to the bus in one bound.

    "Miho, Inari, focus on the toilet plunger zombies first. Leia, Sashimi, Shabu, keep them from climbing up. Everyone else, use these to fire away."

    Möbius pulled out a luxurious tea table and set it on the bus roof to everyone's amazement. He then handed Kujikatsu and Teppanyaki a Gatling gun each, gave Purple Spider’s rifle to Sashimi, a pistol to Tempura, and laid out many magazines on the table. Holding a sniper rifle himself, the sound of gunfire and exploding spells filled the air.

    "Fire at will. If you run out of bullets, just reload with these new magazines. I've already put bullets in for you."

    Möbius distributed the weapons, leaving Teppan’s group in awe of where he had gotten them from, but this was no time for questions as zombies had already surrounded the bus.

    "Ever since fighting with Efrik, I've really wanted to shoot this gun."

    Kujikatsu, holding the Gatling, fired wildly. Being an archer by profession, he was quite accurate with firearms.

    "Um... a warrior holding a rifle does have its own cool style."

    Sashimi, having to reload more often than others due to his gun's 30-round magazine capacity, chose to shoot closer zombies first.

    "And, and, and, aren't you, you, you, worried about wasting, wasting, wasting bullets, Mr. Möbius?"

    Teppanyaki, not skilled in firearms but still managing to shoot, was unable to speak while shooting the Gatling gun due to his voice being drowned out by the recoil.

    "I guess I'll need to get one for myself."

    Tempura, who was usually dependent on others for protection due to her lack of combat skills, began to appreciate the power of firearms, which rely solely on the gun and its ammunition.

    "Don't worry, I have plenty of regular bullets. It's a good opportunity to dispose of them in a situation like this."

    Möbius targeted one toilet plunger zombie at a time on the building.

    “Sigh..."

    Shabu-Shabu, wanting to shoot as well but not allowed by Möbius due to her more powerful magic, blasted zombies below with a sullen expression, similar to Leia, who in one swift motion cut off the hands of 7-8 zombies climbing the bus.

    The mass execution continued for about 15 minutes, with their heavy weapons and spells quickly thinning the zombie ranks.

    "The toilet plunger ones are all gone now, Möbius."

    Gumiho, with her excellent night vision, surveyed the area before popping a highly refreshing blue potion to replenish lost minerals.

    "There, there's another one."

    Inari called out, launching a large fireball at a distant target. The two fox girls discovered that the easiest way to deal with the toilet plunger zombies was to demolish the entire building, leaving no building around the crossroads that resembled a building anymore. Fortunately, since the damage occurred in a derelict urban area, it didn't matter how much they exploded. Otherwise, Möbius would have ended up with an empty pocket due to the justice he had to dispense to the system, for sure.