Episode 37

The price of breaking the apocalypse survival formula was brutal.

Thud-! Thud-!

Kick… Kik…

In the chamber, the unknown creature was approaching, laughing at us, and

Kueeek!

On the bone-filled stairs, a zombie was climbing up using its comrades as stepping stones.

Crack-!

Standing side by side with the Crown Prince to deal with the zombies, I suddenly made eye contact with the creature in the chamber.

It was stumbling toward us and now seemed ready to come out of the chamber.

I urgently looked at the Crown Prince, who was dealing with the zombies beside me.

“Your Highness, we can’t keep going like this. I’ll handle the zombies, please deal with the creature.”

“Alright.”

Wham-!

Realizing the danger of the creature, as soon as I finished speaking, the Crown Prince leaped into the chamber.

Swoosh-!

He immediately drove his spear into the creature’s gills.

It was a massive creature, three times the size of him, so I expected it to push him back, but the Crown Prince effortlessly shoved the creature away.

Kick! Kik!

The creature, now fallen backward, flailed its limbs in an attempt to get up.

‘Nice!’

I smiled inwardly and cheered for the Crown Prince.

Wham! Crack!

Just then, after taking down a zombie with relief, I turned back to the Crown Prince and froze in shock.

The spear that the Crown Prince had driven into the creature’s gills was now broken.

‘What, the spear broke?’

He alternated between looking at the broken half of the spear lodged in the creature’s gills and the remaining shaft in his hand before glancing at me.

He tilted his head and pointed at the spear. His eyes seemed to question if it was a cheap weapon.

It was frustrating.

‘I bought this at a high price, and it was hand-made by a craftsman who’s been in the weapon trade for 30 years!’

Maybe my frustration showed on my face, because the Crown Prince sighed, glanced at the broken spear, and ran his hand through his hair.

After a moment of thought, he suddenly adopted a more serious expression and readied himself for battle once again.

Then, looking at me, he said:

“Young Lady, – believe me.”

The noise of zombies being struck echoed, and his words were barely audible, but they still made my eyes widen.

‘Did he just say, “Believe me”?!’

As I looked at him with hopeful eyes, I realized he was staring at something on me.

Following his gaze, I realized it was my pouch.

‘Wait, did he say, “I believe you,” not “Believe me”?!’

I fumed for a moment, then regained my composure.

‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.’

I motioned to the Crown Prince to buy me some time and started rummaging through the pouch.

As my hand dove into the spatial pocket, kits and small items brushed between my fingers.

‘Damn, I should have organized this better!’

Normally, I would take my time and arrange things on my palm, or feel with my fingertips, but with the zombies approaching up the stairs, I struggled to find anything.

Sweat dripped down my back, and the longer it took, the wetter my shirt became from cold sweat.

“Young Lady, are we close?”

“Wait a moment!”

“We’ve severed the creature’s limbs, so we need to block the zombies first!”

Swoosh, the Crown Prince jammed the broken spear into the creature’s last arm. Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock as he darted out of the chamber.

Tap, tap, tap! Crack!

Using the wall to push himself up, he kicked a zombie that was charging at me with the agility of a whip.

Crack! Snap!

The Crown Prince was dealing with the zombies unarmed and called for me to hurry.

“Young Lady!”

Just as I was rummaging through my pouch, I felt something soft and furry in my hand.

Instinctively, I grabbed it and pulled, and out of the pouch, the rabbit popped out.

‘…What are you doing here?’

It had been sleeping on the table when I left, right?

The rabbit, looking just as confused, seemed to have woken up from its nap.

I stared at the rabbit, holding its ears, and remembered the scene of it devouring zombies in the dawn forest.

‘Alright, rabbit. I’m counting on you.’

I threw the rabbit into the zombie-infested corridor.

“Go, rabbit!”

“Sniff!”

Confused, the rabbit stretched its pudgy legs like a flying squirrel and leaped, opening its mouth wide.

Its fluffy, soft mouth blocked the entrance to the stairs, munching through zombies and sucking them into the spatial pocket.

‘Alright, this should work…’

I let out a sigh of relief, feeling my pounding heart slowly returning to normal.

‘Next, over there.’

Wiping my cold sweat, I glared at the chamber.

By the time I pulled the rabbit out, the Crown Prince had heard the creature’s cry and rushed back into the chamber.

Worried about the Crown Prince, who was fighting without weapons, I hastily followed him into the chamber.

“Your Highness, are you okay—”

“What? Say that again, louder.”

“……”

“……”

“…What are you doing right now?”

The tension deflated like a balloon with a popped air valve.

Beside the creature lying on the floor, the Crown Prince calmly knelt and listened to it.

The Crown Prince frowned and turned to look at me.

“Young Lady, this thing is talking?”

“A creature is talking?”

I was so taken aback that I forgot to be surprised, and I approached behind the Crown Prince, straining my ears to listen.

It was true.

The animal’s mouth emitted a cry, while the human-like mouth was speaking the Imperial language.

We focused on the clearest human-like speech we could hear.

“Kick… lullaby…”

‘Lullaby?’

The Crown Prince looked at me, clearly surprised.

“It seems like it wants us to sing a lullaby.”

“Seems like it.”

I nodded, but then I felt a piercing gaze.

The Crown Prince was looking at me as if it was obvious.

‘What, is he asking me to sing?’

“I don’t know any lullabies.”

“I’ve never heard one.”

The Crown Prince gave me a pitiful look. It was disgusting.

“Your nanny used to sing them for you.”

“I don’t remember. When I was a child, she tried to poison me, so I killed her myself.”

I had been ready to counter whatever he said, but my words caught in my throat.

For a while, only the creature’s mocking laughter and the sound of the rabbit chewing on zombies echoed through the air.

“…Oh.”

‘What should I say?’

Had he read the conflict in my expression? The Crown Prince smiled bitterly with one side of his mouth. This time, it wasn’t disgusting at all.

“So, Young Lady, sing to buy some time. While you do, let’s figure out how to break this tough body.”

“But I only know this lullaby: If you go to the shade of the island….”

At that moment, the creature suddenly rolled its eyes toward us. Thanks to the reflex, the lullaby came out automatically. It was a desperate singing attempt to survive.

The Crown Prince’s shocked gaze made my ears burn, but I didn’t stop.

It seemed like when faced with death, people would do anything.

Kick… Kik…

The creature stopped wriggling for a moment when I sang the lullaby.

The Crown Prince, murmuring that it was the first lullaby he’d ever heard, raised his broken spear.

I sang the lullaby while thinking to myself.

‘That spear won’t work.’

I had a few spears with metal shafts, but those wouldn’t do against this rocky creature.

The Crown Prince probably knew this too.

Perhaps he was waiting for me to take out a different weapon or a magical engineering weapon.

I continued singing the lullaby, my eyes tightly shut.

Alright, let’s think calmly.

‘So far, I’ve revealed grenades, location-tracking communication brooches, soundproof stickers, various weapons, and small and lightweight kits.’

Magical items had already been exposed, but… should I expose more unique weapons to the Crown Prince, who doesn’t fully trust me?

I shook my head. It wasn’t time for ‘that’ yet. Plus, it wasn’t the right weapon for the current situation.

‘Should I just use gunpowder?’

I shook my head again.

If I used bombs or grenades, the blast power would be strong enough to collapse the cave, which was risky.

‘Then, should I leave the creature alive and try to escape?’

But just because it wasn’t aggressive now didn’t mean it wouldn’t become a threat later.

‘It might catch up to us.’

Lost in thought, I clenched my teeth, stopping the lullaby.

Just then, the creature began rolling its body again, making a strange grinding noise as it headed toward me.

Drreeek-

“Young Lady!”

The Crown Prince swiftly lifted me up and dodged the attack.

Crash-!

The creature rolled straight into the wall, embedding itself there. Pieces of broken stone fell from the wall.

Kick… Kik…

With its bloody severed limbs, the creature used them to turn around and aimed at us.

From the front, the creature’s eyes and lips were pressed together, bleeding.

“Sing… Kik… lullaby…”

Drreeek- Crash-!

Again, the Crown Prince scooped me up and dodged the creature’s attack as it rolled toward us.

He kept his eyes on the creature and whispered to me.

“Young Lady, I’m sorry, but do you have any other weapons?”

‘Other weapons?’

While hugging his neck, my eyes caught a glimpse of the spear shaft that had fallen amidst the scattered rubble.

In that instant, something flashed in my mind.