"This is going easier than I expected," Hisashi said, surprised at how easily they were pushing through their so-called night stroll despite the threat of the undead and the fact that they were only carrying old battery-powered flashlights, oiled lanterns, and even improvised torches.
"Of course. It's a plan that the genius me made, so it should work flawlessly." Saya proudly said, though she herself was quite surprised—not at the fast pace of their movement, but at how Nach was leading their group.
Although the sun had already set and darkness had claimed the night, the full moon above the cloudy sky still faintly illuminated their surroundings.
They could at least recognize the silhouettes of undead from a fair distance, even if they turned off their lights.
Like Nach had expected, there were only a few undead on the road along the Tokonosu River—the same path he and Saeko had taken a few days ago to get back to Onbetsu Bridge.
Saya had weighed all those facts against the risks of starting their journey at night just so they could reach Tokonosu Hospital before sunrise, check the evacuation shelter in the city before noon, and return to Takagi Estate before dark again—before the elderly woman ran out of time, as Shizuka had estimated.
Still, Saya assumed they would all be fighting the undead they encountered.
But to her surprise, Nach was handling all the fighting on his own.
It wasn't only his physical strength—his senses had also been enhanced by the lustful heat surging throughout his body thanks to his intimacy with Shizuka, Kyoko, and even Miku while waiting for Saya to prepare for the hospital raid.
Even in the darkness beyond where their lights could reach, Nach could detect undead lying dormant, waiting to ambush them. He would warn everyone to halt their approach before rushing forward to defeat the undead with the new axe he had taken from the Takagi Estate storage.
In the blink of an eye, Nach took down multiple undead—chopping off their necks, splitting their heads open, and even cutting female undead in half through their stomachs as a precaution after recalling how that overpowered female undead had continued to move even with severe head injuries.
"Who exactly is that man, Lady Saya?" one of the bodyguards asked, voicing the thoughts of the others. He felt slightly terrified after seeing Nach split an undead in half from its head down to its crotch—a feat impossible with just a normal chopping axe and ordinary human strength.
"All I know is that he is a pervert," Saya said.
She immediately earned a few doubtful looks telling her to stop acting like a tsundere and take their situation more seriously.
"And why is that—"
—"Because Nach-sensei is always pampering you."—
Before Saya could retort, Shizuka, Kohta, Rei, and even Hisashi cut her off with a fact she herself couldn't deny, leaving her flustered enough to awkwardly steer the conversation back to the bodyguard's question.
"I asked Hayashi-sensei, but all she said was that Pervert-sensei is her old acquaintance who came to work at Fujimi Academy before the undead outbreak."
"Maybe Nach is in the Defense Force like my girl friend Rika," Shizuka said, remembering Rika's stories of joint training with foreign soldiers.
"That might be true, but even foreign soldiers can't fight this overwhelmingly like Sensei," Kohta said while watching Nach continue fighting in the darkness through the scope of his rifle.
Right then, Nach turned around and shouted to warn them, even at the risk of attracting the undead swarming down the river.
"At the corner beside you, Naomi!"
Naomi's boyfriend, Takuzo, quickly shined the lantern to illuminate the dark corner of the street beside Naomi, only to see an undead rushing at unusual speed and about to jump at her.
Not even Takuzo, Ishi, Kohta, Hisashi, Yamada, Hiro, or the other boys could reach her in time.
Rei, however, was already on the move even before Nach warned them.
She thrust her spear—a welded steel spear made by the technician Matsudo—impaling the undead through its already open mouth and effortlessly pushing it back despite its massive body, like that of a fat flasher pervert who runs naked at night to expose himself to high school girls.
Rei then swung upward, splitting its head. The motion continued into a full spin of her spear until its blade severed the undead's disgustingly aroused rod and large balls.
"Ugh…"
The boys groaned as they felt something in them shrinking in fear at how Rei slaughtered the undead, along with the cold blank stare she wore—as if she were looking at trash rather than a monster.
"EKK!"
The girls, meanwhile, shrieked in fear—not only because of the pervert flasher undead, but because of what they saw after illuminating the street further.
The victim the undead had been dragging before attempting to attack Naomi.
"Shush it! What are you even screaming for… Eh?"
Saya moved closer to check what the girls had seen, but Nach—who had finally returned to the group—covered her eyes.
"I would prefer for you not to see this one, Saya."
"And I told you to stop treating me like a child."
Despite Nach's attempt to spare her from seeing such a horrific sight, Saya swiped his hand away—only to freeze in place at the sight of a high school girl who had clearly died after being violated by an undead rather than devoured.
"W-what are you all standing there for…" Saya said, swallowing her fear before continuing. "Let's keep moving."
"I'm sorry for missing that one, girls," Nach added, ushering the other girls to follow Saya before approaching Rei, who was still gripping her spear tightly with trembling hands.
"Are you feeling okay, Rei?"
Nach's concern wasn't just about Rei's trauma from almost being assaulted by a thug resurfacing, but also about how quickly she had reacted—and how easily she had overpowered such a large overweight fatso.
"I'm fine, Sensei," Rei replied.
But Nach couldn't help noticing her rough breathing—not from exhaustion, but almost as if she was getting excited and aroused.
Nach wanted to check on her further, but before he could touch her forehead to check her temperature, Hisashi called out.
"Let's go, Rei, Sensei."
***
Continuing their night stroll with Nach leading in front, the five bodyguards in the middle protecting Saya and Shizuka, and the students behind led by Kohta, Rei, and Hisashi, their raid team finally reached Onbetsu Bridge—the closest point to the hospital.
From there, the main road and even the branching side streets would be filled with more undead.
But aside from the danger ahead, Nach couldn't help worrying about the undead swarming in the river.
"Any guess where all these undead came from?" Nach asked as he stood by the side of the road, illuminating the river below.
"You're not suggesting they got swept away from the next city upstream, right?"
Saya's guess frightened everyone. After all, if undead from neighboring cities were being carried into their city by the river, then their city would soon be flooded with them.
Shizuka's next guess, however, was even more terrifying.
"Maybe they all came from the west side of the city and were trying to cross the river."
"Please don't jinx us with something that scary, Shizuka-sensei," Kohta said, fully understanding the threat that only a few of them grasped.
It wasn't only about the possibility of undead from the west side invading the east side of the city.
Even in the animal kingdom, prey and weaker predators tend to flee from the territory of an overwhelmingly savage predator.
"Which probably means there's a crazy overpowered undead scaring all these undead out of its territory."
"He just said not to jinx us, so why are you saying that!" Saya retorted, throwing weak punches at Nach as she tried to overcome how scared she was.
"I know, I know… I'm sorry. For now, let's find somewhere we can rest."