Chapter 652: 'Black Gatekeeper'

After the car driven by Riri-senpai entered the highway, I felt relieved to have shaken off the horde of black zombies for the time being. However, I feel uneasy.

Those black zombies run so slowly, and with us riding a car…… there shouldn’t be any way for them to catch up with us on the highway.

However, this is an ordeal that Shiro-san prepared…… This isn't something that should be easy to complete by just riding a car.

Perhaps, they were thinking as I was, as Alyssa and the others were still carefully watching the surroundings with their weapons in hand.

[ ! ? It looks like they're following us.]

Hearing Fae-san's voice from the rear seat, we all looked at the back of the car at the same time…… and saw a horde of black zombies riding motorcycles coming towards us.

[Hey, the heck is that…… Why the heck are zombies using humanity's technologies!? No, well, we're technically not sure if those things really were zombies but…… Do these zombies not know how to act like proper zombies!?]

Well, zombies chasing us on a motorcycle would certainly be kind of weird, but anyway…… the black zombies (temp) in this virtual world seem to be able to use humanity's technologies.

Putting aside our impressions towards them, it is quite tough to escape from a large horde of motorcycle-riding black zombies with a one-box car that has seven people in it.

[I'll intercept them. Riri, please open the sunroof.]

[Alright.]

In order to intercept the black zombies that are chasing us, Liddy-senpai stood up from her seat with her archery bow and arrows in hand.

[Liddy-senpai, why don't you use a rifle instead?]

[I'm not as versatile as you are, so I prefer using this bow that I'm used to using.]

Refusing the large rifle offered by Alyssa, Liddy-senpai stood on the rear seat and leaned out of the sunroof, and with fluid motions, she released an arrow.

Despite her unstable footing, the arrows Liddy-senpai fired one after another accurately hit the heads of the black zombies on the bikes, knocking them off their bikes and stopping them from following us.

[As expected of a master. I guess you can clean them up without any problems…… wait, don't they look kinda strange?]

[It doesn't look like they're caught in an accident huh?]

As she was handing over additional arrows to Liddy-senpai, Alyssa seemed to have noticed something, to which Erina also suspicious looked towards those black zombies. As we looked behind us, some motorcycles with black zombies on it we're moving in a strange way.

As three motorcycles collided with each other, the three black zombies on the motorcycles mixed together…… and transformed into a black tiger-like creature that started running down the road.

[They fused with each other!? Seriously, is anything possible with these zombies!?]

[……Hmmm, this virtual world may be like a game. Each one of those black zombies was weak because they don't have high resources, but their resources would increase by merging together~~?]

Talking in a somewhat relaxed tone, Fei-san operated her laptop at a very fast speed. In contrast with her relaxed tone though, she typed at a tremendous speed with the force of a squall.

[Riri-tan-senpai, please use maximum speed to pull away from them for a bit…… Also, don't move over to the right lane.]

[Fae-san? What are you doing?]

[Hmmm? Well, I thought I'd just wipe all of them out at the same time…… Alright, "fire".]

Fae-san answered my question in her usual insipid tone as ever…… wait, fire? She's firing what?

As such a question came to my mind, I heard something…… flying past with a speed that made it impossible for me to see it.

[……Umm, Fae-san? What did you just fire?]

[Unnn? It's a "tactical tomahawk".]

[Tomahawk!?]

Errr, it's that, isn't it"? In this situation, since she wasn't talking about the axe tomahawk…… Does that mean she sent a freaking missile!?

Immediately after that, I heard a tremendous roar from behind me, and the car violently shook. After the shaking stopped, I looked behind me…… and not to mention the horde of black zombies, parts of the highway had been blown up.

[Wh…… Wawawa…… Why a missile!? I mean, were there even missiles at the University?]

[It's great that they're well prepared, isn't it~~? They've even prepared a special high-performance laptop for me. This world will disappear after the ordeal is over anyway, so we don't have to worry about the damages~~]

I was stunned by all these absurdities that happened. Or rather, what does Shiro-san really intend to do? Going as far as to prepare a missile…… Does she want me to go to war?]

The missile interception was a surprise, but after that, things went very well for us. The destruction of part of the highway had obviously reduced the number of black zombies chasing us, while Alyssa and the others were able to intercept the black zombies that sporadically come.

At this pace, we should be able to reach the suburbs in about 10 minutes. Then, the cemetery that I'm aiming for would just be around the corner.

However, I wonder what this anxiousness I'm feeling…… It's as if things are going a bit too well.

[……Doesn't it seem like things have become calmer?]

[Unnn, I thought so too.]

[……A trap? ……or perhaps…… they're preparing…… for something?]

Apparently, everyone else was also thinking the same thing…… and to make matters worse, our premonition came true.

[ ! ? Everyone, please look to your right!]

When we heard Riri-senpai's shout, all of us turned our eyes to the right window…… and was lost for words.

In terms of distance, it was still quite far away…… but it was in the large twin buildings near the center of the city. On top of those twin buildings, there was a huge black sphere that seemed to be growing larger and larger.

When we saw it, what came to our minds was that scene from earlier…… Where three black zombies merged and grew…… no, transformed into a giant tiger.

[That looks bad, isn't it……]

[Yes, Fae-san. That's the worst…… If the number of humans in this virtual world is the same as on the original Earth…… There would be about 120 million people in Japan alone…… and if that thing would be a fusion of the zombies from all over the world, a fusion from more than 7 billion people…… and if all of that were gathered, how high level of a resource would it have———— !?]

Immediately after Alyssa said this with a flustered look on her face, the black sphere that had swallowed the large twin buildings began to pulsate and started changing shape.

The color of that thing was more ominously blacker than the black zombies, probably because it had condensed its gathered resources to increase its density.

Its jet-black wings give it a strong presence even under the black sky, and its huge body gives off a tremendous sense of intimidation, even though it doesn't have eyes or nose like the other black creatures we faced before.

[Kaito-san, I'm sorry. I saw things wrong…… It seems like Kaito-san isn't the protagonist of a zombie movie…… You're actually the protagonist of a "Kaiju movie" huh.]

(T/N: Kaiju are those seriously monstrous monsters. Godzilla/Kong-tier monsters.)

Yes, it was……a gigantic, several hundred meters long———— jet-black dragon.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [Fumu, it looks like the Second Stage's boss is here. Honestly, how strong are the people on Kaito's side?]

? ? ? : [Kaito's six allies have greater individual "resource" for their memories and emotions than the black zombies…… but they definitely can't stand against a dragon that held the resource of 7 billion people. If I…… Alice-chan's real body was there, it would be turned into a dragon steak in less than a second, and Magnawell-san could literally crush it underfoot…… but for Kaito-san's group, it's a formidable opponent.]

Serious-senpai : [A few hundred meters is supposed to be insanely humongous already…… but being compared to Dragon King makes me feel like it's small.]

T/N: 65/187+3