Arianne ran without looking back. Her sharp brown eyes were fixedly staring at the giant figure ahead of her, about twice as tall as she was.
Within her mind, an image flashed for a brief moment. A tragedy caused by a swarm of Giant Zombies attacking a certain city some time ago.
The image of those zombies, swallowing villagers like snacks, immersed in screams of fear and pain—and this one—overlapped for a moment. Arianne bit her lip as she gritted her teeth.
"HAAAAAAP!"
With a leap forward, she raised her blade overhead and slashed down.
It was an attack loaded not only with all her strength but even with all her and the sword's weight together.
The sword touched the Giant Zombie's skin the next moment. However, what followed wasn't as Arianne expected.
"...!"
Her attack, the most powerful blow she could deal as she was currently, could only sink a few inches deep. It failed to deal "actual" damage, much less decapitate the zombie's limbs!
"OooOH...!"
Right after her failed attack, the zombie tried to catch her with its large hand.
Of course, Arianne saw this coming from a mile away and quickly kicked against the zombie's body, extracting her sword from its left shoulder and swinging it across this time.
"Don't touch me!"
She quickly waved her sword using her falling momentum. Like a spinning top twisted 90 degrees, she aligned her sword's edge toward the zombie's fingers, planning to cut them down at least. However, the next moment, she was beyond flabbergasted.
A loud clang echoed, ringing in her ears.
"What?!"
The fingers didn't budge... no, it was the metallic gauntlets that it was wearing that received the attack! "A zombie with equipment?!" Arianne gritted her teeth, not expecting such a thing.
She had failed to notice this small detail, as it was dark and the target was far away.
But now, it couldn't be denied.
Both hands of the Giant Zombie were wrapped in a fitting pair of rusty metal gauntlets, reaching up to its elbows!
Although falling off in some places, they were still doing their job perfectly well as gauntlets. To add, each one should be as heavy as Arianne herself, but the zombie was waving its arms around as if it weighed as light as a feather!
The sword vibrated from the impact, making it hard for Arianne to keep her grip. Still, as a knight, she didn't let go of her sword. She landed before the palm reached her, allowing her to jump backward and gain some distance.
"AaaaAh..."
"...!"
But her jump was rushed. She failed to notice a zombie chasing behind her, perfectly right where she stopped! In panic, she twisted her body and hit the zombie with the pommel of her sword, pushing it away.
However, that lapse in attention allowed the Giant Zombie a few moments to approach.
Its other hand grabbed forward, as if a baby reaching for a toy. It was faster than the earlier one, making it too late when Arianne realized the danger.
"Ugh!"
The Giant Zombie caught Arianne's right arm, gripping tightly.
She could hear bones cracking under the powerful grip of the zombie, but still... she didn't let out a cry of pain.
"Bastard...!"
She let go of her sword, letting her left hand wield it, and shouted:
"I'm fucking ambidextrous!"
It was a slash loaded with all her chagrin, irritation, and anger. A powerful vertical slash. And with her own arm acting as support, it became the perfect setup, unintentionally.
In one swing, the arm that was grabbing her arm was chopped off!
"Uck!"
But still, damage was done.
Arianne took some distance, waving her sword with one hand against the few zombies trying to persistently come close to her. Her right arm refused to move completely.
Not only her bones but even the muscles in her arm had snapped, rendering it completely immobile. It could only dangle powerlessly now.
"Shit... I let my guard down...!"
Arianne cursed, lamenting her weakness.
Of course, just because it was injured—losing an arm—didn't mean the Giant Zombie would stop chasing. It slowly walked over, planning to finish what it started.
"Fine...!"
Arianne was cornered. She couldn't retreat, as nobody else was able to fight against the Giant Zombie but her. But she couldn't beat the enemy either, given her current injuries. All of a sudden, her fight became a losing battle.
"I'll buy as much time as possible so that the others can run to safety!"
She resolved to herself, holding her sword tight with one hand. However...
"I didn't give you permission to die just yet!"
A voice called from behind her, along with a few projectiles flying in her direction. Shocked, Arianne glanced behind her and gasped. "S-Sir Axel?!"
There, she saw Axel dragging a large, double-handed long sword. Just from a glance, she could tell that Axel was pushing himself, wielding a sword he could barely "wield." Each time he swung it around, it was he who was being wielded by the sword instead.
Still, all the zombies that were injured even slightly by the sword quickly turned into puddles beside his feet.
"Yes, it's me," Axel gasped for air, catching his breath.
He had literally used all his strength just to rush to Arianne's side while cleaning up all the zombies he met along the way. After all, he could tell they didn't have much time.
"Drink this first!"
Before they continued chatting, Axel produced a vial from his inventory. It was an unassumingly small, transparent vial containing a pale blue liquid. Just a glance at it could tell someone what it was: a potion!
Arianne saw how the liquid was glowing, a telltale sign that it was a high-class potion. Knowing its importance and value, she hesitated to receive it for but a moment.
"OoooOh!"
But as soon as she heard the Giant Zombie groan, moving closer one step at a time, she tossed all hesitation out the window. "Sorry, Sir Axel! I'll borrow this potion!" She grabbed the potion, popped its cap, and downed its contents in one go.
As soon as she did, her injured right arm began to glow the same color as the potion itself.
Within moments, the arm that she could no longer move was completely healed! "W-What an amazing potion!" she groaned, staring at the empty bottle in her palm.
But before she could even imagine what sort of magical potion it was, Axel moved.
"Here, use this too!"
With all his strength, he passed the longsword he had to Arianne. The sword that he could barely wield with both hands fit Arianne's hand perfectly—as if the sword were something made just for her.
"This sword..."
Arianne's expression went blank for a moment before glancing at the sweaty Axel. Then, she shook her head, chasing the thought away.
"Thank you, Sir Axel." She nodded lightly before facing the Giant Zombie once again. "With this sword, I don't feel like I'd lose to this monster anymore!"
"OOOH!"
The Giant Zombie rushed forward, swinging its palm down as if trying to smash Arianne and Axel into a pulp. It was such a quick action that Axel could only stare dumbfounded, watching as the large fist approached.
But just before it reached them... Arianne moved.