After creating a prison for the bandits, Axel and Arianne "roughed up" the lively guys who were full of complaints. As such, the group of men was now full of injured individuals, with the other half scared to death by the two "demons'" actions.
Just as they sealed up the entrance once more and returned to the wall, Maria raised her voice.
"S-Sir Axel! They're here!" she shouted. "The zombie horde is here!"
"Finally..."
Of course, Axel anticipated this beforehand.
After all, Arianne couldn't kill all the zombies before. Although she thinned them down to half their numbers singlehandedly, there were still over a thousand zombies remaining.
"Call the others!" Axel commanded Maria. "We need to wipe them out before sunrise!"
From the System's panel, the time was about 5:44 A.M., which meant that sunrise was just around the corner. And as a weird "mechanism" of this world, zombies vanish when hit by the sun's rays.
In short, if they didn't hurry, then Axel would miss out on 8 Giant Zombies and completing the 5,000 normal zombies–slaying requirements!
It wouldn't really hurt them if they just waited for sundown for the zombies to disappear. But if they proceeded with killing those, then Axel would be able to shorten his quest duration by at least a couple of days.
"G-Got it!"
Maria nodded and ran without delay, calling for the other girls.
It didn't take long for the four girls to rush back on top of the walls, their expressions resolute.
This time, the zombies were coming only from one direction—north. As such, only the northeast and northwest ballistae could be used to fight. After a short greeting, Eve and Maria moved to arm the first ballista, with Cherry and Beatrix on the other.
Axel stood still with his crossbow, while Arianne was on standby, holding her sword, ready to rush in at any given moment and wipe out as many zombies as she could.
"Ah, I forgot..." Only then did Axel realize something.
Arianne's armor was literally tattered right now. It did look like it had been through dangerous battles even before, but now, it had basically lost its purpose as armor. Seeing this, Axel nodded firmly.
"Arianne, can you remove your clothes for a moment?" he asked.
Hearing his weird request, the female knight raised a brow. "Here? Right now? That's a bold invitation coming from you, Sir Axel..."
"Huh?"
Of course, Axel realized how his words could be misunderstood easily, so he quickly corrected himself. "I mean, I need to have your armor for a moment. I want to fix it. It's no different than rags right now, correct?"
"Now that you mention it..."
Arianne only realized the abysmal state of her clothes after Axel mentioned it. After all, it was still dark, so it was really hard to notice. "Alright, I understand." She nodded soon after, before quickly unequipping everything.
Just as she reached for her underwear, Axel raised a hand, stopping her.
"No need to strip all the way. I only need the damaged ones."
"Really? Are you sure you don't want me to strip fully naked...?"
"...No."
Axel hesitated, but seeing the faint teasing grin on her lips, he realized she was simply playing with him. He was indeed a bit tempted to see her completely naked, but it's not like this is his only chance for that...
'No, what am I thinking?! Focus, focus!'
After shaking his head, he received the tattered armor and undergarments—still warm with Arianne's body heat—and placed them all in his inventory.
Then, the next moment, he turned to the Repair tab of the menu and selected the armor and everything else.
It was technically the first time he'd used the function, so he wasn't aware of how to use it yet. However, as soon as he tapped on the items, placing them in the "repair" slot, he noticed a line indicating the cost of repair right above the repair button.
'A full set of armor whose durability fell below 10% needs 10,000 Colts just to repair?!'
He was shocked upon seeing the price. Although it's not something he couldn't afford, it was still quite expensive. Like this, buying a brand-new one was more cost-effective than repairing the armor ten times!
'It's still the first repair, so the cost-effectiveness is still good... but it'd be better to buy better armor for her sooner rather than later.' Axel decided as he tapped the button.
The repair ended in a flash. There wasn't even a loading bar.
It was completed as soon as the button was pressed!
"Done," Axel spoke as he withdrew the item. "Here, wear it fast."
"Oh..."
Arianne stared at her armor, feeling that its weight had increased compared to a few seconds earlier. Curious, she quickly wore her innerwear, then wore her partial armor over it. As she did, she noticed an anomaly.
"...All the damage my armor had suffered has been repaired!"
Not only the ones inflicted by the recent battle, but even ones that existed long ago—marks of vicious battles she had endured along with her armor—every little bit of damage and every scratch disappeared!
"Thank you, Sir Axel!" She smiled, truly appreciating his help. "With this, I won't fear even if another Pouncer appears!"
"Glad to help." Axel smiled before facing forward and assuming a serious expression.
Ahead of them, the swarm had already moved quite a bit into the lit area. Axel watched as they slowly breached the marker he had made and commanded:
"The zombies have entered the shooting zone! Fire! Prioritize shooting down the Giants!"
"YES!"
A hearty shout echoed from all four girls before they quickly aimed the ballistae and pulled the triggers. They were completely in sync, with two one-meter-long wooden bolts flying at breakneck speed.
The first volley hit the zombies, skewering a few before finally hitting the ground.
Then, their combination work began.
One began winding the ratchet, while the other went to get another bolt and prepare another shot. With their teamwork, the reloading speed was hastened by almost half, firing the next bolt way faster than when they were alone.
About ten shots later, the Giant Zombies finally entered the shooting range.
Without delay, the girls aimed at them and fired. Almost as if they coordinated beforehand, each bolt hit a different Giant, killing two of them instantly!
"Our defenses really did improve..." Arianne mused. "So much that it can't even be compared to last night."
"Yes, it did..."
Axel nodded.
'If not for the heavy cost of making it, I'd definitely be cheering right now...' he mused.
Just like that, without much suspense, all eight Giant Zombies fell. And as soon as they did, Arianne jumped down and literally began mowing down zombies one after another.
In under ten minutes, way before the sun even rose...
The wave of over a thousand zombies was wiped out of existence.