"…Wow," Nathan muttered. "That was sick."
The words left his mouth before his brain could catch up.
A second later, reality settled back in.
The smell.
The silence.
The fact that something that could've very easily turned his head into abstract art was now lying very, very dead in front of them.
Nathan exhaled slowly, lowering the SMG while keeping his eyes locked on the corpse.
Just in case.
Double tap culture exists for a reason.
"…Yeah. Stay down," he added under his breath, as if the corpse might reconsider its life choices.
Only after a few more seconds did his shoulders finally relax. He rolled them once, shaking off the leftover tension.
"…Alright," he sighed. "That's done."
"You really killed it…" Natsu muttered.
A small pause.
"Only one of those spawns per night, right?" he asked.
Natsu, who had been scanning the surroundings with her sword raised, finally eased her stance.
"…Yes," she replied. "Only one D-Rank monster would spawn with just the two of us here."
Nathan nodded slowly.
Good.
"Though sometimes," she added, "more monsters appear than they're supposed to."
Nathan's eye twitched. "…That's a sentence I didn't want to hear."
"It's very rare, so don't worry." she clarified.
"…By saying it's rare, you're basically guaranteeing it'll happen to us."
Natsu tilted her head. "…What?"
"Nothing. Just — bad experience talking."
He rubbed his temple.
First, zombies that launch themselves at your face from ten meters away… now invisible backstabber.
Yeah, the difficulty curve is drunk.
After a moment, his gaze drifted toward the dark horizon beyond the wall.
"…So," he said, "how did civilization even survive against things like that?"
Natsu blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean—" Nathan gestured vaguely. "There are only two of us here, and something that almost deletes me from existence already appeared."
A very reasonable concern.
"What happens in cities? Like — when hundreds of thousands of people live together?"
Natsu didn't hesitate.
"Most land people live on is blessed by goddesses," she explained. "Those blessings prevent monsters from spawning there."
Nathan paused.
"…Oh."
That… actually made sense.
"…So no monsters at night?" he asked.
"They won't spawn inside blessed land," she clarified. "But outside it, they still appear. People still have to take precautions."
"…Right," Nathan murmured.
Then he exhaled.
"But at least they don't spawn directly in your personal space."
That alone sounded like luxury.
"…So goddesses basically carry humanity on their back?" Nathan asked.
"…Yes." she replied.
Then her expression shifted — subtle, but enough for him to notice.
Her ears dipped slightly.
"…Humanity's survival," she muttered. "And humans alone."
Nathan blinked.
"…What?"
"Gods favors humans," she continued quietly. "And ignore everything else."
…Well, that's awkward.
Nathan scratched his cheek.
So even the gods here play favorites.
Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
At least Natsu didn't hate me for being blessed… even if it's from a shady one—
"Hey!"
A sharp, indignant voice popped into his head.
Nathan didn't even flinch.
Oh, so you can hear me.
A pause.
You realize this is basically surveillance, right? he continued dryly. Full-time, no-consent, premium subscription to my thoughts.
"Ghk…!"
The startled choke that echoed back was deeply satisfying.
Nathan's lips twitched.
Yeah. Sit with that. I'm filing a complaint later.
Lunarinas didn't respond.
Then—
"…So," Natsu said, completely unaware of the chaotic mental exchange, gesturing toward the corpse below. "What do we do with that?"
Nathan followed her gaze.
The Creeper's body lay twisted.
Still, dead, and aggressively unpleasant.
"…We throw it down," he decided instantly. "It's a tripping hazard. And it's smell like a war crime."
"Agreed."
There was just one problem.
Nathan's newly installed wooden railing.
The same railing that should prevented incoming Runner's projectiles… was now preventing corpse disposal.
"…Right," he muttered.
They both looked at the corpse.
Then the railing.
Then back at the corpse.
"…We have to lift it over," Natsu said.
"…Yeah." Nathan sighed deeply. "I'm going to hate every second of this."
He can't be more right.
A few minutes later—
"I regret everything," Nathan said flatly.
The Creeper's body was… sticky.
Not just from the blood, or decay.
Something worse.
Something that clung to existence out of spite.
Nathan held it as far away from himself as physically possible — which wasn't far enough.
The only saving grace was its body not as heavy as it looked.
"Just — throw it already," he muttered.
Together, they heaved it over the railing.
*Thud.*
A wet, deeply offensive sound followed.
Nathan slowly looked at his hands. "…I'm taking a long dip at the river tomorrow."
"Agreed," Natsu replied instantly.
Nathan made the mistake of sniffing his hand.
Immediate regret.
He wiped it against the wooden wall — which somehow made it worse.
"…Fantastic."
• × • × • × •
After regaining some dignity — by aggressively washing his hands with bottled water — Nathan leaned back with a long exhale.
"…So how do people usually deal with that thing?" he asked. "Before it attacks, I mean."
Natsu tilted her head.
"We usually have someone who can detect mana signatures," she said. "It's required if you want to travel at night."
"…Of course it is."
"It only makes sense," she added. "Creepers only spawn when there are at least two people nearby."
Nathan blinked, then slowly looked at her.
"…So if I were alone…"
"They wouldn't appear."
Nathan stared into the distance.
"…Wow." a long breath left him. "So the system literally punishes teamwork."
"…I don't think that's the intention."
"It feels like it is."
"…Well," he added, shrugging, "we're screwed then. We don't have someone like that."
Then he paused.
"…Actually, I technically do."
Natsu blinked. "…You do?"
"Kinda," he admitted. "But I can't keep it active all night. Mana problem."
"Oh." She nodded.
"…Then don't worry about it too much," she said. "Worst case, I can sense them before they attack. And Creepers are rare, we're just unlucky."
Nathan gave her a look. "…You said that earlier."
"…And I still mean it."
"…Right."
He glanced into the darkness again.
I hope so.
• × • × • × •
Time moved on.
Natsu returned to her casual zombie execution routine — now focusing only on E-Rank targets.
Each shot was clean and efficient.
Slightly terrifying.
Nathan, meanwhile, leaned against the railing and opened his system's Crafting tab.
The Ammo Fabrication specifically.
"…Alright," he muttered. "Let's see what we've got."
[4.6mm rounds]
He blinked in surprise. "…Oh."
It was… Cheap.
"Eight grams of scrap metal per round?" he read aloud.
Compared to—
"Twenty-five for 9mm…"
Nathan leaned back slightly.
"That's… only one-third."
Okay, that's huge.
Considering his current Scrap Metal supply only came from questionable zombie equipment dismantling services—
This changed things.
"But still one runestone per craft…" he added.
Then he saw the result probability table.
"…Oh?"
[1 round — 40%
2 rounds — 50%
3 rounds — 7%
4 rounds — 2%
5 rounds — 1%]
He blinked again.
"…Wait a minute." he leaned forward. "It's more likely to give two or more?"
That feels illegal.
"That's… insanely efficient," he murmured.
Lower damage per bullet, sure—
But Fire rate, volume, and consistency was better.
Also now, ammo economy.
Nathan leaned back, arms crossing.
"…Yeah." he nodded once. "SMG is the way."
The handgun still had its advantages—
Higher firepower and more compact built, reliable for close combat and tight spaces.
But overall?
"This is just better."
A smirk formed.
"…Power creep is real."
Then, under his breath—
"Even in isekai."