As Dawi had expected, he soon managed to escape the forest.
An open plain appeared, and behind it, a mountain range rose in the distance.
And between the plain and the mountains, magnificent castle walls stood.
"I knew it...!"
It wasn't some small village—there was quite a large castle. Wide wheat fields stretched out around it, and several civilian houses could be seen as well.
"At least on the scale of a count's domain...! Let's go! Hiyah!"
Dawi led Malmari and ran forward.
Clop! Clop!
But the closer he got to the castle, the more uneasy Dawi felt.
"The wheat fields haven't been tended to at all...?"
The wheat in the fields had collapsed as if beasts had trampled through them, and weeds grew thick and lush.
It looked like it was gradually turning into a wild field.
"It seems like harvest season has already passed..."
Recalling the cold in the forest, Dawi guessed that the season here was around late autumn.
The wheat was so overripe that its grains had already showered down to the ground.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
"Caw! Caw!"
Thanks to that, only the birds were in high spirits.
Various kinds of birds had gathered in the vast wheat field and were holding their own festival.
Clip—clop—clip—clop—
Dawi slowly led Malmari through the wheat fields. He passed by the civilian houses too, but he couldn't sense any sign of people inside.
"Don't tell me it's because of zombies...?"
Dawi felt a momentary sense of foreboding but quickly shook it off.
"No. Let's at least go to the castle. It's quite a large one—there must be people inside."
Not letting go of hope, Dawi urged Malmari on.
Clop! Clop!
As the castle walls drew closer, Dawi could see reddish stains smeared on them.
"Could that be..."
And the stench wafting through the air.
"Ugh! What is that smell?"
And then Dawi saw.
The torn and scattered corpses of people strewn beneath the walls.
Most of the corpses had their heads smashed. In other words...
"They fought zombies."
The ones with smashed heads were the corpses of zombies. Though such corpses were scattered beneath the walls, Dawi held onto hope.
"That means they held them off using the walls."
Then there must definitely be people inside the castle, Dawi thought.
But.
He failed to realize that not a single soldier could be seen atop the walls.
The other world where dreams lay shattered.
Dawi was forcing himself to think positively to maintain his sanity.
That was why he had been interpreting both himself and the surrounding situation in a positive light.
Even when the gate was slightly ajar,
"Oh! Did they open it for me because they saw me coming?"
he thought,
"Snort!"
Even when Malmari refused to enter the castle, snorting,
"Ah, you haven't eaten anything, have you? Are you trying to pick up wheat grains here?"
He didn't realize that it was Malmari's warning signal.
And so, Dawi left Malmari in front of the gate and made the worst possible choice—entering the castle alone.
At first, when he entered the castle, Dawi didn't sense any danger.
"What, are they all gathered in one place...?"
He merely found it strange that he couldn't see a single person and the streets were completely empty.
Step. Step.
Dawi walked for a long time along the main road leading to the large wooden mansion that appeared to be the lord's manor...
"Grooooh..."
For the first time, he heard a sound other than his own footsteps.
He froze.
Hearing that sound, Dawi immediately stopped walking. He had no choice but to stop.
Only then did the warning signs he had ignored begin to register all at once.
'Even though there were signs of fighting zombies, there were no soldiers on the walls.'
'The gate wasn't fully open—it was only slightly ajar, as if someone had forced their way in.'
'Malmari had detected the wolves and had signaled by snorting at the woodcutter's house too. And just now...'
In other words...
'I'm fucked...!'
The gate had been breached by zombies.
He also realized why he hadn't seen any zombies even though the houses outside were intact.
Because the prey—that is, the survivors—had all been inside this castle.
Thus began the siege between zombies and survivors.
The result of that war was the survivors' defeat.
The zombies had poured inside through the gap in the gate or by climbing the walls, devouring the people.
Since there wasn't any more prey outside, the zombies were roaming around inside the castle.
Gulp—
Dawi swallowed dryly without realizing it and quietly raised his shotgun.
'Since I already loaded two rounds of buckshot...'
Dawi pointed the muzzle forward and began carefully retracing his steps.
'Was the gate always this far away...!'
He felt like he hadn't walked that far, yet the distance to the gate felt like a thousand leagues.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Today was the first time Dawi realized his heart could beat so loudly.
In that tension...
"Grooooh... Groh?"
In the end, he ran into one.
A single zombie coming around the alley.
"Shit...!"
Dawi reflexively pulled the shotgun's trigger.
Boom!
The buckshot shell shattered the zombie's shoulder.
"Grooooh!"
That was the beginning. The zombie with its shoulder torn off let out a long howl,
"Grooooh!"
"Gaaah!"
Zombies burst out from everywhere in the alleys.
Only then could Dawi see the white bones strewn about in every alley.
They were the bones of people from whom the zombies had stripped and eaten the flesh.
"Daaamn!!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Dawi ran desperately, holding his shotgun.
"Grooooh!"
The zombies burst out from the front too.
Boom!
This time, the buckshot blew the zombie's head open, allowing Dawi to clear a path.
"Huff! Huff! Damn! Damn! Fuck! Fuuuck!!"
Dawi ran, spewing curses left and right.
But more zombies appeared before his eyes.
"Waaaah!"
Dawi screamed and pulled the trigger wildly, but...
Click! Click!
The double-barreled shotgun, having already fired its two shots, refused to fire any more no matter how hard he pulled the trigger.
"Fucking hell!!"
With trembling hands, Dawi snapped open the barrels.
Clack!
"Grooooh...!"
In the meantime, the bastards were getting closer by the moment.
Tremble, tremble...
"Quick...! Quick...!"
His hands shook so much that the shells wouldn't load properly.
"Ahh, fuck...!"
Dawi loaded the shells into the barrels one by one with shaking hands, thinking:
'So much for the "most reliable two shots"...! I'm about to die after firing just two...!'
Dawi repeated the same regret again today.
'A semi-automatic...! No, I should've just bought a pump-action shotgun!'
Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble.
His hands shook like crazy from tension.
Clatter!
In the end, Dawi dropped the shell from his hand.
"Grooooh!"
"Gaaaaah!"
The zombies rushing toward Dawi.
"This goddamn shotgun!!!"
Dawi flipped the shotgun around and swung the buttstock at the zombie's head.
Crack!
Dawi had barely managed to fend one off, but there were too many zombies.
'So I end up getting eaten by zombies in another world after all...!'
The moment Dawi despaired.
"Neeeigh-!"
A cry rang out.
Dawi realized once again that he was not alone in this other world.
"Malmariii!!"
"Neigh!"
Clop! Clop!
A large horse charging toward Dawi.
Crunch! Crack!
It was Malmari, trampling the zombies blocking the way with his inherent strength and massive build.
"Neigh!"
Crunch!
Malmari crushed the zombie lunging at Dawi with its mouth wide open beneath his forehooves, then immediately began kicking the zombies alternately with his front and hind legs.
Thud! Crack! Splat!
The massive horseshoes smashed the zombies' skulls like watermelons.
As the zombies were sent flying and a brief moment of respite opened up, Dawi quickly climbed onto Malmari's back.
"Let's go! Malmari!"
"Neigh!"
Having let out a great cry, Malmari began running again, crushing zombies as before.
Crunch! Crack!
Thanks to Malmari, Dawi regained his composure and started firing the shotgun.
Bang! Boom! Clack!
Bang! Boom! Clack!
He had to fire two shots and reload again, but buckshot was effective at stopping the zombies.
Because he only needed one of the widely spreading pellets to pierce a zombie's head.
The power of the shot itself was also strong enough to stop their approach even if it hit elsewhere.
Clop! Clop! Crunch! Crack!
Riding through the zombies with Malmari, Dawi could feel the might of a medieval knight order.
The overwhelming breakthrough power stemming from the horse's strength.
The zombies toppled over like infantry before a cavalry charge.
Of course, the moment they were isolated, both were dead men,
Boom!
But Dawi's shotgun steadily created space for them to break through.
Boom!
The half-open gate burst fully open from Malmari's kick.
Finally, Dawi and Malmari escaped the castle.
The two dashed out into the wide wheat fields.
Clop! Clop!
"Grooooh..."
"Grooooh..."
The zombies chased from behind, but their speed was similar to that of humans.
Malmari gradually widened the distance and succeeded in completely shaking them off.
"Hahahaha! Malmari, thank you!!"
"Neigh!"
. . .
Clip. Clop.
Dawi was lost in thought atop the saddle.
"Where should I go now..."
The castle Dawi had found was far from civilization; it was little different from a zombie den.
Dawi and Malmari were wandering nearby, having lost their destination.
At least they could fill their stomachs with the grains they had picked up from the wheat fields.
"I thought places where people lived would be safer than the forest..."
That didn't seem to be the case.
At least wolves gave up when they realized it was no use, but zombies chased until they were out of sight.
For the sake of survival, perhaps it would be better to hide away from civilization.
Dawi could understand why the Archmage had been in that jungle.
But Dawi didn't want to go back to that forest.
It wasn't exactly terrain advantageous for survival, either.
"But wandering around blindly looking for civilization seems too dangerous... Hmm..."
Even if he found a castle or village, there was a high chance it would be a zombie nest rather than civilization, just like today.
Just then, a long stretch of mountain range came into Dawi's eyes.
A great mountain range spread out behind the castle. The peaks were covered in perpetual snow.
"If there..."
At least the zombie threat would be less than on the plains.
The problem would be wild animals, but Dawi thought wild animals were preferable to zombies.
Moreover, since there was perpetual snow, water seemed like it would be easy to obtain.
There would be streams flowing from the melting snow at the peaks.
"Right. Better there than going back to that jungle."
Dawi grabbed the reins and adjusted Malmari's direction.
"Malmari! Let's go to that mountain! Hiyah!"
Clop! Clop!
The cowboy rode into the crimson sunset.