In another part of the city, Keya, Grimhilda, and Akio stared in horror. Keya covered her mouth with her hands, choking her gasps while tears fell from her eyes. Akio stuttered; his hands shook as they clenched, trying to maintain some tranquility.

“W-what the hell are those things? Why is the dead attacking?” Akio inquired as he stuttered.

Keya trembled before answering, “The dream has come true! They…have arrived! The Dark Lords forces…” Akio couldn’t make up what she was saying and was now feeling worried.

Grimhilda, on the other hand, was angry. No…she was furious. She gritted her teeth and stomped her foot in the ground, getting the boy and the elf’s attention.

“What the fuck?! Everything was peaceful and quiet until these assholes showed up! I’ll make them pay for this!” said Grimhilda angrily.

She ran into the house and came back 2 minutes later. Keya and Akio were surprised at what was in her hands.

“Is that a war hammer?!” Akio exclaimed.

It was huge. The hammer’s handle was about a foot and a half long with the head about 15 inches big, which contrasted the dwarf girl’s height.

She grinned and replied, “You bet it is, brown-eyes! I’m going to teach those rotting meat bags a lesson for messing with my town! If you wish to help me, then that’ll be grand!”

She started to walk. However, she was halted by a firm grip on her shoulder. Grimhilda snapped her neck and saw it was Akio who stopped her.

Regaining his composure, Akio retorted, “Are you seriously going to go down and single-handedly take on those zombies and skeletons, even though they outnumber you 1 to 10? We need a plan before we’ all start gallivanting into battle!”

At first, Grimhilda looked away and seethed, but then sighed yet still retained her stern glare. She questioned, “Alright! So, what do you suggest we do, huh?!” She had her hand on her hip and turned her attention back to the boy.

Akio pondered that thought. Then he raised his hand and smiled, saying, “We can try performing ground control! We’ll go down and evacuate the entire city and while try to get everyone to safety, we can help fight against the undead and restore order back to Strongfair!”

“You do realize that everything you’ve just suggested sounded like a crappy suicide mission, right?” Grimhilda deadpanned.

At that moment, Akio just hung his head in disappointment. He knew it wasn’t going to work, but didn’t hurt to actually propose such an idea. Luckily, at least one person supported his plan.

“I think it was an effortful thought, Akio,” said Keya encouragingly, patting the boys’ shoulder with an assuring smile.

Akio couldn’t help but smile back. It was good to have someone who believes in you.

“Ahem!” Akio and Keya turned back to Grimhilda who had her arms crossed. “Okay, so let’s say we went with your plan, how are we suppose to evacuate everyone without getting ourselves killed?”

Akio paused for a minute. Then he proposed, “Well, I guess there’s no way of doing it without killing ourselves. So, we’ll just have to fight and hope we won’t get disemboweled in the long run.”

With a shrug, Grimhilda smiled and replied, “I’m okay with that.”

“It may be a little perilous, but it’s better than letting the entire town burn to ash,” Keya agreed.

Akio flashed a smug grin, feeling a sense of pride at how his friends sided with him. Unfortunately, he thought differently: I should’ve thought of a better plan than recklessly and stupidly go out and letting us all fight! I mean this is the undead we’re talking about! With all the manga I’ve read and games I’ve played, they’ll just put themselves back together and we’ll be back in the same boat if we’re not careful! He started sweating bullets as he nervously quivered, but was still able to hold up his façade without the girls noticing.

With that, they dashed, heading into the warzone. “Wait!” before they could take another step, the three of them turned spun around and saw Tornstein exit his house. He was holding something long wrapped in a tarp as he walked out. He then tossed it at the boy who quickly caught it without dropping it on the ground.

“A warrior can’t go into battle without his sword.”

Unwrapping the tarp, Akio’s eyes widened when he saw it was his sword he was holding.

The old man then threw something else, but comically struck Keya right in the head before saying, “Also, miss, you forgot your staff.” She stood back up and rubbed the large bump that protruded on the side of her head until it vanished. Akio and Grimhilda were blue with shock. The old man quickly apologized with Keya waving her hand, “It’s okay!”

Getting up with her staff in hand, Keya brushed herself off and smiled. “Now, shall we get going then?” she said.

Akio and Grimhilda were stunned. However, as the elf girl walked forward, the boy noticed Keya’s expression changed from cheerful to annoyance once she was farther away. As someone of nobility, it made sense for Keya to hold up a façade after experiencing such a humiliating incident.

In the center of town, it started to become even more hectic. The undead soldiers had begun setting the building on fire, hoping to draw the people out, so to kill them. The city guards had fought valiantly, but it was all in vain. Every last one of them was struck down and slain by the superior might of the dead. No reinforcements arrived and so al hope was lost.

“Someone get this door open!” ordered one of the zombies.

Four of them rammed the door, trying to break into one of the smithies. They even used one of their own as a makeshift battering ram, but right when they broke the door down and chuckled in pride…bang! One of their heads exploded. Walking out of the building was a brown-bearded dwarf with a big rifle—a flintlock, to be precise—in his hand.

“That’ll teach ya bassa’s a lesson in reckoning me shop!” said the dwarf. He threw the gun away and pulled out a double-bladed ax from behind before the dead retaliated.

The dwarf started swinging his ax, slicing the zombie soldiers before him as they failed to tear his skin off with their hands and teeth. Right at that moment, the rest of the townsfolk began to fight back, using the weapons they had forged to take back their town while helping the city guards.

Akio, Keya, and Grimhilda arrived on the scene. However, they were surprised at how the townspeople were capable of handling themselves. The boy and the elf’s jaw dropped and nearly hit the ground.

“What the hell?! They have guns…and they know how to fight?!” Akio shouted in quizzical, yet fretted, tone of voice.

Grimhilda smacked her forehead and replied, “Oh…now, I remember! Almost everyone in Strongfair is a trained veteran!” she chuckled and shook her head at the end.

“You couldn’t have said that a while ago?!” Akio retorted.

Instead of apologizing, Grimhilda stated, “You never asked.”

Looking back, Akio took notice of the rifles. He thought: Huh, I guess this world isn’t just swords and sorcery after all. Even here, guns would exist also. It is like an RPG game!

Then they heard a loud whistle. It caught the three’s attention as they turned around, seeing Albert waving at them while cutting off a zombie’s head with a claymore.

“Hey! If you three want to help, right now would be the best time instead of clucking like a couple of hens!” said the repair man in a calm, leveled tone.

At first, the three looked at each other before nodding in confirmation. With a loud, “Let’s do this!” from the human boy, Grimhilda and Keya followed behind him as he dashed. Akio unsheathed his sword and began swinging his blade against the dead, which caused them to catch their attention. The dead turned around and drew closer to the boy. Luckily, before they could lay a hand on him, Keya stood in front and held her staff out, attempting to summon [Lightning] again.

“Okay, what was it, again? Oh skies’ breath…no, no! Maybe it’s…by the heavens’ will…”

Closer and closer, the dead were approaching to the young elf girl. When she looked up, her expression fell in fear, quivering and screaming with her staff held up in defense. However, as she looked up, she was surprised to see the dead dropped to the ground with their heads smashed to pieces.

“G-Grimhilda?! You saved me after all the mean things I said to you! Why?!” spinning around to face her, Grimhilda scowled annoyingly. She reached up and flicked her nose, causing Keya to stammer back.

“Ow! What was that for?!” she questioned, rubbing her nose in a frustrating manner.

The dwarf girl smirked with her hammer on her shoulder. Then she replied in a sassy tone of voice, “Geez, you can’t really let anything go, can you! Yes, you set a lot of things that piss me off, but…I can tell you’re a nice girl and that shouldn’t mean I should leave you to die.” Her tone sounded soft and sincere at the end.

Meanwhile, Akio was about 5 feet away from the girls, fending off against twelve skeleton warriors that had just appeared out of nowhere. The skeletons swung their swords and maces at the boy, but luckily their coordination was a little off, giving Akio the upper hand. He raised his sword and slashed his blade across, shattering three skeletons at once.

Huh. Well, that was easy! Or so he thought, but right when his guard was down, something pounced on top of him and pinned him against the dirt. He struggled to escape the grasp of the zombie soldier that had him restrained as it attempted to sink his teeth into the flesh of his face. Luckily, Akio was able to kick the zombie off of him by the abdomen, knocking it on its’ back and striking his blade into its’ face.

After they had finished clearing up the central district of the city. Akio, Grimhilda, and Keya proceeded to the front gate.

“Come on! We need to put an end to this incursion before it gets even worse,” Akio ordered in a straightforward tone.

“Yeah! Yeah! Don’t tell me what to do, okay! Besides, I doubt the three of us can stop those brutes!” retorted Grimhilda skeptically.

“Don’t be so pessimistic, Hilda. With our combined might, we might have a chance to put an end to this whole ordeal,” said Keya in an optimistic tone.

Grimhilda growled and barked, “With our combined might, we’ll probably die a slow painful death.”