Surviving without God

“Ugh.”

“Parco? What’s wrong?”

At Levain’s voice, Parco instinctively hid the bitten hand behind his back.

“It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”

He didn’t want the child to be blamed.

The wound was shallow. The boy must have had almost no strength left—his teeth had barely broken the skin. Only a few drops of blood had surfaced.

“...U-u-u...”

The worse part was that the child went limp and lost consciousness immediately after the bite.

Alarmed, the platoon members hurried to catch him.

“Hey, wake up! Can you hear me?! Parco, why is he the only one getting worse and worse?”

“The healing power is barely doing anything...”

“What?”

That was exactly it.

Parco tried several more times to draw the sickness into himself, but every attempt failed.

It got a little better, but... it’s too tangled.

Parco felt it in his gut.

This child was different from the others.

This wasn’t a cold. It wasn’t exhaustion.

...This wasn’t an ordinary illness.

Frowning, Parco checked the boy’s pulse.

Gunther warned us. The Cult of Healing may be preparing sabotage.

As a healer and alchemist, he knew the genealogy of the diseases this cult used fairly well.

From symptoms alone, he could usually tell exactly when Seren Mayra had granted a particular “plague” to her followers.

But the child’s current condition resembled nothing he had studied before.

Did they receive an entirely new disease from Seren Mayra?

Gunther’s “prophecy” had come true again.

A chill ran down Parco’s spine.

If we had just sat still, this would have become a disaster.

Carefully lifting the unconscious child onto his back, Parco turned to the other children greedily chewing through the rations.

“Are there more people here who are this sick? If you lead me to them, I’ll reward you generously.”

The children exchanged looks, then nodded and started speaking over one another.

In short—there were many.

Far too many who could not even move, only lie there groaning in pain.

“Parco...”

Parco met the gazes of his platoon comrades.

He gave a firm nod.

“Lead the way.”

...This was not a momentary impulse.

It was cold calculation.

One contact was not enough to determine the true nature of the disease.

Parco needed to let this contagion pass through himself several more times, using his unique authority to slowly untangle it.

With the authority of The One Who Takes and Divides, he possessed enormous resistance to disease.

He believed he could endure it.

Of course, the worry remained.

“Wouldn’t it be better to wait for reinforcements from the Public Security Bureau, and then—”

“Sorry.”

Parco shook his head decisively.

There was not even a trace of hesitation in his eyes.

“The disease is too severe. If we delay even a little, many won’t survive.”

“......”

“And above all... this may sound harsh, but after seeing Sector Seven with my own eyes, I’m not convinced the authorities would prioritize ‘treatment.’”

Seril let out a quiet breath.

“...It’s hard to argue with that.”

Sector Seven.

A place that, for ordinary citizens of the kingdom, was practically a forbidden zone.

If an epidemic were discovered here, the authorities would most likely prioritize strict quarantine and investigation over treatment.

“I’m going.”

Parco quickly followed after the children.

Levain and Blanc silently followed him.

Their sympathetic gazes remained fixed on his broad back.

Parco’s vision blurred.

The scenery before his eyes began to split in two.

In place of city walls—dense forest.

In place of broken boards and torn awnings—log huts.

The outward form was different, but the place painfully resembled his home village.

The same isolation from the rest of the world.

The same people who had long since given up hope for anything better.

And the same threat in the form of an unknown disease.

“Parco, you’re the only pride of our village. Thanks to you, we’ll finally see the light.”

Did those people, who had looked at him with shining smiles and pride, know that this very pride would one day lead their home to ruin?

I...

Deep inside, the stain of guilt stirred once more.

That was probably why he was so determined to defeat this new plague in the sector no matter what.

So determined that he never even noticed the tiny wound on his hand.

Rustle...

And so Parco stepped deeper into Sector Seven.

***

Holding his breath, Gunther stared at the glass vial in Audrey’s hand.

Ding!

[Displaying the result of “Reading” Seren Mayra’s divine essence as a hint]

[Due to the object’s extremely high danger level, all available information will be displayed]

The next message made Gunther doubt his own eyes for a moment.

[Seren Mayra’s Divine Essence (Fragment)]

Classification: Evil God Divinity / Life-interference medium

Attribute: Disease • Sustenance

Danger Level: Absolute

Description: A condensed fragment of will from Seren Mayra, the evil goddess who rules disease. After the other Evil Gods suffered devastating losses due to the betrayal of her former vassal Raymond, Seren Mayra severed part of herself as compensation and manifested this essence in the material world.

This essence rapidly “extinguishes” life upon contact.

However, that is not all.

Seren Mayra. Within this essence is reflected the key function of the goddess of disease.

The essence of disease is to destroy life, while forcing it to persist.

In an “infected host,” bodily functions continue to operate regardless of tissue damage, infection, necrosis, or bleeding.

On the other hand, higher-order structures such as consciousness, ego, and memory are judged unnecessary and are gradually severed.

What remains in the end is only a shell, existing on the border between life and death, functioning as the disease itself.

Infection pathways:

Stage 1. — Direct ingestion of Seren Mayra’s divine essence fragment.

Stage 2. — Transmission through the bite of an infected host. (Residual divinity entering through saliva)

The saliva of infected hosts retains a high concentration of active divine residue. If it enters a wound directly through a bite, infection occurs with high probability.

※ Infection speed varies depending on the target’s physical strength, divine resistance, and mental resilience.

Special Note: Once the divine essence has fully taken root, purification, detoxification, and healing effects cease to function.

Gunther reread the message several times.

No matter how he looked at it, it meant only one thing.

In short—

This is just a zombie virus.

Naturally, no such “disease” had existed in the original story.

It looked as though the Cult of Healing’s familiar necromancy had evolved into something far worse.

[The Drug-Addicted Saint lets out a heavy sigh]

[A horrifying disease that keeps the body trapped in a mutilated state for a long time, allowing neither proper healing nor the peace of death...]

[She says this epidemic touches the truest essence of Seren Mayra]

And in the very next instant—

Ding!

[The first objective of the scenario has been achieved!]

— You have uncovered the true nature of the epidemic threatening the capital of Zeros. However, this is not the end. This disease is extremely difficult to eradicate, and once it begins spreading, it will explode uncontrollably. From this point onward, you must devise a method to stop the spread with minimal losses.

...Even the system window had officially acknowledged the arrival of a zombie virus.

No, seriously, a sudden zombie apocalypse...

Gunther froze for a second, stunned by the sheer scale of the problem.

But that feeling quickly gave way to understanding.

The puzzle in his head began snapping together.

...So that’s it.

A faint smile touched Gunther’s lips.

Now I understand why they deployed elite forces here without any preparation.

In truth, even for Luthien, it was impossible to move a large army into the capital of Zeros.

At most, they could deploy small elite units like Audrey or the Apostle of Justice.

But even that was a dangerous gamble.

No matter how powerful those individuals were, this was still the kingdom of knights.

It was filled with names that thundered across battlefields.

The heads of the Round Table houses alone were at least Fifth Hierarchy.

Even if each one individually fell short of the Apostle of Justice, their combined force vastly exceeded anything Luthien could field.

That was precisely why, before the reality rewrite, Luthien had preferred covert infiltration through Remesia over a frontal strike.

This kept bothering me the whole time.

Why send their single valuable Apostle into such a dangerous place?

But if the rules of the game change into zombie horror, the entire situation flips.

Numerical superiority loses all meaning.

The city would descend into chaos.

Law and order would collapse.

The zombies would first and foremost threaten ordinary civilians.

And the knights ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ would be forced to scatter in order to protect them.

...In that chaos, the Apostle of Justice would be able to move completely freely.

Target isolated individuals.

Carry out serial sabotage.

The amount of damage that could be inflicted on the entire capital was almost unimaginable.

And once the capital fell, the Laska Plain—the nation’s greatest breadbasket, the one Luthien had long dreamed of—would fall into their hands on its own.

And with that, the alliance would collapse.

Gunther slowly exhaled.

The worst-case scenario was coming.

Luthien had spent years stockpiling strength for this... perfectly calculated plan.

And now it had opened its jaws, waiting for its prey.

“.......”

Even so, the confusion quickly vanished from Gunther’s face.

He was no stranger to worst-case situations.

His thoughts instantly narrowed to a single point.

Where do I begin breaking this game?

Or rather—where is the flaw?

There has to be one.

If they truly possessed a real zombie virus like the ones in Earth’s films, they would have had no reason to act this covertly.

They could have unleashed it openly long ago and thrown the entire continent into panic.

Which meant—

There are many invisible restrictions and conditions on the infection.

That was the key.

Gunther fixed his eyes on the trio ahead, afraid to miss even the slightest clue.

Tap. Tap.

The man who had just received the glass tube from Audrey lightly tapped its surface with his finger.

Tap. Tap.

At the same moment, the characteristic magic circle of the Cult of Healing silently unfolded.

A dark-green pattern hovered in the air.

The divine essence inside the tube began to vibrate faintly.

-----!

An invisible wave rippled through the air.

Its target was the stacked sacks of wheat.

Tzzzz—

The diseased energy seeped through the flour sacks without leaving a trace.

“...Those are the grain sacks for festival snacks...”

Edad, standing beside him, tilted his head in confusion.

Gunther’s eyes narrowed.

The scattered pieces in his mind finally locked into place.

Yes. This is where it all began.

Why snacks?

The first infection condition was ingestion.

If they had poisoned the central grain reserves, they could have infected knights, soldiers, and merchants all at once.

Even under heavy security, it would still have been possible.

But they didn’t do that.

...Edad said they specifically went into the slums and handed food only to children. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The epidemic would have spread much faster in the city center.

But they chose the outskirts—the slums.

The conclusion was obvious.

Primary infection is only possible in an extremely weak host body.

At that moment, Gunther’s thoughts aligned into a perfect line.

The fragments fused into a complete picture.

The words Audrey and the man had exchanged came back to him:

“Good. The day of execution is the final day of the festival. By then, everything must be ready.”

The disease had an incubation period.

And that period... could be controlled.

At the very least, they could trigger the process at will.

Which means the slums are already... full of future zombies.

Gunther slowly exhaled.

From the outside, it looked like a hopeless situation, one where all that remained was to wait for the blow to fall.

But he had a method.

A way to shatter their plan at its foundation.

A route they had absolutely failed to account for.

A faint smile curved at Gunther’s lips.

First... I’ll have to die once.

The only question was how.

Too much depended on the way he met death.

Gunther made his decision quickly.

In this life, he decided he would personally experience what a zombie apocalypse truly felt like.