The Puppet

After talking things over, Miyamoto Rei chose Komuro Takashi as her new support, and Komuro Takashi was more than happy with that. His childhood friend had finally returned to his embrace.

How truly delightful—delightful my ass! Under normal circumstances, he would have been so happy he would not have slept for three days and nights. But now? Never mind anywhere else; Bed Town had already completely collapsed!

Now that Rei was relying on him again, the responsibility on his shoulders had grown even heavier. "At the very least... we have to get out of the school and find somewhere safe!" Komuro Takashi held Miyamoto Rei in his arms, his expression especially resolute.

Kurumi found it rather dull. She had seen plenty of similar situations: protagonists always relied on the World Consciousness's favor to pick up girls everywhere, all while conveniently saving the world or something. Still, there was one thing worth being happy about—she could join in too. What interested her most was the thrill brought by the danger throughout it all!

"Hey, can we get ready to go downstairs now? Hugging each other longer isn't going to improve our situation."

"Hm?" Only then did Komuro Takashi and the other realize there was someone beside them. Seeing the teasing look in Kurumi's eyes, Miyamoto Rei blushed and quickly pushed him away. Komuro Takashi scratched his head. "Sorry, sorry. We wasted some time. Tokisaki Senpai, we're ready. We can escape the school anytime."

Kurumi smiled. Ignoring Komuro Takashi, who was staring blankly at her, she walked over to where the high-pressure water guns were mounted on the wall, took one down, and tossed it to him. "Then I'll leave it to you."

Only then did Komuro Takashi realize they were going to use this thing against the Dead Bodies. He immediately aimed the nozzle toward the stairwell while Kurumi opened the valve.

"Pssh—bang bang bang—"

The immense pressure of the high-pressure water gun instantly blasted apart the tables and chairs at the stairway entrance, sending the Dead Bodies flying along with them. They crashed heavily onto the rooftop some distance away. The cold water splashed across the ground, even diluting much of the bloody stench in the area.

Komuro Takashi let out an excited growl, immediately threw aside the high-pressure water gun, and grabbed a baseball bat to rush forward and kill those damned Dead Bodies blocking his path to survival. But Kurumi had no intention of letting him take those "treasures" that could increase her attributes.

Right now, these Dead Bodies were at their easiest to kill. She desperately needed attribute points to increase her strength, because... this sword was... a little too heavy for her.

"Swish—thud!" A Dead Body's head was instantly sliced in half, and it fell stiffly to the ground.

The sharpness of the Steel Katana made dealing with these Dead Bodies, which had once been ordinary humans, effortless for Kurumi. "Junior, you should go protect your little girlfriend. Let me... get some practice with these."

Komuro Takashi was staring blankly at the high-spirited Kurumi when her voice reached his ears.

"D-Don't look down on me! I'm the captain of the school's spear club!" Miyamoto Rei retorted from behind, gripping her homemade wooden spear as she prepared to step forward and help Kurumi. But Kurumi had already begun to grow feverish and paid her no attention at all.

"Swish, swish, swish—" Dead Bodies continuously had their heads sliced apart. Fortunately, the Steel Katana exchanged from the Main God Mall came with guaranteed quality. There was a saying in the Reincarnation Space, wasn't there? "Products of the Main God are guaranteed to be premium!"

Though the Main God would occasionally trick you to death with missions, it would never tamper with weapons. From galaxy-shaking frames and anti-black-hole annihilation cannons to even a single embroidery needle, anything exchanged from the Main God Mall was guaranteed to be of excellent quality.

This katana did not disappoint Kurumi either. The human skull was universally recognized as the hardest part of the human body. Continuously smashing through heads as hard as Copper Coins without any technique placed extremely high demands on the blade; otherwise, it might get stuck halfway through a cut!

But there was no alternative. Attacking other parts of a Dead Body might limit its mobility, but it definitely would not kill it! And if it then pounced on you and took a bite, that would be quite a problem.

Komuro Takashi and Miyamoto Rei could only see blade light flashing continuously as Kurumi carved a bloody path through the Dead Bodies. They could not help swallowing. "Did Tokisaki Senpai study kendo? How is she this amazing?!"

"But why have I never seen her at the national tournament? She's not much worse than that third-year senpai who won the championship, is she?"

Completely unaware that the two behind her had already been stunned by her, Kurumi was starting to get carried away... It had been a long time since she had experienced such direct confrontation. The slaughter of blade against flesh was like the kiss of death itself. The blooming sprays of blood were like poppies, drawing her in so deeply that she could not pull herself free.

These Dead Bodies were not as weak as they had been portrayed in the Original Work. Their speed and strength were both nothing to scoff at!

"Ding~ Side Quest ① completed. Reward has been issued. Please check and accept it."

The sudden voice in her mind made Kurumi pause, nearly allowing the Dead Body before her to grab her. Then her 1.5 coordination fully came into play. The blade swiftly swung upward, successfully slicing the eleventh Dead Body in two.

"Thud~"

The corpse fell to the ground, dead beyond doubt. Dark red blood flowed everywhere, staining even the black rounded soles of Kurumi's shoes red.

She panted lightly. This body's 0.8 strength attribute consumed far too much stamina. If not for her 1.5 coordination, she might have been scratched by a Dead Body just now. The scent of death swiftly calmed her down, and her lovely brows furrowed unnaturally.

What was wrong with me just now? Why did I become so feverish? Could this body be causing it? That's impossible. The Goddess in the Original Work was never like this. Could it be...

Kurumi's heart sank, and she immediately knew that the Main God had tricked her. It seemed the Main God still wanted a Reincarnator entirely under its control! Once she became completely lost in slaughter, that would probably be when she turned into a puppet on strings.

Though she was thinking, Kurumi's hands did not slow down in the slightest. Blade light flashed continuously as the heads of Dead Bodies along the way were cut off one after another. After adding one attribute point to strength, she instantly felt the sword in her hand become much lighter—perhaps even... too light!

With 1.8 strength, Kurumi could clearly feel her stamina slowly recovering, because this barely took any effort at all. Only after killing the last Dead Body at the stairwell entrance did she look at the panel.

Side Quest: ② (In Progress) 100/21

From the rooftop to here was only a short stretch of road, yet she had killed twenty Dead Bodies. The once gleaming Steel Katana now bore bloodstains that would not shake off. No blood had splashed onto her clothes, but the bloody grime on her rounded shoe soles left a string of tiny footprints across the rooftop.

Komuro Takashi and Miyamoto Rei no longer knew how to describe what they had witnessed. The sight of Tokisaki Senpai cutting down Dead Bodies with every swing, without the slightest hesitation or wasted motion, had been deeply etched into their minds.

Looking back at the rooftop, they saw one or two headless corpses lying on the ground every few steps. The shock of that half minute had been too great. Although Komuro Takashi believed he could accomplish the same thing with a baseball bat, he definitely could not do it with Kurumi's smooth, graceful speed.

Kurumi glanced at the two behind her. "Let's go. We'll keep heading down. Maybe we'll run into other survivors."

"Tokisaki Senpai, you're joking, right...? How could anyone else still be alive in the school under these circumstances?" Having personally watched his best friend Inoue Nagahiro turn into a Dead Body, Komuro Takashi clearly found it hard to believe that, in a school with so many people, anyone besides them had avoided being bitten.

"Do you want the classmates you spent over a year with to all become like this?" Kurumi asked in return.

"Of course not. Naturally, I hope they survived, but under these circumstances..."

Before Komuro Takashi could finish, he saw Kurumi's sword sweep past his ear with a powerful gust of wind.

"Ah!" Miyamoto Rei's scream jolted the still-dazed Komuro Takashi back to his senses. He hurriedly turned around, only to discover Kurumi's blade embedded in the head of a Dead Body less than a meter behind Miyamoto Rei.

"I'm saying, can't you two be a little more alert? If you get bitten, don't blame me." Walking over to the corpse, Kurumi pulled the Steel Katana from its skull. Seeing the unidentified gray slurry still clinging to it, she shook the blade in disgust.

Hearing Kurumi's words, the two immediately imagined themselves being bitten and turning into Dead Bodies. Then they looked at the gray brain matter flung onto the ground, and a chill involuntarily rose through their bodies.