.

There were more than just a couple of things I wanted to ask.

First of all, what was ‘Asimone’? And what was the ‘rift’?

What was inside if you entered the rift? How many of these creatures, known as ‘Asimone’s minions,’ were there?

But among the mysteries, there was one thing I could deduce: the identity of ‘Asimone’s minions’.

“I’m not sure, but they might be… mutant zombies.”

I had thought it was strange from the beginning.

Ordinary zombies, which were simply moving corpses, were not particularly strong. What made zombies fearful was their overwhelming numbers and potent infectiousness.

However, mutant zombies were different from other zombies.

Back then, even when I stabbed them with a sashimi knife, despite having a D+ strength rating, I couldn’t penetrate their blackened skin.

Smart enough to let captured prey go intentionally, tracked them to their base, and stealthily attacked at dawn.

Compared to regular zombies, these creatures were full of mystery, like where they suddenly came from and why they were so strong.

But… what if these mutant zombies had emerged from an activated Asimone’s rift?

It was just baseless speculation, but it made sense.

So, looking at the conclusions drawn from the speculations so far…

Asimone = Some unknown evil entity.

Rift = A passage leading to another space.

Asimone’s minions = Mutant zombies.

And the person who seemed to know the answers to these mysteries was now preparing chicken in the kitchen.

“…”

I gestured quietly to Serena and Ciel.

It was time to head into the kitchen.

.

As I approached the kitchen, the voice of the zombie man grew louder.

“Damn…! How much blood should I drain from this? It’d be nice if there were still some chicken restaurants open.”

The mention of a chicken restaurant made it clear that he had been living since before the world had fallen to this state.

I tapped Serena’s shoulder, who was standing next to me.

“Go subdue him, Serena. But don’t kill him.”

“Yes, Master.”

Serena quickly sprang into action.

“Heavenly Blessing.”

Ciel reached out her hand to her, and white energy emanated from her hand, merging into Serena’s body.

It was [Heavenly Blessing], a buff ability that enhanced the target’s overall stats.

Having bestowed the buff on her sister, Ciel immediately enveloped me with her wings, guarding me from the surroundings.

It seemed like she planned to protect me from any surprise attacks from enemies while Serena was away.

A scream came from the kitchen at that moment.

“What, what! Sob grunt… scream—!”

“The subjugation is complete, Master.”

Hearing Serena’s report, Ciel and I walked into the kitchen.

There, a zombie man was weeping with cloudy tears, all of his limbs’ joints dislocated.

“What, what are you…!”

The zombie man, sounding almost like he was crying, widened his eyes when he saw Ciel.

“An, angel…!? No…!”

Seeing an angel and becoming startled, it seemed like there was something bothering him. He must know something.

Thinking about the scream that came from Serena’s attack, it seemed that despite looking like a zombie, he still had the ability to feel pain. Perhaps that was why he wanted to eat chicken.

If he could feel pain, the situation would become much easier.

Shing-

I drew the gleaming sword from my waist.

The gracefully curved and beautiful blade reflected the light from the kitchen’s light, emitting a sharp brilliance.

It was a chilling weapon that could make anyone who knew pain flinch just by looking at it.

However, the zombie man only snorted at the sight of the sword.

“You think I’ll spill everything I know just because you’re going to torture me!?”

“……”

I hadn’t even cut him once, yet he blurted out those words as if he knew something.

He might have strong willpower, but he didn’t seem very smart.

I started by slicing one of his fingers vertically.

Shzz-

Dark red blood spurted out. The fact that the blood wasn’t dried up meant his heart was still beating.

But then…

“Heh, heh, heh! It doesn’t hurt or itch…!”

The zombie man boastfully laughed, not looking pained at all.

This was strange… He had definitely screamed when Serena had subdued him earlier.

Was the scream merely a reflex, without any actual pain?

Then, something suddenly occurred to me.

The effect of Ciel’s ability, [Heavenly Blessing].

‘The recipient of the blessing can exert more powerful force against evil attributes.’

Could it be…? Did he not feel pain from ordinary attacks, and was it the effect of [Heavenly Blessing] that had caused him to feel pain?

“Ciel. Bless me, too.”

Ciel nodded and reached out to me.

“Heavenly Blessing.”

A soft white light emitted from her and was faintly absorbed into my body and the gleaming sword.

Looking back at the zombie man, clear terror now filled his eyes.

I was right.

“Shall we start again?”

“No, please… wait…!”

.

After just two cuts, the zombie man quickly broke down, sobbing and pleading, agreeing to tell everything he knew.

I began to question him about the things I was curious about.

“What’s your name?”

“Kwon Junyong… sir…”

“Kwon Junyong. Are you human or a zombie?”

“I am human…!”

“Why do you look like that, then?”

Kwon Junyong’s dark, lifeless skin looked no different from that of a zombie.

He hung his head low and began to spill his story.

“I was…”

Kwon Junyong was originally just an ordinary human living in modern society.

But then, one day, as he was lying in his room, he suddenly received a revelation in his head.

[Kwon Junyong. My chosen one. Can you hear me?]

“What… What’s this!?”

The voice introduced itself as ‘Asimone,’ the Goddess of Hell from a world hidden from Earth.

Asimone told Kwon Junyong that the end was coming and asked him to become her servant.

If he became her servant, he wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked by the dead.

At first, Kwon Junyong refused.

Since the world was still before the zombie virus outbreak, the talk of the end didn’t resonate with him, and the title of Hell’s goddess alone was unsettling, was it not?

However, Asimone told him that if he became her servant, she would grant him one wish, whatever he desired.

After much contemplation, Kwon Junyong made a wish.

He wished to have sex with the female idol he liked, ‘Signa.’

“……”

While saying this, Kwon Junyong glanced at me, but I had nothing else to say.

My own desperately sought ability was the ‘power to turn a Real Doll into a human,’ after all.

So what happened then?

The moment he made his wish, someone knocked on the door of his one-room apartment.

When he opened the door, the idol ‘Signa’ stood smiling brightly, the one Kwon Junyong had dreamed of.

“Si, Signa…?”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Junyong. I know it’s a bit rude to ask at our first meeting, but… would you like to have sex with me?”

With those words, Signa began to undress at the entrance, leaving only her black, provocative underwear as Kwon Junyong stood frozen in shock.

Then, without covering up, she thrust out her chest and said,

“I’m sure… it will feel really good…♡”

A half-cup bra that was barely covering the nipples. A glimpse of the pink areola. A T-string panty barely covered her private part, leaving the groin exposed.

“Ah, ah…!”

The cramped one-room apartment and the familiar entrance view, within which an incongruously beautiful Signa stood in her underwear.

Kwon Junyong had no other choice.

From passionate kissing at the entrance to ejaculation inside Signa, who lay on the bed, it took less than 10 minutes.

Enraptured and enjoying the afterglow in Signa’s embrace, Kwon Junyong heard Asimone’s voice in his ear.

[Your wish has been fulfilled, Kwon Junyong. You are now my servant, having gone through the proper procedure.]

Kwon Junyong thought he didn’t care about becoming a servant as long as he could have sex with Signa. However, the Signa he was holding began to transform into a slimy form.

What was revealed soon after was… a nauseating female zombie, her flesh rotting away.

“Aaaaaaaaah———!!!”

He regretted it too late, but he had already become a body that could not refuse Asimone’s command.

…Kwon Junyong, having said this much, bowed his head, seemingly chewing over the nightmarish memories.

A moment later, he opened his mouth again.

“…After that, the sexual organ I had put into the female zombie began to slowly turn into a zombie-like form. I couldn’t refuse Asimone’s commands that echoed in my head anymore…”

“……”

“I’m completely in Asimone’s hands…! Even speaking like this now, she might kill me if she finds out…!”

Kwon Junyong began to tremble all over, looking around like a person with an anxiety disorder.

…I momentarily lost my words.

I didn’t clearly understand what I had just heard, but one fact was clear.

That Asimone was a very vicious bitch.

.

I continued to ask a few more questions. Most of my doubts were resolved by listening to Kwon Junyong’s answers.

“Are the mutant zombies that have suddenly begun to appear lately coming from ‘Asimone’s Rift’ inside that house?”

“Yes, that’s correct. …Actually, I installed most of the rifts around Yangju. There must be others like me in other areas. All of us were deceived by that goddess, unable to resist her…”

“So, why have you only installed rifts around the military bases?”

“Because mutant zombies are weak to magic-infused attacks but strong against modern firearms like guns and tanks.”

“So it’s a method to efficiently annihilate those who are still alive and resisting?”

“……Yes.”

I nodded my head, finally asking the question I had to know.

“So, what’s Asimone’s purpose? Since she’s called the Goddess of Hell, is it to kill all people and summon them to Hell?”

“Asimone’s purpose is… the purpose is………”

That was when it happened. Kwon Junyong’s voice, which had been clear until now, began to crack severely.

It was an eerie voice, as if two people spoke with one vocal cord.

“Goa- al, Grurururuk, Krurururuk—!”

At the same time, his body began to deform grotesquely.

His skin turned black, and his upper body bubbled as if it were a liquid.

“Master! A dreadful energy—!”

As Ciel screamed desperately, I swung my blade and decapitated Kwon Junyong.

Schwack—!

“Kruruk? …Gruruk……”

Chop- rolling-

His head fell off.

Thanks to receiving [Heaven’s Blessing], the cleanly cut surface was sizzling, as if it had been cut with a burning blade.

“……”

It seemed that Kwon Junyong was dead.

Such a wretched end.