"What's with this fog? The visibility's way too low."
Takagi Saya held her rifle in one hand, waving her other through the mist as if she could scatter it.
But no matter how she moved, the heavy fog only swirled and rolled back into place, mocking her efforts.
If you couldn't even see the enemy, how were you supposed to fight?
"They're coming."
Busujima Saeko's eyes sharpened, her tone calm but edged with steel.
A low, resonant tremor rippled through the ground. The unmistakable sound of countless feet—the march of monsters.
"Everyone, prepare for battle!"
The commander's voice rang out. Soldiers scrambled to position, weapons ready, hearts pounding.
And then… the fog began to thin.
At first, the troops cheered. With clear sight, fighting would be easier—right?
But what greeted them was not relief. It was despair.
"…What… what is that…?"
Takagi Yuriko and the others froze, words choking in their throats.
On the horizon, massive shadows loomed—colossal soldiers advancing step by step.
And beneath their feet, filling every inch of the horizon, was a carpet of writhing corpses.
The enemy force they had seen before was nothing compared to this. This was overwhelming.
"Dead… they're all dead bodies!"
From the command center, an officer staring at aerial photos broke down, his voice trembling.
"The initial count… estimated over a million corpses… all marching with the undead army…"
His hands shook as he repeated the words like a curse.
"A… a million?!"
Takagi Saya's eyes went wide, her voice cracking.
Why? Why had it become like this? Wasn't the enemy supposed to just be the undead legion?
Nanami Rika suddenly remembered—her face paling.
"The girl… the little girl who broke into the military base. She had the power to control the dead!"
"Why wasn't such vital information reported earlier?!"
Takagi Saya clutched her head in frustration, nearly tearing her hair out.
Her original calculations were sound: ordinary firearms couldn't kill these creatures, but the military's tank shells could at least wipe out groups of them.
As long as they destroyed the bulk of the horde—leaving only the four giant beasts—it would be enough to boost morale worldwide.
That was the plan. That was the hope.
But now? Now it wasn't just an army. It was a tide of corpses numbering in the millions. An apocalypse.
"…How are we supposed to fight this?"
Her voice was heavy, the despair in it contagious.
After a long silence, Saya straightened, her face grim. She spoke into the communicator with a tone far colder than her age should allow.
"Commander. Prepare to use that."
"…Understood."
The same weight echoed from the other side of the line.
They had no choice.
As the undead army loomed and the tide of corpses surged ever closer, the pressure on the front lines grew unbearable. The breath of despair spread like poison across the battlefield.
Then, tens of kilometers away from the defensive line, the undead legion suddenly halted.
But the corpses under their command did not.
Like a raging tsunami, millions of dead bodies thundered forward.
"Damn it!"
Takagi Saya slammed her fist against the armored car door, her frustration boiling over.
"What's wrong, Saya?"
Marikawa Shizuka blinked, tilting her head in confusion.
From the side, Takagi Yuriko gave a bitter smile. "She's furious because their movements will mess with our defensive formation."
The frontline wasn't composed of tanks or armored vehicles.
It was a minefield.
Laid down to cripple the undead legion's monsters, the traps were supposed to slow their charge, scatter their formations, and buy humanity precious time.
But now, whoever controlled the corpses was deliberately sending the horde straight into the mines.
A million bodies… used as living thunder.
That was why Saya's rage and despair felt so justified.
"BOOM!!!"
The earth shook as the first mines detonated.
One after another, explosions roared in rapid succession.
But the horde didn't falter.
The corpses moved fast, and there were far too many of them.
Each blast only tore apart a handful, swallowed up by the endless tide that followed.
Within minutes, the first line of humanity's defense had been trampled underfoot.
"Damn it! All units, open fire now!!!"
The commander's voice cracked into a roar, heavy with fury and desperation.
Soldiers obeyed, suppressing the terror clawing at their throats.
Tank cannons, armored vehicle turrets, and RPGs unleashed a storm of firepower.
The night sky lit up in a brutal display of fireworks—explosions echoing across the wasteland, corpses torn apart mid-charge, their remains raining down like grotesque confetti.
And yet the tide surged on.
High above, Ella stood silently upon the shoulders of her colossal shadow turtle, watching the spectacle unfold with cold, unblinking eyes.
She made no move to advance the true undead legion.
"Very smart, Ella."
From within the Dungeon, Yami Tsukishiro's lips curved into a pleased smile.
This—this restraint, this cold calculation—was the mark of a commander. The first glimmer of true leadership.
But emotion was a current Ella could never truly share.
That pride, that sense of achievement… belonged only to the Dungeon Master watching over his creation.
[Crystal of the Origin of the World]: High school of the Dead
[Source Pollution Level]: 5% (rising rapidly)
It was the embodiment of human despair spreading unchecked.
And it wasn't just the people of this native world who felt it.
From the third-person vantage point, Kocho Shinobu and the others watching the invasion were left speechless.
"…There are too many. With that many zombies, it's impossible to win."
Jade Chan spoke bluntly, her voice trembling.
The endless tide reminded her of the zombie films she had once seen. Packed so densely together, it made the scalp crawl and the heart go numb.
"Even with weapons capable of such destruction… they can't stop the horde."
Akame gripped her blade tighter, her eyes narrowing.
Artillery shells, tank fire, RPG blasts—every detonation shook the battlefield.
For Shinobu and Akame, who came from worlds where the strongest weapons were mere explosives or alchemy, this level of firepower was terrifying. The ground itself split under the bombardment, and yet…
The corpses filled every gap.
For every monster destroyed, ten more pressed forward.
It was despair given form.
Kocho Shinobu felt that chill seep into her own world.
If it were us… if the Demon Slayer Corps had to face such an invasion… could we endure it?
The answer was clear.
No.
They struggled enough against scattered demons. Against an army of millions like this, humanity would be erased.
No matter how you looked at it, there was no chance of survival.
The front lines were collapsing.
The corpses hurled themselves into the fire, their bodies acting as shields against the bombardment.
Within minutes, the defensive line shrank rapidly.
And soon, the artillerymen could no longer fire freely—the front was too close. Another barrage now would annihilate their own allies along with the enemy.
"…It's our turn."
Busujima Saeko drew her katana with a resonant shing, her eyes blazing.
Beside her, Miyamoto Rei leveled her spear, determination etched on her face.
The inevitable had come: close-quarters combat.
Infantrymen steadied their rifles, unleashing desperate volleys into the tide.
"Tch. Guess I'm dying here today."
Nanami Rika licked her lips, raised her rifle, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
"Then die fighting! There's nothing to be afraid of!"
Takagi Saya shouted, forcing back her fear with sheer resolve.
And with that, the line of humanity braced itself as the tide of death crashed down upon them.
Takagi Yuriko and the others weren't idle.
Every one of them had already accepted death.
The rules of the Dungeon only promised no "real death" inside its boundaries. Out here in the apocalypse? Death meant death. No second chances. No resurrection.
Miyamoto Rei and Busujima Saeko exchanged a glance. They nodded once, wordless, and charged forward with weapons drawn.
Steel and blood would serve them faster than any firearm.
And in that moment—
"The undead army… launch the attack!"
Ella's crisp voice echoed like a death knell.
The silent legion stirred.
"ROAR!!!"
The monsters bellowed as one, surging through the gap carved by the tide of corpses.
Compared to the shambling dead, the undead legion's speed was terrifying.
Before the soldiers could even catch their breath from mowing down corpses, the true legion had already closed the distance.
The troops reacted on instinct, firing wildly—treating the legion like any other zombie horde. But their bullets found no purchase.
And then it was too late.
The legion smashed into the front line.
Screams tore through the night as steel and flesh collided. Soldiers were ripped apart, their formation shredded in an instant.
A bloody, one-sided massacre began.
"Saeko Senpai! They're here!!!"
Miyamoto Rei fired her rifle into a cluster of corpses, then shouted as the battlefield shifted around them.
Busujima Saeko wasted no time. Her blade flashed, slicing into monsters that clearly weren't ordinary corpses.
For the two of them, first- and second-tier creatures could still be handled with blade and spear. But for the soldiers around them?
It was a slaughter. Men were torn limb from limb, blood soaking the ground faster than anyone could blink.
Saeko and Rei were forced into a desperate retreat, slashing, stabbing, and hurling grenades as they fell back.
"Damn it!"
Marikawa Shizuka cried out, reaching toward Saeko—but the distance was already too great.
The battlefield had swallowed them.
Saeko and Rei were isolated, surrounded by monsters on all sides.
This was war. And war did not care about fairness.
The undead army's momentum was overwhelming. Humanity's resistance collapsed almost instantly.
And then… the true despair appeared.
From the rear, colossal shadows stirred.
The two Shadow Turtles pulsed with blue light, electromagnetic bursts flaring from their shells.
"Wh–what's happening?! Report, now!"
Inside the command center, screens flickered and died. The commander's shouts went unanswered.
The EMP wave tore through everything. Tanks, missile systems, long-range artillery—all fell silent.
No guns. No armor. Nothing.
"ROAR!!!"
The Ridgeback Turtle. The Tailed Rat. The Shadow Velociraptor.
The three titans moved as one, phasing through both the undead legion and the corpse tide as if they were mist.
They were shadows without substance… until they reached the front lines.
And then they became weapons of destruction.
Every stomp made the ground quake. Every claw carved craters into the battlefield.
Armored vehicles dissolved in corrosive venom. Soldiers splashed by the toxins screamed, rolling on the ground for seconds before falling lifeless.
It was a massacre not of hundreds, but of thousands.
And the whole world was watching.
Broadcasts showed the battlefield collapsing, humanity's first line erased. The ending was clear, and it was despair.
Takagi Saya and the others stared, eyes wide in horror.
The hurricane winds from the beasts' charge nearly sent them tumbling.
In that moment, the same thought echoed in every mind:
Is this really supposed to be an evenly matched war? A war we can win?
Or was this nothing but annihilation?
PS: Happy New Year, readers-kun! 🎉💥💥
May this year bring you good vibes, big Ws, and even better chapters.
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and Exclusive R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Every 100 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.