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Chapter 37
The price for breaking the Apocalypse survival formula was brutal.
Thud—! Thud—!
Kiik… kikik…
From the stone chamber, an unknown monster was approaching us, laughing mockingly.
Kweeehhk!
On the staircase packed with bones, zombies were climbing up, using their fallen comrades as stepping stones.
Crash—!
Standing side by side with the Crown Prince, fending off the zombies that surged upward, I suddenly locked eyes with the monster inside the chamber.
It staggered toward us and was now about to step out of the chamber.
I turned urgently to the Crown Prince, who was fighting beside me.
“Your Highness, this won’t do. I’ll handle the zombies—please take care of the monster!”
“Very well.”
Thwack—!
Recognizing the danger, he wasted no time. He leapt straight into the chamber.
Squelch—!
And immediately drove his spear into the monster’s gills.
Given its massive body—three times his size—I thought he would be pushed back. But the Crown Prince, without showing a hint of strain, shoved the creature down.
Kiik! Kikik!
The monster flailed helplessly on its back.
‘Nice!’
I grinned, cheering him inwardly.
Wham! Crack!
Relieved, I finished off the last zombie, then turned back—only to be horrified.
The spear he had driven into the monster’s gills had snapped.
‘Wh-what? The spear broke?’
He glanced between the spear half stuck in the monster and the broken shaft still in his grip, then looked back at me.
With a slight tilt of his head, he pointed at the weapon. His eyes accused me: Was this cheap trash all you had?
It wasn’t fair.
‘That was handmade by an old craftsman with thirty years in the trade—I paid a fortune for it!’
Maybe my frustration showed on my face, because the Crown Prince sighed, brushing his hair back as if to say there was no helping it.
Then, suddenly, his expression hardened. He shifted into a battle stance again.
And with a serious look at me, he said something that nearly made my eyes pop out.
“Lady—trust me.”
His words overlapped with the sounds of me smashing zombie skulls—Crack! Squish!—but I was sure I heard it.
‘Wait, did he just say trust me?’
Beaming, I looked at him with hopeful eyes… only to notice his gaze fixed intently on something else—my pouch.
‘Wha—so it wasn’t trust me, it was I trust you? And by “you,” he meant my pouch?!’
I bristled for a moment, then quickly calmed myself.
‘Haa… fine.’
Signaling him to stall for time, I shoved my hand into my Doraemon-style pouch.
My fingers brushed past kits and small trinkets in the subspace.
‘Damn it, I should’ve organized this better!’
Normally I’d lay everything out or feel around carefully. But fighting off zombies while rummaging made it nearly impossible.
Sweat trickled down my spine. My hair and shirt clung to me with cold perspiration.
“Lady, how much longer?”
“Just wait!”
“I’ve severed the monster’s limbs—focus on the zombies first!”
Squelch! He stabbed the monster’s last arm with the broken spear shaft. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened and he bolted out of the chamber.
Thud, thud, thud! Crack!
He kicked off the wall and, moving with whip-like agility, slammed into a zombie charging at me.
Crash! Snap!
Fighting bare-handed, he called out urgently.
“Lady!”
At that exact moment, my fingers brushed something soft and furry inside the pouch.
I instinctively grabbed and pulled—pop! A rabbit sprang out.
‘…Why are you here?’
I was sure it had been napping on the dining table when I left.
The rabbit looked just as bewildered, ears twitching as if woken from a dream.
Clutching it by the ears, I suddenly remembered the dawn forest scene—how this very rabbit had devoured zombies whole.
‘Alright, bunny. I’m counting on you.’
And I tossed it straight into the zombie-filled corridor.
“Go, rabbit!”
“Squeak!”
Flailing like a flying squirrel, the chubby rabbit spread its limbs and opened its mouth wide.
Its soft, fluffy maw stretched to block the stairwell, chomping and swallowing zombies into its subspace stomach.
‘It… it worked.’
Relief washed over me, my heart settling back into place.
‘Next, the chamber.’
Wiping cold sweat, I turned toward it.
The Crown Prince, hearing the monster’s groans as I unleashed the rabbit, had already dashed back inside.
Worried he was fighting weaponless, I hurried after him.
“Your Highness, are you—”
“What? Speak louder.”
“….”
“….”
“…What exactly are you doing?”
The tension deflated like a punctured balloon.
Next to the toppled monster, the Crown Prince was sitting calmly on his knees, listening to it.
He frowned and looked back at me.
“Lady, this thing is talking.”
“The monster can talk?”
I forgot my disbelief and crept closer, ears straining.
It was true.
From its animal mouth came groans, but from its human-like mouth came words—in Imperial tongue.
We leaned in, focusing on the clearer voice.
“Kiik… sing… lullaby…”
‘A lullaby?’
The Crown Prince shot me a startled glance.
“It seems to be asking for a lullaby.”
“So it does.”
I nodded slowly—only to feel his expectant eyes on me.
‘Wait. Don’t tell me he expects me to sing it?’
“I don’t know any lullabies.”
“I’ve never heard one before.”
He looked pitiful. Disgustingly so.
“Your nanny must have sung to you.”
“I don’t remember. By the time I was old enough, she tried to poison me—so I killed her.”
I always thought I could rebut anything he said, but this time I was speechless.
The only sounds were the monster’s chuckles and my rabbit munching zombies.
“…Uh.”
‘What am I supposed to say to that?’
Perhaps reading my conflicted expression, the Crown Prince gave a bitter half-smile. This time, it wasn’t disgusting at all.
“So, Lady—sing to stall it. While you do, I’ll figure out how to break that hard shell.”
“But the only one I know is… When mother goes to the island’s shade… to gather clams…”
The moment I started, the monster’s eyes gleamed and it rolled toward us, making me instinctively belt the song louder. My desperate singing was pure survival instinct.
The Crown Prince’s astonished look burned my cheeks, but I didn’t stop.
I suppose facing death makes a person do anything.
Kiik… kikik…
The monster froze, listening.
The Crown Prince muttered it was his first time hearing a lullaby, lifting the broken spear again.
But I thought grimly:
‘That spear won’t work.’
Even the all-metal spears in my pouch would be useless against this stone-skinned beast.
The Crown Prince must know it too. Maybe he was waiting for me to bring out another strange weapon.
I closed my eyes, still singing.
‘Calm down. Think carefully.’
‘So far, I’ve revealed grenades, the tracking brooch, soundproof stickers, all kinds of weapons, miniaturization kits…’
I’d already exposed enough magical tech. Should I really reveal more to someone who mistrusts me?
I shook my head. Not yet. Especially not that weapon. It wasn’t suited for this anyway.
‘Maybe just gunpowder…’
I shook my head again.
Grenades here would bring down the cave itself.
‘Then should we just flee and leave it alive?’
But sparing it now could be dangerous—it might pursue us later.
‘It could chase us.’
Lost in thought, I realized I had stopped singing, lips pressed tight.
The monster groaned, then suddenly rolled toward me again.
Rumble—Crash!
“Lady!”
The Crown Prince grabbed me and leapt aside.
Bang—!
The monster slammed into the wall, embedding itself in stone as rubble rained down.
Kiik… kikik…
Bloody stumps braced against the wall, it turned to face us again.
Its face, crushed and bleeding from every orifice, groaned—
“Sing… kikik… lullaby…”
Rumble—Crash!
Again it rolled at us, and again the Crown Prince scooped me up, dodging narrowly.
Holding me tight, he whispered, eyes never leaving the monster.
“Lady, forgive me—but… do you have another weapon?”
‘Another weapon?’
Clinging to his neck, my gaze fell to the debris on the ground. Among the rubble, I spotted the broken spear shaft we’d dropped earlier.
And in that instant, an idea sparked in my mind.
