I Reincarnated Into a Healing Game… and It’s a Zombie Apocalypse?! - Chapter 71

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 71

Thanks to Wina stopping time, Ishanka was able to quickly escape the royal palace without being disturbed by anyone.

He ran straight north.

Without even a moment to look back, just feeling the body temperature of the girl in his arms gradually fading away.

As if trying somehow to shake off the chilling fear that pierced through his chest.

Faster. Further. Harder.

Thinking only of that, he struck the ground and ran.

He couldn’t feel the pain of his muscles tearing, or the suffocating breathlessness as if his lungs would burst.

It was fine if his body broke apart.

As long as he could save the girl in his arms.

How long had he been running?

A cat leaped up from beside him, and soon Ateruna revealed herself at his side.

“Hey, brother! What on earth is going on?!”

“…How did you get all the way here?”

“That girl named Wina suddenly sent me here! But why is the maid unconscious?!”

“Explanations come later. Right now we need to get out of this kingdom.”

A short, resolute answer burst forth buried in rough, dry breath.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but okay! I’ll go get a horse…”

“Running myself is faster.”

“What?”

Ateruna blinked.

However, Ishanka didn’t even look at her.

“There’s no time for long explanations.”

“…”

He held Nana in his arms a little tighter.

Afraid she might break. No, it was a gesture as if trying to prevent her from breaking any further with his two hands.

“I must take Nana to my land.”

Rough, sharp breath.

Within it was an instinct for life, and a beast-like obsession.

He wouldn’t let go even if he died.

Even if broken or trampled, he would hold her to the end.

Such madness and desperation could be felt.

Ateruna swallowed her breath.

He had always been a calm and composed brother.

That same brother was now running blindly.

As if he had turned his back on everything in the world.

Ateruna could no longer say anything more.

She could only follow desperately behind Ishanka as he roughly cut through the winter wind, running north.

* * *

Black Deer Forest.

A place shrouded in darkness year-round due to the densely packed conifers.

People from other kingdoms considered this forest ominous and didn’t claim it as anyone’s land.

However, to the indigenous people, this place was a forest more sacred than anything else in the world.

An old woman was trudging along the forest path. Her arms were loaded with bundles of medicinal herbs.

“Ugh, these herbs are completely useless.”

The old woman, Rosha, picked up a handful of herbs to examine them, then grumbled and sighed.

In the north of the Kingdom of Helvetia, winter was already approaching the indigenous people’s land.

Cold wind, overcast sky.

Following nature’s order, the forest plants were also losing their vitality.

“Well, Aibanu’s fragments protect the land from disaster, but they can’t do anything about nature.”

Crumpling the dry leaves in her hand with a rustle, Rosha let out another long sigh.

Though the sky was overcast and the wind was bitter, the earth still retained its undead brown breath.

There was only one reason for this.

It was thanks to the fragment that the god Aibanu had bestowed through Ishanka.

When that fragment was offered at the altar and rituals were performed with devotion, the dying land and water would come back to life and protect the land from evil things.

But that power wasn’t eternal.

They could barely survive only by performing rituals periodically.

“Still, it’s fortunate that Ezion diligently takes care of it.”

Rosha straightened her back and muttered quietly.

“Speaking of which, that boy Ishanka…”

A shadow fell across her lips.

The child who had disappeared long ago after entrusting his proxy to Ezion.

There had been no news at all.

“Ugh, that Ati. Just wait until he comes back, I’ll give his back a good…!”

Just as she was grumbling and about to move her feet again, she heard something swiftly passing through the dense forest beyond.

When Rosha reflexively turned her head, she made eye contact with a person who appeared through the trees.

“Grandma Rosha!”

A hoarse voice.

Roughly cracked breath.

In Ishanka’s arms was a girl who had turned pale.

“Please… please… save Nana.”

Ishanka fell to his knees.

He threw his body down onto the ice-cold ground as if shattering it, and held the girl with trembling hands. His breathing was breathlessly rapid and his fingertips were white as if drained of blood.

“…Nana… please save Nana…”

His voice cracked roughly.

Ishanka pleaded with a face that seemed ready to break.

Rosha’s breath caught in her throat.

He had always been a calm and strong child.

The chief’s successor, the god’s incarnation.

That same child had collapsed so desperately, abandoning all dignity and pride.

She examined the girl in Ishanka’s arms with trembling hands.

“…She’s been cursed.”

Rosha’s brow furrowed deeply.

“…This… there’s something strange mixed in.”

It wasn’t a simple curse.

A dark foreign sensation enveloping the body.

Something unknown, dirty and sticky was entangled within.

“There’s no time to hesitate.”

Rosha resolutely took Nana into her arms.

“Let’s go to the altar. It’s dangerous like this.”

Ishanka nodded without a moment’s hesitation.

Suppressing his bursting breath, he followed her with staggering steps.

* * *

One side of the altar.

A place where dim light reaches.

Rosha carefully laid Nana down on the floor.

She untied her bundle and took out a bundle of herbs.

With quick and practiced hand movements, she lit the herbs on fire and before the small flame could spread, she blew it out with a puff of breath.

Rosha began to pray, brushing her hands through the smoke as if moistening them.

“Oh goddess Inanna, who breathes life into the earth…”

She recited the prayer while gently tapping the herb bundle all over Nana’s body.

A very faint beam of light rose up over Nana’s body.

As time passed, only the smell of smoke, the scent of sweat, and the sound of earnest prayer lingered within the altar.

After a considerable time had passed, Rosha wiped away thick beads of sweat, caught her breath, and tapped her lower back with her fist.

“…Phew, I’ve put out the urgent fire.”

At those brief words, Ishanka collapsed, bending his waist and letting out a breath.

The stone that had been pressing down on his chest seemed to have disappeared, even if just a little.

Rosha glanced at him and then slapped her knee with a clap.

“Rakshan, this is that bastard’s doing, isn’t it?”

Ishanka flinched and raised his head.

“How did you…”

“Hmph, where else would there be another bastard capable of casting a curse like this.”

Rosha clicked her tongue briefly and spoke as if grumbling.

“He’s only gotten better at his skills in the meantime. That guy was always quick to learn the bad stuff.”

She stood up, brushing off the hem of her skirt.

“By the way, you must have been quite desperate too. You came running here without even noticing the tracking spell attached to you.”

“…”

Rosha looked at him quietly and clicked her tongue once more briefly.

“It’s okay now. So straighten up that face of yours.”

She gently patted Ishanka’s shoulder consolingly.

“Come on, let’s get up. It’ll be dark soon.”

As Rosha gathered her herb bundle and stood up, Ishanka also slowly raised his body.

But his arms holding Nana were rigidly tense, as if he wouldn’t let go no matter what the world offered him.

Rosha stopped walking as she watched him.

He had always been a cold and solid child.

As a chief, as a divine incarnation.

A child who had restrained even his emotions to bear responsibility.

That same Ishanka was now holding a young girl in his arms, trembling with his whole body.

That unstable appearance pierced Rosha’s heart.

Had this child shown such a face even when the chief couple left this world?

No. Even then, Ishanka hadn’t cried.

He had bitten his lips, clenched his teeth, and just endured quietly.

Rosha recalled old memories as somewhere deep in her bones ached with a sharp pain.

Perhaps that was why.

Relief seeped into one corner of her heart at the fact that Ishanka had found someone precious enough to make him crumble.

‘Finally, this boy too. Has come to have human-like emotions.’

Rosha muttered to herself.

And suddenly a bitter thought crossed her mind.

‘…But is this really something to be purely happy about.’

The old woman’s small sigh scattered into the forest.

* * *

Nana regained consciousness on the seventh day since arriving in the Indigenous People’s Land.

Her closed eyelids wouldn’t open easily.

Her vision swayed dizzily.

It took a long time to clearly perceive the world.

The first thing that entered her sight was the fierce blizzard raging beyond the window.

When had winter begun?

She remembered it being autumn for sure.

‘…Was I asleep for that long?’

The moment she traced her hazy memories, the Prime Minister’s face came to mind.

And.

【Warning Warning. Fatal error occurred.】

【System will be deactivated due to unknown cause.】

The loudly ringing system warning sound.

That was Nana’s last memory.

“Farmland Declaration.”

Nana muttered in a voice as small as a breath.

【System is in deactivated state.】

“…Skill Eagle Eye.”

【System is in deactivated state.】

No matter how much she called out, only the same cold message returned.

She wanted to believe she had seen it wrong.

No, she had believed it was something she had seen wrong.

But now the system was no longer by her side.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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