Chapter: 97
-A few hours later-
"So, it's time then? Time to return?" Sif asked me. We were back in Azazel's lab where I double checked the sheet with all of the coordinates.
"In a manner of speaking. We still have to correctly find the correct dimension coordinates. We have a 1 in 15 chance."
With my high luck stat, it shouldn't take too many tries. Hopefully, at least. I reached deep inside of me to my Orb of Anywhere Sacred Gear and activated it.
- 1500 MP!
A large chunk of my MP left me as a swirling black and golden portal appeared in front of me. It was incredibly hazy, and I couldn't see through it at all. That unfortunately meant I'd have to go through.
"Be wary," I said as I approached the portal. "We have no idea what kind of place is awaiting us."
"Of course," Sif confidently replied. In a flash of light, a set of pitch-black armor appeared around her body. It was a set I had borrowed from Penemue's room. Because it was Fallen Angel armor, it was much more form-fitting and sexy than her Asgardian armor ever was. I was starting to find it harder to take my eyes off of her the longer we were together.
I wasn't big on metallurgy, though, so I didn't know how its defenses stacked up.
I went through the portal first, and Sif followed close behind me. "It appears to be a city of some kind." Sif commented as she took in our surroundings.
"It's more than that. We're in Times Square." I said while also taking in the sights… except. Something with this Times Square was very wrong. Weeds were growing all along the sidewalks and streets. There wasn't a single person in sight. In fact, I couldn't hear anyone nearby at all. It was as if New York City had been completely abandoned.
That was not a good sign. On top of that, I was getting some bad vibes.
This clearly wasn't Earth Marvel. I spun around back towards the portal to tell Sif we should leave when, to my horror, the portal had faded away.
"SHIT!" I cursed loudly. We were stuck here until I recovered 1500 MP to send us back to try again. My MP recovery rate is comparable to my Intelligence per hour. That meant with 200 Intelligence, I'd only recover 200 MP an hour…
"We're stuck here for a few hours," I said to Sif's inquisitive look. "I don't have enough mana to send us back right now."
Sif nodded before once again looking around. "This is Midgard, yes. A version of it at least? I wonder what has befallen it for it to be abandoned so?" She commented. That was a good question.
We might as well search for some clues while we were stuck here. Did Thanos snap away the entire population in this reality? I looked into the sky and saw a few birds flying around, though. Animals were still here in the abandoned city, so that shouldn't have been the case.
"Layla, over here!" Sif called out towards me from behind an abandoned car that was covered in weeds and vines. I walked behind it and almost gagged at what I saw on the ground.
It was a corpse…
A human corpse. It looked like it had been eaten… recently. The bite marks also didn't look like they came from an animal.
[Oh, that's not good…]
'What is it, system? I'm getting some serious bad vibes now.'
[Quest Issued! Survive! → You have ended up in the Marvel Zombies Universe! Survive and escape!]
"Marvel Zombies! Oh fuck! Sif, we gotta get out of here!" I exclaimed before grabbing her arm.
"Uh, Layla. I think Midgard has a bit of a Draugr problem…" Sif said, and I heard groaning. They were coming from everywhere. From every single building nearby, I started to hear the shuffling of feet. Why the hell couldn't I sense them before!? In fact, I still can't sense them.
[They're nothing but animated corpses moving because of a virus. There's no magic in them to sense.]
A huge horde of walking corpses slowly started to emerge from all around us. We were completely surrounded!
I ran over to Sif and scooped her up in my arms before deploying my wings and taking to the air. Being able to fly was the best. Fuck you, zombies! I'll just stay in the air and wait for my magic to refill from up here safely!
CRACK!
-100 HP
I felt something violently slam into my back. What the hell just hit me!?
CRACK!
-300 HP
"Ow! You fucker!" It hit me again, but this time in the back of my head. I spun around and perched on a nearby rooftop was… The Punisher?
Or at least his zombie corpse.
And he was aiming a gigantic anti-material rifle right at me…
"Throw me at him, Layla! I shall skewer this pathetic draugr for daring to hurt the woman I love!" Sif yelled from my arms.
Eh, might as well. I did as she asked, and using my new improved strength, I was able to hurl the Asgardian a few blocks towards the Zombie Punisher. She slammed down nearby onto the same rooftop he was on.
He stopped aiming the sniper rifle at me and instead pulled a shotgun off his back and pointed it at Sif.
"Your mortal toys won't work on me, corpse!" Sif said confidently as she drew her sword. She charged forward to strike him down.
BOOM!
I watched almost in slow motion as the shotgun metal pellets struck her form. Thankfully, she was correct, and his shotgun didn't have any effect on her. It didn't have close to the stopping power the anti-material rifle did.
Sif ignored the pellets as they bounced off her armor and skin as she swung her sword downward. From his shoulder to his hip, the zombie was perfectly bisected. To my shock, though, he still wasn't dead.
"Grrrrrr." With only one arm and half a torso to work with, the zombie still tried to crawl its way towards Sif to bite her.
"Pathetic." Sif sneered as she stabbed her blade down through his head. That did it. The zombie stopped moving. It was dead–well, extra dead now.
Sif turned to me and gave me a victorious grin.
Uh oh. I know where this was going. Don't say it!
Sif smirked. "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? This dimension has nothing we can't handle!"
Fuck… she said it…
"…"
"ROOOOOOAAAAARRRR!"
And there was what I was truly afraid of… Down on the street hatefully glaring up at Sif and I was another zombie. It was big. It was green. It was very much dead and yet still moving.
It was a zombie Hulk…
XXX
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Chapter: 98
A car sailed through the air toward me, propelled by the green monstrosity roaring at Sif and me from below.
I quickly evaded the oncoming vehicle just as it collided with the roof we stood upon, causing the upper part of the building to erupt in a cloud of debris and drywall.
Sif and I gracefully touched down on the adjacent building. We observed together as the building we had just vacated began to crumble before us. As it turns out, a car hurtling at hundreds of miles an hour into a building proved detrimental to its foundations.
"Roooooooaaaar!"
The Zombie Hulk unleashed another deafening roar at us. His undead eyes were filled with rage and intelligence. Actually, that was the same for The Zombie Punisher as well. You wouldn't have expected the average zombie to still know how to use weapons after all.
"Layla! What in the nine hells is that green beast? And where are we?" Sif asked with some trepidation in her voice. I'm sure a regular Hulk would be an intimidating sight, let alone this one whose muscles were showing underneath rotting green flesh.
"That's the Hulk. Earth's 'strongest' champion… Well, he was. We're apparently in an alternate universe where a virus has turned the entire world into a zombie hellscape. There's probably not a lot of living people left, as we saw from that poor guy's half-eaten corpse earlier."
The zombie Hulk started advancing towards our building slowly. I didn't think it was going to just let us go. "I think we're going to have to kill this thing, Sif, and we'll have to do it quickly before any more like him show up," I said as I conjured a [Lightspear] in my hand and supercharged it with extra light energy. I grimaced as I felt my already low amount of MP dip further. The more I used my MP, the longer we'd be stuck in this universe.
"Fine then. We shall kill this Draugr champion and leave this wretched place post haste! Raaaaah!" Sif bellowed with a resounding war cry, leaping off the rooftop towards the Hulk. Sword first, she aimed to impale him from above. The Hulk, however, thwarted her attempt by swiftly reaching both arms backward before rocketing them forward, clapping them together with incredible force.
The shockwave from his super-powered clap slammed into Sif, sending the goddess flying backward into a nearby building. The brick and mortar crumbled quickly as she crashed through the walls.
"And that's why you don't charge an opponent much stronger than you from the front... Sif basically did the same against Grayfia as well. She needs to work on her tactics."
I sent my overcharged [Lightspear] toward the Hulk's head while he was occupied by the destruction he had just caused. He must have heard it whistling through the air, as right before it made contact, he ducked his head to the side. My spear mostly missed him, but I could still see a slight burn mark on his rotted cheek.
That was a good sign.
Undead were supposed to be weak against holy magic, right? I spent some more precious MP and conjured another spear that was just as potent. The Hulk now had all his attention on me.
That was good because Sif burst out of the rubble behind him. Her skin glowed orange, healing her injuries as she charged forward again. I flapped my wings hard, rocketing towards the Hulk from the other side.
The Hulk jumped over 100 feet in the air to escape our simultaneous attacks. Sif slammed her feet into the ground, and I spread my wings wide. We both stopped short to avoid crashing into each other. I heard some noise above us, and my eyes widened as the Hulk was falling back down right on top of us!
"Move!" I shouted.
Sif and I dove out of the way before the green zombie landed and pulverized the concrete below. It didn't give us a moment of reprieve before it lashed out again towards Sif. She threw her sword up in front of herself to block a powerful kick. I could hear the sound of metal straining before a loud snap! Sif's sword shattered, and she was sent flying a few blocks towards the nearby hordes of zombies.
The Hulk then spun around and tried to throw a punch at me. I met it head-on with my [Lightspear]! His rotten fist collided with my spear in a powerful clash, generating shockwaves all around us. I immediately felt my enhanced strength give way to his own, but I could also hear and see his hand sizzling where my spear made contact.
I could hear sounds of fighting in the distance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of regular zombies launched into the air. It seemed like Sif was fighting her way out of the massive horde the Hulk had sent her crashing into, but without her sword, it would take her longer.
That meant I'd be taking on the Hulk myself for now.
[Instant Quest Initiated!]
Kill or escape from the Zombie Hulk!
Reward - Level up for escaping and the Hulk Serum Formula for slaying the Hulk!
I had to quickly dismiss the prompt to dodge the Hulk trying to tackle me. His large frame attempted to grab me when I stabbed him right in the torso with my spear. There was more sizzling as it pierced all the way through and out his back!
Unfortunately for me, he didn't seem to even notice what should have been excruciating pain!
[zombies don't feel pain…]
"Dammit!" Was all I could shout before he grabbed me and slammed me hard into the ground. I felt the air immediately leave me with that one!
-500 HP!
And then he did it again and again. Before rapidly spinning me around and throwing me away!
-1000 HP
-700 HP!
I felt my body crash through a couple of buildings in a row before I finally came to a stop.
"…fucking ouch."
XXX
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