[Your Swordplay skill has gone up a level! Please stop, you're scaring me!]

With Grant steadily cutting down the zombie horde like grass and the town archers picking off the skeletons from above, the tide of battle was clear. There was only one hold up: the six golems, who the guard soldiers were struggling against. Grogmerry shouted out an order to the cannoneers as he and Li struggled to keep one of the golems in place, jabbing at the monster.

"Fire!"

"You're too close, sir!" one of the cannoneers shouted out as the other loaded the weapon. "We might hit you!"

"Just do it!" he cried, pushing the golem back with his axe.

The cannon shot rang out, the heavy iron projectile blasting down the golem. Splinters of rock flew everywhere as Li and Grogmerry dove away from the explosion.

"Great." said Li, climbing back to her feet and brushing stony dust off of her armor. "We just need to do that... five more times."

On the other side of the battlefield, Grant chopped down the last zombie around him, slicing it in half down the middle. Breathing heavy, he spun around in a daze.

"Jesus Christ..." he looked at the eviscerated bodies around him in awe, then at the blood and guts that covered his clothing. "What have I done?"

Oh, he was perfectly fine with killing zombies. That didn't affect him at all. But he had abandoned his principles... Gigi was right. He was getting into the isekai!

Before Grant's internal monologue could continue, an arrow whizzed past his ear. His eyes shot to the direction it came from, expecting to find a skeleton archer - but no, they had all been put down. From on top of the wall, the town guards were firing on him again.

"Oh, come on!" he ducked down and ran for cover. "Fucking assholes!"

Back to Li and Grogmerry. Another cannon shot, another golem put down. By now most of the archers on the wall had discarded their bows and crossbows and were headed down to help with the effort against the stone monsters. With four men on a cannon instead of three, the reloading process was much faster. Two more golems were defeated, one taking two cannonballs before it gave in.

Climbing the grassy hill that overlooked the town, Grant was ready to make a break for it once more. But then, he turned around and saw another platoon of zombies rounding the corner of the village wall. Keeping their moans to a minimum, they were about to get the jump on the militia, who had entirely dropped their guard as they fought the golems. From the looks of it, these zombies were much more well equipped than the others.

For a second, Grant considered just letting the massacre happen. After all, they had tried to shoot him up with bows and cannons - and some still were trying to shoot him. But it was still wrong to just let them get torn apart... plus, maybe they'd let him in the village if he saved them all. Sighing, he gripped his sword tighter and ran for the militia. Arrows flew at him, but he didn't stop his charge, shouting as loud as he could.

"Watch out! More zombies!"

Just as the militia finished up on the last golems, the zombie horde took them by storm. Grant just barely made it in time, taking down swathes of zombies with his golden sword. The soldiers were less lucky: five men were torn apart and converted. Others ran inside the gate, even as Grogmerry demanded they stay and fight.

"General!" Li struggled against five zombies at once, who had all ganged up on her. She managed to push three away with the length of her spear, stabbing the others. "The golems are down, there's no risk to the walls! We need to retreat!"

"Fine!" Grogmerry shouted, bashing away one of his zombified men. "Fine! Get back on the wall and grab a bow, then shoot them all in the heads!"

As the other men pulled back, Li moved to join them - but then a zombie grabbed her by the arm and yanked her over. Three more dogpiled on her, rotten yellow teeth gnashing for flesh as they crashed to the ground. Luckily they were getting in the way of each other, giving Li an opening to fight back.

"N-no!" the young soldier struggled as hard as she could, trying to throw them off. But they were just too heavy... wrestling passed the others, one pinned her down and was prepared to take a big bite out of her neck.

Suddenly, all the zombies went limp, their heads bouncing across the ground. One sword swing had claimed all three.

"Th-thank you!" the woman cried, pushing the three corpses off of her with a groan. When she saw it was Grant who had saved her, she froze - but then took his hand, letting him help her to his feet. "You saved me!"

"Yeah, don't mention it." he said casually, turning around to stab another zombie through the throat. As he did, an arrow shot down and hit him right in the shoulder, piercing through flesh. "Oh, fuck!"

Two more landed on his back, the first hitting him again in the shoulder, the second between his shoulderblades. Crying out in pain, Grant doubled over and dropped his sword, which went back to its original cracked state as it hit the ground.

Li looked up to the archers, then back at Grant. Soldiers were still fleeing in through the gates, which were beginning to close shut - she could hear the heavy gears begin to turn. In the commotion, no one noticed as she threw Grant's arm over her shoulder and dragged him inside with her...