The fight was becoming increasingly difficult as wounds appeared on Saeko's body, she was at a complete disadvantage here having to face two mutants while protecting Shizuka. Her labored breathing reflected how much effort she had put into resisting so far.
"Saeko-chan..." said Shizuka, concerned about the young woman's condition.
Saeko had her full attention on the two monsters and ended up not listening to Shizuka. The mutants' bodies also showed a few wounds here and there, but compared to the girl they were in better condition. The two of them began to surround the girl once again, the strategy always being to attack her while attacking the nurse at the same time, so they could get openings to hurt the swordswoman.
Having suffered these attacks so many times, Saeko had already prepared to counterattack them. The more animalistic creature leapt towards the young woman while the other used its long arms to strike Shizuka. Using her wooden sword, Saeko managed to break one of the creature's arms and with a kick deflected the other arm away from the blonde. Unfortunately, this move left her back exposed to the attack of the mutant who had leapt towards her.
The girl gritted her teeth to endure the pain that would come when the claw tore through her back. With a desperate move and with luck on her side, Shizuka hit the zombie straight up in the air with her medicine bag. The creature crashed into one of the many cupboards in the corridor, giving Saeko time to advance on it and land a clean blow to its head, but just as she did so, an arm hit her leg, affecting her balance and the blow that was supposed to crush the creature's skull ended up hitting its ribs.
"Tsk, you damned monster!" exclaimed Saeko angrily, having missed her chance to turn the tide for good.
The two zombies gathered on one side of the corridor and prepared to launch their final attack, both sides were on their last strongs and couldn't let the battle drag on.
"Mrs. Marikawa, this is your chance to escape while I hold them here."
"I won't let you die to save me!" shouted Shizuka with tears in her eyes.
Following the same attack pattern, the animal-like creature leapt at the two women while the other attacked with its remaining arm. Saeko couldn't cope with the two attacks with an injured leg, so she could only look on anxiously.
Just as the zombie was about to reach the two women, the window next to them shattered and the figure of a young man appeared from it, still with the momentum that went through the window he kicked the Zombie throwing him into a doorway that led into an empty room, the sound of chairs breaking on impact could be heard. Seizing her chance, Saeko smashed the arm coming towards her.
The young man ran like lightning, reducing the distance between him and the long-armed creature, he looked like a beast attacking its prey. His body spun, increasing the force of the impact of his staff and so he brutally struck the creature's head, which didn't even have time to react, blood splattering on the wall along with brain matter.
Walking over to the girls, the young man had a relieved smile on his face. Before he could say anything, a claw approached his head from the side with a quick, fatal blow. Without looking at the blow, the boy took half a step back and turned his face so that only his cheek was hit. Blood dripped from his cut face as he looked at the wounded zombie who had desperately tried to kill his attacker. With no chance of escape, the boy kicked the creature's head, smashing it against the wall, creating a crack at the site of the impact and spreading blood everywhere.
Sighing, he smiled at the two women and said:
"Sorry I'm late, are you all right?"
¤¤¤
When I arrived at the infirmary and saw the place full of bodies and blood, I realized that Saeko had already saved Shizuka Marikawa, and I sped up to try to catch up with them, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Then, during my search, I saw Saeko through the window facing two strange creatures on the other side of the building one floor below me. There was no time for me to run back to the stairwell, so I had to improvise. I grabbed the emergency hose up ahead, broke the window and jumped to get there faster via a shortcut.
When I got there, my body reacted by instinct while my mind focused on how to destroy these two zombies without putting them at risk. After killing the two mutants, I looked relieved at Saeko and Shizuka.
"Sorry I'm late, are you all right?" I asked worriedly.
"You arrived just in time, thank you," Saeko thanked me with a pained expression.
She wasn't well at all and looked like she might collapse at any moment. I approached her and noticed the wounds on her body and leg. I attached my staff to my belt and took the sword from her hand. She looked at me anxiously, fearing what I wanted by disarming her.
"You can rest, I'll take care of things for now," I said, helping her to the empty room I had thrown the zombie into earlier.
"Sit her on a chair, I'm going to examine her wounds," Shizuka asked, placing the bag on the table and opening it.
"It can't be!" exclaimed the blonde in disbelief.
"What happened?"
"The medicines, they... they're broken, only the bandages are usable," replied the desperate doctor.
"Shit..." I said, trying to think of an alternative.
"Can the claws infect someone?"
[System]: It depends on the depth of the wound, Eli-sama. In her case, they're very deep wounds...
"If I regulate the aggressive energy invading your body and heal your wounds, can I reverse the infection?"
The cause of the Apocalypse in this world is now due to the disturbance of a strange energy, that was the second thing I changed in the story, the addition of mana to this world.
[System]: It's a possibility.
Without another word, I bought another Lower Healing Potion.
"Drink this, it'll help with your injuries," I said, handing the flask to Saeko.
She, for her part, seemed to be suffering from the mana disturbance in her body and couldn't take the bottle. I supported her body on mine and lifted her chin a little to make it easier for her to drink the potion.
"I apologize in advance."
I put the vial in her mouth and helped her drink, while using my still enhanced senses to feel the mana in her body, the infected mana was gradually seeping through the wounds. Injecting my own mana into her body, I began to push the infected mana out. Saeko let out a groan of pain and contracted, I needed to be in physical contact with her to inject mana into her body, to prevent her from moving too far during the process I hugged her. Because of the pain, she dug her nails into my arm as she squirmed even more.
"What do you think you're doing with a wounded person?" asked Shizuka angrily as she approached.
"I'm saving her life, doctor," I replied with my eyes closed as sweat dripped down my forehead.
After expelling all the infected mana, I sighed with relief, but Saeko's expression didn't seem to improve, as I was still hugging her I could feel her own mana becoming chaotic.
[System]: Careful master, that chaotic mana will kill her.
"Damn it!" I muttered before closing my eyes again.
The pain seemed intense, Saeko was gritting her teeth as she felt her body burning and being corroded from the inside, in an attempt to relieve the pain she grabbed and bit the first thing she felt in front of her.
Now her nails were digging into my back and she was biting my shoulder, but I didn't complain as the pain was helping me not to lose focus. I began to use my mana that was inside her body to contain her chaotic mana and control it. After what seemed like hours, I finally managed to stabilize Saeko and get her out of danger. As if to confirm my success, the young woman was currently resting on my lap while resting her head on my shoulder.
"Did you make it?" asked Shizuka, worried and confused by the whole scene.
"Yes, but now I need your treatments, doctor," I replied with a tired smile, it had taken a lot of mental energy.
"How long has it been?" I asked.
"Just a few minutes," replied the woman, reaching for her bag again.
Before she could reach the bag, she tripped and fell on her butt, letting out a cute little scream. She looked at me, her face red with embarrassment, and stood up with a little difficulty because of her tight skirt.
"These clothes of yours aren't suitable for running," I commented.
"I don't have any other clothes," said the woman, still embarrassed.
"That's easy to sort out.
I left Saeko leaning against the wall in a comfortable position and got up to go to the blonde. When she saw me more closely, she noticed the blood on my clothes in the shoulder area and also the cut on my cheek, which was still open.
"What's your solution?" asked the blonde curiously.
"Adaptation," I replied before bending down and tearing the side of her skirt, revealing her white thigh and even a bit of her underwear.
"I used too much force, I'm sorry," I commented when I saw that her skirt had almost been ripped completely off.
"What do you think you're doing?! Those were designer clothes, you know!" complained the blonde indignantly.
"Your clothes or your life, take your pick."
"Both! I choose both!"
Perhaps because of the shouting, Saeko began to open her eyes with difficulty. The moment she saw me, her face blushed a little and she looked away. I just smiled at her, relieved to see her well. Shizuka began to treat the wound on my face while still complaining about her torn skirt.
"I'm Saeko Busujima, a 2nd year student and captain of the kendo team. What's your name?" asked Saeko, approaching us.
"Elijah Reed, transfer student. Nice to meet you Busujima-senpai."
"Just call me Saeko, Reed-kun."
"Just call me Elijah or Eli, Saeko-senpai," I said with a smile.
"All right, Elijah-kun," said Saeko with a smile on her face.
"What a wonderful woman," I thought, watching her smile. At the moment I think she's quite curious about me and my abilities, after all, something rather unusual happened between us a few minutes ago.
"I'd like to make a request, Elijah-Kun."
I looked at her, signaling her to continue.
"Can we get together to escape from this place?"
I smiled at her and replied:
"Count on me for whatever you need."