Harem Apocalypse: My Seed is the Cure?!-Chapter 241: Summer Time [8]

Seeing the Hybrid Infected crashing through the shattered door and entering the shop where Ivy had just dragged Summer, I felt my heart immediately seize in panic.

My right arm reacted instinctively before conscious thought could catch up—something dark green and organic erupted from beneath my skin, spreading across my entire arm like a second layer of living tissue. The transformation was accompanied by swirling wind that gathered around the arm with visible force.

I reached out immediately toward the remaining two Hybrid Infected that were rushing toward the shop entrance, acting purely on protective instinct before they could follow the first one inside and overwhelm Ivy and Summer.

A tremendous explosive sound of compressed air detonated from my extended arm a fraction of a second later, and a concentrated projectile of wind force shot forward with devastating velocity.

The attack struck the first Hybrid Infected—the pressurized wind blast blowing completely through its torso and carving a massive hole where vital organs should have been. The sheer force sent the creature’s ruined body flying backward into its companion, and both Infected shattered through the large display window of the shop in an explosion of glass and twisted metal framing.

I felt immediately dizzy and disoriented after unleashing that as always—the energy expenditure was significant, and using Dullahan’s more advanced capabilities always carried a physiological cost.

But at least I’d managed to eliminate those two threats before they could enter the shop.

I rushed forward without hesitation and jumped through the shattered window opening, landing inside the darkened shop interior with glass crunching under my boots.

"Ivy!" I called out loudly the moment I entered.

The interior was considerably darker than outside. I quickly grabbed my flashlight and activated it, sweeping the beam across shelves and displays.

"Summer! Ivy?!" I shouted again, rushing deeper into the building while frantically searching for any sign of them.

"We...we’re in here!"

Hearing Summer’s trembling voice coming from somewhere toward the back of the shop, I immediately turned my flashlight in that direction.

My beam caught a disturbing trail of dark blood leading toward what appeared to be a storage room or office space in the rear of the building.

Seeing that blood trail, I felt my stomach clench with dread before I forced myself to rush forward and follow it.

Getting through the doorway, I swept my flashlight across the small room and immediately spotted both Summer and Ivy standing there against the far wall.

The Hybrid Infected lay motionless on the ground between us.

"Are you both okay?" I asked urgently, approaching them while visually scanning for injuries.

Summer looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read, then glanced sideways at Ivy with what appeared to be profound confusion mixed with suspicion and concern.

I shifted my attention to Ivy, and my gaze immediately dropped to her right arm.

The white sleeve of her distinctive coat was thoroughly soaked with fresh blood—dark stains spreading across the fabric in patterns that suggested significant bleeding.

"No..." I muttered, immediately moving toward her and grasping her arm without asking permission.

I pulled up her bloodied sleeve with almost frantic movements, desperately checking for any bite marks on the exposed skin.

"Did it bite you?" I asked, looking directly into Ivy’s face while my hands continued examining her arm for wounds. "Just tell me honestly—did the Infected manage to bite you?"

Ivy didn’t respond to my question, maintaining her characteristic silence even in this crisis situation.

"Just tell me... please," I said as I pulled her sleeve up further toward her shoulder, exposing more skin to check for any signs of infection.

But there was nothing visible except blood coating her skin.

No bite marks. No torn flesh. No obvious wounds that would explain the volume of blood soaking her sleeve.

I had to check multiple times like an obsessive person, running my fingers carefully across every inch of exposed skin to make absolutely certain I wasn’t missing anything—because Ivy’s habitual silence meant I couldn’t rely on her verbal confirmation of her condition.

"You didn’t get bitten..." I finally exhaled in profound relief, releasing my grip on her arm.

"W...what?"

Next to me, Summer suddenly took a step forward and now she was the one grabbing Ivy’s arm and examining it with intense scrutiny, clearly not trusting my assessment.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused by her insistence on double-checking.

"I... I was absolutely certain she got bitten," Summer said, confused as she searched Ivy’s blood-covered skin for wounds. "I saw it happen right in front of me. The teeth broke skin, there was definitely blood drawn..."

"The long sleeves protected her from a direct bite," I said "The fabric created a barrier that prevented the teeth from fully penetrating. She got lucky."

"N...no, listen to me—that’s not what I saw," Summer insisted. "That Infected attacked us when we came in here, and she reached out her arm, and the creature bit down on it hard enough that I saw blood getting drawn from her flesh, like it was definitely her blood spurting out..."

She trailed off, clearly struggling to articulate what she’d witnessed.

"It was just the Infected’s blood from the kill," I said, cutting off her explanation. "Ivy’s fine. There’s no wound."

"No, you need to listen—" Summer tried again. "She killed that Infected somehow, and when it attacked her arm first, it definitely bit through and drew blood, and then suddenly something happened—"

"She’s fine, Summer," I interrupted more forcefully, my voice rising with a combination of lingering anxiety, exhaustion, and simple overwhelming relief that nothing wrong had actually occurred.

Maybe my tone was harsher than necessary, driven by the emotional aftermath of thinking Ivy might have been infected.

Summer looked at me with surprise at my sharp response, clearly taken aback by the intensity. But she chose not to continue arguing, though she maintained a deeply suspicious gaze directed at Ivy—who continued saying absolutely nothing in her own defense or explanation.

I turned my full attention to Ivy, my relief transforming rapidly into frustration and anger at her reckless behavior.

"Damn it, Ivy—what the hell were you doing out here wandering around completely alone?" I immediately started complaining. "I explicitly told you to stay with the main group where there’s safety in numbers. It’s incredibly dangerous to wander alone in unsecured territory like this. Do you actually understand that? Or do you genuinely have some kind of death wish I should know about?"

I gave her a stern, demanding gaze—waiting for acknowledgment or explanation.

She only stared back at me with her blank expression, offering no response whatsoever.

"Do you understand what I’m saying?" I repeated, looking directly into her eyes. "You seriously worried me here. When I saw that Infected go through the door after you, I thought... I thought something terrible had happened."

"What happened to you?" Ivy suddenly asked, completely ignoring my question and complaint.

I felt immediately frustrated that she was deflecting rather than addressing her dangerous solo excursion. But knowing Ivy’s communication patterns and priorities, I could only sigh in resignation.

She wasn’t going to engage with emotional concerns or safety lectures. That simply wasn’t how her mind worked.

"We encountered one of the Enhanced Hybrid Infected—the really dangerous variety," I explained, gesturing down at the dead creature on the floor. "Along with several others like the one here."

"What happened at the hotel," Ivy asked.

She was ignoring my explanation about the Infected entirely, focused on a completely different concern.

I looked up at her with surprise and confusion.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She remained silent for a long moment, just looking at me.

Then her gaze lowered, and without warning she reached out her hand toward my side.

"Whoa... what are you...!" I felt my face immediately flush with embarrassment as she suddenly slipped her hand beneath my shirt, her fingers pressing against my bare skin.

What the hell was she doing?!

"H...Hey?! You two can at least do that kind of thing somewhere else, or at minimum wait until we’re actually safe!" Summer protested loudly from behind me, turning her red face away.

"N...Nothing like that is happening here!" I quickly clarified.

This was just Ivy doing typical Ivy things!

"You’re injured," Ivy said ignoring both of us, her fingers apparently having found something during her examination. "Remove your shirt."

"Not right now—we need to get out of here and reach safety first," I said, pushing Ivy’s examining hand away from my torso.

Immediately after speaking, I heard a distinctive sound from outside the shop—not the aimless moaning of ordinary Infected, but a focused, aggressive growl that carried intentional menace.

I reached out my hand immediately toward both Summer and Ivy, gesturing firmly for them to stay back and remain in the relative safety of the storage room.

I exited quickly and moved back through the main shop area, my eyes immediately catching movement near the shattered storefront.

The Hybrid Infected I’d thrown aside earlier on the sandy beach—the one I’d hurled away rather than properly killing—had apparently recovered and followed us here. Now it was rushing through the broken window with renewed aggression, clearly still functional despite whatever damage my earlier attack had inflicted.

I pulled out the short combat knife I kept sheathed at the small of my back.

The Hybrid lunged at me with outstretched arms, but I moved to intercept it, catching the creature’s momentum and redirecting it slightly while simultaneously driving my knife deep into its skull.

I didn’t stop with a single thrust.

I stabbed downward repeatedly into the Hybrid’s head—three, four, five times in rapid succession, ensuring complete destruction of the brain tissue and viral core.

Blood spurted out with each of my violent thrusts, spraying across my hands and face, but I continued holding the thrashing creature strongly until it finally stopped moving entirely and went completely limp.

When the kill was definitively complete, I released my grip and let the corpse collapse to the floor.

I wiped the blood splatter from my lips with my sleeve—the metallic taste was disgusting but unavoidable—and stepped back from the body.

"You... you’re really fighting like an absolute psychopath, you know that?" Summer’s comment came from behind me.

"Did you want me to gently cuddle it and whisper sweet reassurances before stabbing it?" I asked, my expression twisting slightly with sarcasm. "Maybe sing it a lullaby?"

"Maybe?" She offered with uncertain humor.

When I groaned in exasperation at her response, she giggled.

Then she stepped past me toward the front of the shop, but stopped abruptly when she got a clear view of the damage.

"Wait, what the hell happened out here? I heard something incredibly loud exploding while we were in the back room..." She said, looking genuinely shocked at the shattered display window and the two Hybrid Infected corpses lying among the debris—both with massive holes blown completely through their torsos.

"They’re dead, and that’s the only thing that actually matters," I replied curtly, absolutely unwilling to explain the supernatural wind attack I’d used or provide any kind of coherent excuse for the impossible damage. "We’re all safe. That’s what counts."

I was frankly too exhausted—physically and mentally—to construct elaborate lies or deflections right now.

Stepping out of the shop first, I looked carefully around the immediate area for any signs of additional Hybrid threats or coordinated attacks.

Thankfully, only the standard slow-moving Infected seemed to be shambling around in the visible distance. The Enhanced variants and their coordinated hunting pack appeared to be genuinely eliminated.

It was over.

For today, at least. I desperately hoped we wouldn’t face anything else dangerous before getting everyone safely back.

"Can you make it back to your community on your own?" I asked Summer.

She only had to travel roughly two miles along relatively familiar territory, and she should definitely be capable of evading or outrunning ordinary Infected. But I wanted to confirm rather than assume, especially after everything she’d just survived.

"Y...Yeah, I’m fine," she nodded, though I noticed her grasping the straps of her shoulder bag quite tightly.

Well, after experiencing multiple near-death encounters and being hunted by Enhanced Infected who were running like in horror movies, I certainly didn’t expect her to be completely calm and collected. Some residual fear and adrenaline was completely normal and healthy.

"Everything’s going to be fine," I said. "And maybe don’t be too hasty about retrieving those bags of shoes we dropped earlier? Or at minimum, try to bring someone trustworthy and actually capable with you next time you attempt a supply run. Safety in numbers."

I couldn’t help myself from offering unsolicited advice, wanting to make certain she wouldn’t do anything similarly reckless in the future.

"I’m not a complete idiot," Summer said with a flat stare.

"I know you’re not," I replied with a slight shrug. "So—will you keep your promise about not revealing our settlement plans?"

"I won’t tell anyone that you’re all suspiciously wandering around clearing territory," she confirmed with a small smile.

"We aren’t doing anything remotely suspicious," I felt compelled to point out defensively. "We’re literally just finding a new home and making it safe. That’s completely legitimate survival activity."

"Sure, totally normal," she said with obvious amusement. "Anyway, thanks for everything."

She nodded at me and turned to leave, but stopped after just a few steps and looked back over her shoulder.

"Thank you... really, genuinely thank you for saving my life back there," she said. "I would have died multiple times today without your help."

"I sort of got you into that predicament in the first place, so don’t worry about it too much," I replied, feeling uncomfortable with her thanks.

I genuinely doubted that Enhanced Hybrid would have appeared if Summer had been alone. My presence and Dullahan’s energy signature had almost certainly drawn those creatures to our location.

"I really don’t think that’s true, but if you’re feeling guilty anyway, maybe you could retrieve those bags of shoes we dropped?" She asked with a mischievous grin. "Consider it penance for your imagined responsibility?"

"Who am I, your personal bodyguard and pack mule?" I asked her.

"I mean, you’re the one who just told me I should bring someone capable and trustworthy next time I go scavenging," she pointed out. "So I’m asking you directly. Aren’t you both capable and trustworthy?"

"Trustworthy already? We literally just met today," I said.

"I mean, after everything that happened today, I can definitely confirm you’re not affiliated with Callighan, and you’re clearly not a bad person either. A complete weirdo with boundary issues, maybe, but not evil."

"A weirdo who saved your life multiple times," I felt compelled to point out even though I didn’t like using that fact.

"Exactly—that’s why I’m keeping the ’trustworthy’ designation despite the weirdness," she said with a genuine smile before turning around again to leave.

I watched her walk away for a moment, then called out one final piece of advice.

"Wear long sleeves next time you go out."

"What are you, my boyfriend?" She retorted immediately, glancing back over her shoulder with a smile before continuing on her way.

I grumbled something incoherent under my breath, then turned my attention toward Ivy, who’d been standing silently nearby throughout the entire exchange.

"I need to go retrieve my hand axe from the beach where I threw it," I said. "You should head back and rejoin the others. They’re probably worried about where you disappeared to."

"You’re leaving me to walk back alone now," Ivy said from behind.

"Didn’t you come all the way out here completely alone for unknown reasons and apparently out of nowhere?" I retorted. "You clearly managed fine getting here by yourself."

"You’re feeling upset with me," Ivy said, staring at me.

"Of course I’m upset!" I said, my voice rising in anger. "You just disappeared without telling anyone where you were going or why! If any of those Enhanced Infected had come across you while you were alone and vulnerable, what would you have done? You could have been killed, and I wouldn’t have even known about it until someone found your body!"

I looked at her with worried and annoyance.

Ivy just looked at me silently, offering no response whatsoever.

I sighed heavily, recognizing the futility of expecting normal emotional reciprocity from her, then turned around and started walking toward the beach to recover my weapon.

Ivy simply followed along behind me in complete silence.