The Male Leads Are Trapped in My House

The monster, which had been rampaging wildly, seemed to grow weary under Ethan’s relentless assault and began retreating, step by cautious step.
Kuuu—

It let out a sorrowful wail and fled, casting glances back at them as if it couldn’t bear to leave entirely.
The creature’s strange behavior raised questions, but Ethan, visibly exhausted, collapsed where he stood and didn’t pursue it.
“This doesn’t feel right.”

Jose stood, following Harrison’s lead, his expression uneasy.
While the identity of the mutated monster remained a mystery, there was no way to investigate it further now. At least for the moment, the monster’s odd actions had spared Ethan’s life.
Had the fight continued, Ethan’s situation would undoubtedly have become dire.

Rather than chase after the creature, they chose to check on Ethan’s condition. His injuries, inflicted by numerous bites, appeared severe.
Emerging from the underbrush, Harrison and Jose hurried toward Ethan. As they approached, they heard him muttering to himself.
“She’s in the opposite direction, so it’s fine, fine…”

Head bowed, Ethan repeated the words until he suddenly cursed, raising his head.
“Damn it, it’s not fine! I need to—oh, shit.”
He froze mid-motion as he noticed Harrison and Jose, frowning at their sudden appearance.

Both men instinctively withdrew their hands, having reached out to help Ethan but hesitated after seeing the bite marks on his body.
Ethan immediately understood the meaning behind their actions. With a wry smile, he sheathed his bloodied sword.
“It’s been about an hour since I was bitten. Hah…”

Sighing, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket—a handkerchief embroidered with a cherry blossom design—and used it to wipe the blood from his hands.
“No point in making excuses this time. I was bitten too obviously, wasn’t I?”
“This time?”

Jose tilted his head in confusion at Ethan’s words, though Harrison seemed to understand.
Harrison examined Ethan’s wounds with a calm demeanor and spoke.
“If you don’t transform this time either, it will confirm the hypothesis that you’re immune to the virus.”
“Immune to the virus?!”

Jose’s shock was evident, but Ethan and Harrison showed no intention of elaborating further.
Ethan, his exhaustion clear, nodded slightly and pointed in the opposite direction from where the monster had fled.
“Cherry is that way. Let’s find Miss Cherry and that damn doctor first. We can talk after that.”

At Ethan’s words, Harrison tightened his grip on his crossbow, his expression tense.
“I don’t fully understand, but you’re right—priorities first. Let’s move.”
Jose, caught up in the momentum, raised his crossbow as well and followed them.

Standing together, they held a brief strategy meeting. Most of the plan came from Ethan, with Harrison offering minor adjustments and Jose adding a few ideas of his own.
“Let’s go,” Harrison said, concluding the discussion.
Following Ethan’s lead, the group moved quickly.

It wasn’t long before they came across people surrounded by monsters.
Piii—
As planned, Ethan blew his whistle, drawing the monsters’ attention toward himself.

Meanwhile, Jose and Harrison hid in the underbrush, covering Ethan as they searched for Cherry and Nox.
And then they saw it—
A woman perched on the head of a giant octopus, furiously hacking away at its skull with an axe.

*****
After the giant octopus was defeated, Ethan found us.
We were surrounded by monsters, and Ethan began slaughtering them with merciless efficiency.

Kellyan, injured and limping, was supported by Nox and the woman from Hondorf. I stood with my axe, scanning the surroundings for threats.
Ethan was unrelenting. The word massacre barely captured the ferocity of his actions.
He sacrificed his own body without hesitation, allowing the monsters to tear into him as he decapitated them one by one.

The aura emanating from Ethan was terrifyingly predatory, an unapproachable force of raw violence.
With each swing of his blade, monster flesh and bone were severed, and green blood sprayed into the air in an endless cascade.
Ethan’s movements were like the roar of an enraged beast—sharp, precise, and without the slightest hesitation or wasted effort.

The oppressive weight of his presence, the sheer brutality of his strength, was suffocating.
His icy blue eyes, shining with manic intensity, seemed to freeze the air around him.
“He’s insane…”

Kellyan, watching Ethan’s massacre in a daze, murmured in disbelief.
The more monsters Ethan killed, the more his own condition deteriorated. His appearance was rapidly becoming a gruesome mess.
It was a horrifying sight. The woman from Hondorf, still supporting Kellyan, couldn’t hold back and vomited.

“Is that really Ethan Duncan Lancaster?” Kellyan asked me, his voice laced with disbelief, repeating the question as if trying to convince himself.
“Yes, that’s Ethan Duncan Lancaster,” Nox answered in my stead, his voice steady despite the chaos.
Kellyan’s face twisted in panic, and he demanded, “If he’s infected, shouldn’t we run away from him? All of us, right now!”

Run away? From Ethan?
I hadn’t expected such a reaction from Kellyan. Did he not know that Ethan might carry antibodies? If he did, he wouldn’t have said such a thing.
“Or maybe…”

Perhaps Kellyan wasn’t involved with those who had tried to kidnap Ethan. Maybe he really was just a loyal knight.
We could figure that out back at Happy House—with a little interrogation.
“If you want to run, go ahead. But I’m not leaving Sir Ethan behind,” I said with a grin.

Kellyan fell silent for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders as if nothing had happened, his composure returning.
“It was just a joke. I’ll follow you no matter what, Lady. Just don’t leave me behind in this monster-infested hellhole.”
At that moment, Ethan, drenched in blood, turned toward me.

The metallic tang of iron hung thick in the air, and the scent of death clung to him. Wiping the blood dripping down his forehead with the back of his hand, he spoke.
“Miss Cherry, we’re close to Happy House now. We should keep moving. I’ll cover the rear; you take the lead.”
“Sir Ethan.”

My voice trembled as I called his name, my throat tightening with emotion. I furrowed my brow and cleared my throat to steady myself.
Sensing my state, Ethan responded firmly.
“Save the scolding for when we get to Happy House. For now, hold it in.”

“I’m not scolding you. I’m worried about you. Why would I scold you for anything?”
Hearing my reply, Nox, who had been gripping his dagger tightly, finally spoke.
“...She’s right. None of us did anything wrong. Let’s just focus on surviving.”

He seemed to have come to a realization, his words a resolute declaration.
Nox was right. The fault wasn’t ours—it lay with the mutated monster that had dragged Nox into this mess.
It was the fault of this apocalyptic world, the horrific virus monsters, the alchemists who created the virus, and the Marquis of Casey, who had funded them.

The blame was out there, not with us.
The self-reproachful Nox who had once begged me to abandon him in case of trouble no longer existed.
“Yeah, what did we do wrong?”

Ethan glanced at Nox while gripping his sword. He casually patted Nox’s arm and said, “Don’t worry too much. Maybe I really am immune.”
Then, raising his sword again, Ethan assumed a defensive stance as several remaining monsters approached. With a powerful swing—
Srrrch—

Screeech!
The monsters were cut down mercilessly.
As I watched Ethan’s ferocity, I let my guard down for a moment. That’s when a monster suddenly ambushed us from behind.

I grabbed my axe to strike it, but an arrow flew from somewhere before I could react.
Thwip—Thud!
The arrow pierced the monster’s head with precision.

Startled, I looked around to find the source, and Ethan, catching his breath, pointed toward the underbrush.
“Jose and the lawyer are covering us.”
Hearing that Jose and Harrison were providing support was an immense relief. I nodded, gripped my axe, and took the lead.

Ethan called out to me with a smirk.
“And I’m counting on you, Miss Cherry, to tear all these damn monsters apart.”
“Tear them apart? I’m chopping them,” I retorted, striking a lunging monster with my axe.

“Tearing, chopping—either way, you’re one step closer to becoming the ‘Monster Janitor of the Apocalypse’ you dreamed of.”
Ugh. Even in this chaos, he managed to crack a joke.
He remembered the nonsense I’d spouted at the police station about being a “janitor cleaning up monsters in the apocalypse.” Unbelievable.

Still, his humor lightened the mood.
Thanks to Ethan’s earlier rampage, there weren’t many monsters left to deal with, just one or two stragglers.
“Looks like most of the monsters from Kint made their way here.”

The Brunel monsters were mostly dealt with already, and the village’s population hadn’t been large to begin with. These creatures must have come from Kint or perhaps even as far as Hondorf.
Thack. Thack.
I struck the shell of a massive beetle-like insect monster, its pincers snapping toward me.

Crunch.
Ugh. Even the sound was disgusting.
As I pulled my axe free, a wolf-like monster lunged at me. I prepared to swing my axe, but once again, an arrow flew out of the underbrush, piercing its head before I could act.

“Nice!”
I turned toward the source of the arrow and spotted familiar faces—Harrison and Jose, moving separately through the underbrush, continuing to provide cover.
Thanks to them, we were able to push forward with relative ease. The number of monsters had significantly dwindled by now.

Finally, Happy House came into view. However, the problem was the condition of Ethan and Kellyan—they were in rough shape.
Deciding there was no need for long-range support anymore, Harrison and Jose emerged from the underbrush to join us.
Together, we continued to take down the remaining monsters with crossbows and axes.

“We’re almost there! Hang in there!” Nox shouted, encouraging the exhausted group as we ran.
Everyone was giving their all, fulfilling their roles perfectly.
Looking at them, I felt a surge of confidence. With this group, it seemed like nothing was impossible.

In the distance, someone was sitting on the roof of Happy House, watching us. It looked like Susanna.
I waved my arms toward her, and she disappeared below the roof.
“Susanna will open the gate!”

As we approached the stone gate, the remaining members of Happy House worked together to open it for us.
“Hurry, get inside!” Susanna called out.
Once we were inside, the heavy gate closed behind us.

I collapsed in front of the sealed gate, wiping the sweat from my brow and gasping for breath.
“We made it.”
The members of Happy House, unaware of what had happened, were shocked to see the new faces we’d brought.

Their reactions escalated when they saw the state we were in—and Ethan, drenched in blood, looking like a ghost.
But in the end, we had returned safely to Happy House.