At Greenridge base, the air shook with the relentless boom of gunfire, as nearly all armed forces mobilized for a decisive clash against the zombie horde outside. Weak Awakened and ordinary survivors clutched rifles, their bullets weaving a deadly storm that cut down zombies like harvested crops.
The horde included evolved variants—swift phantom zombies, hulking tyrant zombies, and others with strange abilities. Yet Greenridge's Awakened fighters, backed by cannons and guns, matched them, steadily pushing the battle line into the zombie ranks.
Greenridge acted swiftly after the fourteen councilors finalized their strategy. After two weeks of preparation, they launched a full-scale assault on the horde, leveraging human tactics to counter the zombies' numerical advantage.
As the battle peaked and dusk fell, a four-person team—Alex, Claire, Lightning, and Lily—raced toward Ashen City's heart, moving like shadows. Alex's Shave technique granted him exceptional speed, bolstered by his past victory over a third-level zombie beast, making him ideal for the strike team.
Claire kept pace, her Sunflower Manual training lending her agile footwork, with faint sparks of electricity flickering on her. Lightning, a third-level Awakened, used electric bursts for speed and strength, her ties to Ethan noted by Alex. Lily, a second-level Awakened, joined despite her youth, her wind and snow powers ensuring self-protection.
"Is it safe to bring a kid?" Lightning asked, glancing at Lily while running.
"She can handle herself," Alex replied, nodding to Claire, who agreed. Lily's 80 crystal points and snow-snow fruit made her nearly as strong as Claire.
A dark mist cloaked the team, hiding them from zombies. With most undead drawn to the battlefield, Ashen City was empty, and they reached Silverlight Tower after dispatching a few stragglers.
"This feels too smooth," Claire said, frowning at the tower's entrance.
"The battlefield's got the leader-type's attention," Lightning whispered. "We slipped in unnoticed. Isn't that good?"
Alex nodded. "We're here. Let's go in."
The four entered Silverlight Tower cautiously, the air thick with decay. Suddenly, a massive fist, wide as a basin, swung from the shadows.
Block!
Claire raised her spear, deflecting the blow, then kicked out, sending a three-meter-tall zombie crashing back, its bulk toppling like a felled tree.
Roars erupted, and dozens of zombies emerged from the darkness. A translucent energy barrier sealed the entrance behind them, cutting off their retreat.
"Trap!" Alex's face darkened as he met his teammates' grim looks. The leader-type had lured them here, setting a cunning ambush.
"Did it leak its location on purpose?" Claire gasped, horror dawning. The leader-type's intelligence was terrifying, far beyond any zombie they'd faced.
From the shadows of Silverlight Tower, zombies of grotesque and varied forms emerged, each a chilling testament to their unnatural evolution.
A towering three-meter-tall tyrant zombie, its arms swollen with muscle, loomed menacingly, its third-level strength evident in its hulking frame.
Another, a lean phantom zombie, skittered forward, its long bone tail tipped with a barbed spike that gleamed faintly in the dim light, marking it as a third-level threat.
A third zombie, its head grotesquely oversized like a water tank, waddled awkwardly, its bizarre appearance belying its dangerous potential.
The team's attempts to breach the translucent barrier sealing their retreat proved futile, its surface unyielding despite their combined efforts, confirming that escape was impossible for now.
Alex shifted his focus to the approaching horde, his grip tightening on the Peerless Sword as he scanned the enemy with a crystal measuring device.
His heart sank—twenty to thirty zombies, mostly second-level, but four or five boasted third-level power, a formidable force that dwarfed their small team.
The memory of a single second-level phantom zombie annihilating an entire survival team in a mall flashed through Alex's mind, underscoring the gravity of their situation. His eyes narrowed, the Peerless Sword held ready, his stance poised for action as he braced for the inevitable clash.
Yet the zombies held back, their roars echoing but their movements restrained, as if bound by an unseen command. Alex realized the leader-type zombie's intelligence was at play, suppressing their instincts to swarm, a chilling display of control that heightened the team's tension.
Tap, tap, tap…
Footsteps echoed through the tower's dim interior, deliberate and unhurried, cutting through the zombies' growls. As the sound grew closer, the undead fell silent, their roars fading into an eerie stillness that sent a shiver down Alex's spine.
A figure emerged from the darkness, and the team finally beheld the leader-type zombie. She appeared as a woman in her thirties, clad in a tattered black evening dress that clung to her form, her appearance meticulously groomed, almost human in its elegance. But her pallid, zombie-like skin and piercing, intelligent eyes betrayed her true nature, their lively gleam a stark contrast to the instinct-driven gazes of her minions.
The zombie leader's gaze swept over the team, lingering briefly before settling on Lily, her small stature drawing the creature's attention.
Lily shrank back, her fingers clutching Alex's shirt tightly, fear flickering in her wide eyes as she hid behind him.
Sensing her terror, Alex stepped protectively in front of Lily, his Peerless Sword raised across his chest, its blade glinting with lethal intent as he locked eyes with the zombie leader, his expression a mask of focused determination.
Shave!
Seizing the moment, Alex surged forward, his Shave technique propelling him toward the leader-type zombie in a blur of motion, faster than the eye could follow. The Peerless Sword arced through the air, its ink-black blade infused with Armament Haki, aimed at the zombie's head in a strike meant to end the horde's reign in a single blow.
This was his chance—if he could slay the leader now, the zombie frenzy would collapse, saving Greenridge. But as swift as Alex was, the zombies were faster. A translucent barrier, like a sheet of unbreakable glass, materialized before the leader, halting the Peerless Sword mid-strike, its sharp edge unable to pierce the shimmering defense.
Roar!
Alex's attack provoked a furious response from the leader-type zombie. Despite her feminine appearance, she opened her mouth, unleashing a piercing, inhuman roar that echoed through the tower, her intelligent eyes flashing with rage as she glared at the team, her minions stirring restlessly at her command.
As if responding to a silent command, the zombies surrounding Alex's team sprang into action, their roars filling the air as twenty to thirty second- and third-level evolved undead charged forward with terrifying ferocity. Their sheer numbers and enhanced abilities made them a formidable force, each one a lethal threat in the confined space of Silverlight Tower.
Hualala…
At that moment, Lily's powers surged to life, her small frame radiating an icy aura as she unleashed a blizzard within the tower's dim interior. Swirling gusts of snow and biting cold swept toward the zombies, coating their decayed forms in glistening ice crystals, slowing their relentless advance with a chilling group deceleration effect that hampered even the swiftest among them.
"The snow-snow fruit's power is incredible," Alex thought, nodding approvingly as he watched Lily's blizzard hinder the horde. "It's practically built for crowd control."
Seizing the opportunity, he activated Shave, his body blurring as he closed the distance to a second-level zombie in an instant. The Peerless Sword traced a precise arc, its blade severing the zombie's head with a single, fluid strike, the creature collapsing lifelessly.
Once a nightmare to Alex at his own second-level days, these zombies now fell like ants before his third-level strength, their threat diminished by his honed skills and lethal precision.
A third-level phantom zombie, its movements ghostly and swift, lunged at Alex, its razor-sharp claws slashing toward his chest.
Ding!
Alex raised his palm, blocking the claws with a metallic clang, his Armament Haki hardening his skin. Simultaneously, a sharp whistle of air signaled the phantom zombie's barbed bone tail whipping toward his back.
Another clash rang out as the tail struck, but Alex's back, darkened by Armament Haki, repelled the attack, his torn shirt revealing the unyielding defense beneath. With a deft twist of his wrist, the Peerless Sword flashed, slicing through the phantom zombie's claws, dark blood spraying as the creature recoiled.
With masterful swordsmanship, Armament Haki enhancing both offense and defense, the Peerless Sword's unmatched sharpness, and Shave's blinding speed, Alex fought like a versatile warrior, untouchable in the fray. In moments, he dispatched four or five zombies, including the third-level phantom, their headless forms littering the floor.
Boom, boom, boom!
Heavy footsteps thundered as the massive third-level tyrant zombie charged toward Lily, its enormous palm reaching to crush her small frame.
Hualala…
Lily's body dissolved into a swirl of wind and snow, slipping from the tyrant's grasp like a fleeting gust, her snow-snow fruit's elemental form rendering her immune to physical attacks without Armament Haki. The tyrant's hand closed on empty air, its roar of frustration echoing through the tower.
"So strong…" Lightning muttered, her eyes wide as she dodged zombie attacks with her electric-enhanced speed, struggling to keep up. Alex's dominance reminded her of Ethan's power, a rare caliber among third-level Awakened.
Claire, wielding her spear with deadly grace, held her own, her block and kick skills—near-law-defying in their precision—allowing her to fend off multiple zombies at once, her movements a seamless dance of offense and defense.
What stunned Lightning most was Lily, the girl she'd dismissed as a liability. Her blizzard wielded mage-like power, and her ability to transform into wind and snow made her untouchable, defying the zombies' relentless assaults.
"I, I seem to be a burden?" Lightning realized, her confidence shaken as she noticed her own precarious position, dodging attacks with less ease than her teammates. As a third-level Awakened, the idea of being a burden was unthinkable, a bitter pill she struggled to swallow.
Distracted by her thoughts, Lightning failed to notice a hulking figure looming behind her. The third-level tyrant zombie raised a fist as large as a water tank, its shadow falling over her as it swung down with bone-crushing force.
"Oh no!" Lightning spun, her face paling with horror as the massive fist descended, despair flooding her eyes as she braced for the impact.