Shave!
Alex spotted the danger threatening Lightning, her form dwarfed by the tyrant zombie's massive fist, and reacted instantly, his body blurring as he activated Shave to appear behind her in a flash. Raising the Peerless Sword across his chest, he silently invoked his Block skill, bracing for the impact.
Bang!
The tyrant's fist, as large as a basin, collided with the slender Peerless Sword, the force reverberating through Alex's arms. Yet, with the Block skill active, the blade held firm, deflecting the crushing blow and sparing Lightning from certain death.
Lightning turned, her eyes wide with surprise and gratitude as she realized Alex had risked himself to save her, his swift intervention defying her expectations of their uneasy alliance.
But before she could voice her thanks, a sharp, wooden spike erupted from the ground beneath her feet, piercing her body like a skewer in a sudden, brutal strike.
"What!?" Alex's eyes widened in shock, his breath catching as Lightning, a third-level Awakened, collapsed lifelessly, impaled by the unexpected attack.
The strike had come without warning, too swift for even Alex to react. A chilling thought struck him—if the spike had targeted him, could he have dodged it?
The ground split apart, revealing a grotesque zombie emerging from the earth, its arm morphed into a gnarled, branch-like appendage that held Lightning's lifeless body aloft. Her face, frozen in astonishment, betrayed the fleeting hope of survival she'd felt moments before, now extinguished in an instant.
With a eerie grin, the zombie's branch-arm constricted, Lightning's body shriveling as if drained, before retracting slowly into its form, the creature letting out a grotesque burp. Its appearance was bizarre, a small tuft of grass sprouting from its head, marking it as a plant-evolved zombie with deadly, unpredictable abilities.
Alex's face darkened, his expression as heavy as a storm cloud, the weight of Lightning's death anchoring his resolve. His earlier momentum, having cut down several zombies with ease, now felt like a fleeting triumph doused by this brutal reminder of their peril.
The unpredictability of evolved abilities—whether in Awakened or zombies—made every encounter a gamble. Even with higher crystal points, a strange or countering ability could spell doom, a lesson Lightning's death drove home with merciless clarity.
Whoosh…
As if sensing weakness, several zombies converged on Claire, their movements coordinated with unnatural precision. The plant-evolved zombie sank back into the ground, its grassy tuft vanishing, poised to strike again from hiding.
"These zombies lack intelligence, but the leader-type doesn't," Alex realized, his heart racing as he saw the focus shift to Claire. The leader-type was orchestrating the assault, targeting her deliberately.
Slicing through another second-level zombie's neck with a swift stroke of the Peerless Sword, Alex moved to intercept, positioning himself between Claire and the oncoming horde.
A third-level tyrant zombie's fist swung toward him, its force overwhelming. The Peerless Sword flew from his grasp, clattering across the floor, leaving Alex momentarily disarmed.
Roar!
The tyrant bellowed, raising its fist again, aiming to crush Alex where he stood.
"Think I'm scared of a strength contest!?" Alex shouted, undaunted. Though his sword was gone, he clenched his fist, wrapping it in Armament Haki's dark sheen, and met the tyrant's blow head-on, his resolve burning fiercely in the face of the towering undead.
Alex's crystal points rivaled the tyrant zombie's, and his physique, tempered by rigorous training, far surpassed that of an ordinary human. Though the creature's massive size dwarfed him, Alex's Armament Haki-clad fist met the tyrant's blow with unyielding force, sending him staggering back only a few steps, his stance unbroken.
Swish!
The plant-evolved zombie struck again, its branch-like tendrils erupting from the ground beneath Alex and Claire, their sharp tips lunging for their legs. Forewarned by Lightning's fate, both were ready—Alex vanished in a blur of Shave, while Claire's Sunflower Manual lightfoot technique carried her clear of the attack, her movements graceful yet precise.
The leader-type zombie, her intelligent eyes glinting with malice, directed the remaining dozen zombies to focus their assault on Alex and Claire, her control evident in their coordinated strikes. Her attention, however, was so fixed on them that she failed to notice the Peerless Sword, knocked away earlier, now silently gliding across the floor toward her.
With a sudden leap, the sword sprang upward, its blade slicing through the air toward the leader-type zombie's neck.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed as the zombie reacted swiftly, twisting away, but not fast enough—the Peerless Sword cleaved through her shoulder, severing her arm in a gush of dark ichor.
Roar, roar, roar!
The leader-type's pained scream triggered a frenzy among the zombies, their cries echoing wildly within Silverlight Tower. Beyond the tower, in the fields outside Ashen City, the horde erupted in synchronized roars, some breaking ranks to surge back toward the city's heart.
"What's happening? Did the strike team succeed?" Ethan, battling alongside Greenridge's forces, muttered, stunned by the zombies' sudden shift. He shook his head, dismissing the thought—if the leader-type were dead, the horde would collapse into chaos, not retreat with such eerie order.
Inside the tower, a dire crisis unfolded. Alex's team seized the moment as the leader-type's injury weakened the barrier protecting her, using it as a shield to escape Silverlight Tower. But outside, a terrifying sight greeted them—a tidal wave of zombies flooding back, joined by screeching zombie birds and beasts swooping from the sky, while evolved zombies pursued from behind, forming a deadly net.
Alex's face hardened, his mind racing as he assessed their dire situation. "Lily, Claire, go now—I'll create an opening!" he said after a tense pause, knowing that fleeing together would doom them all. Dispersing was their only chance.
Lily's grip tightened on Alex's shirt, her eyes brimming with reluctance, her silence louder than words. Claire's face twisted with fury as she grabbed Alex's collar, her voice fierce. "What are you saying? If anyone's leaving, it's you and Lily! You played bait once before and saved me. If it comes to it today, I'll be the one to stay!"
"I've got a plan!" Alex snapped, urgency cutting through his words. With no time to explain, he activated his invisibility ability, his form fading before Claire's eyes, leaving only a faint ripple in the air.
"This… what!?" Claire stammered, her anger giving way to shock as Alex vanished completely. Was this his third-level awakening ability? The contrast between his earlier skills and this new power was staggering.
"Lily, trust me—I'll make a way for you," Alex's voice whispered, soothing her as he gently pried her fingers from his invisible shirt.
Now unseen, he sprinted back toward Silverlight Tower, his heart pounding with resolve. Alex knew their survival hinged on one truth: the only way to save Lily and Claire was to kill the leader-type zombie, no matter the cost.
--------------------------------------
Thump… Thump-thump…
Alex pressed himself against the cold wall of Silverlight Tower, his invisibility cloaking him as he strained to keep his breathing steady, his heartbeat pounding louder in his ears with every tense moment. The shroud of his ability hid even his own hands from view, leaving him uncertain of when—or if—the computer pattern on his palm, the key to his escape, would complete its mysterious process.
He had lingered in the tower for days, having returned alone to buy time for Lily and Claire to flee, driven by the desperate hope of assassinating the leader-type zombie. In his mind, the horde's pursuit of his teammates had left the leader vulnerable, her defenses thinned as most zombies surged outward, presenting a rare opportunity to strike at her heart.
Yet his plan had unraveled. The big-headed zombie, its oversized skull a grotesque marker of its mental evolution, wielded psychic powers that not only conjured barriers but also pierced Alex's invisibility, detecting his presence with chilling precision. A brutal fight had ensued, and though Alex had played the role of bait, drawing the leader-type's wrath after severing her arm, his efforts fell short of victory.
The leader-type, her eyes burning with vengeance, had roared, summoning the horde back to Silverlight Tower in a tidal wave of undead fury, their numbers flooding the building and trapping Alex within its shadowed halls.
"Whew, good thing I fought to the death to take out that psychic zombie," Alex thought, exhaling quietly as two third-level evolved zombies lumbered past his hidden position, their guttural snarls echoing in the dim corridors.
For days, he'd been cornered in the tower, evading detection by the thinnest of margins, his every move a calculated risk in a deadly game of hide-and-seek. The relentless presence of the horde made escape impossible, each moment stretching his nerves to the breaking point.
Suddenly, a faint warmth pulsed in his palms, a subtle heat that cut through his coiled tension, signaling the moment he'd been waiting for. A swirling vortex materialized in the air before him,
Alex didn't hesitate—knowing this was his only chance, he let the vortex seize him, his form spinning as it drew him from Silverlight Tower, the darkness closing around him as he vanished into the unknown, leaving the horde behind.