Chương 111: Die, Monster

Vince casually thrust the heavy spear in his hand into the concrete bricks on the ground. He pulled out the stairwell key, handed it to Cody, and pointed out which door it was. Then, he watched as the two supported each other and walked into the stairwell. Looking at the corpses littering the ground around him, Vince let out a long breath. He hadn't really fought much since coming down; he had mostly just been running laps.

Seeing that his hands were still relatively clean, he casually reached out and stroked the two girls' faces, saying with a hint of doting affection, "Phew... you guys must be exhausted..."

"I'm okay, I still have some strength left in my arms..." Claire was the first to answer, resting her heavy spear on the ground.

"I... I'm out of juice... but my ability is still fine, Dage, look!" As Zoe spoke, a short spear flew back from a distance, shooting straight toward Vince's face! Vince easily caught the short spear. Feeling the force behind it—though slight, it was noticeably stronger than before. He glanced at her Energy Bar, which read [186/414]. After such a high-intensity battle, her energy value hadn't even dropped below a hundred. It seemed she had been diligently controlling the frequency and timing of her ability usage.

"You two hold on for a little longer. One of you needs to step out and finish off those few zombies lying over there, lest they bite someone's ankle later..." Zoe's body was thoroughly exhausted. She simply draped her upper half over the edge of the dumpster, saying lazily, "Claire, can you go...? I'm going to rest here for a bit..."

"Mhm... alright then..." Vince reached out and pulled Claire out of the dumpster. Seeing that the edges of her clothes were soaked with sweat, he pulled out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it, "Cody... or Seth, toss a couple of bottles of water down for me..." With that, he leaned against the dumpster as well. He handed the nearby heavy spear to Claire, and while gently stroking Zoe's hair, he asked, "Claire, are you sure you don't need to rest a bit?" Hearing this, Claire simply hefted the heavy spear.

With a swing of her arms, it cut through the air with a sharp whistle. Although her face was flushed from the intense exertion, it still carried a trace of unyielding stubbornness.

"Don't underestimate me," she said, glancing at Zoe's little face with her eyes closed under Vince's hand. She wrinkled her nose at Vince and added, "I'm the older sister here..." With that, she tapped the spearhead against the ground and walked toward the zombies a short distance away, which were still crawling or lying on their backs, continuously growling. Vince looked at her back—exhausted, yet still standing perfectly straight.

He then looked at Zoe, who was draped over the dumpster and practically falling asleep, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. A short while later, before Claire had even finished off all the downed zombies, the stairwell door opened again, and Seth emerged from within. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Claire..." The moment he stepped out, he saw Claire was the closest and quickly nodded in greeting. After the morning's battle, his awe and respect for the beautiful woman before him had skyrocketed. She was calm, decisive, and sometimes even displayed a ruthless edge. Fighting alongside her, he could even see a trace of Vince's shadow in her... Seeing that she was busy finishing off the zombies on the ground, he didn't approach her. Instead, he walked straight over to Vince.

"Vince, Cody fell asleep. Here's the water..." He handed over the three bottles of water from his arms.

"You're not going back up?" Vince took the water, twisted the cap off one bottle, and lightly tapped Zoe on the head.

"Get up and take a sip. Don't fall asleep, we still have things to do in a bit..." As he stuffed the water bottle into Zoe's hands, he heard Seth say:"Uh... I still have some stamina left..."

"Alright, fall in..." Seth clearly didn't want to give up this opportunity to grow stronger by killing zombies. After Cody fell asleep, he had used the excuse of delivering water to come back downstairs. Vince didn't mind. Proactivity was always a good thing. He patted his shoulder and readily agreed.

"Vince, are they all dead...?" By this time, Claire had finished sweeping the battlefield. Vince scanned the area and, seeing not a single numbered Health Bar left, nodded in relief.

"They're all dead. Claire, come on back..." Claire's HP had also risen to [166/166]. When Claire drew close, he grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her back into the "Moving Castle."

"I told that big lug to take the zombies for a lap, where did he run off to?" Vince muttered in confusion, looking in the direction Bruno had disappeared with the zombies earlier. It had been at least ten minutes. Even if he ran a full lap around the complex, he should have been back by now...

"Claire, Zoe, Seth, stay alert. Something might have gone wrong on his end. I'm going to check it out. Be ready to retract into the shell or kill zombies at any moment!" An uneasy feeling that a crack had formed in his plan rose in his heart. Frowning, Vince finished briefing the three of them. Just as he was about to chase after Bruno, he heard a series of intermittent sounds drifting over...... This job... is actually pretty easy. Bruno muttered in his heart.

Turning his head to look at the dozens of zombies trailing behind him, he couldn't help but recall that silhouette from earlier. That leader... just based on pure strength, felt even stronger than himself. He wondered just how many of those Crystals from inside the zombies he had eaten... It wasn't just the leader; even the four-person group inside the dumpster showed him what a professional team truly looked like.

Those four felt like a massive meat grinder to him—no matter how many zombies went in, they would all be shredded to pieces. But it had the same weakness as a meat grinder: you couldn't stuff too much in at once, or it would jam... They needed someone to siphon off the flow, which was exactly what he was doing right now. It could be considered doing them a huge favor... Estimating the time, he figured he should probably head back. Bruno led the pack of zombies behind him around a corner, preparing to turn back.

Just as he changed direction and rounded the first-floor balcony of the building, a casual sweep of his gaze instantly made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up! A towering zombie had been attracted by the noise outside. It stood on the first-floor balcony, searching for the source of the sound. The moment their eyes met, the zombie seemed to be activated. It instantly went berserk. With a casual swing of its arm, it instantly shattered the balcony's front wall!

Bricks and rubble flew everywhere, leaving bloody welts across Bruno's body and knocking down a whole swathe of the zombies behind him! It's one of those mutated monsters! Bruno's heart chilled, but immediately after, a surge of fanaticism welled up within him. It has a Crystal! Eating it will make me stronger! He quickly sized up the massive creature before him. Two meters tall, with thick, muscular arms...

although it was a bit taller, it looked very similar to the monstrous-strength zombie he had fought to the death to kill earlier! They were both strength types! I... I should be able to do this! Maybe, if I eat just one more Crystal, I can become even stronger than that "leader"! Stimulated by this thought, Bruno glanced at the zombies behind him that hadn't caught up yet. He tightened his grip on his crowbar and charged straight at the towering zombie! It's not like I haven't killed big guys before!

It's just a mutated zombie! Die!