Chương 113: Spatial Combat Art

Bruno's miserable state instantly reminded Vince of Ben's companion, who had been killed instantly in their first encounter with a Giant-Armed Zombie! It looked like he had taken only a single blow. Fortunately, Bruno's Awakened physique saved his life, preventing him from being instantly blown to pieces like a normal person. It wasn't just his physique, but also that baffling skill of his that had somehow carried his critically injured, dying body right to him...

"This skill is incredibly useful... I want it too!" The spearhead of the heavy spear in Vince's hand violently clashed against the fist of the Giant-Armed Zombie! Two distinct but similar energies violently collided at the point of impact! There was no earth-shattering explosion. Instead, there was only a teeth-grinding, piercing screech of friction, sounding like an angle grinder's abrasive wheel cutting into metal! Vince felt an immense force crash onto his spear.

However, bolstered by the Strength Crystal, Vince's sheer physical power was not the slightest bit inferior to the Giant-Armed Zombie's! He forcefully parried its fist, completely halting its advance! Crack— BANG! With a muffled explosion, the two colliding energies violently transformed into a chaotic energy turbulence! The blast knocked both the Giant-Armed Zombie and Vince's heavy spear apart, forcing them both backward!

The resulting shockwave instantly launched all the zombies within a several-meter radius into the air, sending them tumbling into the landscaping lawns on either side! [Obtained: Scrap Metal 2] [Obtained: Canned Meat 1]... Taking two steps back to open a safe distance, several system prompts suddenly popped up. He slightly turned his head and saw the zombies that had been blasted away. Some were struggling and rolling on the ground, but most were at critical health, their bones shattered and unable to stand.

A few were already lying motionless on the ground, their HP zeroed out, dead on the spot. To think the erupting energy had such lethal AoE damage. Looking at the Giant-Armed Zombie across from him, its Health Bar read [1906/2000]. It had lost nearly a hundred HP. The impact had also forced it back several steps. Several faint cracks had appeared on its bruising cyan fist, oozing foul blood. As for himself... [750/750]. He hadn't lost a single drop of HP...

Sensing something, Vince raised his heavy spear and inspected it. Sure enough, he saw a faint nick on the front blade... [Item "Unnamed"] [Durability: 98/100] [Crystal Interface 1: Impact Crystal (Level 1) (20% Superior)]... The damage from the energy eruption was indeed absorbed by the spear, and its Durability had only dropped by a mere two points... [Repair? Required Materials: Blade * 1...] It can be repaired!

"Do not repair..." It only dropped two points; there was no rush to repair it. Although Vince had collected drops from most of the zombies Claire and the others had killed earlier, amassing quite a bit of materials, he decided to save them. Consuming a whole [Blade] material just to fix such a tiny nick was too much of a waste. Adhering to the principle of maximizing utility, Vince tapped the heavy spear against the ground. It was still incredibly sturdy and more than ready for combat!

Injured by this strike, the Giant-Armed Zombie became frantic. With a casual swing, it swatted away a normal zombie that bumped into it. Planting its massive hands on the ground, it sprinted wildly toward Vince! The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Clashing head-on just now was merely out of Vince's own curiosity. First, he wanted to test if there was any difference between his Impact power and the zombie's.

Second, he genuinely wanted to compare his physical strength against a 2, 000-HP mutated monster. Constantly farming low-level mobs and completely steamrolling those 1, 000-HP mutated zombies had left Vince without a proper gauge of his own strength, to the point of a slightly distorted self-perception... And this distortion could very well cost him his life. But now he had a rough idea. After equipping the Strength Crystal, he was evenly matched with a 2, 000-HP Giant-Armed Zombie...

With a mental command, Vince swapped out the Strength Crystal for the Revitalization Crystal... Although his raw strength decreased, he gained a massive boost in reaction speed and perception in return. The testing phase was over. Vince had no interest in wrestling with the monster before him anymore. To overpower it purely with strength would require wasting a potion, which was meaningless... Now, it was time to showcase pure technique. The opponent before him wasn't unfamiliar. Time for the old tactics!

The Energy Bar above the Giant-Armed Zombie's head had recovered to 8 points. Its next special attack was imminent! Vince swung his heavy spear, casually sweeping aside two lunging normal zombies, and thrust straight toward the Giant-Armed Zombie! The Giant-Armed Zombie raised its massive fist to meet the strike. It was the exact same scene as before—a collision of brute force devoid of any technique... right?

The Giant-Armed Zombie swung a fist to swat the spear away, while its other fist was raised high, ready to accumulate energy and launch its Impact ability! However, its fist passed through empty air, striking nothing but an afterimage. The heavy spear had vanished into thin air... It was unknown if the Giant-Armed Zombie possessed the capacity for thought, but in that split second, it froze.

"Heh..." Vince, with empty hands, triggered a mental command and equipped the Sharpness Crystal! The spear that had vanished just moments ago instantly reappeared in his hands, enveloped in Sharpness energy while simultaneously triggering the Impact power loaded within the spear itself! Since the zombie's swinging arm was blocking its chest, Vince thrust straight into the back of the elbow joint of its currently rigid arm! BANG! [-366]!

With a muffled explosion, the entire joint of the Giant-Armed Zombie's arm was blown apart! Flesh and blood splattered everywhere, and even the internal bones were blasted into fragments. Only a stump below the shoulder remained of the entire arm, exposing mangled flesh and thick, grayish-white bone...

"ROAR—!" A fissure ripped open at the base of the protrusion serving as the Giant-Armed Zombie's head, revealing rows of jagged fangs inside, and it let out a furious roar! Its energy finally fully recovered, and its remaining raised arm smashed down heavily toward Vince! But Vince was fully prepared; there was no way he'd let it hit him. Kicking away a normal zombie, he used the recoil force to launch himself backward, leaping entirely out of the Giant-Armed Zombie's attack range.

The massive fist smashed into the ground, instantly pulverizing the zombie Vince had just kicked down into a bloody mist. The shockwave caused the HP of several nearby zombies to zero out, transforming them into materials and supplies that flowed straight into Vince's Inventory... That strike combining the spatial abilities of his Inventory wasn't a sudden whim. From the very beginning, Vince had been studying how to fully utilize this independent space.

But aside from the handle-less [Blade] and [Scrap Metal], he hadn't possessed a single viable weapon that could be stored in his Inventory. Vince hefted the heavy spear in his hands. Now, he finally had one... The newly developed "Spatial Combat Art" achieved miraculous results. Even if mutated zombies possessed a certain level of cunning and tactical thinking, facing a heavy spear that could "vanish" at any moment left them utterly defenseless!

Seeing that the energy of the Giant-Armed Zombie's punch was fully expended, Vince was about to step forward when he noticed more and more normal zombies swarming in. Judging by the numbers, there had to be thirty or forty of them—even more than what Bruno had initially pulled away... Vince frowned and turned his head to look at Bruno, who was still draped over the branches of the willow tree. It seemed the guy had accidentally aggro'd some more wild ones on his way back...

But to his surprise, a quick glance revealed Bruno staring back at him with wide, bulging eyes! Seeing that Vince had noticed him, Bruno could only force a highly awkward smile.

"U-um... Leader... I... I'll come down and help you..." However, the storm raging within Bruno's heart was far wilder than the expression on his face! He had actually woken up the moment Vince threw him into the tree. Although the shredding pain in his internal organs had subsided, his arm and foot were still radiating excruciating agony. Just holding back his screams was taking every ounce of his willpower!

As an ordinary person awakening to bizarre superpowers in times like these, who wouldn't harbor a shred of a hero's dream? Bruno had fantasized that he was the great hero destined to save the world, like the protagonists in novels and movies— The One... In fact, that was exactly what he had been doing. Whether it was actively seeking to grow stronger, fighting to the death to slay mutated zombies, or sharing surplus supplies with others, he believed he had lived up to the title of a hero.

However, it wasn't until he encountered that monster that he realized he was actually just incredibly lucky. Lucky enough not to have encountered a monster of this caliber in his own building. The power behind that punch was something entirely transcendent of mere physical strength... No, never mind flesh and blood—even solid steel would likely snap and shatter under that devastating blow!

Yet this very strike—the one that had filled him with despair and made him doubt his entire existence—was effortlessly parried by that man! Parried effortlessly using what looked like a cheap cosplay spear scavenged from somewhere... In that moment, the shock coursing through Bruno in the tree was so intense that he completely forgot his physical pain, leaving only utter bewilderment. I'm afraid that even if I eat ten more... no, a hundred more Crystals, I could never surpass him...