The creature's eyes, small and beady, fixed on Tysone as he came out of the roll.
A low growl rumbled in its chest. The zombie had a higher intelligence than the other evolved zombies. Its attacks were not just random flailing. There was a certain, almost human cunning to them.
It was frightening, knowing that the more these things evolved, the more they developed intelligence that mirrored that of a human.
Would they be able to speak one day?
"Kill it! Kill it!" Kohta screamed, raising his rifle and taking another shot. The shot punched through the creature's shoulder, tearing through flesh but failing to penetrate deep enough to matter. The beast's growl intensified, the wound only fueling its rage.
Tysone dodged a lunge that would have shattered concrete. "Your shots are just pissing it off!" He called over the clash of weapons. "Aim for the head! Eyes! Joints! Anything that looks vital!"
Saeko flowed like water around the creature's bulk, her katana streaks of light in the darkness that surrounded them.
The slithering blade found purchase in its thigh, sinking deep—yet the monster barely registered the hit beyond a flicker of irritation. It swung its hammer-arm, forcing Saeko to retreat in a shower of sparks as metal met stone.
Rei seized the opening, thrusting her spear at the creature's exposed back. The point glanced off its leathery hide, barely drawing blood despite her enhanced strength. "Huh?" Her eyes widened in surprise. One hit from her was enough to burst any other zombie's head like a melon, but this one's skin was tougher than she could have imagined.
"Tough bastard, isn't it?" Tysone grunted, parrying a blow with the tip of his halberd. The blade actually showed signs of cracking under all of this stress.
Kohta, now panicking, but still focused, switched tactics. "My liege! The joints! The joints on its knees are less armored! I'll weaken
them for you!" He bellowed, before firing a steady stream of shots at the creature's knee.
This time, the bullets found their mark. The creature's leg buckled, its balance beginning to be thrown off. Of course, for a zombie that showed hints of higher intelligence, it clearly understood where the threat was coming from. The monstrous being turned its attention to the sniper.
With a speed that defied its massive size, the zombie charged at Kohta.
"Kohta, look out!" Takashi roared.
He had finally recovered from the blow, and with a surge of adrenaline, he threw his spear like a javelin, aiming for the creature's back.
The spear lodged itself deep into the monster's shoulder, but the creature didn't even flinch.
It was too fast.
It was upon Kohta in a flash.
Kohta's eyes went wide with terror as the massive, clawed hand swiped at him.
The massive clawed hand sliced downward like a guillotine.
Kohta yelped, throwing himself sideways in a frantic roll that would have looked comical if the stakes weren't life-or-death. Concrete exploded where the fingers gouged five parallel furrows deep enough to bury a forearm in.
Tysone was already moving.
He didn't shout. Didn't waste breath on warnings.
He simply vaulted onto the creature's thick back like a panther mounting prey, boots finding purchase on tumorous ridges. The halberd reversed in his grip—blade pointing down—and he drove it two-handed straight through the meat where neck met shoulder.
The thick hide was tough to cut. Tysone gritted his teeth, his arm muscles bulging with veins. "Fucking die already!"
And then the blade pierced through.
Black ichor sprayed in an obscene arc.
The monster bellowed, more fury than pain, and reached back with its normal arm to pluck him off like a troublesome insect.
Tysone twisted mid-air as he was yanked free, using the momentum to swing the halberd in a vicious upward cut. The blade carved a deep crescent from armpit to collarbone. Something important tore; the arm flopped uselessly.
Saeko didn't wait for an invitation.
She darted low while the beast was distracted, katana flashing in a horizontal draw that severed the hamstring of its already damaged leg. The joint popped with a wet crack. The monster staggered forward onto one knee—exactly where Kohta had softened the armor.
Rei was next.
She didn't hesitate this time. Planting one foot, she spun her entire body like a discus thrower and hurled the spear with every ounce of evolved strength she possessed.
The makeshift point—sharpened rebar—punched clean through the crater Kohta's bullets had already made in the knee. It went all the way in, shaft vibrating from the force, pinning the joint to the floor.
The creature roared again, louder, angrier, thrashing.
Takashi, blood running from a split lip, snatched up a length of broken rebar from the rubble and charged from the opposite side.
"NOW!" Tysone barked.
Four voices answered at once.
Kohta—still on his back—levered the rifle up and emptied half a magazine into the monster's open mouth at near point-blank range. Teeth shattered; the back of its throat became red mist.
Saeko leaped, using the pinned leg as a springboard. Her katana described a perfect crescent moon. The blade bit deep into the side of the neck, carving halfway through before lodging in dense vertebrae.
Rei sprinted in low, retrieved her spear with a savage yank, and immediately drove it upward under the ribcage at an angle she'd practiced a hundred times in training—aiming for where a human heart should sit.
Takashi arrived last, screaming something incoherent, and rammed the rebar through the monster's left eye socket with both hands. He kept pushing until his knuckles met ruined flesh.
For one hideous heartbeat the beast remained upright—impaled, shot, slashed, burned by rage.
Then it simply… collapsed.
A mountain of diseased meat hitting concrete sounds like a wet mattress dropped from a second-story window.
Silence followed. Thick, ringing silence broken only by five sets of heaving lungs.
Tysone was the first to speak, voice rough.
"Kohta."
The sniper blinked up at him, glasses askew, face splattered black.
"Y-yeah?"
"You good?"
Kohta looked down at himself, then back up. A shaky, incredulous laugh bubbled out.
"I think… I think I just participated in a boss rush IRL and didn't die. So… yeah? I'm fantastic?"
Takashi snorted blood out of his nose and started laughing too—high, slightly manic.
Rei dropped to her knees beside the corpse, breathing hard, staring at her trembling hands. "I… I actually hit something that big. And it died."
Yeah, who'd have thought? Killing something so big and seemingly invincible gave you an odd rush of pleasure and adrenaline, probably not unlike finally beating a big boss in a game.
Then again, it was thanks to everyone's coordination that they could take it down so easily, with minor injuries overall—even though 'easy' it wasn't. Tysone himself was a Rank 2 evolved, though not as strong as the fire mutant was, his rank wasn't something that could be ignored.
Everyone played their part, and for that he was happy that all of that training was actually working. His group was slowly becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Saeko sheathed her katana with a soft metallic click. Only the faintest tremor in her fingers betrayed how close the margin had been.
Tysone crouched beside the fallen giant and drove his fist into its chest without ceremony. Ribs cracked like dry branches. A few seconds later he pulled his arm free, holding a core between thumb and forefinger.
Bigger.
Darker.
Almost the size of a large plum and so black it seemed to drink the light.
He turned it slowly, inspecting.
"Not Rank 1." Tysone said quietly; he could feel the faint buzz of energy within the core. "Not even close."
It was probably around Rank 2, the same one that Tysone himself absorbed from that fire zombie mutant.
Kohta crawled over, eyes huge behind smeared lenses.
"…That's going to someone, right? Like… soon?"
Tysone looked at each of them in turn—sweaty, bloodied, alive.
Then he closed his fist around the core.
"Yeah." He said. "Soon."
He stood.
"But first we finish the run. Electronics for Saya. Metal. Ammo if we can find it. Then we get the hell out before big brother shows up looking for its little brother."
He jerked his thumb toward the corpse.
"Takashi, Rei—start cutting. Anything that looks valuable, especially that hammer-arm. Might make a decent siege weapon once we get it back. Saeko, Kohta—perimeter. Anything moves, you call it."
He paused, looking at the core one last time before slipping it into a pouch on his hip.
He turned and started toward the stairwell.
"Move fast. Stay tight."
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.