Chapter 93: Zombie King | Level 75
The corpses had been dragged away from the center of the intersection, while the loot had already been distributed among the others.
Doctor Owen finished treating the last injured survivor, and with nothing else left to settle, the group was ready to move again.
Cain looked north.
The atmosphere around him gradually changed, because everything they had done until now had merely been preparation for what came next.
The real battle was still waiting inside the western public park.
If he succeeded, he would finally break through to the 1st Echelon. If he failed, he would remain trapped at his current Level, assuming he even survived the attempt.
More importantly, Cain had effectively become the person everyone followed.
If he died, the group would not immediately collapse, but their future route would become far more uncertain.
Cain stared toward the northern road.
He had originally considered bringing everyone closer this time.
The 2nd Echelon zombie had already lost ten 1st Echelon subordinates and more than a hundred Unranked zombies.
There was a chance the park had been significantly weakened.
However, one thing bothered him.
The target had not moved, not when Cain and Nathan provoked it.
Now he wanted to know why.
"We’ll do the same thing again." Cain said.
Nathan looked toward him.
"Just us?"
"Yeah." Cain nodded before continuing, "But we’re going farther inside this time."
Ron frowned slightly.
"That sounds less safe."
"It actually is, but don’t worry."
Cain then looked around.
"Which one of you has an Uncommon-rank spear?"
Several people checked their equipment.
Eventually, one man stepped forward and offered him a metal spear obtained from an Orb earlier.
Cain inspected it once before placing it in his Inventory.
Ron looked curious.
"What do you need that for?"
"Something important."
"What is it?"
Cain replied with a meaningful smile, "You’ll know at that time."
Ron clicked his tongue.
Cain turned toward Nathan.
"Ready?"
Nathan adjusted the bow over his shoulder and nodded.
"Yup!"
The trio departed again.
The road toward the park was almost completely empty now.
Most of the zombies in the surrounding area had already been drawn out during their previous provocation.
They moved quickly until the park appeared ahead.
This time, Cain did not stop outside.
He stared through the entrance for a moment, then Ruin energy began circulating through his body.
Cain increased the amount until a faint discomfort appeared within his muscles.
His body could endure far greater strain than before, especially after obtaining Undying God Body, but he intentionally pushed the energy close enough that he could immediately increase the output if something attacked.
Nathan noticed the change.
"You’re already using that much?"
"I don’t know what’s inside."
Cain placed one hand on the sword.
"I’d rather waste some Mana than lose my head because I was trying to conserve it."
Ron could not argue with that.
Cain stepped toward the entrance.
"You two stay behind me."
Ron raised an eyebrow.
"You’re being protective now?"
"Fuck off!" Cain snorted, then continued. "It’s just that in case something attacks, I can react first."
Nathan and Ron immediately moved behind him.
The three entered the park and almost immediately, the atmosphere changed.
The city noise became distant.
There were no wandering zombies near the entrance anymore.
Cain expected to hear insects beneath the vegetation or birds moving through the trees, but he heard nothing.
Only their footsteps disturbed the silence.
Cain moved slowly.
His Sense remained spread outward while Faultline Vision continuously examined anything within sight.
Bushes.
Tree trunks.
Abandoned benches.
The deeper they went, the more oppressive the silence became.
Ron had stopped joking entirely, both hands gripping his spear as he maintained a ready stance. Nathan already had an arrow resting against the bowstring, his attention fixed on the path ahead.
Several minutes later, a heavy pressure began spreading through the surroundings.
Cain’s eyes narrowed.
They were getting close.
Nathan sensed it shortly afterward, his expression becoming noticeably more serious.
Ron felt it last. The moment he did, whatever trace of ease remained in his posture disappeared.
"That thing is ahead."
"I know." Cain nodded.
They continued and the pressure increased with every section of the park they crossed.
Eventually, the trees ahead began thinning.
Cain raised one hand.
Nathan and Ron stopped.
Something was visible beyond the greenery.
Cain carefully stepped forward, then his expression changed.
A massive structure stood deeper inside the park.
Calling it a gate was the closest description Cain could think of, although no physical frame surrounded it.
Space itself had opened vertically several meters above the ground.
The edges were irregular and continuously shifting, as if different sections could not decide where they were supposed to exist.
Dark energy moved within the opening.
The interior did not reveal another part of the park.
It showed only depthless darkness mixed with faint distortions that appeared and disappeared across its surface.
Cain immediately understood that this was not something created by ordinary zombies.
But the gate was not what held his attention for long as his attention was focused on someone sitting beside it.
At first glance, Cain almost mistook the figure for an ordinary infected human.
The zombie was not enormous.
It had no oversized muscles or blade-like limbs.
Its body remained close to normal human proportions.
Pale gray skin covered its face, and dark veins spread beneath the surface around its neck.
Its clothes were torn but surprisingly intact compared to most zombies they had encountered.
The most disturbing difference was its posture.
It sat calmly above an enormous mutated zombie.
The creature had been forced down onto its limbs, its huge back bent low enough to form a crude seat.
The normal-looking zombie rested comfortably on top of it.
One of its hands remained pressed against the strange gate.
Cain narrowed his eyes.
The zombie was doing something to it.
He did not know whether it was maintaining the opening or drawing something from the other side, but the connection was obvious.
Then Cain noticed the rest as Zombies filled the area behind the seated figure.
Far more than he had expected.
Several possessed the pressure of 1st Echelon beings.
Countless weaker infected stood farther back, packed between the trees and around the massive spatial opening.
Yet none of them moved as they simply remained there, as if waiting for an order.
Nathan slowly inhaled.
Ron’s grip tightened around his spear.
Cain did not speak as his attention had already locked onto the information floating above the ordinary-looking zombie.
The moment the other two focused on it as well, their expressions became solemn.
[Zombie King | Level 75]