Chapter 105: Cain’s Massive Improvement
Back on Cain’s main group, they also had received the same announcement.
The battlefield around the intersection had already become far quieter.
Most of the 1st Echelon zombies were dead, while the remaining Unranked infected had lost the coordination they possessed under the Zombie King’s control.
Then the golden screen appeared before everyone.
[Universal Announcement]
[The first player in the entire Universe to kill a 2nd Echelon being while remaining an Unranked Awakener has appeared.]
[The player belongs to the Human Race and is known as "Heavenly Dragon."]
[The name "Heavenly Dragon" shall be recorded in the history of this Universe.]
[Heavenly Dragon has received a Red Scroll.]
Elara stopped moving for a moment, her eyes immediately locked onto the name written across the announcement.
"Cain..."
The tension she had been carrying since Cain disappeared with Ron finally eased. A relieved smile appeared on her face as she tightened her grip around her weapon.
Nathan lowered his bow slightly after reading the announcement, while Jack did not bother hiding his reaction as he laughed loudly.
"That bastard actually did it."
Nearby survivors quickly understood as well.
Cain had killed the Zombie King.
The tension that had remained over the entire group finally disappeared.
No matter how much confidence they placed in Cain, everyone understood how dangerous the situation had been.
Cain was the strongest person in their group.
Considering everything he had accomplished since the apocalypse began, along with the previous World Announcements connected to Heavenly Dragon, quite a few of them already suspected that he might be among the strongest people in the World.
If even Cain could not defeat the Zombie King, what were the rest of them supposed to do?
Not only that, the Zombie King had also been located frighteningly close to their position. If Cain died and the Zombie King returned with its remaining subordinates, there was no guarantee that everyone would be able to escape.
Now they no longer needed to worry about that possibility as the level 75 Zombie King finally was dead.
Evelyne continued staring at the announcement even after some of the others had already looked away.
Exhaustion remained visible on her pale face after continuously supporting Cain through Life Link earlier, but a faint smile gradually appeared.
"He did it..."
Sonya raised her head toward the direction Cain had disappeared earlier, her expression brightened.
Alex rested his greatsword against the road, then eventually shook his head.
"That bastard’s strength is truly ridiculous."
Nathan chuckled in response.
"I know, right? Thank god I didn’t pull any silly jokes back then."
Alex glanced toward him.
"You mean when one of your people shot an arrow in his direction even though it won’t hit anyone?"
Nathan’s smile twitched.
"That was Cole’s own decision, not mine."
The surviving fighters quickly returned their attention to the remaining zombies.
However, their mood had completely changed as the greatest threat near them was gone.
...
By the time the distant reactions had begun spreading, Cain had already stopped caring about the Universal Announcement.
He stood beside the Zombie King’s corpse with Ron nearby.
"Let’s take the Core first."
Ron nodded.
Cain crouched beside the headless body.
Without Energy Reinforcement protecting it, the corpse was far easier to cut than before.
His sword entered the chest and opened the hardened flesh.
Cain followed the remaining concentration of energy until the blade touched something much denser.
He widened the opening before reaching inside.
A moment later, his fingers closed around a hard object and finally pulled it free.
The Zombie King’s Core rested in his palm.
Its energy was far denser than any 1st Echelon Core he had handled before.
Dark currents moved faintly beneath the surface, while the amount of power remaining inside caused Cain’s newly formed Ruin Mana Core to react slightly.
His eyes immediately lit up.
"A 2nd Echelon Core..."
Cain stored it inside his Inventory.
He would examine it properly and purify it later as his attention returned to the corpse.
Cain had no intention of leaving the Zombie King’s body intact.
Even without the Core, a Level 75 corpse still contained flesh that was built completely different because of the Zombie King’s ability.
He did not know whether another zombie or mutated creature could gain something by consuming it.
There was no reason to take the risk.
Besides, Cain had recently obtained something he still had not properly tested.
He stepped several meters away.
Ron noticed his movement.
"What are you doing?"
"Testing something."
Cain extended one hand.
"Stay back."
Ron immediately moved farther away.
Fire Mana began gathering above Cain’s palm.
Cain possessed no natural Fire element, but the knowledge behind the Skill had already become part of him after receiving the Investment Return from Sonya.
This was the first time he had actually used his (Inferno Star) skill.
The Fire Mana compressed rapidly and a small sphere appeared above his palm.
Instead of expanding as more Mana entered, the flames condensed further inward.
The color gradually became brighter.
Heat immediately spread across the road.
Ron’s expression changed as he moved another few steps away.
"What the fuck did you get this time?"
Cain ignored him as his attention was still focused on somewhere else.
The sphere continued condensing until the air around his hand visibly distorted.
He looked toward the corpse, then released it.
The blazing sphere crossed the short distance before striking the Zombie King’s body.
Cain detonated it.
BOOM!
Fire erupted across the pavement.
A violent wave of heat spread outward as the entire corpse disappeared beneath the flames.
Cain raised one arm against the hot wind.
The Zombie King’s flesh resisted far longer than an ordinary corpse would have, but there was no Bottomless Furnace remaining to continuously regenerate the damage.
The skin quickly blackened.
The flesh beneath it began burning.
Soon, the creature that had forced Cain to retreat twice was being reduced inside the flames.
Ron stood beside him and stared at the burning body.
After a while, he glanced toward Cain.
"So what now?"
Cain remained silent, his eyes slowly moved toward the western public park.
The Zombie King was dead and its Core was already inside his Inventory.
Cain had advanced to the 1st Echelon and somehow reached the Tempered Core Stage immediately.
He had gained an enormous number of rewards.
However, the enormous spatial opening it had been touching was still there.
Cain watched the flames consume the last remains of the corpse before narrowing his eyes.
The Zombie King was no longer blocking the way.
Now his group could finally start their journey.
But before that, he felt that he should somehow check on the huge crack first before leaving the city.
Cain finally responded to Ron’s question.
"We’ll regroup with the others first, then stop by the park before finally starting our journey."
"The park?" Ron raised an eyebrow as he somehow had a negative feel toward the park.
"Yeah." Cain nodded before continuing, "Do you remember that huge final crack?"
"Naturally." Ron frowned. "What about it?"
"I don’t know..." Cain shrugged his shoulders before looking toward the north again. "But, that’s the problem."
He continued with a curious, yet solemn expression. "I just have a hunch that I should check on it to see what’s going on before starting the journey with a peace of mind."
Ron rubbed the back of his neck, his expression showed that he did not particularly like the idea.
"That place already gave me a bad feeling the first time."
"So you agree." Cain smiled faintly.
"How the fuck did you get that from what I said?" Ron’s eyes twitched before continuing with a sigh.
"But yeah. Checking it once before leaving this dead city is probably better than wondering about it later."
Cain nodded his head.
"Let’s go!"
Both of them then left the scene and headed toward the main group at a considerable speed as they weren’t being chased by time and weren’t worried about how they were doing against the numerous zombies.
On their way there, Cain finally had time to check on his personal information as felt a new ability after advancing to 1st Echelon.
[Cain]
[Level: 25]
[Echelon: 1st Echelon]
[Race: Human]
[Title: Echelon Breaker]
[Talents: Black Menagerie (Primordial-rank), Undying God Body (Divine-rank), Faultline Vision (SS-rank), Piercing Momentum (S-rank), Vital Restoration (C-rank)]
[Beast: Primordial Chaos Dragon]
[Element: True Ruin]
[Mana Core: Ruin Mana Core (Tempered Stage)]
[Skills: Partial Dragon Manifestation, Ruin Dragon Force, Greater Restoration, Inferno Star]
[Stats]: Strength: 396 (+456) / Agility: 398 (+308) / Physique: 250 (+815) / Sense: 182 (+5) / Mana: 560 / Magic: 360
[System Points: 513,200]
[Inventory: 6 cubic meters]
Cain was overjoyed beyond words when he saw the massive jump on his stats.
However, the changes did not end there.
His eyes quickly moved toward two unfamiliar entries within his information.
[Element: True Ruin]
[Skills: Partial Dragon Manifestation, Ruin Dragon Force, Greater Restoration, Inferno Star]
His previous Ruin element had somehow evolved into True Ruin, while an entirely new Skill had appeared after his advancement.
Cain immediately checked the element first.
[True Ruin — Special Element]
[A purified and more complete form of Ruin produced after the formation of the Ruin Mana Core.]
[True Ruin possesses greatly increased destructive and corrosive properties, allowing it to more effectively deteriorate matter, weaken energy defenses, suppress regeneration, and destroy the structural integrity of anything it affects.]
[True Ruin is considerably more stable within the user’s body and can be controlled with far greater precision than ordinary Ruin.]
Cain’s eyes lit up as he finished reading.
"So forming the Ruin Mana Core improved the element itself..."