Chapter 67: Built Different
No one—literally no one—had expected Fredrinn’s sudden attack.
He silently hurled the sword, coating its blade with mana as he aimed directly between her temples, straight for the brain.
However, he had still underestimated the woman’s reflexes. At the very last moment, she tilted her head just enough to avoid a fatal hit.
"You have three horns now." Fredrinn let out a low scoff. "Makes you look even prettier."
The woman was surprised by the sudden mocking words and the sneak attack. Her gaze turned frosty and she stared at the man kneeling in front of her.
With a casual kick from her heel, she sent Charlie hurtling across the road and crashing into a nearby wall.
He coughed up another mouthful of blood, doubling over in pain as faint sounds of cracking bones escaped from his body.
Fortunately, his thick muscles absorbed much of the impact, preventing his condition from worsening too much.
The poor man was barely hanging on to his life, but it wasn’t like anyone paid any attention to him.
The woman clearly didn’t appreciate Fredrinn’s taunt. She yanked the sword out of her skull with a snarl, glaring daggers at him.
Then, taking a single step forward, she hurled the sword back at Fredrinn with even greater speed.
Her target was his heart as the sword whistled in the air.
"So predictable."
Fredrinn scoffed as he kicked the metal pipe Charlie had dropped earlier.
He caught it mid-air and threw it directly into the incoming sword.
Naturally, the sword sliced cleanly through the metal pipe as though it were butter.
But Fredrinn had never intended for the pipe to stop it.
Its purpose was simply to rob the sword of its momentum.
The moment it slowed, Fredrinn caught the sword once more, a faint smirk appearing on his lips as he fixed his gaze on the red-haired zombie.
He had already assessed her strength... and the results were disappointing.
She was overwhelmingly superior to him physically. By a huge margin.
Yet Fredrinn wasn’t discouraged.
If she possessed the advantage in raw strength, he had advantage in experience.
Jenny could barely follow Fredrinn’s movements as he stepped forward and vanished from where he stood, reappearing in the middle of the road.
The woman appeared there at almost the exact same instant.
Jenny had been observing Fredrinn closely this entire time.
Because of that, she instantly noticed the subtle change in his body.
The veins beneath his skin were now faintly glowing with a soft blue hue—the unmistakable colour of mana.
’His skill really isn’t as simple as he makes it sound... huh?’ She narrowed her eyes at the battle.
Her heart pounded violently inside her chest, yet she clung to the hope that he would emerge victorious.
Fredrinn channeled mana through the broken sword, enhancing its sharpness as he continuously attacked.
Right before his eyes, the wound in the woman’s skull began to heal.
The flesh rippled and stitched itself together while the fractured bone knitted back into place.
Recognizing the danger posed by the mana-enhanced sword, the woman also adapted quickly.
She willingly allowed strikes to land on her arms, shoulders, and every other non-lethal area, focusing entirely on protecting her vital spots while retaliating whenever she could.
She knew exactly how to exploit her regeneration.
Fredrinn noticed that her movements lacked the fluidity of an experienced fighter.
But they didn’t need to.
Her overwhelming physical prowess more than compensated for it.
Blow after blow, even though none of her attacks were immediately life-threatening, Fredrinn gradually felt his muscles grow numb under the relentless barrage of punches and blunt strikes.
He sliced open her skin.
He even managed to carve a wound across her beautiful face.
She didn’t react.
Every injury healed before his eyes.
The only one truly accumulating damage...
...was Fredrinn.
He huffed through his nose, circulating mana throughout his body to strengthen his physical abilities.
He briefly considered casting a spell.
But curse-type magic demanded far too much mana in his current state. And wasting mana on offensive magic would be pointless.
She would simply regenerate.
"You. Strong. Be... mine." The woman saw that Fredrinn was now breathing heavily, his chest panting and his grip on the sword slightly loosened.
She slowly licked her lips, smiling as she looked down at the cuts covering both of her hands while they steadily healed.
"Be yours?" Fredrinn scoffed coldly. "You mean like those pets? Or transforming me like Charlie?" He glanced toward the obedient zombies guarding the retreat.
The woman followed his gaze before letting out a merry giggle.
"No... You better. Different than... humans." She slowly shook her head. "You not slave."
A brief pause followed.
"Partner?" She tilted her head and said.
Fredrinn blinked in disbelief. Partner? Was she serious?
Did zombies even have the concept of partners?
Weren’t they supposed to be mindless beasts?
But after looking at her once again, he realized she was nothing like the others.
She possessed a strange sense of vanity. She enjoyed wearing elegant dresses. Long heels.
Her skin was smooth and flawless, unlike the rotting flesh of ordinary zombies that couldn’t care less about appearances.
’Lust... please tell me what’s going on. I’m requesting you this time.’ Fredrinn begged inwardly while staring at the woman, who simply yawned as she patiently waited for his answer.
Jenny and the others were frozen where they stood.
None of them dared interrupt. They could only stare in horror at the battle unfolding before them.
Max, who used to think of Fredrinn as a rival, couldn’t be happier that he never picked a fight with that man. He wasn’t a match for him at all!
Jenny, however, found herself fixated on the woman’s strange words.
She wanted Fredrinn as her partner?
And he was... different?
Different how?
Was he not human like the rest of them?
Why would a zombie make such an offer?
And what if Fredrinn accepted?
Would she transform him too?
The questions were infinite, but the answers were none.
[ cackles. What is the host willing to offer for the information this time? Maybe another promise? ]