Tysone paused, his eyes scanning the group. "Alright. Same plan as before. Kenji, Tanaka, Yumi, and Haruto, you'll act as rear support this time. As for me, Saeko, Rei and Takashi. We'll be on the frontline. Marin, you'll be on standby. Kohta, you know what to do."
"Roger that!" Kohta chirped, already setting up his sniper rifle.
"Let's move."
The truck doors swung open, and the survivors poured out, their movements now more fluid, more coordinated.
The new horde was larger than the last one, a writhing mass of the undead. And in its center stood another evolved. This one was leaner than the big one, its limbs long and spindly like a spider's. It moved with a disturbing speed, a blur of motion amongst the shambling corpses.
"That one's faster." Saeko noted, her hand resting on the hilt of her katana.
"Indeed it is." Tysone nodded, taking a couple of steps forward, not at all intimidated by the size of the horde. "It's as tall as the previous one, but thinner. I wonder, is it on the same evolutional scale?" He tilted his head, his eyes piercing through the shambling horde, right at the evolved zombie. It was clothed, so it was hard to gauge how big its core really was.
Takashi stepped forward as well, his grip on his weapon tightening. He could feel a familiar mixture of fear and excitement coursing through his veins. He wanted to fight it. He wanted to prove himself.
Rei stood beside him, her expression grim. She was also ready for the fight. She, as well, wanted to prove herself to the group. And maybe, just maybe, to Tysone too. It wasn't a secret to anyone that she and Takashi had a history. But that was all in the past now. And this was a whole new world, a whole new set of rules. And she wasn't sure where she stood with him anymore. Or where she wanted to stand, for that matter.
"Saeko, back me up. I'm heading in." Tysone said, his voice cutting through the tense silence.
"I'm right behind you."
The two of them charged forward, their movements a blur.
Marin, whose effective role right now was that of a 'supporter' had her eyes snap wide open. The moment those two powerhouses clashed into the horde, blood and flesh flew everywhere and, more specifically, in her direction, since she wasn't that far from it, so, as it rained down, she couldn't help but flinch and run away.
Tysone was like a runaway train, his halberd carving a path through the horde. Saeko was a graceful dancer, her katana a silver arc that left a trail of severed limbs and decapitated heads in its wake. Together, they were a force of nature. They tore through the horde like a hot knife through butter.
Rei and Takashi, for a moment, watched in awe. It was like watching two gods of destruction raining their fury upon the masses. They could not even begin to comprehend such absolute, unrivaled destructive force.
Takashi swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. Was that what it meant to evolve in this post-apocalyptic world? To be an existence on the level of an entirely different species?
"This is why..." He muttered, his grip on his spear tightening. "I want to grow stronger."
Rei heard him and nodded, understanding. They both wanted to be strong. Not just for their own survival, but for the group.
Takashi and Rei contributed very little as Tysone bulldozed his way through the crowd. The man was a one-man apocalypse.
And then he stopped in front of the evolved zombie.
Tysone looked up at it. It was taller than him, maybe around 6.7 or 6.8 feet tall, just a bit more than two meters. It wasn't as bulky as the first, but it was much, much leaner. Almost skeletal. Its limbs were thin and elongated, giving it an eerie, almost alien appearance. Its teeth, much like the first one, were pointed and jagged. "Hmm..."
The evolved zombie's maw snapped wide open to roar, strings of drool and spittle flying everywhere.
"Argghhhhh—"
And then Tysone's hand shot out, fingers curled like a hawk's talons. They clamped around its mouth, cutting the roar off mid-squeak.
He had just shut the evolved zombie's maw closed.
"Your breath stinks, please get a proper dentist to see this shit." Tysone simply quipped as he let go of it.
And just as suddenly as the beast roared, its head burst open like a watermelon squished by a hydraulic press.
And the now decapitated body dropped like a lifeless, well, dead, corpse.
The body was crumpling down, lifeless, all over the place.
Tysone's fist stood aloft, mid-air, knuckles stained with black blood.
Just that.
That was all.
Everyone in the vicinity fell silent at that incredible feat of power. They stared in awe.
Once they finally regained their composure, they looked upon the sight of Tysone nonchalantly pulling out its core from its chest. "Same size."
"Damn."
And just like that, with the two of them wiping the ground with the undead, the rest were put out of work. They hadn't moved one bit since the start of the mission, only killing off some leftover common zombies that straggled off their formation.
Meanwhile, Marin, having fled to a safer, distant place to avoid being splattered with black blood, witnessed the scene play out with an impressed whistle. "Unfazed, and straight-up defeated it."
From above the truck, Kohta chuckled weakly, lowering his rifle. "The king of destruction couldn't do a thing..." He muttered under his breath, slumping over the top of the truck, like a blob of sadness.
Meanwhile, the remaining four were as confused as ever about their usefulness.
Saeko stood quietly beside Tysone, taking in a deep breath to steady her racing heart. Seeing her leader's terrifying, ungodly display of strength was, at the same time, thrilling. She'd never admit that seeing such a commanding, unstoppable display of raw power excited her and sent shivers down her spine.
Rei approached cautiously, throwing one last glance at the felled evolved before looking at Tysone.
"Is this one more dangerous than the last one?"
She spoke a question that was in everyone's mind. Tysone didn't reply instantly, instead, opting to stare at the small gem in his hand. He wasn't sure; it looked the same size as the first evolved's core. Maybe a bit more polished. But in terms of danger, it couldn't be too different from the first.
"Not at all." Then again, he didn't let it display its power, to begin with. Maybe it could've proven more challenging. The size of the core was the same. Whereas the previous one had more strength, this one had more speed. "They have ranks. At least, I have a feeling of different rankings when it comes to cores and their powers. These zombies might be on the first rank, or something. They're getting more and more common, which means we'll likely encounter, in time, evolved with bigger and better cores."
Rank 2, like that fire zombie, or was that fire zombie Rank 3? Tysone had trouble ranking their strength due to how inherently different, yet powerful they were. Considering how easy it was for Tysone to kill Rank 1 zombies, he expected his own rank to be around 2.
"We now have two cores." Saeko pointed out.
"We do." Tysone nodded, and he could feel the eagerness of everyone in the air, of course, for gaining strength. "We'll decide who gets the cores once we get back. Right now, let's concentrate on clearing the rest of this territory."
And that was precisely what they did.
As the group resumed their exploration, they wiped out another two hordes of zombies, except that this time there weren't any evolved to worry about. Each horde consisted of ten zombies and counting. And it was getting increasingly obvious how tempting the cores were for the group, as everyone seemed to fight harder and harder. It was like watching a pack of starving wolves trying to get at a tasty piece of meat, or so Tysone likened it.
"Alright, let's stop here for today."
Sensing their growing eagerness to pick fights, and noticing how they started to move outside of the formation, Tysone called out and put a halt to the zombie cleaning duty for now. Most of them were about to drop dead from exhaustion, and some sported bruises and various degrees of injuries.
Not wanting to test his luck any longer, Tysone ordered everyone to get back inside the truck.
For now, their little group's safety and stability took precedence over more cores. So, with nothing else to report, they began their drive back to the mansion.
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.