The five of them didn't waste another second. The streets below were swarming with an endless tide of infected, an ocean of madness waiting to devour anything that moved. Charging through that head-on would be suicide for anyone but Tony—and even he saw no point in wasting time and energy carving a bloody path when there were smarter options.
With a sharp exhale, Tony bent his knees and launched himself skyward. His body sailed effortlessly across the gap between skyscrapers, covering dozens of meters as if gravity barely acknowledged his existence. Landing lightly, he didn't pause; another powerful leap sent him flying toward the next rooftop. The insane numbers on his four attributes—just shy of a thousand each—made him a walking cheat code, capable of feats no ordinary human could even dream of. In this towering cityscape, he moved like it was his personal playground.
The others followed, each relying on their own methods.
"Haah!" Stone Irons let out a deep, booming shout, legs coiling like springs before propelling his massive frame forward. His movements weren't as effortless as Tony's, more brute force than finesse, but the man was a tank; the rooftop gaps were nothing he couldn't handle.
"Absolute Edict: Weightless as a Feather." Jiang Yu invoked her ability without hesitation. Her form shimmered, light as silk caught in the wind, and she drifted over the gap in a graceful arc, landing perfectly on the next rooftop. Her abilities had grown stronger after reaching First-Tier, enhancing her supportive prowess considerably.
Yuqing's face had gone pale. With her stats, she might barely manage the jump, but lugging around all her gear? That was asking for a miracle.
"Don't sweat it, rookie. Big sis has you covered," Wu Qianqian said with a cheeky grin. She slapped a hand on Yuqing's shoulder, activating her teleportation skill. In the blink of an eye, both women reappeared on a distant rooftop, several hundred meters away, easily outpacing the others.
But the triumph didn't last long. A blur of motion passed them moments later—Tony, already vaulting toward the next building with an easy smile. Yuqing's skill entered cooldown, leaving her grinding her teeth as she watched him pull ahead again.
The team moved like ghosts above the chaos below, racing through the city skies. They avoided direct engagement entirely, hopping rooftops, scaling towers, and staying clear of the infected swarm. Within twenty minutes, the sprawling metropolis of Morsea was behind them, replaced by the sparser terrain of the southern outskirts. Here, the high-rises gave way to smaller buildings, fewer escape routes, and a grim certainty—they'd soon be forced into direct combat.
First-Tier infected weren't like the weak zombies of Zero-Tier. These creatures were faster, stronger, and brutally resilient. They could tear through walls with bare hands, climb buildings like monstrous apes, and fight with terrifying ferocity.
"You guys handle the warm-up," Tony said calmly, tone almost lazy. He didn't bother hiding the fact that if he stepped in now, he'd take all the credit. There was no challenge in slaughtering small fry. The others understood immediately, nodding in silent agreement.
"Alright," Stone Irons grunted, dropping from the rooftop with a resounding boom. The impact cracked the asphalt beneath his boots, echoing like a drumbeat of war. The sound drew the infected like moths to a flame, guttural roars filling the air as they charged in droves. The ground trembled under the weight of their assault, like an army of rampaging trucks crashing forward.
Stone didn't flinch. His steel tower shield came up, braced like an unyielding fortress.
"BANG!" The first infected slammed into the shield with monstrous force, yet Stone stood rooted, unshaken. The onslaught continued, bodies hurling themselves at him with reckless abandon, but his SS-ranked defensive talent made him a wall even these beasts couldn't topple.
Boom! A distant shot cracked through the chaos. One infected's skull exploded like a melon, its body collapsing in a heap. Wu Qianqian lowered her sniper rifle from a nearby rooftop, twirling it playfully before lining up her next target.
Ratatatat! Yuqing descended from a nearby building, assault rifle blazing, each bullet finding its mark with surprising precision. For someone who had only touched a gun hours ago, her aim was almost unnatural. The power of awakened talents spoke for itself.
Jiang Yu moved like a phantom in the background, switching between offense and support seamlessly. Her Absolute Edicts bolstered Stone's stamina, kept him from buckling under the relentless blows, and occasionally sniped an infected that slipped past his shield. She was the backbone of their formation, filling every gap effortlessly.
Tony, meanwhile, strolled through the battlefield like it was a park on a sunny day. Blood sprayed, corpses fell, yet none of it touched him. His eyes gleamed as he analyzed their foes, reading them like an open book.
"Strength: one-eighty. Agility: one-seventy. Constitution: two hundred. Spirit: one-twenty," he murmured, voice barely above the carnage. Numbers clicked into place in his mind, not just for the infected, but for his teammates as well.
Yuqing was the weakest—seventy in strength, one-fifty in agility, one-thirty in constitution, seventy in spirit. Wu Qianqian's stats were balanced but sharp, with high mental acuity. Stone was a juggernaut, his constitution over four hundred. Jiang Yu's spirit was her greatest weapon, just shy of four hundred, making her a terrifying support caster.
But Yuqing's numbers didn't make sense. She'd been a normal human before this. Even after using all her crystals, she shouldn't have reached these levels.
"Must be a talent boost on tier promotion," Tony concluded internally. "E-rank usually gives plus five to all stats at Zero-Tier… First-Tier bumps it to plus fifty. S-tier would be a hundred, SS two hundred… so SSS would be… three hundred to everything?"
He filed the thought away. It wasn't envy—his own talent wasn't bound by fixed limits. His Innate Divinity grew endlessly, beyond caps, beyond rules. While others received set boosts, he could keep climbing forever.
The thought brought a grin to his face just as his system pinged.
[Skill Level Up!]
Sword Mastery: Level 9
Phantom Step: Level 9
"Perfect timing," he muttered, excitement bubbling under his calm exterior.
The group was making good progress clearing the area. Even Yuqing, despite her weaker stats, was holding her own. What she lacked in power, she made up for in grit and fast reactions. Ammo burned fast, but every bullet bought them space.
Suddenly, the ground shook. A towering figure stepped into view, a hulking infected nearly twice the height of the others. Its body bulged with corded muscle, eyes burning with primal rage.
"Elite incoming!" Jiang Yu's voice sharpened.
"Hold your buffs," Stone said darkly, planting his shield. "I wanna test my limits."
"ROOOAAAR!" The Elite charged, tossing lesser infected aside like ragdolls. Its hammer-sized fists came crashing down toward Stone with earth-splitting force.
His body glowed with radiant light as his defensive skill surged, turning him into an unbreakable bastion. The beast slammed into his shield with deafening booms, each impact sending shockwaves through the ground. Cracks spiderwebbed beneath his boots as his legs sank inches into the dirt, but he didn't budge.
Yet danger brewed. Jiang Yu's eyes widened as she spotted two more Elites barreling toward them, one ripping a sedan from the roadside and hefting it like a club.
"Not good…" she hissed.
Tony sighed, finally stepping in. One moment, he was standing still. Next, he blurred into motion, a streak of death tearing through the battlefield. Every infected in his path exploded in sprays of gore, bodies bending unnaturally under the sheer force of his passage.
He reached the car-wielding Elite just as it swung down. With a single, fluid motion, his massive greatsword appeared in his hands. The blade cleaved through the car like it was wet paper, slicing it clean in two. The strike didn't stop there—it carried on, splitting the monster from shoulder to hip in a single, brutal stroke.
Before the second Elite could even register the kill, Tony vanished and reappeared beside it. His sword sang once more, a horizontal arc of pure power. The creature's torso separated from its legs, sliding apart in slow motion before hitting the ground.
Two strikes. Two kills. Instant execution.
The battlefield fell eerily silent for a heartbeat, the smell of blood hanging heavy in the air.