The louder the noise, the better.
Even though Lucas Kane had just gained two powerful new skills, making him far more confident in dealing with these mutant zombies, caution was still his creed.
The fewer mutant zombies he faced at once, the lower the risk of injury — and the higher his chances of survival.
Even as an Awakened, he wasn't immune to the zombie virus. That alone forced him to stay vigilant.
"Lupo, take the one on the ground. I'll handle the one on the ceiling," Lucas murmured, patting the wolf's thick, muscled back.
Woof!
Lupo flicked his tail. In his enlarged state, even that casual motion packed a stinging force; when it brushed Lucas's arm, it left a sharp, hot pain.
"Go!"
At the command, Lupo shot forward, his speed now a clear notch above what it had been before. His massive frame smashed through the glass door, a paw the size of a cooking pot slamming down onto the crawler's back.
A sharp, grating chitter came from above — the ceiling crawler had noticed Lupo and was just about to strike.
Lucas activated Frenzy.
It was like someone had slammed a surge of raw energy straight into his veins. His pupils dilated, pores opened, and an overwhelming rush of aggression swelled from within.
Haaah!
He leapt higher and farther than he thought possible, his Tang Blade cleaving down in a single, devastating arc.
The crawler on the ceiling was sliced clean in two before it could even scream. One strike. One kill.
From the corner of his eye, Lucas caught sight of the crawler at the elevator entrance charging toward him, while the long-haired monstrosity — the Venom Broodmother — slowly turned its head.
It had a face that looked half-melted, sagging skin as if it were about to slide off. Its mouth stretched grotesquely wide, corners pulled all the way toward the ears.
Disgusting didn't even begin to cover it.
Splutch!
The Venom Broodmother, slow in movement but deadly at range, opened its maw and spat a ball of viscous green liquid toward Lucas.
Perfect.
Lucas sidestepped the pouncing crawler and, in one smooth motion, grabbed its legs. With a powerful yank, he swung the crawler into the path of the incoming spit.
Splatt!
The corrosive slime splashed across the crawler's back, making it shriek in agony as smoke rose from the sizzling wound.
This stuff was dangerous — if it touched bare skin, the results would be catastrophic.
A system prompt flashed:
[If you think it's only acid, you're wrong. That glob is packed with venomous spawn. The Venom Broodmother didn't get its name for nothing!]
Venomous spawn?
Lucas kicked the crawler hard, sending it flying more than ten meters.
The Frenzy boost was intoxicating — it felt like his strength had jumped an entire tier. These crawlers were little more than toys to him now.
As the crawler tumbled, a green, spider-like creature scuttled out from its back, ready to lunge at Lucas — only to be crushed beneath the crawler's falling body and dragged across the floor, leaving a long streak of dark-green slime.
The thing was dead instantly. Fragile body, deadly to touch, but easy to kill if hit.
Guwaa! Guwaa!
The Broodmother spat again, two more globs of acid sailing toward Lucas. Without his crawler "shield," he dove forward, covering several meters in a blink and avoiding both shots.
He didn't even consider blocking with his riot shield — wasting equipment against unknown corrosives was asking for trouble. Shields were for emergencies, not experiments.
One spit hit the wall, the other the floor; both surfaces began to bubble and smoke, the marble corroding into pits within seconds.
From the acid pools, two more palm-sized, four-legged venom spawn crawled out, skittering toward him, leaving smoking footprints in their wake.
Annoying creatures.
Lucas closed the distance on the wounded crawler, raising his Tang Blade and cleaving it cleanly in two before it could react.
The venom spawn chased him, but their small size meant they couldn't keep up.
Another spit from the Broodmother struck the glass wall of the gym, eating through it in moments and letting one of the venom spawn inside. It promptly chewed a hole back out to join the attack.
Enough was enough.
The longer he delayed, the more of these creatures there would be — and that tilted the fight away from him.
Activate Skill: Energy Burst Strike!
A surge of blue light flared from Lucas's left palm, compressing into a beam that roared forward like something straight out of a battle manga.
The blast slammed into the Broodmother's swollen belly.
Sizzle... BOOM!
It burst like an overripe water balloon, spraying corrosive slime in every direction and filling the mall with an acrid stench.
As the mother fell, the venom spawn shrieked once before collapsing lifeless to the ground.
So that was the trick — kill the source, and all its spawn died with it.
Good thing there had only been one of these. Multiple Broodmothers, each spewing dozens of untouchable venom spawn, could have been an absolute nightmare.
By now, Lucas's fight was over — and so was Lupo's.
The wolf, flanked by his two battle-enlarged cub summons, had surrounded the last crawler. Both its arms had been torn off, one leg missing entirely. It was covered in wounds.
The wolves ripped and tore at it until a sharp snap marked the breaking of its spine. The crawler's body was split into three chunks, limp and lifeless.
It wasn't even a fight — it was a hunt, and Lupo's pack was feasting.
For a brief moment, Lucas almost felt sorry for the thing.