"Damn it, I can't believe they tricked me without me noticing. Did you guys…" he turned and saw them on the ground playing cards.
"Hey! We are on a mission, and you are busy playing?" he barked.
"We all planned it during the party night, three weeks ago. Their job is to ensure we have as many points as possible from low-level threats. Our group is mainly clinical finishers that can turn the tide in our favor when needed the most, so we have to wait. So calm down, will ya?" Ema explained.
"That's fine. If I can hit a hundred points before the 4-day challenge is over, I'll pass," he whispered to himself.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"Nothing. Let's just focus on getting intel from the others to help us prepare," he said, turning to the rest.
"Hey, Jeremy!" he called out.
"It's Nick, and he went with Ajay to set his drone. We'll receive info from it," Candidate #1 revealed.
Amoah sighed, then looked at the devastated city and exhaled his anger.
Far from the entrance, the second squad patrolled the eastern part of the giant city.
"Enemies detected, 200 meters ahead," Jugo warned.
"Stay alert, squad. Enemies inbound." Lyra's voice cut through the tension. She drew two hatchets from her belt and darted forward at lightning speed, leaving her crew struggling to keep up.
The others picked up pace to catch her…
After a short while, Lyra met the gaze of a zombie, and it didn't hesitate to charge. Its decayed body peeled as it ran.
"A regular zombie. Bring it," she said.
The zombie swung its left hand at her. Seeing it coming, she sliced it and shifted behind, beheading it cleanly. Blood gushed like water bursting from a cracked pipeline. She thrust her machete into another zombie hiding nearby. With eagle eyes, she spotted multiple zombies lurking in the rubble in a circle, as if trying to trap her.
Lyra strode into the open, drawing out a new gleaming hatchet from her belt. They snarled and lunged at her.
"Let the fun begin…"
---
On the western section, Jason's group stopped by four giant store buildings infested with zombies.
These zombies emerged from the buildings after sensing humans. Some jumped from higher floors to reach them first but fell apart due to soft skin.
"So many of them in one place," Candidate #1 said, a smile on his face.
"This is our opportunity to gather a lot of points," he concluded.
"Right. So let's not die in this easy round." Jason tapped his watch, his fist sinking into nanotech-wrapped gloves.
One member raised his missile launcher, aiming at the building, ready to launch, with a smile on his face—but his teammates glared at him with a miffed expression.
"Huh?"
The lady next to him grabbed the launcher.
"Spare this fight for us. We all want a piece of these zombies," she said, lowering it.
Jason darted toward a zombie.
"Thunder Punch!"
The zombie opened its mouth, trying to catch the punch—but before it could fully connect, its head began to tear apart from the force.
Green blood spattered across the rubble as the body writhed.
Jason stood stiff and motionless as the zombies approached him.
The gunners in the group aimed and shot at them, preventing them from reaching their captain.
"Ake, blow them up. Best option," Jason growled, with zombie blood clinging to his face, sticky and foul.
Ake triggered the launcher; a missile streaked out at incredible speed, clashing with one building, but the explosion tore through all four.
"Ahh… so satisfying," he proclaimed, a proud grin spreading across his face.
"Yeah, right. Which means he passed, right Jason?" the lady asked.
"But if we don't hit 1,000 points, he will fail," Jason answered.
"Hone," he called to his AI assistant.
"Yo," it replied.
"How many zombies are in the combat trials?" he asked.
"There are four rounds, each with at least 300 zombies. Your squad has achieved 178 kills so far, including Lyra and Ron. There are still 12 zombies trapped in the rubble; I advise neutralizing them immediately," the AI stated.
"Woow, Xelnon watches are cool, and very helpful," Ake praised.
"Thanks. I hope the information is useful to you," the AI replied.
"Four days, huh? How is this test difficult with the amount of time we have?" Jason wondered, as the crew grew anxious.
At the entrance squad, Amoah watched the kill count increase to 205.
"It seems Ron, Lyra, and Ake are having a lot of fun," he muttered, clenching his fist.
The others switched to video games.
"He's been standing for an hour. Doesn't he get tired?" Nick remarked.
Everyone looked at Amoah, who finally sat down.
"I will wait… for now," he whispered, placing his sticks in front of him and closing his eyes.
The battlefield shimmered. The view pulled back through layers of code into a vast hall alive with machinery. Rows of computers glowed dimly. Ten technicians tracked contestants' activities. Two guards stood at the entrance.
A tall man with blazing red hair stood before them, white uniform immaculate, a long cape draped down his back.
"Commander Reed, Group 7 has lost four warriors. It seems the others murdered comrades to draw out zombies," a technician for Group 7 announced.
"Let them continue. We will discuss this after the test," he smiled. "Seems these kids learned after all."
All the remaining technicians gave their results.
Now it was Group Ten, Jason's group.
"Group 10 has divided into three teams. So far, two teams are doing exceptionally well, but the last hasn't registered any kills," a technician reported.
"These kids nowadays have grown fearless and cocky. It seems our era was a bunch of scared and untrained candidates—that's why we failed. Deploy the Phangi-type zombies," Reed ordered.
The glow of the monitors washed over the technicians, ghosting their faces as silence gripped the hall.
"Do you really want us to unleash a Level 4 monster into the trials? How will they—?" Technician #1 stammered.
"They have illegal weapons. We need higher-level monsters to see if they are cut out for the job, especially for groups 7 and 10," Reed replied, his stance widening as a menacing expression twisted his face.
The technicians quickly spun to their keyboards.
---
On the battlefield, Lyra switched gears with her giant battle axe, Lexur, spinning and lacerating multiple zombies at once.
A tiny ball of light flew by, hitting a zombie attempting to sneak from behind, setting it ablaze.
She glared, then beheaded it cleanly. She turned.
"Thanks, Eric," she said.
Eric, shorter and muscular, held a bouncing smoke grenade.
"Anytime."
He threw it toward a group of zombies. Smoke billowed from it, trapping the zombies before he threw a lighter, setting them ablaze.
"That's why I'm nicknamed Flamethrower," he said, grabbing his next gadget.
Thunder struck overhead.
Lyra stood over a zombie while a comrade used a chainsaw-blade spear to cleave another.
"And that's the last one," she confirmed, glancing at her watch.
[300 / 300. Round one completed.]
"If they thought this was difficult, it's way too easy," she said as thunder struck seven times simultaneously.
A deafening roar shook the air. A seven-foot monster emerged, standing tall on a roof, its humanoid features, a skull elongated backward, a gaping maw lined with razor-sharp teeth. Skin faintly translucent, stretched tight over muscle and sinew. Each fist bore four long, curved claws, and its digitigrade feet were built for brutal, agile movement.
It gazed at them and smiled.
"That's a Phangi."
All of squad two watched in pale horror—except Lyra, who gazed back, unfazed.
In the center section of GhostCity, a giant green goblin stood 14 feet tall, wearing a torn garment and red beads. Its protruding belly bounced as it moved. Behind it, an army of 5-foot zombie goblins followed.
"Finally, a worthy opponent," Ron clenched his hammer. His squad loaded weapons for full-scale war.
On the western part of GhostCity, Jason's squad faced the Phangi army.
At the entrance, a loud roar reached them. All the gaming candidates stopped, their attention shifting to Amoah as he opened his eyes.
"Finally," he growled.