CHAPTER 264: WAR OF THE LIVING DEAD

The flames along the blasted pit still burned, casting long, jagged shadows over the battlefield. A heavier rhythm soon drowned out the groans of the undead, the thudding stomp of the Stage Fours as they advanced.

Even from here, I could see the difference.

These weren’t just bigger versions of the earlier stages; their movements were calculated, measured, and resembled a skilled human weaving through a mine field.

The Command-Type’s head turned slightly, and in response, the hulking shapes split into three groups: one for the west wall, one for the north, and a smaller, more specialised pack coming straight for us.

Roulan didn’t hesitate. "John, if they break this wall, the inner block is gone. We can’t afford to let them touch it."

"Then we don’t let them touch it."

Li Ya spun her halberd in a lazy circle, its haft leaving faint afterimages of flame in the air. "Guess we’ll see who’s the better butcher tonight."

Tang Wei dropped a shell into her shotgun with a click. "If you can keep count while fighting Stage Fours, be my guest."

The first Brute smashed into the remaining barbed wire like it was candy floss, ploughing straight through before vaulting half the wall’s height with a single jump. Two Blade types followed, springboarding off its back, they flipped across the battlement in a whirl of bone and red light.

Before they could adjust, I met the first one with my gauntlet, the reinforced strike shattering its jaw and sending it tumbling off the wall.

The second landed behind me, close enough to strike, before Tang Wei’s body wrapped around mine. Clack! She placed her Sawed-Off shotgun to its mouth and... BOOM! A point-blank blast saved me from losing my head.

"Close one, dear," she muttered, ejecting the spent shells, while leaning her sweaty back against me... so soaked it seeped through the bodysuit.

"I owe you one, Wei-Wei."

"Of course you do, I’ll take the payment later."

Li Ya rushed along the wall, engaging the Brute directly. Flames poured down the edge of her halberd like an overfilled goblet as she hacked into its knee, dropping the massive zombie low enough for her to drive the weapon through its throat.

She tore it free in a blast of fire, sending the corpse and several State Three Hunters into the horde below.

"Damn it, there’s no end to them!"

On the north wall, through the haze, I could just make out Qinglan dancing through the horde, her sword flashing like black lightning. Yifei’s spear spun beside her in perfect rhythm, the two cutting down Stage Two and Three Hunters before they could leap over the defenders.

But the west wall was buckling. The command type concentrated its influence there, and the mutants worked together seamlessly, Brute battering a single point, while Blades cleared defenders from the top.

"Roulan!" I called. "Rotate towards the west, take most of the men, we can hold here."

"J-John!?" Her eyes looked towards the massive horde climbing the wall, biting her lips before she shook her head. "Be Safe!"

"That’s my girl."

I knew that she worried... the majority of the stronger zombies swarmed this wall, while the massive horde went for the West. If one were to compare the total strength of each force... The West was a mass of weak zombies.

She didn’t argue any further and the orders spread, within seconds boots pounded across the walkways, squads peeling to the north and west walls.

The Command-Type’s gaze slid toward me, then smiled.

A slow, curling stretch of lips over rotting teeth.

"John..." Tang Wei’s voice was quieter than her usual sharp tone. "I think it’s Figured out you’re the danger."

I chambered another round, never looking away from that blue-skinned monster.

"Then I guess I’ll have to figure it out first."

Because with everyone leaving...

I snagged a Double Gatling cannon for myself!

***

The Double Gatling cannon was still warm from earlier volleys, the steel casing vibrating faintly in my grip. Two belts of fresh ammo hung heavy at my side, the rounds glinting in the torchlight.

Tang Wei glanced at it and gave a short laugh. "Guess you were planning to hog the fun all along."

"No, Wei-Wei," I said, locking the cannon into the wall mount and snapping the feed belts into place. "I’m planning to turn that Command-Type into paste."

The barrel spun up with a deep, mechanical whine.

"This is what I am talking about!"

The smaller Stage Four pack was almost at the base of our wall now, a mix of Blades and Brutes, with one Hunter darting in and out like a shadow. The Command-Type lingered just behind them, never coming close enough for a clean shot.

"Li Ya, keep those Blades off me," I called.

She grinned. "With pleasure."

The first mutant leapt — a Blade, its arms flashing down toward my chest. Li Ya’s halberd intercepted mid-swing, sparks bursting as the flame-qi wrapped weapon sheared through bone. The thing shrieked as she kicked it clear of the wall.

"Clear!"

I squeezed the trigger.

The Gatling roarer, spitting lead into the advancing Stage Fours with brutal force. A Brute staggered under the hail, armour-like flesh peeled away in chunks as the armour-piercing rounds ripped apart its chest. A Hunter tried to weave in, but Tang Wei’s Shotgun shells took it clean between the eyes before it reached us.

[Gained EXP]

[Gained ZKP]

The Command-Type didn’t flinch.

Its eyes locked on me, glowing brighter, and suddenly the Brutes began using the corpses as moving cover, advancing in perfect sync.

"They’re shielding it!" Tang Wei snapped, already cycling her next round.

"I see it." I shifted fire, tearing the cover away piece by piece, but the monster stayed just out of reach.

Until it moved just a step too far, the screaming bullets tore through the horde, points rapidly increasing as it skittered up the corpse ramp like a spider. Not towards me, but the western flank, like a coward.

"Not a chance," I growled, breaking the cannon from its mount. "Ugh...!"

Even with my current strength, this turret weighed a ton... literally.

"John!?" Tang Wei’s voice followed, but I was already moving, dragging the cannon to a new firing angle, bracing the weight against the wall’s edge.

I led the target, feeling the recoil in my bones, and opened up. The first stream of rounds chewed apart its escorts, the second tore through the ramp it climbed, sending it tumbling into the mass below.

It scrambled up with a slower pace, wounded!

"Hahahah! That’s right," I didn’t know how I spoke, but my cackle and excited laugh echoed in my ringing ears. "Keep your eyes on me."

The battle raged on around us without stopping. Li Ya cleaved through another Brute, Tang Wei’s gunfire sharp and relentless, but I focused on that blue-skinned bastard.

I wasn’t going to let it walk away.

The barrels finally spun to a whining halt, smoke curling from the scorched metal. Both belts hung empty, links clattering to the stones at my feet.

"Out."

I didn’t waste another second. The Double Gatling clanged to the ground as my hand reached over my shoulder and drew the black bastard sword — a weapon forged for cleaving armour and bone alike. The edge caught the torchlight in a dull gleam, hungry for work.

"Cover me!"

This weapon wasn’t special like the other girls it was just an item from the shop with maximum sharpness and durability... not to mention weight.

This thing was over 100kg.

Li Ya’s body swept across me, her hand slipping along my crotch as she looked back with a wink. "I got ya!" Her halberd swept through a blade type’s throat, as Tang Wei stomped on a Brute, gun to its head. Bang!

Then without a word, I vaulted into the mass of zombies where the blue bastard fled.

The wind ripped at my ears before I hit the mound of corpses below with a wet, crunching thud. The smell was suffocating, like milk, meat, and fish left in a hot environment for months, then dumped in a latrine.

"Fuck!"

The first Stage Two lunged; my sword came down in a two-handed arc, cleaving through skull and chest in one brutal motion. I stepped into the swing, letting the momentum carry me through a second, then pivoted, blade lower, to shear the legs from a Brute trying to flank me.

The horde closed around me like a giant maw, the Brutes and Blades its teeth.

Good.

I didn’t have to care about my surroundings; my body hissed as the four elements seeped through my pores. My Qi caused vibrations in the air as I gripped my sword with both hands, ready to fight.

My strikes were deliberate and focused.

A rising cut split a Hunter in half mid-air. A downward chop shattered a Blade’s arm before I drove the point through its throat. My boots slid over the wet corpses, but my footing never broke. I advanced, always moving towards the blue glow cutting through the mass of flesh.

"I’m coming for you!"

The Command-Type saw me. It’s massive brain swelling, eyes flared bright with a strange reaction more and more zombies rushed at me like flies. The zombies shifted in their path, forming a wall of muscle, bone and decay.

But I smashed through them!

"DON’T RUN!"

I roared, blade cleaving a group of Stage Three trash.

He was right there. If I managed to kill the bastard, then those men on the walls won’t die anymore... they’ll stand a better chance of survival!

So I ran.

Charging into the maws of death itself.