Fre signalled Tris through the corners of his eye. Tris nodded her head and said, "Nature is calling me."

She walked away from her teammates and looked for a blind spot before she took a handgun with a silencer and aimed it at the alligator.

The zombified alligator is actually in the evolutionary phase, and it's hard shell is slowly shedding from its body. So, Kael, despite his frail body, didn't disturb the zombified alligator when he fell from the top of the bridge, as its hard shell had already shed from its body and absorbed all the impact.

But it's a different matter if a bullet is fired at it. While he thought everything was okay and he could slowly swim away from the zombified alligator...

Swoosh...

Crack...

Since he was on top of the shell, he heard the slight sound of cracking and turned to look at it.

"This small hole, it wasn't here before, right?" Kael murmured while rubbing his chin.

Suddenly, the hard shell below him started to shake violently, and cracks started to form on it. "Damn it, is it waking up?”

Kael cursed and didn't waste a second. He hurriedly jumped into the water and started swimming towards the land. He felt thankful to himself for learning to swim in his past life; he never thought it would come in handy at a crucial time like this.

Crack... Crack...

The zombified alligator completely cracked its hard shell and emerged. It was completely pissed off; someone had disturbed its evolutionary phase, and now its evolution had failed. It was angry, very angry.

The zombified alligator moved its head and spotted Kael, who was swimming towards the land at full speed.

Grrrroar...

It focused its anger on Kael and moved towards him at full speed.

"Damn it... damn it... It's coming... It's coming..." Kael raised the speed of his swimming while gasping for a large amount of air with his mouth.

Splatter... splatter...

Chomp... chomp...

Even though he was already so tired, he used every last ounce of energy in his body to dodge the incoming deadly bite. He felt dizzy and was on the verge of losing consciousness.

"No... no... I can't lose consciousness. I have to stay awake... I died before I lived to the fullest in my past... I have to live my current life to the fullest... I don't want to die again..." Kael gritted his teeth, and at that moment, he overcame his own limits.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Ahh..." He placed his hand on the land, but before he felt relieved, he experienced a sharp pain in his leg. The zombified alligator reached him and bit his leg.

With a 2000 PSI bite force, it tore his leg apart, and he felt dizzy. He used his hand as a shield for the incoming bite, but it tore his hand apart.

( PSI = Pound per Square Inch )

"Ahhh..." a blood-curdling scream escaped his mouth, his blood drenching the land and water.

His eyes bloodshot, all his past life traumas flashed through his mind. He reached out his hand to grasp his torn hand and used it to pierce into the zombified alligator's eyes.

Grrrroar...

A loud, painful shriek came from the zombified alligator. Kael didn't stop there; he kept stabbing the zombified alligator's head with his torn hand.

Blood flowed from its head, its lifeless body falling to the ground, water mixed with blood splattering all over the place.

He dragged his body from under the zombified alligator's head, completely drenched in blood, heavy blood loss pushing him to the verge of death.

[Host, congratulations on completing the mission successfully. You killed the zombified alligator, which was close to evolving into the level 2 zombie leader. Since you surpassed the mission objective, you triggered the bonus reward, "Complete Recovery."]

His body vibrated violently, and he felt a soothing energy flowing all over him. His torn hand and leg grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He felt refreshed and completely energized as he stood up and moved his newly grown hand and leg.

"Ha, I'm not a cripple, grew my hand and leg back," he murmured, tears sliding down his face.

[Host, you acquired the new title "Level 1 Zombie Leader." Do you want to equip your newly acquired title?]

Feeling ecstatic, Kael didn't think much and readily agreed, "Yes, I want to equip the title."

Unlike the soothing energy, this time a violent energy passed all over his body. The virus started to flow in his blood, genetic material merging with his DNA, slowly changing its color and shape. Spikes gradually grew on his body and his skin, his eyes turning to a crimson red color.

"Ah..." He held his head and released a painful scream, then slowly collapsed onto the ground on his knees.

The spikes retracted into his body, and his skin changed back to normal.

"Ha... ha... ha..." He gasped for a large amount of air, his whole body drenched in cold sweat.

His physique changed drastically, from a frail, skinny youth to a fit and fully-packed young man. Kael was surprised to see the curvy yet strong muscles on his body.

Everything has changed, from his height to his demeanor, all of his body is brimming with strength and energy.

"I don't feel pain anymore," Kael murmured while stretching his body.

But the five people who were observing everything from the shadows had their jaws drop to the ground, shocked to stupor.

"He... he... he became a variant," Baldy said, his body shaking violently.

"Why are you so scared? Didn't we already kill the variant before? He's alone, and we're a five-member team. Don't you think it's not impossible to face him when we have the advantage in numbers?" said Fre with a smug look on his face.

"Are you crazy? That time, we were only able to kill that variant because he was seriously injured and one inch close to the grave. Still, we sustained heavy injuries. Look at that variant, does he look like he's one inch close to his grave?"

Before Baldy could finish his sentence, Tris's shocked exclamation interrupted him.