After running down Woolwich Street for over 15 minutes, Kaius finally arrived in front of the police station. Along the way, Kaius saw the corpses of many soldiers. It seemed none of the soldiers in the platoon had survived.

The perfectly intact police station was no longer there, instead, it had turned into a half-crumbled building. Dark smoke came out of the broken windows. Various parts of the build were still on fire.

Kaius carefully made his way into the build. Looking at the devastating sight, Kaius guessed that Lieutenant Saunders had managed to execute his last resort and fired off the rocket launcher at Flicker.

Buried under the broken front counter were two bodies. Kaius immediately recognized them to be Lieutenant Saunders and Lucas.

A shattered iron shield lay beside Lieutenant Saunders’ body. Imbedded in the iron shield seemed to be the charred right arm of Flicker.

Turning to Lucas’ body, the lower half of his body was missing. It was as though something had forcefully ripped his body in two. A thick trail of blood led further into the police station.

“Your sacrifices won’t be in vain.” Kaius reached out his hand and closed the eyes of the two fallen soldiers.

Kaius quietly followed the bloody trail until he arrived outside the police chief’s office. Peering inside, Kaius saw Flicker hungrily devouring Lucas’ lower half body.

The instant Kaius poked his head inside, Flicker noticed his presence. Both parties stared at each other with a tense expression.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Flicker

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Zombie

Level

20

Health

Severely Injured

Mana

20/20

Strength

48 (-17)

Vitality

11 (-9)

Dexterity

68 (-32)

Intelligence

8 (-2)

Kaius observed Flicker carefully before making a move. Most of its right arm was missing. Countless wounds littered its entire body. Its legs looked mangled and charred.

“It’s still this fast even with its legs in this state?” Kaius thought to himself. Kaius quickly checked his mana and saw that it had recovered to a satisfactory level during the 15 minutes that it took to get here. With this much mana available, more options were now available to deal with Flicker.

Making the first move, Kaius summoned his entire undead army and cast his brand-new skill.

Nether Lord’s Aura!

Sinister waves of mana washed across the entire room. All of his undead creatures gained a 6% increase in all attributes, while Flicker had its attributes decreased by 6%.

The undead creatures fearlessly surrounded Flicker, blocking off all escape routes.

“Hisssss!!!”

Flicker let out a threatening hiss and ignored all the undead creatures, charging directly at Kaius.

Fully utilizing the combat style of a necromancer, Kaius commanded his undead army to swarm Flicker and tighten the encirclement.

Flicker slashed viciously with its left claw and tore through multiple undead creatures with every attack. However, for every undead creature that fell, two more filled the gap.

Angered, Flicker forced itself to activate its innate ability one more time. Blood oozed out of multiple wounds when its muscles tightened. With a burst of speed, Flicker temporarily broke through the encirclement and leaped in a straight line towards Kaius.

Flicker had a cruel smile on its face as it inched closer to Kaius. It knew that as long as it killed Kaius, all the surrounding undead creatures would lose control and become harmless to it. It was confident that this strike would take Kaius’ life since it had never failed to eliminate its target after using its innate ability so far.

However, the smile on Flicker’s face suddenly froze as a large shadow blotted its vision. Unexpectedly, the gigantic body of Bruiser suddenly appeared in front of Kaius. Not able to react in time, Flicker’s left claw pierced Bruiser’s body and got stuck inside.

“Get back in there!”

Sidestepping around Bruiser’s body, Kaius mustered up all his strength and smashed his right fist straight into Flicker’s ugly face.

“Arrrrhhhhh!”

Flicker wailed in pain as it was sent flying back into the horde of undead creatures. The zombies and skeleton warriors did not waste any time and piled themselves on top of Flicker’s body. There was even the level 10 and 12 Skeleton Soldiers to hold down its left claw and legs.

Although Flicker gained a speed boost due to its innate ability, it was already severely injured, so the increase in speed was a lot less than before. Additionally, in the limited space, it could only take a predictable path to Kaius. Hence, Kaius was able to retrieve Bruiser’s body from Fay’s Ring at the last second to use as a shield.

Flicker struggled to break itself free, but it couldn’t escape the hundred plus undead creatures that held it down.

Kaius walked in front of Flicker. He decided to try something out since Flicker was already weakened to a considerable extent.

Control Undead!

Dark mana surged from Kaius’ hand into Flicker’s glabella. Flicker jerked violently as more and more dark mana entered it. Kaius frowned slightly when he felt a consciousness trying to reject his mana.

However, with each passing second, the resistance became weaker and weaker, until it ceased altogether. Shortly after, Flicker stopped moving.

Kaius instantly felt a connection to Flicker similar to the connection he has with his other undead creatures.

Success!

Kaius willed and Flicker lowered its head before him in subservience.

“It worked!” Kaius was ecstatic. “Time to try out the other new skill.”

Nether Lord’s Blessing!

Thick strands of dark mana flowed into Flicker’s body and converged inside the center of Flicker’s chest. A raging whirlpool of mana had formed that spun faster and faster with each passing second. Gradually, the whirlpool of mana twisted into the shape of a sphere and began to congeal. After a few seconds, all movements had stopped, leaving behind a glossy, obsidian orb that pulsated with a strong beat.

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Kaius could feel his connection with Flicker had grown even stronger.

[Special undead obtained. Would you like to rename it?]

An unexpected System message sounded inside Kaius’ mind.

“A name?” Kaius pondered for a few seconds before turning his gaze towards Flicker. “From today onwards, your name shall be Cenos.”

Then, Kaius pointed at Bruiser’s corpse and commanded Cenos, “eat up.”

Without hesitation, Cenos pounced on Bruiser’s corpse and began to feast upon it. The Nether Core inside Cenos pulsated out endless amounts of dark mana to surround each piece of the consumed flesh, dissolving it and fusing it within Cenos’ body. With each piece of flesh consumed, Cenos felt its bones and muscles had strengthened, and its regenerative capabilities had been stimulated.

In a matter of minutes, Cenos had somehow been able to consume the entire Bruiser’s corpse. Like a little puppy, Cenos turned to look at Kaius with a pitiful gaze, as though begging for more.

“Aiiiii…” Kaius let out a long sigh and retrieved Devourer’s corpse from Fay’s Ring as well for Cenos to consume.

Cenos wasted no time and happily dug into Devourer’s corpse as well.

After another few minutes, Cenos sat back with a content expression as it rubbed its bloated belly.

Kaius wanted to give Cenos some commands, but he noticed that small strings of flesh started to protrude from Cenos’ body.

These small strings of flesh began to stretch further and grow thicker. After some time, they started to wrap themselves around Cenos, covering it up like a mummy. All this while, Cenos seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.

The strings of flesh stretched and expanded around Cenos until it was completely covered in a cocooned state.

Kaius walked up to the cocoon and placed his palm on it. He could feel a strong vitality growing inside of it.

“Is this the growth effect of Nether Lord’s Blessing?” Kaius wondered. “But I can’t keep waiting here until it’s finished growing.”

Kaius tried to store the cocoon inside Fay’s Ring, but nothing happened.

“Looks like this ring can only store non-living things. What about the Netherworld?”

With a thought, Kaius was able to dismiss the cocoon back to the Nether world and resummon it, just like he can with his other undead creatures.

“Grow well.” Kaius patted the cocoon and dismissed it back to the Netherworld.

Kaius walked out of the police station and commanded his undead creatures to spread out in the city and finish off any stray zombies.

In the meantime, Kaius went around the city and filled up Fay’s Ring with all sorts of supplies. He had found a new bike as well.

By the time he was done scavenging for supplies, it was already nightfall. Feeling fatigued from the long battle, Kaius decided to spend the night in one of the vacant houses.

This time, instead of sending out his undead army to kill zombies overnight like before, Kaius decided to keep them near his house as guards. He figured with the appearance of evolved zombies, he could use the extra layer of protection while he slept.

In the blink of an eye, morning had arrived.

Kaius woke up early and gathered his supplies while thinking of his future plans.

“Although most zombies had been eliminated in this city, a single hidden zombie could cause an outbreak again,” Kaius thought to himself. “I better go report the situation to the soldiers stationed in Milton so that they can come sweep the city and reclaim it.”

Kaius dismissed his undead army outside the house and rode his bike southeast on Highway 6.

The entire highway was empty except for a few abandoned cars. After riding for 30 minutes, Kaius finally arrived at the ramp that allowed him to merge onto Highway 401, where he would travel east for another hour before reaching Milton.

As Kaius got onto Highway 401, he was greeted by the sight of a group of haggard looking people resting on the highway. Upon closer observation, many of them had black eyebags under their eyes, a sign that they barely had any sleep the night before. Most of them also had nothing except the clothes on their backs.

A few people noticed Kaius’ arrival and were instantly on guard. However, seeing that it was a fellow human and not a zombie, they breathed a sign of relief.

One guy with glasses nervously questioned Kaius, “where did you come from? Were you bit anywhere?”

The word “bit” attracted the attention of everyone in the group.

“I came from Guelph. And no, I’m not infected,” Kaius responded calmly. “Where did you guys come from?”

“We were originally from Cambridge,” glasses guy answered. “In the middle of the night, the city got attacked by hundreds of zombies. Those of us lucky enough managed to escape the city.”

Kaius frowned deeply after hearing this piece of news.

“Cambridge has Kitchener-Waterloo to shield it from any zombie attacks. I guess this means that Kitchener-Waterloo got overrun by the zombie horde,” he thought to himself.

The woman beside the glasses guy asked, “is Guelph… still safe?”

“No,” Kaius shook his head. “Guelph was also attacked by a zombie horde. Luckily, we noticed the zombie horde early and managed to evacuate everyone. However, all the soldiers stationed there is no more.”

Hearing the dejecting news, many people began to complain.

“What should we do?”

“Where do we go now?”

“Mommy, I’m tired and hungry.”

“Just bear with it for a while longer, sweetie.”

“All of you should head east to Milton,” Kaius shouted out loud. “There’s a company of soldiers stationed there. Since it’s far away from any portals, it should be the safest place around here.”

The group of people breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this piece of good news. Everyone promptly got ready to head east.

Kaius did not wait for them and went ahead. Several people looked on with envy as Kaius rode past them on his bike.

After riding for an hour, Kaius arrived at the northwest entrance to Milton. He did not sneak back into the city this time because he needed to deliver news regarding Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Cambridge to the soldiers guarding this entrance.

“Halt!” A blonde-haired soldier guarding the entrance shouted at Kaius.

Kaius got off his bike and delivered his news to the soldiers.

“I have some urgent information to share with your captain. I was in Guelph visiting my friend yesterday. Everyone got evacuated when we heard news of an impending zombie horde attack. On my way here, I came across some residents from Cambridge and they said their city got attacked by zombies as well. The soldiers in Guelph told us that a zombie horde was headed to Kitchener-Waterloo. So, there’s a high chance that the zombie horde overcame the defenses in Kitchener-Waterloo and continued to Cambridge.”

“Hm. We already received news about Guelph from other Guelph residents that evacuated here earlier,” the blonde-haired soldier nodded. “We couldn’t contact the platoon in Kitchener-Waterloo since last night, so your guess is probably correct. I’ll escort you to the hospital for an examination to confirm you’re not infected, then lead you to go brief Captain Diaz.”

The blonde-haired soldier led the way. After a while, they arrived at Milton District Hospital.

The main waiting area is overcrowded with people. Only a few people are here to treat their illnesses. Most people are Guelph residents waiting their turn to be examined and confirmed to be uninfected.

The blonde-haired soldier led Kaius to a particular examination room and headed straight inside.

“Dr. Monroe, I need you to do an examination on this guy right away.”

A beautiful female doctor could be seen disinfecting medical tools inside the examination room. The doctor turned around and nodded, “Sure, I was just preparing to see the next patient.”

Turning to look at her new patient standing behind the blond-haired soldier, the doctor exclaimed with delight.

“Kaius! You’re safe!”

“You know this guy?” questioned the blonde-haired soldier.

“Yes, he saved my life,” the doctor replied.

“Good to see you again Kayla,” said Kaius with a smile. “I assume the other three guys also got here safely?”

“Yes, all thanks to you,” Kayla smiled back.

Seeing how happy Kayla is at meeting Kaius, the blonde-haired soldier couldn’t help but get a little jealous.

“Examine him quickly. I need to take him to see Captain Diaz right away,” interrupted the blonde-haired soldier.

“Ok, I’ll send him out once I’m done,” said Kayla. “You can leave now.”

The blonde-haired soldier left with an unhappy expression and shut the door behind him.

“Was it alright to speak to him like that?” Kaius asked in amusement.

“That guy doesn’t know how to take a hint,” Kayla said in exasperation. “I’ve already turned him down multiple times, but he kept bothering me.”

Switching the subject, Kayla spoke in her professional doctor’s voice, “Kaius, I know you’re way too strong to ever get bitten by a measly zombie, but I still need to examine you as part of the protocol, ok?”

“No problem,” Kaius nodded.

“Good. Now, take off your clothes.”

…

A few hours earlier.

The city of Kitchener-Waterloo was situated 25km southwest of Guelph. The once vibrant city now lay in ruins. Dark smoke rose from buildings that were still burning with fire. The streets that bustled with activity was now devoid of all life. Numerous dried patches of blood littered all over the ground. Countless zombies roamed the city, hungrily searching for fresh human corpses to devour.

The city had fallen to the zombie horde.

A large pile of human corpses had been gathered in the city center.

One Bruiser, Flicker, and Devourer could be seen on one side of the pile, leisurely shoving pieces of human flesh into their mouths.

On the other side of the pile, another group of evolved zombies consisting of a Bruiser, Flicker, and Devourer could be seen!

Due to a stroke of bad luck, two different zombie hordes had assaulted the city from two different directions.

The second zombie horde caught the soldiers in the city by surprise, and the defenses of the city crumbled within minutes.

One particular zombie was happily munching on its 300th human corpse. This zombie used to be a resident in the town of Wingham. His name was Bob, and he was a builder. He got bitten by a zombie when the portals first appeared on Earth and had somehow survived as a zombie until now.

Bob was busy having his meal when he started to feel something strange happen to his body. In the next second, Bob froze and fell on his side, as though he had been paralyzed. After a few seconds, he began twitching uncontrollably.

His bones cracked and his skin withered at a rate visible to the naked eye. His entire body started to shrink in size.

His skull also cracked under pressure, while his head bulged like an inflated balloon. Purplish veins bulged on his forehead.

Lucky for Bob, he was a zombie, so he couldn’t feel anything from all these painful transformations to his body.

A while later, everything came to an end. Bob’s body had shrunk to the size of a six-year-old. His head swelled to twice the size of an adult’s head. His disproportionate body and head size gave him a comical look.

Bob wobbled as he tried to stand up.

[Conditions fulfilled.]

[Evolution successful.]

A series of messages from the System sounded out inside Bob’s head.

Bob looked around curiously. His eyes were no longer murky like the other zombies, instead, it shone brightly with intelligence.

“Waaaaahhh!”

Bob wailed loudly.

All the regular zombies and evolved zombies within a certain radius instinctively responded to Bob’s call and started to gather around him.

Soon, Bob was surrounded by exactly a thousand zombies, including six evolved zombies, that seemed to be waiting for his next command.

The remaining zombies, however, ignored Bob and continued to make their way southeast to the city of Cambridge.

“Wah!”

Bob yelled once more. One of the Bruisers carefully lifted him up with both of its hands and placed him on its right shoulder.

“Wah!”

Bob pointed to a direction. All the zombies obeyed like loyal puppets and headed east towards Milton.