Chapter 41: Battle at the gate

Senh looked up sluggishly.

At that moment, Seana looked like an angel standing before him. Too bad he couldn’t thank her, because he already knew what awaited him.

He was turning into one of those monsters.

"Stay away from him!" Leah said frantically, backing away. "He was scratched by a zombie! He’s turning into one!"

"We should kill him immediately!" she added, her voice shrill with terror.

Senh couldn’t believe it. The little girl he had protected with his life ever since the outbreak started could actually do this to him.

An earthen hand suddenly erupted from the asphalt, rushing straight toward Senh. Daniel had acted without hesitation.

BOOM!

Before the earthen hand could crush Senh, a black spear swept across the battlefield like a thunderbolt, shattering the concrete fist into harmless dust.

Nyren and the surrounding awakened fighters turned toward Lothe with confused, startled expressions.

"Don’t be so quick to act," Lothe said casually, catching his spear as he stepped forward. "He hasn’t turned into a zombie yet."

Daniel frowned, pulling his hands back. "Why prolong his suffering when we already know the outcome? At least he can die while preserving his human dignity."

"Such righteousness," Lothe muttered without even glancing at him, his dark eyes fixed on Senh while his [Spatial Perception] mapped every micro-vibration in the air.

"He hasn’t turned yet. That means his body is actively fighting the venom. If he succeeds, who knows what might happen?"

Seana immediately caught Lothe’s line of thought. "Yeah. The transformation should have taken seconds, but it hasn’t. His organs are still fighting the venom."

Her eyes studied Senh carefully.

If a human could resist the zombie venom through sheer mental fortitude, could they awaken a System and gain an ability instead of turning? That would be a massive turning point for humanity—proving that an infection wasn’t an absolute death sentence. She analysed.

"Impossible," Oren sneered, nocking an arrow and drawing his bowstring to his ear. "Who have you ever seen survive after being scratched or bitten by a zombie?"

"I said no one touches him," Lothe stepped directly into Oren’s line of sight, his voice dropping into an icy register. "Then no one touches him."

At that moment, Seana understood her role. She stepped up beside Senh, casually placing her hand on his bloody shoulder.

Beneath her sleeve, her [Blood Manipulation] secretly activated, guiding her own Qi into his bloodstream to help his body purge and resist the viral venom.

No one else noticed the subtle crimson energy entering his veins.

"Run," Seana whispered.

Senh stared at her in disbelief, feeling a sudden surge of warmth returning to his limbs.

GRRR!

A mutated wolf lunged toward them from the side. Senh didn’t have time to ask questions. He simply nodded, mustered every drop of energy left in his body, and sprinted in the opposite direction, disappearing around the corner toward the inner campus structures.

Oren watched him go, lowering his bow slightly. "I didn’t know some humans could be this heartless."

SHING!

Oren released his bowstring, the arrow piercing the skull of the incoming wolf mid-air. He turned his eyes toward Seana. "Is this the kind of person you choose to follow?"

Seana finally turned her gaze to him, her face devoid of emotion. "And you are?"

Oren’s expression stiffened instantly, caught off guard by her complete dismissal.

Before he could speak, Adrian stepped between them. "Okay. Rather than wasting time arguing about baseless things, use that strength to survive. Because we’re going to need it."

At that moment, Leah noticed the group of elites. Her eyes widened when she recognized the Academy Student President, Nyren Ashford, alongside several of the campus’s most prominent figures.

Suppressing her rapidly beating heart, she scrambled toward Nyren. "Senior Nyren!"

Her eyes briefly darted toward Oren, seeking protection. But Nyren didn’t even glance at her, her attention already fully focused on the approaching horde.

Oren, meanwhile, looked toward Seana again, his expression carrying a lingering interest he couldn’t hide.

Lothe caught the look. A sharp, unpleasant sting stirred in his chest—jealousy. He didn’t like the way Oren looked at her at all.

Before anyone could say anything further—

GRAGHHHH!

The guttural roars of hundreds of approaching zombies echoed across the boulevard, shattering the brief lull.

Without needing another word, everyone charged back into the fray.

Awakened abilities exploded across the front line.

Nyren waved her hand as Ice spears shot through the air at incredible speed, thicker and sharper than before, freezing the ground wherever they passed.

The same ice energy gathered in a female student’s hand, forming a sleek ice blade that she drove straight through a lunging wolf’s neck.

Adrian didn’t lag behind. Observing Lothe’s combat style from earlier battles, he had realized that relying purely on flashy superpowers drained too much Qi. Instead, he channeled his internal Qi into the sword he had obtained from the orb.

SHING!

Golden sword light wrapped around his steel blade. He swung in a wide arc, cleanly decapitating three zombies at once. Adrian looked at the golden glow with a sharp grin, pressing forward with renewed vigor.

Oren raised his composite bow and released a single arrow.

Phewwwww!

Mid-flight, his ability activated. The single arrow multiplied—

one became three, three became six, six became thirteen! A rain of green glowing arrows tore through the battlefield, each one precisely piercing a zombie skull or a beast’s eye.

"So cool," Melody muttered under her breath, watching the display before shaking her head and focusing on her own battle.

Daniel smashed his hands together. Earthen spears erupted from the road, while two massive hands made of compressed soil rose from the ground, clapping together and crushing dozens of zombies into pulp.

Diego charged with his broadsword, while Professor Sy and Lucan fought in tandem, Lucan’s spinning circular blade slicing through anything that got too close.

For a brief moment, the surviving students watching from the steps felt hope return to their chests.

They’re so strong... Maybe we can make it.

Then, their eyes drifted past the front line toward the far end of the horde.

The 30-meter spiked behemoth still stood motionless among the ruined high-rises, watching the battle like a general overlooking an army. Beside it, the 15-meter armored centipede hovered near its burrow, its dozens of crimson eyes coldly calculating every casualty.

The survivors’ hearts sank back into despair.

Fear. Panic. Helplessness.

Lothe and Seana joined the main offensive. They didn’t need words; their synergy was effortless.

Purple Qi surged from Lothe’s Inferno Dragon Spear, paired with the crimson arcs of Seana’s Blood Moon Sword.

SHING!

Invisible [Spatial Blades] tore through the air, bisecting mutated beasts before they could reach the line.

NoSeana seized the airborne blood, shaping it into crimson spikes that skewered three zombies simultaneously.

System notifications flashed continuously across Lothe’s vision:

[You have killed a Level 2, Tier 2 Phantom Hyena.]

[You have absorbed its Qi.]

[+50 EXP]

[You have killed a Level 2, Tier 3 Zombie.]

[+50 EXP]

Lothe ignored the text, his spear moving faster, cleaner, and more lethal. He moved like a god of war across the ruined and bloody battlefield. Right now, Level 2 and Level 3 monsters couldn’t even slow him down.

Suddenly—

[You have successfully broken through to Level 3, Tier 1.]

[All Stats have leveled up.]

Lothe’s dark eyes flashed with purple energy. Good. More power to break out of this trap.

BOOOOOOM!!

A massive shockwave erupted from the center of the boulevard, sending a geyser of pulverized concrete and dust surging thirty feet into the sky.

Everyone paused, shielding their eyes from the debris.

As the dust slowly cleared, a tall silhouette emerged from the crater.

Groan...

General Ashford slowly stood upright, wiping dark blood from his mouth.

A dense, blinding shroud of white Qi swirled around his frame—far thicker and more pressurized than when he was in the sky. His uniform was torn, but his eyes burned like white stars.

A blue system notification flickered across his vision, announcing his own breakthrough after slaying the Wyvern.

The Iron General looked around the battlefield, his eyes locking onto the horde, then toward his children.

His lips curved into a cold, unyielding smile.

"Now... let’s clean up this mess."