Chapter 173: Everyone Goes Berserk

Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Everyone Goes Berserk

The group locked their eyes on the enraged Tier Four Zombie, not daring to let their guard down for a second. Superpowers and artillery fire continued to bombard its open wound. But suddenly, the monster dropped low, pressing its entire body flat against the ground! The majority of its bleeding wound was now pressed tightly against the snow, reducing their attack angle to just a small sliver on its left side.

With their target area drastically reduced, the group had no choice but to abandon their scattered formation. They quickly gathered together, focusing all their firepower with pinpoint accuracy on that single exposed spot. They intended to slowly widen the wound, gradually whittling down the monster’s combat strength.

This Tier Four Zombie wasn’t as ferociously aggressive as they had anticipated. Its real threat lay in its incredibly thick hide and massive health pool. The current battle had become a pure war of attrition—a test of whose superpowers would dry up first. Luna Dawson was never afraid of an enemy trying to outlast her; this thing was basically a perfect, oversized punching bag practically throwing itself at her.

The group exchanged glances, coming to an unspoken agreement. They moved in unison toward the exposed wound on the zombie’s left side, preparing to concentrate their firepower for a fierce assault. But the moment they grouped up, the zombie suddenly opened its blood-stained maw. Countless compressed Fireballs shot toward them like a dense hail of bullets. The blistering heat instantly distorted the air itself!

In the nick of time, a two-meter-thick water barrier surged upward. Lynn Shelby poured his superpowers into it without hesitation. The water instantly froze into a solid, four-meter-thick, ten-meter-wide wall of ice, standing before them like an impenetrable fortress! Together, they managed to block the majority of the fiery barrage. However, a small portion of the Fireballs seemed to have eyes of their own, curving through the air to strike at them from tricky angles.

Fortunately, Little Tiger intervened just in time. It conjured countless black holes, each nearly a meter in diameter, around the group. The moment the rogue Fireballs drew near, they were swallowed whole. They vanished without a trace, not even leaving a single spark behind!

"That was close as hell!" Lynn Shelby spat, before his expression instantly shifted into one of profound, fatherly pride. "Good job, Little Tiger!"

Evan Olson reacted with lightning speed. Working in tandem with Rollo’s massive gusts of wind, he channeled his superpowers to create a colossal tornado. The howling vortex swept the remaining Fireballs high into the sky, where they detonated into a shower of sparks.

"Great job, Rollo and Little Tiger! Good doggy! Good kitty!" Evan Olson’s blood was pumping, and he couldn’t help but shower them with praise as well.

"WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!" Rollo barked, panting happily in response.

Little Tiger, playing the arrogant feline, simply let out two haughty hums of acknowledgment. "HMPH, HMPH."

"Of course! Just look at whose babies they are!" Seeing how powerful her darlings’ superpowers were, Luna Dawson couldn’t help but smile.

Kevin Keane curled his lips into a faint smile. He calmly picked a piece of zombie bone fragment out of Luna Dawson’s hair and flicked it away. "And you did great by not rushing in recklessly."

Meanwhile, Little Sweet Potato, completely splattered in black blood, was so infuriated by the stench that it went into a frenzy of disruption! Countless purple vines surged forward like a tidal wave, tightly binding the zombie’s hands to prevent it from covering its wound again. Even though the monster thrashed violently, snapping numerous vines, fresh ones continuously regenerated and coiled around it, keeping its arms firmly restrained.

After narrowly dodging a few more surprise Fireball attacks, the group’s patience wore thin. Acting in perfect unison, they ramped up their superpower output, engaging the Tier Four Zombie in a brutal war of attrition.

"ROAAAR!"

The zombie’s shrill, impotent howl echoed across the sky, shaking the snow from the trees in the forest. Yet, no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t break free and turn the tide of the battle.

In the distance, the people defending the convoy from the zombie horde heard the eardrum-piercing shrieks. The sound was so intense that some began to bleed from their ears and noses! The ground itself seemed to tremble. Immediately after, they saw a massive flaming tornado shooting straight into the clouds! Countless people went weak in the knees from the shock. They wondered what kind of monster could possibly be over there.

Kyle Keith was currently fighting a fire-element Third-tier Zombie. From the public channel in his earpiece, Francis Grant’s calm voice rang out. "Don’t panic! The Tier Four Zombie in the distance is being stalled by the Sunset Squad! Everyone, focus your attention on what’s right in front of you!"

"The Sunset Squad?"

"Aren’t the members of the Sunset Squad right here killing zombies?"

"Did Colonel Grant mishear?"

"Aren’t the people standing by those purple branches from Serenfall?!"

"Bullshit! I just saw the Serenfall people right next to me fighting four or five Third-tier Zombies!"

"Is the Sunset Squad affiliated with the Grant Family? Is Francis Grant just trying to make them look good?"

A wave of questioning voices began to flood the public channel.

A female voice suddenly shouted angrily, "Bullshit?! For those of you doubting it, can’t you feel the superpower fluctuations coming from over there?!"

During a fierce battle, nothing was more detestable than behavior that destroyed their own morale!

"She’s right! Just hearing that terrifying roar is enough to tell that its rank isn’t low!"

"My teammates are bleeding from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths!"

"What do we do?!"

"I just hope the Sunset Squad takes out that Tier Four Zombie quickly!"

Kyle Keith couldn’t help but frown, his face looking extremely grim. No wonder he hadn’t seen Luna Dawson and the others since they first assembled. Even those two mutated animals were missing! He wondered why. Why hadn’t Luna Dawson shared her plans with him? And why was Francis Grant completely aware of them?

Kyle Keith’s brows remained tightly furrowed, his mind churning with countless speculations. Yet, his hands never stopped moving. Channeling his superpowers, a massive ice spike as thick as a water bucket suddenly materialized. Radiating a biting chill, it plunged straight into the neck of the Third-tier Zombie in front of him! The massive Fireball the zombie had been charging fizzled out the moment the ice pierced it. Only a muffled GURGLE squeezed out of its throat.

A moment later, the zombie’s head tumbled to the ground with a heavy thud, spraying black blood everywhere. Kyle Keith had no time to dwell on it; with a few quick strides, he plunged back into the fray to cull the zombie horde.

Not far from Kyle Keith’s battle circle, Purple Bean’s branches wove nimbly through the edges of the horde. Countless tough vines surged wildly from within a vehicle, acting like a tidal wave that shoved the zombies within a hundred-meter radius forcefully back. This action drastically reduced the burden on the Earth Ability Users who were maintaining the structural integrity of the defensive walls. No longer needing to divert their attention to fend off close-range zombie assaults, their superpower consumption plummeted.

At the same time, another set of vines darted out like agile tentacles, shooting toward the heads of the fallen zombies. They accurately pried out the Crystal Cores and swiftly retracted, meticulously tallying up their team’s spoils of war.

Rhonda Dawson firmly gripped Lucille, standing atop a makeshift ladder Purple Bean had formed out of vines. Looking down at the clustered zombies below, she swung her arms with fierce, wind-whipping momentum. While she wasn’t yet capable of fighting attack-type Third-tier Zombies head-on, the endless stream of First- and Second-tier Zombies before her were no different than baseballs waiting to be smashed.

From a distance, the other Superpower Users could see that every swing of her bat landed perfectly on a zombie’s skull. Accompanied by dull, heavy thuds, head after head was sent flying into the air. Black blood sprayed from severed carotid arteries, splattering all over her winter gear and cheeks. Yet, she couldn’t care less. Instead, the battle intent in her eyes blazed even hotter, and her excitement grew with every kill!

To her, every swing meant another Crystal Core. And the more Crystal Cores she gathered, the greater her family’s chances of surviving in this apocalyptic wasteland! As the surrounding people watched this bloodthirsty yet beautiful girl—her eyes radiating a blood-red, murderous aura that felt almost tangible—they instinctively kept their distance, terrified of disrupting her rhythm.