Chapter 77: Lord-Tier Awakening

The interior of the heavy cargo truck had been transformed into an absolute chamber of horrors.

What had been a noisy den of arrogant thugs just a few hours prior was now completely drenched in a thick, metallic ocean of fresh blood.

Torn fragments of flesh, severed limbs, and crushed bone fragments were scattered randomly across the metal floorboards alongside spilled cans of beer and shredded duffel bags.

Standing in the center of this grotesque slaughterhouse was the man who used to have a deep scar running across his right eyebrow.

He was no longer human.

The corrupted core of the Lord-tier zombie had violently shattered his mortal biology, rewriting every cell in his body into a nightmare of evolution.

His skin had split completely open from his collarbone to his waist, revealing dark, pulsating muscle fibers that writhed like living snakes beneath a slimy, greyish-black membrane.

His jaw had unhinged unnaturally, stretching wide apart to display multiple rows of jagged, needle-sharp teeth dripping with dark, acidic drool.

Two glowing, blood-red eyes sat deep within a skull that was rapidly expanding, its bone structure hardening into jagged, razor-sharp calcium spikes that tore through his scalp.

"Fuck it..." Nadir Sha cursed under his breath, his voice trembling as he pressed his back hard against the metal wall of the truck, his pristine suit now ruined by splatters of warm gore.

He watched in mounting horror as the mutated creature that used to be his most trusted enforcer brutally ripped the head off the final surviving thug in the truck, tossing the lifeless corpse aside like a discarded rag doll.

Nadir Sha had never in his wildest nightmares expected that this brute would transform into such an absolute monster simply from swallowing that single corrupted core.

"That fucker cheated me," Nadir Sha cursed aloud, his mind frantically racing back to the mysterious man who had given him the item yesterday.

The man had promised him that consuming or feeding the Lord-tier core would temporarily supercharge his strength to a level sufficient to assassinate the terrifying Rogue leader and break the military convoy apart from the inside.

Being a pathologically paranoid person by nature, Nadir Sha had prudently refused to consume the dangerous item himself, choosing instead to test it on his scar-faced subordinate as a guinea pig.

Right now, as he stared at the towering, blood-soaked abomination twitching in front of him, Nadir Sha was overflowing with gratitude toward his own past paranoia. If he had swallowed that toxic piece of crystal himself, his own mind would have been violently erased and replaced by this raging, feral hunger.

The mutated creature let out a wet, gurgling roar that rattled the corrugated metal roof of the transport vehicle.

Thick, dark purple veins throbbed violently along its swollen forearms, and the stench of rotting flesh and chemical poison filled the cramped space so densely that it burned the throat.

Nadir Sha did not waste another second. Moving with slow, cautious steps, he tried his best to keep his breathing silent while sliding his right hand sideways toward the heavy metal handle of the side cargo door.

His heart hammered wildly against his ribs, but his mind remained sharply focused on survival.

’Just a little further...’ he muttered internally, his manicured fingers finally brushing against the cold steel latch.

Suddenly, the horrific sounds of squelching flesh stopped.

The mutated creature slowly ceased its feast. Its newly elongated neck twisted at an impossible ninety-degree angle, and its massive, blood-red eyes locked directly onto Nadir Sha with predatory intent. The last surviving thug had just been fully consumed, and the creature’s hunger was far from satiated.

A twisted, terrifyingly human grimace stretched across the creature’s mutilated face, forming a grim, mocking smile that exposed its rotting gums and jagged teeth.

"Agh—"

Before Nadir Sha could even pull the door latch down, a blood-curdling cry of pure terror ripped from his throat as the nightmare lunged forward.

The mutated monstrosity moved with a speed that defied its massive, bloated frame. In a single blur of grey flesh and spraying blood, its razor-sharp calcium claws slammed into Nadir Sha’s chest.

Clang!

An invisible, shimmering barrier erupted into existence around Nadir Sha’s body, radiating a faint, spatial hum that pushed back against the crushing weight of the creature’s strike.

The SSS+ talent Absolute Domain activated instantly in response to the mortal threat.

The creature’s razor claws grated violently against the impenetrable spatial boundary, sending bright orange sparks flying across the dark, blood-splattered interior of the truck.

No matter how hard the abomination pressed down, its mutated strength could not penetrate the absolute law of Nadir Sha’s personal spatial realm.

"Get off me, you hideous beast!" Nadir Sha screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of hysterical panic and wild fury.

He frantically yanked the heavy metal handle downward and threw his entire body weight against the side cargo door. The heavy iron door swung wide open with a loud screech, letting in a blinding blast of pale desert light and a rush of freezing mountain air.

Without hesitating for a single second, Nadir Sha hurled himself headfirst out of the swaying truck, diving into the open air above the dirt highway.

Thud!

He tumbled violently across the rocky desert soil, rolling multiple times through the ice-dusted sand and sharp gravel.

His pristine suit was shredded at the elbows and knees, and his face was scraped raw, but the domain surrounding him absorbed the deadliest impacts, keeping his bones entirely intact.

The heavy cargo transport truck continued rolling forward for a few yards before the driver, who was scratched by the abomination, fully turned into a zombie himself.

With a deafening, metallic roar that echoed across the open canyon, the giant zombie leaped out of the back of the moving truck, its heavy feet slamming into the dirt road with enough force to shatter the frozen ground.

BOOM!

A thick cloud of dust and snow erupted into the air as the monster landed, its glowing crimson eyes locking back onto Nadir Sha, who was frantically scrambling to his feet on the side of the road.

The loud crash and the horrific, unearthly roar instantly broke the peaceful silence of the entire migration column.

Inside the civilian trucks trailing behind, panicked screams erupted instantly. Drivers slammed on their brakes, sending tires screeching against the asphalt and causing multiple rear-end collisions as trucks swerved out of control to avoid the hulking nightmare standing in the middle of the highway.

"Monster! There’s a monster in the middle of the convoy!"

"Shoot it! Kill it!"

Civilian guards and military men hastily unholstered their firearms, firing a chaotic volley of heavy rifle rounds toward the creature.

Dozens of lead bullets slammed directly into the monster’s grey chest and face, but the high-caliber rounds simply flattened against its hardened calcium armor or bounced uselessly off its dense muscle fibers, leaving nothing more than faint white scratches.

The monster ignored the gunfire completely. It unhinged its massive jaw once more and let out a shockwave roar that shattered the windshields of three nearby civilian trucks, sending glass spraying everywhere.

Farther ahead, at the very front of the migrating column, the lead command vehicle ground to a sudden halt.

Salma’s dark green eyes snapped wide open, her gaze darting toward the side mirror as she felt the violent surge of corrupting energy radiating from the middle section of the convoy.

"A Lord-tier mutation?" Salma muttered, her brows furrowing into a cold, dangerous line.

Beside her, Summer’s tiny head snapped up instantly. The moment the sickening, rich scent of the Lord-tier corrupted core hit her delicate nose, her small crimson eyes flared with an unholy, ravenous light.

Her mouth opened, and a long string of drool spilled past her tiny lips, dripping onto her jacket.

"Candy..." Summer gasped, her small voice trembling with greed. "A giant, crunchy candy!"

Before Salma could even reach out to hold her back, Summer kicked the passenger door open with enough strength to tear the metal hinges, vaulting out of the moving cabin and vanishing into a grey streak of lightning across the desert sand.