As the Tier 9 zombie collapsed, the surrounding undead scattered like rats from a sinking ship.
Most of the zombies in this area were Tier 5 and above—veteran types. The mont they saw their boss go down, they didn’t hesitate. Survival ca first. They bolted in every direction.
Ethan didn’t bother chasing them.
Instead, he raised his poleaxe and split the Tier 9’s skull clean open, reaching in to pull out the crystal core.
Without wasting a second, he sat down right there and swallowed it whole.
The others imdiately ford a protective circle around him.
Monts later, Ethan’s aura surged—and his power broke through.
He’d officially reached Tier 9.
He stood up slowly, flexing his fingers as he felt the raw strength coursing through his body. A satisfied grin tugged at his lips.
"Fifty-three thousand pounds of force," he muttered.
At Tier 8 peak, the average strength was around 37,000 pounds. Tier 9 started at 46,000. Ethan had an extra 7,000 pounds of force on top of that, which was why he’d been able to go toe-to-toe with the Tier 9 zombie even before his breakthrough.
With the poleaxe in hand, he’d managed to kill it while still at Tier 8 peak.
Now that he was Tier 9 himself, his strength was already comparable to a Tier 9 at peak. That was the benefit of Body Refinent.
Technically, the Body Refinent Technique wasn’t supposed to be this overpowered—but with Ethan’s [True Sight] pushing it to its absolute limit, it had evolved into sothing else entirely.
He doubted even the original creator of the technique had imagined it could reach this level.
Ethan stood tall and looked around at the others. "Let’s finish off the rest of those Tier 8s."
"All done," Chris said with a grin. "Three Tier 8s and seven Tier 7s—wiped out."
"Good. Let’s give the Tier 8 crystal cores to Skinny Pete. With those three, he should be close to Tier 8 peak, right?"
"Yeah, just about."
"Perfect. Go ahead and eat them," Ethan said. "The sooner you level up, the better. We don’t want Goldie and the other mutant beasts slipping out of your control."
"Got it." Skinny Pete nodded, took the three Tier 8 crystal cores, and swallowed them one by one.
Just as Ethan predicted, after absorbing all three, Skinny Pete’s strength surged to Tier 8 peak.
He’d consud more Tier 8 cores than anyone—six in total. Combined with the mysterious energy he’d been absorbing through the Energy Absorption Technique, it wasn’t surprising he’d reached this level.
"Not bad at all," Ethan said with a satisfied nod. "This run was worth it."
"Alright, let’s gather the rest of the crystal cores and head back. Ti to talk with the compound leaders—see if we can trade for so Tier 1 cores."
Sean raised an eyebrow. "You really think they still have Tier 1 crystal cores?"
"They definitely do," Ethan said confidently. "From what we learned yesterday, this compound started clearing zombies right at the beginning of the apocalypse. Back then, Tier 1s were everywhere. With their firepower, mowing down Tier 1s would’ve been easy. It’s the Tier 3s and up that gave them trouble. So I’d bet most of their stockpile is Tier 1 and Tier 2 cores."
"Fair point," Sean said. "But Tier 1 and 2 zombies are basically extinct now. They know how valuable those cores are. They might not be willing to trade."
"Not for Tier 5 cores, no," Ethan said with a smirk. "But what if we offer Tier 6?"
Everyone’s eyes widened.
"You’re serious? Trade Tier 6 cores for Tier 1s?"
"Yeah. Look, we’ve all mastered the Energy Absorption Technique. We don’t need crystal cores to level up anymore. Tier 6 cores are just a bonus for us now."
"But for them, it’s a different story," Ethan continued. "Their soldiers are stuck at Tier 5 peak. What they need most are Tier 6 cores. Even if we ask for a lot, they’ll still take the deal."
"This is our chance to stockpile Tier 1 cores. The Energy Absorption Technique only works for Enhanced, and to make more Enhanced, we need Tier 1 cores. The more we have, the more people we can awaken."
"Smart," Chris said, nodding.
"Alright, let’s get to it."
Everyone got moving, collecting the crystal cores from the battlefield.
Because the zombies near the mansion were mostly high-tier, the group ended up killing a significant number of Tier 6s during the battle.
Big Mike, in particular, had racked up a massive body count with his [Rain of Flas]—easily wiping out several thousand zombies, including a good chunk of Tier 6s.
It took the team over half an hour to sweep the battlefield and collect all the crystal cores. By the end, they’d gathered more than a hundred Tier 6 cores and several thousand Tier 5s.
Once the looting was done, Ethan stored the corpses of the Tier 8 and Tier 9 zombies in his spatial storage ring. He planned to feed them to Goldie, Speckles, and the other mutant beasts later as high-protein snacks.
Since Skinny Pete was still Tier 8 peak, Ethan didn’t want to risk overloading him with the ntal strain of controlling beasts that advanced too quickly. For the next few days, they’d have to hold off on leveling up the beasts. Once Pete hit Tier 9, they could make up for lost ti.
As for anything below Tier 8? Not worth the trouble. The corpses were useless to them, and the storage ring wasn’t bottomless. No point hauling dead weight.
With everything wrapped up, the group turned and left the area.
Two miles away...
Inside a small house, three scouts were huddled together, trembling.
When the zombies had started fleeing in all directions, a huge wave of them had stampeded right past their hiding spot.
For a mont, they thought they were done for.
Tens of thousands of zombies, all charging their way? It felt like the end.
But sohow, none of the undead entered the house. They just rushed past, like the building didn’t exist.
Even so, the three of them were drenched in cold sweat. If even a handful of those zombies had co inside, they’d be dead—no question.
It wasn’t until half an hour after the horde had passed that they finally dared to step outside.
"They’re... gone?"
"Yeah. All of them."
"What the hell just happened? It looked like they were running away."
"Felt that way to too."
"Co on. Let’s go check it out."
"Yeah."
The three of them crept toward Eastwood Heights, stopping at a nearby house just outside the zone. They raised their binoculars—and all three sucked in a sharp breath.
The place that had been swarming with zombies earlier... was now completely empty.
Not a single one left standing.
The mansion where the Tier 9 zombie had been holed up was now a pile of rubble. The ground was littered with corpses.
They hesitated, then cautiously made their way closer. When they finally stepped into the battlefield and saw the carnage up close, their faces went pale with shock.
"This... this had to be those people, right?"
"Who else could it be?" one of them said, voice tight.
"But there were only eight of them! How the hell did they pull this off?!"
"No idea," the older scout muttered, crouching to examine a corpse. "But judging by the wounds, most of these zombies were taken out instantly. A lot of them were Tier 6s. So even Tier 7. To do that... these people must be Tier 8s."
As scouts, they were trained to read the battlefield. From the condition of the bodies—their muscle density, bone structure, and decay rate—they could estimate the Tier of each zombie.
"Tier 8...?" one of the others echoed, stunned.
The two younger scouts quickly checked a few more bodies. Their expressions turned grim.
"Yeah... and from the looks of it, this wasn’t just one person. Multiple attackers. Which ans at least half that group is Tier 8 or higher."
"..."
"What about the Tier 9 zombie?"
"Gone."
"You don’t think... they killed it?" one of them asked, swallowing hard.
"It’s possible. Otherwise, why would the rest of the horde run? And honestly, it looked like they ca here specifically for that Tier 9."
The three of them exchanged glances, each seeing the sa stunned disbelief in the others’ eyes.
"Let’s move. We need to report this to General Cross—now."
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