"Hehehehe~~~" Laura's face twisted into her signature eerie grin. It had been days since she last tasted human flesh, and she was craving that flavor again.
Without hesitation, she spread her claws wide, her body transforming into a gust of wind as she lunged straight at a group of humans.
Behind her, the zombies that had been feasting on Neurocores were startled by the commotion. Bloodied mouths let out guttural roars as they too charged toward the humans.
"What a ferocious zombie!" Jessica's brows furrowed as she spun around, drawing a short alloy blade from her side.
The team mbers around her felt their energy surge, each activating their Awakener abilities in response.
"Fla Barrier!" Joshua bellowed, his voice booming as waves of heat radiated from his body. Flas erupted from his hands, forming a blazing wall that halted the elite zombies in their tracks.
"Lightning Field!" shouted another young man, electricity crackling across his body. Dropping to one knee, he slamd his fist into the ground.
A surge of lightning exploded outward, spreading across the battlefield. Any zombie that touched it convulsed violently, smoke rising from their charred bodies as they collapsed.
"Aqua Spear!"
A female Awakener nearby glowed with a soft blue light as water droplets began to coalesce around her. Though the power seed gentle, the spears of water she ford pierced through the zombies with deadly precision.
These three were all A-rank elental Awakeners, their abilities formidable. Despite the ferocity of the zombie horde, holding them off for ten minutes wouldn't be an issue.
anwhile, Jessica tead up with a psychic Awakener to take on Laura directly.
Jessica's ability, Rapid Mirage, enhanced her legs, granting her incredible speed. Her movents left behind afterimages as she darted forward, alloy blade in hand, aiming a slash straight at Laura.
Laura countered with her claws, her razor-sharp nails clashing against the blade.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew as their strikes collided at blinding speed, their movents so fast it was almost impossible to follow.
The psychic Awakener beside Jessica extended his ntal energy, forming an invisible barrier that pressed toward Laura, attempting to slow her down.
But then, sothing unexpected happened.
A flock of crows suddenly swooped down, their wings cutting through the air as they flew over the street.
"Caw—caw—caw!"
Their cries were haunting, like the tolling of a death knell. A chilling sense of foreboding washed over the battlefield, as if death itself was drawing near.
"Huh?" The psychic Awakener, Daniel, froze. His heightened senses picked up on sothing ominous. Unease crept into his heart as he glanced upward, noticing the crows circling above a nearby street.
And then, out of nowhere, a tall figure appeared below them. His expression was calm, his features strikingly handso, and he wore a pristine white shirt that seed untouched by the chaos around him.
"Daniel, what are you doing? Focus and launch your psychic attack!" Jessica shouted, still locked in combat with Laura, her attention fully on the fight. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire
But Daniel stood frozen, his voice trembling. "Captain Reed… look over there!"
"What?" Jessica parried Laura's claws with her blade, then leapt back to create so distance. Following Daniel's gaze, she turned to look in the direction he was pointing.
"...What the hell?!" Jessica's face froze in shock, her mind racing as she tried to process what she was seeing.
That figure… it couldn't be.
The man in the white shirt, with his cold, sharp features and the crows circling him—it was exactly like the photo.
"This is impossible!" Jessica's heart pounded in her chest. He's supposed to be dead!
"This has to be an illusion! There must be a Zombie King nearby with hallucination abilities!"
"Captain… it's real!" Daniel's voice cracked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
The man—Ethan—began walking toward them, his steps slow and deliberate. As he moved, an oppressive aura spread outward, the Domain of the Dead unfurling like a storm. The ground beneath him cracked and splintered, as if the earth itself was recoiling from his presence. It was as if a natural disaster had descended upon them.
Since absorbing the crystal core of the Bone-Claw Zombie King, Ethan's Domain of the Dead had grown even more terrifying.
The Awakeners around him felt their breaths hitch, their chests tightening as if they were being crushed under the weight of the ocean. The pressure was suffocating, and it felt like they were monts away from being obliterated.
The three elental Awakeners turned to look, their faces pale with shock. "Captain, what's going on?!"
Jessica gritted her teeth, her voice strained. "We… we might've killed the wrong one."
"What?!" The others stared at her, their eyes wide with disbelief.
The overwhelming pressure emanating from Ethan was unmistakable. This was the power of a true Zombie King. It was worlds apart from the one they had hunted that night.
"Absolute Domain!"
"This… this is what a real Absolute Domain feels like," Jessica muttered, her voice heavy with tension.
As Ethan continued to approach, the oppressive force of his aura grew stronger and stronger. The team could barely hold themselves together under the crushing weight.
"Captain, what do we do now?" one of the team mbers asked, their voice trembling.
"There's no other choice. The plan's a bust. Daniel, use a psychic barrier to hold off the Absolute Domain. We're retreating!" Jessica barked, her tone sharp and decisive.
"I'll… I'll try!" Daniel gritted his teeth, his face pale. The Absolute Domain was suffocating, and his psychic energy, instead of spreading outward, was being forced back into his own mind. It felt like needles stabbing into his brain, the pain excruciating.
"Arghhh—!" he roared, pushing through the agony as he forced his psychic energy to its absolute limit. He managed to extend a barrier, but it barely reached six feet around him.
The brief reprieve was enough. The rest of the team seized the opportunity, unleashing every ounce of their energy to fend off the zombie horde, Laura, and the crushing weight of Ethan's Domain of the Dead.
"Move!" Jessica shouted, her figure blurring as she leapt toward a nearby high-rise.
The other Awakeners followed her lead, their movents swift and agile as they scrambled up to the rooftop.
But as Jessica glanced back, her heart sank. Daniel was still standing in place, unmoving.
"Hey! What are you doing? Get out of there!" she yelled.
"Captain… I can't… I can't make it," Daniel said, his voice weak. His psychic energy was completely drained, and just holding off Ethan's Domain for three seconds had pushed him to his absolute limit. His body swayed, barely able to stay upright. He didn't have the strength to run.
He was sacrificing himself to buy his teammates ti to escape.
"Damn it!" Jessica cursed under her breath, her fists clenching as frustration and helplessness surged through her.
The rest of the team hesitated, their jaws tight, their faces etched with grief. They knew what Daniel was doing, and it tore at them.
"Go!" Jessica snapped, her voice cutting through their hesitation. "Now's not the ti to play hero!"
The others swallowed their emotions and turned, sprinting toward safety. There was no ti to argue.
But Ethan's figure flickered, and in an instant, he was standing in front of Daniel. The psychic Awakener was trembling, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he struggled to stay upright.
Ethan tilted his head slightly, his expression calm but cold. "You know, I really hate tragic sacrifices."
"You…" Daniel's voice was barely a whisper, his eyes wide with terror as he stared at Ethan's face.
"Don't worry," Ethan said, his tone almost casual. "None of them are getting away. I'll send them to join you soon enough."
Without another word, Ethan reached out, his hand plunging into Daniel's skull with precision. It was quick, painless. He extracted Daniel's crystal core, ending his suffering in an instant.
"Rest now…"
Ethan's gaze shifted as he watched Laura leading a pack of elite zombies in pursuit of Jessica and the others. The zombies were relentless, their movents unnervingly agile as they scaled the high-rise with ease, their feral eyes locked on their prey.
And then, Ethan vanished again.
Jessica and her team were sprinting across the rooftops, leaping from building to building as fast as they could. Below them, the streets were swarming with ferocious zombies, their snarls echoing as they climbed after the fleeing humans.
This was the first ti Jessica had ever felt so cornered, so utterly outmatched. Her heart was still pounding from the encounter with Ethan.
That Zombie King… he was on a completely different level.
Just the power of his Absolute Domain had been enough to crush them, leaving them gasping for air. And the way he carried himself, so calm, so detached—it was as if he was toying with them, watching them struggle for his own amusent.
"Captain, there are too many zombies! We're not going to make it out of here!" one of the female team mbers cried, her face pale and drenched in sweat. Panic was written all over her features.
Jessica's sharp eyes scanned their surroundings, assessing the situation. It was bad—really bad. But then, in the distance, she spotted sothing. A few drones were zipping through the air, their lights blinking as they moved.
"That's Nathan's Operation King Hunt squad!" Jessica shouted, her voice filled with a glimr of hope. "They're just ahead. Let's move! We'll regroup with them!"
...
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