Chapter 33: Reaper
Coop was immediately put into a defensive position. He was barely able to block the Zombie Lord’s powerful flailing attacks as he recklessly charged into Coop like a frenzied wild animal. The Zombie Lord was fighting like a much larger version of the Agility zombie. Instead of being the size of a regular person, like the zombie variants, he had grown significantly larger. The Zombie Lord had become a mutated gorilla sized monster and he pressured Coop with a surge of attacks. Coop barely hung on to his footing as he struggled to avoid the blows.
One of the Zombie Lord’s arms was longer than the other and was tipped with a bone spike the size of a piledriver instead of a hand. The inconsistent blows combined with his reckless thrashing had Coop struggling to dodge and block. Coop couldn’t grasp even a moment to counterattack.
Coop was backpedaling around the helipad, sweating with effort and cursing his inability to turn the momentum around. The Zombie Lord was constantly driving forward, making Coop feel like he wasn’t being attacked as much as he was just in the way of an out of control monster. Every blow seemed like it was aimed through him and every swing pulled the Zombie Lord into another step forward. If Coop wasn’t quick enough after defending an attack he risked being trampled. The Zombie Lord’s massive size advantage muscled Coop constantly backwards.
Sidestepping didn’t bring any relief, as the bull charge of an attack followed him wherever he went. The Agility zombies had been completely out of control when they attacked, but the Zombie Lord was slightly more restrained than they had been, proving the difference between a human and a minion. It made the onslaught that much more difficult to deal with.
Coop prepared to swap his spear for his sword to try his ethereal swordsmanship technique against the reckless charge, desperate as he was to change the pace of the fight. The close quarter mistjumps might be able to bring the relief that he needed, but before he found a moment to change tactics the onslaught suddenly stopped. The Zombie Lord was winding up a spiked punch with his long arm.
It was slow. Coop easily readied his shield and even snuck a glancing blow with his spear into the mutant’s gut.
The spiked punch collided with Coop’s shield and a shockwave exploded from the point of contact. Both combatants were pushed away from each other, sliding on their planted feet. The Zombie Lord even gouged lines where his feet ripped the helipad. Both had been prepared for the blow and had braced themselves. The Strength in the blow was frightening. It was far more than Coop could display himself. That much speed and power would be impossible to match. Coop did a double take as he reinspected the Zombie Lord.
[Human (Level 40)]
[Commander of Catastrophe (Strength)]
[Zombie Lord of the Breathless]
[(Abomination)]
The Zombie Lord’s stats had changed and his aura revealed that his primary attribute was now Strength. It had been Body when Coop first took notice. He suspected it had switched to Agility at the start of the fight, which had made him so oppressive. The change had been obvious. The Lord had impatiently abandoned his onslaught to try a different approach to breaking Coop’s defenses through pure Strength.