Chapter 137: Confused Tier 4
"That looks like a tier 4, hubby." Rose replied calmly.
The words slid off her tongue with total nonchalance, as if she were merely commenting on the weather rather than identifying an apex predator.
By now the zombie had noticed them.
It snarled, gazing at the group with a murderous gaze.
The creature slowly raised its hunched torso away from the mangled carcass on the carpet.
Thick strands of black, congealed gore dripped from its distended jaws, staining the front of its cracked sternum. Its limbs were unnaturally elongated, dense bands of purple-black muscle fiber twitching beneath leathery, pale grey skin.
Its eyes weren’t cloudy or vacant like the shambling corpses below; they burned with an oily, feral crimson, locked dead on the cluster of fresh meat standing down the hallway.
Jenny and Ash gulped in fright as they subconsciously took a couple steps backwards.
The primitive part of their brains, wired for self-preservation, practically screamed at them to turn and sprint. The sheer oppressive aura bleeding off the creature made the humid air on the third floor feel dense and suffocating.
Max also swallowed his saliva, staring at Fredrinn and Rose who didn’t react too extensively.
Max could see that the zombie in front of him was different than the rest.
The sheer mass, the coiled tension in its predatory stance, the sharp, obsidian-like talons that gouged deep grooves into the decorative floorboards—it was on an entirely different tier of existence.
Although he killed many outside the bus and earlier, while Fredrinn didn’t even move to assist, at the moment he knew that he wasn’t a match for the zombie in front of him.
He might be able to escape and survive by using the paralyzing aspect of his electricity, but that’s it.
If he tried to kill it, he would be in deep shit.
The electrical output that had fried Tier 1s and staggered Tier 2s would likely just scorch the leathery hide of this beast, doing little more than pissing it off. Yet... Fredrinn didn’t seem worried in the slightest?
Though after remembering about the ’fight’ between Fredrinn and Rose, he realized that they were way too strong.
’What even is his level? I doubt that he told the truth...’ Max sighed while shaking his head. He was at 98% EXP himself, close to reaching the prestigious level 25.
And yet he knew that his peak capability was going head to head with a tier 3. Tier 4 would kill him with ease.
While he was thinking that, Fredrinn was thinking a completely different matter.
’Since I already exposed my sound based spell, I should just stick to that story. It would be better than using different elements or sticking to physical for no reason.’ He thought calmly.
Earlier he was resisting the usage of spells because he didn’t want to appear way too different when compared to other humans, but now that he already exposed sound, he could tell that his skill is related to sound manipulation or something like that.
"Should Rose help hubby?" Rose asked with a sweet smile, looking at him with her gorgeous hearty gaze.
Her pink, heart-shaped pupils shimmered with affection, her curved black horns gleaming faintly under the broken hallway sconces.
"No need." Fredrinn smiled back and gently patted her head, ruffling her hair but not touching her horns.
Just how she liked it.
She giggled merrily, making Jenny jealous in an instant.
To make matters worse, Rose was intentionally making eye contact with Jenny while getting patted, pissing the blonde beauty even more.
Rose narrowed her eyes playfully, tilting her chin up to bask in his warmth like a spoiled cat asserting dominance over its territory.
"I can help you as well," Jenny steeled her courage, moving forward to stand beside him, "From a distance. Using a gun." She added with a low cough.
Fredrinn chuckled at her as he used other hand to pet her luscious, soft blonde hair.
The gentle stroke was firm, reassuring, and completely untroubled by the snarling monstrosity crouching forty feet away.
Jenny harrumphed, hiding a small smile. She leaned into the touch just a fraction before catching herself and glaring back down the corridor, her pride slightly salvaged.
While the 3 were acting lovey-dovey, Ash couldn’t help but stare blankly, his gaze darkening as he saw the tier 4 zombie charge towards Fredrinn.
The teenager’s jaw hung open in absolute disbelief. Were these people genuinely treating a life-or-death encounter with the fucking abomination like a flirty picnic in the park?
Its speed was fast, completely unlike the other weaker zombies who only know how to stagger and walk limply.
The creature didn’t stumble. It exploded forward. The carpet shredded beneath its hind talons as it launched itself into a blurring sprint, crossing twenty feet in the blink of an eye.
The sheer wind of its passage rattled the torn wallpaper, its jaws gaping wide to reveal rows of needle-sharp, blackened teeth.
"Watch out!" Ash could only yelp while taking more steps backwards, moving down the stairs as he expected Fredrinn’s blood to erupt in just a couple of seconds.
However, what he expected didn’t become truth.
Fredrinn removed his hand from both the girl’s hair, blocking the running zombie with ease.
His left arm shot out with casual, blinding precision. His palm met the creature’s charging collarbone like an immovable slab of tempered steel.
The concussive impact produced a dull, heavy thud that reverberated through the floorboards, completely arresting the beast’s forward momentum mid-stride.
Jenny yelped and moved back, while Rose casually waved her hand, "S, C, make sure that no other zombie comes in between and don’t let it escape."
Hearing her order, Selene and Charlie both moved, one flanking to right while other flanked to Fredrinn’s left.
The two undead thralls glided across the hallway with eerie synchronicity. They didn’t try to attack or assist him in any way.
They simply waited, waited in case the zombie tries to attack someone else or escape.
After all, Rose knew that the increase in tiers didn’t just mean boosted strength.
It also meant intelligence.
A tier 4 zombie would be much better at fighting compared to tier 1 who only knows how to bite.
Thus, if the tier 4 realize it’s losing, it may retreat.
Rose didn’t want that.
Fight started as after Fredrinn had blocked the first attack, the tier 4 didn’t even pause before snapping its mouth at Fredrinn’s forearm, trying to bite through the skin.
Its reflexes were savage and predatory. Recognizing the obstruction, its neck snapped sideways with lightning speed, teeth gnashing toward his exposed wrist.
Luckily, Fredrinn wasn’t a retard and managed to kick the zombie away.
His heavy boot caught the monster square in the solar plexus. The kinetic discharge blasted the creature backward through the corridor, sending it skidding along the runner rug until it slammed hard against a set of mahogany double doors.
Then, it got on its fours, growling dangerously while staring at Fredrinn like the 5star meal that it couldn’t wait to devour.
Its spine arched high, muscles rippling under its grey flesh like bundles of steel cables. Saliva hissed as it dripped onto the floor, its red eyes calculating, evaluating the strange prey that had pushed it back.
Fredrinn didn’t wait either.
He casually waved his hand, mana surging and pumping within him.
The nine circuits in his chest hummed, channeling ambient energy smoothly through his fingertips without the slightest hint of physical strain.
Before the zombie could even try to attack again, Fredrinn merely smirked and extended his index finger in the zombie’s direction.
"Enjoy some music and chill, bud."
As he said so, the invisible magic circle flared, releasing a multifrequency vibrational blade in the zombie’s direction.
It was a symphony of horrid sounds and dangerous frequencies.
The air warped in narrow, concentric ripples, entirely invisible to the naked eye save for the slight shimmering distortion of light. The supersonic frequencies bypassed the creature’s dense muscular tissue entirely, homing straight into its auditory canals with pinpoint precision.
The waves penetrated the zombie’s ear, blowing up the eardrums in an instant as it growled even louder in response, collapsing forward with limbs twitching.
A sickening pop echoed in the hall. Black, viscous fluid erupted outward from both sides of its skull, splashing against the beige walls. The concussive vibration turned its delicate inner ear canal to mush and rattled straight into its cranial vault.
It may not feel any pain, but it had brain. And after suffering such severe damage, even its brain was rattled by the frequencies.
After all, zombies weren’t that different from humans. They also run on frequencies and signals, just the difference was that their pain receptors and internal organs were mostly inactive except of the brain.
It was the only organ manipulating their inner mana to circulate and move according to its command. Without sensory stability, the signals directing its limbs crossed and misfired, leaving its powerful legs kicking uselessly against the floorboards.
The zombie managed to recover quickly, its eyes widening as it let out a growl before stopping abruptly.
Its jaw worked up and down, emitting a hollow rasp, but no sound reached its own ruined perception. It shook its heavy head violently, claws raking at its own temples in visible irritation.
It was most likely confused why it couldn’t hear its own growl... After all, it did have some intelligence.
The higher-tier evolution granted it rudimentary tactical awareness, but that very same intellect made it vulnerable to confusion when its senses suddenly betrayed it.
"Can’t hear?" Fredrinn taunted, pointing at his own ear and then shaking his hand.
The gesture was mocking, dismissive, and utterly arrogant.
"Grr..." The zombie grit its teeth, before moving... Lunging towards him on its fours.
Abandoning caution, driven mad by the silence and the instinct to tear apart the source of the distortion, the beast threw its entire weight forward, its talons tearing gouges in the carpet as it hurtled straight for Fredrinn’s throat.