Chapter 28: Running Out of Energy
A transparent blueprint of the building appeared on his HUD, guiding him past collapsed walls and broken corridors. Finally, he reached the heart of the devastation. What had once been a hall was now a massive crater.
"Not dead yet?" Zack muttered, spotting chunks of flesh scattered at the bottom of the pit. Despite the explosion, some pieces of meat were still intact. They lay limp, with a few tentacles remaining, the rest severed and charred by the blast.
'This sarcoma sacrificed its tentacles to shield itself—a clever move, but not clever enough,' Zack thought as he walked toward the pit. The remaining tentacles twitched weakly, making feeble attempts to strike him. He slashed through each one with swift, precise strokes, clearing his path until he reached the core of the mass. Standing over it, he raised his blade, ready to finish the creature off.
Suddenly, a deep roar shattered the silence. "Sir, something's approaching from three o'clock!" Ego warned.
Before Zack could react, a hulking figure burst through the smoke, charging straight at him. It collided with Zack like a freight train, knocking him off his feet and sending him tumbling backward in a brutal collision. He crashed into a fractured pillar nearby, which crumbled beneath him on impact. Groaning, he shook his head and pushed himself up from the rubble. The creature that had struck him was none other than the Lord—a towering zombie mutant.
The Lord's skin was torn to shreds, exposing raw muscle tissue to the air, and a rancid stench rose from its battered flesh. Blood soaked its body, though it was hard to tell if it was its own or from the other zombies it had trampled. It let out another furious roar when it spotted Zack, the sound powerful enough to whip up clouds of dust around them, scattering the smoke in all directions.
"Sir, the Lord is a highly dangerous mutant," Ego warned. "I'm simulating the best combat strategy for you."
"Forget the simulation, Ego," Zack interrupted, knowing there wasn't time. "Focus on the fight."
The Lord charged again, its roar shaking the ground. Zack leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the zombie's wild rush. He'd already felt what it was like to get hit by one of those, and he wasn't eager to experience it again. As he sidestepped, the Lord barreled into a nearby building. The structure collapsed like paper under the creature's nearly four-meter frame, moving like an unstoppable tank.