Eric's stamina was only on C grade, so by now, he should already be exhausted, panting for breath. However, the Absolute Physical Optimization effects forced his action to be nothing different than light exercise. Coupled with his breathing technique, he felt refreshed every time he breathed and his body revitalized despite performing heavy actions.
Tens of Second Mortal Stage… Half of hundreds of Third Mortal Stage… Hundreds mindless zombies… They were all helpless against the raging Eric's bombardment. His fist was like a grenade, harming others in close-combat while his fists recovered itself in every breath.
At this point, he was now covered with blood—different colors as per the effect of evolution. Before, he was surprised he was able to break the grey crystals but since he did not perceive any of its usefulness despite its quantity, he continued his massacre.
A devilish smile formed on his face, as he continued to fight to his heart's content. He kept advancing until he was almost at the backgate.
Suddenly, there were tremors on the ground, comparable to the Shockwave Slam of the Bulwark Zombie, or perhaps more intense. Eric assumed it was only the result of a zombie walking, so he could only imagine how enormous the zombie was.
He squinted his eyes, glanced at the backgate, while he kept bombarding the zombies near him. Finally, the backgate's entrance was broken, debris flying all over the place and some were sizable enough to flatten the mindless zombies, splashing its blood everywhere.
A towering behemoth blissed the outside creatures with its presence, roaring at the top of its lungs. Eric's face twitched, spotting many dead zombies attached on its limbs, except on its upper torso and lower torso covered with dense muscle and semi-organic armor.
Its head was covered with dead zombies too, growling, but it has massive crimson eyes, seemingly only utilizing zombies' corpses as its armor. It kept dragging its arms, thick as trunks, on the ground like a gorilla, yet it's surprisingly faster despite its body framework.
It's also as tall as a giraffe, approximately five meters high. In addition, Eric could discern a thick concentration of energy on its chest. He also spotted, after scrutinizing, sinews glowing faintly with necrotic energy, seemingly connected to its energy core and to the living zombies.
If Eric was not wrong, there were a hundred zombies' corpses attached to its bodies. Eric read the wall of text and his eyes lit up.
{Name: Corpse Titan
Stage: First Mortal Stage
Abilities: Juggernaut Frame
Strength: B-
Agility: C
Durability: B+
Stamina: B-
Intelligence: C
Remarks: This is a gorilla king! I mean, zombie king… I still think it's too early for them to evolve this rather quickly, or you're just that unlucky to come across them. Goodluck, I guess?}
Eric grinned at Yeobui's remarks. He shook his head and thought. You're underestimating me. Although I can win if I attack and retreat repeatedly or fight in a distance, I want a close-combat deathmatch against it.
Of course, he had to gain information about it first.
He took advantage of the commotion, as the zombies, who relied on their instinct when they spotted the Corpse Titan, ran away… comically, and assessed more about the Corpse Titan.
It's stronger, faster, and its durability stood out the most than the Bulwark Zombie… Even fifteen or twenty Bulwark Zombies could not be compared to that monster.
His assumption was correct. The corpse zombies were glued to its body due to the sinews that were controlled by the energy core, draining their energy. In addition, their physical body was used to sustain its Juggernaut Frame ability—simply put, a heavy armor that blocked even concentrated energy attacks.
Also, its intelligence is actually C…
Just as he thought so, the Corpse Titan sensed his presence and growled in… hunger? Although Eric was only on the third mortal stage, the energy his energy core exuded was pure—causing it to be tempting on the Corpse Titan's nostrils.
If Eric's energy core was to compare to the third mortal stage zombie, it would be more like an A4 wagyu beef than beef produced by a third world country.
It roared once again, grabbing a broken pillar of the backgate entrance and threw it at Eric. Although it feared it would break Eric's energy crystal initially, it also believed Eric would be able to survive against its attack.
After all, not only Eric was exuding pure energy, his aura was a menace to the Corpse Titan, too. Hence, the Corpse Titan would never dare to underestimate Eric.
As expected, Eric surprisingly did not dodge the projectiles as his fist raged with fire, executing the second axiom.
"Second Axiom: Flowing Cosmos Reversal."
The Void-Wave fist redirected the projectile back to the Corpse Titan. However, it was not just the same Void-Wave fist like before, it was imbued with pyromancy, so now, not only its speed accelerated, bolting towards the Corpse Titan, it was covered with flames, too.
Eric did not hold back on his attack, consuming all of his energy on the energy core, to which it was instantly replenished by taking a deep breath.
The Corpse Titan did not expect the broken pillar to return, its momentum was doubled, too. Furthermore, it was blazing, so obviously, the projectile was threatening.
However, it did not want to back down. Its pride was as immense as Eric.
Instead of attacking the projectile, it pushed its chest forward, welcoming the projectile to collide with its heavy armor.
Eric's eyes lit up and he bursted into a hoot of laughter. He watched as the blazing broken pillar collided with the Corpse Titan's chest and exploded. The Corpse Titan's chest barely moved in response. The heavy armor appeared to have absorbed the impact alone.
The Corpse Titan was covered with flames and Eric leapt towards it.
The Corpse Titan emerged from the fire and tilted its head upward, staring at Eric with his fist burning with extreme heat.
Eric executed the third axiom, the Echoing Heaven Strike.
In response, the Corpse Titan lifted its elongated arm filled with zombies' corpses and punched Eric, with its fist as big as the latter.
When their fists collided, a shockwave generated, mixed with fire. At that point, ten meters in radius, with the Corpse Titan and Eric as the center, has become a death zone.