The pain as I was being eaten alive by the zombies traveled through my flesh, through the bone, until it reached my soul.
And all I could do was helplessly lay there as my flesh was being torn apart…
as well as hear the sound of the other humans crying in deafening voices as they too experienced being torn flesh by flesh.
But slowly, a voice kept calling me—
in growing volume as it repeated.
Jefford... Jefford... Jefford.
It kept getting stronger and stronger until I heard the words:
"Wake up! We need you, please. I need you, Jefford!"
It was Ella's pleading voice!
Then I instantly woke up.
It was just all a dream, I thought—
Yet as I looked at Ella, she was wide awake while clenching her staff and said:
"Jefford, we're being attacked by a large horde of zombies!" Ella yelled, fear trembling in her voice.
This can't be… the main wave shouldn't have arrived this early, I said to myself as I walked out of the room and toward the house.
And there I saw it.
The walls were destroyed on all sides—
Revealing hundreds of thousands of zombies running straight at the human survivors,
Who frantically fired their guns against the charging horde.
Then as I looked at the chaos before me, I heard a powerful deafening roar toward the house where Melianne had headed earlier—
And there I saw them.
Eight 10-foot-tall mutant muscled pack zombies,
All trying to kill Melianne as she constantly fired powerful arrows against the mutant monsters.
I stood in disbelief at what I was seeing—
It was like my dream,
Where the humans valiantly fought against the endless zombies.
Then the system popped up:
---
⚠️ System Warning ⚠️
Due to an unforeseen event, the main horde of zombies—estimated to come later—has arrived earlier than expected.
Master, please use all of your capabilities to hold out against the horde!
Reward if Successful: Fortress will level up by +2
Penalty if Failed: Death of all humans in this subdivision, including you
---
As the system notified me of the dire situation,
I hesitated to show all of my powers, fearing that Melianne might see me as a threat in this subdivision.
However, that hesitation was quickly dispelled—
When my father's voice called out to me.
Jefford, don't hold back!
Melianne is a kind woman. She risked her life to save us from being eaten by a strong mutant zombie when the military camp we headed to was attacked and overwhelmed by the horde.
So Jefford, my son… SHOW YOUR FULL POWER!
Once I heard the reassuring voice of my father,
I immediately summoned the Great Fortress.
As the ground shook and the sounds of cannons and machine guns were being filled with ammunition,
I ordered Ella to cast all her buffs.
Then, in a second, Ella raised her staff—
And the system once again announced:
---
> System:
Mass Aerial Attack Speed Buff activated.
All attack speed of friendly puppets, summons, and humans in radius increased by 200%.
Current Radius: 3 km (equal to fort size).
Can stack with direct buffs.
---
Status Update
> Jefford Cliff (Master)
Level: 2 | EXP: 20,000 / 120,000
HP: 3,200 / 3,200
Mana: 2,500 / 2,500
Mana Regen: 2 MP/sec
---
Class:
Storeman
Close Combat Warrior
Fort Warrior
Attributes:
Attack: 25 (+45)
Attack Speed: 3 (+0.25)/sec
Speed: B-
Stamina: C+
Special Effects:
All Attributes ×200% (Close Combat Warrior)
Tenacity: HP <20% → All attributes +300%, damage +500%
Red Rune Power: EXP gain +500%
Buff in Effect:
All attributes improved by 25%
---
Once I saw that I was fully buffed and the fort was complete—
Standing 12 feet tall, consisting of 500 cannons, 1,000 machine guns, including 5,000 soldiers stretched to the radius of the fortress,
Which was 3 kilometers wide, almost the same as the subdivision walls—
All sustained by my mana and HP.
I looked at Ella behind me and ordered:
"Keep healing me, Ella—this will be a battle of attrition!" I yelled,
As I unsheathed my two sharp daggers.
Then in a blink of an eye—
A deafening sound of gunfire blasted the zombies and lit up the dark night as they fell one by one to the might of my Fortress.
As I showed my sheer power,
The survivors immediately climbed up the fortress and joined me—
Firing volleys of shots against the never-ending horde of zombies.
The battle raged on—
Filled with the sound of thousands of bullets being fired every second,
Cannons blasting the zombies into pieces,
Humans chanting to never stop firing,
And the growls of the zombies as they ran straight into the fortress,
Punching at it without care if their hands or limbs fell apart against the thick stone walls.
---
> System:
Current HP of the Fortress:
98,560 / 100,000
---
Seeing that there were still many hordes remaining,
And the zombies struggling to climb the steep hill where my fortress stood—
I decided to look back at Melianne.
And there I saw her—
Casting a powerful, big flaming arrow that struck the head of one of the giant muscled zombies,
Making it fall and create a loud rumble.
However, there were still seven remaining mutant giants that came straight at her as quickly as she had fired the arrow.
Seeing she was in need of help,
I immediately called Ella and ordered her to come with me to aid Melianne.
Ella, who at the start of the battle had never stopped healing me,
Nodded, her sweat falling to the floor.
We ran as fast as we could toward Melianne,
Who was clearly fainting heavily and nearing her limit.
Then—
A large hand of one of the giant zombies smacked her,
Slamming her into a house.
As we ran with all our might to help her,
One of the giants spotted us and immediately stepped on Ella—
But at the nick of time, I managed to pull her toward me.
However, when I looked above—
I saw another giant's foot intending to squash us for good…
But then—
My Close Combat Warrior passive activated.
Multiplying my attributes, already buffed by Ella, to grow exponentially—
And in a blink of an eye, I pushed Ella aside and dodged the giant foot.
The impact left behind a thick cloud of dust,
Creating the best camouflage for me to slice at their legs one after another,
Making them fall into nearby houses.
Without wasting time,
I immediately jumped onto one of the giants and slashed its neck repeatedly—
Killing it instantly.
Then I proceeded to jump onto another—
And started slashing its neck the same way,
But a cold, disgusting, slimy hand suddenly grabbed me and lifted me into the air—
Closer to its open mouth,
Intending to swallow me whole and crush my body into pieces…
Yet at that very moment—
A strong dark beam pierced its head and released me from its grip.
I began to fall.
But then, soft hands caught me mid-air—
And when I looked back—
It was Ella.
However, she was… different.
She had black wings on her back, a white dress,
And her staff, which had once looked like aluminum, had transformed into something stronger—
As if made of adamantine.
Her eyes, now glowing vivid red, stared at me—
As she spoke in a deep, cold voice:
"Jefford... You saved me many times. So let me save you this time around."
Then she dropped me beside Melianne,
Who was badly injured but still breathing faintly.
She immediately proceeded to cast a powerful healing skill—
One I had never seen her use before.
Then, after healing Melianne, she looked behind her—
As five feet of the giant zombies simultaneously rose,
Intending to squash all three of us in one strike.
But Ella's eyes were emotionless and cold—
As she stared toward the giant zombies, raised her hand,
And cast a powerful dark beam that split into five smaller beams.
Each of the five remaining giants had their heads pierced in an instant.
They all fell—
Creating a deafening crash,
Crushing houses and blanketing the area in thick dust.
Even through the fog,
I could still see the silhouette of Ella—
Who, after a second, suddenly fell unconscious and stumbled to the floor…
With the system immediately popping a notification that brought even more mystery and questions to my already overwhelmed mind that was swamped by the insane, mysterious power Ella had just unleashed.