Free Web NovelChapter 36: Chapter 36: Progress
Unlike the others, Faye Yardley fought with increasing ferocity, showing no signs of fatigue.
As long as she believed she could do it, her heart would provide a steady, endless stream of energy.
This completely illogical phenomenon was something Faye Yardley herself didn’t notice at the moment.
Gavin Donovan had long since noticed her strange state, but he didn’t say anything.
Because Faye Yardley was becoming more and more ferocious, the others were able to get slightly longer breaks.
When Caleb Colby took over for Zachary Pierce again, he asked quietly, "Pierce, isn’t Yardley’s condition a bit strange? The more she kills, the more energetic she seems to get."
Gavin Donovan, having been relieved by Finn Ford, walked over and said, "Yeah. She might be having an epiphany. She’s probably forging the heart of a champion, clarifying her own path."
Huh?!
It sounded so profound, but any Veridian would understand what he meant.
The group instantly reached a silent agreement: don’t interfere with Faye Yardley’s current state. Just let her maintain it for as long as possible and protect her when she can no longer hold on.
A state like this must be difficult to enter; at least, none of them had ever entered it so purely.
They were even a little envious of her pure, battle-focused state.
Faye Yardley had no idea how many times she had raised and swung her weapon. Right now, she was like a tireless robot, with zombie heads rolling at her feet.
She now stood at the seventh-floor landing, exuding the air of a single warrior holding a pass against ten thousand foes!
Even Zachary Pierce and Gavin Donovan, whose Attributes were relatively high, were starting to feel tired, yet they found Faye Yardley was like a perpetual motion machine.
Even though one of the two people holding the position had retreated, she was still able to defend the stairwell all by herself.
"The boss is improving so fast."
"Yeah, Yardley might really be one of those rare few with a special Talent for combat." Zachary Pierce then asked, "How far are you guys from the second stage of the mission?"
Gavin Donovan said, "I’ve only killed a little over 100 so far. Still got a long way to go. The three of us are probably around the same. You and the boss should have more."
Zachary Pierce replied, "Yeah, I’m almost at 200."
To be fair, those numbers really weren’t low.
The stairwell was clogged with zombie corpses. The sixth-floor landing, the hallway, and even the doorway of the office directly opposite were all nearly buried in zombie bodies and heads.
But the zombies kept crawling up from the fifth floor. Even as they jostled and shoved one another, they somehow managed to use the obstacles and the bodies of the dead and dying zombies below as stepping stones to push their way up.
If one squeezed through, she killed one. If two squeezed through, she killed a pair!
Some of the more agile ones crawled along the hallway walls and ceiling like geckos, but Faye Yardley was in a profound, mysterious state. The long-bladed sword in her hand, its edge already dulled from hacking, felt like a Divine Weapon. Empowered by her Strength, even the back of the blade could sever or split a zombie’s head in a single blow.
A faint, murderous aura gradually began to envelop her.
Finn Ford was pressed against the glass wall, staring at the situation over at the Municipal Science and Technology Museum. More and more zombies were gathering in that large crater, and the sound of their groaning—GROAN... GROAN...—grew louder and louder, as if they were performing some kind of ritual.
Moreover, as more and more zombies raised their hands and began to jump, even the ones on the outskirts that had been wandering into various buildings started heading in that direction.
"Pierce, something’s wrong!"
This situation slowly began to affect their location as well; the number of zombies charging at them gradually started to decrease.
Even the zombies that had been about to climb through the broken fifth-floor windows stopped, retreated, and looked toward the Municipal Science and Technology Museum before changing direction and following the main zombie horde over there.
Even after the last zombie was gone, Faye Yardley continued to swing her blade out of mechanical habit, and the others didn’t stop her.
After hacking at the empty air a dozen more times, the frenzied look in Faye Yardley’s eyes gradually faded, and she returned to normal.
Coming back to her senses, Faye Yardley finally felt the aching soreness in her arms.
Zachary Pierce stepped forward to steady her. "Rest for a bit. The situation with the zombie horde is abnormal."
"I agree. Based on what we know about zombies, they should have fought us to the death."
Gavin Donovan pulled Caleb Colby up from where he was sitting on the floor.
They all entered the office across the hall, gathering next to Finn Ford.
Sure enough, the situation was just as Finn Ford had described: completely abnormal.
Faye Yardley leaned against the glass wall and slid down to the floor. Tilting her head, she watched the scene outside and said, "Maybe it’s like in some zombie novels. The zombies can evolve, and these common ones will absolutely obey the commands of a High Level zombie. That means they have a leader."
"What are they doing? They’re jumping into the huge crater one by one."
Even if Caleb Colby hadn’t said it, everyone could see them jumping into the crater one after another, like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
It wasn’t just one or two zombies, but hundreds, thousands, all jumping in at the same time.
And yet, the crater was like a bottomless pit, seemingly capable of swallowing any number of them.
Faye Yardley raised an arm and wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve. She took out milk tea, energy drinks, and a plate of cooked Fish Meat from her backpack. She popped open a can for herself, took a huge gulp, and then said, "You guys eat and drink something too. Replenish your energy."
No one hesitated. As a team, it was only natural to share. If her supplies ran out, they’d simply move on to someone else’s.
Gavin Donovan was the happiest to see the food and drinks. His Combat Power wasn’t low by any means, but unfortunately, he couldn’t swim. He’d tried going into the sea and nearly drowned himself.
He had already mentally prepared himself to go hungry every day until he learned how to swim.
But starting from the night he was hired by the boss two days ago, the number of times he’d had to endure hunger had become fewer and fewer.
Entering a Dungeon was even better. Even though you couldn’t find food inside a Dungeon, the boss had some! freewebnσvel.cøm
The group wolfed down their food. They were mainly afraid of more zombies suddenly appearing, and the bizarre situation outside made it impossible for them to calm down and eat slowly.
Finn Ford, his mouth stuffed with a large piece of Fish Meat, mumbled, "They’re still jumping. Strange. Is it a bottomless crater? But we looked earlier. Even though it was covered in black ash, the collapsed buildings inside didn’t look that deep."
Faye Yardley shifted her body to face the glass wall. At that moment, she felt an impulse to rush down immediately and stop them.
"We can’t let them keep jumping in. We have to stop them!" Faye Yardley drained the drink in her hand and stood up.
Zachary Pierce grabbed her arm. "Don’t be reckless. Even if you rush in there, you won’t be able to stop them."
After a moment’s thought, Faye Yardley took 30 Blast Arrows from her backpack. "Use these. Can you hit that area from the rooftop? Even if you can’t reach the center, the outer edge would work."
Blast Arrow Usage Instructions: Upon hitting a target, deals fire splash damage to the target and a 1.5-meter radius around it. Duration: 3 seconds.
Zachary Pierce took the Arrows, glanced at the situation outside, and took a deep breath. "I’ll try."
