Chapter 25: Zombie Tide (3)

"Looks like I made it to the party just in time," a voice called out from behind the Zombie Captain. Anna instantly recognized the voice. Behind the now-frozen Zombie Captain, which had turned into a solid ice statue, stood a young man. He wasn't conventionally handsome, but there was something striking about him. His dark hair flowed down his back, with streaks of white here and there.

Klaus drew his sword out and the Zombie Captain that was frozen into solid ices shattered dropping a Zombie Stone on the ground. Klaus picked it up with a sly smile.

"No more zombies will come through this entrance, so anyone who wants to leave can go now. I've got work to do," Klaus said, moving off. As he passed by the stunned Anna, he gave her a quick wink.

Everyone watched him as he zipped past them with terrifying speed, an aura of ice-cold death trailing in his wake. His presence was so chilling and chaotic that it sent shivers down everyone's spines.

"Who is that?" Kay asked, staring in the direction Klaus had gone. It was the direction of the thousands of monsters coming from the four main entrances.

"Anyone who can't fight should leave now. The infected should eat the Zombie stones and get out quickly. If you're lucky, you might be saved," Anna ordered her voice firm.

Following her command, hundreds of people who survived gave a quick bow and hurried away, leaving only Anna, Lily, Kilian, Kay, Mark, and two other young fighters behind.

"This is our chance to level up. Everyone, stay sharp and watch each other's backs," Anna said with a slight smile, pleased that they were staying to fight. She led them back toward the safer part of the area.

"What the hell is that?" Kilian gasped as they stepped into the clearing. The sight before them was pure destruction. Hundreds of headless zombies stood frozen in place, their bodies encased in ice. Their heads were nowhere to be found.

"Where are their heads?" Mark asked, his voice filled with shock as he stared at the scene.

"Look over there," Lily pointed toward Klaus. "He's cutting off their heads and storing them in his space ring as he fights."

"Heavens," one of the young men who had stayed behind whispered, eyes wide. "Is he even human? How can he move that fast?" Everywhere Klaus went, zombies lost their heads in an instant.

Klaus moved like a shadow, his sword flashing through the air with blinding speed. In one smooth motion, he decapitated five zombies, their bodies freezing solid before they hit the ground. He barely paused before spinning around and slicing through another group, their heads flying off in different directions.

Without missing a beat, Klaus leaped into the air, his sword glowing with a faint blue light. He came down hard, driving the blade into the ground. A ripple of ice shot out in every direction, freezing the legs of a dozen zombies. He was on them before they could break free, lopping off their heads with swift, precise strikes.

Klaus's control over the ice has improved greatly after he advanced to Level 10. When he sensed the danger and moved toward it. it was the direction of the fifth entrance. He wasn't particularly afraid when he saw the horde of Zombies.

Actually, when he saw them, he was pumped with joy. The Exp needed to advance to Level 11 was very high, so he needed more exp to level up. Thankfully, killing Zombies pays more than monsters. Because of this, he went into action and started slaughtering them.

This action slowed down the Zombies so instead of them clashing with the monsters Anna and her people lead through the fifth door, it was rather Klaus that trimmed them down. His attacks were both devastating and freezing.

Within an hour, he had killed so much that he didn't know when he leveled up. However, when he leveled up, he started to feel more connected to the ice element. Now, aside from his sword, he can now freely use his ice element.

By stumping down, he can freeze all things around the 30 meters of him. But that's not all, he can now use the ice element to move. By tapping into the ice in the air, his movement becomes several times faster.

As he moved through the horde, Klaus used his free hand to hurl small, icy projectiles at distant zombies. Each one struck its target with deadly accuracy, shattering their skulls and leaving their bodies to collapse in icy heaps.

At one point, a particularly large zombie lunged at him. Klaus sidestepped easily, then drove his sword upward through its chin and out the top of its skull. The body froze solid and shattered into a thousand pieces with a single tap of his blade.

"Seriously, who is this guy?" Kay asked again, his voice filled with awe as he stared at the battlefield.

"I don't know, but whoever he is, he's incredibly powerful. Where could he be from?" Lily wondered aloud, her eyes filled with curiosity. Anna, standing beside her, had a strange look on her face as well, but deep down, she was even more shocked than the others.

She had seen Klaus in action before, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined he could be this terrifying. Everywhere he went, the ground was coated in ice. There wasn't a drop of blood on the battlefield, nor a single stain on his dark clothes.

Everything was frozen solid. Every Zombie body was headless since they went into his space ring as he cut them. Klaus doesn't know how to use his enormous spiritual pool, but he managed to discover how to pick things into his space ring using spiritual qi without touching them. He knew he had to take his spoils fast before others sneak up and claim them. So learning to how use the Spiritual Qi to take items was something he felt necessary.

After leveling up to level 10, his spiritual pool has swelled even more. Now, he can use stronger attacks without having to worry about running out of energy.

Klaus kept up his relentless pace, swinging his sword in wide arcs that took down groups of zombies with each pass. Every move he made was fluid and efficient, with no wasted motion. It was as if he was performing a deadly dance, with the zombies as his unwilling partners.

He paused for a split second to let out a cold breath, and with a wave of his hand, an icy mist spread out, freezing a wave of incoming zombies in place. Klaus then dashed through them, his sword a blur, leaving a trail of decapitated bodies behind him.

In another instant, he stopped abruptly, as if sensing something behind him. Without turning around, he stabbed his sword backward, impaling a zombie that had tried to sneak up on him. He pulled the blade out and spun, slicing off its head in one swift motion. The head flew into the air and then disappeared into his space ring.

Klaus didn't stop there. He swung his sword in a horizontal arc, sending a sharp gust of wind that cut through a line of zombies, their heads popping off like dandelions in a breeze.

He then launched himself into the air again, flipping over a crowd of zombies before coming down with a powerful downward strike. The impact created a shockwave of ice that blasted away everything within a ten-meter radius, leaving nothing but frozen corpses in his wake.

As he landed, Klaus didn't slow down. He moved seamlessly into his next attack, this time driving his sword into the ground again. Massive spikes of ice erupted beneath a cluster of zombies, skewering them from below. Their bodies froze solid as they were lifted off the ground, and Klaus casually walked past them, snapping off their heads as he went.

"More zombies are coming, we should start fighting too," Anna said, snapping everyone out of their trance. Her words were all it took to spur the others into action.

Kay was the first to move. He pulled back his bowstring and released an arrow that ignited into a flaming serpent as it flew. The fiery snake streaked across the battlefield, crashing into a cluster of zombies with explosive force. Kay is a Level 5 Ascended. He has deep spiritual qi pool, so he didn't hold back. He infused each arrow with more energy, ensuring every shot had devastating power.

Mark wasn't far behind. With a swift motion, he swung his spear, unleashing sharp wind arcs that sliced through the air. The wind attacks cut through the zombie horde with lethal precision, severing limbs and heads as they went. Like Kay, Mark was also a Level 5 Ascended. They are friends from the same academy, so they know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Fighting side by side, Kay and Mark moved with perfect coordination, instinctively knowing when to cover for each other. They had trained together for years, even before they awakened, so their teamwork was seamless.

Lily joined the fray next. Her swordplay was both graceful and deadly, her strikes silent but lethal as she harnessed the wind element. She moved like a shadow, her attacks swift and precise, cutting down zombies with minimal effort.

Beside her was Kilian, her brother, whose fiery sword attacks contrasted sharply with her cool demeanor. Every swing of Kilian's sword set the zombies ablaze, turning them into walking torches before they crumbled to ash.

The other two who stayed behind also leaped into action. One was a mage, weaving powerful spells that ripped through the horde with blasts of elemental force. The other was an ax-wielding warrior, his swings so powerful that they cleaved through multiple zombies with a single stroke. Like Kay and Mark, these two knew how to cover each other's backs, creating a deadly duo that kept the zombies at bay.

Then there was Anna. Now that she was surrounded by such skilled fighters, she didn't have to worry about protecting anyone else. Everyone was already watching out for one another, allowing her to finally let loose.

Her hair flowed behind her as she chanted spell after spell, her voice carrying a chilling power. The zombies stood no chance against her ice magic. Every swing of her staff froze them in their tracks, turning them into lifeless statues before they shattered into pieces. Anna moved through the battlefield like a fairy turning the Zombies into chunks of ice.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a massive explosion echoed from the first entrance. The ground trembled, and from the dust and debris, a new wave of zombies emerged, they look different. Their skin was pale, almost white, and they moved with a disturbing, unnatural speed.

"White Zombies," Anna muttered, her face pale. "This is bad."