章 9: Chapter 9: Feral

"..."

They've just been staring at him. A full minute passed, and these pair of beast-like humans were just staring at him. The only thing that was moving were their noses, which if the Zombie was right… the two were trying to sniff him.

Could it be that the Zombie's stench was causing the two to… be cautious?

[Reader of Fate: Your Uncle Demon, says to buy a perfume in the Shop.]

[Reader of Fate: Craze the Third, says that won't remove the smell of the dead, bro.]

"..." If it were any other circumstance, the Zombie would have probably already tilted his head to get rid of the words that were suddenly in front of him. But right now, he was sure that making the wrong move would probably put him at a disadvantage.

He had seen it countless times before with the humans. They were stronger than the zombies, but one wrong move always leads to their death. Granted, the Zombie had already made a wrong move when he snapped a twig while stepping back…

…but since these beast-like creatures weren't attacking yet, he still had time to think of a… plan.

A plan… he had been finding himself doing a lot of that lately. Before he ate Nathan, the only thing he could really think of was… eat. But now he found himself looking everywhere even without knowing why.

And even after 2 minutes had passed, the two human-like beasts were still staring at him. But finally, after a minute more, they just turned around… and once again started devouring the female human they were eating.

Was… he just ignored?

"..." The Zombie then took a very slow step forward, once again causing the human-like beasts to glance at him… but that was it. Just a momentary glance, before they once again feasted on the human.

If he joined them, would they attack him? After all, in zombie hordes, no one really gets angry and the entire horde just usually shares.

"..." The Zombie got closer and closer, but the human-like beasts now completely ignored him. Do… they not see him as a threat? He does smell a little like the corpses of humans… perhaps they think he's just a corpse?

[The Readers of Fate are amazed at how fast the Zombie is starting to learn.]

The Zombie stared at the words that once again popped up in front of him. Were these Readers of Fate actually trying to help him?

[The Readers of Fate have mixed responses: Yes, No, Just watching, Kill them all, We're just here to watch since it's still free.]

"..." The Zombie ignored the words as he focused his attention on the two human-like beasts. If they truly think he was a corpse, then he could probably try approaching them and just… attack the least they expect it?

However, unlike with the humans, he couldn't really gauge the strength of these beasts. His instincts alarmed him whenever a human was too strong for him to try and devour, but with these beasts… there was nothing like that.

Maybe… he was stronger? He did beat and devour a number of humans now, and he did it alone. These two had to gang up in order to beat a female human.

"..." If only he could gauge how strong the female human was. But alas, now that she was dead, the only thing that the Zombie could really think of as he looked at her was that he was hungry.

The Zombie continued to carefully approach, until finally, one of the beasts was within his arm's reach. But alas, as he took another step, a small clanging whispered in the air which immediately caused the two beasts to leap away.

The Zombie, however, did not panic as the two once again looked at him. He just… remained still; his eyes, just looking at the thing that made the noise– it was similar to one of the weapons of the humans.

They called it a spear? But this one had a longer and bigger blade attached to it. Was this the female human's weapon?

No wonder she died, her weapon was bigger than her, the Zombie thought. The Zombie then slowly turned his eyes once again towards the beasts, only to see one of them already lunging towards him.

"!!!"

The Zombie quickly ducked, but alas, it was not enough to fully evade the beast's sudden attack as a huge gash opened on his shoulder, slightly ripping the black cloak he was wearing.

"..." And now, suddenly, the Zombie found himself surrounded by the two beasts from both sides. His head, snapping back and forth as he looked at the two… his hands, however, instinctively found themselves holding the halberd.

A halberd, yes. Now that the Zombie was touching it, a word once again entered his mind.

[The Readers of Fate are saying, 'How convenient'.]

He had seen and watched how the humans used these weapons, it… shouldn't be that hard since all he needed was to wave it around?

"!!!"

And before he could even try to stand up, the other beast also started to lunge at him. And of course, the Zombie did what the humans he had seen so far do– wave the thing.

The Zombie didn't retreat but also lunged forward, swinging the halberd as he did so. But alas, the blade completely missed the beast's body; instead, it was the shaft that hit it– causing the both of them to be thrown away… with the human-like beast rolling a few times on the ground.

"!!!" He was stronger.

And as soon as that realization came into his mind, the Zombie did not even hesitate to… throw the halberd towards the beast while it still has not recovered…

…only for him to miss by a foot and the halberd's blade stuck on the ground.

[Some of the Readers of Fate are groaning in frustration right now.]

The beast turned its head at the halberd beside it, while the other one quickly lunged towards the Zombie. The Zombie, however, did not look at the beast lunging at him and just went straight towards the distracted beast.

The distracted beast quickly turned its head towards the Zombie, but by then, the only thing it saw was a pair of thumbs heading straight toward its eyes.

"Kree!" The beast let out a sharp and screeching howl that whistled in the air as it started erratically shaking its head. And it was perhaps at the 4th shake… that it felt a sharp pain suddenly piercing its neck.

The Zombie… was now behind the beast, hacking its neck with the halberd numerous times. The blood that was spraying from the beast's neck, almost a fountain as the Zombie opened its mouth to get an early taste of his new diet.

And as soon as he was able to taste it, his pale blue eyes started to glimmer– his strikes, slowly becoming frenzy.

The other beast tried to approach, but as soon as it met with the Zombie's eyes, it froze.

"Graah!" And almost as if in instinct, the Zombie let out a thundering growl that almost echoed throughout the entire forest; his almost rotting mouth, stretching to its fullest capacity.

The fur of the beast instantly stood up on its ends as the Zombie's howl reached its ears– and without even looking at its kin, it ran away.

As for the Zombie… he continued to hack away in frenzy even as the human-like beast was no longer moving.

It wasn't until the blood stopped spraying from the beast that the Zombie stopped; dropping the halberd on the damp ground drowned with blood.

And then finally…

…he feasts.

[Proceeding to absorb the Devoured's skills...]

[...]

[The Readers of Fate are complaining about the suspense.]