Chapter 1056: The Moment It Jumped

Capítulo 1056: The Moment It Jumped

“Chris, Garrick, Skinny Pete, Mia—you four fall back and rest. The rest of us, keep killing!” Ethan ordered, voice tight.

“Got it.”

No one hesitated. The moment their names were called, the four peeled off and retreated to the rear. The others immediately stepped up to fill the gaps.

With half the team out, the pressure doubled.

But no one complained. The five remaining held the line, blocking the endless stream of zombies pouring from the tunnel, buying time for the others to recover.

The battle dragged on for over an hour.

By now, they’d killed at least ten thousand zombies. The highway was buried under a thick layer of corpses, and countless more had tumbled off the edge into the ravine below.

Up on the mountain, the mutated Bengal tiger remained motionless, crouched in the grass, watching.

Patient. Calculating.

Like a true predator, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Ethan and the others were running on fumes, teeth clenched, muscles burning. Every swing, every blast, was pure willpower.

Chris and the others tried to rotate back in, but Ethan waved them off.

Their job was to stay fresh. When the tiger finally moved, they’d be the ones to face it.

A few more minutes passed.

Then, from the tunnel, a new figure appeared—moving fast, weaving through the zombie horde like a shadow.

By the time Ethan spotted it, it was already close.

His eyes flashed. He yanked two Tier 4 crystal cores from his pocket and popped them into his mouth, swallowing them whole. Then his machete shot forward, slicing through the air toward the figure.

But at the last second, the thing dropped and rolled, dodging cleanly.

It lunged straight for Sean.

“Sean, back!” Ethan shouted.

Too late.

Sean, drained from the fight, was a half-second too slow. He raised his metal arm to block, but the creature’s claws were already swinging toward his head.

Then—snap—an Energy Barrier flared to life in front of Sean’s face, stopping the blow cold.

Sean seized the opening and slammed his fist into the attacker’s chest, knocking it back. He staggered a few steps himself, breathing hard.

“Thanks,” he said, glancing at Miles.

“No need,” Miles replied. “Good thing I saved a sliver of mental energy. That could’ve been bad.”

“Yeah,” Sean muttered, still shaken. “That thing’s at least peak Tier 6. If it’d landed that hit, it probably would’ve crushed my skull.”

The Tier 6 zombie, seeing its ambush fail, retreated into the horde.

Ethan hurled his machete again, but the creature dodged with inhuman speed.

It was faster than a normal Tier 6. Smarter, too.

But Ethan wasn’t at his best either.

They’d been fighting too long. Energy could be replenished with crystal cores, but mental fatigue? That didn’t go away so easily.

Even Ethan’s focus was slipping. His telekinesis was sluggish, his reaction time dulled. If he were fresh, that machete would’ve moved twice as fast—and the zombie wouldn’t have dodged.

The creature let out a piercing roar.

Instantly, the entire horde went berserk.

Zombies surged forward in a frenzy, and even the Tier 5s—usually the sneaky types who hung back waiting to ambush—charged in headfirst.

Clearly, the Tier 6 had authority. And none of the lower-tier zombies dared disobey.

The pressure on the team, already brutal, spiked again.

“Fuck it—let’s go!”

Big Mike suddenly gritted his teeth, grabbed a handful of crystal cores, and shoved them into his mouth. The next second, one Rain of Flames after another rained down on the zombie horde.

Under the blazing inferno, Tier 4 and lower zombies were incinerated on contact. Even Tier 5s couldn’t hold out for long—if they didn’t retreat fast enough, they burned just the same.

Big Mike’s barrage was like a wildfire tearing through dry grass. In just a few minutes, he’d wiped out over a thousand zombies.

Just as the others were about to shout some praise—

Big Mike’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed flat on the ground.

“…”

“Damn,” Henry muttered. “Big Mike’s a savage.”

“Yeah,” Ethan nodded, then glanced toward the tunnel. His eyes lit up. “Hold on—no more zombies are coming out!”

The moment he said it, everyone straightened up, forcing themselves to keep going.

“In that case, I’m going all in too,” Sean said.

He activated his acceleration skill and charged into the horde, his metal arm smashing through anything in reach. Every hit was a kill—even Tier 5s went down in one blow.

Seeing him go wild, the others followed suit.

Crystal cores were tossed into mouths like candy. Abilities lit up the battlefield again, tearing through the remaining undead.

They all knew this push would probably knock them out cold afterward—but they had no choice. They were already running on fumes. If they didn’t end it now, they wouldn’t have the strength to face what came next.

Ethan pushed through the pain, his barbell bar swinging in wide arcs, cutting down zombies like wheat.

But then—

The Tier 6 zombie, hidden among the horde, began creeping toward Big Mike’s unconscious body.

It moved slow, deliberate, eyes locked on its prey.

A few seconds later, it was right next to him.

Then it pounced—claws slashing straight for Big Mike’s throat.

But just before impact, an Energy Barrier flared to life, blocking the strike.

The Tier 6 zombie let out a frustrated snarl.

Before it could try again, a Void Beam shot toward its head at lightning speed.

It twisted at the last second—the beam grazed its cheek.

Still not giving up, it lunged again, claws raised.

But Sean, who’d been tearing through the horde, suddenly accelerated and slammed into the zombie with his metal arm.

The Tier 6 zombie had no choice but to block.

Boom!

The impact sent both of them stumbling back.

Then—two beams, one of light and one of void, blasted toward the zombie’s head.

It dropped and rolled, thinking it had dodged them both.

But that’s when the machete came.

It flew in from the side and stabbed straight into its skull.

The Tier 6 zombie froze mid-motion—then collapsed, twitching, dead.

Everyone barely had time to breathe.

Then a massive shadow launched off the mountain.

It shot straight toward Ethan—the one who’d just landed the kill.

Ethan’s instincts screamed. Every hair on his body stood on end.

Danger. Real, primal danger.

No hesitation.

He burned the last of his mental energy and activated Teleportation—vanishing just as the beast struck.