Chapter 1084: Smarter Zombies, Sharper Instincts

As everyone on the wall watched with bated breath, the two Tier 6 zombies lunged at Ethan.

But Ethan didn’t even flinch.

With a single, brutal swing of his rebar staff—

BOOM

—the first zombie raised its arm to block, but it didn’t matter. The blow crushed through bone and skull alike, turning its head into pulp.

The second zombie was already within striking distance, claws reaching for Ethan’s throat.

But just as it was about to grab him—Ethan vanished.

In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind it. The pointed end of his rebar staff drove straight through the back of its skull.

One clean strike. Another instant kill.

The wall went dead silent.

That... was Tier 6. And Ethan had taken them out like they were nothing.

In that moment, Ethan’s image as an unstoppable force was burned into the hearts of every Enhanced in the compound.

The fear that had gripped them earlier? Gone.

With a leader like this, what was there to be afraid of?

On the wall, the Tier 6 Awakened and Enhanced were still unleashing skill after skill, burning through their mental energy fast.

Miles pulled out a pile of Tier 4 crystal cores and handed them out to keep everyone going.

Why Tier 4? Simple—he had the most of them. Tier 4 zombies were still common, and the supply of their cores wasn’t a concern.

With the extra energy, everyone fought harder, faster, more aggressively.

But as the kill count climbed, a new problem emerged.

The moat was filling up.

Zombie corpses were piling high, and the water level was starting to spill over.

If the moat got clogged, Tier 5 zombies would be able to leap straight onto the wall—and then it’d be a full-on brawl.

Not that they could stop killing. Even if they held back, the zombies would just use their own bodies to fill the moat. They didn’t care about drowning.

So the only option was to kill as many as possible, as fast as possible.

The battle raged on. The moat grew shallower by the minute, the water displaced by the growing mountain of corpses.

Finally, a Tier 5 zombie managed to leap off the pile and reach the top of the wall.

It barely landed before a dozen Enhanced swarmed it, beating it to death in seconds.

By now, everyone had finished advancing. The wall was packed with Tier 5 Enhanced, all itching for action after standing idle for so long.

And now they had their chance.

One Tier 5 zombie was followed by another. Then another. Then another.

But with so many Tier 5 Enhanced holding the line, the zombies couldn’t break through—at least not yet.

The fight hit a new stalemate.

But the pressure was building. More and more zombies were making it to the top. The Enhanced were holding, but the strain was starting to show.

Ethan glanced toward the wall. They were still holding steady, so he didn’t rush back. Instead, he kept tearing through the horde, knowing that every zombie he killed here was one less for them to deal with.

Then—something caught his eye.

A blur. Fast. Too fast.

Ethan’s instincts screamed. He immediately activated [True Sight] and locked onto the figure.

"Tier 8 zombie," he muttered.

"Clear the area around me!" Ethan shouted to the others. "The big one’s here!"

"Got it!"

The squad closed in, clearing out the surrounding zombies in seconds.

The Tier 8 zombie was already on him.

It moved like lightning, and in a flash, it was right in front of Ethan, fist cocked back.

It punched.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

Zombies usually clawed or bit. This one was throwing hands?

He didn’t dare take it lightly. He raised his rebar staff just in time to block.

BOOM!

The impact sent Ethan flying backward, skidding nearly 25 feet across the ground. His arms went numb from the shock.

"33,000 pounds," Ethan muttered to himself. "So it just hit Tier 8... not invincible, then."

He was already at the peak of Tier 7. Base strength at that level was 26,000 pounds, and after all this time, he’d stacked on an extra 4,000 pounds through training and enhancements.

That put him at just over 30,000 pounds of force. Still short of the zombie’s 33,000, but not by much. He could fight it.

The problem was, he’d already been battling nonstop. His stamina wasn’t at full, and going head-to-head like this put him at a disadvantage.

The Tier 8 zombie clearly knew that. It had waited, watching, and only struck once Ethan was worn down. If Ethan and his squad hadn’t been slaughtering so efficiently, it probably would’ve kept waiting.

The higher the Tier, the sneakier the bastards got.

But sneaky or not, Ethan wasn’t stupid either. He had teammates. Who said anything about fighting fair?

"Chris! Let’s take this thing down together!"

"On it!" Chris vanished into stealth, slipping into the chaos to find an opening. The rest of the squad kept the surrounding zombies off their backs.

The Tier 8 zombie didn’t hesitate. After its first punch failed, it launched another straight at Ethan.

Ethan met it head-on, swinging his rebar staff with full force.

BOOM!

He staggered back a few steps. The zombie barely flinched.

Just as it raised its arm for another strike, its head suddenly jerked to the side—instinct kicking in.

A black dagger slammed into its shoulder.

If it had reacted even a split-second slower, that blade would’ve gone straight into its neck.

The shoulder wound didn’t faze it. Zombies didn’t feel pain, and a hit like that was nothing. Chris, knowing he’d missed the kill shot, immediately retreated.

But the zombie was fast. It spun and threw a punch.

Chris barely got his rebar staff up in time to block, but the impact blew him out of stealth and sent him flying over 30 feet.

He wasn’t at peak Tier 7 yet—his strength was around 24,000 pounds. That punch rattled his insides and left him coughing blood.

The zombie moved to chase him down, but Ethan was already there, swinging his staff again.

The zombie had no choice but to turn and block.

Fist met steel. Ethan was forced back again.

They were only about 3,000 pounds apart in raw strength, but that gap was real—and Ethan wasn’t at full power. In a straight-up slugfest, he couldn’t win.

But he wasn’t losing either.

Chris used the opening to vanish again, circling for another shot.

They clashed two more times. Chris managed to strike again, but the zombie dodged the vital spot at the last second.

Ethan frowned, then shouted toward the wall, "Mia! Get over here!"

If two couldn’t kill it, then they’d bring in a third.

Mia handed off her position to Garrick and sprinted toward them.

The moment the zombie saw her coming, its face actually twitched—like it was annoyed by Ethan’s shameless tactics.

Then it threw its head back and let out a roar.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed as he spotted several figures breaking from the horde and charging their way.

His face darkened. "Oh, come on. You’ve gotta be kidding me."

"Kill it now!" he barked. "Before its backup gets here!"

Mia didn’t hesitate. She raised her hand and sent a crashing wave of water straight at the Tier 8 zombie.

But the zombie didn’t try to tank it. It immediately retreated, slipping back into the crowd of undead.

It was clearly trying to stall until its reinforcements arrived.

"Damn it," Ethan growled. "Figures. The higher the Tier, the smarter they get."