No more than thirty minutes had passed since the student’s soul signed the contract and was bound to rek. Now, before rek stood a newly forged Vulture—an armoured undead clad in blackened plate, gripping a double-bladed sword wrapped with dark, dragging chains. Its presence exuded nace, and the soulfire burning in its eyes flickered with fresh purpose.
rek rose from the chair, a wry smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"I’m owing Veyra again," he muttered under his breath.
He sighed. Veyra’s shop was never cheap, but sothing had begun to shift lately. The more he visited her domain, the warr her deanor grew.
Was this what counted as custor benefits?
Even so, her cold policy remained: certain death for any who failed to pay.
Still, rek couldn’t help but wish—for the hundredth ti—that he could create an undead solely designed for harvesting and storing essence cores.
With another long sigh, he turned and walked toward the door. Behind him, the four wraiths fell into formation, the flickering white flas of their eyes glowing softly.
The mont rek stepped into the hallway, he caught sight of six zombies shambling toward the classroom he had just exited.
Yuki stood by his side, blade poised.
The Vultures—armoured wraiths classified as dium-weight undead—lurched forward. Though slower than Yuki, their dense shells and brute strength more than made up for the lack of speed.
The clash was swift and brutal.
In seconds, the hallway was littered with twitching corpses. These basic zombies—weak, brittle things of flesh and bone, were nothing compared to the steel-forged Vultures.
It was like watching stone crush clay.
But then—
The floor trembled.
A low thud echoed from the far end of the corridor, growing louder with each step. rek’s eyes sharpened.
From around the corner, a new threat erged.
A Type One zombie.
But not like the ones he had faced before.
This one was bigger. Its hunched back nearly scraped the ceiling, and its arms were as thick as rek’s thighs—grotesque pillars of mutated muscle. What truly set it apart, however, was the armoured carapace covering its body, a shell of bone-like plating that resembled the exoskeleton of a monstrous beetle.
It growled—a deep, guttural sound that made the very walls hum.
One of the Vultures charged, its weapon raised.
The mont its blade swung down, the zombie t it with a single punch, its fist the size of a human skull.
The Vulture was launched backward, smashing into the wall with such force that the plaster crumbled, and the stone beneath groaned as if ready to collapse.
rek’s gaze narrowed.
The original Type Ones were already terrifying—capable of tearing through roller shutters like paper even at level 12.
But this... this was sothing else entirely.
An evolved version. A higher level. A walking calamity.
And it was looking straight at him.
Growling, the hulking Type One zombie turned its massive head toward the level 8 Vulture that had just torn itself free from the crater in the wall.
It raised a fist to strike, but before the blow could land, the other two Vultures surged in, blades glinting.
Clang! Clang!
Their swords struck the creature’s exoskeleton—only to rebound harmlessly, scraping across the bone-like armour with nothing more than a spray of sparks.
The zombie let out a thunderous roar and lunged forward, snatching one of the Vultures by the head. Its clawed fingers clenched like a vice.
Seeing this, the remaining two undead reacted swiftly. With precise coordination, they hurled their black chains around the zombie’s body, the links wrapping tightly across its torso and limbs.
Then, they pulled hard, dragging the creature in opposite directions, forcing it to stumble and exposing the vulnerable joint near its shoulder.
Yuki saw her chance. She darted in, blade flashing, and sliced into the gap between plates.
Steel kissed flesh.
The zombie roared in rage. In response, it crushed the Vulture’s skull with a sickening crunch and used the now-limp body as a bludgeon, hurling it at Yuki. The force sent her skidding across the floor, armor screeching as it scraped tile.
Snarling, the zombie pressed forward. Despite the chains, it dragged the two remaining Vultures as if they were rag dolls. With a sudden twist, it wrapped the chains around its arms and hurled them through a window, the glass exploding outward as the undead smashed into a nearby classroom.
Yuki ducked as another punch ca her way, narrowly avoiding a crushing blow. She spun and launched forward in a blur, her speed leaving afterimages. Sliding to a stop behind the monster, she slashed her sword downward across its back.
Sparks erupted.
A long white line appeared on its armour—but not a crack.
It wasn’t enough.
Then the zombie charged towards rek, completely ignoring Yuki.
The floor trembled under its weight as it surged toward rek with terrifying speed. Its footsteps thundered like war drums.
But rek stood firm.
He inhaled, steadying himself, then thrust his hand forward.
Telekinetic force rippled from his palm.
The zombie stumbled, its montum halted by the invisible pressure. It snarled, pushing forward again, faster this ti—an unstoppable force.
rek clenched his jaw and pushed harder.
The air shimred with unseen energy. The hallway cracked beneath the weight of his power.
And the zombie began to slow.
Its steps grew sluggish.
Each one was a battle.
Pulling out his revolver, rek fired three rounds in quick succession.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each bullet ricocheted off the zombie’s bone-plated armor with sharp tallic pings, leaving not even a scratch.
His pupils narrowed. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
From the corner of his eye, he saw movent. A swarm of zombies was pouring in from the opposite end of the corridor—the hallway behind him.
His heart lurched. For a split second, his concentration faltered. And that was all it took.
The massive Type One surged forward, fist already cocked. At the last mont, rek leapt backward and the blow landed downward, shattering the floor beneath him.
The entire section collapsed, sending him and chunks of debris plumting down to the ground floor.
Dust and rubble exploded into the air.
Groaning, rek shoved aside a large stone slab pinning him. But when he looked down—His left leg was trapped beneath a fallen block.
The mont he saw it, the pain hit like a crashing tide. His jaw clenched, breath shallow.
Still, a muffled cry escaped as agony flared through him.
Thud.
A heavy step echoed through the settling dust.
Lifting his head, rek’s golden eyes locked onto the shadow erging from the cent fog.
The towering zombie lood above, its grotesque form silhouetted like a walking nightmare.
Its power greatly dwarfed his!
Fleeing would have been the smart move—if not for his crushed leg. He grit his teeth, eyes blazing.
"I..." he rasped, "...refuse to die."
With a guttural roar, rek raised a trembling hand. Stones levitated, then hurled themselves at the zombie like missiles.
CRACK! THUD! SMASH!
They struck left and right, so shattering on impact, others barely phasing it.
Then—
THUD. THUD. THUD.
All three Vultures landed behind him.
They wasted no ti, surging forward with deadly intent. Their blades slashed across the armored hide—but it was futile. Not even a dent.
The zombie reached for the headless Vulture again.
"No, you don’t," rek growled.
He yanked the undead back with his telekinesis, then focused everything he had on the beast.
The air around the zombie shimred.
Its knees buckled.
Though snarling in unwillingness, the Type One was forced down, brought to one knee by invisible pressure.
A blinding pain stabbed through rek’s skull. He gritted his teeth.
Blood trickled from his nose.
His mind was fraying at the edges.
Suddenly—
Yuki burst through the fog like a ghost from a nightmare.
Her blade glead in the haze as she swung with all her strength. One of the zombie’s arms was half-severed, the bone exposed and blood spurted out.
The Vultures moved in, latching onto the hulking monster to restrain it while seizing the opening, rek limped forward, eyes burning with resolve.
He raised his revolver and aid point-blank.
Both bullets struck the creature’s eyes, making it rear back in a deafening roar. rek didn’t wait.
He shoved the barrel into its open mouth and fired his final round.
Its jaw split open, but before he could step back—
A backhand struck him square in the chest, launching him like a ragdoll.
His world spun.
rek crashed into the far wall with a bone-jarring impact, blood spraying from his mouth. He dropped to his knees, gasping.
His revolver clattered beside him, useless.
Across the room, the Type One monster grabbed one of the Vultures still trying to hold it back and smashed it into the wall.
Its cuirass caved in, the body going limp. Then slowly, it turned its gaze toward rek, the one with the most energy but just then, Yuki appeared behind it, mid-thrust. The white orbs behind the vertical slits on her dark gray helm flared as she activated the Ivory Sword’s skill causing ti to slow down for the giant zombie.
Swiftly, she thrusted through the zombie’s right eye, into its head and pulled out, blood splattering out as the zombie collapsed heavily.
A large portion of mist, denser than the previous ones, almost in the shape of a human burst out, split into four parts with Yuki’s being the biggest and slipped into the armoured wraiths.
[Your wraith, Yuki has risen to level 17!]
[Your wraith minions have all risen to level 12!]
rek didn’t know whether to laugh in excitent of cry out of pain as the blue screen popped before his eyes.
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