Chapter 5: Face to Face
Since he could remember,
Yi Chen had never experienced such clear visuals.
His eyes felt like an ultra-high-resolution imaging device, capturing every detail among the graves.
Even with the oil lamp's light turned to its lowest, he could still see the general situation ten meters away.
[Sensory Enhancement]
When first encountering this 'superhuman' ability,
Yi Chen's brain became unusually excited, even stimulating his body to secrete a certain amount of adrenaline, further increasing his overall focus.
His confidence surged,
daring to face off against the undead.
Before taking action, he had one last question,
trying to communicate with the flesh ball through his consciousness,
"How can I completely kill the undead wandering in Cemetery No. 4? By beheading?"
"It seems you don't understand at all.
Your understanding of this world is still at the most superficial level... These things can survive normally even if you cut off their heads or remove their hearts, at most it just affects their bodily functions.
The fundamental reason they've become like this is because they're [sick].
To kill this undead,
you must find and destroy the [pathogen] in its body, this way, it will return to its original corpse state.
This one is still in the early stages of infection,
the characteristics of the pathogen should be very obvious,
Carefully observe the areas on its body that are bulging, swollen, or particularly dark in color, which likely correspond to the subcutaneous pathogens.
The 'Silver-plated Hand Axe' in your hand has quite good lethality against pathogens.
As for what abilities this one has, I don't know... Good luck, don't die."
"Understood."
The operation begins.
Yi Chen leaned against a tombstone, quietly peeking out half his face, scanning the nearby situation.
A slowly moving [dark shadow] appeared at the edge of his vision,
Vision focused,
The staggering undead came into view.
Its speed was very slow,
But those plant roots swaying on its back, like octopus tentacles, made one's scalp tingle just by looking at them,
as if once stabbed, these roots would drain the target's bodily fluids.
Yi Chen took a deep breath, analyzing the situation in his mind,
"No time, no tools to set up traps or anything like that.
The area is also restricted to Cemetery No. 4, making it difficult to conduct long-distance outflanking operations.
A head-on battle is unavoidable, but... before that, I need to pinpoint the exact location of the pathogen."
Focusing his vision again,
Every part of the undead's body, including the roots growing on its back, was seen clearly,
There were 4 obvious bulges on its body surface, located on the neck, right shoulder, waist area, and right thigh.
"Let's confirm..."
Yi Chen picked up some stones nearby that were just the right size to fit in his palm.
In his younger years,
Yi Chen always won the dodgeball games at the orphanage, able to accurately hit every playmate trying to dodge, even kids several years older than him were no match.
Now with enhanced vision, his throwing accuracy improved further.
Whoosh~
Four stones were shot towards the target at one-second intervals.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Three of them hit precisely,
The corresponding skin bulges were broken, even leaking some disgusting fluid.
But the stone aimed at the waist... Thwack!
As if it were the most basic irritability response of an organism,
The roots on the undead's back suddenly lashed out, accurately striking the incoming stone,
Like a home run, the hit stone flew straight out of Cemetery No. 4.
Not only that,
Several more roots followed closely,
They wrapped around and adhered to the bulge at the waist, forming a unique protective structure.
Based on the direction the stones came from,
The undead's head suddenly turned 135°, its special eyes filled with fungal caps staring intently at the arched tombstone on the high slope.
A sense of pressure descended,
Although Yi Chen got the answer he wanted, cold sweat kept rolling down.
"At least my approach achieved the desired effect, the bulge at the waist must correspond to the [pathogen]. It also proves that this flesh ball wasn't deceiving me.
However, this one's 'irritability' is too extreme.
To be able to accurately deflect such sudden, unpredictable stones... and quickly construct a protective layer around the waist.
Phew!
To kill this undead, I must cut off all the roots on its back,
Otherwise, any attack on its vital points will be neutralized."
Thud~ thud~
A series of footsteps treading on soil interrupted his thoughts.
The undead approached,
Stopping momentarily in front of the arched tombstone... Whoosh! Whoosh!
Suddenly,
Two powerful roots rose into the air, crossing left and right, lashing out violently.
Crack!
The sturdy large tombstone was directly whipped apart,
Along with it,
A dark gray coat still retaining traces of human scent was also destroyed, a metal badge falling to the ground, engraved with the name [William Behrens].
That was all,
Only the tombstone and coat were shattered, the youth hiding behind had already 'shed his skin' in advance.
Just as the undead was puzzled, before it could retract its roots,
A commotion came from the grave mound corresponding to the shattered tombstone,
The black shadow lurking behind suddenly leapt out,
The silver gleam flashing in his hand was exceptionally dazzling,
Whoosh!
The silver light drew a perfect arc in the air,
Slashing right at the "intersection point" of the two roots... Splat~ Dark green putrid juice splattered out, the two roots completely severed.
Moreover,
Due to being cut by the silver-plated material, thick black smoke rose from the severed ends of the roots, unable to heal.
"Argh!!"
A rotten scream erupted from the undead's dried, decayed vocal cords, as if an important lifeline had been cut.
Seeing this,
Yi Chen pulled back his hand axe, took a stance, and excitedly muttered: "Eight left!"
The screaming had not yet ended,
Those roots swaying on the undead's back, as if possessing self-awareness, had already locked onto the 'attacker'.
They transformed into sharp spears, stabbing towards him.
[Visual Capture]
Yi Chen's eyes and those of the flesh ball bulged like copper bells at this moment~ focusing on what was before them.
With such straight stabbing attacks, the path of each root was clearly visible.
When less than a meter away,
A perfect side roll avoided all the roots' stabs.
Not only that,
At the same moment of making the perfect dodge,
Yi Chen actually managed a diagonal slash from a half-kneeling position,
The root closest to him was cut in mid-air,
Putrid juice splattered on his face, but couldn't hide his smile, as he continued counting silently:
"Seven left!"
At this moment,
The black flesh ball rooted in Yi Chen's shoulder couldn't help but widen its eyes, astonished by this 'bottom-level worker's' performance.
"My judgment was indeed correct... This guy is completely different from those ordinary 'meat pigs'.
Such a dangerous battle where a single mistake could lead to death, yet he adapted so quickly, and even seems to be enjoying it somewhat.
Keep it up, young human!
If you can slay an Abscess with such a weak body, it will surely catch the attention of 'those above'... I might also be able to use such an opportunity to gain a chance to go outside."
Just as the flesh ball was indulging in fantasies of freedom,
Ah! Another scream rang out.
However,
This time the individual screaming was the youth it had placed high hopes on.
Roots from an unknown source suddenly drilled up from the ground,
Piercing through both the shoes he was wearing and his entire feet,
The roots that penetrated through the tops of his feet even sprouted flowers, sucking the blood from his feet and turning a bright red color.
At this moment,
The undead not far away had its palms pressed to the ground.
Evidently,
It was controlling the underground plants, completing this bizarre attack, binding its target.
Crack crack crack~
The sound of cervical vertebrae twisting,
The undead with its head turned stared intently at the 'prey' now completely immobilized.
It was getting serious~
Abandoning its previous slow walk,
Using the remaining roots on its back as legs, it rushed over like a spider.
Its mouth opened wide,
The inside of its oral cavity extruded a large amount of fungal hyphae,
As if laughing heartily at the imminent capture of its prey,
Or as if wanting to give Yi Chen a 'deep kiss', using its mouth and nasal cavity to connect fungal hyphae into the brain, draining the target dry.
(End of chapter)