Early next morning, Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet waited in the east section of Georgetown for the arrival of Alonzo’s soldiers.

Kaius summoned a Starpho and commanded it to patrol the roads leading to Georgetown. After observing the roads through Shared Vision for half an hour, Kaius finally saw Alonzo’s soldiers.

“They’re here.”

“We’ll proceed as planned,” said Lieutenant Bennet.

A group of 21 soldiers and 200 civilians traveled northwest along Ninth Line, the main road leading into the east section of Georgetown.

“Everyone stay sharp,” warned one of the soldiers. “There could be rank 1s in this town.”

“Thankfully we have Captain McDonald with us,” commented another soldier. He sneaked a glance at a middle-aged man that was exuding a fearsome aura and couldn’t help but feel a sense of confidence.

“We’re approaching the east entrance. Secure the perimeter,” Captain McDonald commanded.

Four soldiers stealthily went forward to scout out the east entrance.

“West side clear.”

“East side clear.”

“North side clear.”

Captain McDonald led the remaining soldiers forward, while the civilians waited outside the entrance for further instructions.

“Strange. How come there are no zombies or cursed beasts here?” Captain McDonald frowned.

“Did another group come here before us?” One of the soldiers wondered.

“Not possible,” Captain McDonald shook his head. “Georgetown is classified as a danger zone, so no other group should have been here without – DODGE!”

Captain McDonald’s eyes widened in horror at the fast-approaching ball of dark energy.

Boom!

The Shadow Bomb that had been charged for 30 seconds exploded right in the middle of the soldiers. A large, shadowy explosion engulfed all the nearby soldiers.

Aahhhhhh!

Multiple agonizing cries disrupted the tranquil silence of the small town.

A quarter of the 20 soldiers were killed on the spot. Their bodies had been blasted into pieces, with blood and guts spilling all over the ground. Another quarter suffered severe injuries; some had even lost a limb or two. The remaining soldiers were too far from the explosion and only suffered some superficial injuries.

Captain McDonald stared at the hellish scene in front of him. He was lucky enough to dodge out of the way at the last minute and escaped with only some light scratches.

“Take cover!”

“The attack came from that house!”

“Open fire!”

“Pull back the wounded!”

Under Captain McDonald’s command, the soldiers that could still fight let lose their automatic rifles and concentrated their gunfire at the nearest house.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

In a matter of seconds, the house had been riddled with bullet holes.

“Ceasefire!”

Seeing no more attacks coming out from the house, Captain McDonald commanded his soldiers to stand down. He silently motioned for two of his soldiers to slowly advance and check out the house.

The other soldiers all had their guns pointed straight at the house, ready to provide cover fire at anytime.

Captain McDonald summoned a sword in his right hand. A multitude of auras surged out from him as he silently activated his enhancement skills.

“Mnph!”

A muffled cry suddenly sounded from the side.

The soldiers reacted with lightning speed and pointed their guns at the direction of the sound.

It took a second before someone realized something was wrong.

“Where did Fred and Barney go?”

Fred and Barney were two out of the five soldiers that got severely wounded by the Shadow Bomb. While the soldiers were busy firing at the house earlier, Captain McDonald had pulled back all the severely wounded soldiers and gathered them at the back.

“A dark shadow flashed by and took them with it,” said a severely wounded soldier.

“Ahhhh!”

“Ack!!!”

Right at this moment, the sound of two simultaneous screams alerted the soldiers once more. Turning around, they saw the two soldiers that were advancing towards the house had their stomachs pierced by a razor-sharp claw.

The owner of the razor-sharp claws had a lithe figure that was covered in a thin layer of pitch-black exoskeleton. It was Cenos.

Cenos pulled her claws back slightly and grabbed hold of the soldiers’ spines tightly.

Bone Confiscation!

The two soldiers seemed to have lost control of their bodies as they spasmed uncontrollably while being held in place by Cenos. Within seconds, their flesh, blood, and organs quickly melted away as two sturdy looking Skeleton Soldiers appeared.

“Rank 1 zombie!”

“Open fire!”

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The remaining soldiers let loose without holding back. Continuous gunfire rained down on Cenos.

Shield Wall!

A translucent barrier appeared in front of Cenos, shielding her from the gunfire.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The translucent barrier remained sturdy and firm as all the bullets bounced off of it harmlessly.

“Impossible…” Captain McDonald stared at the translucent barrier in disbelief. “That’s a Guardian class skill.”

Captain McDonald motioned for his soldiers to stop firing.

“I’ll take on this rank 1 zombie myself. You guys go take care of those skeleton creatures and keep an eye out for anything else that might appear.”

The soldiers followed their orders and began their assault on the two newly summoned Skeleton Soldiers. However, another Shield Wall appeared and protected the Skeleton Soldiers from the gunfire.

Captain McDonald frowned deeply, thinking of various possibilities. A lazy voice sounded out from behind Cenos and interrupted his thoughts.

“Now, now, Cenos. You need to be more gentle with these soldiers, or else I won’t have enough time to cast my spell.”

A dark-haired youth walked out from behind Cenos.

“You! Who are you?” Captain McDonald questioned in a stern voice.

“You don’t know me, but I know you,” said Kaius with a smirk. “You’re one of Alonzo’s lapdogs, running errands for his master. Or are you Antonio’s lapdog?”

“Boy, you better watch your mouth!” Captain McDonald fumed.

“Why is this dog barking so loudly. Come, let me help your master discipline you,” Kaius curled his finger at Captain McDonald.

“You!” Captain McDonald became furious at the blatant provocation. He pointed his sword at Kaius and boasted, “You think you’re safe hiding behind this rank 1 zombie? I’ve already killed nine rank 1 zombies before. This one will be my 10^th!”

Captain McDonald rushed forward, cloaked in a multitude of auras.

Eye of Mana!

 

With all of Captain McDonald’s skills activated, Kaius managed to obtain full information on his skills.

“Looks like you’re not all talk,” Kaius looked at the fast-approaching Captain McDonald and materialized Bloodthirst in his right hand.

“Cenos, stay back. I’m going to discipline this rabid dog myself, with my dog beating stick,” Kaius waved his sword wildly in the air like a stick.

Cenos obediently jumped back far away and became a spectator.

Captain McDonald’s facial expression became livid after hearing Kaius’ latest provocation. However, on the inside, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Young people get too overconfident once they acquire a bit of power. This will be your downfall!” Captain McDonald sneered in his mind.

With a heavy step forward, Captain McDonald leaped in front of Kaius in the blink of an eye.

Chain Strike!

With an enhanced Strength of over 100, Captain McDonald brandished his sword and unleashed a flurry of attacks in rapid succession.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Sounds of metal colliding filled the battlefield.

Kaius was barely able to defend against the fierce attacks from Captain McDonald and was forced to take a dozen steps backwards during the exchange.

“Not so talkative now, are ya boy?” Captain McDonald taunted.

“Bad dog! I’m taking you to a vet after this to get neutered!” Kaius shouted back in panicked manner.

“Seems like you’re seeking death,” Captain McDonald’s expression darkened. “Let me help grant your wish then.”

Chain Strike!

Charged Blow!

Another series of rapid attacks rained down on Kaius, forcing him to keep dodging backwards.

On the final enhanced attack, Captain McDonald held his sword with both hands and swung out with all his might.

Seeing the incoming heavy attack, Kaius held his sword in front of him to block. However, at the last second, Captain McDonald suddenly twisted his body to deliver a powerful leg kick instead. The surprise attack caught Kaius off guard and sent him flying through the air.

Boom!

Kaius crashed into the wall of the house that he came out of earlier.

*Cough* *Cough*

Kaius had dropped his sword and was struggling to get up.

“Oof!”

Captain McDonald walked forward and stepped on Kaius’ chest to stop him from getting up.

“This is what you get for overestimating your own strength,” Captain McDonald sneered. He raised his sword up for the finishing blow and said, “Die, you little shit.”

Just as Captain McDonald was about to swing down his sword, his eyes widened in shock and horror.

Puchi!

A razor-sharp claw had somehow penetrated all the way through Captain McDonald’s body from the back. He looked down in disbelief at his still-beating heart held by the claw.

“When did this zombie…”

Pop!

The claw, which belonged to Cenos, squeezed hard and crushed Captain McDonald’s heart into a bloody mess.

“Don’t die yet. I went through all that trouble for you,” Kaius, who looked injured earlier, suddenly spoke energetically.

Kaius grabbed hold of Captain McDonald’s leg that was still stepping on his body and cast his spell.

Bone Confiscation!

The horrified Captain McDonald screamed at the top of his lungs as his flesh, blood, and organs quickly melted away.

In the middle of the spell, a System notification suddenly popped up inside Kaius’ head.

[Spell target had undergone class change once. Condition fulfilled. Skill: Bone Confiscation has been upgraded.]

The newly upgraded Bone Confiscation spell had finished taking effect on Captain McDonald. What used to be the body of a high-ranking military official had been turned into a skeleton creature that looked different than the usual Skeleton Soldiers.

This skeleton creature had glossy and smooth bones made from chromium. Its entire body looked spotless with a shiny, silvery lustre. It looked at Kaius with a hint of intelligence.

Kaius quickly examined his upgraded spell.

 

“So, this is a Bone Lord,” Kaius finally got up and examined his new undead creature.

 

“Not bad,” Kaius had a satisfied expression on his face. “It was worth putting in the extra effort to ensure the spell’s success.”

Kaius had been eyeing Captain McDonald’s skeleton ever since Starpho first spotted him. Although it would have been relatively easy for Kaius to kill Captain McDonald by working together with Cenos, successfully casting Bone Confiscation on him was an entirely different matter. If Kaius was not careful, he could have accidentally killed Captain McDonald or damaged his precious skeleton.

Hence, Kaius pretended to be on the losing end and purposefully backed up towards a certain side of the house that had a shadow. Then, at the last moment when Captain McDonald let down his guard slightly, Cenos was able to use Shadow Meld to instantly appear behind him and launch a sneak attack.

After the death of Captain McDonald, Kaius turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield. The remaining soldiers were nowhere to be seen, instead, nine cocoons made of spider silk took their place.

While Kaius was busy fighting Captain McDonald, Dio ambushed the remaining soldiers by spraying loads of spider silk all over them. None of these soldiers had reached level 20, so they couldn’t break free from the spider silk at all and were easily captured.

Kaius made his way to the cocoons. All nine soldiers in the cocoons were still alive. Seeing Kaius walk over, the soldiers all had frightened expressions on their faces.

“Don’t worry,” Kaius said with a reassuring smile. “This is going to hurt you a lot more than it’s going to hurt me.”

A cruel hand descended upon the soldiers.

Bone Confiscation!

Muffled screams came from the cocoons one after the other. A short while later, 9 Skeleton Soldiers that ranged from level 16-18 came out of the cocoons. Combined with the 2 Skeleton Soldiers that were created earlier, Kaius managed to obtain 11 Skeleton Soldiers from this group of soldiers.

Meanwhile, Dio had helped pile up all of the soldier’s guns and ammo. Kaius unceremoniously stored them all inside his Fay’s Ring.

“Are all the soldiers taken care of?” Lieutenant Bennet, who had been hiding inside another house while casting his Shield Walls, walked over to Kaius and asked.

“Yeah,” Kaius nodded. Then, turning his gaze towards the east entrance of the town, he said, “Let’s go bring in the civilians.”

Outside the town entrance, the civilians all had fearful expressions on their faces as they watched Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet walk towards them. After seeing Kaius’ cruel way of killing the soldiers, their impression of Kaius’ group was not any better than Antonio’s.

Seeing the fearful gazes of the civilians, Kaius tried to appear friendly and calm them down.

“Don’t be afraid, we mean you no harm. I have Lieutenant Bennet standing beside me. Some of you might remember Alonzo tried to recruit him a few days ago, but he turned down the offer and barely managed to escape from Alonzo’s attack.”

“Yeah, I remember him.”

“He stood on our side that day.”

Some of the civilians recognized Lieutenant Bennet and started to feel slightly more at ease.

Lieutenant Bennet stepped forward and spoke, “Over the past few days, my friend Kaius and I had been busy clearing out all the cursed beasts inside Georgetown. We would like to invite you all to come in and reside within this small town for now.”

“Sir, my wife and kids are still in Milton. Please, help me rescue them!” one of the civilians pleaded.

“My family is still in Milton too. Please help rescue them as well!”

“Sir, I also have family there…”

One civilian after another started to speak up and pleaded for Lieutenant Bennet’s help.

“Everyone, please calm down,” Lieutenant Bennet tried to placate the crowd. “I know that Antonio had been forcing people to kill zombies and cursed beasts for him. Kaius and I will go ambush the other soldiers outside today and rescue as many people as we can. We’ll come up with a plan to rescue the rest of the people in Milton afterwards. For now, please be patient and stay inside this town for your own safety.”

“Lieutenant, I have no one else to turn to. You’re my only hope now. Please save my family!”

A dark-haired man pleaded with Lieutenant Bennet once more before heading into the town.

Seeing one person move, more and more civilians followed and headed into the town as well. Many people pleaded with Lieutenant Bennet to help save their family and friends, while others simply thanked him for saving them from the soldiers.

“Should we head to the town of Acton next?” Lieutenant Bennet asked.

“Yeah, let’s,” Kaius nodded.

The duo began to run west. After roughly two hours, they finally reached Acton.

Upon the duo’s arrival, the chaotic scenes of a battlefield unfolded in front of them.

Almost 200 civilians were half fighting and half retreating from over a hundred zombies. Under normal circumstances, the soldiers could have provided support and easily took control of the situation. However, due to their bad luck, a Bruiser happened to reside within this small town and were keeping the soldiers busy.

“Not good! We need to go save the civilians!” Lieutenant Bennet sprung into action.

A teenage boy was fighting the zombies alongside his dad and grandfather. The civilians that got sent out to fight the zombies and cursed beasts were originally only healthy adults. However, after suffering double digit casualty rates over the past few days, teenagers and older adults were selected to fight as well.

Under the relentless onslaught of the zombies, most people simply chose to run. As a result, those that stayed and fought had to deal with even more zombies.

“There’s too many, let’s make a run for it as well,” the dad shouted.

“Ok!”

“Yeah!”

The family of three turned and ran as well.

“Ack!”

The dad and the teenager son looked back and saw that the grandfather had tripped and fell.

“Grandfather!”

“Dad!”

“I sprained my ankle. Forget about me, just run!” The grandfather shouted.

“No, we go together!”

The dad and the teenager son started to run back for the grandfather. However, several zombies had already closed in on the grandfather.

“No!”

“Son, make sure you take good care of Luke.” The grandfather took one last look at his son and grandson Luke, before closing his eyes.

Just as the zombies were about to collapse onto the fallen grandfather, a translucent barrier suddenly appeared on top of him.

Shield Wall!

The zombies frantically clawed at the translucent barrier; however, they couldn’t even make a dent on it.

Slash!

Lieutenant Bennet arrived behind the zombies and sliced off the heads of the zombies with his Basic Sword.

“Can you still walk?” Lieutenant Bennet cancelled Shield Wall and held out his hand.

“I’ll limp all the way back to Milton if I have to,” the grandfather grabbed hold of Lieutenant Bennet’s hand and stood up with some difficulty.

“Dad!”

“Grandfather!”

The dad and Luke ran up to the grandfather with a relieved expression.

“Thank you for saving my dad, sir!” The dad looked gratefully at Lieutenant Bennet.

“Thank you sir,” said Luke.

“This place is too dangerous. Make your way east to Georgetown. It’s safe there.” Lieutenant Bennet gave some simple instructions and left to help others.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Kaius had summoned Dio and Cenos to take care of the zombies. Since the civilians were currently in a state of panic, he did not want to cause more chaos by summoning his own massive undead army. In addition, after consuming all those rank 1 cursed beast corpses, Dio and Cenos had evolved further and became stronger. Hence, taking care of a hundred zombies by themselves was a piece of cake.

With the zombies under control thanks to the efforts of Dio, Cenos, and Lieutenant Bennet, Kaius went to deal with the soldiers and the lone Bruiser.

The soldiers had activated their body enhancement skills and were running all over the place while firing their automatic rifles at the Bruiser.

“Keep your distance!”

“Aim for the head!”

The soldiers shouted back and force. Even with 20 soldiers against 1 Bruiser, the soldiers were barely able to keep the Bruiser contained.

One of the soldiers was taking cover inside a house while firing at the Bruiser.

“Seems like you guys are having some trouble here,” a relaxed voice suddenly sounded out from behind the soldier.

“What the…” The soldier only had time to turn around halfway before feeling a sharp pain in his stomach.

Looking down, the soldier saw a sword had pierced through his body.

Bone Confiscation!

The soldier’s flesh, blood and organs started to melt away. He was just about to scream out in pain, but a hand had reached out from behind and ripped his throat out.

After a few seconds, a Skeleton Soldier stood in place of the soldier.

Kaius stored the soldier’s gun and ammo inside Fay’s Ring before moving onto his next target.

As the minutes passed by, some of the soldiers started to feel more pressured by the Bruiser. At first, they couldn’t quite figure out why, but after a while, they noticed something was very wrong. The sources of gunfire had decreased significantly!

One soldier was busy firing at the Bruiser from the rooftop of a pizza store.

“Can anybody hear me? Come in! Is anybody still there?” The soldier shouted into his military radio in a frustrated voice.

Only the sound of static came back from the radio.

“Shit!”

A large shadow suddenly appeared on top of the lone soldier.

Looking up, the soldier saw Bruiser had jumped high up in the air and was about to descend upon him.

“Oh fu –”

Boom!

Bruiser landed at the spot where the soldier stood. It broke through the roof and crashed inside the pizza store.

After all the dust settled, Bruiser looked around and saw the soldier was nowhere to be seen.

A few meters outside the pizza store, a terrified soldier was staring at the collapsed store. At the last minute, a dark-haired youth had saved him.

“Thank you,” the soldier thanked the dark-haired youth in a grateful tone.

“Don’t mention it,” Kaius smiled back.

Puchi!

Kaius casually pierced Bloodthirst through the soldier’s heart.

The soldier stared at Kaius in disbelief.

“Why…”

Bone Confiscation!

The soldier spasmed wildly as his flesh, blood, and organs melted within seconds. A brand-new Skeleton Soldier emerged and stood obediently beside Kaius.

Roar!

Bruiser came out of the pizza store and locked onto Kaius as his new prey.

Kaius summoned Calydon and nonchalantly ordered him to go take care of the Bruiser.

Whee!

Calydon squealed confidently and charged at Bruiser.

Seeing Calydon charge over, Bruiser switched targets and prepared to take on the boar.

Grasp of Enfeeblement!

Bruiser was too dumb to dodge and got hit easily by Kaius’ spell.

Stone Armor!

Calydon activated his skill and wrapped himself in a full set of stone armor, increasing his Vitality and physical resistance. His eyes also turned red as he activated his innate ability.

Bam!

Bruiser, who had been quite confident at taking on Calydon, was sent crashing back into the pizza store.

Calydon did not let up and charged into the store as well. He stomped on the ground and activated his other skill.

Stone Spikes!

Several stone spikes shot out from the ground and pierced deep into Bruiser’s thick skin.

Roar!

Bruiser cried out in pain. It struggled fiercely and managed to break free from the stone spikes. Just as it regained its bearings, Calydon had already charged in front of it with his sharp stone tusk aimed high.

Puchi!

One of Calydon’s stone tusks pierced Bruisers left temple and skewered its brain.

Bruiser let out a final struggle before its body slumped lifelessly onto the ground.

Two white orbs of light floated out from Bruiser’s body.

Kaius saw his experience bar increase by a large chunk, but it was not enough for him to level up.

“Seems like I’m too high level for these Bruisers,” Kaius observed. “They don’t give enough experience to level up anymore.”

Kaius collected the two items dropped. One of the white orbs gave 409 System Coins, while the other one gave a piece of equipment.

Kaius stored Bruiser’s corpse inside Fay’s Ring and examined the equipment.

 

“Nice, I can give this to the lieutenant later.”

Kaius tried on the massive Tower Shield for a bit, then stored it inside Fay’s Ring.

A few meters away, a voice suddenly came from the dead soldier’s military radio that got dropped on the ground.

“Team Bravo, do you copy? Over.”

Curious, Kaius went to pick up the radio and answered.

“This is Team Bravo. Over.”

“New orders from the Major. Head back to the city immediately. Over.”

“Copy that. Heading back right now. Can I ask why the sudden retreat? Over.”

“A large zombie horde is heading straight for the city from the west. The strange thing is the zombies are all walking in an orderly manner. Over.”

“Copy that. Over.”

Kaius shut off the radio and frowned at the unexpected bad news.

“Another zombie horde… Don’t tell me, it’s that big headed zombie again…?”