Shangguan Bing Xue, Liang Peng, and Chen He's confrontation against the blue-skinned zombie had been brief, only two or three seconds in total. However, those two or three seconds were enough for each of them to realize how strong the enemy in front of them was.
In fact, only Liang Peng had managed to successfully hit the strange zombie once and the only reason he had managed to do so was because the zombie was in the air unable to defend itself and suffering great amounts of pain.
It had only been a few seconds but during that short and scarce time, the life of one of the strongest evolved fighters of the group was close to perishing.
Too strong and too terrifying! That was the general thought of the three of them.
Swoosh!
The blue-skinned zombie saw Bai Zemin running towards it and quickly took off running. Clearly, the infected creature seemed to know that confronting him would put it in danger, so it tried to take the opportunity to run away.
Does this damn creature already have a basic level of intelligence? Bai Zemin felt his scalp stand up at the thought of such a fast zombie lurking in the nights waiting for the opportunity to attack.
"Stop it! We can't let it slip away from us!" Bai Zemin gritted his teeth and pushed his speed to the limit. Although he still had status points free and could add them to Agility at any time, unless extremely necessary he wasn't willing to waste them so casually.
The evolved zombie that was trying to flee was running in the direction where Shangguan Bing Xue was, so when it arrived in front of her and saw her blocking the way, the creature howled strangely and slashed downward with its blade.
Chen He's face turned pale at the sight of the zombie's intentions and his legs felt weak as he realized that he not only had no time to react but also could do nothing more than watch as the life of his loved one was at risk.
Even Bai Zemin who was the fastest of the group did not have the ability to close such a large distance in such a short time as he would need at least a second or two more.
But what everyone saw was not Shangguan Bing Xue's beautiful body being cut into two halves.
Clang!
After a sound of metal clanging against metal, everyone saw the ice beauty raising a small curved dagger to the level of her head. The blade of the evolved zombie was large but Shangguan Bing Xue had actually used such a small bladed weapon to parry its attack!
Moreover, from her grip on the dagger and the cold expression on her face, even a fool could tell that it wasn't luck and she was definitely a trained person skilled in close combat!
"Perfect! Shangguan Bing Xue hold it there!" Bai Zemin couldn't help but praise loudly. In the next instant, he reached for the zombie's back and quickly raised his sword high before performing an oblique slash.
The evolved zombie tried to turn around to stop Bai Zemin's attack but Shangguan Bing Xue did not allow it to do what it wanted. She leaned her body forward and used all her Strength to oblige the zombie to stand in place; thanks to the zombie's strength not being especially high, she was not forced to retreat and seemed to be able to stand her ground in a close battle.
Slash!
At the last instant and just before losing its head, the evolved zombie tilted its body at a strange angle, causing Bai Zemin's slash to miss. However, the creature was by no means unscathed.
Yowl!
A high-pitched howl escaped uncontrollably from the evolved zombie's mouth. Its left arm had been completely hacked off along with a portion of its ribs. Blood had begun to gush out like an endless fountain and from the distorted expression, it was obvious that unlike normal zombies that did not fear pain or death this zombie could feel great amounts of pain.
Shangguan Bing Xue took the opportunity when the evolved zombie was writhing in pain and with her free hand, she used all her Mana to make an ice sword. Her face turned as white as a sheet and she felt her world spinning around her; even so, she bit her lips making them bleed and stabbed forward.
The ice sword created with all her Mana pierced the evolved zombie's body with ease. The creature's stomach split open before it began to freeze from the inside out, hindering its movements immensely!
The beast roared ferociously trying to break free, but that was its last fight.
Bai Zemin used the momentum of his previous attack to make a full turn and made a horizontal slash. This time, thanks to Shangguan Bing Xue's support, the evolved zombie had neither the ability nor the luck to avoid the attack.
The zombie's head shot up into the sky before falling to the ground with a thud and rolling two or three times. Soon after, the body of the now headless evolved zombie fell to the side and dark colored blood began to spurt out uncontrollably, staining the ground completely in just a few seconds.
Four orbs of energy came out of the zombie's body and each orb entered each person's body. Chen He and Liang Peng's were similar, Shangguan Bing Xue's was about two or three times brighter, and Bai Zemin's was several times brighter than theirs.
Chen He finally sighed in relief and his heart that seemed to be about to burst out of his mouth managed to settle down.
Liang Peng was still frozen, apparently unable to react. This was also natural considering that the entire battle had lasted less than five seconds and his life was a hair's breadth away from being over if not for the timely intervention of his party members.
Shangguan Bing Xue still seemed to be in combat mode as she was still clinging tightly to the dagger in her hands; this dagger was precisely the Normal grade treasure that Bai Zemin had given her earlier. Her generous chest rose and fell as she looked forward with her eyes wide open and her sickly pale face made her look extremely pitiful.
On the other hand, Bai Zemin finally managed to relax his tense muscles and secretly let out a sigh of relief. While it was true that throughout the fight he was superior, the reality was that his life had always been on the line since the slightest of mistakes for him meant ultimate death.
Cough!
After deactivating his Blood Manipulation skill and ceasing to manipulate his own bloodstream, Bai Zemin covered his mouth with one hand and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood into his palm.
"H-Hey..." Shangguan Bing Xue finally seemed to wake up and realize that victory was theirs. However, seeing the drops of blood escaping down the seam of his fingers, she couldn't help her eyes from widening a little.
Bai Zemin gritted his teeth in an effort to endure the pain of his blood vessels shaking nonstop and looked at Shangguan Bing Xue with calm eyes.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and with his dark eyes fixed into her blue eyes he calmly said, "Now you and I are equal. I don't owe you anything anymore."