“I’ll… I’ll do as you say, Brother Val.” she managed to say to him.
At her words, a small smile appeared on Val’s face. She was really obedient to him and he liked that.
Not to mention, if she was a obnoxious brat, he wouldn’t have accepted her as his own even if the God of Light personally handed her to him.
As for why he still hadn’t made clear that he was the one she needed to serve as per the words of her god, it was simple. He wanted to test her resolve.
Val looked at her one last time before he turned to leave the compartment, heading back into the fray. 𝒩𝑂𝗏𝗅xt.𝓒𝓞𝑀
Meanwhile, the more formidable zombies, classified as Level 2 and 3, managed to break through the protective barricade of attacks released by the passenger on board the train. Their superior agility and strength allowed them to leap onto the train’s roof, bypassing the unique defensive efforts entirely.
Now it was the guardians against winged reapers and powerful zombies.
It was a fight they couldn’t afford to fight alone.
An authoritative voice, belonging to the captain of the guardians, boomed throughout the mental network everyone on board the train were connected to. “We have zombies and winged reapers on the roof! We need any capable individuals to clear them out now!”
Without hesitation, Val hoisted himself through the gap in the carriage’s roof, jumping on to the top of the train. As the train ran through the tracks with incredible speed, the biting wind whipped his hair about his face, but his gaze remained focused, steely against the monstrous horde crowding the train’s roof.
The Winged Reapers, their eyes glinting with malicious intent, stared down Val. As they looked at him, their maw twisted into snarls. In the blink of an eye, they lunged at him one after another, charging with the single-minded determination of a predator.
However, aa if he waa not the prey, Val met their charge head-on.
The first Winged Reaper to charge him lost its head in a swift, clean cut, followed by the second. As their heads rolled away, a fountain of black blood erupted from the point of dismemberment, staining the train roof and Val’s clothes.
[Ding! Congratulation, Host! You’ve killed 2 level 25 Winged Reapers. You’ve gained 300 EXP! As the beasts you killed are above your level, you have gained an additional few hundred experience points!]
Suddenly, an unusually large Winged Reaper lunged at him, swinging its overgrown talon with lethal intent.
However, Val didn’t flinch or dodge.
Instead, he coolly raised his sword, deflecting the beast’s attack with ease, wrenching its weapon-like talon he side. He then moved his sword that was bathed in the creature’s foul blood to deliver the death blow.
Puchi!
With a swift motion, he drove his sword deep into the creature’s heart.
As the sword sunk into its heart, it began to absorb its lifeblood, eliciting a roar of agony from the Winged Reaper. As Aquarius drank its blood to fill its rage meter, Its eyes, filled with shock and pain, quickly dimmed as the life force within it extinguished.
“Damn pests!” Val growled, yanking his sword from the creature’s chest.
The Elder Winged Reaper’s massive body thudded against the roof of the train, its life snuffed out as easily as one would blow out a candle.
[Killed an Elder Winged Reapers.]
[Gained 360 EXP!]
[Enemy is detected to be an entire stage above you.]
[Gained an additional 400 EXP!]
“From behind?”
An acute tingle of danger brushed against his senses, making him whirl around just in time to confront a new adversary.
The newcomer was a Level 3 zombie – smaller than the Elder Winged Reaper and not as fierce but no less lethal.
Standing at 3 meters tall, with hands larger than Val’s head and arms as thick as watermelons, this zombie could easily rip apart a man with a single, bare-handed swipe.
The hulking creature was surprisingly fast as it lunged at him. Val tightened his grip on, Aquarius, holding it in a horizontal, two-handed grip. He perfectly timed his defense with attack. As the grotesque zombie attacked, its claws, sharp as razors, slicing through the air, Val reacted with deft precision. He twisted his body sideways in an evasive maneuver, skillfully avoiding the lethal swipe.
Immediately after his dodge, Val retaliated. With Aquarius, his trusted weapon, he struck swiftly at the outstretched limb of his attacker. His blade found its mark, slicing through the sallow skin and bone with ease, effectively severing the zombie’s ghastly fingers. The monstrous appendages fell to the ground, and its yellowish eyes widened as Val went for the kill.
Clang!
The zombie managed to block his subsequent swing with its scale-covered arms, but Val was far from done.
With blinding speed, he flashed behind the towering zombie and launched another strike, his blade skimming past the zombie’s defenses and biting deep into its unprotected neck that was scaleless.
Aquarius, capable of slicing through iron as if it were soft clay, made short work of the creature’s vulnerable neck. It cut through the flesh and bone as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter, effectively beheading the creature.
With its head separated from its body, the zombie lost all control. Val nonchalantly kicked the headless body off the train, only to plunge Aquarius into the still animated head. Under his relentless assault, the creature’s brain turned into mush.
As a result, the zombie was finally dead, its reign of terror permanently ended by Val’s expert hands!
Killing it netted him several hundred EXP!
Whoosh!
In the midst of the chaos, he heard a rush of wind from behind him.
Instinctively, Val sidestepped, narrowly avoiding an axe that flew past him to embed itself in the chest of a Winged Reaper.
The force of the throw knocked the creature backward, throwing it off balance.
“Who was it?”
Val’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face the thrower – Edward.
“No need to thank me,” Edward said, a sheepish grin on his face.