The first zombie lunged, claws outstretched, moving faster than any undead should.
Zero reacted instantly.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the bone-melting poison vial at its face. The glass shattered on impact, and the zombie's screech echoed through the ruins as its skull dissolved into a bubbling mess. It stumbled, but before it could even collapse—
Zero raised his hand.
[Dark Dart]
A shadowy bolt of energy shot from his palm, tearing through the zombie's half-melted head, reducing it to ash.
Nine left.
The others didn't slow. They leapt at him, blades of sharpened bone protruding from their arms.
[Forge Hands of Ifrit]
The massive, flaming hands at his sides roared to life. With an earth-shaking slam, they crashed down onto the first two zombies, crushing them under sheer force. The heat was so intense that their bodies didn't just burn—they ignited, screaming, before turning to dust.
Seven left.
Zero barely had time to react as another came from behind—silent, smart.
[Demonic Frenzy]—Boost Agility].
His speed doubled, and he sidestepped just as claws slashed through the air where his neck had been. Twisting his body, he activated his armor's built-in counter.
[Great Armor Manifest: Spike Rebound]
Blades of hardened obsidian erupted from his back, impaling the zombie through the gut. Before it could even struggle—
[Poison Creating: Necrotic Flame Variant]—Apply.
A venomous green fire coated the spikes, spreading through the zombie's body. It writhed, flesh rotting instantly, until nothing remained but smoking bones.
Six left.
Zero turned just in time to see three of them charging together, working as a unit.
Smart bastards.
He needed something bigger.
[Forge Hands of Ifrit: Full Power.]
The flaming hands at his sides grew in size, warping with pure destructive force. With a flick of his fingers, the hands clapped together, creating a shockwave of fire and force. The three zombies in front of him were crushed mid-charge, their bodies breaking apart before being incinerated in the aftermath.
Three left.
One of them, an armored variant, didn't hesitate. It lifted a rusted sword and hurled it at Zero.
[Great Armor Manifest: Full Reinforcement.]
His armor thickened instantly, a layer of runic protection glowing across his chest as the sword bounced harmlessly off.
Zero pointed a single finger at the armored zombie.
[Dark Dart: Triple Piercer.]
Three concentrated bolts of darkness fired in succession, punching through its chest, then shattering its head.
Two left.
One of them, a fast-type, circled him, looking for an opening. The last one, a brute-type, stood its ground, waiting.
Zero grinned. Time to finish this.
He lifted both hands and activated everything at once.
[Demonic Frenzy]—Max Output].
[Great Armor Manifest]—Power Spike].
[Forge Hands of Ifrit]—Overheat Mode].
His body glowed with burning energy, and then—
He vanished.
The fast-type barely had time to react before Zero reappeared behind it, moving faster than the eye could track. His flaming fists grabbed its head—
And crushed it like a grape.
Before the brute-type could react, Zero turned, raised his hand, and unleashed—
[Poison Creating: Acidic Eruption.]
A massive burst of corrosive mist shot from his palm, melting through the brute's armor in seconds. The zombie roared, thrashing—
Only for Zero to slam both burning hands into its chest and detonate the heat.
The explosion erupted through the ruined city, sending ash and blackened bones flying.
Zero exhaled, standing among the smoldering remains.
All ten were dead.
He cracked his neck, glancing at the wreckage.
[Zero]: Dev team, what kind of nightmare did you even make?
Then, in the distance, he heard more footsteps.
A lot more.
His eyes narrowed.
Zero didn't hesitate. He grabbed a nearby corpse, dragging the still-warm body behind a half-collapsed building.
He had seconds before the swarm arrived.
[Poison Creating: Coagulated Blood.]
The dead zombie's remaining blood thickened, turning into a tar-like sludge as Zero smeared it over his armor. The stench was immediate, rotting flesh and disease soaking into his suit like a second skin.
[Great Armor Manifest: Adaptive Shift.]
His armor responded, morphing into a tattered, rusted version of itself. The metal lost its polish, the edges dulled, the color shifting into sickly green and black decay.
Zero glanced down.
His hands looked exactly like a zombie's.
He barely had time to react before the swarm arrived.
The first wave of at least fifty zombies stormed the area, sniffing, their hollow eyes scanning for movement.
Then he saw it.
A towering figure emerged from the horde—easily twice the size of a normal zombie. Its flesh was stitched together, a fusion of dozens of corpses. Its head was elongated, crowned with bony spines, and its eyes glowed red with intelligence.
An Alpha.
Zero went completely still.
The Alpha turned its head, scanning the battlefield.
Zero's heartbeat slowed. If it noticed him—if it sensed anything off—he was as good as dead.
One of the zombies sniffed the air, pausing near him.
[Zero]: Shit.
The zombie's head tilted. It took a step closer.
Then, from the swarm—
A roar.
The Alpha snapped its attention to the ruins beyond.
It spoke.
A deep, guttural language—the tongue of the Zombie.
The zombies turned in unison and began marching.
Zero followed.
Blending into the swarm, he walked among them.
With every step, one thought burned in his mind.
What kind of trial is this?
Zero kept his pace steady, forcing himself to match the rhythm of the undead march.
More zombies joined the swarm, their twisted forms ranging from common infected to grotesque horrors. Alphas, towering over the others, moved with purpose—not the shuffle of their lesser kin.
They were organized.
They were going somewhere.
Zero kept his head down, his movements slow and calculated as he walked with the horde. More zombies joined the march, some limping, others perfectly coordinated, each bringing their own brand of nightmare to the swarm.
And then—he saw them.
More Alphas.
Each one different. Some were hulking brutes, their arms mutated into massive weapons of flesh and bone. Others were thin and grotesque, with elongated fingers that crackled with dark magic.
Zero suppressed a shiver.
These weren't just regular Alpha zombies.
They were Warlocks and Warlords.
Since they were together and not fighting they had a king and they were heading to meet their king.
The swarm moved toward a skyscraper, its glass shattered, metal supports warped and reforged into a fortress of the undead. The entire structure had been repurposed—walls of bone, spiked barricades, sickly green banners that pulsed with dark energy, and even a couple of machine gun nests.
Zero stole a glance upward.
At the very center of the fortress, beneath a jagged archway—
A statue stood tall.
A man in a lab coat, made entirely of gold.
The statue was of Austin Australia the zombie creator.
A special zombie knelt before it, its decomposed hands clasped together, whispering a prayer.
Zero's blood ran cold.
This wasn't just a fortress.
It was a temple.
And he was standing inside it.
[Zero]: (Shit, shit, shit! How did I get this deep!?)
Temples of the undead weren't just sacred. They were so heavily guarded that even looking at one from a distance could get a player marked for death by the entire zombie kind since if someone looked at the temple and weren't a zombie it was like insulting their god.
Yet here he was.
Surrounded.
In the heart of the enemy's faith looking at the statue of Austin Australia.
And then—
The praying zombie turned its head.
Right at him.
Zero froze that zombie wasn't a king it was an emperor from the mark on his head.
The Warlocks and Warlords stopped moving.
Zero barely had time to react.
The Zombie Emperor's scream sent shockwaves through the fortress, a deep, guttural sound that reverberated through the undead horde. Every Warlock, Warlord, and Alpha snapped to attention, their glowing eyes scanning the crowd.
Zero stood still.
[Zero]: (Don't move. Don't react. Blend in.)
Then—
The Emperor pointed straight at him.
[Zombie Emperor]: A FAITHLESS HAS ENTERED OUR SACRED GROUND. KILL HIM
Zero's heart dropped.
The entire swarm turned toward him.
For a split second, everything slowed.
Then they lunged.
Claws. Teeth. Magic. A tidal wave of death.
Zero barely had time to activate his defense skills before the first blow landed—
And then he was somewhere else.
The sensation was instant.
One moment he was about to be ripped apart by an unholy army—
The next, he was back in the academy.
Standing exactly where he had been teleported from.
The change was so sudden his body still tensed for combat, breath ragged, mind racing.
Other students appeared around him, some injured, some panting, others stunned just like him.
The first trial was over.
[Chapter end]