Chapter 329

“Fuck! The line over there is collapsing. Hold it!”

“Prepare the second row!”

Inside the enormous underground cavern, a woman was screaming orders at the top of her lungs like a madwoman.

That woman, shouting while holding a spear drenched in blood, was none other than Eloi.

More than several hundred people moved according to her commands.

Among them were Levin and his friends, Aaron and Dominic.

Levin spoke to Aaron and Dominic.

“Get ready!”

“Got it!”

“Understood!”

Aaron and Dominic answered with hardened expressions.

Their entire bodies were stained red with blood, and exhaustion was written all over their faces.

Naturally so—they had fought nonstop ever since falling underground.

Even now, they were surrounded by countless enemies.

The enemies targeting them from the darkness were the dead themselves.

The dead had risen again as zombies.

There were all kinds of them, from people who had died ages ago to those who had died recently.

What made it even more horrifying was that many of the dead had once been their comrades.

The raid team Aaron and Dominic had belonged to had also been wiped out and turned into zombies.

The sight of people they had trusted and followed until only a few days ago now attacking them as zombies inflicted terrible trauma on the two of them.

They could barely even bring themselves to face their former comrades.

And yet, the reason they had managed to survive until now was because Levin was beside them.

Without Levin supporting them and encouraging them, they would never have endured this long.

Every time the two found themselves in danger, Levin intervened and saved them, allowing them to barely cling to life.

But the two of them had no time to rest.

There simply were not enough hands to stop the zombie horde crashing toward them like waves.

“Fuck!”

“Let’s survive this.”

Leaving Levin behind, the two charged toward the collapsing frontline.

“You absolutely have to survive.”

Levin stared with bloodshot eyes at Aaron and Dominic fighting the zombies.

He wanted to fight alongside them.

But there was another enemy he had to deal with.

Grinding his teeth, Levin looked up toward the ceiling.

Semi-transparent demonic beasts floated through the air like ghosts.

‘Specters!’

Like Levin himself, they were ghostified monsters.

The difference was that these creatures had been born without physical bodies to begin with.

The Specters circled overhead like vultures hunting prey, targeting the awakened ones below.

Busy fighting the zombies on the ground, the awakened ones had no attention to spare for the Specters above them.

Because of that, many had already lost their lives to the Specters, and the dead rose again as zombies to attack the awakened ones, creating a vicious cycle.

If they had merely become ordinary zombies, they would not have been especially threatening.

The real problem was that those revived as zombies could still use the abilities they had possessed in life.

They could not display their full strength as they had while alive, but the fact that they could still use skills alone made them dangerous.

Levin’s role was to keep the Specters in check.

There was no one else here capable of doing it besides him.

Swooosh—

One of the Specters circling through the air silently descended toward an awakened one.

The awakened one, completely unaware, continued swinging his sword against the zombies.

Just before the Specter struck, Levin moved.

In his ghostified state, Levin shot forward like a bolt of lightning and collided with the Specter.

Entangled with it as they spun through the air, Levin unleashed Purple Lightning.

Crackle!

The violet lightning instantly burned the Specter away.

The Specter vanished without even managing to scream.

But Levin’s expression did not brighten.

There were still countless Specters floating through the air, and they were deliberately avoiding him.

To wipe them out all at once, he would need to unleash a powerful skill.

But if he did that, not only the Specters but his allies as well would be caught in the lightning.

He could accidentally annihilate his own side.

Because of that, he had no choice but to hunt them down one at a time.

While Levin hunted one Specter, the others continued swooping toward the awakened ones.

“Damn it!”

Levin hurried to save them.

Crackle!

He unleashed lightning and managed to rescue the awakened ones just in time.

But there were still many Specters remaining, and Levin’s task was far from over.

“We just have to hold out until Hyung Zeon gets here.”

The Zeon he knew would definitely come to save them.

The real question was whether they could survive until then.

Levin glanced at the awakened ones desperately struggling while holding back the Specters.

The frontlines were collapsing everywhere.

Each time that happened, Eloi personally jumped in and drove the zombies back.

Thanks to her, the battle line still held—for now.

But it looked incredibly unstable.

“Fuck! I feel like I’m gonna die.”

“Just hold on somehow. If the line breaks, it’s over for all of us.”

“God daaamn it!”

“Aaaagh!”

The awakened ones’ desperate screams and roars echoed throughout the cavern.

They were fighting while squeezing out every last ounce of strength they had.

That desperate battle continued for hours.

The number of wounded steadily increased, and many died.

The truly terrifying part was that those killed by zombies or Specters rose again as zombies themselves.

When comrades who had been encouraging each other moments earlier suddenly returned as zombies and attacked them, the weaker-minded awakened ones mentally collapsed.

“Aaaah! We’re all going to die!”

“We have to run!”

“Save me! I don’t want to become a zombie!”

As the mentally broken awakened ones fled, massive holes opened throughout the frontlines.

“Fuck! Where the hell are you going? Get back here!”

“You bastards! Swing your swords!”

“If you run, we all die!”

The awakened ones fighting the zombies screamed themselves hoarse, but it was useless.

The breached frontlines were collapsing rapidly.

Covered head to toe in blood, Eloi clenched her teeth.

They had fought desperately to hold out until now, but it was all turning into nothing.

At this rate, the number of zombies would spiral out of control.

The moment the balance of power completely shifted, the annihilation of the awakened ones would become inevitable.

She and Levin might somehow survive.

But everyone else would become zombies.

And those zombies would then roam in search of new victims, attacking and exterminating other groups of awakened ones.

“There are three thousand four hundred people… that many entered this place. If all of them become zombies and attack Neo Seoul…”

The horrifying thought drained all color from Eloi’s face.

Zombies never tired and never stopped.

They would wander the desert in search of the living.

Eventually, they would find Neo Seoul—the place where the most people gathered.

Neo Seoul itself might somehow withstand the assault thanks to its massive walls.

But the slums would be defenseless.

And if all the residents of the slums turned into zombies, then not even Neo Seoul would survive intact.

“What the hell is inside this place that keeps turning corpses into zombies?”

Eloi looked around with bloodshot eyes, but she could not determine the cause.

Running back and forth nonstop had pushed her to her limits.

“Haa… haa…”

Her breathing had become ragged.

Even taking a single step now felt difficult.

It was as though enormous iron weights had been tied to her legs.

The zombies did not miss the moment her movements slowed.

KRAAAH!

One of the zombies that had once been an awakened one lunged at her with its mouth wide open.

It moved far faster than an ordinary zombie, and its movements were impossible to predict.

Eloi failed to react in time.

“Shit!”

Without realizing it, Eloi squeezed her eyes shut.

Thud!

At that moment, a powerful impact exploded from the front, jolting Eloi’s body.

But she felt no pain.

When Eloi opened her eyes, she saw a zombie with its head blown off.

The zombie staggered helplessly before collapsing to the ground.

“Who…?”

As she frantically looked around for the person who had saved her, delight spread across her face.

“Zeon!”

Beyond the crowd, she saw a group of familiar faces.

The ones who had rescued her at the moment of crisis were Zeon and his party.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Their arrival was so dramatic that she felt like bursting into tears immediately.

Forcing herself to hold them back, she shouted loudly,

“Reinforcements are here! Everyone, hold on!”

Her cry spread throughout the battlefield.

“WAAAAAH!”

“Reinforcements!”

“Just hold out a little longer!”

The people who had been barely hanging on as though they might collapse at any moment suddenly regained their courage upon hearing reinforcements had arrived.

Zeon spoke with a grave expression.

“So many have already died.”

“The casualties are enormous. We need to save them quickly.”

“First, we need to separate the zombies from the awakened ones. Can you do it?”

“Can I do it? I’m Go Cheonsun—a member of the Numbers.”

Go Cheonsun was the old man’s real name.

At Zeon’s words, he had unconsciously blurted out his actual name.

The old man focused his mind while looking at the humans entangled with the zombies.

At that moment, the twin sisters each placed a hand on one of his shoulders.

“We’ll help.”

“Stay focused!”

Using telepathy, they intervened directly in the old man’s thoughts.

They artificially amplified his concentration.

Thanks to that, his focus instantly strengthened severalfold.

Fwoooosh!

A translucent barrier burst out from the old man’s body and expanded at terrifying speed.

“Dual Barrier. The righteous shall be protected, and the demonic shall be cast out.”

The expanding barrier filled the underground space and pushed the zombies outward.

Meanwhile, it had absolutely no effect on the awakened ones.

The awakened ones remained standing where they were while only the zombies were forced outside the barrier.

The Dual Barrier was a type of net.

It detected only beings with impure energy—such as zombies—and expelled them.

Thanks to that, the awakened ones escaped the zombies’ assault and finally breathed sighs of relief.

KWOOOOAR!

The zombies struggled desperately to resist, but it was useless.

With even the twins lending their support, the old man’s barrier was not something mere Specters or zombies could overcome.

BOOM! BOOOOM!

Eventually, the zombies were shoved all the way back to the walls, while the Specters ended up trapped between the barrier and the ceiling.

Even so, their aggression did not diminish in the slightest.

The zombies clawed at the barrier, trying desperately to tear it apart, while the Specters writhed as they radiated negative energy.

The barrier shook dangerously, as though it might shatter at any moment.

The old man shouted to Zeon,

“Now it’s your turn!”

“Yes!”

Stepping forward, Zeon unleashed his dominion.

The sand particles piled across the ground immediately rose into the air and surged beyond the barrier.

GAAAAANG!

Between the wall and the barrier, the sand began spinning at incredible speed.

KWAKAKAKAK!

With a horrifying grinding noise, the zombies were shredded apart.

Even their monstrous screams were swallowed by the sand.

Zombies were not invincible.

Even zombies died if their heads were destroyed.

And once killed that way, they could never resurrect again.

But Zeon was not merely removing their heads.

He was grinding their entire bodies into particles smaller than grains of sand.

The awakened ones stared wide-eyed at the sight of the zombies that had threatened them moments ago being instantly reduced to dust.

“This is insane…”

“He’s shredding the zombies that easily?”

“Then what the hell were we struggling for all this time?”

The sheer absurdity of it left them feeling empty.

In the end, many awakened ones lost all strength in their legs and collapsed where they stood.

Even then, the Specters outside the barrier still remained.

Because they lacked physical forms, the Sand Mixer could not affect them.

But their fate did not last much longer.

Levin suddenly flew straight into the middle of them and unleashed Purple Lightning.

KRAZZZZT!

The lightning, filled with Levin’s fury, burned every Specter outside the barrier to ashes.

Meanwhile, the awakened ones inside the barrier remained completely unharmed.

After eliminating all the Specters, Levin landed on the ground and tightly hugged Zeon.

“Hyung!”

“So you survived.”

“I knew you’d come.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t too late. You held out well.”

Zeon patted Levin on the shoulder after he returned to his physical form.

A smile spread across Levin’s face.

“That’s my hyung for you.”