"Huh?" Edward, no, the King felt something was off. There wasn’t a chance that he could mistake that smile for some form of twisted psychological pain.
His face distorted, literally manifesting into one of different expressions simultaneously to the point that it became freakish to his subordinates who thought they were used to his oddities.
"What are you standing around for, you fucks! Bring me the zombie cure!" His anger shot up when he noticed the black veins spreading from his chest. The rate at which his veins darkened was faster than any infection he had ever seen, making him wonder what exactly Jayden infected him with.
Startled, every person quickly snapped out of their daze before scrambling to a room that was connected to the one they were in. With their panic seeping in, too many were hard pressed to get the cure at the same time, creating confusion within the other room, everyone getting in each other’s way.
"Goddamn it! MOVE!" His booming voice appeared within the stumbling crowd. Instinctively, his frustrated voice made them quick to respond, but the problem was that the area was still too crowded to move.
Boom!* But then a loud collision sounded on the opposite end of the room, a human sized hole was torn through the far wall. Dust and debris clouded the air, obscuring the figure that had been thrown through it. The scene should have brought the chaotic movement in the room to a halt, but before they could react, another body was thrown across the room.
"I said move!" It was then that everyone began to seize the initiative to get out of his way. Their horror at being the next wall decoration made them unaware of the distortions that were going on within their leader’s body. The King began to bulldoze his way through the people unfortunate enough to get out of the way, quickly reaching the contents of different loot that was acquired from the combined collaboration between them and their cooperative slaves.
The moment he saw the piles of zombie cures, he took one bottle after another, downing them in gulps. Although the others weren’t perceptive about his changes, how could he not? His body flinched so strongly that his balance tilted over, an extreme pain course through his right arm, causing him to crush an empty vial with his grasp. He then noticed a weight within his shoulders that appeared suddenly, a weight that soon extended to his pained arm. The sensation was met with a physical change that left a traumatic shock to his heart. His arm was suddenly thicker, longer, and heavier, and with it came an even stronger version of distortions within his arm. Not only his veins, but his muscles contorted ways that made his body feel as if something alive was moving inside.
With each second passing, the changes spread further. His shoulder bulged, his chest tightened as his veins throbbing from his chest thickened. For the first time since becoming a King, he was afraid. His mind was gradually blurring, instead of being able to think, his thoughts became instinctive acts of emotion. In this state, he grabbed at every vial within reach, throwing the entire vial into his mouth , not realizing he was able to widen past what was humanly natural. Glass shattered loudly within his jaws, his tongue and teeth being cut with the small sharp edges of shards and yet he continued to frantically devour them none the wiser. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel[f]ire.net
He couldn’t understand what was happening, he was unable to process that the cure, which could’ve normally healed him if he were infected, had no effect on him now since he directly absorbed the infection into his core.
Not one of his subordinates had the courage to speak, nor to come to his aid amidst his painful and now disgruntled grunts. His body mutations that quickly escalated into making him into a nightmarish giant, alongside his early accolades of brutally killing his own people deviated any thoughts of help.
Their gazes wandered to each other silently, an unspeakable notion was said within their eyes. They all agreed to leave, no one there was certain that he was infected, but his transformation, alongside his paling figure that bordered a bluish grey further ascertained their thoughts when seeing how desperate he was to consume the cure for the zombie infection.
One by one, they began to work their way to the only door out. The King’s ragged breaths sounded over their footsteps, even from the other room they could still make out his back. The closer they got to the exit, the calmer their hearts became. But then a scene occurred that made their hearts almost completely stop. A face? No....three faces appeared within his back that were broader and wider than physically possible emerged. The faces were stuck under his skin, their imprints fully visible, making it possible to make out the identities of the people that were absorbed in the past.
Those faces moved in sync, turning to their directions. In that one moment, the King’s grunts and unsatiated desire for the cure completely stopped. No one moved when they noticed the change.
"!" A collective gasp erupted from the masses the moment their supposed leaders’ head snapped in their direction.
"Lea.....ving...Me?" The voice that came from the things lips was the trigger that disrupted their fear paralysis, jolting them to move.
The ground cracked, trembling the moment their leader began to move, sprinting towards them with the aid of his arms that pounded into the ground, further propelling him forward.
Fear of dying crept into his subordinates’ bodies, that fear spurred them to do something they never would have dared before.
A laser beam of fire pierced through among the crowd, hitting the King dead center in his chest. Scorching smoke rose from the attack, building as the beam continued to burn through. The attack was attempted to be followed up by other waves of projectiles, but no one would have believed that their leader was much faster than before, especially given his current size. But it wasn’t just because he was faster, it was also because of one of the many targets he had absorbed, a skill called "Kinetic Mastery", a skill that allowed to full optimize every muscle movement to achieve maximum speed and strength. And with newly developed muscular build, the ability became even more threatening.
Arriving to the closest person who raised a dagger in hand that was enveloped with electricity, in an instinctive attempt to protect herself. She was immediately grabbed around the waist with just one of the now zombified leaders’ hands. The grip was so strong that the multiple bones cracked with that one instance, the pain almost causing the woman to drop her weapon. But with death not too far away, the woman dared to fight through whatever pain there was, lifting the dagger to stab through its hand.
She cried out, her voice giving her strength to go on, giving her the courage to live as she noticed the zombie bringing her closer to his figure. The dagger barely penetrated its hand, desperate, she did the only thing she could think of. As she was strangely thrusted into its chest, her lighten infused dagger pierced straight into its heart. But at the same time her attack landed, her face was planted into his torso, her vision was obscured, wet liquids began to envelop her, mixed with the strength of an unrelenting pressure around her. Her muffled cries only lasted but a moment before she wasn’t heard from again.
She would never know what happened to her, but the others were there to witness it all. How the zombie’s flesh extended, contorting to wrap her figure, pulling her, merging her into its own flesh until her body was fully engulfed.
"She’s... she’s still alive in there..." someone choked out, their voice trembling with disbelief.
"No," another voice answered. "She’s already gone."
The gruesome sight froze them in place once again. For a brief moment, the creature’s movements stilled, as though savoring what it just absorbed, or perhaps it was assimilating itself to the new body. There was a change, one that was subtle, but the silence lasted long enough to be able to hear it, static electricity.
The zombie’s head looked over to the others once more, and when a new face emerged on its right chest, a face that despite being obscured by its face, was not hard to discern, everyone lost any thoughts of resisting, their only thoughts were to flee.
If they were able to go back into time, they all would have but one desire, to wipe Jayden off the face of the earth for creating such a thing.
Not aware of what had transpired, Noah and the others walked with quicken steps in that direction. Half of the distance was already covered, the threat of a strong foe subconsciously caused Noah to walk faster than normal, inadvertently pushing the others to match his pace. And as the group could now make out the building that emitted the overwhelming dark mana, Noah suddenly halted.
For a brief moment, the others were puzzled, but their heightened vigilance quickly allowed them to pick up on what caught Noah’s attention. People, men, women, and crying children, were running in their direction.