Everyone rejoiced when the final sporeform fell.
Fortunately, since they were quick to react, the losses weren’t significant.
Sixty-three initiates perished along with one zealot. Yet their victory didn’t feel like one.
These zombies were strong, but June didn’t know why they didn’t infect the fallen initiates. If they had, beating the cultists would have been much easier.
Besides that, they had no idea how these people turned into those strange creatures in the first place. That realization made them wary of one another.
If the initiates could turn into zombies out of nowhere, then who was to say the same wouldn’t happen to them?
They all could be infected, waiting for those strange appendages to rip through their bodies.
A seed of suspicion had been planted among them.
Don’t tell me... that’s what the zombie called Blaze was after?
June realized it could be the case.
As long as the humans were united, the zombies would have a difficult time defeating them. However, if the humans were wary of one another, their unity would take a significant hit.
It could cause chaos and confusion in the ranks.
But then what? The chaos would disappear as soon as more zombies appeared.
After all, they had been trained to prioritize defeating the undead before anything else.
June sighed, realizing Blaze was playing mind games with them.
The lord of zombies might be powerful, but it seemed his strength had gotten into his head. If he thought his tricks would throw the cultists off, then he was mistaken.
After all, underestimating an opponent can lead to devastating results.
"Like the saying goes," June smiled. "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Ah... I should let go of my teacher persona."
June remembered the old days when she was a literary scholar and a lecturer. She shook her head, refusing to remember her worthless past.
She pointed at a scared initiate, and Johnny dragged him to her.
"What happened to them?" she asked, pointing at the burned remains of a sporeform.
The man snapped out of his thoughts and looked at June. He thought the enforcers wanted to be praised for saving them, so he let out a stupid smile and began applauding her.
"You’re our savior! You saved us all. The mighty—"
Before he could spill any more cringe, June smacked him.
"What happened to them before they turned into those creatures!"
The man understood and began recalling everything. From the body pain to the fever, everything he saw was reported to the enforcers.
Once he was done, Johnny dragged him away, and June turned to the zealots.
"Is anyone experiencing such symptoms?" she asked.
They shook their heads. The same was asked to the enforcers, and they too denied feeling feverish or lethargic.
"Hm... that’s strange," June mumbled. "It would seem only the people without protective gear were infected. We must inform the elders about this new form of infection."
The enforcers nodded in agreement. Although submitting such reports wasn’t a part of their job, this case was serious enough to overlook that.
Two zealots were chosen to return to base and file the report.
Since the teleportation circles within the outposts were incomplete, they had to walk all the way back to where they had teleported in, then return to the base the same way they had arrived there.
Meanwhile, the others worked on completing the construction of the teleportation circles and returning. They didn’t want to stay in the dark forest anymore.
Strangely enough, nothing happened after the attack. No zombies appeared to attack them. There was no infighting, nothing.
Still, everyone felt restless, as if someone was watching them.
But June was busy with something else.
When the zombies didn’t appear, she checked her logs and noticed something strange.
The initiates were under her, and a lot of them died. Yet, her system didn’t notify her about any of those kills.
It was as if the system didn’t recognize the sporeforms. Hence, it listed the initiates’ deaths as natural causes.
It bugged her because it had never happened before. Just to be sure her system wasn’t bugging, she had taken the two zealots under her ’wing’ before they left.
"Everything seems alright for now," June said, as the zealot’s life signs were normal.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than multiple notifications flashed before her eyes.
[Warning: your troops are under attack!]
[Your troops: 2x Humans have been slain by a Grade-4 hybrid zombie.]
"What?!" June exclaimed.
She looked around her. Everyone was fine, which meant the ones who died were the zealots they had sent back.
June froze when she realized what had happened.
Instead of informing the rest, she rushed towards Johnny and Girl. They had to get away first.
"We have to go!" she urged, grabbing their hands.
She closed her eyes, thinking about a safe place to teleport. When she opened her eyes, they’d be far away from the blight zone.
Her ability was the reason she always charged headfirst into battle. She knew she could leave the place if things went south.
This time wouldn’t be any different.
I have to inform the elders at all costs. This zombie lord is nothing like the ones we have faced before!
She opened her eyes, thinking she had arrived at the base.
"...June? What’s wrong?" Johnny asked. "I thought we were about to teleport. Did you change your mind?"
"I didn’t..." she replied, shaking her head in disbelief.
She tried again, this time with a different location in mind. But the result remained unchanged.
"...I can’t teleport?"
Other enforcers and zealots saw her acting weird and rushed to her side, wondering what was wrong.
"I can’t use my ability," she mumbled.
Everyone else tried to use their powers. It appeared that only June was affected by the strange phenomenon.
"What’s going on?" someone asked.
"The zealots we sent back... a zombie killed them."
Everyone’s head turned in the direction they had left. They expected to see someone, but everything was quiet.
Too quiet for comfort.
"How many of them are there?" Johnny asked, looking around.
"I don’t fucking know!" June yelled.
They finally realized what was happening.
The zombies they fought were mere distractions. While the cultists were focused on them, Blaze moved to cut off their escape route.
They didn’t even know how long his zombies had been watching them for, waiting patiently to strike them.