Blaze strode over as Headless convulsed on the ground. It was in pain, as if an invisible fire was burning it.
It’s a good thing you don’t have a head. I can only imagine what those screams would feel like.
The Headless couldn’t hear him. Either that, or it was too busy thrashing around to pay attention. As its tentacles died, they spat a dark, foul-smelling ichor. It was the venom they held.
The Headless thought it was intelligent, but its intelligence was merely higher than that of grade-3 (twice-evolved) zombies.
The only reason it could hunt so many humans at the college was because of their panic and lack of knowledge. It was their first time facing such a creation. Obviously, they’d get overpowered easily.
But it was different with Blaze, or possibly Neha. The latter probably knew about the Headless’s weakness already.
Blaze squatted next to the writhing creature, but not before building corpse walls around it. Just in case.
I could have raised as many walls as required to stop your tentacles. But I didn’t. You brainless creature didn’t even stop to think why?
To lure you, of course.
During the struggle against the tentacles, Blaze noticed the Headless retracted them whenever he tried to grab them.
Blaze wondered why and kept forcing close counters until the Headless’s tentacles bit into his. That’s when he got alert.
I pretended not to notice those two antenna-like tentacles you had buried underground and waited for you to bite me. That was the only way to get hold of your tentacles.
Blaze chuckled, remembering the scene. The venom hurt like hell. Which was saying something since poisons didn’t hurt zombies.
Yet he smiled through the pain because of what he had planned.
You thought you’d won and dropped your guard, and now you’re withering away. How does it feel? You know what? Don’t answer that, and just die.
As if waiting for his permission, the Headless stopped convulsing and went still. Blaze created a tomb to protect the corpse, to protect it from being stolen or harmed, and got up.
He had to leave since David was running rampant, and someone had to stop him.
Besides, he couldn’t convert the Headless into a summon because of its lack of a head. So, Blaze turned his attention to David.
After all, with Headless dead, David should be free from its control.
Which means I can tame him now.
As for his research about necroseed and cordyceps, that would have to continue without a living Zombie King. It was a shame, but it was what it was.
That was until he heard a roar. Not from David or any undead, but from the tomb Blaze had left behind for the Headless.
[An exceptional error has been detected.]
Suddenly, the tomb was shattered, and a creature burst out of it.
The creature was much smaller in comparison to the Headless. But its lack of a head and a stump for a neck made it clear.
The Headless and the one before were one and the same.
Only the creature before him looked much more disgusting.
The Headless’s body was now split in the middle, right from under the neck to its belly button. Rows of teeth protruded from the sides, giving it the appearance of a grotesque-looking mouth with rotten blood oozing out of it.
Its hunched back was gone, and so were its long claws. Those bones and claws had turned into its teeth now.
[Entry #??: ???-class has been added to the encyclopedia.]
And I thought you couldn’t get any prettier.
The Headless, or whatever it had evolved into, faced Blaze and dug its feet into the ground. Blaze had seen enough runners to know it was about to charge, and charge it did.
It jumped over Blaze and ran to the left.
He snapped his head to the side and saw the sprinters attacking David. That’s when Blaze realized.
It’s not after me. It’s after him!
Blaze had no idea why the Headless was charging towards David, but he had a bad feeling about it. So he did the only thing he could.
He charged after the creature, but it was too fast.
Blaze had failed to notice the significant muscle loss the Headless had gone through. That made it faster than any sprinter, and even he was no match for it.
Still, he tried to confuse it or slow the thing down by intercepting it with sprinters. Instead of slowing down, the creature grabbed them and shoved them into its vertical mouth.
Just as the creature was about to grab David, something slammed into it from the side. The creature rolled over, digging both its hands into the ground to stop.
As the dust cleared, Raven’s four-armed figure stood between the Headless and David.
The Headless rose from the dirt, turning towards its new rival. It didn’t charge at Raven; instead, it hissed as if expressing its frustrations.
Not one to back down, Raven took a step forward. His chest expanded and then...
Blaze had never heard Raven scream like that before. Nor had he seen Raven beat its chest with all four of its arms. At that moment, it truly looked like a gorilla challenging someone to a duel.
The thought almost made Blaze smile. Almost before he ordered Raven to stand down.
Get back. You’re not strong enough.
Raven looked back at Blaze as if asking if he hadn’t seen what had happened moments ago.
The truth was, he had. That’s why he wanted Raven to stand down.
Raven’s hyper-charge was its ace. It was a move that could blow even chosen to smithereens upon impact.
The Headless took such an attack with full force. Yet, there wasn’t a single scratch on its body.
Not only had it gained freakish agility, but its sturdiness had also gone up. Add its devil of a mouth into the equation, and it was certain Raven would lose the fight.
The easiest way to deal with it was to eliminate what it wanted.
Blaze ordered his horde, pointing at David.