Roar—!
The Worker Zombie’s eyes were completely cloudy and greyish-white, holding only the most primitive brutality.
The rebar swept across, carrying an evil wind that tore through the air!
That was no slow, weak swing of an ordinary zombie, but a devastating heavy strike driven purely by brute force!
A dull howling echoed across the empty construction site, and the whipped-up dust formed a visible trajectory.
Akira’s nerves instantly tensed, his bodily reactions even outpacing his thoughts.
The muscles in his legs bulged, and his entire body turned into an afterimage as he retreated wildly.
Boom—!
Almost at the exact instant his toes left the ground, the thick rebar slammed heavily onto the spot where he had just been standing.
Unable to withstand this immense force, the concrete ground burst open, spiderweb-like cracks spreading outward as gravel mixed with dust shot in all directions!
What terrifying strength!
Alarm bells rang loudly in Akira’s heart.
This Worker Zombie’s strength had already far exceeded the scope of an ordinary human.
“Hey!
Idiot!
Don’t go head-to-head with it!” Takagi Saya’s sharp shout came from not far away.
Her reaction was extremely fast; the moment the zombie rushed out of the container, she had already dodged behind a barricade made of stacked giant concrete pipes, only peeking out with half her head.
The Worker Zombie’s strike missed, and a beastly, low growl rumbled from deep within its throat.
It stiffly turned its neck, its cloudy eyeballs locking onto Akira, who was closer.
Taking heavy strides, it once again swung the nearly two-meter-long rebar high into the air, smashing down toward Akira’s position!
Akira relied on his enhanced body to dodge the attacks.
Every time the rebar hit the ground, it caused the earth to tremble violently.
Akira tried several times to use his speed advantage to charge in, wanting to strike its weak point—the head—directly with his Sharp Claws, but he was forced back each time by the tightly swung rebar.
“Its speed is very slow, but its attack range is too large!” While dodging, Akira calmly analyzed the battle situation, synchronizing the information with Takagi Saya, who was acting as the “tactical brain” in the distance.
“I see it!” Takagi Saya adjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose, the lenses reflecting a cold light.
Her brain was spinning at high speed as her gaze rapidly swept across the entire construction site, analyzing every piece of terrain and item that could be utilized.
“Don’t rush in blindly!
Lure it over there!
Do you see that half-scaffolding suspended in the air?
There’s still a bucket of solidified concrete hanging on it!”
With a glance from the corner of his eye, Akira instantly grasped her intention.
The zombie’s weakness is its head, so an attack from a falling object from a high altitude is perfect!
He no longer retreated blindly, but consciously adjusted his dodging path and direction, luring the Worker Zombie step by step toward that scaffolding.
“Roar!”
The Worker Zombie clearly had no intelligence to speak of.
Its behavioral logic was simple enough to consist only of chasing and attacking the closest target, walking right into the trap’s range.
“Now!”
Akira quickly pulled out a pebble.
His arm drew a neat arc, and the pebble flew from his hand, accurately striking one of the rotted wooden strips supporting that half-scaffolding!
“Creak—”
The already fragile structure snapped at the sound.
That half-scaffolding lost its final support point and tilted downward sharply.
The concrete bucket hanging on it instantly lost its balance, falling straight toward the head of the Worker Zombie below!
“It worked!”
A proud curve had just formed at the corner of Takagi Saya’s mouth.
Clang—!
With a deafening metallic clang, the heavy concrete bucket smashed squarely onto the yellow Hard Hat on the Worker Zombie’s head.
The bucket instantly shattered into pieces, and the solidified concrete inside broke all over the ground.
As for the Worker Zombie, its massive body only swayed violently, and a shallow dent appeared on the top of the Hard Hat.
It raised its head blankly, then locked its target onto Akira once again.
“Damn it!” Takagi Saya stamped her foot in anger, letting out an unwilling curse.
“What’s up with that hat?!”
The zombie’s weakness was perfectly protected by this unexpected Hard Hat!
Akira’s eyes narrowed slightly.
If he hadn’t misjudged, this Hard Hat was likely the zombie’s armor.
The armor just happens to cover the weakness?
His battle strategy had to change as well.
Originally, Akira had planned to find an opportunity to directly pierce the zombie’s head with his enhanced Sharp Claws.
But now, with that Hard Hat serving as defensive equipment, his claws might not necessarily break through its defense.
Rushing in blindly would instead land him in a dangerous situation.
Takagi Saya anxiously watched the fight between Akira and the zombie, her eyes behind the lenses fixed tightly on the Hard Hat atop the zombie’s head.
Gradually, she noticed that after the mental enhancement, her vision seemed capable of noticing things at a much more detailed level.
That hard hat, along with the violent shaking of the zombie’s head, experienced an extremely minute displacement!
The fixed buckle seemed to have broken in the impact just now.
That’s right!
The hard hat was merely worn on the head, and at this moment it looked very loose.
Her eyes instantly lit up, and her brain once again began constructing a brand-new tactic.
Her gaze swept rapidly across the surrounding environment, finally locking onto a pile of abandoned wooden boards and a few hollow bricks used as stepping stones.
A plan even bolder and more ingenious than before formed instantly!
“Akira!
Lure it next to that pile of wooden boards!
Follow my command!” Takagi Saya’s voice was filled with powerful confidence.
Akira did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately changed the direction of his movement.
This enticement was even more perilous than the last.
He needed to precisely lure the zombie to the designated position, and the whistling steel bar swept past almost grazing his body.
Finally, after another thrilling side-slip by Akira, the Worker Zombie’s massive foot heavily stepped on one end of the long wooden board designated by Takagi Saya.
The middle of that wooden board happened to rest on a hollow brick, forming the simplest and most effective leverage structure.
“Right now!
Step on the other end!” Takagi Saya’s scream rang out at this moment!
Akira’s gaze narrowed, and seizing the brief gap when the zombie withdrew the steel bar to prepare for the next swing, he rushed up in a single bound!
Pouring all his strength into his right leg, he slammed down fiercely toward the suspended end of the wooden board!
“Bang!”
The principle of leverage was brought to its absolute limit at this moment!
The other end of the long wooden board, carrying massive force, struck fiercely upward into the Worker Zombie’s chin!
“Snap!”
A sound extremely crisp to the extreme.
That yellow hard hat traced a graceful parabola in the air, spinning as it flew out, and landed in a distant pile of sand with a dull thud.
The Worker Zombie’s head was knocked sharply backward by this sudden tremendous force, and its entire body’s movements experienced a one-second stiffness!
Weakness exposed!
Not wasting this split second of stiffness, Akira’s body had long been primed and ready; the moment he stepped down on the wooden board, he leaped high utilizing that reaction force, his black Sharp Claws extending in mid-air.
He descended from the heavens, accurately stabbing toward the Worker Zombie’s completely exposed and rotting crown!
“Pfft—!”
This time, without any further obstruction, the Sharp Claws sank deep, easily tearing open the rotting flesh, piercing the fragile skull, and stirring wildly inside, thoroughly crushing the brain tissue and foul blood.
The Worker Zombie’s stalwart body trembled violently, the steel bar it held high could no longer be gripped, and it dropped powerlessly, hitting the ground with a heavy metallic clanging sound.
Immediately, its massive body also collapsed to the ground with a crash, completely losing all signs of life.
[Killed low-to-mid-tier monster ‘Worker Zombie’, obtained Survival Points x8]
[Cooperative kill, Saya obtained Survival Points x4]
“Hoo…
hoo…”
Akira landed on the ground, his chest heaving continuously; the previous series of actions consumed a huge amount of physical energy, but his strong body now didn’t make him feel any shortness of breath after strenuous exercise.
Takagi Saya also ran out from behind the cover, looking at the massive zombie corpse on the ground, her pretty face filled with excitement.
“This genius’s plan is perfection!” She pushed her glasses smugly, though her slightly trembling fingertips still exposed her inner tension and excitement.
Akira ignored her self-praise and walked straight to the Worker Zombie’s corpse, pressing his palm onto it.
“Devour!”
A black-red stream of light, even richer and deeper than when he devoured the Clawed Zombie last time, gushed out from his palm, instantly engulfing the Worker Zombie’s corpse.
[Devoured successfully!]
[Strength +3, Agility +3, Constitution +3]
[Name: Akira]
[Strength: 21]
[Agility: 20]
[Constitution: 21]
[Spirit: 15]
It was still the most balanced stat allocation method; he hadn’t expected that his originally advantageous Spirit attribute would unexpectedly become his lowest attribute at this moment.
Warm currents surged through his entire body, quickly dispelling the fatigue brought by the battle.
Akira could clearly feel that his muscles, bones, and even every single cell were cheering and leaping for joy.
Feeling the surging power within his body, Akira’s gaze fell on the weapon discarded by the zombie and the hard hat that had flown away; those should be the equipment dropped by the zombie.