The densely packed horde of zombies was heading in one particular direction. Their smell of rotten flesh and fishy blood permeated the air, and the surroundings appeared like an infected zone after they passed.
Some flesh fell off, and the hungry zombie who hadn't eaten flesh for a long time tried to bite another zombie. The bitten zombie struggled until it was released not long after. The zombie wasn't interested in the taste of the fellow zombies anymore.
They went back to focus on marching toward the city, where they could smell a lot of living humans inside.
Such a sight wasn't rare among the hundred thousand zombies that were now heading to the Moon Cloud city base. Whenever they passed, chunks of flesh fell off and blood poured down, instantly dirtying the ground. Yet they didn't feel any pain.
In the middle of the zombie army, one particular zombie stood out. The clothes were full of tatters, but the strangest thing was her skin. Unlike the walking corpses around her, she had a fair, tender skin.
Her face was small and could be considered pretty among humans. If not for her empty gaze, guttural sounds she made once a while, and the incredible paleness of her skin, one might mistake her for a human if she were placed in a human base.
But she wasn't a human at all.
She was the Zombie King.
The one who was leading the zombie to attack the city ahead.
Inside the city, a few top powerhouses were full of discussion.
"We should capture that Zombie King. She is the one who led this zombie army to besiege us," Darren Valez, an earth ability user, suggested.
His gaze locked on the Zombie King, who was making some sort of snarling and growling sounds from the movement of her mouth. As if she was ordering the other zombies around. A few zombies quickened their paces. From the looks of it, they were zombies with abilities.
"What do you mean, capture? We should kill the Zombie King for once and all." Another ability user growled, his face full of hatred. "Once she falls, this horde of zombies will be like headless flies."
"What do you think, elder sister?" Laziel Sylvaris looked at his sister, who was looking at the zombies ahead thoughtfully.
The elder sister, Nyra Sylvaris, turned her head toward the man beside her. Her face was inscrutable, but the tone of her voice was soft, as though she was speaking toward a lover. "I will follow Cassias's decision."
At this moment, the army of the zombies at the forefront had reached the city walls. They were trying to climb it, using their own comrades' bodies until they reached the top. The city walls were quite long and some ability users had fallen, effectively giving the chances for the zombies to climb up and enter the city.
"Blow them, hurry and throw those grenades toward them!"
"Don't let them climb or we will die! Fight for our lives! Fight for our families!"
Battle cries echoed throughout various places. In the city walls, where ability users were trying to fend off the climbing zombies. Or inside the city against some zombies who had managed to climb and jump down the city walls, trying to bite nearby humans.
"What do you think, Cassias?" Darren asked the man beside Nyra with a complex look on his face. Even after he had protected her all this time, and helped her to get rid of her annoying sister, she still chose that man, Cassias Virethorn!
"Wait…" Laziel suddenly spoke as he wore the binoculars. He let go of the binoculars and looked at the people with a complex gaze, especially his sister. "That Zombie King looks like Zerra…"
"Zerra?" Darren frowned. "Is she taking revenge on us now? It's her own fault that she ignored our warning and got dragged by the zombies."
Cassias squeezed Nyra's hand. They made silent eye contact. After years of fighting beside each other in the apocalypse, they already had a great understanding of each other. He instantly perceived the fluctuation in her emotions and the determination in her eyes.
"We will handle her," He said, taking Nyra's hand in his. "You all handle the rest of the zombies."
The figure of the couple was the first thing she saw when she, Zerra, was gradually recovering her memories. The couple was flying in the sky. From the first moment she locked her eyes on them in the city walls with her enhanced senses as the Zombie King, it triggered her memories.
Cassias and Nyra!
The man was her fiance, and the woman was her elder sister. Her emotions fluctuate, extremely unstable as she let out beast-like roars toward their figure above. They really got together after they got rid of her!
She roared in a deafening voice that reverberated through the battlefield, filled with hatred. As if sensing her emotions, the surrounding zombies instantly poured on closer to her, concentrating on attacking them.
Alas, both of them were in the sky. Cassias had a body mutation with black wings growing in his back. He was hugging Nyra's waist, allowing her to stay beside her.
"It's my sister…" Nyra looked at the zombie-like Zerra with little emotion. There was only a faint pity. "She loved beauty. She wouldn't want to be like this… better if we kill her quickly."
Cassias murmured an echo of agreement. Nyra took something out of the space and began to throw grenades in the area around the zombies surrounding Zerra.
Unfortunately, the stronger zombies were far away from Zerra. They were busy trying to attack the city and were too far away to help her at this moment. Although Zerra was strong, she was the only one, after all, and her strength wasn't inexhaustible.
She still received a slight impact from the explosive, but she survived with most of her flesh intact.
"Will you feel sad if she dies, Cassias?" Nyra still had time to ask a question at this moment like this. "After all, she was once your fiancee."
More memories emerged in Zerra's head, and she walked toward the couple who was now standing in the area, which was clear from zombies. The remaining available zombies were heading toward them right now.
However, they still had the leisure for a chit chat between lovers. In response to Nyra's question, Cassias pulled the strands of her hair from her face, kissing her forehead. "Of course not. After all, I am originally engaged to you, not her."
"Why are you so jealous of a rotting zombie?" His tone was full of teasing.
Not far from them, Zerra roared loudly and launched her fist toward them. Cassias managed to pull Nyra in time. Looking at the face that was gradually gaining human features in front of him, he had no mercy at all.
He used his fist to punch Zerra's head, making her stumble a few steps behind. However, she didn't give up and continued forward, crazily attacking both of them.
Finally, they realized the seriousness of the matter. A Zombie King couldn't be underestimated, after all. Cassias realized this when Nyra got hurt. Her hand made a cracking sound, her wrist limp.
"Ira!" He called out, full of anger. Then, just like in the usual romance novel, the male lead would burst out with power when he saw his lover get hurt.
He fought crazily against Zerra, not caring at all about his own safety. Of course, the ending was expected; she lost. His thunder ability repeatedly struck her body. And her. It was as if she could not resist at all.
In front of the male lead, what could a cannon fodder like her do? She was merely a stepping stone to make the bond between the male lead and the female lead stronger, anyway.
At the last moments of her life, memories of the countless reincarnations rushed to her brain. The repeated attempt of staying alive never yielded her any positive result. She finally remembered her real identity. A revered, celestial fox spirit from the celestial realm. The youngest disciple of a righteous, powerful celestial master.
The revelation made her more desperate instead. It meant that she wouldn't be able to go back to the celestial world. Since she remembered now, the ending will still be like last time, right?
With the last shred of her consciousness, she felt someone's hand reached to her head, pulling the crystal core. Nyra's hand. It was also at this moment that a woman shrieked and approached them.
Zerra, who was supposed to be dead, twitched slightly.
"Zerra! Zerra! What are you all doing to Zerra?"
A warm hug enveloped her rotting body. Zerra's opened eyes caught a glimpse of the woman. It was her mother in this mortal world.
That vain woman who usually hid the fastest whenever there was a zombie. Why was she willing to jump to a zombie like her…
With more desperation in her heart, Zerra's body moved slightly to cradle the thin figure of her mother. However, now that she had completely lost her power, the zombies rushed toward her mother, tearing the flesh of the weary and haggard looking middle-aged woman.
Usually there wasn't such a scene with her mother, b-but… the train of thoughts stopped and her consciousness completely wiped out; she died again.
This time, the heart that had calmed down after countless reincarnations of useless attempts at changing fate, was filled with boundless sadness before its last heartbeat.