Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Tenfold Payback
A petite woman in a pencil skirt stood stiffly in front of the fire door, staring at Yukino Yukinoshita with a pair of lifeless, gray eyes. Even though her pupils were no longer visible, a chilling, murderous aura radiated from her.
"Stay back… don't come any closer…"
Yukino was already in complete panic, waving her wooden stick wildly as she desperately backed away, her delicate face twisted in despair. Behind the fire door, over a dozen zombies were dragging their sharp, clawed fingers toward her, their mouths wide open with unbearable hunger, ready to tear her apart and devour her completely.
"Raaagh "
The female zombie in front of her didn't even spare a glance at the stick Yukino was holding. With a roar, it lunged straight at her. Gritting her teeth, Yukino jabbed the stick forward fiercely, hearing a wet pop as it pierced the zombie's eye socket.
But in her panic, Yukino had grabbed the wrong end of the stick it was the rounded stool leg. The zombie didn't even flinch. It whipped its head violently and pinned her to the ground.
"Ah…!"
Yukino screamed wildly, shoving the stick sideways into the zombie's mouth.
The female zombie, once a stylish office worker, still reeked of perfume, but the stench in her mouth was enough to nearly make Yukino pass out. She had to turn her face away, but her arms gripped the stick with all her strength, desperately trying to keep the zombie's gaping mouth at bay.
However, the zombie's strength was monstrous. In just a few moments, it had already begun to bend Yukino's arms. That blood-soaked mouth was now snapping inches from her face, gnashing furiously at the stick, its disgusting jaws practically about to reach Yukino's nose, frantically trying to bite her alive.
Droplets of saliva, mixed with fresh blood, kept dripping onto Yukino's face and neck. She was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown, using every ounce of her strength to keep the zombie's mouth from reaching her but it was getting closer and closer.
Remember!
Never let a zombie bite you!
Even a tiny scratch would doom you to become just like them.
In her desperate mind, Yukino suddenly recalled Sosuke Kitahara's stern warning.
"I refuse to become a zombie. I'll fight you to the death!"
Yukino clenched her teeth and exploded with a burst of determination she had never felt before. With a forceful twist of her arms, she threw the zombie off her body, grabbed the stick, and savagely stabbed it into the zombie's temple once, twice, three times again and again.
The zombie had stopped moving after the first blow, but Yukino was still in a frenzied state, relentlessly pounding its skull.
"Yuki! Behind you!" Haruno Yukinoshita's frantic scream finally broke through to her.
Yukino, her eyes red and gasping for breath, finally stopped. The zombie in front of her was now just a heap of mangled flesh, but the horde behind her had already pushed to the fire door, their mouths wide open as they surged toward her.
It was hopeless.
"Is this really where it all ends for me?"
A bitter, hopeless smile appeared on Yukino's beautiful face. She looked toward her sister rushing down from the stairs and cried out through tears, "Don't come, Haruno! Live on!"
"No!!"
Haruno's heart was consumed by despair. One of the zombies had already lunged toward her she couldn't bear to imagine what her sister's death would look like.
But then someone faster than the zombies appeared.
"'Total Concentration: Constant' learned! Physical ability upgraded to Level 1!"
Sosuke Kitahara's figure blurred, leaving streaks of afterimages in the air.
His sharp, expressionless face, his pitch-black eyes devoid of emotion he dashed forward with a force that seemed to split the very air around him.
Boom!
A low, thunderous sound echoed through the hallway like a cannon firing.
His tall, lean figure suddenly appeared in front of Yukino, a sight so commanding it was impossible to look away. The swirling shockwave at his feet hadn't even dissipated yet, like the lingering smoke from a fired shell.
The zombie lunging at Yukino vanished in an instant.
Almost simultaneously, its body slammed into the nearby wall like a cannonball. No one even saw Sosuke's movement yet the zombie's skull had already been obliterated.
Boom!
Another deafening blast shockwaves exploded again.
Yukino hadn't even recovered from Sosuke's sudden appearance when a flash of indescribable silver light swept through the zombie horde, leaving a dazzling arc behind.
Slash slash slash!
It was as if countless blades were slicing watermelons at once the zombies' heads were all cleanly bisected, splitting and toppling one after another like a domino chain.
Yukino's gaze fixed on the back in front of her, utterly shaken.
Is this… something a human can do?
How can he possibly be this strong?
It had all happened so fast that the two women running down from the stairs barely had time to react before Sosuke had already cleared the entire wave of zombies.
"Stop spacing out! Get up!"
Sosuke reached out to Yukino, still sitting on the floor. There were more zombies swarming from the corridor there was no time to freeze.
Yukino grabbed his hand, scrambling to her feet. After just two steps, she winced, her brows furrowing from the sharp pain in her back.
"Does it hurt badly?" Sosuke glanced nervously down the hall the zombies were barely three meters away. Gritting his teeth, he quickly said, "It's an emergency. Sorry for this."
Without waiting, he scooped Yukino up in his arms. Yukino let out a soft yelp, feeling like she was flying. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Haruno's slightly parted lips hadn't even had time to close before she blinked and saw Sosuke sprint past her carrying her sister.
"Quick, keep running! The stairwell up ahead is blocked there must be survivors inside!" Sosuke's pace didn't slow as he called out, charging ahead without hesitation.
Utaha Kasumigaoka's face darkened, clicking her tongue in frustration. Tch, look at you, already ignoring me just because you've got a new girl in your arms.
When they caught up, they saw a stocky man collapsed on the stairs, a zombie tearing viciously at his throat.
It was likely one of the three men from earlier.
Sosuke gently put Yukino down, then swiftly plunged his sword into the zombie's head, the blade piercing straight through. He made sure to stab the downed man's head as well, just in case.
Further up the stairs, chairs and benches had been piled together to block the passage. Even more absurd two fabric sofas were wedged in at the base, which was precisely what had halted the zombies' advance.
There were clear signs of a fight here.
Four zombie corpses lay limp on the floor.
Two men were clambering up over the barricade. The zombies on the ground were probably ones they had killed while fleeing. As for the man who'd been bitten no one knew whether he had died fighting, or if his so-called "teammates" had sacrificed him to buy time.
A rumbling of heavy footsteps echoed from below as a tidal wave of zombies surged upward, shaking the entire building.
"Sosuke! They're catching up!" Utaha screamed.
Sosuke quickly turned zombies were already swarming at the stairwell's corner. He immediately shouted, "Everyone, climb up! Hurry!"
"Yukino, who pushed you earlier?"
"It was the guy in the white shirt!"
Sosuke glanced up, stomped hard, and leaped straight up, snatching the skinny man like grabbing a chick.
Before the man could process what was happening, he found himself flying through the air, the upholstered sofa getting further and further away he was falling, plummeting back down.
"Who the hell are you?! Put me down right now!"
The man's face twisted in panic, but his eyes flashed with malice as he instinctively pulled out a knife, stabbing fiercely toward Sosuke's chest.
Unfortunately, after his physical upgrade, the man's movements seemed to play in slow motion, like half-speed video. Sosuke casually tilted his body, easily dodging, then viciously gripped the man's wrist and squeezed hard.
"AAARGH!!"
A pig-like scream echoed the man's wrist was practically broken backward. His knife clattered helplessly to the ground, bounced twice, then tumbled down the stairwell.
"I heard you like pushing people?"
Sosuke stared at him coldly, utterly emotionless as if looking at a lamb waiting for slaughter. Without hesitation, Sosuke drove his blade deep into the man's thigh.
Two seconds later, an agonized scream nearly blew the roof off. "My leg! My leg !"
"Using someone else's life to buy yourself time must feel pretty satisfying, huh?"
Sosuke's voice was flat, as if narrating something entirely mundane. Then, without warning, he kicked the back of the man's knee with a loud crack of bone, and with one hard shove
"Ahhh help me!!"
The man's wailing morphed into a desperate shriek as his body tumbled down the stairs like a ragdoll, crashing heavily onto the corridor floor.
In the next instant, several swift zombie figures pounced on him, pinning him down and piling on one after another like a collapsing tower. He didn't even have time to scream before his blood splattered everywhere.
The last remaining man witnessed the entire scene, his mouth agape in terror, cold sweat pouring down his back as if he'd been dropped into an icy abyss.
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