Chapter 41: Annihilation!
Samuel's strike was fierce, a desperate move filled with intense thunderous power and wild electrical energy. As the blow was about to hit Carline, suddenly, a figure stepped in front of her.
"Crack!" The force of the lightning hit Maxwell instead, who merely furrowed his brow slightly, then... nothing further happened.
All those skin resistances added from the loot box really came in handy!
"What?" Samuel was dumbfounded. How was he supposed to fight when there was a top-tier meat shield upfront, his wings were damaged, and he couldn't fly away, possibly left to run on foot?
"Ahh!" "Aow!" Suddenly, two blood-curdling screams rang out.
Samuel glanced over to see the adorable little girl had caught up with one of the men, stabbing him once with her dagger, then twice, eliciting two screams. The other man, seeing this, sped up his escape attempt, but the girl pointed at him with her left hand, and the next moment, he too collapsed heavily to the ground.
"It's all over."
Seeing this, Samuel closed his eyes. "Spare me! I surrender..." But before he could finish, a flaming blade thrown by Carline had already flown towards him.
Defeated again and again, Samuel had lost the will to fight, his attention scattered. He couldn't dodge the incoming barrage of fiery blades.
He was completely engulfed by the blades.
Thus, five men fell, not one remained.
...
"That was resolved so quickly!?" Floyd's pupils constricted.
The combat prowess displayed by Eva and Carline was unimaginably strong.
"Is this the pinnacle of Tier 5? Or perhaps... Tier 6?" Floyd speculated.
A sense of having survived a great disaster washed over him.
And the two female students also felt a surge of relief, but looking at Carline, they felt even more intimidated.
"Not only is she gorgeous, but she's also so formidable!"
They had joined Supreme Hall early on, but compared to the girl before them... not only in looks but also in strength, they were worlds apart from Carline.
...
After being blown away and hit by a barrage of fiery blades, Samuel did not die, but he was incapacitated, able only to lie on the ground and cough up blood desperately.
"We at Supreme Hall have always been mortal enemies with the thunderclap family. But the thunderclap family has many experts; Samuel is just one of the outstanding young members. His older brother, Lei Kuang, is a Tier 6 Evolver. His father has reached Tier 7, and it's rumored that his grandfather is a formidable Tier 8," Floyd announced loudly.
"Handling this matter by killing him might inadvertently draw us into unnecessary trouble. Of course, I'm not saying I'm afraid of the thunderclap family... it's just truly unnecessary."
Tier 8!
The strength of the thunderclap family was terrifying!
Even in this post-apocalyptic world, amidst threats from zombies and beasts, internal strife among humans was still prevalent.
"No need, you all can leave."
Maxwell spoke.
"…But you…"
Floyd was about to say more.
However, Maxwell turned to look at him, his gaze light but piercing.
The words Floyd had on the tip of his tongue were abruptly silenced, as if stuck in his throat, unable to be voiced.
"Then please be careful, the thunderclap family is no ordinary foe. I am forever grateful for saving our lives, and about the promise I made earlier, anything that belongs to me, Floyd, for the next twenty years, I'll keep safe for you to retrieve anytime from Supreme Hall!"
Floyd gave Maxwell a respectful bow and then led the unnamed Supreme Hall students away down the mountain. After they had gone some distance, Carline put away her thorny staff. Although her face was expressionless, her beautiful eyes were intently focused on Maxwell. What was she doing?
Maxwell thought for a moment and then laughed. He had already had similar experiences and quickly understood what Carline meant. It seemed Carline was asking for a hug!
Hahaha! Carline was quite a quick learner; perhaps she had seen Eva do this before and receive a hug from Maxwell, and now she had learned to do the same.
A smile then appeared on Maxwell's face. He opened his arms wide. Unexpectedly, Carline took a step forward and threw herself into his embrace.
The setting sun cast a golden light, stretching their shadows long behind them. A Supreme Hall female student looking back down the mountain caught sight of this scene.
"What's up?" another female student asked.
She too turned her head, following the gaze of the first, and saw the two figures embraced in the sunset. The gentle sunlight draped over them, as if framing them with a golden halo, perfectly blending the two together.
…
"Eva, you did really well!" After hugging Carline, Maxwell released her and then picked up Eva, planting a kiss on her soft, sweet-smelling cheek.
Despite the intense battles of the day, Eva remained unblemished and spotless, with a sweet scent still clinging to her, much like an adorable doll.
Next, Maxwell planned to tidy up the aftermath. He had little interest in exchanging pleasantries with the gravely injured Samuel.
"Here, take this!" Maxwell called forth a Tier 5 mutated male zombie that he had been using indiscriminately for fusions. This zombie bore particularly evident signs of its undead nature.
Upon seeing the Tier 5 mutated male zombie, Samuel was visibly stunned. He wanted to say something, but his mouth was full of blood froth, and every attempt to speak only brought more blood gushing out. Thus, opening his mouth only resulted in gurgling noises.
If he could really speak, what he would probably say is: "How can you control the zombies!?"
However, he quickly realized something! His gaze drifted suspiciously towards Eva and Carline standing aside.
Could it be that a person's intelligence increases just before death?
Maxwell noticed that he seemed to have understood something and raised an eyebrow, then immediately issued an order to the Tier 5 mutant male zombie.
The Tier 5 male zombie bent down and bit into Samuel's neck, transmitting the zombie virus to him.
At this point, the people Eva had previously killed had begun to turn into zombies.
"What's going on? Eva didn't bite them earlier. Could it be that people killed with zombie weapons can also transmit the virus and infect humans?" Maxwell wondered.
With the help of the Tier 5 male zombie, Maxwell quickly collected the now fully mutated people into his own space.
This person was originally a Tier 3 peak fighter, but now having turned into a zombie, had unfortunately degraded, dropping directly to level 41, with only one slightly stronger at level 42.
Still, they were Tier 3!
Maxwell clicked his tongue in appreciation.
These were four Tier 3 male zombies.
Maxwell performed a Fusion on them, and thus obtained a brand-new Tier 6 male zombie.
However, this male zombie displayed the appearance he had at the time of death.
"Damn, this is too tragic."
Maxwell now understood what kind of tragedy had occurred for them to be freed from it.
Eva had slammed him around on the ground countless times, his face hitting the ground so many times that it was now completely deformed and unrecognizable.
Though Maxwell didn't care about the zombies' appearances, such a pitiful sight was truly chilling.
"I'll eliminate you in a moment."
Maxwell said.
This was precisely why he had asked Floyd to leave earlier. The things Floyd mentioned were simply not what he needed.
Now, with the male zombies he had on hand, Maxwell had created a Tier 6 mutant male zombie, in addition to the previous Tier 5 one.
He then released both of them to keep watch over the Tanuki servant.
About ten minutes or so later, Samuel finally entered the state of zombification.
However, as soon as he completed the transformation, he was tightly restrained by the two zombies and immediately thrown by Maxwell into the Fusion space.
Maxwell glanced at the cell where Samuel, now a zombie, was located; the number in the upper right corner showed 51, indicating that Samuel was Tier 5.
"Perfect, goodbye then!"
Maxwell dragged Samuel directly into the cell of his previous Tier 5 zombie, and then Samuel disappeared.
The Tier 5 male zombie was also upgraded to Tier 6.
Without pausing, Maxwell then dragged the grotesque Tier 6 mutant male zombie into this Tier 6 zombie's cell, and thus, Maxwell's first Tier 7 mutant male zombie was born.
This was Tier 7!
This time, Maxwell's strength had significantly increased.
He had jumped directly from Tier 5 to Tier 7.
Samuel's meddling this time was indeed perfectly troublesome!
"There's just this one male zombie left."
After completing the Fusion, Maxwell took stock of his space.
He now had one male zombie, the Tier 7 one. Eva and Carline were both Tier 5, and there was also a Tier 1 female zombie.
There were also a few zombies between levels 6-9, below Tier 1.
This visit to Red Castle was definitely worthwhile, allowing Maxwell to make a significant gain.
"It would be great if I could come across a few more places like Red Castle."
Maxwell thought.
"Oh well, got a bit greedy there."
Maxwell knew it was unrealistic to think this way. He turned back and looked at the Red Castle, now a scene of ruin and rubble, and couldn't help but wonder what reaction Aileen, if she heard the news, would have.
"Let's go, we need to find a place to spend the night first."
With that, Maxwell retracted the Tier 7 male zombie back into his space, and then summoned a Tier 1 mutant female zombie to lead several level 8 and 9 zombies to clear the way, with Maxwell, Eva, and Carline following behind.
As dusk fell, Maxwell finally found a suitable place to spend the night.
It was a cave located halfway up a mountain.
Maxwell first sent the Tier 7 male zombie into the cave to scout it out, and after confirming it was safe, he, Eva, and Carline entered.
Next, Maxwell dispatched several zombies to gather some dry wood from outside.
He also sent out the Tier 1 female zombie to chop some branches to lay on the ground as a base, on top of which they placed blankets and sheets to create a makeshift bed.
"Life outdoors is tough, but if we have a chance to enter a base city ahead, we must buy some necessities and also stock up on essential survival gear," Maxwell thought.
The bedsheet laid over the branches was something he had obtained from opening a treasure chest last time.
"I'm really tired!"
Maxwell had hardly slept in almost two days and a night, and even with his physical condition, he felt extremely tired.
"Ding! You've received a daily treasure chest, please open your space to receive the chest!"
The daily treasure chest had arrived again!
This time, Maxwell didn't rush to open the chest first. Instead, he started a fire, lay on the bed, and happily opened the treasure chest.
"Ding! Congratulations, host, for opening a level 51 treasure chest. You've received 51 points in all attributes, 51 gene points, 20 ability points, a box of food, one cubic meter of household supplies, and a night vision eye."
This was a treasure chest exclusively for Eva.
"Ding! Congratulations, host, for opening a level 52 treasure chest. You've received 52 points in all attributes, 52 gene points, 15 ability points, and 20 points of fire resistance."
This was Carline's exclusive treasure chest.
Next, Maxwell chose to open the treasure chest of the Tier 7 mutant male zombie.
"Ding! Congratulations, host, for opening a level 71 treasure chest. You've received 71 points in all attributes, 30 points of skin resistance, 30 points of enhanced bone strength, 30 points of enhanced vision, and the ability: Lightning Attack."
Maxwell suddenly sat up from the bed.
He had never expected to receive an ability from the Tier 7 male zombie's treasure chest!
A lightning ability?
Could it be because of the fusion with Samuel?
Maxwell pondered for a moment, allocated all the attribute points he had received from the chest into his body, and then chose to absorb the lightning ability he had acquired.
He had possessed abilities before, including the passive ability of rapid healing, which by now would be at a high level.
After fusing with the lightning ability, Maxwell felt as if something extra had been added to his brain.
It seemed that he could unleash this kind of attack just by willing it.
So this is what an ability is!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone