Nine more, Liam thought.


He could practically taste the level-up. The excitement gave him a fresh burst of adrenaline. He triggered "Spider Climb" again and launched himself toward the corpse of the Crocolisk.


A pack of Greater Carrion Beasts was already there, huddled around the dead reptile like it was an all-you-can-eat buffet. More of them were spilling over the edges of the rooftop—thirty, maybe more.


Liam shot toward them like an arrow. The feasting monsters snapped their heads up, some reaching out to swipe at him, but he was way too fast. With his gravity-defying movement, he was slippery as an eel. They couldn't lay a claw on him.


His blade flashed. Two heads hit the concrete. Dark blood sprayed the air as two headless bodies crumpled.


Two more Ether orbs absorbed. Seven to go.


Liam didn't stick around to celebrate. He backpedaled instantly. Sheila was in trouble.


A Greater Carrion Beast had her cornered, its right hand mutated into five razor-sharp claws, slashing down at her. Sheila swung her baseball bat, blocking the strike with a heavy thud, but the monster was relentless. Its other claw lunged straight for her gut.


If that hit, she was done for.


Terror washed over Sheila's face, but then Liam was there. He moved like a whirlwind, his blade severing the beast's arms in one stroke. A second later, he decapitated it with a horizontal slash.


A notification pinged in his mind:


[Level 4 Spirit Wielder: Ether 44/50]


Across the roof, Drake and Gwen's team had just taken down their second beast, claiming their own Ether. But the victory was short-lived.


At the edge of the roof, amidst the swarm of climbing monsters, a new figure pulled itself up.


This one was different. It didn't lunge for the dead Elite Beasts. It didn't charge at Liam's team. It just stood on the ledge, perfectly still, watching them.


Liam felt the weight of that gaze. He spun around, locking eyes with the stranger. A chill ran straight down his spine.


It was a man. A human male, maybe twenty years old, his clothes soaking wet and plastered to his skin. He was standing right in the middle of a pack of Greater Carrion Beasts, but they weren't attacking him.


Actually, it was worse than that. The beasts were keeping their distance, giving him a wide berth like they were terrified of offending him.


"Uh... who's the new guy?" Drake asked, noticing the stranger. He sounded confused.


Gwen, Harris, and Sheila all turned to look.


Sheila squinted, then screamed, "That's not a human!"


Liam felt a jolt in his chest. He immediately activated his "Insight Rune," locking onto the figure standing at the edge of the roof.


The data scrolled through his mind:


[Name: Undead]


[Level: 5]


[Race: Necro-kin]


[Description: A being evolved from a Greater Carrion Beast. Possesses intelligence and can vocalize simple sounds. Commands Carrion Beasts through special methods. A member of the high-intelligence Necro-kin race.]


Liam stared at the "man," his mind racing.


This guy—who looked for all the world like a regular human—was an evolved zombie? He was an actual, intelligent life form?


The standard Carrion Beasts were covered in white fur and had dead, fish-like eyes. This guy had lost the fur. He could blink. He could look around. But now that Liam looked closer, the differences were there.


His skin was paper-white, completely drained of blood and vitality. He was shrouded in a faint, dark aura of death energy. And those eyes... staring into them felt like staring into the grave. It triggered a primal fear, a "death stare" that made you want to run.


This was the first time Liam had ever encountered something like this. An evolved monster. An Undead.


Compared to the ugly mugs of the Greater Carrion Beasts, the Undead looked unsettlingly human. At first glance, Liam and his crew almost mistook it for a survivor who had wandered out of nowhere. They were just trying to figure out why the other monsters weren't ripping him to shreds—in fact, the beasts looked like they were bowing down to him.


Then Sheila screamed.


Liam triggered his Insight Rune. As the magical information flooded his brain, the illusion shattered. That wasn't a man. It was a higher-level monster, an evolved nightmare with a specific classification: Undead.


"It's called an Undead!" Liam shouted, his voice dropping an octave. "It evolved from the Carrion Beasts. Watch out—it can control them!"


His machete flashed, taking the head off a nearby Greater Carrion Beast. A familiar ping echoed in his mind. He checked his internal counter: 45 Ether. He was agonizingly close. Just five more Ether and he'd hit the cap for his next level-up.


But the moment Sheila blew its cover, the Undead moved.


It had been standing statue-still, but it launched itself with the speed of an arrow leaving a bowstring. It was a blur, skimming across the ground and shooting right through the gap between Drake and Harris. It ignored the two tanks completely. It wanted the soft target in the back.


Sheila.


The team had formed a loose defensive circle with Sheila in the center, but the Undead shattered their formation in a split second. It breached the perimeter, its right hand clawing out, aiming to crush Sheila's throat. Given its stats were higher than a Greater Carrion Beast, one squeeze would be all it took to snap her neck like a twig.


It was too fast. Drake, Harris, and Gwen couldn't even turn around in time, let alone intercept it.


Only Liam could keep up.


Thanks to Spider Climb, Liam's reflexes were dialed up to eleven. As the monster lunged, Liam pivoted, locking onto the target. His machete rose, carried by a gust of cold wind. He aimed not to block, but to trade.


Go ahead, Liam thought. Grab her. My blade will take your head off a split second before you can squeeze.


The Undead didn't take the bait. Its hands slapped together—CLANG—catching Liam's blade between its palms like it was snatching a fly.


Liam gritted his teeth. The thing was strong. Insanely strong. His machete felt like it had been welded into a steel vice; he couldn't budge it an inch.


Thinking fast, Liam shoved Sheila out of the splash zone with his left hand and lashed out with his right leg. The Undead released the blade and mirrored the move.


Thud.


They both landed kicks squarely in each other's guts.