Zombie Mode — 4

After running a significant distance, Lin and Egro stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

"It actually worked," Egro smiled, breathing heavily, struggling to recover from the intense sprint.

Lin chuckled slightly and said:

"Of course it worked. They held out well — they deserve some praise."

Egro laughed at Lin's words, then suddenly heard the familiar voice of the game system, announcing yet another zombie enhancement and zone reduction:

[Attention! Attention! Attention!]

[Zombies have evolved again!]

[They can now sense every player in the world — there's nowhere to run!]

[The zone is shrinking again — all those outside it, hurry and get in or you'll become a new zombie!]

[Good luck surviving!]

Hearing these words, Egro laughed even harder and said to Lin:

"Looks like this is our end. Now they can sense where we are, so there's nowhere left to hide. And besides..." he quickly looked at the map and continued, "the zone has already shrunk significantly — our location is just a matter of time for the zombies. I think we've rested enough. Time for a final battle."

Egro began to stretch. He also trained a little with his spear, spinning it as he asked Lin:

"By the way, I really tried to feel the spear when using it in the sewers, but didn't sense anything special. Maybe it only works like that for you?"

Lin was also training a bit, and at the moment — meditating. Without opening his eyes, he replied:

"Most likely, feeling the weapon during combat is my personal method. Try meditating with the spear — you came to that conclusion back when we were in the real world."

Egro nodded in agreement. He sat in a lotus position, placed the spear on his knees, slowly closed his eyes, and tried to sense it.

Suddenly, he heard Lin's voice:

"Meditation doesn't mean forcing yourself to think about the object and trying to feel it. Meditation is when you completely relax your mind and body — and the weapon chooses to make contact with you. To feel some swords, I had to sit and meditate for hours. When the moment came, I just "accepted" them, as if they were nothing."

"But unfortunately, it doesn't work that way with a katana. It's a rather complex weapon — you have to feel it not only with your mind but with your body as well. I have to make contact with "it" not just during meditation but also during every strike, to better understand "it"."

"If you remember, Zon in the sewers swung his axe and cut not only zombies but stone. No, that wasn't a game mechanic or a special item. He simply felt his axe — he connected with it and became one with it. You're at that same threshold now, ready to feel your weapon. And once you do, you'll truly begin to grow with the spear."

Egro listened closely to Lin and was amazed by his knowledge. He knew Lin was an extraordinary individual with superhuman abilities, but he had never heard anyone speak about weapons with such depth.

He nodded to Lin and followed all his advice. Slowly closing his eyes, he relaxed every muscle in his body and mind, gradually entering a meditative state. After sitting like that for about a minute, he still felt nothing — but didn't give up and continued meditating as if nothing had happened.

Before even two minutes had passed, they suddenly heard the roaring of countless zombies:

"Aarrghh!!!" An endless horde of zombies roared.

Lin and Egro immediately stood up. They scanned the plains around them and realized they were completely surrounded by zombies.

Every side was blocked off — not a single millimeter of space was left to escape through. So the only choice was to fight with everything they had and try to survive until the fifth evolution.

Lin sighed heavily and slowly sheathed his katana. He looked at the crowd of zombies and said:

"I'll take the rear, you take the front. Let's do everything we can to cover each other's backs, so we don't die suddenly."

Egro nodded and turned toward the zombies on his side, running toward them at inhuman speed!

He smirked and prepared to take the hit when he noticed two strange zombies wave their hands at him before disappearing into the crowd.

"Zon and Nal..." he smiled.

As the zombies came close enough, he raised his spear and stabbed the one that leapt at him!

Bang!

He slammed the spear down hard, but the zombie didn't die. So he quickly pulled the spear back and stabbed again — this time into the zombie's head!

After pulling the spear from the dead zombie, Egro used the long shaft to block several incoming kicks from zombies, then concentrated and performed a quick dance with his spear, killing four zombies at once!

But he didn't stop there. He executed a long, sharp sweep — forming a crescent shape!

Whoosh!

The wind split, and several zombies were cut clean in two!

Egro smiled and continued swinging his spear, performing movements that resembled an elegant dance. He bent forward and swept his spear, slicing through zombie legs — but the motion didn't stop. Egro spun backward and cut off about five zombie heads!

Whoosh!

A long gust of wind passed, and five zombie heads dropped to the ground.

Suddenly, two strange zombies appeared before him — ones that used martial arts techniques to attack. Egro immediately realized they were players, so he smiled and said:

"Interesting. Can you two players kill me?"

The two zombies froze for a moment, then suddenly roared at Egro and lunged at him, using their arms and legs in coordinated, deadly strikes. Each move was meant to kill.

Slightly irritated by their constant attacks, Egro glanced at a pile of zombie corpses and got an idea.

He quickly ran toward the pile, leapt onto it, and as the two zombies chased him, he spun around and performed another crescent slash!

Whoosh!

A silver arc flashed in the air, and the two charging zombies were instantly beheaded!

He exhaled and continued his spear-dance, killing zombies.

Ten minutes later, drenched in sweat, he suddenly received a message from the game system:

[Attention! Attention! Attention!]

[Zombies have evolved again!]

[They can now shatter stone — and their bodies have become as hard as rock!]

[The zone is shrinking again — all those outside, hurry and enter or become a new zombie!]

[Good luck surviving!]

After receiving the system message, Egro gave a crooked smile and slashed at a zombie — but only cut a few centimeters deep.

"At least I survived to the fifth evolution — that's a new record..." Egro looked at Lin and saw his friend, completely covered in blood, still killing zombies. But when he realized he couldn't cut through them anymore, he looked back at Egro.

Their eyes met.

Egro smiled and nodded.

"Looks like this is my end..." He turned away from Lin and stared at the endless wave of zombies that overwhelmed him and began to devour him.

A while later, nothing was left of Egro but some organs and a large pool of blood.

Egro died.