Chapter 19: Mutation Testing (2)

[Subject: J#117's Evolution potential increased to 93%]

"Grr…"

Right on time.

Blaze wiped his mouth clean as numerous zombies growled outside. They were hungry, like he had been moments ago.

Only after eating the crawler's brain, did Blaze realize something. The undead didn't care about the food source. An elite zombie didn't taste as good as a human, but it didn't matter before hunger.

If one is dying of hunger, they won't care if they eat at a Michelin restaurant or a street-side one.

For them, humans were Michelin-level food and other zombies were street food. Unfortunately, most humans didn't venture out at night, leaving the undead to feed on one another.

Their hunger was the primary reason for their sudden evolution.

Now Blaze was hungry, too. Hungry to evolve. Though it remained a mystery where what he ate disappeared to. It wasn't his stomach, because he didn't have any. Perhaps it was directly getting converted into energy or whatever the undead ran on.

I'll think about it later.

Blaze rushed outside, jumping over the walkers. He, too, was a walker, but his stats didn't reflect his class.

Five walkers. I was expecting more.

Blaze assumed a dead elite's corpse would attract more walkers to him, so he could complete the quest.

After all, even though he was on the verge of evolving, the quest didn't care about that. He still needed to consume ten nuclei from the walkers.

The walkers had their lifeless eyes locked onto Blaze's blood-soaked face. They knew the feast they wanted had been consumed by someone else. However, none of them made a move.

Even the undead had basic survival instincts. Since the one before them had killed the strongest beast in the region, none wanted to face Blaze. Even if their hunger was getting unbearable.

A couple of them even stepped back, as if surrendering. However, there was one who had no intention of backing out.

"Roar!"

The male zombie spread its arms wide, ready for a fight. Its eyes turned red, a clear sign of frenzy.

No wonder you want to fight.

"Grr…ROAR!"

Blaze accepted the challenge. His prized claws reappeared as the zombie charged at him. The undead swung its massive arms at Blaze, only for him to duck and avoid the clumsy attack before swiping his claws upward.

The claws tore through the zombie's chest, then the jaw, all the way to the head. Its body was split open from the middle, swaying around. It remained standing upright for half a second before falling to the ground, scattering its brain matter everywhere.

That was… too easy.

He was aware of how sharp his claws were, but seeing how he tore open a zombie with little to no effort took him by surprise. Apparently, he wasn't the only one taken aback, either.

The next second, all four remaining zombies lunged at him. Blaze met them head-on.

He turned to the side to dodge the first one's attack and swung his claws. The claws cut across a zombie's midsection, pulling apart the creature's innards.

"Grr!"

The zombie's growl was cut short as Blaze rammed his claws into its temple, ripping its head off.

Just then, the second zombie lunged from behind, aiming for Blaze's nape. But the moment it opened its mouth to bite, something sharp pierced its head through the mouth. Fester's tail was enough to stop it.

Back when Blaze was fixing his claws, he used his torn skin to graft a pocket on his chest. It acted as Fester's nest exactly for situations like these.

Good job, Fester!

Blaze gave a quick pat to the rat before ramming his claw into the zombie's mouth and yanking its lower jaw in one go. The walker staggered back, wanting to run away, but it was too late.

Blaze grabbed its upper jaw and, with inhuman strength, tossed it off his shoulder… with one hand. The zombie's head smashed into the ground, bursting open like an overripe watermelon.

The remaining two zombies charged at him simultaneously. In their simple minds, Blaze couldn't defend himself from two directions, and would lose.

To their surprise, Blaze ducked at the last moment, swiping his claws at their legs. The legs came cleanly off as if they never had any. Their momentum carried them forward, and they fell face-first.

He buried his claws in the downed walker's spine and ripped it apart like he was Dr. Doom while stomping on the chest of the last zombie, killing it as well.

Silence enveloped the area, apart from distant howls.

Blaze stood tall in the graveyard of zombies, looking at his hands soaked in rotten blood.

Just a few hours ago, fighting over two zombies simultaneously had been impossible for him. But with the claws, he killed off five of them like it was nothing.

Just one mutation made me this strong…

Blaze thought, admiring the Onyx claws. Suddenly, having one mutation wasn't enough. He wanted more, but for that, he had to evolve first.

Just then, Fester brought two severed heads of the zombies he had just killed.

Do these two have a nucleus?

"Skree!"

Blaze cracked the heads open with his claw and, sure enough, two shiny black nuclei stared back at him. Just then, he realized something.

Can you sense the nuclei now?

"Skree!"

Fester looked quite proud of itself. Perhaps Blaze wasn't the only one who mutated after feasting on the crawler's corpse. Suddenly, the quest didn't seem so bad.

Find me some zombies that have the nucleus.

"Gr… Grr."

Fester turned around and rushed in a direction as if it had been waiting for Blaze's permission.