LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 515: The Smokers
Kale was shocked seeing that a Zombie could actually endure the piercing power of his halberd. It was such an eye-opener, considering even Tyrant Zombies would get stabbed by his weapon.
Thankfully, the Steel Zombies were quite heavy and were very slow. If they could also move fast, it would be a disaster for them.
With everyone's high level, Veiled Step, Five-Meter Jump, and various movement abilities, they had no issues evading the Steel Zombies…
Roar!
One of the Zombies tried to grab Kale… However, Lysandra swiftly blocked with her blade!
Bam!
The attack was too heavy and she gritted her teeth as the force pushed her back a few feet. With her current Strength Stat, even the Tyrant Zombie would push her back that much. However, these Steel Zombies were built differently.
Shane then provided support from a distance, as he threw a couple of his Crawler Fang Daggers hitting the zombies' joints. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire
Thud! Thud!
The daggers were Epic Grade plus with his high Strength, his daggers were able to stab about an inch in the Zombies body!
Seeing this, Lysandra decided to strike those daggers and push them deeper!
Thud! Thud!
Just like that, the arms of the Zombies could no longer be raised with their joints destroyed!
Nia warned her companions as she poured her Spirit Points into one of the Light Orbs!
Whoosh~
A flash of light momentarily disoriented the Steel Zombies, giving the group a crucial opening.
Their battle continued for a few more minutes as Shane assisted them in the battle. After all, the Steel Zombies were new to them and aside from overpowering them, they had no other method to kill these Zombies… They were simply too resistant to most of their offensive Survivor Skill, including their Weapon Skills.
Thud!
After an intense struggle, the final Steel Zombie fell, its heavy body hit the ground and Shane was even worried that the ground would collapse…
"Those things are too tough…" Vernon commented as he felt really alarmed about the strength of the Zombies they were dealing with.
The group nodded as they looked at metallic corpses. Aside from Shane, everyone was panting with this battle.
"Let me loot one of them…" Shane said as he was curious about what he would get.
[ Do you want to retrieve the loot? ]
"Yes…"
[ You have earned 75 Experience Points. ]
[ You have earned 1 Reputation Point. ]
[ Loots obtained: Item Upgrade Crystal x5, Zombie Core x10, 800mL Water, Bread x10, 100mL Steel Zombie Blood, Red Steel Dagger x1, Cold Iron Ingot x15, Strength Enhancement Bottle x5, Ironhide Elixir x1 ]
"Ahhh… Wait… I'll loot all of them. I'll give you all something else instead." Shane said after seeing the items he could obtain from them.
First, he liked the Cold Iron Ingot despite not seeing its description yet. Then, the Ironhide Elixir already speaks for itself even if he hadn't appraised it yet. He was certainly interested in obtaining more of them. Furthermore, the Strength Enhancement Bottles would surely be liked by his companions.
As for the Red Steel Dagger, he already had plenty of daggers, so he wasn't too interested in it.
"It's fine, Shane… I don't have a good looting chance anyway. Just give me your extra Experience Potion if you have." Lysandra said.
"Sure… I have one…" Shane said as he took out one of his Instant Experience Potions. He hadn't used some of them since they could only give him 500 Experience Points which was certainly not that huge for him anymore.
Then, he also handed them two Strength Enhancement Bottles each.
After that, Shane continued looting the Steel Zombies and obtained similar loot results.
"Not bad…" Shane smiled as he then upgraded the Red Steel Daggers from Uncommon to Exceptional Rank. They weren't that great aside from having additional sharpness and being lightweight.
After considering for a moment, Shane also gave a couple of daggers to each of them in case they needed it.
Then, the group rested for a while to recover their Spirit Points and their fatigue…
"Ahh… I think I should've used my Petrifying Sphere… Do you think those Steel Zombies would be a lot easier to kill if they turned into stones?" Nia suddenly said while they were resting.
"Ohh… That's a good idea. You should've tried that." Nia said after imagining how it might work.
Petrifying Sphere was the skill Nia obtained after using the Skill Scroll that Shane had gifted to her when he defeated his first Lord Tier Zombie.
Shane had forgotten about this ability as well but nonetheless, it would be great if Nia learned to properly use it with their coordinated attacks.
"That's a good idea, Nia. It's still a level 1 Skill, right? You should consider using it from time to time to level it up. I don't have any items with me that can increase a Skill Level, so you have to work hard on it."
"Got it…" Nia replied as the others also checked their new Skills as they might be usable very soon.
***
After resting for a bit, their group continued to move forward, and soon, they heard the growls of Zombies ahead as they echoed through the station.
Kale raised his hand before he found a suitable area to stand their ground and signal everyone to fall into formation.
Shane smiled after seeing Kale's actions. With the man's abilities, he wouldn't be too worried if he assigned him to some hunting tasks once he had established his next Survivor Shelter.
Anyway, it didn't take that long before they discovered a group of ten zombies…
"Another new type of Zombie?" Shane muttered as they seemed to have discovered another type of Zombie. However, he wasn't sure whether they were the first ones to discover this.
Each Zombie had swollen, discolored torsos that emitted faint wisps of green smoke. However, they weren't Spitters or Toxic Zombies with their unusual appearance.
Their movements were erratic as if they had trouble balancing themselves. Nonetheless, they seemed to be aware of their surroundings in a way most zombies weren't.
"Cloud, do you have an idea what are those?" Shane asked as the Zombies started approaching them.
[ The highest match is the Smoker Zombie. They are zombies that emit toxic clouds capable of suffocating and poisoning their targets. They were reported before by Scavengers who had visited the Springriver Manor and they were discussed a bit by some people passing by in the Waiting Zone.
While fragile compared to other variants, their ability to obscure vision and weaken enemies makes them deadly in groups. ]
"Ohh… That's a nice information." Shane muttered as he gave everyone gas masks immediately.
"Wear it… We're dealing with Smoker Zombies… Might be worse than Toxic Zombies so we have to be careful." Shane said to everyone as he handed over the gas masks, items he bought in the Survivor Store.
"Smoker Zombies," Lysandra muttered, wrinkling her nose as the first hints of the acrid smoke reached them. She immediately took the gas masks and wore them as she immediately felt dizzy with just a small whiff of it.
"Make sure to wear it properly." Shane reminded. "The smoke is toxic. Nia, can you also keep the air clear? I'm not sure if it affects our skin so…"
"Already on it," Nia replied, casting Wind Spiral, a spell that created a barrier of swirling air around the group. It's only a Level 2 Skill and she would rarely use it even before the Zombie Outbreak.
After all, it was just like a weak wind breeze that barely did anything. She didn't expect it would be useful today.
Soon, the toxic smoke was pushed back, giving them a small safe zone to work with. However, just like what she thought, the smoke started coming back as soon as the Smoker Zombies released them again.
Anyway, as the green clouds around them thickened, Shane started the assault to see whether these Zombies were tougher than the Steel Zombies…
He quickly activated Chain Bolt, firing at the nearest zombie.
Bam!
Once again, the lightning branched through the group, killing one of them instantly and causing the others to stagger. However, as soon as it died, it exploded into a toxic fume, creating a larger threat to the surroundings.
[ You have eliminated a Smoker Zombie. ]
"They're a lot weaker than the Steel Zombies…" Shane muttered.
However, since their bodies burst upon death, releasing even more toxic gas into the air, they were a lot more dangerous.
"Great, they're walking bombs," Kale grumbled as he adjusted his gas mask, afraid that a cloud of smoke would enter the gap in his mask.
Lysandra immediately knew that fighting against these Zombies at close range would not be good for her. After some consideration, she switched to her special bow, Wolf Slayer Bow, a drop from an Alpha Wolf Zombie, and once again, provided by their Clan Leader, Shane.
With this bow, she fired arrows that could create a gust of wind and it might even help with the smoke problem that was starting to block their vision...