Chapter 80: One Of His Kind (1)

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: One Of His Kind (1) Blaze was busy tormenting David when suddenly a buzz filled his head. Free from his brain being fried, David kicked Blaze off him and ran towards the center. Ugh... what is this? Blaze’s tendrils retracted along with his claws. A splitting headache took hold of him. He didn’t know, but he was experiencing the same pain that David had been moments ago. It wasn’t just him. His entire horde was on their knees, clutching their heads. The chosen were suffering through the same thing. Only the walkers and David remained unaffected by the strange phenomenon. They were unaffected because they were already under the Headless’s control. Unlike the rest of them. [Passive: Sentient Rot has been activated.] [The subject can repel the control of a stronger undead.] The buzz in Blaze’s head ceased the moment those words appeared before him. However, the rest of his horde wasn’t as lucky. They were still struggling to fend off the Headless’s control. Their minds were being ripped apart as they struggled to maintain their loyalty to the horde. As for the humans, they couldn’t fall under the Headless’s control even if they desired it. Only the undead could submit to it, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be tormented. It’s trying to control everything around itself. Blaze thought, shaking his head. Fighting David alone was difficult enough, but now he had to face both him and the Headless all by himself. The odds weren’t looking too good for him. Blaze had fought stronger zombies before. But never without the support of his horde. With the exception of one puppet, he killed at the research facility. Once I find the idiot who killed a walker... I’m gonna turn into Vlad the Impaler. Blaze looked ahead and saw the half-evolved Headless. The tentacles on its head had clamped together to form a strange face. One that wasn’t human, but resembled various shapes mashed together. It stood as tall as David only because its spine was bent, giving it a hunched back. The legs were bent like a rabbit’s, while its deformed hands dragged on the ground, leaving marks behind with its long claws. Waking up from a slumber did you dirty. Blaze quickly ran out of witty remarks as the Headless turned towards him. It tilted its head, wondering how Blaze was free from its control. It pointed towards Blaze, and something changed. The next moment, all the walkers charged towards him. Well, they were walkers, but judging by their sudden burst of speed, it was better to call them sprinters. Thousands of them were suddenly hungry for Blaze’s flesh. Despite their individual weaknesses, he knew better than to confront them head-on. At the moment, he did the only thing he could. He ran. He was faster than the sprinters, and thankfully, more intelligent. Relying on those characteristics, he outran and outsmarted them for the moment. However, it wasn’t a long-term solution, and Blaze knew that. Come on, think! As he ran, he kept looking around him. The crater was barren, so the terrain wouldn’t be of any help to him. Then, his eyes fell on something. A couple of things, actually. A smile crept onto his face as he noticed the corpses of the soldiers Neha had sacrificed. The walkers had torn them apart, and they weren’t of any use to the Headless. Luckily, Blaze had some unique talents. Talents that didn’t require intact corpses. He stopped near the shredded remains of the soldiers. The ground had soaked up their blood and turned mushy. Perfect for what Blaze had in mind. It didn’t take long for the newly evolved sprinters to catch up. Blaze looked over his shoulder and smirked as a sprinter entered his playing field. As the sprinter lunged at him, a corpse wall appeared before it. It tried to halt, but the slippery ground made that impossible. The creature slammed against the wall, and its head exploded from the impact. More followed, crashing onto the wall one after another. Within seconds, dozens of sprinters were dead or incapacitated as others stomped over them. But a wall couldn’t hold them off forever. As the sprinters kept hitting, the wall broke apart. However, Blaze had already prepared for them. Bone spikes erupted from the ground, piercing them everywhere. Some died on impact. The others remained stuck and were killed by Blaze. Without wasting time, Blaze quickly processed the fresh undead into building material and created more walls and traps. He could have auto-assembled some undead from them, but he didn’t. He couldn’t risk creating them and then having them succumb to the Headless’s control. Just like that, the never-ending cycle of death and creation continued. It gave him some breathing room. He slumped to the ground when he saw something. Wait... what is that? *** Meanwhile... The Headless sensed the chaos from afar. The decreasing number of zombies didn’t go unnoticed by it. It roughly shoved David in Blaze’s direction, as if scolding him. He groaned before charging towards the walls. Since he wasn’t as fragile as the sprinters, he tore through the wall and the spikes along with it. Finally, he broke through the last barricade, ready to tear Blaze apart. However, there was a slight issue with his plans. Blaze wasn’t there. "Grrr...?" David looked around, but he saw only a hole and nothing else. Fresh claw marks lined the rim of the hole, as if something had ripped the earth open from below. The hole was perfect for Blaze to go through, but it was too small for David to enter. With a frown, he stepped outside, growling at the sprinters when something disappeared from the corner of his eye. He charged to the spot and found a similar hole there. This time, one of Blaze’s horde members was missing. The Headless sent a command through its links, and the sprinters jumped into the hole. Only to be crushed by the spike underneath. A second later, a hole appeared under Raven, pulling it in. Then another retracted Marrow. One after another, all of Blaze’s horde had disappeared into the ground. It left the Headless frustrated and restless. It issued more orders to the sprinters through its link, but none of the sprinters moved. Suddenly, they turned on one another and began attacking anything in sight. The Headless tried to stop them. However, the sprinters didn’t obey it anymore, as if their links had been severed.