Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System-Chapter 22: A Stange Zombie...

Crack!

My knuckles crushed into his face, his skull rattling from the force—bone splintering as his orbital lobe caved in. A garbled, inhuman scream tore from his throat. I felt a sense of euphoria at the sensation beneath my fist... crushed bone and flesh.

Then—

Schlick!

The spear followed.

Its black tip shredded his muscles, tearing his thigh and almost severing half his leg in an instant. The male collapsed like a sack of rocks, blood gushing as the zombie horde closed in on our group.

Drawn to the scent of fresh meat.

"Qinglan pull back and help the others to get to a safe distance, then join me."

Despite my tone sounding commanding, she didn't speak back.

Qinglan just stared at me with her luminescent crimson eyes, pulsing with desire for blood, and it made my neck throb.

It seemed I tamed two interesting beasts...

Step...

I moved towards the convulsing human. He looked pale like a sheet of paper, arms tense and above his head from the sudden cranial shock. Honestly, things like this used to make me feel sick or a little nauseous.

Now, it just made my stomach churn with butterflies.

'Was I becoming something else, something that wasn't human?'

The zombies weren't far now...

I couldn't afford to mock the male who insulted Qinglan, so I ripped my spear from his thigh, which took more strength than I expected.

A spurt of blood bubbled from his thigh as the man squealed, catching the notice of most of the zombies heading this way.

There were at least thirty.

"Phew..."

Walking towards the pawnshop, I flicked my wrists and adjusted to the weight of the spear in my hands—it's cold steel, my only comfort.

Mu Qinglan darted through the zombies, unphased, ignored.

They really didn't seem to care for her and instead focused on the bleeding members of the masked gang, shambling towards them.

"P-please... help... me...!"

"It hurts... It hurts... It hursssss! PLEASE STOP!"

Shen Yifei and Jiang Roulan trembled on the spot, terrified. Both watched the men that attacked them, swarmed by the zombies and torn apart.

Blood, screams, and the wails of the fallen became my background music.

I twirled my spear faster and faster.

The low whistle gained the attention of two zombies, who rolled their heads and noticed me with their red eyes.

I wondered if they could still think or use their brain.

"Qinglan, let's fight."

A mutter quiet enough to be called a whisper, yet she nodded and curled her lips into a smile like a psychopath as she rolled her metal bat in the air.

"I should get started too."

Unlike her, I needed to plan every encounter, avoid any scratch or bite.

So, when the closest zombie approached, I stepped back and thrust upward, piercing its throat. Black blood spurted all over my hands, but I ignored the sensation and twisted my spear before kicking it down.

"Haa..."

There couldn't be anything better than the sight of +5 ZKP with each kill I made.

It also helped that I had Qinglan at my side.

My body lunged forward, stabbing into the second zombie and piercing through its eye socket.

More blood splashed onto my face as the corpse fell back.

"Phew..."

In the time I killed two, Qinglan crushed the skulls of five or six.

However, I could feel the danger if we didn't have some help. I flicked my gaze towards Jiang Roulan, Yifei and Wang Yun... only to find he crawled away halfway down the street now.

'So much for his love for Yifei or Jiang Roulan...'

The pair noticed my gaze before a zombie lunged at me, forcing me to block its arms and throat with the pole of my spear. I could barely feel the weight of the corpse and heavy spear...

▼ Your Skill has improved!

You Leaned: Spear Mastery [Level 1]

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

Suddenly, I could feel basic movements, styles and stances forming in my mind. Instinctively, I knew what action to make as I twisted my hips and flung the zombie to the ground, and smashed the butt of my spear into its forehead.

My foot tapped the ground as I made more distance, maintaining two metres between me and the zombies.

This distance was my ideal range with the shorter spear.

'I see... I was fighting wrong.'

Thrust!

A sharp, more accurate and stable thrust burst through the back of another zombie's skull. Four of them dead in a few seconds.

Although not related to spearmanship, the term "Measure" used in fencing came to mind. Now, there was a sort of mental area ahead of me in a wide angle, which was my strike zone, with the proximity being a danger zone while using the spear, instinct, knowledge and skill.

These benefits are what the Spear Mastery skill gave me at Level 1.

"Phew..."

Exhaling, I cracked my neck, preparing to take another zombie, when I noticed one twitching in the pack. Its eyes didn't look at me. Instead, it focused on something elsewhere.

[Tutorial Hint: Danger! Stage 2 Zombie detected!]

'Stage 2?!'

The back of my neck became cold... as if an executioner stood behind me holding an axe. Able to feel the cold skin as it wobbled. It reminded me of those strange Titans from that anime I watched years ago.

It looked emaciated, dry...

Different from the other corpses, with white eyes, rather than creamy or cloudy.

"QINGLAN, AVOID IT!"

I just screamed. The tingling was something I realised to be my Danger Sense Skill, and the moment I did, as if waiting for a signal.

The slim zombie launched at her like a jumping spider.

Its face spread apart, revealing a huge mouth filled with hundreds of jagged teeth.

Qinglan's head snapped towards the zombie, her eyes bright red as she suddenly growled and swung her bat at full force, smashing into the zombie.

"Good!"

I hopped back, avoiding a crawling zombie's attempt to drag me down, while celebrating.

However!

The most impossible sight appeared before me.

With one hand, the zombie stopped Qinglan's full-powered swing, and it was curiously gazing at the bat while pushing her back.

Mu Qinglan's face tensed, her neck and forehead veins bulging.

'She's struggling...'

Woosh!

I crushed the frontal lobe of another zombie, sweeping my spear across the ground, crippling another...

+15 ZKP

But I didn't feel released because the strange zombie just kept its head tilted, stroking the bat as it trembled from the zombie's immense strength.

It was the first time I saw Mu Qinglan struggling since the end started, although only two days... it felt like an eternity.

The sudden realisation that she needed help destroyed my plan.

"Shen Yifei! Jiang Roulan, help kill these zombies now! Wang Yun get back here!"

Whatever it is, whoever it was, I need them!

"Eh?"

My blood froze.

After I shouted, the zombie's neck snapped, gazing at something....

"Shit..."

And that something was me!