THE ZOMBIE SYSTEM-Chapter 73 - 72: Ancient Altar

"My master will have his victory today."

The commander’s words echoed around the ancient chamber as he made his final charge. Dimensional energy crackled around his form while reality bent to accommodate his desperate assault. Stone cracked under pressure that belonged to other realms.

Leon and Elise were pushed back by the available hunters as monsters converged on their location from every direction. Crystalline golems crashed through walls with thunderous impacts. Aerial demons dove from shattered ceiling stones. Lesser abyssal entities poured through cracks in dimensional barriers.

"Fall back to the altar," Damian commanded while parrying demon claws with his one functional arm. "Defensive circle around the healers."

Iron-fang formed ranks beside ARES survivors. Sanctuary healers shared mana with Association hunters whose interfaces had failed. Guild politics meant nothing when extinction threatened everything they’d sworn to protect.

———

Chairman Ethella began engaging the commander directly, their battle so magnificent it made reality itself weep. Power that had shaped continental politics for decades focused on the dimensional threat with precision.

Storm magic erupted from Ethella’s form like captured lightning given purpose. Wind currents compressed into visible streams that could cut through steel. Thunder boomed across the city as natural forces answered his call. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"You dare challenge an S-rank Storm Caller in his own domain?" Ethella’s voice carried authority.

The Chairman displayed power unimaginable as he directed his abilities at the commander. Lightning danced between his fingers before lashing out in concentrated bolts that could melt stone. Each strike forced the dimensional entity backward toward the chamber’s entrance.

Storm clouds gathered overhead despite the underground location. Ethella’s magic reached through solid stone to command weather patterns across the entire district. Rain began falling upward in defiance of gravity.

———

Elise continued healing Leon from the commander’s possession attempt. Her evolved abilities worked steadily to purge dimensional corruption from his consciousness. Green light flowed between her hands as life energy battled the last traces of alien influence.

"How do you feel?" she asked while maintaining careful pressure against his temples.

"Like my brain was boiled and put back together wrong," Leon replied.

His system interface stabilized as Elise’s healing removed the final fragments of vessel programming. Error messages stopped cascading across his vision while human neural patterns reasserted themselves completely.

[Vessel Integration: 0%]

[Human Consciousness: 100%]

[Dimensional Corruption: Purged]

[System Status: Restored]

———

Meanwhile, Damian waged his own battle with one hand against lesser demons that tested the defensive perimeter. His enhanced sword blazed with silver energy as he compensated for lost balance and reduced reach.

A demon lunged at him with claws that dripped acid. Damian sidestepped and brought his blade around in a perfect arc that separated the creature’s head from its shoulders. Black ichor sprayed across ancient stone.

"Sergeant Morrison, strengthen the left flank," Damian ordered while engaging two more demons simultaneously. "They’re trying to break through."

His one-armed fighting style had evolved during the crisis. Desperation taught lessons no training manual could provide. He moved with efficiency born from necessity, each strike precisely calculated to maximum effect.

Another demon broke through the line. Morrison intercepted with his cracked shield, the impact driving him to one knee. But his defensive enchantment held firm against claws that could shred normal armor.

"Orders, sir?" Morrison gasped.

"Hold the line. No matter what."

———

Elise’s powers remained stable as she continued healing Leon from the possession attempt. Her evolved abilities had reached equilibrium between life and death energy. No further transformation was needed as she had become exactly what the situation required.

The Life-Death Balance evolution allowed her to work steadily without burning out her magical pathways. Green light flowed from her hands in controlled pulses that targeted corruption without damaging healthy consciousness.

"Almost done," she reported. "The dimensional programming is breaking apart."

Leon felt his mind clearing as the last traces of alien influence dissolved. His necromantic abilities returned to normal parameters, no longer twisted by abyssal corruption. He could think clearly for the first time since the commander’s arrival.

———

The battle between Ethella and the commander escalated beyond mortal comprehension. Storm magic clashed against dimensional energy in displays that lit the sky above Armathor. Each exchange of power created shockwaves that shattered windows throughout the district.

Ethella raised both hands toward the chamber’s ceiling. Lightning gathered between his palms, building to intensity that made the air itself glow. When he released the accumulated energy, the bolt punched through solid stone like tissue paper.

The commander countered with raw dimensional force that warped space around the lightning strike. Reality twisted into impossible geometries as two incompatible forms of power met in devastating collision.

The commander was blown out of the chamber as the Chairman’s storm magic overwhelmed his defensive barriers. The entity’s form tumbled through the air above the city while Ethella pursued with winds that moved faster than sound.

Their battle continued in the sky above Armathor. Lightning split the darkness while dimensional portals opened and closed in rapid sequence. The commander was fighting desperately now, no longer confident in his superiority.

"Your realm’s magic is impressive," the commander admitted as storm winds battered his form. "But you fight to preserve what is already dying."

"Then we’ll die protecting it," Ethella replied.

Storm clouds gathered around the Chairman’s form like living armor. Rain fell upward while hail formed from moisture that shouldn’t exist. His control over weather patterns approached absolute mastery.

———

In the chamber, Leon realized they might all die fighting this battle while his mind was still muddled from the possession attempt. The hunters holding the defensive line were exhausted. Elise was pushing her abilities to dangerous limits. Even Damian’s enhanced strength had boundaries.

"We can’t keep this up much longer," Leon said as his consciousness fully cleared. "The commander has reinforcements we can’t match."

"Then we make every moment count," Damian replied while cutting down another demon. "Your mother didn’t raise a quitter."

Leon felt strength returning as Elise’s healing completed its work. His necromantic abilities were his own again, free from dimensional corruption. He could summon undead without fear of alien influence twisting their purpose.

His warrior zombie materialized with spectral armor that gleamed like polished obsidian. The mage appeared with staff crackling with purple energy. But these weren’t the same servants he’d lost to the commander’s assault.

The undead took positions around the altar while Leon accessed his restored abilities. Power flowed through him cleanly, no longer tainted by vessel programming or dimensional corruption.

Above them, the battle between Ethella and the commander reached new levels of intensity. Storm magic and dimensional energy clashed in combinations that rewrote local physics. The very air began changing color as conflicting forces warped electromagnetic spectrum.

———

Ethella pressed his attack with lightning that moved in impossible patterns. Each bolt sought the commander’s form while wind currents guided their paths with surgical precision. The entity was being driven back by sheer overwhelming force.

But the commander had one desperate gambit remaining. If raw power couldn’t defeat the Storm Caller, perhaps cunning could succeed where strength had failed.

The entity warped the air around itself, bending atmospheric pressure into weapon formation. Instead of attacking Ethella directly, it compressed oxygen molecules into explosive matrix that surrounded the Chairman’s position.

An explosion was heard above as the commander triggered the atmospheric bomb. The blast sent shockwaves through the chamber below while reality itself screamed in protest at forces that violated natural law.

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