61: Chapter 61 Special Ability - Devouring!

Just as Ye Fan's fingers touched the ground to push off, a foul wind swept over his head.

He saw that the Zombie King had twisted its waist the instant it missed, its sharp claws sweeping down like a sickle!

Ye Fan's expression changed instantly; he hastily leaned backward and swung his blade upward, the Star Blade grazing the purple-black nails and striking a shower of blinding sparks.

"Szzzt — —"

Amidst the teeth-gritting sound of friction, Ye Fan used the momentum to roll two meters away, finally seeing the full appearance of his opponent as he rose to a half-kneel.

Its nearly two-meter-tall body was covered in knotted muscles, its skin a toxic deep purple, and a hideous wound running diagonally from its shoulder to its abdomen was slowly writhing.

It wasn't a fresh wound; amidst the upturned flesh, one could vaguely see ghastly white bone spurs growing.

Most unsettling were its eyes; the murky yellow pupils had shrunk into two vertical lines, locking tightly onto the blade in Ye Fan's hand.

"Good grief! As expected of a Tier 5 Zombie King; I nearly fell into your hands just now." Ye Fan felt a chill in his heart and quickly put distance between himself and the zombie.

The Speed of this zombie was simply too fast, significantly faster than Ye Fan's own, and had he not used a physical enhancement serum beforehand...

…he likely would have been injured during that previous exchange.

This also made Ye Fan feel the pressure mounting.

Generally speaking.

Ordinary zombies only know how to lunge and bite frantically, but the attacks of this Tier 5 Zombie King showed clear signs of probing and prediction.

This is the difference between ordinary zombies and those that have reached Tier 5 or higher; once they hit Tier 5, these zombies develop sapience and are quite clever.

After seeing Ye Fan put distance between them, it didn't immediately pursue him. Instead, it hunched slightly and kept pacing in place.

Its rotting throat emitted a "hiss-hiss" sound, like a wild beast evaluating its prey.

The standoff lasted only three seconds.

The Zombie King suddenly moved — not in a straight charge, but approaching at high Speed in an unnatural zigzag path!

Every step it took left spiderweb cracks on the concrete ground, its purple afterimage trailing a bizarre trajectory.

Ye Fan's pupils constricted sharply as the zombie detection function in his mind frantically refreshed with warnings, the red dots nearly merging into one.

This Speed was completely beyond Ye Fan's imagination.

No time to think!

Ye Fan kicked off the wall behind him with his right foot, his body catapulting to the left.

Almost simultaneously, the spot where he had been standing was smashed apart by a giant claw, sending debris flying like bullets.

A bloodied gash was sliced across Ye Fan's cheek, but using the cloud of flying dust as cover, he backhanded his blade toward the back of the Zombie King's knee — where the exposed tendon was key to supporting its massive frame!

"Clang!"

The blade was actually deflected by bone armor! Ye Fan's hand went numb from the shock, and he was horrified.

This monster had even evolved protection on its joints? The Zombie King roared in pain, and its other claw came sweeping down at his head with a foul wind.

In the nick of time, a flash of inspiration struck Ye Fan — he didn't retreat but instead advanced, lowering his body and crashing into the Zombie King's chest!

This risky move caused the Zombie King to freeze for a split second.

It was in this fleeting gap that Ye Fan's Star Blade slashed diagonally from bottom to top, targeting not the flesh, but the roots of those newly grown bone spurs within the wound on its chest!

"Puchi!"

Dark purple mucus gushed out.

The Zombie King let out a deafening howl of pain, and the crisp sound of bone shattering came from deep within the wound.

It swung its arm wildly in a rage, but Ye Fan had long since backflipped using the recoil from the blade's strike, retreating five steps upon landing before steadying himself, his chest heaving violently.

The man and the zombie put distance between each other once more.

The wound on the Zombie King's chest widened, and the writhing Speed clearly increased, but the growth of the new bone spurs had stalled.

A massive roar filled the entire street.

It looked down at its chest, which was bubbling with fluid, then looked up to glare fixedly at Ye Fan; for the first time, an emotion akin to "wary apprehension" appeared in its yellow vertical pupils.

This was something it had never expected; clearly, the energy within the prey before it wasn't particularly strong.

Yet, such an ordinary prey had actually managed to injure it.

This made it furious.

Ye Fan shook his numb right hand, lowered the tip of his blade, and assumed a defensive stance.

The zombie was no longer in a rush to attack; instead, it began to move slowly, attempting to force Ye Fan deeper into the street.

That area was piled with abandoned vehicles and collapsed billboards; the terrain was complex, clearly more advantageous for its massive body to unleash its destructive power.

Ye Fan swept his peripheral vision across the surroundings, his brain working at high Speed.

His chances of winning a head-on fight were less than thirty percent, but his escape route had already been implicitly sealed off...

However, he wasn't particularly afraid, because he still had his trump card unused; the current Ye Fan was merely using this powerful zombie as a whetstone for himself.

He wanted to know: with his current strength, how big was the gap between him and these evolved zombies above Tier 5?

Of course, Ye Fan also had other considerations.

That was, consuming a Lightning Talisman to kill this early Tier 5 zombie really wasn't worth it.

Thus, provided he ensured he wouldn't be killed, he could both improve his combat experience and perhaps even have a tiny chance of slaying this zombie with his own hands.

Of course, such a chance was extremely, extremely slim, but Ye Fan still wanted to try; what if it actually worked?

Then he would have saved a Lightning Talisman directly, which would be a sure-win deal, wouldn't it?

At this moment, the Zombie King suddenly stopped in its tracks.

It raised its deformed arm, pointing toward the depths of the alley behind Ye Fan, and its rotting mouth corners pulled upward, revealing a hair-raising expression similar to a "smile."

A chill ran up Ye Fan's spine.

What was it gesturing at?

Could there be something more dangerous there, or... was it a trap?

Ye Fan couldn't help but look in the direction the zombie was pointing, but in the depths of that street, there was nothing.

Nothing at all!

"Oh no, it's a trap!" Ye Fan felt cold inside, knowing he was done for, and quickly turned to look at the zombie to the side.

But in the mere moment Ye Fan turned, the zombie had already vanished from before him. "Huh, where did the zombie go?"

Ye Fan was full of confusion, his gaze quickly scanning the surroundings of the street, but he still couldn't find a trace of the zombie.

However, at this very moment!

Ye Fan felt a huge suction force instantly appear upon him, and his body began to faintly become unsteady.

"This... what's going on?"

It was as if in the next second, he would be dragged into something by this massive suction force!

Ye Fan quickly looked up, his gaze directed toward the source of this suction force.

He saw that in the middle of the street, on the third-floor balcony of a building, the zombie had somehow already climbed up there.

Its hands were forcefully tearing at its own chest, exposing ghastly white bones.

At the spot it was tearing, a huge vortex slowly emerged in its chest.

And the massive suction force acting upon Ye Fan was being released from that huge vortex in its chest.

And this was the special Supernatural Ability of this zombie — Devour!