Kazuki thrashed wildly in the Wailers grasp, the grotesque finger wrapped around his skull like vice, every time he tried to break free—he was met with iron resistance, its grip unrelenting as it hauled him through shattered wood and sludge.
The splinters bit into his skin, nauseating smell of rotten flesh filled his lungs. The world spun sideways.
"Let—go—of—me!" he said, clenching his teeth; fumbling for the dagger.
The Wailer's wails continued—a horrid harmony of rage, despair, and hunger—reverberating like the sound had bypassed his ears entirely, worming straight into his skull and burrowing through his soul like a swarm of hungry insects.
Kazuki gritted his teeth and swung the blade with all force he could muster, slicing it down onto the thick, boney wrist holding him.
Thunk.
The blade bounced.
"What?!"
He slashed again. And again. Flesh peeled back but re-knitted before his eyes, stitching itself together, with dark veins bulging around it.
"This thing's built like a damn tank—" he hissed, trying to pry the claw off his head, as wailer dragged him past another fence post. His vision blurred with pain, his back burning, head throbbing from pressure.
It was getting hard to keep conscious alive, few more minutes and he would be done.
He gritted his teeth. It was time to make a gamble—now or never.
He bites the inside of his mouth, pain keeping him awake, mana surged within his palm, as the soft light was fading—materializing the glowing egg— he slammed it beneath the Wailer's grip—right where his head was pinned.
"Let's see if you survive this."
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C) — Activated]
The effect was instant.
BOOM.
The explosion didn't just throw Kazuki free—it launched them both. The Wailer's scream was cut short as it arms blew apart in grotesque spray of meat and black ichor. A shockwave rippled outward, shattering a few buildings and flinging nearby zombies in all directions like a ragdoll.
Kazuki slammed onto the dirt road groaning as his body bounced once before rolling on the roadside bush.
"Ughhh... f**k"
His ears rang, head spun, back screaming like it had been slammed by a runaway cart. He pushed himself up, one eye squinting toward the Wailer; staggering in its place, body leaking rot and smoke, all its head twisted in pained confusion. The arm that held him was gone; it's scorched stump twitching, its other arms twitching in erratic spasms like a broken puppet.
For a moment, Kazuki thought it might finally fall.
Then it turned, slowly, its hollow eyes locked onto him— burning with blind rage and insatiable hunger, its three mouths gnashed, snarled and wailed—each at its own terrible pitch.
Then it charged—like a tank made of meat and fury, shaking the ground with every step.
"Shit—"
Kazuki scrambled to his feet, lung burning, ribs aching, he barely got his balance before the thing barreled forward, arms flailing like giant clubs, one hit and he'd be nothing but a red smear.
His legs moved before his mind could catch up—dodging left, ducking under a swipe, rolling behind a broken stall. Wood splintered as the Wailer smashed straight through it.
Kazuki panted, his hands fumbling, [Skill: Egg Bomb (C)] — Ready.
"Eat this stupid—three face."
He hurled the egg into its chest just upper side of its one stomach face.
BOOM!
Explosion tore through its chest, blowing chunks of rib and rotten muscle into the air. It reeled back—staggering, dark ichor gushing from crater to its chest.
Kazuki didn't waste opportunity, pulling another [Egg Bomb].
"No regen this time, freak—!"
And threw it at dead center, right at the snarling, gurgling mouth on its bloated stomach.
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C)] — Activated.
BOOM!
The face exploded, teeth's, gums and hunks of blackened muscle spraying across the ground like grotesque confetti. The Wailer roared—or at least tried to, it came out as broken.
Kazuki didn't flinch, he threw another Egg Bomb, this time—just beneath its flailing upper arm.
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C)] — Activated.
BOOM!
Explosion rippled through its ribcage, tearing its side wide-open, Wailer staggered violently, body convulsing in erratic spams, arms twitching like it was being electrocuted.
But then—
Again.
Huge bulging black veins surged around the wound, squirming like worms, stitching the torn flesh back together—desperate, ugly and raw.
The damn thing was healing again.
"Of course, you f**king would," Kazuki said, his voice ragged, fingers already glowing with another egg in hand.
He didn't let a breath go to waste.
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C)] — Activated
He flung it—right at the Wailer's shoulder face.
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C)] — Activated
Another egg, already pulled.
He hurled it into the crook of its right arm.
BOOM!
Its entire shoulder detonated, taking half the head with it, leaving behind a ragged pit that sprayed black ichor in pulses.
BOOM!
The limb blew apart in a spray of gore, flinging the remains of a zombie that had been impaled on one of its claws. The Wailer jerked, eyes rolling back in shock and fury.
Still not enough.
"Drop dead already!"
Kazuki summoned a final bomb, blood now dripping from his palm as the mana backlash kicked in—his body not built for this kind of rapid-cast assault.
He didn't care.
He threw it at its leg
[Skill: Egg Bomb (C)] — Activated
BOOM!
The foot was gone. The Wailer collapsed forward, unable to keep balance, its ruined form skidding along the dirt as it crashed into the broken remains of a stall, the ground trembled.
For a moment, silence reigned.
Then—
From the shattered corpses of the surrounding zombies, something shifted; heads rolled, bodies twitched. Black veins—like cables made of rotting roots—snaked from the ground, latching onto flesh and bone, one by one, the corpses jerked upright, pulled by tendrils of squirming, pulsating meat, limbs dragged toward each other, merging in grotesque union.
Kazuki stared, wide-eyed, frozen for just a heartbeat as the Wailer's corpse started absorbing the others—growing.
He took a step back.
The heads of the former zombies screamed in unison from the fused mass—one long, horrible wail that echoed through the village like a banshee's funeral cry.
"F**k this, I'm not fighting that sh**," Kazuki said, his voice tense as he spun on his heel, bolting down the road like a man possessed.