Chapter 77: Last battle

"The Breeder is on the upper floors, we've stopped it for now, but it won't be long before it catches up with us," Ivy explained.

"Then we'd better go upstairs and intercept it before it can kill the survivors. Leave Noah in an apartment and get moving."

Tarin and Ivy obeyed Adam and left Noah inside one of the apartments. By this time he had given in to exhaustion and was sleeping.

"Let's go, quickly," Adam told them as they both came out.

Adam was worried. Most of the survivors were gathered in the apartments on the middle floors, especially on floors 5, 6 and 7, and they were protected by the newer fighters. If the Breeder even thought of entering one of the apartments, the consequences would be... Adam didn't even want to think about it, so he rushed Ivy and Tarin again.

They both looked at each other, worried. They could climb faster, but Adam was blocking their way with his slow pace. Tarin realized that Adam must be exhausted, which was bad news.

When they reached the fourth floor, they ran into Miriam, who had just left the apartment where Miguel was staying.

"Where is my sister?" she asked Adam.

"I don't know, the last time I saw her she was on the second floor, defending the bridge."

"I'm on my way."

But Adam held her hand.

"We need your help against the Breeder."

Miriam looked at him, but decided to respond.

"I think my sister will be more useful in that case, why don't we look for her?"

"There's no time Miriam, I'm taking a chance that the Breeder won't start slaughtering survivors while I'm talking to you. We have to move."

Miriam looked at Adam and sighed.

"I'm sorry Adam, but my priority is Marlen. I'm not going with you."

Adam opened his mouth to protest, but at that moment a loud bang was heard. Adam was the first to see the Breeder. It had landed on the outer railing of the hallway and was staring at them, angry.

Ivy cast an orb of darkness, but the Breeder covered her hand with energy and slapped it aside.

"Inside the apartment. Now!" Adam shouted. They all responded and ran into the apartment, where Miguel slept on the living room table.

The Breeder wasn't going to let them get away again, so he jumped with all his might and attacked Adam, who had been left last.

Adam blocked the attack with his flamethrower, but the force of the attack sent him crashing into the door frame. The Breeder stared at him in surprise, a moment Adam took advantage of to disappear inside the apartment.

Inside, Adam endured the pain that coursed through his body. The Breeder's blow had been devastating, but he had managed to block it without much damage.

"Miriam! I'm exhausted, I need you to use your ability."

Miriam simply nodded and grabbed him by the arm. Moments later, Adam felt energized. It was a heady feeling, so Adam turned toward the entrance and prepared to fight.

"Tarin, Ivy, back me up. We only have ten minutes until I collapse from exhaustion, so don't hold anything back.

Meanwhile, on the sixth floor, Alfred paced back and forth in the living room of the apartment. Carlos stood in the hallway and watched him.

"You need to calm down, the fight is not over and a zombie could get here at any moment."

Alfred looked at his father, but said nothing. He was tired of staying behind, he wanted to get out and fight on the front lines. The tornado that had happened recently was terrifying, so he knew the situation was getting out of control out there. He knew his dad didn't agree with him fighting and moving up a level, but he understood that if he didn't want to be relieved to be a simple watchman again, he would have to become powerful.

At that moment he heard a large explosion just a few floors below him and decided he had enough. He would take the rest of his team and go out fighting. He had had enough of being a reserve, as Adam had ordered him to be.

Moments before, Adam summoned a rock grenade in his hand and tossed it outside. The Breeder was about to enter, but then the piece of rock bounced off his skin and exploded before he could do anything.

The explosion stunned him and ripped off part of his plumage. The Breeder accumulated what little energy he had regenerated and used it to hit the wall hard. The result was a powerful explosion that shook everything.

Adam had expected something like this to happen, so he had ordered everyone to stand back. Miriam carried Miguel on her back and retreated with the others into the hallway. She continued on her way and left Miguel in one of the rooms. The others prepared for combat. When the explosion occurred, Adam approached the hole and without thinking fired a full charge from his flamethrower.

The Breeder took all the fire head on and for the first time panicked. Pain of that level was something he had never experienced before. He tried to use his energy to counter the flames, but he had just used it to knock down the wall and would have to wait a moment before he could use it again.

The pain was excruciating, but unfortunately for Adam and the others, the damage the zombie was taking was far less than they expected. The plumage was almost ruined, but it was still insulating the Breeder's body from the flames. Luna charged forward and tried to hit anything in her path.

Adam was not afraid of his own flames, but he did carefully dodge each blow, one after another. Fortunately, Ivy was quick to intervene. She blinded the Breeder again and continued to attack it with one orb of darkness after another. Tarin also launched his icicles, which were much more powerful than before.

The Breeder retreated in the face of the numerous attacks. Adam moved away from him a little and fired with his nail gun.

As time went on, the Breeder felt more and more angry. Moreover, it realized that it had enough energy to do what it wanted and prepared for a counterattack.

A blast of pressurized air was released from its body, causing all the fire covering it to be blown around the room in an unprecedented storm. Adam tried to control the fire, but before he could do so, the Breeder appeared in front of him.

Adam received a violent blow to the head that sent him flying and left him dazed. At which point Tarin decided it was time for a blizzard.

His spell joined the hot air again and created a whirlwind inside the apartment. Everything shattered under that destructive power. When the spell ended, the Breeder was on the floor, bleeding from numerous wounds. Entire bumps of its plumage were ripped away, leaving the inner skin exposed and unprotected from the elements.

Adam, however, was not much better. He fell next to the hallway and some of the storm hit him, so he had burns over half his body and what looked like a severe concussion.

The sound of the explosion woke Miguel, who sensed the imminent danger he was in. Unfortunately, he was still exhausted, so he could not move. With the same calm he had acquired during the war, he thought about his situation and what he could do to help. The first thing that came to his mind was the new ability he gained just as he was knocked unconscious by the Breeder's attack. Without much thought he concentrated and managed to summon a hand grenade out of nowhere. The military man watched the explosive carefully, as it was much more powerful than a conventional grenade. However, there didn't seem to be much he could do at the moment, so he decided to wait.

Meanwhile, Miriam approached Adam and healed him, allowing him to come back to reality in time to watch an angry Breeder approach them. Adam couldn't help but feel terror as he watched the Breeder ignore all the damage Ivy and Tarin's spells had caused him. Miriam tried to use her healing spell to paralyze it, but the zombie only paused for a blink before continuing.

Luna was not in good shape, but its mind was disconnected in a way only zombies were capable of. It didn't get stronger nor did its defenses increase, but it was able to ignore all damage and pain, so it stopped at nothing. Before Adam could get up it pounced on him. With its fingernails it pierced his stomach. He tried to respond with his annoying weapon, but Luna simply dug in its nails again, this time into his chest.