Chapter 26: The Devastating Power of the Zombie Marshal

<Elite Miniboss>

LV40+ <Elite Zombie General>

HP: [57,540/57,540]

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'What is that '+' after his level supposed to mean?' Tanaka wondered.

He found the answer when he saw the Elite Zombie General's HP.

'It's because it doesn't exert the level.' He thought. 'Is this an indirect way of saying it's a scale larger than a normal miniboss?'

But... As strong as it had become, when Tanaka began to attack, the result was the same as before, just 3 seconds slower to kill.

After killing this one, his clones also finished off the other, and he leveled up.

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[You have obtained 246,750 EXP!]

[You leveled up by 1!]

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[You have obtained <Soul Stone – Rank B> x2]

[You have obtained <Recovery Potion – Rank C> x7]

[You have obtained <Elite Zombie General's Warhammer – Rank C+> x1]

[You have obtained <Skill Book: Crush – Rank C+> x1]

[You have obtained 375,000 ryō]

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"Druwm!"

Suddenly, a loud and strong sound echoed. It was when the expansion of the 'egg' seemed to have reached its limit and then began to compress, making loud drum sounds.

The constant drum sounds didn't stop. And, when Tanaka thought that, like the other times, the 'egg' would start to crack, suddenly, abruptly, the 'egg' came crashing down to the ground like a comet.

"BOOOOOOM!"

"TREMBLE!!!!"

Constant tremors shook the building he was in.

The impact site initially split in a spider web pattern, cracking enough to penetrate the ground and amplify the destruction, creating a crater in a devastated zone that extended for at least a 10-meter radius.

'Why is it so different this time? And, how strong is this boss going to become?'

However, his doubts were quickly cleared.

All at once, the 'egg', amidst the thin curtain of smoke, shattered into pieces. From inside the 'egg', the Zombie Marshal emerged with a single leap, landing on a building, sinking his feet in, almost making the building collapse under his weight.

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<Boss >

LV40+++ <Zombie Marshal>

HP: [575,400]

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When he saw this, he knew. The boss was at least 3 times stronger. Of course, it wasn't just because of the three '+' after the level and before the name, but also due to the simple leap it made, landing in a place much farther than before, something it couldn't do before, and now in its hands were two maces.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Clashing one mace against the other, the boss roared.

"KUUUUUUAHHHHH!"

The instant it roared, 10 level 40 zombies appeared.

And, even before wanting to attack him or the shadow clones, he let out a second roar.

"GRRRRAAAAWWWWWLLL!!!"

With his roar, the Zombie Marshal began to lose health. Normally, this would be a bad skill to use while having the health provided by the Second Chance Ring. But, considering the absurd amount of health he had, it was actually a valid action.

Like a flash of light, leaving afterimages, the Zombie Marshal leaped, collapsing the building he was on and appearing in front of one of his shadow clones.

'Danger!' For the first time, Tanaka felt a real danger coming from this boss.

Whether it was the speed or even the strength.

"BOOOOM!"

The impact of the two maces hitting the building where his shadow clone was caused it to collapse instantly. It was an incalculable amount of damage that he only knew even partially escaping with the shadow clone, it was still caught by the impact of the blow, destroying his clone in the process.

Making a hand seal, Tanaka created another clone and sent chakra threads, connecting to two zombies and sucking all their life force.

"Damn!" Tanaka cursed out loud when he saw the boss's attention on him.

At the same time, all the clones shouted: "Plan B!"

"Clink-clank! Clink-clank! Clink-clank! Clink-clank...!"

Out of the 34 shadow clones created, 2 Adamantine Sealing Chains emerged from their hands.

The speed at which each chain moved was not something to take lightly.

"Bang! Bang!"

The Zombie Marshal, who seemed to sense danger from the chains coming from all directions, gave up continuing forward, as Tanaka himself used the Adamantine Sealing Chains, heading in his direction.

"GRR-GRR-GRRRRAAAAWWLL!"

Roaring strangely, the Zombie Marshal jumped into the air, seemingly activating a skill, and began to spin in the air while falling at great speed like a tornado.

"BOOOOOM!"

On impact, the Zombie Marshal looked like a mole digging into the ground, but instead of staying in one spot, he started moving while spinning with a mace in each hand, spinning towards the building where Tanaka was.

The chains heading towards the Zombie Marshal were all deflected by the spinning maces.

Even if he tried to aim for the head, the chains were still repelled.

"In that case..." Tanaka didn't want to use this now, but he also thought it was a good chance.

Taking the special explosive stones, Tanaka made them float while controlling the chains near the Zombie Marshal.

"Swallow this, motherfucker!" Then, he threw five at once towards the spinning Zombie Marshal.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

Consecutively, the sounds of the impacts caused by each explosive stone echoed. The sounds were more disturbing than those caused by standard explosive tags. Although they couldn't rival the attack used by Shiori, they still caused a lot of visible damage. The ground where one of the attacks hit, anticipating the arrival of the Zombie Marshal, gave way and created a huge hole.

When the Zombie Marshal, who took direct damage from the explosions, became disoriented and didn't even have time to escape, he stumbled and began to fall.

"Thud!"

With a loud sound of the Zombie Marshal's body falling into the hole, the sounds of the chains controlled by him and his clones echoed louder and louder.

Feet, hands, and torso were pierced, even penetrating the armor.

"You've become too dangerous for me." Tanaka sighed in relief seeing the Zombie Marshal neutralized. He added, "That's why you need to die."

The Zombie Marshal, lifted by the chains and pulled mainly by the feet and hands, had a terrifying expression behind his helmet.

"GRRRRAAAAWWWWWLLL!!!"

"It's no use, your MP is being neutralized by me." Tanaka said calmly, seeing the futile attempt of the Zombie Marshal trying to break free and apparently use a skill.

At this point, even the transformation the Zombie Marshal was undergoing while his life was being drained was sealed.

Tanaka and the various shadow clones made stones float and began to melt away the life of the poor boss who could do nothing but take the hits.