Chapter: 103

"Are you two absolutely sure about this?" Andrea asked one last time as she suited up. "Layla told me that she has enough mana to leave right now. I say we do that instead. There's no need to fight my old team. Also, if you win, you might attract other powerful zombies. Don't get me wrong, Thor and the Hulk are strong, but the zombie X-men are terrifying!" Andrea warned us once more.

"We'll just win before they show up then," I said. And if they did show up, I was grabbing Sif and Andrea and bolting straight from this dimension.

After getting some rest and having a movie marathon for half a day, all three of us were ready to go, and my MP was back to full.

I called upon my newest Sacred Gear for the second time. I used the [Orb of Anywhere] to open a portal in front of me to this dimension's Times Square. Unlike the orange sling ring, my portals were now perfectly stable upon creation, and they were dark purple, the same as my Light Energy.

I stepped through, and the two girls followed after me. Soon, we were back in the empty streets we'd arrived in yesterday. Only today, there were a lot of zombie corpses lying around. They must have been all the ones Sif took down when the Hulk threw her into the horde. We didn't see any living zombies once again, though. It seemed that they liked to hide in the buildings and only come out when people walked these streets to ambush them.

Those were actual tactics... the zombies really did have quite a bit of intelligence here. Whatever this plague was, be it alien or otherwise, it was dangerous.

I conjured a [Lightsword] and dumped about 100 MP into it before handing it to Sif. That should be enough for it to not disappear mid-fight. She thanked me as she took it and raised it in the air.

Sif also raised her voice before she bellowed out a challenge to the zombie Thor. "Come and face me, Asgardian Draugr! How dare you reanimate the corpse of Asgard's prince! Come out and die!" She must have used some magic there to enhance her voice because my ears were ringing. A few nearby building windows also ended up shattering.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!"

"I think you got their attention, Sif," I said with a chuckle. "The Hulk heard you at least." That roar was hard to mistake once you heard it in real life.

BOOM!

Sure enough, a block away, the front of a small storefront exploded as the undead green giant burst through it like he was the angry undead Kool-Aid man.

"Reminds me of the Kool-Aid man there," Andrea—or Iron Woman—chuckled through her robotic voice filter.

I laughed. "I was just thinking that!"

Iron Woman turned to me as the Hulk started approaching us. The horde of regular zombies also started emerging from all the surrounding nearby buildings as well. There were tens of thousands of them.

"You know, I'm glad I came. Bruce doesn't deserve to be left like this. I know he's not in there anymore," she said as she pointed to the Hulk. "But as we were going to be married, I should be here at least to lay him to a proper rest. It's only right," she said as she raised her hand towards the Hulk. Her suit's palm glowed golden for an instant before she fired a repulsor blast at him. It was lightning-fast and impacted the Hulk dead center.

...and didn't so much as cause him to flinch.

"Why don't you just help Sif with the other Avengers while I handle the Hulk and the horde," I suggested to her.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah. This time the fight will be a lot different. After all, with so many spare batteries around, I don't have to conserve mana!"

'MANA BURST!'

I shouted in my head and activated one of my newest perks. I chose to sacrifice 1000 MP. And then I felt it. Flowing through me was raw power!

[Name: Layla of the Fallen]

[Title: Angel of Hope]

[Level: 15]

[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Anywhere]

[HP: 8200→9200]

[MP: 850/2100]

[Vigor: 220--320]

[Strength: 70→170]

[Intelligence: 210→310]

[Luck: 100→200]

[Skills: Observe 3, Angelic Mastery 4, Acting 3, Light Manipulation 5, HP to MP conversion]

[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds, Mana Replenisher, Lucky Shot, Mana Burst]

[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]

[Available Free Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Up Point: 0]

All my stats surged by a staggering 100 points as my MP plummeted.

[Mana Burst activated. All Stats increased by 100 for 10 minutes!]

Ten minutes? More than enough time! I wouldn't even need five.

With unprecedented power coursing through me, I casually conjured an explosive [Lightspear] and sent it hurtling towards the nearest crowd of undead.

The ensuing explosion left me in shock. Not only did I wipe out the horde, but the surrounding buildings crumbled in its wake.

"Holy Shit, Layla! That was stronger than a missile! You just took out an entire city block!" Iron Woman exclaimed.

[You have slain 342 Basic level 1 and 2 Zombies! +5620 MP!]

The system notification displayed, and I chuckled as I glanced at my MP, now sitting at 6470/2000. I never knew I could overcharge my MP before! I did feel almost uncomfortably full though. Like taking anymore MP might be a bit dangerous.

That was fine. I'd be using a lot in this fight anyway.

An angry roar snapped me out of my giddiness. The zombie hulk glared at me with even more intensity than usual. Yet, I detected something else in its eyes–trepidation.

I smirked at the hulk. "Come on, big guy. Are you afraid to fight me now? I didn't know the undead hulk was a coward." I taunted.

XXX

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