Chapter 36: 28. Sin Soldier fears utensils.
Translator: 549690339
“Ah- This new body is so strong- I am very satisfied.”
The Sin Soldier Zombie raised its arm, bending the limb and flexing its muscles.
The sense of intoxication was clear on its grey, dead face.
“Such hefty muscles, such perfect outlines. I feel full of power, like I’ll never tire… This damn feeling is fascinating… If I knew necromancy was so powerful,
I would have joined the Death Herald Guild, instead of becoming a bandit.”
Watching the Sin Soldier Zombie obsessing over muscular strength, Noland
Lee tightened his lips, his grip on the Rune Staff in his hands slightly harder.
The Zombie didn’t seem to consider him a threat, completely lost in admiring its new body.
Noland saw enormous self-confidence in these actions.
He found himself pondering intensely on how to fight this battle, unable to launch a preemptive strike in a conflict where the opponent clearly his surpass in strength.
His gaze swept over the Undead Runes on the wall, a cunning glint of an idea apparent in his eyes which was overlooked by others…
“Enough, worm. Embrace your death.”
The Sin Soldier Zombie, in spite of its sewn-together face, sneered frostily as it clenched its fists and twisted its neck:
“You should feel lucky that the Death Priest gave me orders to drag your intact corpse back. Otherwise.. Hehehe… I would have pounded you to mush.”
The Zombie marched towards Noland with heavy steps, its daunting figure was akin to a ghastly miniature mountain.
It squashed another walking corpse along the way, its foot splattering filthy undead blood.
“It appears, you’re capable… Getting rid of so many undead.”
A fleeting surprise flickered across the Sin Soldier Zombie’s eyes as it surveyed the littered ground, but it was swiftly dominated by its overbearing confidence. “These feeble undead are insignificant. I can crush their skulls in one hand.”
Boasting as he strutted towards Noland, the Sin Soldier Zombie was convinced of its impending victory.
It picked up a fallen corpse, noticing the gaping hole in its skull.
This fatal wound piqued its curiosity.
Connecting the dots with the Rune Staff in Noland’s hands, a smug satisfaction flashed in its eyes, the satisfaction of uncovering an opponent’s tricks:
“Hehe, so you’ve been skewering these fools with your rune staff….”
It squashed the skull in its hand effortlessly, allowing the filthy blood to spray over its body, as if it was basking in death.
It grew silent from then on.
After two boisterous laughs aimed at Noland, its heavily-built body, big enough to block the corridor, charged at Noland like a train.
“Die! Die! Hahaha! Once I bring your corpse back, the Death Priest will grant me even more power!”
Calm in the face of danger, Noland lowered his center of gravity, retreated steadily, his focus solely on the Sin Soldier Zombie’s fist.
Without wasting the opening provided by the Zombie’s constant babbling, Noland decisively expended 4 energy points all at once to thoroughly deconstruct it.
In the blink of an eye, Sin Soldier Zombie’s data panel flashed in Noland’s mind.
The Tomb Walking Dead, Strong Walking Dead, Armored Walking Corpses, and
all other undead creatures bearing the title “Walking Dead” belonged to the sewn-together Undead category.
The Sin Soldier Zombie before him was essentially an elite variant of the sewn-together Undead, known as a Tomb Skeleton Soldier.
The Undead Runes constructed from the sutures endowed it with extraordinary strength, approximately three times the strength of a regular adult male.
After being fortified by the Undead Runes, its skin was as hard as an iron plate, presumably impenetrable to anything less than an Imperial Soldier’s rifle bullet.
Against such an enemy, Noland deeply understood that his only ray of hope was triggering the ‘Death Pulse’ from the Stone Tomb.
The panel data of the Stone Tomb currently showed that 11 points of Death Energy remained, sufficient to activate the ‘Death Pulse’ twice.
If a Death Herald Guild’s spy could modify the Undead Runes to activate the Stone Tomb’s ‘Fanatic Command’ technique, then he should be capable of doing the same.
However, the problem now was…
Which part of the Undead Runes should be altered so that the Stone Tomb would unleash the ‘Death Pulse’ on the Sin Soldier Zombie?
Noland Lee didn’t know the answer, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
The iron fist of the Sin Soldier Zombie attacked, the punching wind whistled past Noland Lee’s nose.
If Noland Lee hadn’t been on his guard, the powerful punch would have been enough to smash his breathing mask.
One punch after another, the Sin Soldier Zombie’s fist always aimed at Noland Lee’s breathing mask, but each punch controlled the perfect balance of strength and speed.
He clearly could throw a swing punch followed by a straight punch, directly smashing Noland’s head, but he always reduces the force just as he is about to hit Noland head on.
Noland understood that the Sin Soldier Zombie was holding back from smashing the mouse for fear of breaking the jar.
The opponent was afraid he wouldn’t control his force, accidentally damaging the integrity of the corpse, and delaying the Death Priest’s task.
This concern of the Sin Soldier Zombie undoubtedly offers Noland more room for manoeuvre.
“Damn it, you little brat, stop hiding! If I wasn’t afraid of smashing you to pieces, I wouldn’t let you keep dodging.”
The Sin Soldier Zombie was cursing, his face flashed with impatience and annoyance.
The force in his hands gradually increased, the rolling punches stirred up a violent surge of poisonous fog.
The Sin Soldier Zombie was unstable.
On the contrary, Noland Lee, who was at a disadvantage, was different.
His combat skills were not as good as his opponent, and so was his physical fitness.
But his strong point was keeping a cool head in the face of adversity.
The more dire the situation, the calmer he became.
Faced with wave after wave of attacks from the Sin Soldier Zombie, his footsteps never faltered, always retreating quickly in a steady posture.
Just when the Sin Soldier Zombie’s patience was about to be ground down, Noland finally, through a series of dodges, arrived next to the stone wall he envisaged.
“Hatred brings fatigue! Fatigue forges hardship! Hardship brews regret!”O Noland suddenly shouted at the Sin Soldier Zombie.
The Rune Staff was raised by him, not aimed at the enemy, but at the Undead Runes on the wall.
“What the hell are you barking at, you pretentious bastard?”
The Sin Soldier Zombie cursed, but both hands were drawn back to his chest, taking a defensive stance, watching Noland’s every move vigilantly. “Why aren’t you hitting me anymore? Trash, why didn’t you come after me?”
Noland was waving the Rune Staff back and forth on the wall, sarcastically saying:
“Come on, keep hitting me. Are you afraid I’ll bring a ‘Death Storm’ and take you with me? Huh, is that all your courage? I didn’t expect you to be braver after getting stronger.”
“Damn it…” The Sin Soldier Zombie slowly moved forward, staring fixedly at the point of contact of the Rune Staff.
Seeing his opponent in this state, Noland raised the corner of his mouth and smirked:
“Oh- I see. After the ‘Death Storm’ destroys my corpse, the task assigned to you by the Death Priest will fail. And the price of failure is to have your mind erased by the Death Priest, right? Hehe, Sin Soldier No. 079, you don’t want your mind to be erased by the Death Priest and turn into a mindless undead, do you?”
Noland guessed the Sin Soldier Zombie’s inner thoughts clearly.
These words directly targeted the Sin Soldier Zombie’s weakness.
The Sin Soldier Zombie’s fear towards Noland reached its peak.
“If you’ve got the guts, just stand there…”
The Sin Soldier Zombie stopped, standing two meters away from Noland, glowering viciously at him:
“I’m not in a hurry, you little brat, not in a hurry at all… In at most half an hour, the filter cartridge on your breathing mask will fail. Then I’ll take my time dealing with you..”