Only when five or more Lickers were entangling all of Zhang Yanhang’s limbs could they possibly pose a threat to him. Therefore, facing the remaining four Lickers at the scene, Zhang Yanhang nonchalantly took out an M4A1 assault rifle from his Waist Bag, then composedly changed to a brand new rifle magazine.
Even as the remaining four Lickers pounced towards him during this time, his expression remained neutral throughout, after all, it was only a total of eighteen Lickers—he didn’t show any significant emotional fluctuation due to a battle of this level.
Zhang Yanhang first turned the muzzle towards a Licker that tried to swallow his head whole, the deadly flashes of the gun barrel signaling death as they emerged incessantly, the impact of the 5.56 caliber bullets forcing the Licker to retreat and leaving finger-sized bloody holes in its body.
Perhaps it was due to the Licker’s muscular tissue being unusually tough, these bullets did not pass through as they would have in a normal human body; instead, they remained lodged inside the Licker.
However, this inflicted even more damage, as the bullets spinning and tumbling inside the Licker’s body, due to an unstable center of gravity in the bullet heads, resulted in the expansion of a huge cavity from the force of impact.
This meant that the Licker completely absorbed all of the bullet’s kinetic energy (and all of the damage). In fact, if the bullet, carrying residual kinetic energy, had passed straight through the body, it would not have caused as much damage.
Furthermore, during this chaotic spinning and tumbling, the bullets themselves fragmented; these shattered metal fragments, also carrying a portion of kinetic energy, easily tore through the surrounding muscle tissue and blood vessels, creating a wider spread of ’splash damage’ within the body.
[Successfully killed a First Tier Two Stars Monster, ’Licker (ordinary)’×1, Soul Points +6.]
After receiving the kill notification, Zhang Yanhang shifted his aim towards the other Lickers. The firing sound, not particularly pleasant to the ear but undeniably loud, reverberated continuously in the alley that now laid strewn with fifteen motionless Lickers.
For those monsters that did not yield a kill notification, Zhang Yanhang preferred to use his saturated strike approach, which meant each magazine would kill only about two or three Lickers before running empty.
Of course, part of the reason was that the Lickers had quite thick blood, about three times that of an Ordinary Zombie, and in addition, their defensive power was higher. Furthermore, they liked to block bullets with their huge claws, which meant that a lot more ammunition was needed to take them down than for Ordinary Zombies.
Ordinary Zombies were typically dealt with by a shot in the head, but Lickers, even if the bullet hit and damaged part of their brains, still could not be completely killed unless their entire brains were shattered.
"Choosing the gun store as my first target was truly a wise decision." Without the resource-rich gun store to back him up, Zhang Yanhang would never be able to use the M4A1 rifle to kill Zombies as recklessly as he did now.
He might even have been unable to find a rifle at all, and would have had to grudgingly use the pistols and the scant ammunition found on Police Zombies to kill them.
However, weapons like the Beretta 92F pistol and the M9 pistol, while decent against Ordinary Zombies, were truly just peashooters against Lickers. If it were anyone else with lesser marksmanship, they might go through several magazines without being able to take down a tough Licker.
[Successfully killed a First Tier Two Stars Monster, ’Licker (ordinary)’×1, Soul Points +6.]
[Successfully killed a First Tier Two Stars Monster, ’Licker (ordinary)’×1, Soul Points +6.]
After emptying another magazine, the two Lickers that were attempting to entangle his arms with their tongues fell silent. Now, Zhang Yanhang was left with only one Licker before him. Whether it had some issue or not, this Licker, amidst the attack of the other three, was solely focused on nibbling at Zhang Yanhang’s foot.
Previously, Zhang Yanhang would have been concerned about his combat boots being bitten through, but now, only if the Licker managed to break through the Energy Shield could it truly reach the boots.
Yet, the Licker’s attacks currently couldn’t break through Zhang Yanhang’s Energy Shield, rendering its attacks utterly meaningless.
Although his boots were safe from being damaged, Zhang Yanhang dealt with this Licker in much the same way he would a Zombie Dog trying to bite his boots—he stamped his foot, shattering the creature’s jaw, then swung his leg in a powerful kick that burst the Licker’s skull and brain.
As the headless corpse of the Licker collapsed weakly to the ground, Zhang Yanhang received another kill notification.
[Successfully killed a First Tier Two Stars Monster, ’Licker (ordinary)’×1, Soul Points +6.]
Zhang Yanhang was about to take a breather when, to his surprise, about a dozen or so Lickers split into several groups were making their way towards him, with the closest group of Lickers less than half a minute away from the battlefield.
"Wow, seriously? More are coming? Are we playing a round-robin battle here?"
Although Zhang Yanhang had anticipated the ferocity of the Middle Layer, he had never imagined that all the Lickers in it would be so proactive. This was well beyond his expectations. Moreover, aside from the Lickers, Zhang Yanhang also sensed a group of Ordinary Zombies and Zombie Dogs following in the footsteps of the Lickers, heading in his direction.
"It seems they really do want to exhaust me to death. If only the zombies in the Outer Zone were as proactive as you guys, I’d be able to save a lot of time clearing them out."
Despite the prospect of being cornered by a large group consisting of Zombies, Zombie Dogs, and Lickers within the confined alley, Zhang Yanhang was not at all panicked.
After all, there were no Tyrants among them, and attacks from Zombies, Zombie Dogs and Lickers couldn’t inflict damage like in the games where hits would invariably deduct health (Life Value -1). So, Zhang Yanhang was unexpectedly quite happy that these non-penetrating Zombies proactively came to him, as it saved him the trouble of searching for them later. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn NoveIꜰire.net