The Mauler took notice of the strange undead rushing toward it. It raised its massive arms, intending to crush Blaze. However, he changed the direction at the last moment, dodging the strike.
That mauler’s arms hit the ground, sending debris flying everywhere. Aware that it missed its target, the mauler looked around, searching for Blaze. However, it quickly got distracted after seeing a small group of sprinters rushing at it.
Just like that, the mauler forgot all about Blaze and charged toward the sprinters instead.
They aren’t the brightest bunch.
Blaze thought, making a mental note. He had been standing right behind the mauler, but it didn’t notice it. Not only was it a dim bulb, it didn’t have the keen sense of smell the walkers and most other zombies had. As it couldn’t smell Blaze.
Not to mention, the idiot was chasing sprinters. With its bulky arms and gorilla-like movement, it was unlikely the mauler would ever catch on to them.
But he couldn’t deny the mauler’s strength. Two small holes had appeared on the ground where its fists had landed. With that, the initial tests for the mauler were over.
Blaze kept looking at the farce until Necrolink duration ran out. After his evolution, the Necrolink limit had increased from one creature to four. That’s what Blaze used to force the sprinters to attack the mauler.
But now that the duration was over, the sprinters turned around and charged toward Blaze, completely ignoring the mauler.
Hm... it seems the inherent weakness of Necrolink won’t disappear anytime soon.
Blaze shrugged, popping his claws out.
It was time to test the sprinters.
They saw Blaze’s claws and still kept charging at him. It seemed they weren’t much higher in intelligence department than the mauler.
The funniest and most annoying thing about most undead was that they didn’t have any sense of danger. As long as they saw food, they couldn’t care about anything else.
My search for an intelligent zombie will continue for a while longer.
Blaze sighed before rushing towards the zombies. He met the first sprinter head-first, kneeing the creature in the face. The sprinter fell to the ground, following the abrupt halt in the momentum.
Before it could get back to its feet, claws popped out of Blaze’s legs, and a kick severed the undead’s head.
Fester, look for the nucleus.
The creature screeched, jumping out of Blaze’s skin-chest pocket. While Fester searched for the nucleus, the second sprinter jumped at Blaze from the side, intending to bite his neck.
Blaze ducked and tossed the creature off his shoulder, before stomping on its head, killing it.
They are much like the walkers.
The elite image Blaze had for the Sprinters before encountering them got erased quickly. They were fast, but they had no idea how to use it to their advantage.
Their attack patterns were so basic, it put them below normal walkers in terms of offense. At least the walkers often worked in a horde, which made things unpredictable.
However, the sprinters lacked the coordination of walkers and hence were easy to kill.
The third sprinter arrived, and to prove his point, Blaze didn’t even use his claws. He just tripped the sprinter. It fell face first, bashing its head against the ground and its momentum finished it off.
By the time it stopped, a trail of rotten blood and brain was left behind by its headless corpse.
Their stupidity makes my head ache.
Blaze sighed, gesturing to the last sprinter. To his surprise, the zombie stopped in its tracks. As if it knew what would happen to it if it got any closer.
It wasn’t just one zombie, either. The walkers and even other sprinters were frozen in place. Not wanting to get any closer to him.
Interesting... Maybe they aren’t complete morons.
Blaze raised his hand, planning to tame that lone sprinter. It showed promise and perhaps with some training, it could become a decent scout. After all, with their weak bodies, they weren’t good for much else.
Unfortunately, his train of thought came to an abrupt halt when the sprinter’s head was crushed.
The mauler from earlier snuck behind the sprinter and clapped its cheeks... literally. The sprinter’s squishy head didn’t stand a chance once caught between the mauler’s arms.
He had written off the mauler when the idiot made an epic comeback. It was slow, both physically and mentally, but showed potential. Since the sprinters were outrunning it, it decided to sneak up on them while they were distracted. It was an excellent solution to its problem!
This time, Blaze didn’t waste any time and quickly tamed it.
Subject: ??? (Subject Code: ZM#014)
— Durability: Very High
— Intelligence: Animalistic (Can be trained to do certain actions, although it’s nearly impossible given its temperament.)
[Evolution Potential: Detected (3%)]
[Regeneration Rate:] High (Can regenerate lost limbs via extensive feeding)
— Reinforced Arms: Enlarged forelimbs reinforced with extensive calcium deposits and reinforced muscle. It is extremely hard, capable of even stopping low caliber bullets from short range or even small explosions.
— Charge: Builds momentum charges in a straight line, crushing everything in its path. The collision is often enough to break barricades or crush vehicles.
An extremely aggressive undead that goes berserk at the slightest of provocations. It often feeds on other zombies to recover lost body mass or calcium deposits. It tends to ignore weaker undead unless provoked first, which happens often.
This... looks too familiar.
Apart from its intelligence and special traits, the mauler was a complete rip-off of Breaker. It had different attack patterns and looked different, but it was essentially Breaker’s offspring in more ways than one.
Blaze was reminded of the offhanded joke he made earlier, about a gorilla and Breaker having a child.
Just me and my cursed tongue.
He didn’t need two similar functions creatures in his small horde. Perhaps they’d be useful if he was planning to expand his territory, but Breaker was enough for now.
Breaker had better abilities and traits as well.
Blaze shook his head, and then his eyes fell on the remains of the sprinters. Perhaps the mauler didn’t need to be so similar to Breaker.
It was a risky move, since Blaze didn’t want to lose the mauler, but it was also an opportunity he didn’t want to miss.
[Proceed with Manual Assembly?]