The Creatures that We Are

Swish!

Lithe Snake’s shortsword cut through a rune corpse’s neck. He had aimed to decapitate the rune corpse, but having made slashes after slashes at high intensity without rest, he was drained, and his blade dulled.

While the rune corpse’s head did tilt as blood gushed out of its severed artery, it didn’t stop lunging and biting at Lithe Snake, its hands grabbing onto his body.

Splat!

Gao Yang brought his crowbar down on the rune corpse’s head like a hoe, and with a yank, he hurled it backward, off of Lithe Snake.

“You okay?”

Gao Yang panted heavily. He was running out of stamina too.

In less than one minute, they moved as they fought and killed eight rune corpses between them. It was the best they could do.

Neither of them were combatant suitable for prolonged battles like Gray Bear. While they were agile and had good explosive power, their endurance left something to be desired.

He had been too reliant on his system and Talents. As a result, he hadn’t spent much time on basic physical training, nor had he sought War Tiger out for sparring.

Were Qing Ling in his place with her Tang Dao, she would win even without her Talents.

Shit, I can’t afford to be distracted.

“Move!”

Lithe Snake pushed Gao Yang away. The rune corpse coming his way missed him as a result.

Gao Yang rolled to his feet, and as soon as he steadied himself, he gritted his teeth darkly and rushed toward Xiuyi.

Xiuyi was nocking an arrow to his bow, ignorant of the rune corpse speeding up toward him from the side.

“Left!” Gao Yang shouted. Xiuyi whirled around to find the rune corpse right in his space.

He panickedly fired an arrow, which pierced the rune corpse’s chest without slowing it down. Xiuyi staggered back and fell on his bottom. The rune corpse pounced on him, biting at his neck. He managed to keep it away by pushing the bow to the rune corpse’s chin, but the precarious stalemate could break at any moment.

Gao Yang reached him just in time to grab the rune corpse’s neck with his crowbar.

“Growl…grrr…”

The rune corpse kept making biting motions in the air, its teeth clunking two centimeters away from Xiuyi’s nose.

“Off!”

With a yank, Gao Yang pulled the rune corpse off Xiuyi.

Xiuyi immediately picked himself up and grabbed an arrow, nocking it to the bow. It pierced the rune corpse’s head from a close distance with a swoosh.

Xiuyi didn’t have the time to thank Gao Yang. His quiver was now empty.

Stumbling forward, he pulled out the arrows in the rune corpse’s chest and head, taking aim at Li Zhuanghu from a short distance away.

There were six more rune corpses around him.

Swoosh!

The arrow hit another rune corpse’s head instead of Li Zhuanghu’s.

“That’s your final arrow. Don’t shoot yet!” Gao Yang said.

He raised his crowbar and rushed toward Lithe Snake, helping him kill a rune corpse.

“You good?” Gao Yang said as he panted.

“Yeah.” Lithe Snake was drenched in sweat and blood. With a cold smile, he wiped away the blood on his face.

“We’ll charge to create an opening for Xiuyi!” Gao Yang said.

Lithe Snake nodded.

They rushed at Li Zhuanghu.

As expected, the rune corpses around Li Zhuanghu reacted and stormed Gao Yang and Lithe Snake.

Meanwhile, Gray Bear and Black Sparrow were getting chased by about a dozen rune corpses.

They hadn’t left the running track, but had instead been keeping in range of their other companions.

Gray Bear’s shovel had broken after an honorable service, cutting off two rune corpses’ heads, leaving him with a wooden stick that was less than one meter long. And the brass knuckles on Black Sparrow’s hands were bloodied. The two of them were almost at their limit. ＲἈŊоꞖÈS

Sweating, Gray Bear scowled darkly. They wouldn’t be able to make it if things went on like this.

Suddenly, his eyes caught something and lit up with hope.

“The soccer goal!”

Behind them was a soccer goal. They quickly ran around to its back.

The braindead rune corpses continued their charge without even the thought of turning, and they dashed right into the net, getting caught in it. However, their momentum was so great that the net almost toppled.

“Keep it up!”

Gray Bear held onto one side of the frame. Black Sparrow immediately ran to the other side and helped him keep the soccer goal firmly in place.

They barely managed to stop the first wave of impacts. The rune corpses reached through the net, but they were stuck and couldn’t break free for the moment.

“It won’t hold them for long!” Gray Bear shouted. “Quickly take care of them!”

They let go of the frame at the same time, and the soccer goal slowly got pushed from where it had been.

Gray Bear and Black Sparrow backed away as they attacked the rune corpses stuck in the net.

Gray Bear stabbed the rune corpses with the wooden stick in his hand, while Black Sparrow punched at their heads with her brass knuckles. Crying out, the rune corpses collapsed one by one, their bodies hanging uselessly from the net.

Just when the soccer goal was going to get pushed to the running track, the last rune corpse died as well.

Exhausted, Black Sparrow and Gray Bear could barely lift their arms.

Huff, huff, huff… Gray Bear dropped the bloodied wooden stick in his hands to the ground, taking big breaths. “I’m done. I’m gonna faint…”

“You’re out of shape,” Black Sparrow sat down on the ground and mocked him while panting.

“I’ve been too reliant on my Talents the past few years,” Gray Bear reflected, shaking his head. “I need to spend more time training in the gym once I go back.”

Black Sparrow smiled bitterly. “Same for me. I’ve gotten rusty with my boxing techniques.”

“Shit!” Gray Bear’s smile slid off when his gaze shifted to the running track. He shot to his feet. “We need to help!”

…

On the clearing on the right side of the running track, Nine Frost, Ronnie, and Old Joe had their backs pressed together, standing on a concrete platform serving as a pingpong table. All around them were seven rune corpses. They reached out in an attempt to climb onto the platform.

Holding a rock pick hammer, Nine Frost slammed the head of any rune corpse who had popped up like he was playing whack-a-mole. Although he could prevent the rune corpses from climbing up, he wasn’t able to kill the rune corpse with every hit.

Old Joe had been swinging his golf club, while Ronnie had been making jabs with a dagger, focusing on hitting the hands of the rune corpses attempting to grab his and his companions’ calves.

It was a dangerous fight. The three of them had to be on guard against the clawing and biting from all directions.

After two minutes, the seven rune corpses were finally all taken care of, lying silently on the floor.

The three of them sat on the pingpong platform, covered in blood and sweat and panting heavily.

“Any of you hurt?” asked Nine Frost.

“No, no…” Old Joe breathed in quick bursts, his face pale.

Ronnie was too tired to talk, and he slowly shook his head.

“Good.”

Nine Frost looked toward the other side of the running track. What he saw made his eyes twitch. He pushed himself up, resting be damned. “Come with me!”

…

A minute ago, Gao Yang and Lithe Snake rushed toward Li Zhuanghu, facing the remaining six rune corpses.

With their stamina quickly consumed, they were unable to take out the rune corpses with decisive attacks like before. Instead, they carefully dodged the incoming attacks, waiting for opportunities to present themselves by taking advantage of the rune corpses’ unsteady forms.

However, Gao Yang and Lithe Snake were getting too exhausted, and their movements slowed too much.

Misjudging a rune corpse’s explosive speed, Gao Yang ended up tackled to the ground, and Lithe Snake wasn’t able to help him.

“Ah!”

Gao Yang toppled to the ground, keeping the rune corpse away by holding the crowbar horizontally to its neck.

The rune corpse opened its bloody maw as slimy blood dripped down. The indescribable rotten smell assaulted his senses.

It was all Gao Yang could do to stop the rune corpse from biting him. He didn’t even have the strength to knock it off him.

“Hold on!”

Two meters from him, Lithe Snake was occupied by two rune corpses, and he couldn’t go to Gao Yang’s rescue.

At that moment, Gao Yang’s world was reduced to the rune corpse’s twisted face and its howls. Was it excitement, or total madness?

Growl—

Sweat streamed down to the corners of Gao Yang’s eyes. His vision blurred, and his consciousness wavered.

The muscles in his arms were so sore that it was painful, and he had used up the last of his strength.

He knew that in three seconds—no, two, he would lose his grip, and the rune corpse would tear into his neck mercilessly.

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