Chapter 27

    An Escape Activity That Turns into a Fight

    After they had navigated through the toilet plunger zombie zone, everyone resumed using their usual weapons, contemplating acquiring some firearms for convenience. In the next zone, they encountered zombies with black skin and glowing red eyes. Even when set ablaze, these zombies took a long time to die, and their attacks grew fiercer when they were engulfed in flames due to their inherent fire element.

    "It's time to use the energy we've been saving up."

    Möbius gave a cool smile to his group. He had anticipated that a situation like this would arise towards the end, so he had everyone conserve their energy for a final sprint. They were only about ten blocks away from their goal.

    "Run like we did from the dormitory building to the main hall, sticking close to the walls."

    Möbius instructed as everyone took their positions. Meanwhile, Tempura and Inari cast speed-enhancing spells on the group.

    "Let's go," signaled Möbius, as he hurled a grenade forward.

    Boom…!!!

    They were able to advance at a high speed because Möbius, Inari, and Gumiho took turns shooting grenades ahead, blasting the zombies out of their path.

    "Scream... Help!!!"

    A loud cry emerged from ahead where a group of zombies was clustering. Lea, in her vampire form, swiftly flew up to scout what lay before them.

    "Möbius, there's a group of players ahead using a power barrier, and it looks like they're all seriously injured. Judging from their conditions, they won't be able to hold it much longer."

    Leia reported, looking to Möbius to see what he would decide , though everyone already knew he would say,

    "Let's go help them."

    Möbius responded without hesitation, and everyone nodded in agreement.

    Boom, boom, boom!!!

    Möbius, Inari, and Gumiho managed to blast away most of the zombies crowding around this group of players, then the rest moved in to deal with any remaining zombies.

    “You guys, run towards the wall for now."

    Möbius advised the priest, who was maintaining a barrier and sweating profusely from overexerting his magical abilities, handing him a blue potion.

    " You guys again? We're competitors, aren't we? So why are you helping us?"

    A shield-wielding man, likely the leader of the group Möbius had just assisted, spoke up. He was the same one who had previously thanked Möbius for boosting his strength while he was blocking the entrance to the dormitory building. If Möbius hadn't intervened, they could have reached the helicopter pad by taking advantage of the zombies' distraction with this group.

    "I don't know... maybe because I'm foolish."

    Möbius replied with a smile to the man, then turned back to shoot a shotgun, sending zombies flying.

    "That’s right, Möbius is the biggest fool," Gumiho gave a sweet smile to Möbius standing beside her.

    "Sigh... we could have been there already if we run," Leia sliced zombies into pieces with a calm expression, though the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

    "But that's just how it is. Because Möbius is such a fool, we end up having to look after him."

    Inari turned to Möbius, stroking his chin, then continued to tend to the injured.

    "That time in the mine, you were just as foolish, refusing to flee."

    Shabu-Shabu recounted when they had told Möbius to escape while in the mine, but he had charged into danger instead.

    "Ah, yes. If Mr. Möbius wasn't so foolish to risk himself like this, we wouldn’t have come this far," Teppanyaki added.

    "If you've had your fill of scolding me, let's keep moving. It feels a bit too easy right now."

    Möbius told everyone to keep moving with a dry smile, then his expression shifted to a frown as he sensed something ominous.

    After that, their enlarged group continued to advance through the zombie horde, though not quickly, as the newcomers were already exhausted from the initial escape. About four blocks away from the helicopter pad, they found themselves surrounded by a massive horde of black-skinned zombies.

    "Stop for now. Let's settle down and fight to reduce their numbers a bit more before moving on. Take turns fighting, now that we have more people."

    Möbius commanded. Although they weren't killing zombies as fast as they might like, everyone was gradually recovering thanks to the increased manpower, creating a good rotation. They still had plenty of time before sunrise, so there was no need to rush.

    "Why don't you summon Efrik to sweep them away, Möbius?" Inari suggested.

    "I'll save it for... the boss."

    Möbius accidentally let slip the forbidden word, causing everyone, including the group of players he had just assisted, to turn and look at him in unison. Suddenly, a deep, ominous sound emerged from the midst of the zombies, sending chills down everyone's spine.

    "...Ar..."

    "Mr. Möbius, haven't you ever heard the saying 'Don’t mention the tiger in the forest'?"

    Sashimi, who had seen data on what he feared most in this event, said.

    "Uh..." Möbius was at a loss for words as he watched a towering shadow, about two and a half meters tall, slowly approach from the direction he had just come.

    "...Ar..."

    The boss, larger than two and a half meters and walking slowly through the horde of black zombies, appeared like a giant zombie in military attire, with one glowing red eye and the other remained sealed shut, covering with a large leather patch. It carried a large, black, rectangular box on its back.

    "Run or fight?"

    The leader of another group asked Möbius, who was currently the leader of the group.

    Möbius wanted to say they should run, but they were heavily surrounded by black zombies, significantly slowing their movement. Escaping wasn't fast enough; everyone might die, picked off one by one by the boss... unless someone distracted it first. Möbius glanced around and saw a building alcove not far from him.

    From the start of the event, a young man had chosen to travel along the upper edge of the city and then along the right to avoid encountering the boss, as they typically resided in the center, never expecting to meet it here. He then looked to the building alcove on his left, which he assumed was a dead end since it ended at the wall on the city map.

    "Do you see that truck lying over there, Mr. Teppan?"

    Möbius pointed slightly beyond the building alcove to a truck. Teppanyaki nodded in acknowledgment.

    "I'll distract the boss myself. You all cooperate with the other group to make it to the helicopter pad using that truck as cover, so the boss won't see you first."

    Möbius looked into Teppanyaki's eyes with the eyes of a leader, making it hard for Teppanyaki to refuse what was both a request and an order. He replied with a resigned voice.

    "If that's your decision, Mr. Möbius,"

    "Leia, Inari, Miho, it's going to be tough this time."

    Möbius thought that this would be another fierce battle and time was running out. He then turned and smiled at the ladies standing behind him.

    "Compared to that giant eyeball, there's nothing to fear," Gumiho smiled reassuringly at Möbius as she always did.

    "Don't worry, this time we're all in," Inari looked at Möbius with a cunning glance, as she really wanted to defeat this boss.

    "…Let's do it..." Leia, who was reminiscing about the beach, the breeze, and being together, replied.

    "Thank you, Mr. Teppan..."

    Möbius unleashed a barrage of explosives to clear a path forward while the two fox girls launched fireballs at the boss trailing behind them.

    Boom, boom!!!

    50

    "Let's go!!!"

    Möbius urged Teppan's group to run ahead while they continuously shot at the advancing boss, then slowly moved towards the building alcove he had noticed earlier. However, what puzzled the young man was that the fire from the fox girls only reduced the boss's health by 50 points.

    "Whoa!!!"

    Shabu-Shabu slipped and fell while Teppan's group was running behind the truck. Teppan looked like he might run back to help, but without him pushing the zombies back, it could disrupt their escape timing, leaving him in great dilemma about what to do.

    "Don't worry, I'll take care of Miss Shabu-Shabu."

    Möbius quickly helped the fallen mage girl and ran into the designated building alcove with Miho, Inari, and Leia.

    "It's really a dead-end, so we won't have to worry about what's behind us."

    Möbius reached the end of the building alcove, just as he had anticipated. The large boss couldn't enter because a large number of black zombies blocked the way.

    "I hope Teppan's group makes it."

    Shabu-Shabu looked worriedly at Teppanyaki's group making their way to the helicopter landing pad.

    "Don't worry, it's not far now. If they just focus on escaping, they should make it."

    Möbius reassured the mage, puzzled why the boss only took 50 damage from the fireballs of the two foxes, which contained sacred elements and should have been much stronger.

    "Miho, Inari, try aiming your fire at the boss, just enough to ignite it."

    Möbius tested the boss Nemesis at the entrance of this alcove. The fox girls threw small fist-sized fireballs precisely at the head of Nemesis.

    It appeared that only the head, without clothing, caught fire. Then, it simply placed its hand over the burnt spot on its face, and the fire extinguished easily. Even though it was surrounded by black zombies on fire, no damage numbers appeared, leading Möbius to conclude...

    "Fireproof clothing. This is bad."

    The young man stressed was so stressed that before entering the alley, he had tried using explosives on the boss, but its jacket remained undamaged, and much of their attack arsenal was fire-based. Additionally, he didn't have much time to think because the black zombies around the boss that were on fire were slowly dying, making it easier for the boss to advance.

    "Hey, we have to kill that boss no matter what."

    Leia, who was slicing through the zombies at the forefront, turned and spoke to the young man who was contemplating escape.

    "That's right, Möbius. I heard that this boss drops firearms."

    Inari, eager for Möbius to defeat this boss, tried to tempt him with incentives, which was necessary given the imminent confrontation. Möbius agreed immediately, then sent the petite girl, who was most adept at close combat, to try her hand against this boss.

    "Let's give it a shot. Young Miss, do you think you can manage to cut a sample of its jacket?"

    "Um..." the petite girl, in her vampire form, replied and then disappeared into her own shadow.

    Whoosh.

    She emerged from the dark shadow beneath Nemesis and instantly slashed at it with her elongated nails. However, the boss’s jacket was highly resilient. Despite her sharp nails and forceful attacks, she could not penetrate and harm the boss. Noticing that someone was sneakily attack it, Nemesis immediately turned and struck back at the young girl with a long finger from its left hand.

    Whoosh, whoosh.

    The petite girl dodged with her characteristic agility, counterattacking, but to little effect due to the tough nature of the jacket. She then focused her attacks on the boss's head, the only part not covered by the cloth, but then—

    Swish.

    The boss swiftly pulled out a black mask, likely made of the same material as its jacket, and covered its head, rendering her claws ineffective to harm it.

    "Young Miss, come back quickly."

    Möbius urgently warned Leia, who was taken aback. She tried to move through the shadows to regroup with him, but before she could fully enter the shadows,

    400

    The boss’s elongated finger, like a bullet, grazed her side. Still, Leia managed to push through the shadow and successfully rejoined Möbius. Now, the boss, Nemesis, clad in a suit that was both fireproof and bulletproof, was slowly advancing towards them. Seeing the specific characteristics of the suit the boss wore, Möbius realized what material it was made from.

    "Lucky we have Shabu with us this time, we're going to need your help."

    "Eh... me?"

    Shabu-Shabu asked, perplexed, as she considered her magical power to be far less significant compared to the two fox girls, and thus doubted her usefulness.

    "The suit is probably made of Kevlar."

    Möbius hypothesized. There are few materials that are resistant to both fire and tearing, but Kevlar is flexible enough to be used for clothing, commonly in bulletproof vests and heat-resistant gloves. However, Kevlar also has weaknesses: it loses durability when wet, and it's not very resistant to impact, which means it's vulnerable to blunt force.

    "Now that we know its weaknesses, it shouldn't be too hard to destroy that annoying suit."

    Möbius finally smiled. As for water, he had Shabu-Shabu, and for impact...

    Summoning Efrik, the Fire Demon.

    Boom!!!

    The ground in front of Möbius exploded, incinerating several zombies in front of him before a 5-meter tall monster emerged from the crater, standing with arms folded in front of Möbius.

    "Efrik, here's a gift for you."

    Möbius handed something from his right hand to Efrik. Since Efrik was engulfed in flames, any water Shabu made Nemesis wet with would evaporate due to the heat from Efrik. Therefore, Möbius handed a giant hammer he had received from Arc Angel to Efrik, to extend the range of the fire demon's attacks.

    "Ho, quality stuff. Worthy of someone I acknowledge."

    Efrik looked at the golden hammer slightly larger than itself. Luckily, the building alcove was about 10 meters wide, giving the fire demon ample space to swing the hammer. After receiving the hammer from Möbius, it immediately began to practice with the black zombies crowded in front of it.

    "Now it's your turn, Ms. Shabu. Could you lend me a hand?"

    Möbius turned to the young water mage girl. In his hand, he held bullets that were more powerful than usual, totaling 16 rounds, which he handed to Shabu-Shabu before grasping the girl’s hand again.

    Magic to bullets.

    "Release your water magic into the bullets."

    "Uh... okay."

    In her excitement, Shabu unleashed a substantial amount of water magic. The young man, who had infused even more potent magic into bullets before, found this task relatively easy. Soon, the bullets, now fully charged with water energy, were loaded into Möbius's dual pistols, ready for close combat with Nemesis.

    "I'm going with you."

    Leia, who had been patched up by the fox mother, was slowly getting up. She knew that Nemesis was proficient in close combat, so having two people distract it might simplify their task.

    "Efrik, take care of the minions first to practice. When I give the signal, go all out on that one. Miho, bombard the building entrance. Inari, please boost our powers."

    Möbius commanded his team. If he wanted Efrik to attack and break through Nemesis's suit, they first needed to dampen it with Shabu's water magic, while the fox girls prevented any zombies from following them by blocking the entrance.

    "Let's go, Leia."

    Möbius charged towards the zombie horde that separated him from Nemesis, clad in its full armor. The fox girls followed the plan, launching fireballs at the buildings on either side of the street.

    Grativa

    He lightened his body to increase his speed. In the blink of an eye, he was past the horde of zombies, changing his gravitational pull to run up the wall, avoiding the black zombies blocking his path. In his hands, he swapped to his shotgun as he headed straight for the boss, while watching Leia who maneuvered along the wall.

    Stab, stab, stab.

    Nemesis's claws lunged at Leia first, but she easily dodged them. Meanwhile, Möbius, unnoticed by the boss initially, aimed his shotgun at the large zombie from the side of the wall and fired several rounds.

    Bang! Bang!

    Despite the close-range shotgun blasts, they did no damage to the boss in its bulletproof suit. Its free hand then attacked by stretching its fingers. The young man quickly swapped to his handguns loaded with water-infused bullets.

    Slice, slice, slice.

    Nemesis’s claws, fast and deadly, missed their mark by mere fractions of a second as its target wasn't a stationary rock but a young man who often wielded the unique ability swiftly in critical moments.

    Cronos

    Time seemed to slow as Möbius activated this ability, using it to calculate the best trajectory for his jump to get as close as possible to the boss but still able to reach the other side of the wall. This positioning allowed him to accurately fire the dual guns loaded with the water-enchanted bullets.

    Repeat shot

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    As Möbius leaped from the side wall over the boss's head, he fired the first two shots with precision, taking advantage of his ability to repeatedly hit the same spot impacted by previous shotgun blasts. The next two shots targeted the boss's torso. As the bullets contacted the target, a significant amount of water burst from the bullet holes.

    Grab.

    "Take over, Leia."

    Möbius floated from the right to the left side of the boss while Leia moved in the opposite direction. In a moment when they crossed paths mid-air, Möbius passed the dual pistols to the petite girl.

    Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Even though Leia lacked enhanced shooting abilities, the close range and the boss’s large size made it easier for her to hit her target with every shot, soaking the back of Nemesis almost completely.

    "...Ar..."

    Clearly, the boss detested water. As soon as it realized it was getting wet, it became enraged and launched a frenzied attack on Leia, who had just shot water-filled bullets at it. But as the petite girl was about to touch down on the opposite wall, she vanished into her shadow, causing the boss's dual-fingered strike to miss.

    "If this doesn't work, you're done."

    Leia passed through the shadow to reappear next to Möbius, handing back the handgun with eight rounds left. Now the Nemesis boss had its back to Möbius from using both hands to attack Leia, who was previously on the opposite side of him. The young man kicked off the wall to vault over the boss's head to the other side again, and this time it would be the last time.

    Whizz... Bang, bang, bang, bang!

    Möbius unleashed four rounds into the middle of the boss's back and another four into its front as his feet touched the wall again. He was shocked to see Nemesis detach its own arm, only for a humanoid new limb to regrow. It reached into the large black box on the floor, which the young man remembered was the box it had been carrying since the beginning. What it pulled out shocked everyone.

    "...Die…"

    The boss Nemesis spoke slowly as it aimed a rocket launcher at Möbius, standing on the wall. Four white rockets shot out from the launcher's quadruple barrels, speeding towards the young man rapidly.

    Zoom...!!

    Möbius quickly ran away from the rockets up to the top of the building where he was standing on the wall to create distance between him and the incoming missiles. Fortunately, they were not as fast, giving him a chance to escape. He urgently commanded his fire demon to strike the target immediately.

    "Smash it, Efrik."

    "Finally, I've been itching for a rampage."

    Efrik growled before charging through the zombies as if they weren't even there, then swung its massive golden hammer at the boss, who had discarded its rocket launcher to face the fire demon swinging its giant hammer. Although Nemesis was five levels higher than Efrik, at level 65, Efrik was much bigger than it was and had a weapon that he thought was perfect for him. It seemed certain that Efrik could smash Nemesis, who was only half its size, into the wall.

    Boom...

    "…Ar..."

    The boss, Nemesis, managed to catch the full force of Efrik's hammer, but the impact pushed it significantly sideways.

    Crack!!!

    In an instant, the sleeves of Nemesis’s jacket tore from the shoulders down due to the tremendous force absorbed by its arms during Efrik’s attack. Even Kevlar, one of the toughest materials in the world, ripped apart under such force.

    "It worked!!! What’s next, Möbius?"

    Gumiho exclaimed, delighted to see that Nemesis’s jacket was finally being destroyed. She gathered more magical power, preparing to end Nemesis in one go, aiming for her reward of grilled lobsters.

    "It's going to be tough just to survive this."

    Inari murmured, watching Möbius dodge back and forth on the wall. The missiles that Nemesis had launched were tracking rockets that would chase their target until they hit, making them particularly troublesome weapons. She held her magic in reserve, waiting for Möbius’s command as well, eager for her squid that was chewy and enjoyable to chew on.

    "So it turns out Mr. Möbius got bitten by a spider."

    Shabu-Shabu looked at Möbius running back and forth on the wall, jumping, and climbing, which to her seemed possible only if he had been bitten by a spider. Moreover, Möbius managed to emit something from his right hand, which could just as well be spraying webs.

    "Such a perter."

    The young man, now exhausted from dodging missiles, pulled out his Cosmos Custom with a fire crystal and aimed at the missiles. Unfortunately, his shooting skills were so poor that all his shots missed their mark, but he was still in luck.

    200

    "…Die..."

    As the boss Nemesis was hit by a stray fire crystal bullet at its arm's base, something odd happened. The missiles Nemesis had fired, being heat-seeking, turned toward the nearest heat source. The fact that Möbius had fired the heat crystal source through their faces at Nemesis had caused the missiles to turn around and run into the heat crystal instead.

    By sheer coincidence, the crystal embedded itself right at the top of Nemesis’s head, causing the missiles to redirect and attack it instead. Seeing the missiles turn on itself, Nemesis instinctively raised its arms to guard, unable to risk further damage to its already tattered jacket, leaving its back unprotected. Möbius did not let this opportunity slip. He ordered the demon to stand right there.

    "Just as planned, Efrik, Now's the time."

    "...Show off..." Leia, having witnessed the entire turn of events, mocked Möbius with just one short word.