A mistaken judgment
The violent wind pressure crashed down.
The Silver Zombie abandoned all probing, its body suddenly lowered, all its muscles tensed to the extreme, and it charged straight at Lu Heng with unstoppable ferocity. Sharp claws tore through the air, and a piercing sound of wind breaking exploded, its killing intent nakedly locking onto the vital point of Lu Heng's head.
In the split second between life and death, a thought flashed through Lu Heng's mind.
Is the vessel chosen by the World Fragment the powerful, ferocious Silver Zombie before us, with its overwhelming physical strength? Or is it the Nightmare Eater, a mental Aberrant hovers in mid-air and lurks in the shadows, manipulating everything?
The thought lingered for only a moment before the deadly attack was already upon them.
Lu Heng twisted his waist sharply, dodging precisely to the side. The Silver Zombie's claws grazed his shoulder, the fingertips scraping against the solidified blood Blood Armor of the Blood Taisui, producing a dull, hard friction sound.
The surface of the Blood Armor nail trembled, yet it steadily withstood the cutting force, leaving the skin and flesh completely undamaged.
Only the immense impact force penetrated the armor, causing numbness in the shoulder bones, and a dull, heavy pain spread along the muscles and bones.
While dodging the attack, Lu Heng flipped his wrist and swiftly slashed with the Insect Armor Sword, aiming precisely at the Silver Zombie's ribcage.
The sword pierced the flesh, yet the resistance was unusually weak and strange.
Lu Heng instantly understood the root cause.
It's another Nightmare Eater's mental interference.
His invisible spiritual power subtly dragged and deflected him, making his movements always half a beat slower, constantly revealing his weaknesses.
In terms of rarity, uniqueness, and the eerie attribute of fitting into the World Fragment, the Nightmare Eater born of spirit is far superior to any unconventional mutated Zombie.
Lu Heng began to doubt whether he had made a mistake.
However, regardless of which one is the true vessel, both monsters that have intruded into this lair today deserve to be killed.
With a slight shift in his mind, the Blood Taisui Mycelium that permeated the entire area began to operate in unison.
Most of the Mycelium spread deep along the gaps in the corridor, sealing off the passage layer by layer, firmly holding back the continuous stream of low-level Zombie and preventing the outer horde of zombies from encircling and disrupting the situation.
The remaining fine Mycelium adhered to Lu Heng's entire body, swirling around him and connecting with the Blood Armor on his skin. The life-giving turbidity and symbiotic barrier inherent in the Blood Taisui naturally restrained the erosion of the spirit.
More importantly, Lu Heng himself is an evolved being who is proficient in mental combat.
Above the ceiling, the Nightmare Eater Black Mist surged, unleashing a wide-ranging array of mental illusions, whispers, and abyssal illusions, attempting to engulf the entire hall and shatter the opponent's mind.
An ordinary evolved human would have already become mentally unstable, with distorted vision and out of control.
However, it had little effect on Lu Heng.
The Blood Taisui barrier filtered out most of the erosion and chaos first, and the remaining weak mental interference was crushed and torn apart by the mental power that Lu Heng actively spread out.
His mental vision was exceptionally clear, unaffected by illusions or distractions.
It's not about passively enduring interference, but about a two-way counter-attack, a direct suppression of the Nightmare Eater's mental output.
The black mist body of the Nightmare Eater visibly trembled slightly.
It seemed that it had not expected that the spiritual foundation of a human being could directly resist and even overcome its encroachment on its territory.
The battle had reached a fever pitch.
The Bone Demon pushed off the ground with all four limbs, its skeletal body bursting forth to meet the Silver Zombie head-on from the side. The stark white bone claws clashed violently with the mutated claws, the resounding clang of metal echoing through the hall, sparks flying everywhere.
The two immense forces clashed, Bone Demon's massive body retreated slightly, fine cracks appearing on its joints, but it did not retreat an inch, clinging tightly to its opponent.
The Silver Zombie, tightly restrained by the Bone Demon, suddenly broke free again, lunged sideways, and its claws struck Lu Heng's Blood Armor once more.
Bang!
A heavy impact rang out.
The Blood Armor dented and deformed significantly, but instantly wriggled back to its original shape, perfectly absorbing the tearing damage. Only the violent shockwave penetrated his body, causing half of Lu Heng's shoulder to go completely numb.
Lu Heng remained expressionless, enduring the dull pain in his bones and muscles, and continuously projected his mental energy to lock down the Nightmare Eater's mental frequency, constantly suppressing the opponent's illusionary output.
He swung his Insect Armor Sword horizontally, the blade sharp and fierce, aimed straight at the Zombie's neck.
Clang!
The Silver Zombie raised its arm to block the sword, its hard bone arm catching the blade. The force of the impact made Lu Heng's mouth tremble.
The three-way battle was extremely dangerous, with physical combat and mental warfare taking place simultaneously.
Lu Heng physically withstood the injuries and mentally suppressed the enemy, maintaining a steady advantage on both fronts. Despite the Nightmare Eater's ability to spread out a wide-ranging illusion, it was unable to penetrate Lu Heng's mental defenses and could only barely disrupt the rhythm of its Silver Zombie opponent, making its fighting style extremely frustrating.
After a prolonged and grueling struggle, the Bone Demon finally seized a fleeting but fatal opening.
The Silver Zombie swung its claws with all its might to repel the Bone Demon. In the instant its old power dissipated and new power had not yet been generated, its vital ribs were completely exposed.
Now!
The Bone Demon's eyes blazed with ferocity. Ignoring its own injuries, it suddenly lunged and locked onto the silver zombie. Its massive skeletal body gripped the Silver Zombie's torso tightly, its bone spikes piercing deep into the zombie's flesh.
The excruciating pain that penetrated to the bone caused the Silver Zombie to struggle and roar wildly, its claws slashing at the Bone Demon's sternum.
Crackling sounds rang out one after another as the Bone Demon's outer layer of bone armor shattered and peeled off, leaving its entire body covered in wounds. Yet, it remained stubbornly locked on, using its own severe injuries to completely seal off any chance of its opponent to dodge or counterattack.
The perfect chance to win has been created.
Lu Heng no longer lingered on the sword fight. He raised his Wristband and put the Insect Armor Sword back into his bracelet. He flipped his palm, and a cold, sharp firearm instantly appeared.
Kiss of Nightmare.
The muzzle of the gun was pressed almost directly against the center of the Silver Zombie's heaving chest.
Lu Heng pulled the trigger with his fingertip.
Boom--!!!
The deafening gunshot shattered the sealed hall, and a violent shockwave swept in all directions.
The close-range burst of shotgun blasts instantly flooded the Zombie's chest cavity, shredding and exploding flesh, bones, and internal organs, leaving huge bloody holes and splattering blood and flesh fragments all over the ground.
The locked-down Silver Zombie's body instantly stiffened, and all struggling, roaring, and agitation came to an abrupt halt.
The Bone Demon, who was locked in a deadly lock on its opponent, was hit by a stray bullet. A piece of its shoulder blade armor was torn off, and white bone fragments shattered. It grunted in pain, but its bound limbs remained motionless.
The black Nightmare Eater that had been continuously releasing illusions in the air above their heads trembled violently at this moment.
The terrifying gunshots, the burst of death energy at close range, and the sudden surge of Lu Heng's mental pressure created a double impact, instantly shattering its mental domain and completely halting all illusions and whispers.
The black mist churned and became chaotic, briefly freezing in place.
The aftershocks of the gunshots slowly dissipated.
The Silver Zombie's pupils dimmed completely, its body went limp, and it showed no signs of life.
The Bone Demon slowly relaxed, dragging its battered body backward to remain on guard.
Lu Heng stood with his gun in hand, the dull pain from the shock in his shoulder bone had not yet subsided, but his mind remained clear and focused.
He immediately focused his mind inward—to sense the imprint of the Forest Will within his body.
dim.
No resonance.
There is no light.
A knowing glint flashed in Lu Heng's eyes.
As expected! I guessed wrong.
This physically powerful Silver Zombie was never the vessel chosen by the World Fragment.
But then, a sense of relief welled up inside me.
If we hadn't come to this building today, in this vast, desolate city, finding a place to reside among the World Fragment would have been virtually impossible.
The truth has now come to light.
The black mist that had been frozen in mid-air slowly began to surge and condense again.
The mental realm, which had been briefly shattered, unfolded once more. This time, the Nightmare Eater neither hid nor probed.
It became crystal clear that the human before it possessed a powerful physical body, mental strength far exceeding that of ordinary evolved beings, and the symbiotic blessing of the Blood Taisui, making it the only natural enemy capable of directly overwhelming its mental abilities.
That's why it has always stayed in the shadows, using others' strength against it, and dared not confront them head-on.
Lu Heng slowly raised his gun, the cold muzzle of Kiss of Nightmare steadily locking onto the black mist in mid-air.
He focused his mind, layering his mental energy and continuously pressing down, completely sealing off any escape routes for the Nightmare Eater.
The era of the Silver Zombie has ended.
He also happened to find the ultimate adversary who truly carried the destiny of the World Fragment.