Zarek moved like a flash of silver and fluttering clothes. He didn't wait for an order, as though he didn't have the slightest ounce of patience within him.
The moment he pulled open the doors of the truck, he had already taken heads.
Turned of all kinds littered the region, the population density of a real city finally rearing the ugly head of the troubles it could bring. A city like this one would have had a population of upwards of ten million, and at least 60 to 70% of them would have become Turned.
As far as Zarek was concerned, though, that was just threatening him with a good time.
It had been a while since he had completely unleashed himself on a killing rampage. Maybe it was about time he did so.
His thoughts were only singular.
Establish himself.
"Follow close behind me, babe. This party's only going to end one way."
Priya had already hopped down behind Zarek without the slightest hesitation, her fear in such situations already beginning to ebb away as she slowly grew more confident in her abilities.
What was scary about following after a man killing everything in sight? She had already spent the night in a city convenience store all alone.
Zarek reached to his back, unsheathing his second machete as Priya fired her first shots.
His Strength overwhelmed the Turned, hacking through their bones and severing their heads. But what shocked those watching was that sometimes the Turned would fall for reasons that didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Sometimes it would just be a loss of an arm. Sometimes it would be a vertical slash down the collarbone. And sometimes it was even something as meaningless as a slam of a hilt to their gut.
And yet, no matter which method Zarek chose, it was always the same.
One shot. One kill.
These Turned were just seas of F Warriors for the most part. While the large concentrations in the cities were a problem, they also came with advantages…
That being that there weren't nearly enough resources to go around. It was impossible that all of these Turned could have a shot at evolving—there weren't enough humans to go around.
However, Zarek knew that would change when the first Crimson Rain came. That day… if these corporations weren't more prepared than they were now, they would suffer.
Zarek took a heavy first step onto the wide bridge. It was separated into a long, thick, three-lane road down both halves for a total of six. On the edges of this main road was a metal walkway to the left and a normal sidewalk to the right.
It was a true industrial sort of bridge, with thick steel wires hanging in large loops from overhead. Even with all the carnage, its suspension hadn't faltered despite the numerous cracks forming in its concrete.
Zarek spun his machetes in the air and began to draw a line. For once, he didn't try to overextend, instead holding his place and killing faster than they could come.
A heated breath left his lips as he began to feel his body heating up. For a normal human, just one or two minutes of all-out fighting like this was enough to drain them of everything they had. It was a little better for a real athlete, but even professional boxers and martial artists only fought in five-minute rounds at most.
An F Warrior, though, was already better than that. As for an E Warrior with a Limit-broken Endurance, well…
Zarek's grin grew wider.
… He was just warming up.
Finally, he took another step forward, sidestepping the leaping lunge of a Turned with claws as long as a curved short sword. His machete flipped in his palm, thrusting up and ripping right through the middle of its throat.
He took another step forward, veins in his arms pulsing as his shoulders and torso flexed. He carried the Turned forward as though it was little more than a feather, slashing across and using the very same machete that severed its Godsfall Droplet to slash across the chest of another.
With his free machete, Zarek parried his first blow, knocking a Turned off balance and slamming out with a foot to its chest.
The Turned stumbled into a group of them, toppling them over like bowling pins.
Zarek didn't pause for even a single moment, raising the clawed Turned to the skies above his head and throwing it over as though it was a ball…
A ball with sharpened blades jetting out of it.
Pchi. Pchi.
The Turned were pinned down by the claws of their own. They didn't die, but they certainly couldn't move in short order—and definitely not before Zarek appeared behind them, his blades moving like the wind.
Let alone the others, even Priya found her gun shaking in her hand. She forgot to aim and shoot for a moment, the region around them having become so clear she wasn't even sure what to do.
Zarek had taken the entire six lanes on his own, moving from side to side as though his stamina was a bottomless well. How one man could command a width of 20 meters all on his own was something they could hardly fathom.
Priya shook her head and fired off a shot to the side, stopping a Turned from slipping past. It was then she realized that as amazing as Zarek was, he was still relying on her to take on those that slipped through the cracks.
Something about this moment seemed to become etched into her mind. Her man… was very capable. But what was that capability built on?
He wasn't just overwhelming them with strength. The sharpness of his mind—how he dealt with numbers that overwhelmed him, how he picked and chose which to target and which to ignore for the moment…
It was like he was playing a game of chess far beyond all their understanding.
Priya's head snapped back to those that stood around in a daze.
"Hurry up! Start building the barricades! Do you think he can do this forever?!"