The shadow jumped at the person who opened the door, which was coincidentally Melania.
"Mela, watch out," shouted Sierra, who had spotted what the shadow actually was.
It was a zombie with grey eyes. A [Gray-Eye Zombie]!
However, as the zombie rushed to her, Melania did not panic.
She pointed her smooth finger at the head of the zombie, and blue [Wind Elemental Essence] coiled around it to form an arrow that became more concentrated at every millisecond.
The moment the zombie was about to take a bite at her finger, Melania released the arrow, which then flew through the thick zombie's head, killing it in the process.
'Good. The wind arrow worked,' Melania cheered herself.
She had also undergone a tremendous change over the past three months.
After the conclusion of the competition, she began to think about her flaws and trained with her cousins and their friends.
It took a month for her to realize that she wasn't good with any type of weapon.
This understanding made her extremely downcast as the truly strong ones wielded weapons. Yet, she wasn't talented with any weapon.
Confiding in her father, Conan Aztec, she was told that there was another sub-path one could take apart for weapon mastery. It was unnamed and very difficult to excel in.
After getting this hopeless, yet hopeful reply, Melania locked herself under intensive research in a bid to understand more about the path she was destined to take.
A month later, she came out reborn and had reached the top echelon of Aztec's younger generation.
Only she knew what type of training she subjected herself to.
Her unnamed path was a path that was based on pure manipulation of one's element.
It was a path that answered the question of what if two opponents with the same physical attributes, the same cultivation realm and stage, and the same technique fight against one another?
Who would win?
The answer was that it was the one with a better understanding of their technique that would win if the other factors of the opponents are the same.
That was where her unnamed path came in!
Sacrificing the protection that one's weapon gives, Melania would have to trust in her manipulation of [Elemental Spirit Essence].
That is, she would have to master all sorts of techniques, even going as far as to experiment on her own.
This seems normal as almost every cultivator goes through it, but Melania's "technique mastery" would have to have reached a level where it was unrivaled at every realm, every stage.
Her [Wind Arrow] would be better than anyone else. Her [Wind Stride] would be faster than anyone else. Her [Sky Mortal] would be more effective than anyone else!!
All her technique would be deadly, as deadly as the joint damage of a cultivator and his weapon.
To achieve this, she would have to possess High perception, speed thinking, fine control of energy, abundant knowledge of elements, the ability to unleash an attack faster, and many more technical abilities.
This sounded almost unachievable, but that was the path that Melania understood.
It certainly showed in the way that she killed the [Gray-Eye Zombie].
She had timed herself as she accumulated more energy into her attack.
Also, she calculated the exact location of the zombie's brain, while making her attack as smooth and fast as possible!
It all sounded like something normal, but it was more than that.
It was effective, purely effective.
She didn't waste a single energy and she was proud of herself as she has come so far.
...….
*Roar*
After killing the zombie, Melania was still drowned in her success.
She failed to notice that other zombies were coming from the door and about to leap at her.
However, she was protected as Sierra got closer to her and unleashed her [Wind Blade] technique which sent a sharp wave of wind that decapitated all the zombies that crossed into the courtyard.
The attack woke Melania up, who then walked back to the group.
She heard snarling coming from outside the courtyard, which was actually a large open room situated in a building with similar rooms.
After regrouping with her friends, another group of zombies with varying strength rushed at them.
One of them, a [Gray-Eyed Zombie], opened its surprising wide mouth and sprayed an acid-like substance at the group of friends.
Being the first to see this, Cheyenne shouted, "Watch out!"
She thought of unleashing her mysterious technique which manipulated weak gravity, but decided against that as it only worked of living things, which the acid wasn't.
Having made up her mind, she used her other technique, [Warden's Gate], manifesting a blue gate that had enough concentrated energy to take the acid.
To her surprise, the acid melted the gate which was made of pure energy.
Her sister, Sierra informed her, "Be careful. The acid is most likely the physical mutation that the [Gray-Eye Zombie] got. It is meant to counter the techniques of cultivators, don't let it touch you!"
She was well versed in zombie knowledge. So, she could tell that the ability acid was a mutation.
That was why she warned her sister who was always too nonchalant and carefree!
"Okay. Okay. I got it," sighed Cheyenne at her nagging sister.
The zombie attack had already been tanked anyway. So, there was no more purpose for her to continue activating her technique.
Decisively, she dispersed the gate and told the rest, "It seems like we have to face them. Do you think we can do it?"
Her words were sound as the zombies they were facing were [Gray-Eye Zombie] with physical mutation and an ability to manipulate [Nether Energy].
Their only weakness was their low intelligence, which was evident when Melania easily killed one.
"We can manage," responded Nico, who was already fired up.
He, his sister, and Jaya had a deep history with zombies. They were the first thing they met when they woke up in Aztec and they were powerless to their army.
He was different from his former weak self who had to run when facing zombies.
Plus, he and everyone else had already advanced to [Realm-2].
So, their base level should be the same as the zombies.
Nico was also joined by the rest as they nodded their heads on affirmation.
Facing the group of zombies, they unsheathed their weapons as they prepared for an intense fight