James walked forward toward the center of the store for the F-rank zombie.
He saw zombie corpses that were either missing only a single limb, or others only left with an inch of flesh. It was a bloodbath.
After looking at the zombie corpses, James heard a munching sound from the right corner in front of him.
He observed the corner with his skill 'Spot' and found that the F-rank zombie was behind all the zombie corpses lying around.
It had started devouring others to evolve into a higher rank zombie.
James didn't confront it head-on, he stood there and placed his bat on the bloody ground. He noticed that the bat had started absorbing the blood. He didn't take any action and kept on observing it.
The shape of the bat didn't change, but its thorns were now invisible to the naked eye and its texture was now similar to that of a tree bark.
After a few minutes, the blood which was splattered on the ground seem to be now scarce and there were only small spots of blood left. The pile of zombies were now only left with half their dry bodies without any blood.
While taking a look at the zombie corpses, James felt a sudden chill that went down to his spine.
James looked at the right corner and noticed the F-rank zombie glaring at him with an intense hatred similar to that of a dog after getting his food snatched. It came out from the dark corner with its dried out flesh in hand.
This zombie's mutation was quite rare. Its exoskeleton had started to grow out of the skin. The mouth was already covered with bone structure like a helmet. Its finger nails, chest, and knees were covered with different sizes of bone spikes.
As soon as the zombie was in full vision of James, he used his skill 'Spot'.
"Name – Bone Zombie (Incomplete evolution)
Rank – F (Peak)
Skill – Bone manifestation(E)
Skill Description – It can create bone on any part of its body with the amount of exoskeletal bones that are on skin."
James didn't guess that it was a zombie with 'skill'. He took the stance of his skill, 'Three Style Boxing'.
The zombie was running towards him at an average speed and had tried to grab James for biting him.
James dodged effortlessly, as if the zombie were too slow. He thought of checking it again and found out that he didn't struggle even a little to fight it.
There were a lot of questions in his mind. He didn't waste time and knocked the zombie with his skill 'Three Style Boxing' 7 meters away.
Before it stood up again, James struck his bat on its head without any hesitation.
It was an instant kill that made him stare at the corpse in a daze.
When James tried to lift the bat, he noticed that it was sinking deep in the head and the flesh from toes to head turned into liquid.
The liquid flesh was being absorbed by the bat along with the bones.
There was a system notification when the absorption of flesh was completed.
"Item – Decomposing Mace
Rank – F
Skill: Bloodthurst (F)
Skill Description – Once the target results in bleeding during the combat, it will absorb the blood, flesh, and bones until the target has no signs of vitality. The increase of item's rank will increase the skill rank and efficiency accordingly."
James had now acquired a mace with bottomless appetite. Now, he had his own special weapon.
He observed the surroundings and let the mace absorb all the flesh around. It was over in a few minutes.
After completing the store, James collected supplies that could still be used and filled up his bag.
Soon after stepping out of the store, James encountered several zombies scattered around the shop. Before he could react toward the situation, the zombies had already made a run for his flesh.
James didn't confront the zombies but avoided them and ran at a speed they could catch on easily. He was teasing them this way.
Without any delay, James had reached his neighborhood. He was able to sense the roots' presence not far away.
He signaled the root to be ready for the zombie waves.
The zombies were only a small distance apart from James, but the time was just right for the house to launch the sneak attack from underneath.
All the roots had merged into a huge root. The huge root soon sliced dozens of zombies in half. The attack pattern was simple yet gruesome to look at it. James had nearly puked after watching this scene repeat several times.
After a few minutes, the zombie corpses' had formed a hill that blocked the zombies, becoming a defensive wall.
Previously, the house had asked the same permission as before, it had made after its second level up.
James ordered that it can absorb as many zombies you want.
The total dead zombies were below 200.
Even after the F-rank evolution, James was not confident enough to face so many zombies. He could have made the decision to hide and reach his house safely.
He had a sudden thought to test the damage dealing of the house. Likewise, he was satisfied with this outcome, but this satisfaction soon turned into a shock.
The roots had already started absorbing the fresh bodies. There was only one thing that shocked him.
After absorbing the bodies, new roots
started growing rapidly along with the old ones. Their attack range was increasing, and the zombies blocked by the hills were being dragged underground in every 3–4 seconds.
The zombies had already decreased by two-third. There were only a few dozens left. All the roots had merged into a huge root again and this time the attack pattern was not similar to the previous one, but it turned into a long pointy thorn structure that flexibly pierced through all the zombies' chest.
Even after getting their chests pierced through, the zombies were still groaning intensely.
The roots were emptying the zombies from inside, which stopped the zombies from making sounds and accept their deaths slowly.
James had imagined the pain of getting his chest pierced through and being absorbed from the inside.
The actions of his house were similar to that of a serial killer who enjoyed their prey's death in the end. He was shivering nonstop thinking the possibility if his house has become an infected instead of being enhanced by him
Before he could think of more comparisons, there was a system notification.
*Ding*
"Your house's skill 'Predatory' has evolved to E-rank.
Skill – Predatory
Rank – E
Description – It will grow out its root and absorb any energy as its nutrition. It can store strong prey's in the form of flowers."