As she watched Nora Lowell’s blade strike her grandfather’s shoulder, Paige Summers didn’t move. Instead, she accelerated her absorption of the Crystal Core in her hand.

For a moment, she had wavered.

But that very unsteadiness in her thoughts made her realize how dangerous this was. If she allowed herself to sink into it, only a dead end would await her!

Energy flooded her body, circulating through her entire system, and her mind grew clearer and clearer.

Just as she finished absorbing a Crystal Core and the scene before her began to fade, a sudden premonition of danger seized her!

’Over there!’

The moment she pinpointed the direction, a massive black shadow was already lunging ferociously at her!

Her mind didn’t even have time to wonder if it was an illusion or reality; her body had already reacted.

In an instant, she summoned her knife from her dimensional space and slashed at the dark figure!

It was a strike carrying enough force to split a boulder, backed by an overwhelming killing intent!

Her opponent clearly sensed the danger and didn’t dare to meet it head-on. With a sharp twist of its body, it retreated several meters.

Only now could Paige Summers see its true form.

It was a rare type of mutant Zombie.

Though it still had four limbs and a torso like a human, it was crouched on the ground instead of standing. Its skin had been completely sloughed off, revealing the blood-red muscle tissue beneath. Paired with its vacant, inorganic eyes, the sight was exceptionally horrifying. It was over two meters long with a thick, powerful body. A long tongue, like a viper’s, dangled from its mouth, ready to snatch food at any moment.

Paige Summers took a deep breath. She had heard of this kind of monster but had never encountered one before.

’They say it’s incredibly fast and powerful... Well, let’s see who comes out on top today!’

Pointing her Blade at the mutant Zombie, Paige Summers vanished in a flash.

The mutant Zombie was indeed fast, only slightly slower than Paige Summers. However, its exposed red flesh was unexpectedly tough. When her long knife struck it, there was the clang of metal on stone!

In just three brief clashes, the sound of ringing blows was constant. Paige Summers had struck it a total of thirty-six times. Yet, aside from being covered in shallow, indented slash marks, its body was largely undamaged.

Paige Summers was shocked.

The mutant Zombie, enraged by her attacks, let out a tremendous, mournful howl. The shriek was so piercing it felt like it could shatter eardrums.

Paige Summers abruptly fell back more than ten meters, her mind racing to formulate a new strategy.

The mutant Zombie was displeased by the distance she’d created. It howled once more and lunged!

As Paige Summers dodged, she looked for an opening to strike.

’If the long knife can’t cut it, Crossbow Arrows probably won’t work either. Its weak points must be its eyes and tongue, but the former is a small target and the latter is too agile. Neither will be easy to hit.’ 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

’So what else is there?’

Suddenly, she glimpsed a large boulder out of the corner of her eye, and an idea formed.

The next time she dodged an attack, she quickly moved to the side of the boulder and, with a lightning-fast punch, sent it flying toward the lunging mutant Zombie!

The boulder shattered into dozens of pieces in mid-air, each chunk carrying considerable force.

The mutant Zombie pushed through the impacts, forcing its head through the shower of rock.

But by then, Paige Summers was no longer where she had been.

She had moved with the boulder, her body as light as a leaf clinging to its back. As the rock fragments scattered, she took advantage of the mutant Zombie’s split-second of instinctive evasion, flipping through the air and landing on its back!

The mutant Zombie immediately felt the extra weight on its back. It began to buck and leap furiously, trying to throw Paige Summers off. At the same time, its long, clawed arms twisted around to grab at her!

But Paige Summers only stayed for a few seconds before leaping off.

In those few seconds, however, she had already sprinkled it with Rainbow Water!

However, this mutant Zombie was different from a regular Zombie; its resistance to poison was clearly much stronger. Even as its muscle tissue began to change color and its speed started to decrease, it didn’t stop attacking.

Paige Summers swapped her long knife for a heavy Hand Axe and began to weave more nimbly around its sides.

First to go was that disgusting, barbed tongue!

SQUELCH! A foul-smelling fluid gushed from the severed root of the mutant Zombie’s tongue. The tip was already gone, fallen somewhere out of sight.

Amidst its howls of agony, the axe swung toward its eyes...

When the mutant Zombie finally fell to the ground, its Crystal Core dug out, and it ceased moving entirely, the scene before Paige Summers’ eyes changed... It was as if a thick fog had dissipated, allowing her to see reality.

It turned out the spot where she had been fighting the Zombie was incredibly close to her missing team members.

No one had ever left the small path, including the Superpower User who had scouted ahead. In fact, they had all unknowingly fallen into a trap!

The reason the team members hadn’t reacted was that something was very wrong with their state. Some were sitting, others standing, all with strange expressions. Even Claire Chapman wore the same dazed look, as if lost in a dream of sorrow or joy. Scattered rocks from the fight had struck some of them, even causing injuries, but they remained entranced.

Seeing all this, a wave of fear washed over Paige Summers.

’They’re completely defenseless!’

’It’s a good thing that Zombie came after me first!’

Among everyone, Ben’s condition was different; he had fallen into a coma.

Paige Summers leaned down to check on him. She couldn’t see anything wrong; it looked as if he were just asleep.

But she knew very well that Ben was a Zombie. As an Immortal, he never slept.

Pausing for a moment, she took out a drop of Rainbow Water and fed it to him.

To other Zombies, it was a poison, but for Ben, it was nothing short of a tonic.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes.

Paige Summers let out a sigh of relief. Finally able to relax, she turned to look at Claire Chapman.

She wasn’t so nice to this guy. She grabbed him by the collar and slapped him across the face a few times.

"An Eighth Rank Superpower User, what a disgrace!"

She didn’t consider that, having lived two lives and transmigrated, her mind was far more resilient than others’, making her naturally less susceptible to illusions. Even so, she had still wavered—let alone anyone else!

However, Claire Chapman hadn’t fallen too deep into the illusion, so the sharp pain was enough to wake him up. Faced with Paige Summers’s furious glare, he immediately snapped to his senses.