BXBX NOVEL Chapter 74: Are you bastards really idiots?
While we still got the zombies that moved even when they were in pieces, there were never cases where they still moved when they were decapitated. The Undertaker looked like a skeleton, but he bled like a zombie when I shot him in the forehead.
Would I ever have to fight skeletons without heads? I remembered seeing Dullahans during the ground rift. As my mind began to wonder, Aira's voice brought my attention back.
[Limitless, confirming death of Rank E Undertaker. Remaining enemies are 50 Rank F Zombies].
"Hmm, what do I do now... should I snipe them all dead? Or should I run towards them?"
Even though I often used myself as bait to blow the zombies to kingdom come, it still hurt like hell. Since I had no qualms about using sniper rounds on all 50 zombies, I was able to do this easily.
I zoomed out while still keeping my eye on the scope. The zombies were now alarmed by the loud noises. If they had been walking around earlier, they were all standing in place as if waiting.
"How can the undead be so tense? Are their brains like animals?"
Hearing my own thoughts, I remembered one of the professions. If the Academics studied the monsters in Hellsgate, surely they would know how these bastards behave, right?
"Mental note to myself, I need to visit the Academics and find out."
To test how smart they were, I tried to snipe one zombie after another. The bodies went down without a fuss, and because of the distance, they wouldn't know where I was.
It took intelligence to figure out where the attacks were coming from. Not unless you looked at where the zombies were being shot, because predicting bullet trajectories was difficult.
On my fifth kill, I noticed a zombie looking in my direction. The normie's jaw was chattering like it was reporting something. All at once, the entire horde turned towards me. Even from over 1000 meters away, seeing an entire group of enemies "looking" at me gave me goosebumps.
"What the hell? How did they know? Are you bastards really idiots? Was it from the sound?"
One of the weaknesses I often exploited was that zombies were dumb as shit. Fortunately, I survived my encounters, even if that idea was wrong. But what if the zombies weren't stupid? What if they were babies? Babies who had yet to learn and were capable of learning?
"Fuck, this is scary. If they can learn, then the old ones would be almost human!"
I was currently at the 8th level. How smart would the zombies beyond the front line be? What if there were zombies that had already learned how to use weapons, tactics, and even feints? The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became.
Before I could process my thoughts further, a man's worried voice came over the defender's comm line.
[John, this is Scott. Do you have any medicine with you? My friend seems to have been bitten and is foaming at the mouth. I don't think he's going to make it much longer, my leg is hurt and I can't carry him. I know you have enough on your plate. But if you don't get here soon, he and the Phantom might die.]
When I heard Scott's voice, I remembered how fragile humans are. Unlike the undead, who can run away with their limbs blown off, a single bite or scratch would be enough to kill a reaper. I mistakenly believed that as long as I killed everything, everything would be fine. My arrogance would have killed the survivors.
"Okay, hold on, I am on my way," I said calmly.
I sheathed the M24 and drew the MP5SD and MKII. Both were pistol caliber weapons with suppressors. If the sound was the giveaway for the zombies to find me, was it possible to take them all out quietly?
Normally a .45 ACP topped out at 157 db. People normally talk at 60 db, while the speakers at a concert were around 125 db. That was the reason you could hear a gunshot even during a concert. Suppressed 9mm rounds were around 120 db, but that was the sound of the shooter. The sounds of the gunpowder exploding were quieter the farther away the target was.
A .22 LR subsonic round was the quietest round you could find. At about 95 db, but when fired from a suppressed Ruger MK II, which had a locked breech that muffled the explosion, it was about 68 db, or just above normal conversation. If fired from 25 yards away, most people wouldn't even notice.
"{Thief}, okay time for experiment number 2."
I started running towards the zombies while taking aim with the MP5SD. Because Thief relied on senses for accuracy instead of sight. My shots would be the same whether I fired at a standstill or on the move.
Of course, 900 yards was too far. The MP5SD had a maximum effective range of only 200 yards. So I ran at full speed for about three minutes before I got close enough.
The zombies, still looking at my original position, remained motionless. If they had turned in my direction before I started firing, they might have been able to see more than they could hear. Knowing what my prey reacted to would help me form ideas on how to kill them.
"Fuck, I'm not even part of Academics and here I am doing experiments like an egghead."
My MP5SD had no fancy scopes to speak of, I just had the generic iron sights on it. I should have at least gotten a red dot on that thing. Knowing I couldn't delay any longer, I began firing as I transitioned from a jog to a combat glide.
The combat glide, or duck walk, was the slow walk performed by soldiers with their weapons raised. By using a combat glide, the soldier minimizes the bounce of the shooter's steps.
By reducing the vertical sway of his movement, the soldier would have the best possible stance from which to shoot, theoretically increasing accuracy.
The hardest thing to manage in a combat glide was speed. Go too fast and your accuracy goes to shit. Walk too slow and you get left behind when your squad moves.
Since I was alone, my speed was not directly affecting my safety, but the survivors, so the pressure I was feeling was starting to make me uncomfortable.
I tried to concentrate on my breathing and as I started to pull the trigger. I set the firing selector to semi-automatic. That way I should have some leeway with my kills.
9mm Parabellum rounds were fired in short bursts as I fought my way towards the castle. Zombie skulls were pierced in quick succession, their bodies falling to the ground immediately. My heart pounded in my chest as I approached. Due to the distance, none of the zombies looked my way.
The MP5SD had a 30-round magazine, so I used 3-4 rounds per zombie. I only got 8 zombies before I ran out of ammo. I kept the gun hanging close to my body on it's sling while I pulled the Ruger MK II and fired at the closest zombies with one hand. With my left hand open, I pulled a magazine out of storage.
"{Draw} MP5 Mag."
The MK II had a 10-round magazine and an effective range of 25 to 50 yards. With many zombies surrounding me, I tried to kill the most before I was found. I managed to take down three before a zombie further away began to growl.
Shit!
I quickly holstered the MK II and grabbed the MP5SD. I pulled back the charging handle, inserted the mag I had pulled out, and shot the shit out of it.
Since it was a Heckler and Koch weapon, an HK slap was necessary to allow the charging handle to return without getting stuck. As the undead began to stir, I knew my silent approach had already failed.
Just as I was about to Inform Scott, cream, he was the same.. The fire hurricane blocking the castle gate suddenly ceased to exist.
Even though I was still about 400 yards away, the sounds coming from it helped to mask my footsteps. The sudden silence of its absence seemed louder than any of my shots.
"GRRRRRAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!"
Loud, inhuman growls came from the zombies closest to the castle gate. The sound served as a battle cry for all the zombies around me. Even though some of them were only 50 meters away from me, they all turned towards the gate and ran like rabid wolves.
Surprised by their actions, I remembered that the survivors were in no position to fight. There were still over thirty zombies running through the broken castle gate.
"FUCK!"
I resumed my combat glide and started shooting at the Normies as fast as I could. However, the speed at which they were running far outpaced my movement. I knew that acting hastily would only make things worse. So even though I was worried, I focused more on killing the running zombies than on saving the injured reapers.
"SCOTT! SCOTT! THE FIRE TORNADO SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED, THERE ARE OVER TWENTY ZOMBIES COMING TOWARDS YOU! RUN OR HIDE OR SOMETHING! I AM ON MY WAY!"
My nerves got the best of me. Unable to calm myself, I yelled at Scott to give them a better chance. Even though I didn't know them, I didn't want to leave any Reapers to their demise. Not if there was a chance I could save them.
Despite my loud outburst, none of the zombies turned towards me. I killed another dozen zombies before reaching the gate. Fearing the worst, I tried again to contact the defenders.
"Scott! Scott! I reached the gate! Where are you? "
I ducked and entered the huge hole in the gate. Spiked wooden barriers were placed all over the central courtyard. Normies and Bigfoots were impaled on the spikes, probably pushed by their own momentum or by other zombies. Like marshmallows on a stick, they tried to wriggle out of the long spikes, but they could not.
Not wasting any time, I used the MK II and quickly shot off the heads of the stuck ones. There were about five of them. Since there were numerous paths around the yard, I didn't know where to go. I was about to call Scott again when I heard a blood curdling scream.
"AAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
Swallowing my fear, I ran toward the stairs, toward the sound.