Spending over twenty days on something should have yielded a decent reward, but it was all wasted on gathering wool.
Listening to the bleating of the sheep, Ronan Mountwell felt utterly humiliated.
He had made a complete fool of himself!
Looking at his surroundings, his confidence in trekking across these mountains and rivers relied on the fact that no zombies would appear in the Enchanted Forest.
He had planned to use this place to regroup, rest, and return safely to the alliance.
But now, the barrier was gone!
As the mist descended and the roars of zombies echoed in her ears, Kira Oakmoor turned red with fury.
"Mountwell! You've ruined me!"
In the alliance chunk, Mark took a headcount of the players.
Originally, eighteen surviving players had joined the alliance; three had died, leaving fifteen.
Now, however, only thirteen were present.
"The two from the Samurai Nation are missing. Their last known trace was in the Twilight Forest," Jett reminded him in a low voice.
Some players teamed up to enter the Twilight Forest, but they were all very cautious and returned promptly by nightfall.
The Freedom Nation's actions were a bit dominant and arbitrary, but living here offered advantages.
With lava barriers and torches, the safety index was much better than being alone.
Given that reliance, the others couldn't say much.
"We haven't heard any death notifications yet, so they're likely just lost."
Mark glanced at the Twilight Forest entrance and said nothing more.
Scavenging for resources to grow stronger was a player's freedom, and he had no right to interfere.
However, if they truly were lost in the Twilight Forest, he wouldn't risk going in to save them.
"Is it already the Third Crisis?"
Scanning the surroundings, Mark's frown deepened.
The environment had undergone a subtle change.
A thick mist permeated the air, leaving everything a hazy gray and making it impossible to see clearly.
The constant growling of zombies filled his ears, making it sound as if they were everywhere.
Under these conditions, the other players began to lose their nerve.
"It's broad daylight. Why is it so foggy?"
"So many zombie sounds... they sound like they're on the left. No, they're on the right too!"
"The mist can block out the sun. They won't burn to death!"
"We're surrounded! We're surrounded by a zombie horde!"
Fear stems from the unknown.
With vision obstructed, even knowing the lava was there, hearing the zombies made everyone worry that one would leap out from the shadows at any moment.
Fear spread silently through the group!
"What are you afraid of? We have the lava. How could zombies possibly get across?" Mark shouted, noticing the players' wavering resolve.
"We should mostly thank Soren Park for this."
Jett pulled Soren Park over and draped an arm around his shoulders, acting as if they were close friends.
He pointed to the empty spaces dug out near the lava.
By hollowing out the chunks, any zombie that walked forward would fall into the lava and eventually plunge into the void.
Even if new blocks were placed to fill the gaps, they wouldn't fall into the void.
To prevent them from climbing back up, Soren Park had thought of a brilliant solution.
Trapdoors!
By placing a layer of trapdoors over the lava, the zombies wouldn't be able to break through the defense even if they gained the ability to climb.
It was simple; they could just watch the zombies swim in the lava until they died!
"Come on, look! It's impossible for zombies to break through my defense!"
To stabilize morale, Mark led the players to the edge.
Sure enough, they could see the zombies beneath the trapdoors, struggling to break through the barrier but unable to do anything until they perished.
The audience from the Stick Nation finally felt a sense of pride.
"See? Soren Park just needed an opportunity to perform!"
"He's not weak; his strategic thinking is top-tier. He's very smart!"
"A simple trick to eliminate the zombie threat—that's not something just any loser could come up with!"
"While some people are still getting lost in the Twilight Forest, I suggest certain people return our heritage, the SlashBlade, as soon as possible!"
"Forget it, it's just a SlashBlade. We have shotguns now, so we don't need it!"
While the comments were lively, inside the Black House...
The Blonde Elder had to admit that the defensive fortifications were indeed well-made.
By completely isolating the zombies, Soren Park had truly earned his keep this time!
"With this defensive line, Mark should be able to last at least fifty days, right?"
It was evident that the rewards for the Crisis became more substantial as time went on.
The twenty-day reward was five points, but the thirty-day reward tripled that to fifteen.
There might be other rewards later, following the rules of the block world they had previously deduced.
Any task that seemed extremely difficult or impossible would always have a glimmer of hope.
There were no challenges that were completely impossible to overcome!
"Hahahaha!"
"Why are you laughing, sir?"
The secretary asked curiously, and the Blonde Elder spoke bluntly.
"I'm laughing at how foolish Galen Yu is, wasting resources to build something like a Nether Portal!"
"Obsidian is precious and extremely hard; it's the perfect choice for building defensive structures, even against zombies."
"A few buckets of lava can solve the problem easily. Why go through all that trouble?"
Just as his laughter ceased...
On the screen, Soren Park's expression changed abruptly.
"This sound doesn't seem right. Is it coming from over there?"
Every species made similar sounds, and after all these days, Soren Park had become familiar with them.
But now, a whirring sound drifted toward them.
It didn't sound like a zombie or a skeleton; it was noisier and heavier.
"The prompt said mutant zombie variants would appear. It must be them."
"Don't worry, the defense plan Jett designed is flawless. We'll definitely—"
Before he could finish, a giant mass of flesh entered their vision.
It was composed of many zombies, tethered by ropes to something resembling a flying machine.
Most importantly, it wasn't like a normal zombie—it was flying at a low altitude!
Ignoring the lava, it charged directly into the center of the chunk.
Boom!
The flesh ball burst, and a foul, nauseating stench filled the air.
Without the restraints, over a dozen Crisis Zombies appeared on the ground, struggling to their feet.
The zombies had breached the defense!
His smile freezing, the Blonde Elder was profoundly shocked.
"A new Crisis Zombie? Such a mutation exists?!"
Didn't this mean that lava alone wasn't enough to stop them?
Mark was no longer calm; he immediately switched to his battleaxe.
"Oh no! Kill them before they can get up!"
After emerging from the flesh ball, the Crisis Zombies had a short cooldown period where they wouldn't attack players.
They wanted to use this time to strike, but when the players drew their weapons and slashed for several seconds, they realized something terrifying.
These guys seemed to have much higher health than ordinary zombies. They were incredibly hard to kill!
They barely managed to clear one round, but before they could breathe a sigh of relief...
The familiar whirring sound returned. Every player's nerves were on edge as they scanned their surroundings.
The briefly relaxed atmosphere vanished instantly. The uncertainty of when or where the zombies would appear was agonizing.
It was a dual pressure on both body and mind!
"It's only daytime, and the pressure is already this high?"
"Why is there mist? It's the perfect cover for the zombies!"
"All those days spent building the lava perimeter... is it all useless now?"
"There's nothing we can do. They mutated and can fly at low altitudes now!"
"As expected, once the players got their hands on firearms, the zombies wouldn't be so easy to deal with anymore!"
"Damn these things!"
Amidst the cursing in the comments, elsewhere...
Deep in the thick mist, Galen Yu's brow furrowed slightly.
"A new mutation has appeared. Fortunately..."
He had long been prepared!
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]