Chapter 53: The Brainpower Monster Awakens

The Second Ambush!

Anyone watching would have thought he had been caught.

But the result was different.

‘I knew it.’

From the start, Exitra knew that on Stage 15, Aggro Zombies and Assassin Zombies appeared together. He also knew about their synergy.

‘The Aggro Zombie gathers enemies and creates chaos, while the Assassin Zombie uses that distraction to slowly whittle down enemy forces.’

It was an excellent combination.

Many players must have fallen victim to it.

But Exitra was different.

He knew everything and had focused his entire attention on his rear the moment the Aggro Zombie appeared.

‘If it were me in my original body, I could never dodge this attack.’

With his usual physical abilities and reaction speed—his poor physique in short—Exitra would never have been able to respond.

But now, he was borrowing the body of a special unit.

Because of that, fast reactions were possible.

“If you know about it, you don’t get caught.”

Exitra spun around, dodged the Assassin Zombie’s strike, and shoved the muzzle of his gun into its face.

“Farewell.”

Tututututututu!!

Flames burst from the barrel as the Assassin Zombie’s head exploded.

“Wow! He actually…!”

—[Does he really have eyes on the back of his head? What the hell??]

—[Who are you? This isn’t the Ex we know! The Ex we know never pulled this off before!!]

The viewers were stunned.

They had never imagined he would dodge that ambush.

“Well then, shall we continue clearing things up?”

Exitra began mowing down the zombies at incredible speed.

Even though Aggro Zombies occasionally appeared, he handled them cleanly.

The Assassin Zombies no longer posed any threat either.

Sheer overwhelming power.

And on top of that, flawless tactics and strategy executed with multitasking.

He processed all incoming information in parallel, drew conclusions instantly, and issued commands without hesitation.

The way he handled the battlefield looked almost godlike—like a God of Strategy.

“Special units, circle to the right and fire at the zombies. Team 1, guard the special units’ rear. Team 2, then…”

Exitra rattled off commands at lightning speed.

—[What is this? Is he rapping?]

—[Exitra must be amazing at rap. He’s talking crazy fast.]

—[Faster than anyone else! Different from everyone else!]

The situation quickly stabilized.

The Stage 15 wave was repelled smoothly.

The crystal’s durability remained completely intact, exactly as it had been at the start.

Unlike other players, no zombie had managed to breach Exitra’s command room.

“……”

But perhaps because he had pushed himself too hard, his head throbbed slightly.

“That’s wrapped up nicely.”

—[CH….]

—[Who… who exactly are you?]

—[This is on a whole different level compared to the others.]

—[IQ gap~]

His tactics were on a completely different level from the other streamers.

His orders were precise and swift.

Whenever a problem cropped up, he instantly assessed the situation, came up with a solution, and issued the command without hesitation.

Was there really anyone else who could play like this?

—[Is this really the skill of someone playing Zombie Survival for the first time?]

—[That makes no sense…]

—[This… looks dangerous for Dogry, doesn’t it?]

—[His eyebrows, lol.]

“Hm. Oh, now that I think about it… how are the others doing? I haven’t been able to check.”

Exitra suddenly grew curious about how the others were faring.

‘Were they holding up well?’

Yudok, Mihuku, and Dogry had all been famous streamers even before the regression.

Their skills were well-known.

There was no way they were struggling.

‘Surely, they’re doing much better than me.’

These were people with extraordinary natural talent.

They had to be handling things far better than he was.

But—

[Mihuku has already been eliminated at Stage 5.]

“What?! Mihuku got eliminated? Why? Is the Swordsman class really that bad?”

[Viewer “Ttubeok-i” has donated 1,000 won with a video clip.]

Exitra played the video, and his reaction mirrored Dogry’s.

“That kiting is insane…”

—[He just got shredded by ranged zombies.]

—[He only upgraded sword enhancement…]

—[Look at his movement speed, it’s way too slow.]

—[Poor guy…]

—[??? : Please give me a movement skill!]

Sadly, Mihuku was eliminated just like that.

More video donations came in, giving Exitra glimpses of how the others were doing.

Yudok barely managed to clear Stage 15.

But his crystal’s durability dropped into the triple digits—it looked like he wouldn’t last until Stage 20.

And then there was Dogry.

He had chosen the Soldier class—widely acknowledged as broken.

But his problem was the special units.

Because of his self-imposed handicap, he couldn’t summon any special units. He had to fight with only basic troops.

That handicap was severe.

Without summoning special units, he couldn’t unlock additional weapons.

It was like Enhanced Humans needing muscle upgrades, or Cyborgs needing firearm unlocks.

“Normally, he would have unlocked the machine gun by now. No wonder it looks tough for him.”

Because of this, Dogry was struggling at Stage 15.

Still, he was managing somehow.

He actively relied on shared vision.

With his physical prowess, he wiped out most zombies directly while handling the Aggro and Assassin Zombies himself.

—[Honestly, he didn’t need to handicap himself.]

—[Yeah, agreed.]

—[Respect for that decision though.]

—[If anything, Ex should’ve been the one handicapped.]

Dogry had taken on the handicap because of his bet with Exitra.

He had considered Exitra’s inexperience—since this was his very first time playing Zombie Survival.

But the situation had completely changed.

Exitra’s brainpower—earning him the nickname “Brain Monster”—was fully on display here.

Look at the results.

Not a single zombie had entered his command room.

Not even Assassin Zombies, Giant Zombies, or Aggro Zombies could stand against him.

He still had 120 Cyborgs alive and 5 special units at his command.

At this rate, you couldn’t even tell who the real beginner was.

Exitra was already playing like a seasoned veteran.

—[At this point, he’s basically a veteran.]

—[Stagnated from the very first run.]

—[Loooool.]

Ding~

[Well, it’s thanks to the skills I granted you~ Ehem.]

Chronos puffed himself up with pride.

Exitra laughed, genuinely entertained.

“Dogry… I’ll be taking those eyebrows of yours.”

Dogry was at a loss for words.

“No, what the hell is that?! That’s cheating!!”

He shouted in shock as he watched Exitra’s incredible performance through the donation video.

It didn’t make sense.

“He’s doing way better than me! How is that even possible?!”

—[It’s possible.]

—[00]

—[He’s a brainpower monster.]

—[Look at those commands. He could even compete in an RTS tournament…]

“Wow, he’s really good…”

Dogry was stunned into silence.

He regretted ever suggesting playing with a handicap.

“I’m struggling like crazy because I don’t have a Machine Gunner… but Exitra has all those special units… ah…”

—[Intelligence gap.]

—[Skill level is on a whole other tier, lol.]

—[Exitra’s upgrades are flawless. He’s insane right now.]

—[Dogry, it won’t be long before you’re shaving your eyebrows~]

“No! I can’t let that happen!!”

Dogry grit his teeth.

He had already shaved his head and even the rest of his body hair, but the thought of losing his eyebrows was unbearable.

“My eyebrows… I’ll protect them no matter what!!”

—[Nope~ not happening~]

—[Get ready to shave, hahaha.]

—[Time to find a good tattoo shop, lol.]

—[I’m already looking one up right now.]

“No! The match isn’t over yet. You never know until it’s finished!”

—[Nope~ we know already~~]

—[We can see it.]

—[We see your future… and it’s a future without eyebrows.]

—[Not exactly—he’ll still have eyebrows. Tattooed ones.]

Nobody believed Dogry could win.

‘Why?’

Because the gap in skill was far too obvious.

Closing that gap was, by all common sense, impossible.

But the viewers’ disbelief only fueled Dogry’s determination.

“Fine. If that’s how you all see it… then I, the Trash Gourmet Dogry, will make the impossible possible!!”

Dogry made his declaration.

He would win this battle, no matter what.

But whose side would the goddess of fate take?

Only the gods knew.

And, for the record, the gods were never on Dogry’s side.

They were on the viewers’ side.

***

“I’m curious.”

Chronos muttered as he continued watching the joint stream, dying to know how it would end.

To be honest, if he really wanted to, it wouldn’t be hard to find out.

He could simply ask Moirai, the goddess of fate, or even figure it out himself.

But he didn’t want to.

“There’s nothing worse than spoilers…”

Knowing the future wasn’t always a good thing.

It ruined the fun.

It was like reading a mystery novel or watching a movie—you lose half the excitement if you already know the ending.

There was a reason why people hated spoilers.

“But… why can I see the ending? I didn’t even use my authority.”

‘Even if he wasn’t a god, being able to see the outcome of this collab felt strange.’

‘Was it just his imagination?’

Chronos wondered if perhaps Moirai’s divine power of fate had somehow settled into him.

But such a thing should have been impossible.

A god’s power was their unique identity, their essence.

There was no way another god’s authority could reside within a different one.

“I don’t like the word ‘absolute’… but this law was set when the world was created. It really is absolute.”

And yet…

“Well then, let’s see…”

Chronos kept watching the stream.

What kind of show would Exitra put on this time?

‘The future is only fun because you can’t see it.’

And so, Chronos chose to keep watching as just another viewer—not as a god.

***

The “Zombie Survival” stream progressed steadily.

Before long, they had reached Stage 20.

Unfortunately, Yudok had already been eliminated.

He had lost too many units in Stage 15, including his special ones, and had no strength left for the late game.

As a result, he was easily taken out by the Aggro Zombie and the Assassin Zombie that appeared later.

Now, only Exitra and Dogry remained.

“Stage 20, huh? That means a new special zombie will appear.”

—[00]

—[Yeah, Stage 20 should be the Tongue Zombie.]

—[No, it’s called the Sticky Zombie, get it right.]

—[Sticky Zombie sounds lame. Tongue Zombie is way better.]

—[Sticky~ sticky…]

The Tongue Zombie used its long tongue to bind enemies and completely immobilize them.

It was an incredibly annoying foe.

Once you got caught by its tongue, you entered a “Total Restraint” state.

Not even special units could break free from it.

The only options were to either cut off its tongue or kill the zombie outright.

Worse yet, when combined with the Assassin Zombie, it became a deadly threat.

Caution was essential.

“Alright then, time to summon more units.”

At Stage 20, he could recruit additional troops.

Normally, players would use this chance to summon special units.

But since Exitra already had all five of his, he didn’t need to.

Instead, he recruited 80 regular units, filling his army to the 200-unit cap.

“Now this feels reassuring.”

—[Yeah, no way you lose this.]

—[Total perfection★★]

—[Upgrades are maxed too. It’s impossible to lose now.]

—[This is it—just one more stage to survive!]

“That’s right.”

Exitra smiled calmly.

Unlike the others, he carried himself with complete composure.

—[Stage 20 will begin in one minute.]

—[Warning! A powerful presence has been detected.]

—[Survivors, prepare to face the threat.]

The stage notification flashed.

As expected, zombies appeared before their fortifications.

But something was different this time.

Normally, they spawned from the front.

Now, they were attacking from all sides.

The difficulty had risen again.

“My upgraded walls can handle it.”

Exitra had fortified his palisades into stone walls and leveled them up significantly.

Their defense and durability were high enough that regular zombies couldn’t break through.

But then—

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

[Roooaaaaar!!]

Of course, the Giant Zombie appeared.

Exitra remained unfazed.

“I knew you’d show up.”

It had already appeared with just a 5% chance before, so with a 20% chance here, its appearance was inevitable.

—[He’s not even surprised anymore, lol.]

—[He’s reached enlightenment, hahaha.]

—[Welcome, Giant Zombie. We knew you’d come.]

[~??? : So this is the famous place? Smash~ Crush~ Kill~]

“Well, at this point, I should be used to it.”

Exitra shrugged his shoulders.

But perhaps… he was underestimating just how cursed his luck really was.

Thud, thud, thud!!

[Rooooooar!!]

Thud, thud, thud!!

[Roooooooarrr!!]

Nobody could have predicted what came next—

Three Giant Zombies appeared at once.

“This… I didn’t see coming…”

The scale of misfortune was on an entirely different level.