Chapter 55: Exitra’s Rail Gun

“No! I have to hold on!!”

Dogry made his final desperate stand.

Stage 20! Even if he couldn’t clear it, that didn’t matter.

What he wanted was to survive even one second longer than Exitra!

For that reason, Dogry poured everything he had into the fight.

“Block them! We have to block them!”

— [Final desperation… But you don’t have many units left, right?]

— [The crystal’s getting hit! Its durability is dropping! Break faster, break!!]

“No!!”

Dogry did his absolute best.

But in the end, he couldn’t stop all the zombie attacks.

“Wow! This is insane! Stage 20 is crazy hard without special units!!” Dogry shouted.

Honestly, Stage 20 was the kind of level where even with special units, clearing it was uncertain.

Trying it without any special units was enough to drive anyone mad.

“Still… if I managed this much, then Exitra, who faced three Giant Zombies, must have been wiped out by now, right?”

Dogry had, truthfully, held on for a long time.

He had abandoned attacking and focused only on defense.

That’s why he had managed to hold back the zombie waves for over forty minutes.

‘Better to hold out and die later than attack and die quickly!’

Endurance is victory!

Believing in that saying, Dogry endured.

And in truth, he lasted quite a while.

At this point, he had done enough.

“I won, right? I won?!”

Dogry asked with hope in his voice.

At that question, the chat was suddenly flooded with “kkk.”

kkkkk

— [Dogry kkk]

— [Ah, this was so funny~]

— [That was entertaining kkk]

“Huh? What’s going on? Why are you laughing?”

Dogry was quick-witted.

From the viewers’ reactions, he sensed something was up.

“Don’t tell me… did Exitra last longer than me?!”

He asked just in case.

‘But I held out for so long! Longer than that? Against three Giant Zombies?

That’s impossible.

No matter how many special or basic units he had, that shouldn’t have been possible.’

But the answers that came back weren’t what Dogry expected.

— [LLLL]

— [Exitra cleared Stage 20.]

— [Yeah, about twenty minutes ago, actually.]

— [Dogry kkk all your desperate struggling was pointless.]

***

Dogry’s face froze in disbelief.

Clearing Stage 20 against three Giant Zombies?

It made no sense.

“No! That’s impossible!!” Dogry shouted.

But what could he do?

It was the truth.

Exitra had already cleared Stage 20 and was relaxing comfortably.

While Dogry was desperately flailing for his life, Exitra had been chatting with viewers and collecting donations.

“No! If Exitra cleared it, someone should have told me! I was…”

He had been holding out, thinking he still had a chance.

‘Endurance is victory’? What nonsense.

That was a lie.

— [Well, we’re telling you now.]

“Too late!!”

— [Wow, the attitude. Late or not, at least we told you, right?]

— [Thanks to you, we had a great show.]

— [Yeah, good effort holding out.]

“Aaaghh! You guys are too much!!”

Thinking about how he had fought so hard without knowing the result, Dogry felt only humiliation.

If he had known Exitra had already cleared it, he would have given up long ago.

“Aaaaaaagh!!”

Dogry screamed.

After all, the bet was lost.

And losing meant only one thing: shaving his eyebrows.

“No! This can’t be happening!”

— [Yes~ it is~]

— [??? : Your body hair is amazing kkkk]

— [Ooh, nice vocal strength~]

The chat was filled with endless “kkkk.”

Everyone was enjoying his pain and despair.

“You freaks! Do you really like seeing me shave my eyebrows that much?!”

— [Um? Kind of obvious, isn’t it?]

— [Of course~]

— [Dogry, you really thought you had won for a second, right? But nope~]

— [Today’s stream is pure comedy gold kkk]

“Grrr…”

It was a reality he didn’t want to accept.

He had already shaved his head and even waxed his whole body, and now his eyebrows too?

“Damn it! I’ve staked all the hair on my body, so why can’t I ever win?!”

His frustration boiled over.

He had given everything, but victory always slipped away.

— [Does this guy even know the meaning of victory?]

— [Defeat: Oh hey, our regular customer’s here! What will it be today? Since you’re a regular, I’ll give you a discount kkk]

— [Guys, don’t bully Dogry too much kkkkk]

— [At this point, maybe he’s losing on purpose? kkkkk]

“Sigh…”

Dogry let out a small sigh.

But the result was already decided.

Unless the gods turned back time, his loss couldn’t be undone.

‘There’s no helping it.’

“Everyone, let’s head over to Exitra’s stream.”

***

“Huh? Looks like Dogry’s done.”

Suddenly, Exitra’s viewer count spiked.

From around 7,000, it shot up to over 15,000 in an instant.

— [Nanhanaha~~]

— [Welcome~!]

— [Doha!]

— [Exha~!]

[Resbi has donated 10,000 won.]

<That guy was persistent, but he’s finally done, so I came over~>

“Haha, welcome.”

— [The bet worked out, right~?]

— [Dogry’s gonna shave his eyebrows now~!]

— [5252~ I always believed you could do it~]

The chat was flying past at incredible speed.

Even for Exitra, it was impossible to keep up with everything.

“Alright, shall we move on to the next stage? Since I cleared Stage 20, the next one’s the boss fight.”

Stage 21 was where the boss appeared.

But as the final stage, its difficulty was on another level.

Three Giant Zombies appeared by default, and if unlucky, even more could spawn.

On top of that, Assassin Zombies, Aggro Zombies, and Tongue Zombies appeared in large numbers.

“First things first.”

Exitra summoned more special units.

He had already blown up several of them when fighting the three Giant Zombies.

There had been no other way—there were simply too many.

But it hadn’t been a huge loss.

Defeating three Giant Zombies had earned him an enormous amount of gold.

Thanks to that, even after resummoning the three special units he’d sacrificed, his gold was overflowing.

— [So money isn’t a problem, huh.]

— [Guess the Giant Zombies weren’t all bad after all.]

Then Exitra ordered his workers to construct a building that could summon heroes.

— [Yes, sir!]

The cost to build a Hero Summoning Hall was about one million gold.

And there, summoning a Hero cost 2 million gold.

The total cost of Hero Summoning was 3 million gold.

For most people, if they cleared Stage 20 and summoned a Hero, they would end up using nearly all of their gold.

But Exitra was different.

“Looks like I still have money left.”

Even after summoning special units and a Hero, he still had gold to spare.

The three Giant Zombies had gifted him with immense wealth.

— [Chaebol ON!]

— [Whoa, he’s got so much money it’s spilling everywhere, lololol]

“Now then, let’s see this Hero.”

Exitra used Mind Sharing to check the Hero’s appearance.

Until now, the Cyborg Hero had never once appeared.

That was because no one had ever cleared Stage 20 with Cyborgs before.

[Ooooh! Hero!]

[What does the Cyborg Hero look like??]

[Zombie Survival has been out for a while, but is this really the first time we’re seeing the Cyborg Hero?? lol]

“Oh, there it is.”

Among the Cyborgs, there was one that looked quite different.

It wasn’t that big.

It had a sleek, humanoid frame.

“Huh? That looks familiar.”

— [Wait, isn’t that from Last Watch?]

— [Yeah, the ninja one!]

— [Did they make it based on that? Either way, it looks cool.]

The Hero resembled a ninja from Last Watch.

At a glance, it might have looked weak, but with Cyborgs, appearances could be deceiving.

[A dark shadow looms over you.]

That was when it happened.

Stage 21 was about to begin.

“Damn!”

Exitra hurriedly ordered his workers to reinforce the walls.

‘The walls are crucial.’

From now on, zombies would swarm from every direction.

Since it was the final stage, the numbers couldn’t even be compared to before.

That was why the walls mattered so much.

‘If the walls are breached, things will get messy.’

He needed to use the walls to limit the zombies’ points of entry.

If he neglected wall reinforcement, he would experience hell itself.

‘If they swarm from every direction instead of just the gate, then…’

Game over.

Just imagine thousands of zombies pouring in from all sides.

If special zombies joined in too, the Crystal would shatter faster than the time it took to finish a bowl of rice.

[A massive being has set its sights on you.]

[The massive being is one that will destroy this world.]

[You must stop it.]

[Survive.]

[Seize.]

[Fight.]

[Your freedom must be grasped by your own hand.]

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

[Ooooh! It’s coming!]

[They’re coming again!!]

[Whoa, that’s a horde!]

[Boss! Appears!!]

The final stage of Zombie Survival had begun.

The worst existence that had unleashed the zombies into the world had finally revealed itself.

<KIEEEEEEHHHH!!!>

The boss’s screech echoed through the air.

Its appearance was truly grotesque.

Faces resembling human heads were scattered all over its body.

It had four huge legs, and on each side, dozens of small legs—at least thirty in total.

Its face alone was enough to fill anyone with revulsion.

— [Oh damn…]

— [This scene is giving me chills;;]

— [Ugh, I was eating while watching and let my guard down;;; I almost threw up!]

— [That’s terrifying, so terrifying!]

[User “Avatar of Jealousy” has donated 50,000 won.]

<Ugh, disgusting. Who was that thing modeled after;;;>

“Thank you, Avatar of Jealousy, for the 50,000 won donation.”

Exitra looked at the boss.

It was enormous and long.

It was so heavy that the ground trembled with each step it took.

[The Crystal has detected an enemy.]

[The Crystal is gathering power.]

***

[Protect the Crystal. Only the Crystal can destroy the boss zombie. You have 20 minutes.]

“Now it begins.”

The defense phase had started.

If they protected the Crystal for 20 minutes, victory was theirs.

If the zombies destroyed it first, the zombies would win.

“Alright.”

Exitra used Mind Sharing to connect with the Hero’s body.

— [So, what’s the Cyborg Hero’s ability??]

— [Honestly, it looks way too weak;;]

— [The difference compared to other classes is insane;;]

The Cyborg Hero looked much weaker than the other classes’ Heroes.

Its body was small, with what looked like a sword strapped to its back.

[Melee type??]

[No gun??]

[So it’s just gonna slash stuff?? With no info, this is…;;]

[If it’s melee, it’s trash;;]

‘Weak, huh? Is that really the case?’

Exitra smirked.

The Cyborg Hero might have looked weaker compared to others.

But it was still a Hero.

There was no way something with the Hero title lacked the power to back it up.

<KIEEEEEEHHHH!!!>

As the boss zombie screamed, the swarm began to rush in.

Their target was the Crystal.

Watching the horde approach, Exitra stepped to the very front.

“Other Cyborgs, fall back. You’ll just get caught in the crossfire.”

At Exitra’s command, the Cyborgs withdrew behind him.

Then Exitra stretched out his right arm toward the oncoming zombies.

[Uh? What’s he doing?]

[Wait! Is this… energy beam~?]

[O ᄉᄋ====3 Energy Beeeam~!!]

[As if, lololol]

“Well, you’re not completely wrong.”

Exitra grinned and activated the Hero’s exclusive skill.

Clatter! Click-clack!!

As the skill activated, his right arm disassembled itself.

The scattered parts reassembled into something new.

It was no longer a human hand, but a cannon designed for firing.

— [Uh?? Hold on;;]

— [He’s really going to shoot something??]

— [Is this really an energy beam??]

— [For real??]

While the viewers gawked in shock, massive amounts of energy began charging in the cannon.

[Energy charging 50%… 60%… 70%… 100%. Ready to fire.]

“Fire.”

At Exitra’s command, the energy cannon unleashed its power all at once.

KWOAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

With a deafening roar, every zombie in a straight line was obliterated.

Assassin Zombies, Aggro Zombies, Tongue Zombies, Giant Zombies—every last one was erased.

This was the Cyborg Hero’s ultimate skill.

“Rail Gun.”

It was the Rail Gun.