Chapter 49: Clash with the Giant Zombie

“This is… troublesome…”

The Giant Zombie appeared.

He had considered the possibility.

‘I did think, what if a Giant Zombie shows up? But the chance was so low I ignored it.’

‘Seriously? Such a low probability, and it still triggers?’

Back when he was playing Heir of a Fallen House, the rare Giant Black Mountain Goat had shown up against all odds.

And now, with only a 5% chance, the Giant Zombie appeared.

At this point, it was clear Exitra wasn’t blessed by the God of Streaming, but cursed by the God of Misfortune.

[Wow, I guess we need to confirm if the God of Streaming really exists. I’ll ask the Goddess of Fate, Moirae, later. Hahaha, this is hilarious.]

“Tch.”

Exitra clicked his tongue.

Misfortune or not, he had to deal with what was right in front of him.

No matter what, the Giant Zombie had appeared.

“This is going to be quite a headache…”

He now had to fight both the Assassin Zombies and the Giant Zombie at the same time.

Exitra opened the unit upgrade window to check the enhancements.

[Cyborg]
Attack Power: Level 10
Durability: Level 9
Movement Speed: Level 13
Attack Speed: Level 12
<Parts Upgrade>
Sword: Level 6

“Hmm… a little lacking.”

• That’s unfortunate.
• The Giant Zombie is safest to take down with guns, but Cyborgs don’t unlock firearms until after Stage 10…

At the start, Cyborgs only had their default weapon, a sword.

Later, once Stage 10 was cleared and the special unit building was constructed, firearms could be unlocked and equipped.

If he could use guns, the Giant Zombie would be much easier to handle.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

Exitra checked his funds.

From clearing Stage 9, he had 500,000 gold.

• Still, you have a lot of units. If you’re willing to sacrifice about half, you could probably take it down, right?

The viewer was right.

Exitra had 100 units.

If he sacrificed half of them, he could probably kill both the Giant Zombie and the Assassin Zombies.

But…

‘Once this stage ends, I’ll need gold to construct the special unit building and summon the special units. If I burn too much gold now, I’ll be left with nothing…’

He had to save as much gold as possible.

In short, he needed to preserve his current units.

‘No choice. I’ll use that method.’

It was a strategy once used by another streamer before his regression.

At the time, it had caused a huge stir because of how broken it was, and eventually it was patched out.

But right now, it was still usable.

“Alright then.”

Exitra dumped all his gold into durability upgrades.

His durability skyrocketed to Level 15.

Viewers were stunned.

• What the?! All-in on durability?!
• Exitra, shouldn’t you be boosting movement speed and attack power instead…?
• With this, you might tank the Assassin, but against the Giant Zombie…

To fight the Giant Zombie, you normally needed high movement speed to keep up and high attack power to bring it down quickly.

But durability all-in? That seemed suicidal.

• This is doomed!
• Exitra finally lost it!
• The zombie assault is about to begin.
• Ahhh! It started!
• Can he really… survive this?
• Ex-hyung! If it’s you, you can do it!!
• Yeah! Dogry’s gonna have to shave his eyebrows!!
• Hyung, we believe in you!

“Let me focus for a moment.”

Exitra’s expression hardened, deadly serious.

He was pouring all his concentration into this.

Even the slightest mistake would mean getting overrun.

He had to fight the zombie wave, the Assassin Zombies, and the Giant Zombie—all at once.

No room for error.

• Ugh…
• Uuuuuh…

The zombies began marching in.

Unlike at the start, their movement speed was noticeably faster.

Their AI had also improved.

• Uuuh… uuuh…
• Uuuuhhhh…

The zombies headed straight for the transmitter.

The special signal from the transmitter was pulling their aggro.

This was the Cyborg’s weakness.

If the transmitter was destroyed, every Cyborg in that zone would immediately self-destruct.

That meant players using Cyborgs had to defend both the crystal and the transmitter at the same time.

This was why Cyborg was considered one of the hardest classes to play.

• Ssshhhhh… ssshhhhh…

The Assassin Zombie quietly slipped into the base.

It climbed up onto a tall building, carefully searching for its target.

It was waiting for the perfect chance to strike—cautious, deliberate, lethal.

Meanwhile, the Giant Zombie…

• ROOOOAAARRRR!!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Caution? Strategy?

That monster knew none of it.

If it caught you, you died.

If it grabbed you, you got thrown.

If you blocked it, it broke through.

That was all.

Not even thoughts—just pure instinct driving its rampage.

• Wow, that’s brain-dead.
• It’s stomping all the other zombies, lol.
• Reporting for intentional teamkilling.
• I hate teamkillers!

The Giant Zombie rampaged without caring about friend or foe.

Any zombie in front of it was crushed underfoot.

Anything in its hands was hurled sky-high.

It was a total outlaw—pure chaos in the flesh.

• ROOOOAAARRRR!!

“What a terrifying beast…”

Exitra narrowed his eyes.

Then he began issuing commands.

Team One, focus on the zombies in front of you.

Team Two, support Team One by attacking from the side.

Team Three, cover Team One’s—”

“Ugh…”

Exitra gave out commands in a dizzying flow.

Every single order was sharp and immediate.

Because he gave such detailed directions, the cyborgs were cutting down zombies with incredible efficiency.

Long-time viewers were already used to this sight, but the new arrivals were utterly shocked.

[What the hell? How is he even doing that??]

[Are cyborgs supposed to move like that??]

[The skill gap between him and Dogry is insane…]

[I thought he was a beginner, but he’s clearly an old pro?!]

Exitra’s control was on a completely different level compared to other streamers.

And he was doing it with the notoriously difficult cyborg class, no less.

“Hm?”

While controlling a cyborg, Exitra noticed something.

He immediately activated Mind Share.

Mind Share allowed Exitra to borrow the body of a chosen unit and control it directly.

It was a very convenient function, letting him see the battlefield with his own eyes and issue precise commands in real time.

Unlike just looking at the map, it gave him the ability to assess the atmosphere of the field and respond quickly.

But it wasn’t without drawbacks.

When using Mind Share, he lost access to the overall map view.

He could only command units within earshot of the host body.

Issuing global commands was impossible.

That’s why in the early stages—when only regular zombies appeared—Mind Share wasn’t very useful.

It only became valuable once special zombies started showing up.

“I definitely saw it around here…”

Now inside one of Team Three’s cyborgs, Exitra turned his head.

A yellow dot had appeared nearby earlier.

It was the marker for an Assassin Zombie.

‘But it disappeared so fast…’

Red dots on the map only showed up when a cyborg had direct line of sight.

If zombies were outside their vision range, the map wouldn’t display them.

That’s why it was crucial to spread out units and secure vision.

“Where did it—”

Shhhk… shhhhk…

“Above?”

Exitra looked up.

On the rooftop was an Assassin Zombie, cloaked in a black hood.

It was aiming directly at the cyborg Exitra was Mind Sharing.

Shhhreeeek!!

The Assassin Zombie hurled itself forward.

Its speed was terrifying.

Despite the distance, it closed in within an instant.

“Damn…”

A sudden ambush!

If that thing got close, its razor claws would rip him apart.

[Ahhh!]

[Exitra’s gonna die!!]

But Exitra stayed calm, watching the incoming attack without panic.

He already knew the zombie was nearby.

There was no need to be flustered.

‘I’ve always known my physical reflexes are lacking. But…’

He had one overpowered skill: Multitasking.

Where his physical ability failed, information and calculation filled the gap.

‘The attack pattern is always head-on. It leaps directly at its target.’

‘What’s its speed?’

‘How much distance is left?’

‘Can the unit react fast enough?’

‘What’s the timing?’

‘What’s the position?’

‘How do I counter?’

Exitra processed all these factors simultaneously and reached a conclusion.

Something no ordinary player could do—his Multitasking allowed it.

“Now…!”

He made his move.

Just before the Assassin Zombie’s claws connected, Exitra twisted his body.

‘Got you.’

He grabbed the zombie’s outstretched arm and flipped it hard.

BAM!!

Using its own momentum, he slammed it straight into the ground.

The force of its charge made the throw devastating.

The Assassin Zombie couldn’t even twitch afterward.

His judo-like counter had worked flawlessly.

And this was only possible because he had boosted the cyborg’s movement and attack speed early on.

Without those upgrades, he wouldn’t have reacted in time even if he saw it coming.

“Nearby unit, attack the Assassin Zombie with your sword!!”

Even while using Mind Share—where long-distance commands weren’t possible—he could still order units close by.

Whirr!

Clank!

Following his command, a nearby cyborg extended a blade from its left arm.

It drove the sword straight into the pinned Assassin Zombie.

SCREEEEECH!!

And just like that, the Assassin Zombie met a pathetic end.

Normally, its blistering speed made it almost impossible to catch.

But Exitra had taken it down flawlessly.

[No way? Was that even possible?]

[What just happened??]

[All I saw was the zombie flying at him, then suddenly… it was dead??]

[Did I miss something??]

The viewers had barely been able to follow.

The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye.

Even seeing it with their own eyes, it was hard to believe.

[Assassin Zombie has donated 10,000 won.]

<Wait, what? How did I die??>

[??? : No idea.]

[??? : One second I was alive, the next I was in hell…]

[What the hell just happened??]

[Seriously, how did he even catch that thing?!]

“Ah, well… that’s—”

Exitra was about to explain to the viewers.

But then—

THUD THUD THUD THUD!!

“Damn…”

A Giant Zombie was charging straight toward them at terrifying speed.

“I’ll explain later—after we kill that thing.”

The next challenge had arrived.