Crimson Rain Suicide Zombies
Dark clouds gathered in the sky.
"What the hell? Sudden downpour?"
"Doesn't look like rain clouds, though?"
"Huh? You think not?"
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't mere rain clouds—it was a darkness far deeper, an ominous aura unto itself.
"Holy shit, you're right."
"Crazy... so what the hell is that?"
The aura halted above the zombies' heads, then began to pour down a red rain.
"This feels bad..."
He knew of the zombie sorcerer class, but he didn't have every detail mastered.
All he vaguely recalled was that it summoned zombies in massive numbers and had annoyingly tricky skills.
There had only been one user of that class, and they'd stubbornly kept all info hidden to the end.
No helping it.
When he couldn't think of a proper counter, he could always sacrifice skeletons.
"Users, fall back!"
"Huh?"
"Those zombies look off. Let's see what happens first."
"Oh, got it!"
"Everyone, pull back!"
Right then, the low-HP Armor Knights and Armor Cavalry advanced.
Around that time.
The blood-red rain perfectly drenched every zombie.
The zombies' bodies began to writhe. It grew worse by the second, convulsing violently as if about to burst.
It felt like the zombies themselves were swelling and shrinking repeatedly.
Grrraaahhh!
With a terrifying pulse, one zombie charged forward.
Armor Knight 22, advance.
The Armor Knight plunged into the zombie horde.
It collided with a zombie.
-EXPLOSION
The Armor Knight shattered into dust amid the massive blast.
Armor Knight 7 has been reverse summoned.
He'd expected it to die with its low HP, but seeing it pulverized like that was a first.
"Crazy, suicide bombing?"
"Are those zombies coming to blow themselves up?"
"Holy crap, this is ridiculous."
Another zombie slammed into a different Armor Knight's shield.
Boom, KABOOM!
The zombie's body exploded just like the first.
Armor Knight 11 takes 8,700 damage.
Even blocked by the shield, it lost 8,700 HP.
Absurd damage.
Something's up.
Mu-hyuk quickly commanded Armor Knight 11 to lower its shield.
KABOOM!
He checked the dropping HP in a flash.
Armor Knight 11 takes 15,000 damage.
Without the shield, only 15,000 lost. No, "only" wasn't quite right for that damage, but compared to the shielded block, it was inexplicably lower.
Hmm.
The suicide skill seemed to pierce right through the shield's shock absorption. There was no other explanation.
Anyway, good intel.
Unblocked: 15,000.
Blocked: around 8,700.
That was the zombie suicide damage.
"Fall back further!"
"Y-yeah!"
"And summoner users, call out your summons and send 'em at the zombies!"
"Got it!"
While at it, he ran one more test.
Thwip!
He loosed an arrow at a distant zombie.
6,211 damage inflicted.
Attribute Strike (359) activated.
Damage landed, but the zombie didn't explode.
Hitting alone wouldn't trigger it.
One piece of info down, but not enough—he targeted the same one with a skill.
Storm, Sky Piercing Archery First Form: Pinpoint Shot.
A solid hit.
KABOOM!
The body was crushed in the explosion.
Experience gained.
Contribution...
Then its body swelled massively and burst.
BOOM!
The suicide skill triggered.
Explodes on death, huh.
That meant one more test.
Mu-hyuk spotted a zombie charging an Armor Knight, nocked an arrow.
Far enough not to hit the knight, but close enough for the two to be near each other.
Thwip!
He released at the zombie.
6,209 damage inflicted.
Attribute Strike (358) activated.
This time, it suicided without dying.
"Got it."
"Huh? Got what?"
Mu-hyuk answered Sung Min-woo's question.
"The suicide triggers based on conditions."
"Whaddya mean?"
"You can kill 'em with ranged attacks. But no Forma users or their summons nearby. Otherwise, even non-lethal hits make 'em blow."
"Ah, so that's why the first one exploded just from colliding? Your skeleton was close."
"Exactly."
He relayed this to all users.
"Oh ho, so..."
"Ranged users step up?"
He directed the agreeing users.
"Melee users, fall back for now. Ranged, form groups of five—one per zombie. Focus fire to kill. Ignore close ones to summons—they'll kamikaze anyway. Prioritize distant ones."
"Got it!"
"Let's do this!"
Having acknowledged Mu-hyuk's command, the users united and moved.
Groups formed in seconds, unleashing on the zombies.
Of course, they skipped those near skeletons—the zombies charged shields and exploded on their own.
Boom, KABOOM!
Explosions from suicides.
Roars from attacks.
Even the desperate screams of the dwindling Kairon hostiles.
The space filled with noise.
Five minutes passed?
Forma continent users' faces grew uneasy.
"Too many zombies."
"Kill 'em all, more come. No end."
"They're down a lot, but whew..."
Meanwhile, most summons had been reverse-summoned by blast aftershocks.
"This pace, we're in trouble."
"Zombie blast radius is nasty."
Remaining summons dwindled fast.
"At this rate, the line breaks soon!"
"What now, Mu-hyuk?"
All eyes on Mu-hyuk.
Ha, no choice.
No more hesitation.
Summon Absorption
Remaining time: 215 seconds
He had to end it before Summon Absorption ran out.
"Focus up!"
"Y-yeah."
"Mu-hyuk, got a plan?"
"One idea, no guarantees. Worth a shot."
"Ooh, knew it!"
"What do we do?"
"Healers first?"
"Y-yeah!"
"Everyone, front and center."
Twenty-four healers lined up before Mu-hyuk.
"I'm gonna detonate a bunch of zombies."
"Huh...?"
"So focus heals on me. Use in order from your spots. I'll raise fingers for the count—two fingers means two of you heal right after blasts."
"O-okay."
"Timing's critical. Heal right after explosions. Too early or late, I'm toast."
"G-got it."
They nodded.
"Count on you."
With that, Mu-hyuk kicked off the ground.
Whoosh.
Shield out, he raised one finger.
Then shoved a zombie.
---------!
The blast shoved him back hard as it suicided.
5,600 damage taken.
His high defense and shock absorption kept damage lower than an Armor Knight's.
Still, 5,600 wasn't trivial.
HP (5,600) recovered.
HP ticked up right then.
Good.
Timing solid.
He raised three fingers. Charged a cluster of three zombies.
They lunged. He shield-bashed one on timing—chain explosions from all three.
5,600 damage taken. ×3
HP (5,600) recovered. ×3
HP over 40,000—still room.
Surrounding zombies swarmed.
Whoosh.
White Tiger Steps dodged most, but one clipped him. He thrust up five fingers.
Boom, KABOOM!
Chain blast.
Amid endless pops, he fixated on HP.
30,000 gone in a flash.
Then refilled.
Another blast stripped 20,000+.
Life Exchange
Skill topped HP urgently.
Wind Step
Retreated with Wind Step, losing HP to a few more blasts.
Clear of aftershocks, he raised three fingers. Charged a lone zombie a bit off.
5,600 damage taken. ×1
HP (6,755) recovered.
HP (6,330) recovered.
HP (2,910) recovered.
HP topped off, he raised fingers again.
Two this time.
Scanned zombies, raised fingers per count, blocked suicides, got healed—repeat.
Overcame the danger.
"Hoo..."
Over 200 zombies gone.
"Mu-hyuk! Our cooldowns!"
"No heals left!"
He halted at the call from behind.
Fell back immediately.
Users swarmed Mu-hyuk on return, exclamations flying.
"Insane! You're the man!"
"Solo... wow."
He'd bought time, but Summon Absorption expired. Shaking off regret, he eyed the users.
"Any summons off cooldown?"
"Yeah!"
"Mine too."
"Same."
"Resummon and block zombies again."
"On it!"
His stunt turned the tide. 200 zombies down was huge.
Some breathing room. Some users' summon cooldowns reset.
"Mine's back!"
New summons matched losses, blocking suicides.
"Kairon mercs almost gone!"
"Push a bit more!"
Ranged users kept firing.
Armor Archers, Power Shot.
Armor Mages, all-out magic.
Cavalry archers and Armor Mages shone.
Contribution (1) increased.
Contribution (29) increased.
Contribution...
After standoff, Mu-hyuk coldly assessed while clearing zombies.
Hostiles: about ten left.
Zombies: roughly 100.
Us?
Some users resummoned a few.
"I can now!"
"Me too, oppa!"
Sung Min-woo's spirit and Ye-rin's squirrel too.
Momentum ours.
He quickly tore the Sacred Battle Scroll.
Sacred Battle Scroll used.
Barrier installed.
Allies identified.
Enemies identified.
Barrier persists until one side annihilated.
Logout impossible.
Couldn't let even one log.
Other reason too.
Had to take out the zombie sorcerer and trap user.
Let 'em flee, backstab would piss him off royally.
They might've died already, but unlikely.
So, at least one.
Maybe two.
Find and finish 'em, done.
"One last push!"
End in sight?
They scraped up remaining strength.
"Let's gooo!"
"Raaah!"
Zombie numbers plummeted.
70, 60, 50.
Hostiles dropped one by one.
Finally.
All remaining summons charged the last zombies.
KABOOM!
Chain explosion.
"It's over!"
Clean sweep.