Chapter 187 - 186: As-You-Will Divine Sword, One Slash

"Hey, Fan. There's a room in Building 15 making a huge racket. We were worried it might be that Giant-Armed Zombie you mentioned, so we didn't open the door... You want to go check it out together?"

Su Qing handed her own sword to Chu Zhaozhao, letting her fly it around for fun, before walking over to Lin Fan to ask him.

"A Giant-Armed Zombie?"

Lin Fan recalled that the first time they found a Giant-Armed Zombie, they'd also heard a lot of noise from inside a room. 'It's very likely, then. A perfect chance to test my new weapon.'

He had already planned to clear the buildings with them after finishing his weapon. After all, everyone gained Life Value from Mutated Zombies, and he also got drops.

That way, they could take care of the regular zombies, and he could watch over them as they fought the Mutated ones. It would be much more efficient.

"Zhaozhao!"

Lin Fan walked over to Chu Zhaozhao, who was putting on a show with five Flying Swords. He pinched her ear and yelled,

"Playtime's over! Let's go!"

"Eek, gently! Oww, oww, oww..."

...

"So, the third floor?"

The group arrived at the base of another building not far away. Lin Fan looked up, pointed at a balcony window, and asked,

"That's the one?"

Ever since her hearing was damaged, Chu Zhaozhao had been a bit slow on the uptake. No one had specifically explained to her what they were doing, so it wasn't until she saw Lin Fan's gesture that she finally let out an "Ah!" of understanding and quickly shouted:

"Yes, yes, yes! That's the one! The noise was incredible! Sister Qing and I talked it over and decided not to open the door!"

"Could it possibly be louder than you!?"

Lin Fan yelled back at her, but then suddenly felt his own voice had been a little too loud...

BOOM!

SMASH!

With a muffled bang, Lin Fan felt the entire building in front of him tremble. The shockwave hit the third and fourth floors, along with several adjacent windows, and dozens of panes of glass shattered in an instant, creating a piercing noise like countless birds shrieking at once!

"Get back!"

Lin Fan threw his arms out to shield the two women as they retreated, dodging the spray of shattered glass.

THUD!

A fist the size of a basketball smashed into the third-floor balcony's aluminum alloy window frame, warping it on impact. Several sliding window panes were knocked loose and sent flying.

'So it really is a Giant-Armed Zombie.'

Su Qing pulled Chu Zhaozhao further back. Xu Qian, who was already standing behind them, saw this and retreated with them.

Chu Zhaozhao already had a self-made wire harness around her waist, where she usually kept her two spear-tipped Flying Swords.

Now, however, she had three additional swords, having collected the others' weapons for unified safekeeping.

As she ran, the swords knocked together with a loud CLANG CLANG CLANG. The sound made Lin Fan, who was intently watching the floor above, cringe. 'I'll definitely have to find Wu Haitao later and have him figure out a way to make some scabbards,' he thought. 'Can't let the edges get chipped...'

THUD!

Another explosive crash!

The window frame finally gave way under the zombie's immense strength. It tore loose from the balcony, taking a section of the low wall with it, and flew more than ten meters before crashing onto the concrete below.

The towering figure of the Giant-Armed Zombie finally appeared amidst the dust on the balcony. After a moment's hesitation, it leaped straight out, swinging its fists as it plummeted toward Lin Fan!

The Giant-Armed Zombie's legs weren't in great shape; it lost over ten points of health the moment it landed. But powered by its downward plunge, the fully charged blow was still immensely powerful!

[1988/2000]!

BOOM!

With a deafening crash, the ground several meters in front of its landing point was completely shattered by the twin fists. Countless fragments of concrete shot out, flying straight toward Lin Fan!

"Catch!"

Watching from a short distance away, Su Qing had anticipated this the moment she saw the zombie pounce. She quickly unstrapped the shield from her arm and tossed it toward Lin Fan!

Lin Fan casually caught the shield, but instead of raising it to block, he gently caressed the dents and holes on its surface. A blue light shone from beneath his hand.

Then, to the bewilderment of Su Qing and the other two, a massive metal object appeared before Lin Fan with a loud CLANG, like an iron wall. He reached out, steadied it, and pressed it down firmly, fixing it to the ground.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP—

A series of dull thuds, like someone striking an iron tower, echoed as countless shards of brick and stone bombarded the metal wall. But the strangely shaped barrier didn't move an inch, its sturdiness and mass exuding a reassuring sense of security.

"Take it back. I have something bigger."

Lin Fan casually tossed the small shield back. Su Qing caught it, only to find that the dents and damage on its surface had completely vanished. The entire shield was as smooth and flawless as if it had just been "crafted."

The pristine shield gave her a strange, dreamlike feeling. If it weren't for the ringing in her ears, she might have believed their previous battles against the Mutated Zombies had been nothing but a hallucination.

"A sh-shield?"

Chu Zhaozhao yelled from the side, utterly confused.

'In her mind, Lin Fan didn't seem like the type to use a shield. He was steady and reliable in daily life, but in battle, she always felt he was more... more wild...'

But then, she faintly saw what looked like a hilt underneath the "shield"...

This was precisely the new weapon Lin Fan had made for himself.

One point nine meters long, fifty-five centimeters wide, with a one-point-four-meter blade, a fifty-centimeter hilt, and a thickness of five centimeters...

A greatsword.

It weighed exactly 100 kilograms. This wasn't the limit of Lin Fan's own strength, but the maximum mass attainable by the medium-sized interface module.

In fact, if the greatsword had been forged from scrap metal, its total weight would have far exceeded the module's limit. To reduce its density while ensuring its hardness, Lin Fan had even used eighty units of Rare Metal in its construction...

However, Lin Fan still couldn't wield the 100-kilogram greatsword with complete freedom. Unlike a well-balanced spear, a greatsword's center of gravity is too far forward. The strength required just to lift it with his arms far exceeded 500 kilograms.

But fortunately, Lin Fan didn't need to rely solely on his physical strength to control the blade...

The CLINK-CLANK of impacts subsided. The others, who were watching the battlefield intently, were suddenly surprised to see the "shield" that had appeared out of nowhere just as abruptly vanish.

And the instant the shield disappeared, Lin Fan moved...

The Giant-Armed Zombie on the other side had smashed a large crater in the complex's paved road, exposing the dark brown earth beneath.

It was just now pulling its arms free from the soil.

In three great strides, Lin Fan crossed the ten-plus meters between man and monster. He then suddenly leaped high into the air, completely exposing himself within the Giant-Armed Zombie's attack range!

The zombie had just used its ability and its energy was still recovering. Seeing its prey pounce directly at it, it instinctively raised its massive arms, trying to grab the airborne hunter!

"Hmph..."

Lin Fan's eyes looked past the giant arms, fixed on the zombie's skull. The corners of his mouth curled into a smirk. He let out a soft chuckle; faced with the monster's converging hands attempting to grab him, he felt not the slightest ripple of alarm.

He neither dodged nor evaded. Instead, while still in mid-air, he simply raised his arms diagonally forward, his hands forming a grip as if holding a barrel...

"Sword!"

The greatsword appeared in his hands as abruptly as it had vanished. The moment it materialized, its immense mass was seized by gravity. Guided by the momentum of Lin Fan's entire body, it slowly began to rotate.

This slab of gray-black metal, nearly larger than Lin Fan himself, accelerated slowly, like a meteorite falling from the heavens.

Gravitational potential energy converted into unstoppable kinetic energy. Trailing a flowing light that suffused its cutting edge, the blade descended, crashing down upon the Giant-Armed Zombie below!

SWOOSH—

Like a utility knife through paper, or an autumn wind sweeping up fallen leaves.

The greatsword gathered a devastating sharpness, carrying the rumble of muffled thunder. Yet the cut itself was silent, like a hot knife through butter. The blade met the Giant-Armed Zombie's raised hands and sliced them apart, continuing effortlessly through its skull, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and halfway down its thighs.

[-1999]!

THUD!

The greatsword struck the ground at an angle, kicking up a spray of dirt, but in the next instant, it vanished from sight as if it had never been there at all.

Lin Fan landed on the ground and leaped back sharply, dodging the splash of gore.

Su Qing, Chu Zhaozhao, and Xu Qian just stood there dumbfounded, their mouths agape, having forgotten to even cry out in alarm when Lin Fan had put himself in danger.

This was especially true for Chu Zhaozhao. Her eyes, which usually held a somewhat dazed look due to her "deafness," were now blazing with a fiery passion...

One strike,

two halves.

The two halves of the Giant-Armed Zombie's body toppled over, one after the other. Thick, viscous gore oozed from the cross-sections, slowly flowing into the deep crater the zombie had just created, forming a pool of blood.