Terror Infinity Side B

Chapter 22, H.O.T.D 2

- *RUMBLE*!

First came the vibrations of a small quake which every soldier on the front lines felt under the soles of their feet. An earthquake was worrisome, but Japan was a country where they were common and their citizens wouldn't panic so easily. Still, for Team Japan they knew of a reason to worry and Shin called for both Hikari and Shuai to immediately scan the area underground. Hikari and her Perosna Adrasteia and Shuai's Gnome both confirmed the same thing. A large black mass was tunneling under the earth at a neck breaking speed and was being followed by a horde of evolved zombies. They were charging from the legion of zombies and were just under the front line of the human army,

Shin: "Shuai! Collapse the tunnel!"

Shin meant to say it only over Soul Link, but he anxiously yelled out loud for Shuai by HQ to collapse the tunnel, but it was no use. The moment Shuai was set to collapse the tunnel, the undead felt the vibrations through the earth and they took immediate and swift action. With a large boom the ground blew up as the leading undead punched the roof of the tunnel with a large blast spreading dust in all directions. The human army panicked for a moment seeing their vision obstructed with the knowledge zombies would be pouring out of the dust cloud any second, yet a swift order from their superiors to not wait for the enemy to show themselves came. As ordered the soldiers shot into the cloud of dust and even threw grenades over to wipe THEM out, yet to their shock they found not one of their weapons effective.

Standing tall in front of the various evolved zombies like a towering wall protecting them was a giant approximately 10m tall, 6.5m taller than described in the original God and Devil World. This giant with thick arms and feet the width of tree trunks walked forward under the relentless assault of the human army. Thousands of bullet with low magic enchantment, grenades, and rockets impacted and detonated against the giant's body without mercy, yet it's steps never wavered. The giant had a body covered with extremely hard scales and its eyes were filled with slight intelligence emitting a terrifying aura as it looked down on the human's resistance.

Soldier 1: "Oh no... Its a L3!!! Ahhhh!!!"

The legendary figure of the L3 casted a imposing figure over the human shooting out it and the fruitlessly of their attacks failing made their attacks more erratic. People stopped firing rockets at the L3 and the soliders who hadn't runaway as the giant undead walked forward became unfocused. It was just the annoyance of buzzing flies for the L3, yet still annoying. The L3 spotted an abandoned car to the side which was being used as cover before and... picked it up. With just one hand it lifted heavy vehicle and then chucked it with extreme force at a group of ten soldiers who have yet to runaway. The car smashed into the soldiers instantly killing five, while the rest were left crippled from the collision and were soon feasted on by zombies unable to defend themselves.

A small gap in the human side defense was once more opened up and the legion of undead began poring in. The L3 saw the result of the car throwing tactic and the Z3 watching through its eyes ordered it to continue this tactic. And so the Z3 ran forward and began picking up the cars which brought there to impede the undead legion, and threw them over hundreds of meters at critically important stations the Z3 had already spotted during their previous raids. Gun torrents, mortar teams, and towards where the elite snipers were hiding to pick off the evolved zombies. One such car even came crashing towards where Kohta was leading a group of skilled snipers in an abandoned five story building near the border.

As someone over level 40 and a Evolver, Kohta could have jumped jumped out the building on his own with his reflexes, but instead he stood his ground and entered Unlocked Mode. In the First Stage he acquired the reaction speed to see the tossed over car that was about to crash into the building and raised his rifle. With a loud boom the Gauss Sniper Rifle set loose a single shot destroying the car in mid flight. Kohta then immediately had all snipers lying in wait retreat and regroup, while all the while taking a shot at the L3. The Gauss Sniper Rifle roared with another bang and the bullet crashed into the side of the L3's head. The L3 for the first time was forced to take a step back, but that was all. The L3 with only a coin sized dent in its thick armor like skin around the temple, spotted Kohta, and began to take long strides towards him with large steps. With each step taken allowing it to move tens of meters, the earth shook as the giant undead ran forward with speed approaching S2 Agility Types.

Kohta: "Fucking L3! Even with a sci-fi rifle, I still can't kill it! Don't look down on snipers!"

Kohta didn't try to run away knowing it was pointless. It was the fate of a sniper discovered and approached on the battlefield to fall, but he wouldn't go down without a fight. The Gauss Rifle couldn't one shot the L3, but if he kept firing at the dent on its temple a few more times he was sure he could blast through its armor and kill the giant. It was now only a question if a warrior not skilled in close combat like Takashi or Saeko could last so long by themselves against a L3, but thankfully help came.

- *CONTINUOUS GUNFIRE*!

- *EXPLOSION*!

In a surprise attack the bullets from the EMP Rifle and rocket of the Advance Grade Enchanted Bazooka landed on the back of the L3. Both attacks were not something that mortals could withstand, yet the bullets of the EMP Rifle ricocheted off one after another and the hot blast of the explosion just sweet past it's armor, both unable to cause any traces of damage. Shin and Aqua standing behind the L3 were left shock at the resilient defense of the L3. The EMP Rifle was a weapon which could devastate a large army and the bazooka was a modified weapon capable of wiping out all zombies to date without a trace. The L3 then turned around to face the two. They were hidden under cloaks to mask their identities, but their weapons showed that they were priority targets to wipe out according to its Z3 leader. Both the EMP Rifle and the Bazooka with Advance Grade Magic Enchantment were fatal tools against the undead legion's conquest of Tokonosu City, so the Z3 ordered the L3 to forget about the snipers and finish the wielders of these weapons off.

Aqua: "Shin! Our ranged weapons won't work against this freak. We can only rely on the close range and powerful magic weapons to deal with-"

Hikari SL: (Aqua! Shin! There's trouble! One more L3 and four monsters what we suspect to be two S3 and two Hunter Type 2 have just infiltrated our lines of defense. Already close to a thousand soldiers have fallen to them! Saya's father has alreqdy given the order to fall back to the second line of defense to reduce our casualties. Aqua, he wants you to use the EMP Rifle to impede the advance of the legion at the border of the city. The rest of the Walking Dead Unit, our team, and elite Enhancer of the army will wipe out the L3, S3, Hunter Type 2, and all other evolved zombies rushing in. Letting these freaks that can destroy our lines of defense live will spell our doom. Jin agrees with this. He says along side Team Kenya, these highly evolved zombies have the power to turn the battle against us. In his crazed words, "Long as we kill them the battle from here out will be easy! They are also valuable big points and rank rewards we should be striving to-")

Shin SL: (Enough! I don't need you talking like him. Aqua! I'll take care of the L3 here, so do as the Supreme Commander asked. Take a group of Enhancers as backup. I'll also give you one of our two humvees to escape. Hikari, you and Shuai don't escape with the army, but instead meet up with the rest of our team. Take some Enhancers from Saya's father as well and help the main characters fight the evolved zombies, then move back to the second line of defense. Team Kenya may use this opportunity to attack us, so be careful! Ah, but leave one of the DRAGOONs nearby for me. I might need the support fire to make a escape depending on how this goes!)

After relaying his orders Shin took out the armored humvee from his Subspace Belt for Aqua and without waiting to see her drive off he charged towards the L3 Evolved Zombie alone. Aqua too didn't wait to see how Shin would fare and drove off in the humvee without hesitation. This action seemed cold, but it was proof that she believed Shin would be okay without her.

Shin: (It's probably useless, but let's give it a go! Fire Bolt!)

Shin locked eyes with the L3 as he charged forward and he raised his left hand towards the monster. Flames and lightning sparked in the palm of his hands and in a flash the L3 was engulfed in scarlet flames from head to toe radiating electricity. Fire Bolt had so far incinerated all other undead zombies, evolved or otherwise to ashes, yet as Shin expected the battle was not so easily concluded. The L3 stood perfectly still as the scarlet flames burned across its body and then in on motion swinging it's right arm the scarlet flames were blown off completely put out. Not a scratch or scorch mark could be found on the armor skin of the L3.

Shin: (When it comes across a powerful defense this is Fire Bolts limit! Even spamming Fire Bolt 100 times wouldn't harm a L3! I knew when I exchanged for it that this magic was completely ineffective against enemies with too tough skin or armor, but its still a shock when you get used to seeing incinerated remains after one blast!)

Shin fired Fire Bolt again even knowing this as the L3 roared loudly and charging forward. His goal was just to slow it down some, but it was no use. Fire Bolt landed on the body of the charging L3 with a loud boom and enveloping it once more in scarlet flames, yet without wavering once it continued to advance towards Shin with fast and long strides of its feet with it's right fist raised. Fire Bolt was the strongest ranged attack in his arsenal next to Blade Storm, but feeling that even Blade Storm wouldn't work he committed himself fully to his specialty.

Close combat!

- *BOOM*!

The fist of the L3 smashed down towards Shin and he jumped to the side to dodge. A loud bang shaking the earth stuck Shin's ears as the L3's fist tore through the earth leaving behind a three meter deep hole in the ground. The L3 didn't stop there, closing the distance between it and Shin, and immediately threw a left hook. With Instant Movement Shin jumped back once more to dodge the blow and place some distance between them, but with speed almost matching a S2 the L3 leaped forward to follow him. The L3 threw yet another punch, yet this time Shin didn't jump away, but ducked under the punch by a hairs breath with the hood of his cloak ripped off. The punch just missed his head by three centimeters and if it had connected it would have knocked his head off his shoulders, but without fear Shin stepped closer to the L3 with two swords retrieved from the Na Ring.

Shin: (Die!)

It took the L3 three seconds to react, swinging it's powerful arms to push Shin back, yet in those three seconds numerous attacks with Gravity Blade and the Z-Saber hacked and chopped at the undead giant. In those three seconds Shin ran around the L3 with Instant Movement, striking every part of its body ruthlessly. Against a normal human the increased weight slashes of Gravity Blade and the unparalleled sharpness of the Z-Saber would have cut down and killed them dozens of times over, but once more the L3 showed the resistance of its scales and tough body. Sparks flew on contact with the black scales as Gravity Blade could only tear it's skin slightly with scratches and the Z-Saber only merely penetrated a few centimeters into the L3’s flesh, and for a undying giant monster that couldn't feel pain and was over ten meters such small wounds didn't amount to much. It simply took those lethal sword attacks and resumed its own attack.

Shin saw that the L3 didn't foolishly throw a full swing, but small, fast, and compact punches which would have impressed a certain main character of a boxing Manga. Even so, Shin side stepped those large and fast punches shooting towards him like artillery shells and even deflect them to the side with the blades of his swords. The L3 in the face of these skillful actions, speed up while growing more and more accurate with its attacks.

Shin: (Too fucking hard! How about taking on a Dark Walker skill. Dark Blade!)

Against the L3 who was improving with each clash Shin couldn't afford to stay on the defensive any longer, and renewed his attack. The L3's scales were unnaturally strong and it's flesh and bone within were stubbornly durable as well. No wonder even the EMP Rifle which could decimated over a 100,000 zombies with ease couldn't break its defense, but within the Dalk Walker Hidden Class, there was a magic based sword technique to ignore physical defense. Upon activating Dark Blade with both swords, Gravity Blade and Z-Saber were veiled in a glow of darkness and swung at the L3! Gravity Blade slashed open a one inch deep wound across the L3's left thigh and Z-Saber dug half a foot deep into its tree trunk thick right arm. The L3 which could not feel pain didn't stop attack Shin and continued to speed up, now beginning to surpass the speed of a S2, yet Shin grew excited at the success of Dark blade and kept slashing at the L3 without mercy and dodging each blow of the monster by the skin of his teeth without retreating. Shin entered the Second Stage for increased power and speed as it engaged the L3 a clash of fist and sword, each one becoming a blur in a melee exchange of attacks which continued for five seconds.

- *BANG*!

In that last second the L3 fist finally connected and Shin was blown off his feet and into the air. Shin caught and intercepted the monstrous punch of the giant undead in time with his two sword, yet the force still blew him away over 50 meters and tumbling across the ground. It was only a grazing blow which connected, but one enough to reap the life of any warrior, yet thankfully Shin activated Silver Dragon Scales and jumped back to lessen the blow. Upon landing he immediately jumped back up to face the L3, but his arms strengthened by the Second Stage were still shacking from the force of that last punch despite all he had done to decrease the damage.

Shin learned first hand how the L3's power, speed, and weight equaled a power at least 5-10 times what he could produce in his strongest state the Kakuja Kagune. Perhaps even more as the L3 was growing in power and speed in mid battle. At first glance the L3 looked to have won the exchange, yet looking at the giant closely it was hard to say. Without exception every inch of its body was cut deep into by dozens of sword slashes and foul blood seeped out of those wounds.

Shin: "Ha...Ha... Ha... Just a bit more and-"

Gazing at the slashed up L3 Shin felt that he had almost won the battle. It hasn't even been a full minute since Aqua had departed either, so he felt he could in the next minute to join her or help his comrades face the other evolved zombies, but what he saw in the next second erased that confidence.

From the center of the L3's chest a strange purple squid like organisms halfway popped out. At the center of this organism was a large eye which squirmed around till coming to a stop to glare at Shin and opened its mouth to shot countless sharp teeth. Immediately afterwards and from all over small purple tentacles tore out of the tough scales of the L3... and more frighteningly the L3 began to heal from its wounds. All the cuts the L3 suffered at the hands of Shin became smaller and smaller and smaller till they were completely closed up and healed.

This scene left Shin speechless and all thoughts came to a stop. Everything was so out of place and couldn't be explained for the Cross Series Plot from God and Devil World entering the world of High School of the Dead... but somehow Shin felt he recognized the organism from somewhere.

Shin: (I can't recall what that thing is, but it's bad news. It's also what's probably healing the wounds of the L3 that I've inflicted. I also never heard from Takeshi and the others the L3's ability to grow more power in battle. Just that it's power and defense of its black scale skin were out of this world... No matter. Just kill!)

Shin felt his questions would never come to a end if he indulged them, so he shut off unnecessary thoughts off in his mind and focused on the enemy in front of him.

The giant L3 roared loudly with a voice capable of popping eardrums and then stabbed both its hands into the earth and clawed at it repeatedly. It took two seconds to dig through the earth and get half it's body underground and alarm bells wrung in Shin's head. Allowing the L3 to escape, attack from underground, or it going after the human army or his comrades was a bad idea, and so he quickly took action.

Shin put away Gravity Blade, and channeled 1/10 of his Ki into the Z-Saber. The normally green deltoid energy blade shifted to a deep blue blade extending thirty meters long, casting a threatening aura great enough to embed fear into veteran Enhancers who face zombies and mutant beast on almost a daily bases.

Shin: "Mega-Charge, Mega Slash!"

The thirty meter long blue energy blade was swung by Shin and sliced into the earth like a hot blade through snow without meeting any resistance till it reached its target. At the moment of contact Shin felt some slight resistance, yet only for the briefest moment and the blade Shin felt it slash through flesh. A few moments later the L3 shot out of the earth and with a small quack landed back above ground. The L3 looked the same as before, but black spoiled blood from a gaping wound of a cut slashing through the right shoulder to the lung left lung was present. If it was before, such a serious wound may not have killed the L3 but would have at least left it practically crippled, but the purple organism it's chest glowed with a strange light and once again the L3's wounds began to heal.

Shin: (No you don't! Hikari! Fire!)

Shin let loose a roar of his own and made a quick call through Soul Link before moving out. Enraged with this the insanity of it all Shin flew towards L3 with the double acceleration technique using Instant Movement and Void Movement that he had come up with in the previous mission. He had recently given it the name Swift Dash, and it allowed him to momentarily cross a distance ten folds quicker than he normally could with his movement techniques at the cost of fine control. The L3 unexpectedly saw this attack coming all the same with a ominous glint in its eyes, and threw a violent punch at Shin. The L3's fist at that moment glowed with light signaling that this was a special attack. The special attack of the L strength series within the modified plot from God was a power strike. A L1 could flip over a large bus. A L2 could crush a steel wall with ease. As for the L3, it's special attack if striking the earth could create a hundred meter creater where nothing could survive within the blast radius.

Hikari SL: (Af if I'll let you!)

Hikari watching the battle through her scans and hearing the order to attack had one of her DRAGOONs fly in the air behind the L3's back and opened fire. The beam arrived before the L3 and Shin clashed. The beam couldn't penetrate the black scales of the L3, but the blast resulted in the L3 missing Shin by a wide margin. The punch flew wide over his head and the area behind him was blasted with an airforce lifting nearby cars off the streets of the city and into the air.

Shin: (Z-Element Sword, Darkness! Dark Blade!)

The Z-Saber in Shin's hand still in the Second Stage was swung at the torso of the L3 at neck breaking speeds. The energy blade had returned to its normal green color and length, but in that moment darkness cunsumed the blade turning the blade black as the abyss. The darkness elemental properties of the Dark Walker were channeled into the Z-Saber. The Darkness Z-Element Sword had the ability to ignore defense superior to Dark Blade and gained stronger magic damage than the Mega-Charged attack, and furthermore Dark Blade was added to the sword slash for added power as it hacked deep into the torso of the L3. The L3 and the organism inside it's chest was slashed in half with a cut slicing through 3/4 of the giant undead, but Shin was far from finished. He saw the tentacles around the L3 squirm and continued to hack and slash every inch of the L3 in the remaining seconds he had of the Darkness Elemental Sword. In the time span of those ten seconds a flurry of endless slashes, Shin cut down what was once the L3 into over a hundred fleshy pieces and for good measure bordering into over kill, he incinerated the remains with Fire Bolt.

- SIDE QUEST REWARD 4, EVOLUTION TYPE 3 ZOMBIE. ONE L3 TYPE ZOMBIES KILLED. THE WHOLE TEAM IS REWARDED 500 POINTS AND D RANK REWARD!

Shin took one last look at the burn ashes of the L3 even after the notification of the confirmed kill. Only small pieces of the L3's burnt scales remained and none of the strange organism was left. He had double checked that he had heard the notification of his victory before setting off to help his team.

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Authors Note:

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