Lin Wan'er's arrival acted like a shot of adrenaline for the survivors, driving them to hurl themselves at the zombie horde with renewed vigor.
Yet atop the perimeter wall, Wu Jingying's expression turned grim.
Down on the battlefield, a massive Moulter wasn't charging the base. Instead, it was devouring the corpses of dead zombies scattered around it!
As it continually gorged on its fallen kind, its frame ballooned.
It had already swelled to nearly three meters tall, its body bursting with thick, dense muscle. It looked far more terrifying than any ordinary Moulter.
Even so, it didn't stop devouring. It lumbered relentlessly from one corpse to the next.
As its size increased, its maw widened. It needed only two bites to swallow a standard zombie whole.
Before long, it was gulping down entire corpses in a single snap.
Its height crossed the five-meter mark.
It had transformed into a horrific scavenger on the battlefield, sweeping through the fallen and consuming them one by one.
Watching this, Wu Jingying's pupils shrank to pinpricks. "This is bad... A Swallower has appeared!"
A survivor beside her overheard and asked in surprise, "A Swallower? What's that?"
Wu Jingying replied, "Back when I was out scavenging, I happened to witness a battle involving the Dragon Empire's regular ability user force. The monster they fought was a Swallower!
"That monster had already reached the ten-meter class. The empire's five-man team were all Earth Ranking powerhouses! Even then, they lost two members before they finally put it down!
"According to them, if a Swallower is left unchecked, it will keep devouring until it stands hundreds or even thousands of meters tall-a nightmare almost impossible to destroy.
"A ten-meter Swallower took five Earth Ranking masters to kill. This one is already at five meters! We have to kill it right now, or our entire base will be eaten clean!"
Anxiety and gravity weighed heavily on Wu Jingying's face.
Swallowers were exceptionally rare, mutated from only the most unique Moulters.
She had never imagined their base would run into one. This might be a battle they couldn't win.
The strongest combatants in the base were her and Lin Wan'er.
Both were Yellow Ranking fighters.
Against a Swallower, the Yellow Ranking wasn't enough!
They had to crush this thing in its cradle before it grew any further!
Wu Jingying turned to the defender beside her and ordered, "Keep holding the line and stop the zombies from entering the base. I'm going down to join Wan'er so we can take out that Swallower together!"
"Big Sis, I'm coming with you!" a young ability user called out.
He had known Wu Jingying before the apocalypse and had harbored a crush on her back then.
When the end came, he had followed her faithfully. Though his love remained unspoken, he had become her most loyal follower.
Facing a Swallower was a suicide mission. He couldn't let her go alone-he was fully prepared to lay down his life to protect her.
Wu Jingying gave the young man a firm nod.
The two leaped down from the ten-meter-high wall. Zombies instantly swarmed them, but moving with speed and precision, they cut a path through the horde toward Lin Wan'er.
Before long, the two groups converged.
When Wu Jingying reached her side, Lin Wan'er was startled. "Sister Jingying, what are you doing down here? We can handle this sector-go back and guard the base!"
Wu Jingying shook her head. "Wan'er, a Swallower has appeared. We need to team up and kill it first. The rest of the horde can wait!"
"A Swallower?" Lin Wan'er frowned in confusion.
"That monster over there," Wu Jingying said, pointing at the towering beast. "It grows stronger by devouring everything in its path. If it keeps going, it'll eat our entire base!"
Lin Wan'er followed her gaze. "I saw it ignoring the base and eating its own kind, so I thought it was just crazy. I was hoping they'd wipe each other out... I had no idea it was a Swallower."
Wu Jingying explained, "They do turn on their own kind. Once the corpses are gone, it'll eat the living zombies. And when the living zombies are gone, it'll breach the base and devour us!
"If it gets any bigger, we won't stand a chance. We have to kill it now."
"Got it!" Lin Wan'er nodded.
Together with several other ability users, they charged toward the Swallower.
By now, the creature had reached six meters in height!
Bulging, explosive muscle wrapped its frame, and every step it took shook the ground beneath it.
It continued grabbing zombie corpses, occasionally snagging live, roaming zombies and stuffing them into its maw.
Though low in intelligence, the nearby Moulters were driven away by primal terror. They knew that stepping too close meant becoming its next meal.
When the human squad appeared in its sight, the Swallower's eyes ignited with newfound excitement. It shifted its focus straight to them.
"ROAR!"
With a deafening howl, the Swallower lunged toward a heavily built male ability user.
The man froze, goosebumps erupting across his skin as sheer terror gripped him.
He activated his ability, unleashing a desperate barrage at the monster.
Yet the Swallower's strength, speed, defense, and sheer mass had vastly surpassed normal limits.
Even without an ability of its own, it was virtually invincible against Yellow Ranking combatants!
The man's attack struck its body like an itch, failing to slow the beast by even a fraction of a second.
"Damn it-it's too fast!"
BOOM!
A massive fist crashed down. Before the man could dodge, he was smashed flat, killed instantly.
The Swallower scooped his mangled remains from the earth and shoved them into its mouth.
"ROAR!"
Fresh human ability user flesh was infinitely more delicious than rot-infested zombies!
Having tasted its first ability user, the Swallower's eyes gleamed with wild euphoria.
With even greater frenzy, it surged toward the remaining ability users!
Panic washed over Wu Jingying and Lin Wan'er's faces.
The other defenders were utterly terrified.
"A six-meter Swallower is already this strong?!"
"Big Sis, our attacks aren't even scratching it!"
"What do we do? We can't beat this thing!"
"Should... should we run?"