Dustin had two ways to deal with the zombie hordes. Besides using mountains to crush them, he could also use supreme divine power to extract the death energy from their bodies.
Once drained of that energy, the zombies would collapse into corpses. But the process was inefficient because he would need to extract energy from each zombie individually.
When facing thousands of zombies, it was like trying to drain a lake with a cup. It would drain his strength long before it made a difference.
Dustin knew brute force was far more efficient than draining death energy individually. The best solution was to herd all the zombies into one place and crush them with his mountain-moving abilities. It was simple, fast, and devastatingly effective.
The only challenge lay in concentrating the zombie army. Given their nature, even one escaped zombie could cause the virus to spread rapidly again.
After flattening the horde beneath the mountain, Dustin shot upward in a flash and reappeared inside the hovering helicopter.
“Reedcrest’s crisis is handled. What’s the status of the other three cities? Where should I head next?” he asked Grace.
Her face turned serious. “Thornwick is in chaos. Matthias ignored our warnings and deployed regular military forces instead. Not only were they completely ineffective, but their presence actually accelerated the spread of the zombie virus.
“More than 10,000 people in that city have already been infected and turned into zombies. If we can still rescue anyone, we need to act fast. Otherwise, things will spiral out of control.”
Matthias’ arrogance and stubbornness infuriated her. He had acted recklessly for the sake of proving himself and salvaging his reputation while gambling with countless civilian lives. Such foolishness was inexcusable.
If Dragonmarsh’s future ever fell into the hands of such a reckless person, countless people would suffer. Despite her anger, Grace had no choice but to clean up his mess for the sake of the people.
“If the situation in Thornwick has already spiraled out of control, even my strength alone won’t be enough to eliminate all the zombies,” Dustin analyzed rationally. ” Matthias has to cooperate and round them up in one place. Without that, there’s no way to deal with it efficiently.”
Going there now would be like fighting a forest fire with a cup of water if Matthias hadn’t evacuated civilians and gathered the zombies.
The wiser choice would be to visit the other two cities first to stabilize those situations. After resolving their problems, he could then focus all his efforts on helping Thornwick.
“You’re right. I didn’t think it through,” Grace admitted with a nod.
She continued, “I’ve already sent reinforcements to help Matthias hold the line and protect civilians. As for Harbortown and Sommertown, they’ve both managed to lure the zombies into containment zones as planned. I recommend starting with Harbortown since it’s closer.”
“Got it. I’ll head there now,” Dustin replied.
Without another word, his figure vanished from the helicopter. A second later, he reappeared about 330 feet away, streaking through the air like a meteor toward Harbortown at blinding speed.
First the plague, then the scarlet mist, and now zombie armies. Ever since setting foot in Ashen Coast, he hadn’t stopped moving. He had been constantly rushing from one emergency to another.
He finally understood what “with great power comes great responsibility” truly meant. Even a terrestrial immortal would feel exhausted from this endless cycle of crises, but he had no choice.
With countless lives at stake and the safety of Ashen Coast hanging in the balance, he could only grit his teeth and persevere no matter how difficult or tiring it became.
Unlike the mountainous terrain of Reedcrest, Harbortown was situated near the ocean and was renowned for its extensive harbor network.
Following advice from Milton and his team of advisors, Tristan had organized over a dozen suicide squads to lure the entire zombie horde into the city’s largest harbor.
Tristan’s original plan was to drown the zombie army in the ocean. Unfortunately, he quickly discovered this strategy wouldn’t work since zombies weren’t afraid of water.
More precisely, zombies were reanimated corpses that relied on death energy and the zombie virus within their bodies to sustain all movement, so they couldn’t possibly be drowned. The water could only slightly restrict their mobility without providing any fundamental solution.
Drowning wasn’t the only tactic Tristan had tried. He’d also used incendiary bombs to burn them and launched concentrated artillery strikes to blow them apart.
The strikes had done some damage, but there were just too many of them. And with every zombie practically bulletproof, they were nearly impossible to kill unless blown to pieces.
The bigger problem was that large-scale artillery attacks would devastate the city itself. Even if they could eliminate the zombies, sustained bombardment would likely destroy half the city.
That kind of price was too high. Unless the situation became hopeless, destroying the city to save it made no sense.
At least for now, Tristan hadn’t reached that breaking point yet. In his mind, there was still that terrestrial immortal who could serve as their ultimate backup plan. Once that powerhouse intervened, dealing with this zombie army should pose no real challenge.
