The End of Balin and a New Mission

All was silent, save for the illusory ticking of a clock, and the bone butterflies unfurling their wings upon Balin.

The sound was akin to raindrops pattering through leaves, yet also a death knell counting down his final moments.

The hands of the clock pulsed twelve times, precisely mirroring a single second in reality, as the trigger was squeezed and fire erupted from the muzzle.

Twelve basin-sized holes instantly erupted across the zombie giant’s body, half of which was already blasted beyond recognition; the reason for only twelve shots was that Yodel Finn was using a rifle this time, its rate of fire considerably slower than a revolver.

However, its advantage lay in significantly reducing the drain on Yodel Finn’s spiritual energy, while also delivering greater single-shot power.

Balin stumbled backward, partly from the impact of the bullets, and partly because a retreat had already blossomed in his mind.

“I can’t win,” he realized, “I truly cannot win.”

Even with Yodel Finn openly raising his rifle to aim, Balin had been utterly incapable of reacting, perceiving only a fleeting afterimage and the muzzle flash before finding himself half-crippled.

His former arrogant demeanor had vanished without a trace, replaced now by a mixture of resentment and envy towards Yodel Finn.

“How can this be! How can you be so powerful? This isn’t fair!”

“Amusing,” Yodel Finn scoffed, “you didn’t seem to care about fairness when you led a mob to ambush Yelica Cooper.”

With twelve more shots ringing out in rapid succession, Balin’s remaining half was shredded, leaving the entire zombie giant teetering on the brink of collapse.

With only a handful of hearts and brains remaining, he could barely fight, let alone escape.

At this moment, Balin could almost foresee his own demise, yet in the face of absolute power, he was reduced to impotent rage.

Just as Yelica Cooper and Yali Miller had been consumed by despair moments ago, Balin now found himself in an even deeper abyss of hopelessness.

“You cheated! You played dirty! I clearly killed you, you should be dead! You should be dead!”

This time, Yodel Finn didn’t need to speak; Yelica Cooper, having recovered her composure, waved her small fists and unleashed a torrent of curses.

“You have the nerve to accuse others? What makes you so special? Is it only you who gets to resurrect?”

Balin glared venomously at Yelica Cooper, but he knew he couldn’t even take her down with him, for Yodel Finn could tear him to shreds in an instant.

He then shifted his gaze back to Yodel Finn, screaming hysterically:

“This is different, this is different! Why is your resurrection…”

‘Why is your resurrection so flawless?’

Balin gazed at his own grotesque, corpse-stitched body, then at Yodel Finn’s smooth, delicate skin, like that of a newborn infant.

‘That was the resurrection he craved! Not this monstrous, neither-human-nor-ghost abomination he had become.’

Before, he could still console himself with the thought that, while unsightly, his strength had at least significantly increased; however, Yodel Finn’s resurrection was akin to activating a cheat code, effortlessly crushing Balin’s ‘perfect body’ into a pathetic state, and this was what truly broke him.

“Is that your final lament? I admit, as a target, you performed admirably.”

Yodel Finn began to gather his strength, preparing for the fourth wave of bullets.

At this sight, fear crept into Balin’s eyes, for he had several profound obsessions in his life:

Revenge against the Chant Church, a primal fear of death, and an insatiable yearning for eternal life.

Now, the first was utterly impossible, but the latter two still clung fiercely to his mind.

“No, wait! Please, I beg you, answer me one question!”

“Ask.”

Yodel Finn nodded, yet did not cease his preparations, his finger already resting on the trigger.

“Are you an Eternal?”

“Yes.”

“Wait, let me ask another: are you immortal?”

“No, but I can resurrect endlessly.”

The gaping maw of the rifle was already aimed at Balin, and the leader of the Eternal Life Society gazed at Yodel Finn, his eyes devoid of anger, merely murmuring repeatedly:

“I envy you so deeply, so deeply… so deeply…”

The revolver’s muzzle roared, and a storm of bullets tore Balin’s shattered remains into mere fragments.

This time, he could not resurrect again.

Sliding the revolver back into his waistband and concealing it with his trench coat, Yodel Finn helped Yelica Cooper to her feet.

Yelica Cooper, her heart now completely at ease, observed Yodel Finn’s appearance after his resurrection up close and in detail for the very first time.

And in that observation, she found herself captivated.

“Hm? Is there something on my face?”

Still scrutinizing Yodel Finn, Yelica Cooper unconsciously voiced her true thoughts:

“You seem to have… become handsomer?”

By the time she realized what she’d said, the words had already escaped her lips.

“Ah… no… it’s just, you feel different from before! I didn’t mean anything else by it!”

In truth, she wasn’t wrong. After Yodel Finn’s perfect resurrection by Thanatos, all of the original body’s scars, hidden injuries, and even various skin conditions had been reset. Yodel Finn’s body was now in peak condition, and his appearance naturally reflected this.

Normally, upon seeing Yelica Cooper’s flustered expression, Yodel Finn would undoubtedly have teased her playfully; however, he now had a crucial matter to attend to:

Tens of thousands of zombies still roamed the university.

Noticing the zombies, Yelica Cooper hastily reminded him:

“Oh, right! There’s an assault team among that horde of zombies; we need to rendezvous with them. Also, the army outside will shell the school at five in the afternoon, so we must evacuate immediately.”

Yodel Finn gazed at the dense mass of zombies filling the plaza, sighing deeply.

Just yesterday, they had been ordinary citizens. Who could have imagined such a tragedy would unfold on the very first day of the new semester?

Frankly, with him and Yelica Cooper working together, aided by the assault team, extracting Yali Miller and the survivors would pose no difficulty.

Yet, to simply leave now left him with a lingering sense of unwillingness.

“After gathering so much intelligence and mobilizing so many people, are tens of thousands still doomed to perish?”

Yelica Cooper urged:

“This is already the best possible outcome. The Eternal Life Society spent centuries developing that serum; how much time did you have to prepare?”

“If not for you, it wouldn’t just be one university; the entire city of Langdon would have become a zombie hellscape.”

“Alas…”

But with things as they were, further regret was meaningless; saving the living was paramount.

Yodel Finn took Yelica Cooper’s hand. “You lead the way; we’re going to rescue people.”

Since Yelica Cooper had only just recovered, and to prevent her from overdrawing her spiritual energy again, the task of rescuing the assault team fell to Yodel Finn.

Within the zombie encirclement, this small unit had been fighting for hours. Just as they neared their limits, they suddenly realized the pressure from one direction had significantly eased.

Then, the entire unit heard a sound akin to machine-gun fire emanating from that direction, as the zombies, originally forming an impenetrable encirclement, were violently torn open, creating a gap. A young man in black, accompanied by the Bishop, charged into the zombie horde as if a divine warrior had descended from the heavens.

“All personnel, break through immediately and proceed to the East Academic Building to find survivors,” the Bishop called out to the assault team members.

As for the densely packed zombies, they were instantly drawn to this high-priority target. The once air-tight encirclement gradually fractured before the black-clad youth’s miraculous marksmanship and overwhelming firepower.

The assault team was thus able to fight and retreat, slowly withdrawing through the breach Yodel Finn had carved.

Among them, the clergy merely marveled at Yodel Finn’s combat prowess, but the mortal soldiers, also wielding firearms, were already staring at him with gazes bordering on worship.

‘If I’m not mistaken, we’re using the same model rifle, aren’t we? So why is yours so terrifyingly potent?’