Chapter 162: Sprint

That was all he needed to do to immediately wake up from self-blame.

He couldn’t waste time doing that, it would serve nothing, and do nothing. For now, action mattered more than blame. And only action could make one survive.

Active over Passive, the thought cemented itself more in Kael’s mind.

Petrification loosened. His fingers flexed again. He swallowed, tasting soot and stale air, and forced his mind back onto the only thing that mattered: the target.

Looking at the map, three rows ahead, two dots to the left, that was the Momentum rune holder. He needed the rune… he wanted it. Even if it meant risking his limbs.

The blue dot sat there like a promise. Like a trap, too. A reward embedded in meat. A rune inside a moving corpse in a hallway full of corpses. That was the Tower’s idea of comedy.

He couldn’t physically see the zombie, but he could recognize the blue dot.

“Good,” the petrification was gone, and he began counting again.

“One, two…” he muttered, keeping count is imperative.

He moved immediately, using the first seconds of freedom while they were clean.

Every second mattered.

Every breath mattered.

He stood up, pushed his hands forward, and they came into contact with a Zombie.

The body was cold and damp under his gauntlets. The zombie didn’t react like a predator, more like an obstacle. He pressed, feeling its balance shift.

Kale stepped forward, and the zombie fell.

Simple, efficient, and non-threatening, nor revealing.

He didn’t punch. He didn’t slam. He just used weight and leverage, guiding it down like you’d tip a heavy cabinet. The zombie hit the ground with a dull thud, and Kael held still for a fraction, listening for any change in the chorus behind him.

Nothing.

Good.

He slid his leg forward until it touched the fallen Zombie, then he stepped over him, trying not to crush or step on the monster in case it reacted aggressively.

The carefulness slowed him, but slowness was cheaper than violence. He felt the zombie’s ribcage under his boot and shifted away, avoiding pressure points. The last thing he needed was a sudden grab again.

He pushed the second one, the third, the fourth, and was finally in front of the rune holder.

Each body fell with the same quiet efficiency. A hallway of toppled undead like knocked-over mannequins. Kael moved by touch and by map, counting steps between dots, using the wall as a guide.

The petrification hit once again.

His body stiffened mid-reach. The timing was perfect in the worst possible way, right as he reached the blue dot’s position. He froze, hands half raised, breath shallow.

The fallen zombies woke up, stood up, while Kael looked at the pitiful energy bar, which was at ten percent.

That was the nightmare stacking on itself. The ones he’d pushed down began moving again, slow but inevitable, arms stretching as they reoriented. Presence was still doing its job, but his energy bar was bleeding toward empty now, and the strain of so many undead minds pressed against him like weight.

He held on, watching the bar drop as his body was frozen in real time.

He only had one shot.

It was a single sprint forward. Once he captures the rune holder, he needed to run what felt like a hundred or so meters and take a sharp turn to the left, that was the only path out, and looking at the map, the red circle was about to touch that side.

The plan formed like a diagram in his head. Straight. Turn. Straight. Don’t trip. Don’t fall. Don’t let energy hit zero. The exit corridor was shrinking, and the red zone didn’t care about his luck.

The petrification disappeared when his internal energy was at seven percent or so.

“Now!” Kael howled inwardly as he grabbed the zombie with one hand, the vice-like grip clutched the head of the undead, and he hurled it down with all he got.

The motion was pure desperation made into action. He didn’t have time to be gentle. His fingers locked over skull and jaw, and he drove the head down like he was hammering a nail into concrete.

The force of the impact had no runic power in it, no magic, and no energy. It was raw physical power.

It was 32 points in Strength that slammed an undead’s skull into a concrete floor.

The result?

[You have killed a Rare Zombie! {Runner}]

You obtained 2 cores

[You obtained [Momentum Rune]]

’Fuck, that was a runner?’ Kael’s heat almost dropped as he realized what he had dealt with.

A runner meant speed. It meant if Presence had failed for even a second, that thing would’ve been on him like a dog on meat. The Tower really did enjoy planting landmines inside “rewards.”

’No wonder the rune said ’Momentum’ it was a runner…’ Kael realized fully that each rune truelly embedded its essence wherever it was found or created. The thought soon disappeared as he had more important matters at hand.

He couldn’t stop.

He pushed himself forward, and the last zombie stopping him simply got shoved to the side while Kael moved fast.

As fast as a blind man could, placing a hand on the nearest wall and sprinting as if his life depended on it.

Because it did.

He hoped with all his might that there was no protruding wire or some random stuff on the ground that would comically trip him.

Especially since he needed to do something extremely risky right now.

“Disable Presence!”

Anyone else would have thought it foolish.

But Kael knew that if he left Presence on, yes, he would get to run a few steps stealthed.

But, if his internal energy hits 0 while running, he’ll collapse on the ground, unable to do anything, while the Zombies will catch up and maul him.

The moment Presence dropped, the world became louder in a different way, not sound, but attention. Like a hundred heads snapping at once.

The Zombies that were standing like statues felt like they were kicked in the head with a hammer as they all howled at the same time.

The scent of fresh meat is back in the air. And they all turned toward it.

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