Chapter 586: Rooftop Battle: The Onset of Chaos

“Buzz”

Accompanied by a familiar bout of weightless dizziness, Yenir and his companions vanished in an instant beneath cascading white light.

Struggling against the side effects of teleportation, he lost any sense of time in his blurred state.

It felt as if he were hurled into a black hole; Yenir’s world spun wildly before plunging into darkness.

Perhaps thanks to the peculiar nature of the national battle, this teleportation felt excruciatingly prolonged.

Yet, fueled by his formidable will, Yenir managed to remain just barely conscious.

Maybe it was minutes; maybe just seconds.

Just as the intense nausea and weightlessness subsided and before he could steady himself, a zombie’s roar erupted right beside him.

Roar!!!

A wave of putrid, bloody wind swept through the area.

In an instant, a rotting corpse’s face appeared, its gaping, torn mouth lunging viciously toward him.

Smack!

His reaction was lightning quick.

At the sound of a skull shattering, Yenir—his eyes flashing a hint of red—instantly unleashed his mental power, and a simple Mental Shock effortlessly shattered the zombie’s skull.

A burst of blood mist exploded; outside the blue mental shield he summoned, broken skull fragments mixed with brain matter splattered in a chaotic spray.

Fresh blood dripped and streamed down.

After dispatching the zombie, Yenir was momentarily startled before quickly scanning his surroundings.

He hadn’t expected to be ambushed the moment he entered the national battle.

Fortunately, his exceptional mental fortitude left little room for panic; he continued to survey the area while channeling his mental power.

Daylight blazed with a blinding glare.

Before him stood dilapidated buildings, their glass facades riddled with holes like a beehive, reflecting the harsh sunlight.

Many exteriors were scorched black, clear evidence of past fires.

In the far distance loomed a broadcast-like tower; at the top of its signal mast, several utterly devoured corpses hung ominously.

Above, a massive SOS banner with a white background, marred by bloodstained handprints, fluttered in the wind.

Near a steel transmission tower, a crashed helicopter burned slowly, belching thick, black smoke.

Screams, wails, and the clamor of colliding cars filled the air.

Thanks to his acute senses, Yenir easily picked up the screams and explosions echoing from every corner of the city.

It was plain to see.

They had teleported onto a building’s rooftop, and the city was in the throes of a zombie outbreak.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be 13 years into the apocalypse?”

“But this scene looks like the very early stages of the outbreak…”

A slight sense of dissonance stirred within him.

After quickly gathering information from his surroundings, Yenir and twenty other Third-Stage Advanced Awakeners regained their composure.

The lead soldier briefly paused in surprise as he opened his eyes.

He immediately spotted the decapitated zombie right in front of Yenir.

His expression froze; their extensive combat experience made it clear that Yenir had awakened long before them and had already taken swift action against the attack.

Though a single zombie assault was hardly a big deal, this detail proved that Yenir’s physical prowess far exceeded theirs.

Before the soldiers who followed could rush to his side for protection, a cold system prompt echoed in their ears.

Beep: Current Scene: National Battle (Asia)

Current World: Apocalypse Virus

World Info: This world is designed as a low-difficulty post-apocalyptic setting. No special events, no mutants, no supernatural forces.

Battle Info: Based on participant strength, the Huaxia Battle Zone has the lowest overall combat power, entering four hours early.

In four hours, other battle zones will join sequentially, with the national battle officially commencing twelve hours later!

National Battle Rules: All nations are hostile. Each time you kill an awakener from another country, you earn honor points. Rewards are distributed based on honor rankings after 120 hours.

Kill Details: Third-Stage Beginner Awakened (1 point), Third-Stage Mid-Level Awakened (3 points), Third-Stage Advanced Awakened (9 points), Peak Third-Stage Awakener (30 points).

….

The barrage of information was extensive.

Upon entering the national battle, Yenir couldn’t help but scrutinize the battle rules.

According to the post-apocalypse system, national battles occur roughly every three years; this was about the 33rd round.

In over twenty previous rounds, the Huaguo Battle Zone had nearly been undefeated, but its performance had faltered over the last twenty years.

About a minute later.

After reading through the battle rules and world data in detail, a glimmer of realization flickered in Yenir’s eyes.

Though the reliable data was sparse, it allowed him to deduce several key pieces of intelligence.

1. The appearance of zombies indicates that the city seems to be just at the onset of the apocalypse.

2. The cause is straightforward—the zombie crisis in this world spreads via virus, and this area has only just fallen.

3. The overall world difficulty is very low. Even since the first large-scale zombie outbreak, 13 years of strict defenses have kept infections low, and governments still function relatively normally.

4. Consequently, this national battle doesn’t involve leveraging indigenous forces; it’s a pure test of each nation’s strength without external interference.

After drawing these conclusions, Yenir couldn’t help but frown.

While this meant hardly worrying about monster threats, it also devalued the advantage of his early entry.

At the very least, he wouldn’t be able to replicate the tactics used in Zombie Nation.

But… it didn’t really matter anymore.

The awakeners entering this national battle were, in theory, at least Third-Stage Advanced. At that level, unless struck by a nuclear blast at the moment of awakening, relying on conventional ambush tactics was utterly futile.

Swallowing his desire to repeat his previous battle tactics, Yenir shifted his focus to another crucial piece of information.

“In 120 hours, we were the first to enter—four hours ahead. The final battle zone’s entry is unknown, but they’ll only arrive twelve hours later. That suggests, by simple calculation, the last zone’s strength could be about three times that of Huaguo.”

“But that data doesn’t add up. A threefold power ratio would imply at most 63 Third-Stage Advanced awakeners on their side… which is impossible.”

“So, the system must have factored in the two Peak Third-Stage Awakeners I brought along…”

Instinctively, he glanced at the legion panel; the converted information on the Otherworldly Ghost clearly displayed Hakechi and the others’ statuses.

Clearly, the system had still counted his Otherworldly Ghosts as part of Huaguo’s overall strength.

With that realization, Yenir was not at all surprised.

He had arranged for Hakechi and the others to join from another battle zone—both to potentially mask their true power and to deceive Lu Haishan and his group.

But it now appeared that the system had directly sealed off that loophole.

“So, does the mightiest battle zone bring roughly six Peak Third-Stage and 63 Third-Stage Advanced awakeners this time?”

“Hmm… Six Peak Third-Stage awakeners together, even if they don’t coordinate, could be quite a handful…”

Muttering to himself, Yenir furrowed his brow and began planning his next move.

Facing six Peak Third-Stage awakeners grouped together would certainly test his limits.

Based on his earlier calculations, he could probably only handle two or three Peak Third-Stage awakeners on his own.

An SSS-Level Sword Technique could obliterate a group; a Dimensional Surge triggering Divine Rage might one-shot a Peak; once Divine Rage subsided, a Judgment with double boost could take down another.

Finally, by switching attributes and drawing on massive stats, he could eliminate a third.

Thus, three Peak Third-Stage awakeners were right at the edge of his capability. Any more, and he’d have to resort to an Evil God Ritual to avoid being one-shot.

Of course, those estimates were based on his standard combat power; in an extreme state with continuous Divine Rage, he might even take down another couple.

Sigh… It still felt a bit weak…

Yenir shook his head slightly, almost resigned to his own limitations.

It seemed that if luck wasn’t on his side and the first nation he struck was just a bit stronger, he might even have to let his own Otherworldly Ghosts take the hit…

Just as Yenir pondered which nation to target next, the Military Awakeneds—having also digested the battle info—wore grim expressions.

They had suspected beforehand that Huaguo’s strength was the weakest; however, confirming this fact filled them with palpable pressure.

Especially since gauging the power of other battle zones wasn’t difficult at all.

No Peak against six Peaks; twenty-one Third-Stage Advanced awakeners against at least 63 on the opposing side!

Faced with such a massive power disparity, they could scarcely imagine what would happen if the other zones combined their forces!

Perhaps their only recourse was to fight to the death!

Seemingly believing that Yenir shared their concerns, a leading middle-aged soldier drew a deep breath and fixed a determined gaze on him.

“Yenir, rest assured! In this national battle, we will fight to the death to protect you until the very end!”

“Even if we’re the weakest, we specialize in special operations under any circumstance! We guarantee we’ll get you out alive!”

As he spoke, the Military Awakened—seemingly scouting for the best escape route—lunged to the rooftop’s edge and pointed toward the northern outskirts of the city:

“Yenir! I am Wang Tiejun, a member of the Awakened Troops Special Operations Unit! I suggest we leave the city immediately to avoid clashes with incoming battle zones!”

“Let’s take refuge in the wilderness or at sea; we stand a great chance of surviving till the end!”

“If I’m not mistaken, that direction leads to the port! This is a coastal metropolitan area!”

Listening to the officer’s earnest plan to hide, Yenir was momentarily taken aback before giving him a strangely puzzled look.

For his safety, the Prime Minister had not revealed his true strength to these soldiers.

Moreover, these selected Military Awakeneds had been strictly ordered before entry to protect him at all costs.

Thus, convinced they had no chance against the other battle zones, Wang Tiejun’s first reaction was to whisk him away to safety.

Emm…

Run away?

After a brief silence, Yenir pondered for a moment before breaking into a smile and speaking:

“No. We’ll head to the military base here to secure satellite access.”

“Whoever enters first, we take them out first.”

Wang Tiejun: “????!”