Chapter 643: Chapter 643: Fight Harder (Part 3)

Don drove his elbow back into the face of the trying to bite through his shoulder and felt cartilage collapse under the impact.

The man he struck stumbled sideways, feet slipping through blood that had spread across the rooftop in dark streaks between overturned ventilation panels and broken concrete chunks.

Before it could recover, Don caught the side of its skull with both hands and twisted hard. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

A wet crack ran through its neck before he hurled the body straight into another climber trying to pull itself over the edge.

Both vanished from sight immediately, slamming against the glass wall below as they fell. CRASH!~

Another came at him instantly.

There was no pause anymore. No room to breathe. The horde kept replacing itself faster than he could kill it.

One of them moved, horridly. Its torso bent too far sideways while climbing over the edge, ribs visibly shifting beneath torn flesh as if they were loose inside its body.

Its left arm dragged uselessly while the right had swollen to nearly twice the normal size, veins bulging black beneath split skin.

Beside it climbed another whose legs bent backward like an animal’s, knees twitching violently every second before it launched itself forward in sudden bursts.

And behind them—

The normal-looking one.

Male. Barely bloodied compared to the others. Eyes wide. Mouth hanging open while saliva poured down its chin. Fast.

Don immediately understood which one was dangerous.

The backward-legged one leaped first, feet smashing into the rooftop hard enough to chip concrete.

At the same moment the oversized one swung its massive arm downward. Don stepped directly into both attacks instead of retreating.

His hand shot upward, catching the larger one by the wrist while his shoulder rammed into the chest of the one mid-leap. The collision broke its balance instantly.

Then Don turned.

Hard.

Using the momentum, he dragged the larger one sideways and slammed its swollen arm straight through the torso of the backward-legged one.

Flesh burst outward across the rooftop. The man spasmed violently, mouth opening impossibly wide before Don drove his knee upward into its jaw and snapped the head back with brutal force.

The larger one tried to recover immediately despite the ruined arm.

But Don didn’t allow it.

He grabbed the thing by the face and smashed its skull repeatedly against the rooftop ventilation unit beside him. Once. Twice. Three times. Metal dented inward while blood sprayed across the surface.

Only then, did it stop moving.

But the fast one had already reached him.

Don barely caught the movement in time as it ducked low and swept toward his legs with frightening speed.

Don shifted backward just enough to avoid getting tackled, though claws still ripped across the lower side of his legs.

The thing spun around instantly and lunged again, movements twitching and erratic.

Fast... but predictable.

Don’s eyes flicked downward briefly.

The corpse of the acid-spitter from earlier still smoked nearby, parts of its melted jaw bubbling against the rooftop surface.

An idea formed instantly.

And as th fast one rushed him again.

Don pivoted aside and drove his foot beneath the acid-spitter’s corpse, launching it like a battering ram.

The body collided directly into the speeding member of the horde. Acid splashed across its legs immediately.

The thing convulsed violently as steam burst upward from melting flesh. It stumbled sideways, shrieking soundlessly to Don’s damaged ears while trying to claw the burning substance away.

Don surged forward before it could recover.

His hands slammed together around the it’s skull.

CRACK!~

The force crushed inward from both sides and sent the creature flying backward over the rooftop edge.

Its body collided directly into three more trying to climb upward. All four disappeared together, smashing into the building supports below before vanishing into the mass beneath.

More hands immediately appeared over the rooftop edge.

More faces.

More screaming mouths.

Don breathed heavily through his nose now, sweat dripping from his jaw while blood soaked his sleeves and forearms.

His muscles still answered every command he gave them. His body remained strong enough.

But mentally...

Every second weighed more.

His thoughts felt slower now. Not physically slower—he still reacted instantly—but the constant pressure had started grinding against the inside of his skull.

There was no rhythm to the fighting. No control. Just endless violence pressing forward without stopping.

Still...

He moved.

A woman with exposed ribs climbed over the edge next, while another beside her possessed elongated arms that dragged against the rooftop floor.

Don grabbed the elongated one first and yanked it directly into the woman’s path. She crashed face-first into it and both stumbled.

Don immediately stomped downward onto the woman’s spine hard enough to fold her body awkwardly against the concrete.

Then he grabbed the second by the jaw and upper skull.

Pulled.

The neck stretched disturbingly before separating with a spray of blood.

Another came.

Then another.

Then three more.

Don no longer bothered counting.

Nearby, K-4’s side of the rooftop had become equally brutal.

The older officer still moved with terrifying precision, though the flaws had started showing clearly now.

His breathing had grown heavier. His turns lacked the same fluidity from before.

Without hearing, several of the horde nearly reached him repeatedly from blind angles.

One with thickened bone protrusions along its elbows slammed directly into his shoulder hard enough to produce an ugly crack through the joint.

K-4 staggered from the impact, face tightening briefly from pain before he drove a combat knife upward beneath the it’s chin.

Then another attacked from behind.

K-4 reacted late.

Too late.

The infected clawed across his back before he twisted and slammed the corpse from his knife directly into it, using both falling bodies to knock several more climbers off the edge together.

Bodies kept falling.

But more always replaced them.

Seconds later, one finally got dangerously close.

A blood-covered woman launched herself directly at K-4. He caught her by the face with one hand, stopping her momentum entirely.

But immediately her jaw opened unnaturally wide—

And her tongue shot outward.

It pierced straight through his palm.

The appendage looked all wrong. Too long. Too thin. Dark near the base but becoming pale and translucent near the pointed tip, almost like sharpened cartilage bending unnaturally as it exited through the back of his hand.

K-4’s eyes widened instantly.

A pained groan escaped him as blood poured through his fingers. He kicked the woman backward violently, tearing the tongue free in the process.

The woman collapsed against the rooftop floor twitching wildly.

But another was already attacking from the side.

K-4 turned late again.

But it had already leaped toward him with its mouth spread impossibly wide, rows of jagged teeth visible deep into its throat—

FOOSH!~

However, a metallic feather pierced straight through its skull from the side, causing it to spin midair before collapsing dead against the rooftop.

K-4 froze briefly.

Then looked back.

Charles had regained consciousness.

He sat partially upright against one of the large ventilation units, blood still running from the side of his head while his damaged wing hung uselessly beside him.

His remaining wing however had spread outward fully now, metallic feathers shifting. Charles breathed heavily.

Then flicked his wing forward.

The feathers launched instantly.

FOOSH! FOOSH! FOOSH!~

Each one pierced through heads with frightening force. One punched through an eye socket and embedded into the rooftop water tank behind it.

Another tore through the throat of one climbing the edge before continuing downward into the horde below.

Don saw the assistance immediately.

And for the first time since the fighting began—

The pressure eased slightly.

Only slightly.

Because more were still climbing.

Always more.

And beneath the rooftop, the building itself had begun trembling harder from the sheer number forcing their way upward.