A big thank you to greychimp and Joechicken231 for the Golden Tickets!

Your support truly means a lot and keeps me motivated to keep writing and improving the story. Every bit of encouragement pushes this journey forward.

Thank you for being part of this adventure! 🔥

"Phanty, kill it," Vikram ordered calmly.

Hearing the command, the Phantom Druid instantly emerged from the RV. Its shadowy figure flickered like living darkness as it shot forward to meet the charging Zombie Bear.

The massive brown bear zombie roared furiously, its enormous body barreling toward them like a runaway truck. Even with its reduced speed due to the virus, its sheer size and momentum made it terrifying.

The Phantom Druid didn’t meet the charge head-on. Instead, it activated Phantom Step, dissolving into shadow and instantly relocating behind the bear in a blur.

With deadly precision, it struck using Shadow Assassinate. Its shadowy blade slashed across the back of the Zombie Bear’s neck, leaving a deep, dark gash. Blackish blood sprayed into the snow.

The bear roared in rage and swung its massive paw backward. The attack was powerful enough to shatter rocks, but the Phantom Druid had already vanished again, leaving only a fading shadow trace that confused the beast.

"Roar—!!"

Enraged, the Zombie Bear began swinging wildly, its huge claws tearing through the air. However, the Phantom Druid was far too agile. It used Mist Clones to create three realistic shadow duplicates that darted around the bear, launching fake attacks from different directions.

The bear fell for the deception and smashed one of the clones. The moment the clone was destroyed, it exploded into dense shadow mist, blinding the bear’s vision and causing it to stumble.

Seizing the opportunity, the real Phantom Druid appeared above the bear’s head and activated Nightfall Execution. It vanished and reappeared directly behind the massive zombie bear, delivering a lethal strike straight to the back of its neck.

The shadowy blade sank deep into the rotten flesh, nearly severing the spine.

The Zombie Bear let out a deafening, pain-filled roar. Its body staggered, but it refused to fall. With a burst of desperate strength, it spun around and slammed its powerful paw toward the Phantom Druid.

This time, the attack was too fast and too close.

The Phantom Druid used Phantom Veil at the last second, turning partially intangible. The bear’s claws passed through its misty form with reduced damage, but the force still sent the Phantom Druid flying several meters back.

It landed gracefully on the snow, unharmed but momentarily pushed back.

Vikram watched the battle with focused eyes. Even though the Phantom Druid had the clear advantage in speed and technique, the Zombie Bear’s immense strength and high stamina made it surprisingly durable.

"Phanty, don’t play around. Finish it," Vikram commanded.

The Phantom Druid nodded silently. It raised both hands, and dark shadow vines erupted from the ground, Shadow Vine Bind. Thick, shadowy tendrils wrapped around the Zombie Bear’s legs and arms, restricting its movement and draining its energy.

The bear struggled violently, roaring and thrashing, but the vines held firm.

Taking advantage of the opening, the Phantom Druid dashed forward in a blur and unleashed a series of rapid Shadow Assassinate strikes. Its blade moved like black lightning, slashing across the bear’s neck, shoulders, and chest repeatedly.

With one final, decisive strike, the Phantom Druid drove its shadowy blade deep into the Zombie Bear’s skull. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The massive creature let out one last guttural roar before its body convulsed and collapsed heavily onto the snow with a loud thud. Rotten blood and dark fluid pooled beneath it.

The Zombie Bear was dead.

The Phantom Druid stood silently beside the fallen beast, its shadowy form slowly stabilizing as it turned to look at Vikram.

Vikram let out a long breath and nodded in approval.

"Not bad. That thing was tougher than it looked."

He then glanced at Divya, Anjali, and Sophia, who were watching the entire fight with wide eyes.

"See?" Vikram said with a faint smile. "This is why we need to get stronger. The wasteland is changing faster than we thought."

"Do you believe that this bear, though it looks terrifying, is definitely easier to deal with than yesterday’s Mutated Zombie?" Vikram said confidently.

"How do you know?" Anjali asked curiously.

Neither of them had a system; they could only observe the brown bear’s strength through its actions.

Before Vikram could speak, Divya explained first, "Just look at its speed. This brown bear’s speed is probably not even as fast as ours. In this situation, firearms can be used very easily."

Hearing this, Vikram nodded, "Right."

In fact, the previous Mutated Zombie was just out of their easy reach; otherwise, compared to the Zombie Brown Bear, it would have been easier to kill.

"It seems that fast zombies are more troublesome than these monsters that specialize in stacking strength."

Perhaps with the bosses in the previous two ruins, besides relying on clever tactics to win, their high attack and low speed were also a disadvantage, which was why he was able to succeed so easily.

Thinking of this, Vikram took out the Epic-level upgrade fruit that Anjali had just opened and, without further hesitation, swallowed it in one gulp.

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he felt that not only had the quality of the fruit improved, but its taste also seemed much sweeter.

Compared to it, the previous fruits were more like unripe ones.

He felt the energy of the fruit dissipate throughout his body, his limbs and bones.

After the effect completely faded, he looked at his stat panel.

"Host: Vikram Strength 46 Speed 50 Stamina 48 Reaction 51"

"Both Speed and Stamina have reached the 50 mark, which seems barely sufficient."

"At least when encountering that kind of Mutated Zombie again, I won’t be so helpless." Looking at the changes in his physique, he nodded with satisfaction.

He then looked at the ground; as expected, the treasure chest dropped by this Zombie Brown Bear was also blue-purple in quality.

Seeing an opportunity to open a box, Anjali was the first to rush forward.

However, this time she wasn’t so lucky; the items in the box all emitted a blue light.

Of the three items, the only one barely decent was a blue-quality bearskin coat.

Vikram generously gave it to Anjali to wear.

Speaking of which, she was quite pitiful; until now, her cold-weather gear was only of rare quality.

Needless to say, Vikram’s gear was top-notch, and Divya was also wearing a professional blue-quality cold-weather suit.

Although the extreme cold had ended, the outdoor temperature was still cold enough to turn breath into ice.

At this time, having such a bearskin coat was quite nice.

Seeing her put on her new cold-weather gear, he averted his gaze.

It was already afternoon when they left; the Wasteland World had no light source other than natural ones.

Only a few hours remained until it was too dark to see the road.

The next isolated target was still some distance away from their current location.

None of their goals for today’s outing had been completed yet, so the three of them all got on their motorcycles and hastened their pace.

About half an hour later, on a high slope with higher terrain, the three of them appeared on their motorcycles.

Along the way, passing by several Survivor Shelters, Vikram finally found the supplies his Shelter needed.

A sheep!

Except for when they first entered the Wasteland World, when normal creatures were everywhere.

Later, with the suppression by Crimson Creatures and then the appearance of zombies, he had thought that normal creatures had completely gone extinct.

Now, after a system scan confirmed that this sheep had no problems, he suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

Although there was only this one, making it impossible to breed, today could still be considered a fruitful day.

Anjali came out of the RV, and put the sheep inside.