SSS Class Awakening: Start With A God-Level Choice System
Chapter 66: End Of The Zombie Tide

Chapter 66: End Of The Zombie Tide

But above it all, Ainsworth remained still. Floating, untethered by gravity, his coat fluttering lightly in the breeze.

The Special-rank Zombie turned to him, smirking.

"Well? Not going to save them? What, did your confidence run out?"

Ainsworth didn’t reply. He simply floated down, passing through the barrier meant to trap him as if it weren’t there.

As someone with freedom, it was impossible for someone weaker than him to trap and seal him.

The Special-rank Zombie’s grin twitched. "...Huh?"

Ainsworth’s eyes, half-lidded and indifferent, didn’t even acknowledge the taunt.

Instead, he raised his hand slowly toward the sky, his palm glowing faintly.

"Orbital Compression: Gravity Singularity."

A tiny sphere of darkness materialized above the battlefield. It was a swirling core of concentrated gravity, pulsing with dark-colored energy.

The moment it stabilized, everything changed.

Zombies—hundreds of them—were pulled upward with violent force. The battlefield erupted in chaos as the horde was sucked toward the singularity. Their limbs flailed. Bones cracked. Screeches and groans filled the air.

Normal-rank zombies, Elite-rank zombies, and even the Special-rank Zombie were all dragged into the gravity sphere like metal to a magnet.

Then Ainsworth clenched his fingers into a fist.

CRACK.

The singularity collapsed.

Everything caught within it was crushed—instantly.

A massive shockwave rippled through the battlefield.

What remained of the zombies was nothing but a dense sphere of gore and broken bone suspended briefly in the air before disintegrating into ash.

Yet, when the ash settled... the Special-rank Zombie was gone.

Unbeknownst to everyone, during the chaos—just before the final compression—Ainsworth had subtly teleported the Special-rank Zombie to a secure location far from the battlefield.

After all, this zombie tide had been a carefully crafted stage—his doing.

The mindless were expendable. The Special-rank Zombie? It was a rare, intelligent asset, and far too valuable to waste.

At least, Ainsworth didn’t want to waste it in such a medium-sized base. For him, all his pawns were expendable. But, even his chess pieces have their value and the time to sacrifice them would depend if the thing he would get for their sacrifice was greater than their value.

Otherwise, it would be a losing trade to lose a Special-rank Zombie with a special superpower that could even trap Rian and Dante temporarily.

When it would become a Zombie King, Ainsworth was confident that even Rian and Dante wouldn’t be able to break free from it unless they went all out but whether they defeat the Zombie King with a power of sealing, Ainsworth wouldn’t bet on it.

No matter how powerful they were, a Zombie King surpassed them way too much in terms of stats. If that Zombie King had a simple superpower like an elemental superpower, Ainsworth was confident that Dante could tank it.

However, if it’s a superpower that could seal them in a white box like the Special-rank Zombie’s superpower, it was a counter to Dante and Rian.

’Anyway, that’s the point of teaming up. It’s to let each of our powers make up for our shortcomings. Currently, my defense is stronger than Dante’s merely because my stat attributes are way higher than his. Otherwise, if our stats were the same, Dante’s defense would always be higher than mine.’

’The same went with Rian, as the hero of light, would always have a huge advantage against undead-type and dark-type creatures due to the purifying and holy attributes of his sword attacks. It’s better to have them than not having them at all.’

’That’s why, it’s better if I have a five-man team in the next Otherworld Mission. Even if my stat attributes are way higher than my peers now, that doesn’t change the fact that awakeners with SSS-rank Classes have touched the rules and laws with their class exclusive skills.’

’Because of that, even I’m not certain if I can damage Dante with just pure stat superiority. I’ll only be sure that I could bypass his rule-type defense if I use my own rule-type ability which is my freedom to bypass his defense.’

’Only a rule-type power can deal with another rule-type power so in my next Otherworld Mission, I’ll recruit Elyndra and Mira as they both have SSS-rank Classes and therefore, have rule-type abilities.’

’Furthermore, it’s better if, in this Otherworld Mission, my team can get a class rank upgrade crystal that can allow Rian to upgrade his class from SS-rank to SSS-rank. Although a class rank upgrade crystal at that level would be very rare, it shouldn’t be impossible considering I’ll go all out in ruining the Zombie Apocalypse World’s world line.’

’If my team can ruin this world to the point that the Earth Will can plunder all of this world’s world origin, the chances of getting a class rank upgrade crystal would drastically increase. Rian really needs an upgrade since at this rate, the next Otherworld Mission would mostly have awakeners with SSS-rank Classes and he’s the only one who doesn’t have an SSS-rank Class so as his bro, I’ll find a way to help him out.’

While Ainsworth thought of all that in under a few seconds, the battlefield was silent, and soon, cheers rang out from the soldiers who participated in the battle against the zombie tide.

The transparent white boxes that trapped Rian, Dante, Captain Rourke, and other soldiers have shattered into shard-like light before they dissipate.

Ainsworth had secretly commanded the Special-rank Zombie to deactivate them so that it would signal its death.

The echoes of battle hadn’t faded yet.

Gunpowder lingered in the air. Blood soaked the asphalt. The screech of dying infected still hung in the ears of every survivor.

Several corpses, both zombies and soldiers, lay scattered like discarded trash. Medics scrambled, dragging the wounded behind makeshift barricades. The smell of burnt flesh and rot was thick enough to taste.

Then came silence.

Not peace—just the stunned, static kind of silence that settles when death finally pauses to take a breath.

They were all staring.

Not at the piles of dead zombies. Not at the damaged walls of the inner compound.

But at the young man standing in the crater.