Just as Ethan broke through to Tier 8, a thunderous crash echoed from the distant compound wall.

The reinforced barrier, battered relentlessly by waves of Tier 5 zombies, finally gave out—collapsing in a cloud of dust and rubble.

And with that, the floodgates opened.

Countless zombies surged through the breach, pouring into the compound like a black tide.

Inside, hundreds of Enhanced who hadn't been able to climb the overcrowded wall were already waiting. Weapons in hand, they didn't flinch. They charged forward to meet the swarm head-on.

This was it. Life or death. There was no retreat.

The real battle had begun.

From this point on, terrain meant nothing. It was strength versus strength. Will against will.

Even though Ethan's team and the defenders on the wall had already taken out over twenty thousand zombies, reinforcements had kept coming. Now, more than sixty thousand remained.

And the compound only had about twelve thousand Enhanced left to fight.

The odds were brutal.

Thankfully, half of the remaining zombies were only Tier 4. On the human side, every Enhanced was at least Tier 5, with over a dozen Tier 6s among them.

The zombie horde crashed into the compound like a tidal wave, but the Enhanced held the line. They refused to let the monsters break through—because behind them were over ten thousand unarmed civilians.

Family. Friends. People they couldn't afford to lose.

Humans were strange creatures. In the face of despair, they could unleash strength far beyond their limits.

Miles had worried that these Tier 5 Enhanced—many of whom had been rushed through their upgrades—wouldn't hold up in a real fight.

But now, watching them fight tooth and nail, he realized they were no less fierce than the Tier 5 zombies they faced.

Back on the battlefield, Ethan had no time to celebrate his breakthrough.

Seeing the wall collapse and the chaos erupting inside the compound, he snapped into action.

"I'm heading back first! You guys follow!"

With that, he vanished in a flash of [Teleportation].

Chris and the others didn't hesitate. They turned and charged toward the breach.

Ethan reappeared in the middle of the zombie horde inside the compound. Without missing a beat, he swung his rebar staff in a wide arc, clearing a circle of space around him.

Then he dove into the swarm, tearing through the ranks like a wrecking ball.

Tier 8 power against Tier 4 and Tier 5 zombies? It wasn't even a contest.

Every zombie his staff touched exploded into chunks of gore.

"Leader's back!"

The shout rang out across the battlefield.

The Enhanced looked up—and saw Ethan cutting through the horde like a god of war. The fear and doubt that had been weighing on them vanished in an instant.

Watching him tear through the undead like they were nothing, they felt their strength return. Their courage reignited.

"Tier 8 and Tier 7 zombies are all down! Most of the Tier 6s are dead too! These low-tier ones are nothing—push forward!" Ethan shouted.

"YES!" the crowd roared back, voices full of fire.

In that moment, Ethan became their beacon—their rallying point. Just seeing him fight gave them the will to keep going.

Soon after, Chris and the rest of the Fallen Star Squad arrived.

The nine of them took the front line, shielding the other Enhanced behind them. Their presence alone brought a wave of calm and confidence.

The Tier 6 Enhanced in the compound also stepped up, showing exactly why they held that rank.

The battle raged on.

The zombies attacked with relentless fury, but they couldn't break through the human defense.

Corpses piled up layer after layer, turning the ground into a blood-soaked battlefield.

Many fighters were already badly wounded, but they refused to fall. They held the line with grit and sheer willpower.

Finally—after more than an hour of brutal, nonstop combat—the zombie assault began to slow.

Of the original seventy thousand zombies, only about ten thousand remained.

But the cost had been steep.

Of the twelve thousand Enhanced, only around eight thousand were still standing.

If Ethan and his squad hadn't absorbed the brunt of the assault, that number would've been cut in half.

Then, something changed.

The zombie horde split.

The Tier 4 zombies kept charging forward, mindless and aggressive.

But the Tier 5s?

They started pulling back.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. He wasn't surprised.

The Tier 5s had realized they couldn't win. So they were sending the Tier 4s to die while they made their escape.

Ethan didn't give chase. He let the Tier 5 zombies retreat without a second thought.

There were already more than enough Tier 5 corpses littering the ground—plenty of crystal cores to go around for now. What they really lacked were Tier 6 cores.

After this battle, there probably wouldn't be many zombies left in the entire Redmont City area. Letting those Tier 5s go was just fattening them up for later. When the time came, they'd be easier to harvest.

With the Tier 5s gone, the few thousand Tier 4 zombies left posed no real threat.

Working together, the Enhanced wiped them out in under ten minutes.

When the dust finally settled, the compound—inside and out—was covered in corpses. Zombie and human alike.

The survivors clung to each other, tears streaming down their faces.

"We did it! We actually held the line!"

"Oh my god, I still can't believe it. That many zombies… and we survived!"

"It's all thanks to the leader and his squad. I swear, those nine probably killed ten, twenty thousand zombies on their own."

"Yeah, and they even took down a Tier 8! Cleared out the Tier 6s and 7s too. If not for them, we'd be dead."

"They're monsters. I'm telling you, from now on, I'm following the City Lord no matter what!"

"Same here!"

"+1!"

"+1!"

Just like Miles had predicted, this battle—brutal as it was—did more to win hearts than any speech ever could. The loyalty of the compound's people had just hit max.

"Tyler, get me a full damage report," Miles ordered. "Have the severely wounded gathered in one place. Everyone else, rest for ten minutes, then start harvesting crystal cores."

"Yes, sir!"

Tyler's voice rang out loud and clear.

Even he was shaken by what he'd just witnessed.

He knew exactly what this victory meant: from now on, nothing in Redmont City could stop this compound's rise.

With the nine members of the Fallen Star Squad here, this place was destined to become a powerhouse.

And Tyler? He was determined to hold on tight to this rising star. Maybe one day, he'd be someone the world looked up to too.

After Tyler left, Ethan and the others finally let themselves collapse to the ground.

They were completely spent.

"That was… impressive," Ethan said, glancing at the survivors. "Didn't expect them to hold out like that."

"Same," Miles agreed. "Honestly, I thought we'd be lucky if half made it. But they fought like hell."

"People can do crazy things when they're pushed to the edge," Mia added. "My dad always said the human body has untapped potential. Guess he was right."

Ethan nodded, then turned to Miles. "We took some losses, yeah—but the gains are bigger. I saw it in their eyes. That fire. I think it's time we start building a full Stage D unit."

Miles grinned. "At this point, a lot of them already see you as a symbol. With a little push, I can make sure they'll follow you to the end."

"Only problem is, building a full Stage D force won't be easy. We're short on Tier 6 crystal cores."

Ethan waved it off. "That's fine. If we don't have enough, we'll go get more. We let a few thousand Tier 5s go, didn't we? We'll hunt them down later."

"We'll also bring back any Tier 6 cores we find on our runs," Miles said. "I'm looking forward to the day we march with a ten-thousand-strong army, all Stage D and above, sweeping across the land."

Ethan smirked. "That day's coming. Sooner than you think."

"Count on it, Captain."

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