Aron had a frown on his face.

Through his senses, he picked up seventeen people, all armed with different kinds of weapons, knives, katanas, and other sharp tools, surrounding and hacking away at hibernating zombies in their cocoons, killing one before moving to the next.

(Is the rain not dangerous anymore?)

He couldn't help but have that thought, but he dismissed it soon after. His senses told him the zombies were still getting stronger with every drop of rain, which meant those people must have a special means or ability that let them bypass the rain's aging effect.

But then, Aron's expression twisted into something strange.

With his senses, he could perceive every minute detail about them, and what he saw made him stop.

All twelve of them had the mark of an ability user. That wasn't the strange part. The truly bizarre thing was that every single one of them had the same face.

Not just their facial features, but every minute detail, height, weight, even the way their muscles flexed, everything was identical.

Aron didn't believe for a second that they were seventeen brothers all born together, each one awakened with a talent mark. That was simply too absurd.

Deciding to check them out personally, he released the rainwater he had been holding above his head with Water Control. It was too high-profile anyway, he instead let the rain fall naturally, parting around him rather than being blocked overhead.

After storing the bike he had been riding, Aron activated Stealth and moved toward the seventeen individuals. It didn't take long before he reached their location, where they were still ganging up on a zombie and hacking at it together.

Aron had already discovered that a person's talent potency was tied to their level and rank.

There was simply no way an Ash Walker zombie at the Ascender Rank could use stealth to avoid him now, not after his advancement. Even without activating any skills, the leap in strength between ranks was just too vast to ignore.

Judging from how the seventeen people moved, the highest rank among them was only a little stronger than an Ascender.

Aron managed to get close without being detected. Once he was within a meter of them, he used Inspection on one of the men.

--

[Name: Raymond Clark (Clone)]

Alias: Reaper

Talent: ????

--

Aron's eyes widened. A clone talent user?

He cast Inspection on each of them and confirmed it, all were clones. They didn't seem affected by the rain either.

To confirm something, Aron touched one of them while keeping his Stealth active so as not to alert them. But when he did, the familiar alert to claim a talent didn't appear.

That told him enough.

(Looks like I need to touch the main ability user first before I can acquire the talent.)

Then another thought crossed his mind.

(Reaper... that alias sounds familiar.)

He pondered for a moment before it clicked.

A certain ridiculous trade transaction came to mind, the one where someone named Reaper got completely ripped off.

(Could it be the same person?)

Aron scanned his extended senses over a two-mile radius, he could detect a few survivors. Most were huddled inside their homes, trembling in fear. Among them, however, there wasn't a single person who had any resemblance to the clones or with an awakened mark.

(So the ability user is hiding somewhere.)

Whether the original Reaper was a coward like Kaiser or just cautious, Aron didn't want to risk scaring him. He didn't know how the clone ability worked, and if the user got spooked, he might dismiss the clones, making Aron lose both the target and the potential talent.

Besides, the clones carried zombie cores in their side bags, evenly distributed among them. Aron figured that, eventually, they'd lead him straight to the original.

Aron smirked. There was no need to rush.

He moved a mile away and kept tabs on their every movement as he continued his own massacre.

----

Three Days Later

Another day passed, making it twelve days since the start of the apocalypse. The rain still poured relentlessly, without pause.

Aron, now thoroughly bored of tailing the Reaper clones, focused on testing his powers and refining his abilities.

He sat astride his bike as thunder crackled from his body. The surrounding water converged into a sphere, compressing the lightning into small, moving beads.

With a thought, the beads shot forward, piercing into a cocoon and entering a zombie's mouth. They detonated inside its head, killing it instantly, without a sound or struggle.

[Level 19 Walker killed - 1 EXP!

Enlightened-tier core can be extracted.]

Aron clenched his fist in satisfaction.

He opened his Status Window.

****

Host Info

Name: Aron

Level: 28

EXP: 25,600 / 25,600

Rank: Enlightened

Lifespan: 682 years

Mana: ∞

...

...

****

Seeing his EXP maxed out, Aron decided to level up without delay. Immediately, a cool surge of energy filled his body, strengthening every fiber of his being.

But as he approached the next rank, he felt a faint sense of restriction. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but the sensation lingered.

At this point, most zombies were around Level 19, close to reaching Level 20. Even the weakest ones he'd seen lately were at Level 14.

It was terrifying, to say the least.

After a long stretch of monotony following the clones, Aron had also stored an absurd amount of rainwater in his storage space over the past few days.

He brought out a plate of hot steak and rice, along with a chilled drink, and started eating in peace.

But the moment he took his first bite, his head snapped up, his senses flaring.

One of the clones had suddenly withered away, its body drying up and turning into a husk before dispersing into glowing particles. It happened so fast, so abruptly, that even Aron was taken aback.

Through his senses, he immediately located the one responsible.

It was… different.

Unlike the other zombies that remained cocooned, this one was walking freely on its two legs. With every step it took, a meter of ground beneath it dried and decayed. The clone's death had come from a single physical touch of it attacking the monstrosity.

It didn't even glance at the clones and just kept walking.

And then, Aron noticed its mouth moving, speaking like a broken recording.

"Target: Saint.

Target: Saint.

Target: Saint."

Aron's brows furrowed as he watched the abomination.

"Well," he muttered under his breath, "that's new."

...

..

.

****

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