Their transformation was just as Flora Bloom had seen before: their skin gradually turned a scorched black, the color of ink, as if steeped in venom. It was hideous. But they weren’t like ordinary zombies, with twisted mouths, split lips, missing eyeballs, or half-eaten faces. Their limbs were perfectly intact and hard; ordinary weapons were completely useless against them.
If their transformation was allowed to complete, the superpower users on the colossus’s back likely wouldn’t survive.
"Let me out!" Flora Bloom’s gaze toward the man in white grew cold. ’I can’t escape, and now I have to watch these new zombies slaughter people right in front of me. This is too cruel.’
"Oh, getting angry, are we?" The man in white’s smile widened, as if the suffering of others was his very source of joy.
Just then, the few superpower users who had been wounded by the black scorpions finished their transformation. Their bodies, now scorched black, weaved rapidly among the other injured superpower users, striking one with every pass.
There were over twenty superpower users, but the strongest among them was only a Second Level Fire Ability User. They were utterly powerless against these new zombies.
A bitter feeling welled up in Flora Bloom. She didn’t know how to deal with her own thoughts. ’If being wounded by these black scorpions has a one hundred percent chance of turning someone into a new type of zombie, how can humanity possibly defend against them in the future?’
Flora Bloom’s heart trembled as she watched the new zombies rip the superpower users’ heads off and tear their bodies open, one by one.
’I’m no god. Even with my space, I’m not all-powerful. Ever since my rebirth, everything that has happened in this apocalypse has exceeded my expectations and imagination.’
’In my past life, I really was just an insignificant side character. It seems this is the true reality of the apocalypse.’
"Look at that bloody scene. What do you think? Doesn’t the feeling of powerlessness make you angry? The angrier you get, the happier I become. How does it feel, watching your own kind die right in front of you?"
Flora Bloom’s expression as she looked at the man in white shifted from icy cold to normal, and finally, to one filled with pity. Her look even made the man himself falter for a moment.
"You’re truly pathetic."
"What the hell are you talking about? Me? Pathetic?"
"Pathetic! People who treat the lives of others like a game and enjoy it either had a traumatic childhood or suffered a devastating blow they never recovered from, resulting in a twisted mind. In short, they’re psychopaths." Flora Bloom’s lips curled into a sneer. "Which one are you?"
The man in white’s expression instantly changed. "Who are you calling a psychopath? Say that again!"
Seeing his expression change in an instant, Flora Bloom laughed mockingly, realizing she’d struck a nerve. "Oh, are you angry now? The angrier you get, the happier I become. Did you really think the deaths of a few superpower users would hurt me in any way? Is it because you’ve experienced this before? Watching someone you care about die in front of you, completely powerless to stop it? Is that what made you a psychopath?"
Who would have thought that as soon as the words left her mouth, a blood-red glint would flash in the man’s eyes. His long, slender fingers closed around Flora Bloom’s throat.
"Do you believe I’ll kill you right now?!"
Flora Bloom stared directly at the man in white, her expression fearless. In reality, a cold sweat was already soaking the back of her clothes. It was only her strong mental fortitude and her faith in her battle suit’s defensive power that kept her from trembling.
’I have no doubt he’d kill me.’
’He has no openings unless I make him angry.’
’The fact that he’s furious is proof I hit a sore spot. And when people are enraged, they naturally leave openings. This might be my only chance to escape.’
And now that he was enraged, an opening had finally appeared.
Flora Bloom felt the spatial restriction around her body begin to fluctuate.
She didn’t have a spatial superpower, but because she possessed her own dimension, she was very sensitive to spatial energy. That tiny fissure in the restriction made her connection to her personal space much smoother and more distinct.
’Into the space!’
The thought flashed through her mind. While the man in white still had his hand on her neck, Flora Bloom instantly teleported into her space, successfully bringing the colossus back with her.
’But... the man in white didn’t come in?!’
’What happened? His hand was on my throat; I clearly targeted it to bring him in with me. How did he just disappear?’
Flora Bloom touched the front of her neck. Her fingers came away wet and sticky, covered in some kind of gooey substance. Pinching it between her fingers, she brought it closer to her eyes and saw that it was a small, bloodless piece of mangled fingertip.
Disgusted, Flora Bloom quickly threw the object away. The moment the piece of flesh hit the empty ground of her space, it dissipated, transforming into a wisp of black energy that immediately fled back outside.
From within her space, a still-shaken Flora Bloom watched the man in white. He was staring intently at his raised right hand, where three of his fingers were now missing.
A moment ago, something had tried to pull him in. The sensation was like an abyssal black hole trying to devour him, an external energy that seemed to want to sear a brand deep into his very soul.
He had a premonition that if he were pulled inside, the consequences would be more than he could bear. So he had instantly severed his own three fingers to avoid being dragged in.
Flora Bloom watched as the black energy flowed from her space directly into the outside world. It circled the man’s hand twice before being absorbed. The three fingers he had severed instantly grew back.
’Regenerating severed fingers?’
’I knew he didn’t have blood, and I couldn’t sense what type of superpower he has, so I guessed he wasn’t human. But that black energy came from the flesh of his severed fingers. Does that mean his body can freely convert between matter and energy?’
’Mangled flesh converts into energy, then reconverts back into a body part once it rejoins the main body?’
’That’s basically an immortal body!’
’How am I supposed to fight that?’
Even if she cut off his head, Flora Bloom suspected it wouldn’t kill him. She could already picture him regrowing his body from a severed head.
’This man’s claws alone are enough to tear me to shreds, and I can’t even pull him into my space! Am I supposed to hide in here forever and never come out?’
The man in white stood in the clearing, the corners of his mouth finally curving up again. "So it’s a Divine-level personal space! Little girl, it seems you’re full of secrets!"
From within her space, Flora Bloom watched the man’s every move, terrified of what he might do next.
"Did you think I can’t get to you just because you won’t come out?" He dispelled the spatial prison and, reaching up, swatted Vert directly out of the air.
He pinned Vert by its second leg joint with one hand, and with the other, he brutally snapped off both of its scythe-like arms.
"This thing is your little pet, isn’t it? You two are mentally linked, so it must be in a lot of pain, right?" The man in white laughed gleefully at the empty air as he casually, layer by layer, ripped the membranous wings from Vert’s back.
Vert’s enormous insectoid body was completely immobilized, pinned by just one of his hands on its leg.
The shattering of its scythes and the tearing of its wings sent waves of agony through Vert. It wailed incessantly through its mental link with Flora Bloom.
Watching Vert struggle fruitlessly in the man’s grasp, Flora Bloom’s heart burned with anxiety.
"I’ll come out! Let it go!"