Liam's stomach dropped. This thing was way more flexible than the Cadaver from this morning. It moved almost as fast as a normal human. If it decided to back off now, Liam wouldn't be able to reach it.


But then Liam discovered the Mutated Ghoul's second weakness: It was dumb as rocks.


A normal person, seeing a guy charging at them with a cleaver and a hammer, would retreat to fight another day. Not this thing. Even after taking a hammer blow to the arm, the Mutated Ghoul didn't flinch. It just kept clawing forward, dragging its broken body halfway through the window.


Liam didn't hesitate. His left hand brought the cleaver down in a blur of motion, hacking into the creature's arm twice before burying the blade into its face three times. Blood and gore sprayed everywhere. His hammer followed the rhythm, slamming down again and again. The corpse managed to drag itself halfway through the window before it finally went still, its head practically mashed into pulp by Liam's frenzy.


Watching the Mutated Ghoul slump over, Liam had the weirdest feeling that the thing had practically gift-wrapped itself for him. It was like a suicide run.


As the corpse draped over the windowsill, the layer of White Fur on its skin retracted and vanished. Suddenly, a White Essence Orb—a glowing ball of light about the size of a thumb—popped out of the bloody mess of the creature's head. It shot straight at Liam's face like a heat-seeking missile.


Liam didn't even try to fight it this time. Honestly, he couldn't have dodged it if he wanted to; the thing moved way too fast.


It smacked right into his forehead. Liam swiped at his face, but there was nothing there. Instead, a scorching heat surged through him, zapping his nerves like an electric current. The sensation only lasted a few seconds before fading, but it left something behind—a fresh wave of power bubbling in his veins.


Earlier that day, crushing that Cadaver's skull had left him wheezing like an old man. But now? After hacking and smashing like a maniac, he wasn't even winded. The new power coursing through him made the hammer feel lighter, almost like a toy.


He could feel it. His lifting strength had definitely gone up by at least thirty or forty pounds.


Then, a message popped into his brain, appearing as naturally as a sudden memory:


Ether: 2/5


Liam wasn't surprised anymore.


"Okay, so it really is called Ether," he thought. "I've taken down two reanimated corpses, and I've got two Ether. But what's with the five? Do I need to collect five total? And what happens when I hit five..."


His mind flashed back to the White Fur he'd seen on the corpse—it looked just like the legendary White-Haired Ghouls from the horror stories. A chill ran down his spine. If his Ether count hit 5/5, would he level up, or would he sprout white fur and turn into a zombie himself?


Liam was just about to toss the corpse out the window when a heavy BANG echoed from the front door.


BANG! BANG! BANG!


Someone was out there, pounding on the metal security door with terrifying force. Liam gripped his cleaver and hammer tighter, staring at the entrance. The door was solid steel—breaking it down would be a nightmare for anything, which gave him a tiny sliver of relief.


"Who is it?" Liam called out.


He knew the odds were high that it was another Necrotic Mutation monster, but he couldn't help himself. There was a one-in-a-million chance it was another survivor, and he had to know.


As soon as he spoke, the banging stopped. The hallway returned to a dead silence.


Then, a crisp crash of shattering glass came from his bedroom.


"Crap!" Liam's face went pale. He bolted toward the bedroom.


He burst into the room just in time to see a dark shadow climbing through the broken window. The glass was scattered across the floor, and the shadow didn't waste a second. The moment it hit the floor, it lunged at him.


And it was fast.


In the faint moonlight, Liam could just make out that it was another Necrotic Mutation monster. It looked like a middle-aged man, maybe forty or fifty, bloated from water exposure like the others. But this one hadn't been gnawed on. Its face was covered in a layer of fuzz, and its pale, milky eyes glowed with a faint, eerie light.


Liam's stomach dropped as he gauged its speed.


The first one, the Cadaver, had been stiff and slow. The second Mutated Ghoul moved like a normal human. But this third one? It was fast. Liam realized with a jolt of horror that they were evolving. Each one was deadlier than the last.


But there was nowhere to run. He had to fight.


Liam gritted his teeth and charged, banking on the weapon in his hand and the extra juice from the second Ether.


The Mutated Ghoul wasn't human anymore; it didn't know fear or pain. It lunged with its arms wide open, literally letting Liam hack into its limbs just so it could tackle him. The impact was like getting hit by a linebacker. Liam hit the floor hard, landing on his back.


Pain shot through his spine, but he didn't have time to scream. The monster's hands clamped around his throat, cutting off his air instantly.


Liam's eyes bulged, his mouth gaping like a fish out of water. Summoning every ounce of hysterical strength he had, he flailed the cleaver and hammer at the monster pinning him down.


In seconds, he slashed the Mutated Ghoul five or six times and bashed it with the hammer, but the thing didn't care. It sat on his chest like a stone statue, its grip on his throat tightening like a vice.


Liam could feel his face turning purple. This was bad. From this angle, he couldn't reach the monster's head, and the body shots weren't slowing it down. The lack of oxygen was making his vision swim. If he didn't do something in the next few seconds, he was going to black out—and then he was dead.


Liam was hovering somewhere between life and death.


A cold hand was clamped around his throat, cutting off his air supply. His chest felt like a balloon about to pop, and his head was spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl. But just as the buzzing in his ears got deafening, a surge of adrenaline kicked in. He didn't know where the strength came from, but he opened his mouth and let out a guttural roar.


"Hah!"


He bucked his hips and thighs, exploding into motion and throwing the Mutated Ghoul off his chest.


Bang!


The force of the throw was insane. The Ghoul flew backward and slammed into the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. There was a sickening crack as the screen shattered into a spiderweb of glass, crashing down on top of the monster in a heap of plastic and wires.