The skin on the Half-Faced gentleman's neck twisted and wrinkled, then split apart.
A mouth with grey lips—dry, chipped, and tightly pressed together—appeared at the center of its throat.
The mouth slowly opened, revealing rows of rotten yellow and black teeth.
Then came a deafening scream.
Kev winced in pain as hot blood trickled from his ears. His consciousness was greatly affected.
The scream showed no signs of stopping.
It only grew louder, becoming more unbearable with each passing second.
Kev found it unbearable from the very start.
As the scream grew louder, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.
His vision blurred, his consciousness rapidly receded, and darkness came crawling like a poisonous spider to encroach on his senses.
It seemed like he would fall unconscious at any moment. And that would spell his doom.
"I refuse to die here!"
Kev was unresigned—he wasn't willing to accept death, not here, not like this.
He growled like a beast before biting down on his tongue fiercely. His mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood, but the sharp, shooting pain from his reckless actions cleared his mind, giving him an opportunity to fight back.
Naturally, he grasped it, pressing the rifle's trigger and opening fire.
Bullets sprayed out in a line, striking the center of its neck where that damn mouth was.
The scream shut down instantly.
Dark red blood gushed from the deep hole in its flesh as the Half Faced Gentleman quickly retreated into the shadows—out of reach of Kev's flashlight—dodging the next volley of bullets.
Kev lost sight of it.
Unable to determine where it had disappeared to, he stopped shooting to save his ammunition, feeling tensed.
It was hiding in the dark… while he was exposed in the open.
It was the worst position to be in!
"I can't tell what it would do next, but I need to be prepared for it."
Kev's vigilance was raised high. But even he couldn't have expected what happened next
Low overlapping growls emanated from within the darkness, as if coming from many. They echoed like a chorus of predators circling their prey.
Kev flashed his light ahead, and what he saw drained every drop of blood from his face.
Dozens—if not hundreds—of Revenants were thundering down the tunnel with incredible speed, as if injected with chicken blood.
How their mangled limbs and rotten flesh could move like a well-oiled machine was a terrifying mystery in itself, one that defied logic and nature.
Perhaps it was the instinctual attraction they had for the flesh and blood of humans that made them run so fast.
Their target?
It was Kev!
"Wow. Just wow."
In the face of so many Revenants, he smiled fearlessly.
Such a response could only come from a man who had been through a thousand battles… or one who had simply given up on life.
It quickly became clear which one Kev was as he slung the rifle over his shoulder, grabbed his broadsword, and like a true man with a smart head on his shoulders, he turned tail and ran!
Gunning them down wasn't a viable option.
He'd be swarmed in seconds.
There were too many of them.
Even if he tried kiting, he'd run out of ammunition before he took them all down.
He couldn't pop a grenade here either.
The tunnel might collapse, blocking his only way out. Then he'd be trapped with a mountain of corpses and starve to death.
He had to rely on some other means to survive this hopeless case.
"Think, Kev. Think. How can I deal with them all and still come out alive?"
His mind worked on overdrive, churning out ideas faster than a rapper spitting bars on five cups of coffee, as he ran back the way he came, with a massive wave of Revenants chasing after him.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
"Yes, that might work!"
A viable idea had formed in his head.
With his current strength and equipment, it was impossible to solo a wave of Revenants.
But what if he didn't need to fight them all at once?
What if he only had to deal with one or two at a time?
Wouldn't he emerge victorious in that case?
As for how he was going to make that happen…
It was simple.