Return of the last survivor

While Merlin was on his 'hunt', the other members of the Tier 1 team in charge of the Class 3 threat, were fighting their own battle against a much smaller, yet incredibly large horde of nearly 1,000 Tier 1s.

Amidst the dynamic battlefield of Tier 1s, that stretched out for nearly 10 km in any direction, Ethan was currently in a squad of 12, with himself being one of the 3 knight class tankers, 1 mage class healers, 5 mage class damage dealers, and lastly 1 single thief class assassin.

This squad was in charge of a certain part of the battlefield, spanning about 500m.

There were Tier 1 zombies coming in from the front in a huge wave, as the 5 mages began using up mana to wear down the horde of 60 strong zombies.

Ethan prepared to engage as he tightened the grip on his weapon, as sweat began to pour down his face seeing the still 55 strong horde.

"Haah!"

With a shout of willpower, Ethan and the 3 other knight tankers charged forward with all their might put into the heavy shields they carried in front of them, just dragging their axes and swords behind then as extra weight.

*Crash*

With just one strong push, The three knights instantly crushed 3 Tier 1 zombies. This was only possible to be this easy since they were normal zombies.

Before the mana burst, only specialised zombies were able to become Tier 1. However, after the mana burst, every single Tier 0 zombie evolved to Tier 1, without any change to their intelligence. These zombies only used one form of attack, and that was biting. In a sense, they were only stronger zombies in attributes of strength and vitality.

The 3 knights in tandem to each other spun around and cleaved another 3 zombies in half with their respective weapons, before using their legs to crush the zombie's skulls.

With that action out of the way, they all ducked, to allow the long ranged attackers to perform their magic, and so they did. Another 5 zombies were either frozen, impaled, burned or sliced into pieces.

However, the rest of the zombies had already circled around the 3 knights, threatening to attack the ranged attackers, and healer.

Ethan and the other two stood up once more and retreated, their shields still facing majority of the zombie horde, and they swung their weapons to kill the enemies between them and the ranged group.

At this moment, The group noticed a Tier 1 Lich within the horde of 39 zombies, preparing an attack.

However, the lich suddenly crumpled into nothingness, a sign that someone had destroyed its only weakness, the heart.

This was most likely Sarah, the Tier 1 assassin.

This squad's captain was Ethan, and the vice-captain was Sarah. The two were pretty close with each other, coming to know each other over the missions they were ordered to complete together.

Phillip had deployed everyone based on their squads instead of individuals, and Ethan had been deployed with his own squad, who he had been with for the past 8 months.

This small battle raged on, just like the others, and time passed as the zombies were cut down one after another.

Nearly 20 minutes after the start of the battle, Phillip's self-created image projected onto the coms of every single person both on and off the battlefield.

"The battle is over. We emerge victorious once more, and the Merlin Sanctum stands strong another day."

Most people off the battlefield began celebrating, while those on the battlefield slumped to the ground from exhaustion.

At this moment, Sarah had finished killing off any unexpected enemies, and was returning back to the rest of her squad.

However, as soon as she turned a corner around the building, heart stopped for a moment. Her footsteps became slower and heavier as though she was walking in sand. Her daggers fell to the ground with a resounding clack in the silent battlefield, And tears began to form in her eyes.

What lay in front of her was a mess. The healing mage had tried his best, but it was simply impossible to fix this.

On the ground, was an enormous pool of blood, with two distinct halves resting on it. It was Ethan's upper and lower half, with sliced organs littered everywhere.

Seeing this scene, Sarah dropped to her knees and made her way to the upper half of Ethan, her eyes blood-red, reflecting the bloody state Ethan was in.

During the least seconds of the battle, Merlin and a Tier 2 Rampager Zombie happened to pass by.

A Rampager was another form of specialised zombie with a moderate amount of intelligence. It was a zombie which could only be formed During Tier 2, and looked ugly af. It had a slightly humanoid figure, with a hunched back, and pointed vertebrate jutting out of the green skin. It arms were elongated into incredibly sharp claws, and no eyes. It used its long tongue as a sensory organ to find enemies, and its feet were incredibly well-built, making it extremely agile as well as fast.

The Rampager had launched an attack which missed its intended target and landed squarely on the back of Ethan, splitting him in half.

Such a grievous injury would not even be healed with Merlin's [Mana Spur] not to mention a normal Tier 1 healing mage.

"ETHAAAN!!!!!" shrieked Sarah, losing the last bits of sanity seeing this scene.

Ethan used the last bits of his consciousness to look at Sarah and smile, which caused even more blood from inside his mouth to pour out, before giving way to air, resulting in a gurgling voice.

"Sarah…"

"Yes!"

"…I…love…"

However, before he could complete his words, he lost consciousness, his expression stuck as one of longing while having given up hope.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!@%$#^*&"

Sarah looked up at the night sky as she let out a painful scream, venting all her anger and pent up feelings towards Ethan into nothingness.

The healer, reached out and closed Ethan's eyes before moving back, giving Sarah her space.