Miranda stood frozen, her eyes wide as she watched the hellfire she had unleashed.
The four great regions once thriving cities filled with millions were now nothing but smoldering ruins. Collapsed buildings, blazing fires, and radioactive clouds filled every inch of the screens. The cost was unimaginable… but necessary.
One of the nuclear strikes had even landed near her own location. She could feel the faint tremor beneath her feet, a reminder of how close she had come to vanishing with everything else.
Still trembling, she whispered,
"…Day 2."
Only one day remained before the third evolution of the virus.
She couldn't relax now.
Miranda quickly began examining the high-tech equipment inside the hidden control room. While searching through the computer archives, she discovered files on unmanned aerial drones, each equipped with advanced thermal and motion cameras. A perfect tool to locate survivors or remaining threats.
Hope sparked in her chest.
She tried to activate one of the drones
…but the screen blinked red.
[SYSTEM FAILURE: EMP Interference Detected.]
"Damn it…" she cursed under her breath.
The drone network was fried. The EMP blast from the nukes had disrupted their circuits. But not all was lost.
Miranda then found something else
A powerful AI-assisted satellite control system.
With the correct input, the satellites could autonomously scan large regions, searching for heat signatures, motion, and even categorize living vs undead targets.
Miranda's fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Scan all four regions," she commanded.
"Search for any remaining zombies, survivors, or anomalies."
The screen responded immediately:
[Command Accepted. Initiating Multi-Zone Deep Scan...]
Fortunately, the satellites were still functional. With the help of the integrated AI system, Miranda ordered a full scan of all regions, searching for any remaining zombies.
While waiting for the scan to complete, she took a shower in the abandoned presidential residence. Thoughts flooded her mind what was happening to her meditating body back in school? Was her mother looking for her?
But now was not the time to hesitate. The test had to be completed.
Before she knew it, she fell asleep.
---
[WAVE 3 INITIATED]
Miranda awoke to a blaring alarm. Day three had begun. Only four days remained before the Fourth Evolution.
She rushed back to the control room. The satellite scans were in several remote villages at the borders still showed signs of zombie activity. Their locations were isolated, deep within the continent.
Miranda reattempted activating the drone this time, it worked.
> [Signal stable. Drone online.]
She deployed the drone to observe those villages. What the camera revealed made her stomach churn these zombies had evolved.
They now stood over seven meters tall. Their flesh melted like wax, bleeding and covered in bone spikes. Some had claws, horns, even whip-like bones protruding from their backs.
The drone tried firing from a distance but it was useless. Their regeneration was too fast, and their skulls had hardened to withstand bullets.
Miranda bit her lip, then got an idea.
She directed the drone to carry fuel barrels from a nearby depot, dropped them over the zombies, and shot the barrels from afar.
Flames erupted. The monsters caught fire. It was slow, but it worked.
> "So... fire is their weakness."
---
Miranda immediately hijacked the military systems from all four regions. She successfully unified their remaining forces: armed drones, automated tanks, missiles, even miniature nukes.
A full-scale extermination campaign began.
For an entire day, she led a total purge of the infected zones. Villages were leveled, zombies incinerated.
But when the operation ended, there was no message announcing the test's completion.
"Did I miss something...?"
---
The next two days, Miranda conducted another full scan nothing showed up. Her anxiety grew. The Fourth Evolution was fast approaching.
On the third day after Wave Three, she finally discovered something an anomaly:
A massive cave hidden within a magnetic field.
She sent a drone inside. What it found was staggering an underground city teeming with evolved zombies.
Miranda didn't hesitate.
She launched a full assault with all remaining firepower and obliterated the city.
---
[WAVE 4 INITIATED]
Miranda was confused.
She had wiped out every trace of zombies that could be found.
So then… where were they hiding?
Just then, an overwhelming dark aura burst from the presidential palace just a few blocks from where Miranda was staying.
She turned sharply toward it.
Even the satellites picked up the dark pulse. Miranda immediately redirected one satellite to focus on the palace.
From beneath the structure, the ground cracked open
A zombie hand emerged from the underground bunker.
Then, a figure leapt into the open air.
A woman… and a child.
But something was wrong.
They didn't look like zombies. Their bodies were intact, human-like… except for their glowing red eyes.
Miranda stared.
The more she looked, the more certain she became
They looked exactly like the president's wife and child.
Could it be…?
"Did the president's family hide in a secret chamber beneath the palace?"
With only two enemies left, Miranda felt the end was near.
She had already scanned the entire continent no other dark auras were detected.
This had to be the final threat.
Miranda deployed every nearby drone and directed them toward the zombie pair.
The drones opened fire with a barrage of bullets.
But the zombie woman raised her hand
From her arm, a massive bone shield erupted, blocking every shot with ease.
Then, with her other arm, she formed a cannon-like structure
A grotesque bone weapon with multiple holes.
Without warning, a hail of bone projectiles launched forward, tearing the drones apart midair.
Miranda narrowed her eyes and activated a special drone one equipped with a mini-nuclear payload.
The drone fired.
The warhead struck the target directly.
A deafening, concentrated explosion lit up the sky.
The woman's arm was obliterated in the blast.
But the child...
The zombie child was destroyed completely, with no signs of regeneration.
"Ahhhhh!!"
The zombie woman let out a shriek of rage.
Hundreds of bone spikes burst from her back
They split into smaller shards and rained down, destroying everything in a wide radius.
Miranda broke into a cold sweat.
> "So this... is the Fourth Wave."
Luckily, the child had not yet gained sentience.
But Miranda couldn't help but imagine—
What if there were ten zombies like this woman?
She would be completely overwhelmed.
Even her drone army wouldn't stand a chance.
Desperate, Miranda issued an emergency recall summoning every drone from the four regions.
But the woman's power only grew stronger.
She adapted quickly, evolving her bone manipulation into lethal forms:
Bone saws
Spinning cutters
Bone drills
Razor-sharp barbed nets
Miranda's forces were caught one after another.
Nothing worked.
Then, she made the call.
She turned her eyes to the South—a hidden military base.
It was time to deploy the S-Series MRYE Combat Mech.
Her last secret weapon.
Deep within a high-tech military base, a metallic white robot slowly opened its eyes.
Its limbs were equipped with ion thrusters—far more advanced than traditional jet propulsion.
It hovered silently, then surged forward at incredible speed toward the zombie woman.
A beam of pure white laser erupted from the robot's arm.
The zombie woman countered with a massive, spear-like bone projectile.
The two forces collided—laser and bone pushing against each other, crackling in a blinding clash.
Then, the robot raised both arms and fired a barrage of miniature rockets.
They struck the woman head-on—
Explosions shattered her arms and tore through her torso.
Yet somehow, she shielded her brain at the last second.
In mere seconds, her body began to regenerate.
But Miranda wasn't about to give her that chance.
She issued a rapid command:
The robot darted toward a waste disposal facility Miranda had previously identified.
It seized the zombie woman and shoved her into the massive incinerator unit.
The chamber sealed shut.
The robot activated the furnace at maximum capacity.
Flames roared.
Bones cracked.
And the final monster was turned to ash.
---
[CONGRATULATIONS: You have passed with SSS Rank.]
Reward Unlocked – 2nd Vassal: Ranita
Blessing: Zombie Summoning
Summon Bone Zombie (female)
Summon Poison Zombie (female)
Miranda's Vassal Blessing Enhanced:
In addition to summoning the AK-203 unit,
She can now summon Mini-Nuclear Drones
Small drones armed with mini-nuclear warhead missiles.
******
Raisa opened her eyes only to find herself back in the familiar school garden.
"Don't worry," said Teacher Macau casually, "It may have felt like days over there, but only a few minutes passed here. And don't stress over those death experiences haha, that's completely normal in these trials."
"But teacher," said Kenji, raising his hand, "I didn't die. And I got SSS rank."
"Same here," Raisa added calmly.
Teacher Macau opened his mouth, paused, and then blinked, speechless.
"...What?!"
He stepped back in shock. "You both of you got SSS and survived?"
"That's right," Kenji smirked. "Let's check our second vassals and the SSS rewards, shall we?"
"This is incredible..." Macau muttered. "Even those ranked SS almost always die in the test. Which means SSS rank... shouldn't die at all."
Macau, Kenji, and Raisa made their way back to the teacher's office.