Chapter 4: Wave 1

In the scorching desert far away, a massive portal suddenly appeared. It stood towering at nearly thirty feet tall and about twenty meters wide, radiating a strange ominous light.

Moments later, Jeff felt the ground beneath him tremble violently. From within the glowing portal, countless mummies began to emerge, marching forward in unison.

Their numbers were impossible to count, stretching endlessly into the distance.

Each mummy stood about the size of an average human, but their eyes glowed a menacing red that sent chills down his spine.

"Brainsss…"

Their hollow voices echoed across the endless desert, sending a shiver through the air.

Jeff narrowed his eyes at the sight and immediately pulled out his SMG, readying himself with a serious expression.

"Are those zombies or mummies? Hmm… maybe mummy zombies," he muttered, tightening his grip on the weapon.

"Jason, can you shoot from that far?" he called out to the little shooter stationed on the elevated platform.

Jason hummed in reply and the moment its gaze locked onto the wave of mummy-zombies, its entire expression twisted aggressively.

A soft mist puffed from its pod and then a faint layer of frost crept along its green ridges.

With a chilled burst of icy seed fire launched from its pod, the air behind it whistled sharply as the frost-tinged projectile cut through the sunny sky.

The seed glowed blue-green, leaving a trail of condensation as it flew and slammed into the chest of the first mummy.

THUD!

A loud, sharp impact occurred but instead of just knocking the creature back, frost rapidly spread from the point of contact.

The mummy's arms and legs stiffened mid-step as white frost webbed across its torso, causing it to groan and then frozen.

Because of the other mummies behind it, he was pushed down and was destroyed into frozen fragments.

Then a second shot followed, striking another just behind it. This one fell forward, making its leg frozen mid-lunge.

It collapsed in a puff of dust making its bones cracking from the cold. But Jason did not stop their as he kept firing again and again.

Each shot struck with a wet crunch, followed by the spreading hiss of instant frostbite, slowing the mummies' advance as more of them stumbled, staggered, or locked up entirely.

Even though the portal continued to vomit out more enemies, the frontline was frozen into a bottleneck.

"Nice, Jason. Make them crawl." Jeff laughed as he cheered.

But before he can be happy the area of effect from the ice seeds that had frozen the ground was quickly extinguished by the blazing sun.

Even the zombies closest to the impact point were only slowed for about two seconds before regaining their pace, their burning red eyes locked on him once more.

[Report: Due to current desert temperature, localized solar exposure is accelerating frost decay. Making the slowing effect duration reduced by approximately 30%]

His eyes narrowed since he can see them now closing in and was now 80 meters close.

[You still have zone control, but don't expect them to stay frozen for long. Recommend tightening your kill window or initiating backup fire.]

He nodded thinking that he must really had to act fast, "Jason, keep firing! Don't let them rest for even a second!"

Jason let out a low hum as it fired continuously, releasing swirling blasts of ice that struck the zombies one after another, freezing and shattering them on the spot.

"You two, join Jason and open fire! Don't let them get anywhere near us!" he commanded.

Then two Sprout shooter behind Jason but spread apart, fired their own shots but since they dont have any slowing effects the zombie can moved freely.

But those who were hit had their bodies broken while some were dead upon impact, since the bullet was like a baseball being shot from a machine.

[Your Frostbite Shooter 'Jason' just leveled up]

[Damage, Slowing Effects, Bullet Speed, and Range were enhanced]

Jason fired again this time the shot zipped through the air faster than before, it leaves a sharp blue trail and when it landed, the impact wasn't just focused it spread.

A wave of frost erupted outward, instantly freezing the legs of ten nearby mummies, locking them in place like icy statues.

[Area of Effect increased by +5%]

Jeff blinked in surprised from the world system and when he saw its prowess just now hew as delighted.

"Whoa! Jason, you just got a promotion."

[You can now view your unit status]

Name: Jason

Type: Frostbite Shooter

Grade: Tier 2

Level: 2

Ammo Type: Regenerating Bio-Seed (Cooldown: 3 sec)

Skills: Frost Seeds

Passive Skills: Heat Saturation

Frost Seeds:

- Slows enemy movement by 45%
- AoE frost spread radius: 3.3 meters
- Frost duration: 10 -> 4.5 seconds (affected by heat)

...

Seeing Jason's status screen, Jeff was taken aback. He hadn't realized he could actually view its stats and not only that, he could also see its grade and tier.

The discovery left him both surprised and excited.

[Your Sprout Shooter just leveled up]

The world system interface suddenly popped up, notifying him that the two Sprout Shooters beside Jason had also leveled up.

Their updated status screens appeared before his eyes, displaying their newly improved attributes and growth indicators.

Name: (Pending Name)

Type: Sprout Shooter

Grade: Tier 1

Level: 2

Ammo Type: Regenerating Bio-Seed (Cooldown: 2.8 sec)

Skills: Slight knockback

[Damage, Bullet Speed, knockback and Range were enhanced]

He barely had time to finish reading the system prompt when the two Sprout Shooters beside Jason let out a sharp, synchronized hum.

Their pods swelled with energy, the faint green veins along their stems were glowing like activated circuits and then...

THWIP-THMP!THWIP-THMP!

They fired like a cannon first burst came from the left shooter. Its seed shot tore through the air like a green bullet on steroids, slicing the wind with a sonic snap.

The impact struck a charging mummy square in the sternum, the blast cracking its ribs and sending a cloud of dust flying as the creature was knocked off its feet.

It crashed to the ground three feet back, its arms twitching and its body half-buried in the sand.

The second Sprout Shooter fired immediately after. Its shots were faster and sharper, the higher burst rate causing its pod to tremble slightly with every rapid volley it unleashed.

Two seeds struck a zombie's leg and shoulder in quick succession and the mummy twisted awkwardly, stumbling sideways as the momentum spun it into another mummy beside it.

As the upgraded shooters kept firing, more zombies fell. Some were thrown back, their bodies rolling across the dunes like tossed corpses.

Others collapsed where they stood, bursting with green-tinged bruises where the seeds smashed into their flesh.

Jeff watched the scene unfold, feeling shocked about the efficiency of this three. He hadn't expected this level of control just from the three plants.

But the proof was right in front of him.

Despite the fact that the portal was still spewing out mummies that is over a hundred times, none of them had made it close.

Not even one had breached the kill zone. Because of Jason, being the Frostbite Shooter, he was the perfect frontline suppressor.

His attacks didn't just damage, but they can use slow. Every mummy hit by his shots had their limbs stiffen, making their movement crawl to a halt.

Some were frozen mid-step and others were toppled from the sudden loss of balance.

It was creating a choking wall of frozen corpses, which the rest of the wave was forced to climb over and that just made them easier to hit.

Meanwhile, the two leveled-up Sprout Shooters controlled the left and right lanes. Their enhanced bullet speed and knockback meant each shot hit like a punch from a cannon.

The mummies that tried to break through the formation were either blasted off their feet or struck so hard in the legs that they collapsed into the sand.

Working together, the three shooters covered a wide arc of fire, leaving no safe lanes, no openings to slip through.

The desert's vast openness, which had once been their greatest weakness, had now turned into their advantage.

With no walls or obstacles in the way, the shooters had clear, uninterrupted lines of sight across the entire battlefield.

There was nowhere to hide and no shadows to slip through. Every zombie that stepped forward was immediately tagged, hit, and either slowed, shattered, or sent flying.

"If this is a nightmare, I would rather call it a dream," he spoked as he just stood there letting his unit do the job for him.