Following Zack's and, the three meical dogs statio the warehouse leaped from their positions, swiftly marking a triangur strike zoh their bea systems. Moments ter, from high-rise buildings in the distance, hundreds of Ant and Spiders unleashed their firepower. Hundreds of miissiles streaked through the night sky like a storm of fiery meteors, lighting up the city as they homed in oriangur coordinates.

  At the ter of this targeted zoood the Tyra. It had just crushed one of the meical dogs with its massive whip-like cws and was turning to attaother when the missiles struck. The onsught began.

  A torrent of miissiles rained down in rapid succession, engulfing the six-meter-tall monster in a fiery inferno. Each explosion was like a hammer blow, the earth itself tremblih the relentless barrage. The shockwave tore at the beast’s heavily armored body, while fmes licked hungrily at its frame. It was as if the Tyra had been thrown into a furnace of destru.

  Nearby, windows shattered as buildings two or three blocks away felt the shockwaves, raining shards of broken gss onto the streets below. "Don’t let up! Keep firing!" Zack barked, his voice sharp. "Ava, ahe on and hit the target with everything you've got!"

  Ava, piloting the Avalon above, responded immediately. She nosedived the aircraft, and the 30mm Vul ounted beh its hull roared to life. A fiery stream of depleted uranium armor-pierg rounds cascaded down from the sky, striking the triangur target zoh precision. The sheer force of the impact ripped apart the surrounding area, and even the unfortuated Lord caught within the zone couldn’t escape its fury.

  Already weakened and covered in wounds, the mutated Lord ounded by dozens of projectiles and miissiles. With a desperate, guttural roar, it was torn to pieces, its body shredded by the storm of firepower. The bombardment sted over ten seds—ay in battle. Thousands of miissiles aed uranium rounds poured into the area, redug much of the pce to bzing ruins. Fires raged untrolbly, and smoke bed the skyline.

  The triangur impact zoself had been obliterated. The Tyra’s st known location was now marked by a massive crater, rge enough to fit a basketball court. Fmes roared within the depths, and molten debris glowed red-hot. "Send a dog to check it out," Zack ordered, his tone calm despite the chaos.

  A meical dog equipped with a life ser darted from the building, rag toward the crater. As it approached, the temperature spiked to levels hot enough to melt steel. The crete had vaporized, repced by smooth, gss-like soil baked by the intense heat. Streams of molteal and magma pooled within the crater.

  Radiation from the depleted uranium rounds lingered in the air, wreaking havo the dog’s systems. Sparks erupted from its frame as it stumbled, its signal scrambled by the interference. Moments ter, the mae colpsed he edge of the pit. "Fet it. I’ll go myself," Zack said, activating the thrusters on his suit. Jets of psma erupted from his boots as he desded into the crater. Fmes and smoke swirled around him, and the high-tech Apex suit absorbed the brunt of the heat and radiation.

  Zaelt by the fallen dog, iing it briefly. "Radiation fried its pos," he muttered. He straightened and began walking toward the pit’s ter, his footsteps eg against the gssy surface of the crater walls. The intense heat had transformed the soil into a brittle, ceramic-like material that cracked beh his weight.

  "Sir, I’ve detected a weak life signal," Ego, his AI panioed.

  "What?" Zack froze, sing the crater.

  His HUD was useless—interference from the radiation had rendered most of his systems nonfunal. Forced to rely on his own eyes, Zack peered into the depths of the pit. Then, he saw it. At the very bottom y a massive bck shell, its surface cracked and steaming. It was a hemisphere, five to six meters in diameter, resembling an enormous, armored turtle shell. Streams of molten magma seeped through the cracks, glowing ominously.

  The life signal was ing from within. "A high-level zombie?" Zack specuted, his jaw tightening.

  Then a chilling thought struck him. "The fittest survive..." he murmured. The Zeta virus was evolving. The idea that it might not be of Earthly i into his mind, uling him.

  "Sir! The life signal is intensifying!" Ego’s urgent voice pulled him from his thoughts.

  The bck shell began to tremble. Cracks widened as molten va spilled out, and a deep, guttural roar echoed from within. The Tyra was still alive—and it was waking up.

  Without hesitation, Zack activated his thrusters and shot away from the pit. He wasn’t about to take unnecessary risks before uanding the full extent of the Tyra’s abilities. “Ego, lure this thing out of the city,” Zack ordered, his tone calm yet decisive. His gaze shifted to Bear Mountain in the distance. “Direct it to Bear Mountain.”

  “Uood. Deploying the spiders now,” Ego responded smoothly.

  Moments ter, the meical army’s on fodder—the spiders—began mobilizing. “ROAR!”

  A deafening bellow echoed from the bzing pit, loud enough to shake the ground like thuhe force of the sou shockwaves rippling outward, extinguishing the fmes and clearing the air of smoke and dust. As the pit came bato view, the massive shell-like structure that had shielded the Tyra was gone. In its pce stood a new form—a t figure over four meters tall. It was smaller than before but still intimidating.

  The Tyra’s body now had a crocodile-like texture, with thick, armor-like skin that glowed faintly b the firelight. It took one slow, deliberate step out of the pit, its movements heavy yet deliberate. It roared again, its glowing eyes log onto Zack, who hovered in mid-air. Despite its intimidating appearance, Zack could tell the creature wasn’t as strong as it seemed.

  The truth was, the Tyra wasn’t a single anism but a cluster of tless viral fibers w together. Its ability to ge form was both its strength and its weakness. The saturation bombing had destroyed its structure repeatedly, f it to adapt iime. Though it had mao survive, the damage was clear—its once-massive body had shrunk signifitly, and its movements cked the vigor it once dispyed.

  Still, its rage alpable. Its glowing eyes burned with an uling intelligence as it gred at Zack. “Sir, the spiders are in position and engaging the target,” Ego reported.

  On the ground below, dozens of spiders lined up, f a trail from the warehouse to Bear Mountain. The spiders opened fire, unleashing a hailstorm of tungsten-core bullets at the Tyra. The bullets struck its crocodile-like armor but failed to pee. Sparks flew in every dire as the rounds ricocheted harmlessly off its body, adding fuel to the creature’s mounting fury.

  “ROAR!” With a burst of energy, the Tyra crouched low and leaped into the air, its massive frame smming down onto one of the spiders. The impact obliterated the meical unit, sending its shattered remains flying in all dires. The other spiders didn’t retreat. They tinued firilessly, their red-hot barrels almost brushing against the creature’s legs.

  Boom!