Both William and I entered the dark laboratory, killing the zombies left and right.

This time I wasn't using any skills, as just my base stats were enough to kill the D-Grade Zombies without any effort.

Both mine and my brother's speed were almost matching as he killed zombies before absorbing them at a rapid speed. As for me, I just killed some here and there, letting him absorb most of them.

While Cessation Energy is bad in most ways, him being strong will at least guarantee his safety, even when I am not here. If he is strong, he could take over my place when I am not here.

First, we cleared the reception area before moving deeper into the laboratory. Each floor had been completely consumed by the plants, though we still hadn't reached the core of the area.

Though luckily,

"Here,"William spoke as he sensed the core energy and guided us towards the so-called Hybrid Plant-Zombie.

After taking several turns, left and right, we finally reached a large open space at the end of the laboratory, where an open botanical garden greeted us.

From the third floor, we saw the area below us in the garden, infested with strange plants and vines that were moving like snakes here and there. Other than that, the walls of the botanical garden were infested with strange spores and flowers that looked anything but attractive.

Though what caught our attention was the humongous flower at the center of the botanical garden that was tall enough to reach the fourth floor and wide enough to take in a couple of buses.

[5 seconds]

I had already been looking out for any surprise attacks using both my foresight and normal timer skill. And it was almost time this thing began its attack.

[3 seconds]

"Brother," William warned me and peeking at him from the corner of my eyes, I smiled at him as I spoke,"wanna compete?"

He chuckled a little as his eyes glowed a bit dark red and he nodded,"like the old days?"

"Like the old days," I replied as

[1 second]

[Temporal Deceleration!]

I activated only one of my skills first to check how the attacks are going to come. Other than that, I also wanted to check where Alissa is. According to the System, she is somewhere trapped around here. I had a general idea where she could be, but in the end, it was just an idea and not a sure thought.

"Well.. that's a bit.. " I thought as I saw the attack coming from behind through the vines. William had already jumped away from here, as he might have already sensed the attack. As for me, I took a step aside, simply dodging the attack.

The vine which was piercing towards me, I saw it slowly turned towards me.

'Homing?' I thought before I saw the future where another attack was coming from below this time.

Simply dodging again, I chose a step where I could have some room for further movements and not get trapped.

Welp, looks like that plant thingy had another plan, since the flowers which were all around the walls, started blooming at once

[A harmful energy is trying to invade the user's body!]

[Preventing the energy to invade the user's body!]

[Prevention successful!]

'Well, that's so nice of you,' I thanked the System before looking at how William was faring. Looking at him, he was more or less dodging the vines and killing them left and right before some of the pores bloomed around him.

[Inspect!]

Concentrating on what I wanted to see

[A second energy is trying to invade William's body!]

[The second energy is fighting with the energy within William's body at a rapid rate!]

[Zombification Energy: 43%

Plant Energy: 1%

Sanity: 98%]

'Looks like he would need my help,' I thought as I jumped towards him. My eyes observed him with a bit of curious look

[Temporal Deceleration (Copy)!]

I then moved behind him and touched his head a little before

[Advanced Time Manipulation]

[Effects: Allows the user to increase or decrease the time of a process by reducing the molecular activity by as much time as the user wants (max 200). Does not work on any macro movements

Cost: 0]

Smiling, I activated my ability on him, and soon

[Inspect!]

[William's body has started taking control over the Plant Energy!]

[The Plant Energy is trying to set itself free!]

[Because William is taking control at an insane speed, the Plant Energy user is losing its control on the Plant Energy!]

A smirk appeared on my face as I looked back at that huge plant monster that was trying to take over my brother. Then a glint of cold glare escaped my eyes as I observed it for a few moments as I mumbled,

"I will let my brother handle you. Count yourself lucky that you are going to be a growth material for him or else."

Soon..

[William has successfully taken over the Plant Energy!]

[Name: William Aroa

Race: Zombified Human (C-Grade)

Title:

Class: Lord of the Death

[Lord of the Death: If the user wished to, any being who used Cessation Energy, below the user's Grade will have their aura suppressed to an extent.]

Zombification: 43%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade]

Cessation Energy: 55000/55000

Status: Healthy

Active Ability: Beyond Human

Skills(8)*

(4) Beyond Human: Allows the user to increase his stats by +400% for the next 2 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours

(8) Plant Overruler: Can use plants and vegetation to his own advantage using Cessation Energy. Cost: 100 Cessation Energy/second

Strength: 145(+590)

Constitution: 145(+590)

Dexterity: 123 (+492)

Intelligence: 89 (+356)

Wisdom: 130 (+520)

Charm: 100(+400)]

-SCREEECCHHH!!!!!!

A loud yet shrill sound echoed throughout the garden from all the flowers that had already bloomed before I saw them dying out slowly and slowly. The vines trace themselves back to the big flower at the center of the area, concentrating all the energy there before..

-Thud!

A lifeless body fell out of the flower's mouth.. and the flower gradually withered.historical

The lifeless body then started twitching all over before it started getting back up on its two feet.

My eyes looked deeper into the eyes of the blonde-haired zombie with its body covered entirely with vines all around its body.

-SCREEECCCH!!!!

It shouted as it looked at me. The fact that it could move like normal, despite the time being slowed more than a hundred times, showed how strong this one was. But that wasn't why it was a bad situation..

[Inspect!]

[Name: Alissa Rosalyn

Race: Hybrid Plant-Zombie-Human (Grade-B)

Class: Herbal Queen; The First Hybrid

Description: A girl with great hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, she got caught in between this mess between two opposing energies. Her will power to survive no matter what let her survive till the very end, only to become the final product of an abomination between the two energies.

Zombification: 0%*[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade]

Plantification: 0%[Reach 100% to evolve into next grade]

Cessation Energy: 1,240,000/1,240,000

Plant Life Energy: 1,210,234/1,210,234

Status: Healthy/Mind-Controlled

Skills(18)*

Strength: 678

Constitution: 1023(+543)

Dexterity: 876(+234)

Intelligence: 671(+156)

Wisdom: 234(+344)

Charm: 1023(+523)]