Riku not knowing how to express the happiness and relief that he felt, he could only hug Eliza. He wasn't just happy because she saved him, he thought he would die and there was no other way so it didn't affect him that much, but now that he was still alive his feelings were all messed up. He finally felt fear that his skill couldn't remove and at the same time, a happiness that he couldn't describe exactly.
Eliza was initially surprised but she knew what he felt, the feeling when you know you're close to death is just that terrifying. She was initially planning to leave him behind, but she couldn't especially when he technically saved her even when the two of them knew that they were both wary of each other. In the end, the two of them weren't just the type to abandon someone that they felt close to.
Thanks to this experience they unknowingly formed a bond, but only time could tell whether it'll break and bend or if it'll last and grow.
After some time they finally stopped hugging each other. Riku felt a little bit shy, but that didn't last long when he remembered the hole in the entrance so he asked.
"Should we stay near the hole and take turns in watching the hole?"
Eliza simply nodded. Riku volunteered to watch first since he already slept a little, but the real reason was the announcement of the System. He remembered hearing an announcement before he slept so he looked at his status.
[Name: Takahashi Riku
Age: 18
Strength: 14
Intelligence: 11
Vitality: 15
Agility: 13
Dexterity: 11
Status points to allocate: 3
Skills: 3
Physical Skill:
Melee Weapon Techniques Level 1
Passive skills:
Psychological Distress Immunity Level 1
Unique Skill:
Appraisal
Skill points to allocate: 4
Titles: "The First Survivor", "Undying"]
"Huh, my vitality increased by 3 points?! was it because of this new title?" He thought of the description of "Undying" and it read as.
[You have stood in between life and death where just one wrong step and you would've died, but you've beaten the odds whether it's because of luck or careful planning you have been successful where many have failed!]
[Congratulations! You just earned the title "Undying" and gained an additional 3 status points to your vitality!]
"Distribute 1 point to intelligence and 2 points to strength." He thought as he suddenly felt an increase in strength and his brain seems to have worked better before everything felt normal again. He felt the need to increase his [Melee Weapon Techniques]'s skill, but he managed to hold the urge in. He also remembered to check the corpse of whatever it was while he could guess what the creature was, but his guess was just absurd that he wanted to double-check, Eliza was too worried about him so even she didn't know what it was. They didn't bother to dispose of the body of the creature, because they weren't staying for long either way.
It was already around 2 am, Riku promised Eliza to wake her up after two hours, but he decided not to. He practiced using the hatchets and started working out for two hours before Eliza woke up.
They decided to prepare at 6 am so Eliza scolded Riku who didn't want to sleep, she'll say "You're the main fighter so you need to be well-rested." and other sound arguments, in the end, he didn't have a choice but to sleep. It was exactly 6 am when Eliza woke Riku up.
Riku who was well-rested told Eliza about the System and while it was obvious that she didn't believe him, she still considered the possibility of it being true. They prepared whatever they could, but in the first place, all they had was their backpacks. So all Riku had to do was check the creature.
"What the f*ck?! How can a rat be this big?" Eliza cursed, it was not surprising though the rat in front was bigger than most dogs in comparison. Riku assumed what the creature was while he was fighting it because of the feeling of the tail added to the paws. He denied it as much as possible though because it didn't make sense but now he had no choice but to accept the truth.
There was nothing else to do in the store and the rat didn't drop a skill as well so they finally decide to leave. The hole was big enough that he was able to crawl to get outside after he checked whether there were any zombies outside.
After making sure that there were no outside nearby did he told Eliza.
They proceeded to jog in the direction of downtown. They avoided huge crowds of zombies and Riku was the one who killed the zombies they met so far. Everything was going well before they had to face 3 zombies. Thinking to himself that this was a great moment to help Eliza level up he told her.
"I'll go take on the two zombies in front, go take care of the one left."
Riku already managed to kill one zombie before he dealt with the other zombie. Eliza was able to manage to deal with the one left alive although it seems that Eliza had to endure puking a little bit since it was her first time killing someone.
When Eliza killed the last zombie she looked like she was confused, but she eventually understood that what she saw was the System Riku talked about. She stood there for a little while before she nodded that she was ready.
"It looks like you don't share the kills." Riku initially thought that some people wouldn't get the system because when he killed the rat it didn't seem like Eliza leveled up or got any rewards for her contribution. It turns out that she needed to kill the other creatures on her own so that she'll be able to level up.
As they killed the zombies on their way, Eliza eventually reached level 2 and after walking for a while they found Stephen's head. Its body was chewed up all over the place but what bothered them was the huge hole on where the heart is supposed to be. They pitied the man a little bit, but they still hated him. They thought to themselves that this was no longer the peaceful world they once had, they couldn't afford to pity him in this world that has greatly changed.
Whether they were aware of how they're changing as well is up in the air though as they started to worry about the unknown creature that killed Stephen.