Eliza was afraid, but when she saw Riku who looked like someone who gave up on life, she just couldn't ignore him. She could only try her best to encourage him in her way.
Eliza couldn't do anything more for Riku, she could only support him but if Riku couldn't overcome this hurdle there wasn't anything else she could do. She brought Riku to the room and only when she saw how despondent Riku was, she could only sigh as she went back to the window to watch the giant. It was heartbreaking for her to see him like that, they may have only known each other for less than a week but she saw how he braved all sorts of dangers and she knew that he might give up, only when he has tried his best. Seeing how he gave up before trying anything just goes to show how much of a psychological impact that the giant has caused to Riku.
As she watched the giant disappear into the distance she finally realized that there were a lot of changes that happened overnight. Vines covered the city, the trees were bigger and so were the mountains. Birds that seemed to be 8m big flew in the skies. The city looks like it was abandoned for years.
"Riku told me that the plants and animals would evolve but who'd think they'll evolve this fast." She sighed helplessly, she was a confident person but her confidence can't help but waver at the sight of this sudden change.
"Hey, I'm gonna go and check on the security room. I'll be right back." Riku, however, didn't respond he just sat there as if he didn't hear her.
The security room was located on the top floor as well, all they wanted is a secure place to rest in before so they didn't bother killing the zombies in it. There were only 3 zombies in the security room wearing uniforms. It didn't take much for Eliza to kill, the room was filled with tv's showing the live view of CCTV's. There were quite a few zombies on each floor but they couldn't leave their floor because of the security gates blocking their way aside from that, there was nothing else worth mentioning.
"Should I risk it and kill the zombies on other floors or should I first wait and see if Riku will recover." She was confident in dealing with 3 or 4 zombies but she knew any more than that and she'll be having a hard time, to say the least.
In the end, she decided she couldn't wait for Riku. There was a chance that Riku'll take longer than expected to recover and they just didn't have the luxury to waste time. They needed to be strong fast and every second they wait, the harsher their living conditions would be.
Eliza went for the floor with the lowest number of zombies, though they're the lowest number there were still 10 zombies. After opening the gates she ran halfway up the stairs as the zombies try to catch her. The zombies tripped on the stairs and Eliza was able to smash the skulls of 2 zombies before the others managed to catch up.
A zombie managed to grab her bat and she tried to shake the zombie off but she couldn't, she shoved the zombie grabbing the bat and the zombies behind it and they ended up falling down the stairs. The zombie, however, was still grabbing her bat and she decided to take it down, pushing the baseball bat against the zombie's neck and using her foot to hold the bat down she stomped on the zombies face.
It eventually released the baseball ball on the third stomp, Eliza reacted immediately and took the bat to smash the zombie's skull. The zombies who fell on top of each other was already approaching her.
Seeing how she's about to be surrounded she bashed the side of a zombie's skull with her bat and ran upstairs. She already managed to take down their numbers so the rest wasn't that much of an issue.
"It's getting harder to level up. I guess I'll stop for now." She thought to herself as she waited for an announcement. She was already level 3 and she managed to kill 20 zombies already after reaching level 3 but she still hasn't leveled up. For someone who didn't invest any points in her vitality, her stamina hasn't increased that much so she was tired already.
She checked how Riku was but there wasn't that much of a change. He was still lying down the bed. She couldn't help but miss him, not having anyone to hang out with especially when there were barely any humans left made her feel lonely. She was the type who liked to hang out friends so she valued his company but it's not like she can force him. She had to eat alone for the night.
Eliza was sleeping when she heard an announcement rang inside her head.
[Due to the number of survivors not meeting the calculated number, the system has decided to instead strengthen the survivors existing.]
[Equipment will now be occasionally dropped by monsters. The quality and possibility of the equipment dropping will depend on the monster killed.]
[Equipment worn will now be shown in the survivor's status.]
Eliza couldn't help but stand up due to the excitement when she heard the announcement. One of the issues when it comes to killing the zombies was the lack of proper equipment, while their current weapons weren't shabby but they were roughly made and probably lacking compared to the equipment created by an expert. With this announcement, they'll have an easier time killing the zombies and evolved animals.
Eliza who accidentally slept in the living room couldn't help but rush into the bedroom to where Riku was. She opened the door only to find it empty. Panic and worry filled her heart as she started looking for him everywhere only to find the living room empty. She ran to the security room in hopes of finding him in the vicinity of the apartment.
She browsed the CCTv's live video only to find the zombies on other floors dead and one of the floors was Riku holding two bloody hatchets, blood covered his body as he stood in the middle of a huge number of zombie's corpse.