Eliza, who recognized the voice, turned around and there she was. Rikka was there running towards them, she had brought nothing except for kitchen knife in her hand.
The scene of a beautiful girl running towards you with a knife was terrifying, but it was different for Riku and Eliza who were making difficult faces.
They didn't have the intention of getting someone to join them partly because of how the zombies seems to be evolving in a faster rate than expected. P-Variants could be seen in groups of ordinary zombies if one is unlucky.
Riku, who was now quite strong, so to speak had no intention of facing a P-Variant especially when he's still hurt. Even if he wasn't injured, Riku wouldn't attempt to face a P-Variant unless he had no other choice.
They intended to let someone join them only when either Riku or Eliza could deal with a P-Variant alone and leave unscathed or with trivial injuries.
Riku aside, Eliza could notice the difference between the Rikka before and now, which made it even farther difficult for her to reject Rikka completely.
The Rikka before had been somewhat giving the feeling of being forced and her face felt unnatural, her lips were smiling, but her eyes seemed dead which is what confused Eliza before.
Her eyes now, though, showed determination, Riku told them about the System the night before and the potential to become stronger ignited a spark of desire in their hearts, especially for Rikka, Riku's show of strength and explanation was just like gasoline for Rikka. Every word of Riku made the fire burn stronger and last longer.
Not wanting to turn Rikka back into the previous one, Eliza decided to help Rikka if Riku rejected her. Rikka was now in front of them and she looked at Riku in the eyes before saying.
"Let me join you! I want to become stronger and I think with you I can become stronger, faster compared to staying with them."
She said in one breath while looking firmly into his eyes. She has thought of Riku as the leader of some sort because of his strength.
Just as Riku was about to reject her, Eliza, who noticed this interjected.
"I'll be the one to watch her, I'll take her as my responsibility."
Rikka, though she may not be quite smart noticed this and could only give Eliza a grateful look before looking at Riku's eyes firmly once again.
Riku, who could see the determination in Rikka's eyes finally decided to just accept her. He didn't have a reason to reject her when Eliza in a subtle way, vowed to protect Rikka meaning Riku didn't have the responsibility to protect her.
For Riku this was more of a gamble, a part of him wanted to see whether Rika's determination would bear fruit or if he'll be disappointed.
On the way back Eliza taught everything she knew to Rikka and Rikka listened attentively. She tried her best to absorb whatever Eliza taught her, of course Eliza couldn't teach her how to fight exactly, but Eliza's experiences gave her the knowledge on things that only experience can give.
If there was one thing to be noted, it is the fact that Rikka wasn't exactly a smart person. It's not like she's dumb, but she wasn't the type who's able to understand and remember something after being told.
Eventually what Rikka has learned needed to be put to test immediately as Riku saw a lone zombie. Rikka, equipped with the hatchet that Riku always brought in his tool belt fought the zombie.
The fight took quite a long time compared to Riku and Eliza, but that was normal. Rikka had to think about a lot of things as she fought the zombie, she had to consciously tell herself to dodge this and that unlike Riku and Eliza whose experiences in fighting made it some sort of instinct for them.
She made several mistakes such as aiming the hatchet towards the chest of the zombie instead of their weakness which is the head. She was also engrossed in the fight that she didn't notice anything that happened around her during the fight.
Lastly, she hesitated slightly which caused the zombie to turn things against her. Her sense of self preservation must've been triggered because as soon as she was able to regain the advantage she had, she immediately swooped in for the kill.
Her face was pale at the end of it, overall she managed to perform better than what Riku expected. Riku was, of course, watching the fight with great attention while he had no responsibility to save her, he didn't want her to die if he can help it. Rikka didn't have to save her which is something he was happy about.
Eliza pointed out her vital mistakes and left the trivial mistakes for Rikka who was just resting, to learn. Eliza and Riku didn't praise her, because they didn't want to risk her becoming overconfident. There was always the possibility of being overconfident and dying because of it.
Rikka knew this as well. One look at Riku and she knew that she was still far from being strong enough, she was still happy about it because she is getting one step closer to being strong.
She was initially surprised at the System's announcement, but she more or less expected it so she was able to regain her wits immediately and allocated a point to vitality and two points to agility.
Her next fight went smoothly compared to last time and she managed to finish it faster. The first kill has always been the hardest, this was proven by Rikka who immediately killed the zombie when she had the chance.
Rikka was continually made to fight and in the end, Riku and Eliza couldn't help but feel envious. She was a natural, a fighting genius in fact. After every single fight she'd correct what she thought was a mistake, she honed her every single move with experience and judged whether it was okay or not.
Rikka fought and fought until she was level 3, just like before she allocated a point to vitality and two points to agility. Rikka was strong enough to fight with Riku and Eliza so they eventually fought together.
Eliza still continued to observe Rikka despite her growth, it was a good thing that Rikka didn't let her newfound strength get to her head as she fought levelheaded.
Just as they were fighting a group of zombies. Riku with his instincts felt danger and dodged to the side. In the area he was in before was a tall variant of a zombie.
It had long, thin legs and for hands it had sharp pointed bones that look a lot like a drill. Its knees had a sharp spike pointing out that was long enough to pierce someone's body.
Riku observed the creature in front of him, based on the fact that he was barely able to see the creature approach him, he decided to think of it as some kind of speed variant.
Whether it had any other unique abilities, its speed was enough to cause Riku to warily look at the creature. Eliza and Rikka were still eliminating the ordinary zombies and didn't seem to have noticed the newly arrived creature.
Riku's mind started to function as fast as it can, as he thought of ways to deal with the creature. It must've deemed him as a stronger threat compared to the two as it didn't go for Eliza or Rikka.
Thinking to himself that he should probably hold on until Eliza and Rikka notice so that they may be able to assist him in this fight.
Concluding that, it was his best option, he stood defensively ready to dodge or block its every attack.
The creature doesn't seem to be as smart as he had thought as it went for the obvious head on collision, it used its drill like hands to attack him, aiming for his head.
Riku, who was ready for that used his spear to parry the creatures attack throwing it off balance. Unlike the P-Variant which used brute force, it seems like the creature now was centered around its penetrating power.
If this was a game, Riku would've immediately reported it to the developers as the difficulty just increased so fast. It has only been less than two weeks yet the creatures were incomparably stronger now.
Cursing whoever caused these variants to show up, he immediately prepared himself for the creature's attack, but alas, he was a tad bit too late as the creature attacked him.
Riku was forced to lie on his back as the creature pounced on him. The sharp spikes of its knees pierced Riku's thighs barely missing his bones. Sensing the intense pain he immediately used his spear to attack the creature.
The creature tried to dodge so the spear pierced it on the side instead of the chest that he aimed at. Kohaku and Eliza were quite busy dealing with the zombies so they didn't notice him.
Thinking to himself how f*cked up the situation was, he struggled to free his thighs from the creature who was just about to recover from his attack.