Druss slowly and carefully walked towards downtown St. Louis. The streets were rapidly being overgrown with primeval vegetation. The suberbs had all but disappeared.
Once Druss made it to the highrises he finally saw signs of life. Humans were gathered in some buildings. They all appeared lost and scared as to what had happened. For now Driss ignored them and moved to secure the building he had chosen. The Hyatt right next to the arch. It was close to the river and the eventual walls could include this for future travel and trade between settlements that would start to rebuild.
Just before he reached the Hyatt he had heard a terrible sounding roar, followed by the screams of a woman. Druss cursed the gods for slowing his progress with someone in need. He quickly ran to the source at the top of a parking garage. There was a woman surrounded by what once were hyenas from the zoo. While this was enough to shock Druss the real surprise was the 12 foot tall mutated lion standing between the woman and the hyenas. It made the 7 foot tall hyenas look weak.
Before Druss could fully wrap his head around these new creatures the hyenas attacked. The lion held its ground but quickly started to be pushed back by the numbers. Druss ran to a nearby car that had a tire iron by the window. He bashed the window and charged the hyenas with his makeshift weapon. The hyenas hearing his warcry turned for just a second. It was long enough for the lion to finish two of the 5 hyenas. Two of the remaining hyenas howled and charged the lion. The third howled and slowly advanced on Druss.
A normal man would stand no chance with this beast. However, with the system and his champion class he was no normal man. His health was triple that of a soldiers and his other stats were all atleast double your standard human soldier before the event.
The hyena leapt and Druss skillfully sidestepped the lunge. As the hyena was pulled past by momentum Druss cracked it in the ribs with the tire iron. A sickening crunch could be heard as he shattered multiple ribs. The hyena roared in pain and charged Druss again. This time Druss dodges and grabbed hold of the mane of this beast and pulled himself on top like it was a horse. He then drove the tire iron into the skull of the beast over and over. It thrashwd wildly for a few seconds before finally crumpling to the ground.
At that same time the lion finished off the other two hyenas. It watched carefully as Druss stood up from the body. In Druss's hand was a bright orange crystal. His system noted it as a basic beast core of intermediate quality. Druss pocketed this and looked at the lion. It was now standing beside the woman who was no longer crying. she only stared at Druss with a look of hope and yet fear that he was like the other men that had been by. The lion tried to appear frightening next to the woman but Druss could tell it was badly wounded.
Druss dropped his weapon slowly and told the lion he meant no harm to the woman or it. All Druss could do now was wait for them to decide if he was telling the truth.