Luke was thankful for the sincerity, but he was also troubled. In any case, he soon learned why someone who had obtained a skill book had been surrounded. The girl helped a couple of elderly leave the bakery. They were probably her grandparents. They didn't seem wounded, but they still had their knives.
"Alright, mission accomplished," Luke said and then turned around and then prepared to leave.
"Are you going to leave them alone?" Rina asked.
"You asked me to help them, and I did it," Luke said.
"Yeah, what more do you want?" Shalia asked. "Luke has also to swear to protect them with his life?"
"No, but… you can gain a lot by working with her," Rina said. "Did you see her magic?"
"I saw her missing the zombies' heads," Luke said. "She had the elemental advantage and still let them surround her."
"A bit harsh, this partner of yours, Rina," The blonde Male elf called Luthi said. "And what is this? How come a dark elf is with him as well?"
"Well, it is a long story…" Rina looked away.
"Not really," Shalia said.
"In any case, I wish you guys luck," Luke said and then began to run.
The last thing Luke wanted was to get involved with someone else too much in that chaotic situation. Working together could be useful, but only for those who didn't have clear objectives in mind and didn't have the guts to accept some risks to reach them.
"Good grief… are you allergic to people or something?" Rina asked.
"No, but I need to get home as soon as possible, before it gets destroyed," Luke replied. "And to achieve that, I can't get involved with others."
"What are you planning to do at your home?" Shalia asked.
"My father is military and he said several times to contact a friend of his if something happens and I can't contact either of them," Luke explained.
"You are the son of a soldier? I would never have guessed," Rina said. "I mean no offense, but you don't seem very disciplined."
"Yeah… that is why I don't get along with my dad very much," Luke said. "Anyway, I might be able to contact them if I use this friend of his."
Luke finally reached the residential area, and the number of screams and grunts was incredibly high… he found some cars on the streets. However, they were either on fire or upside down, and he still had to cross a few miles before reaching home.
"Shit… things are more chaotic than I thought," Luke said.
Now and then, amidst the mist, Luke could see some individuals carrying weapons that apparently had been dropped by monsters. Still, those people were more running away than fighting. The number of special zombies in that area was too high.
"Say… can zombies level up too?" Luke asked.
"Naturally," Rina replied.
"I see… then decreasing their numbers is absolutely essential," Luke said and then picked some knives while he was heading toward a group of fire zombies that were running around and putting houses on fire as if that was the greatest sport in the world.
Before the monsters could notice his presence, he killed two of them. When the next two turned to face him, one had its head impaled when Luke used Stinger. The other used Fireball, but Luke used the zombies as a shield. As soon as the spell was fired, Luke threw away the corpse and then finished off the last one.
You obtained 12 experience points.
You obtained 12 gold coins.
"No drops…" Luke said and then sighed.
Some people saw Luke dealing with zombies in amazement, but soon they ignored him because the zombies never stopped coming, and three hours had passed since they began to show up. In any case, Luke decided to ignore the ordinary zombies and the fat ones. The ordinary zombies were too numerous, and his goal was to reach home first. He can deal with them later. As for the fat ones, their endurance was too annoying… Still, when Luke heard a loud noise coming from the distance and then saw a fat zombie leaving a house that he destroyed partially with its belly, he concluded that he couldn't do that forever.
As he moved toward his home, Luke realized that only now some people were leaving their homes. It was pretty weird… They survived the first zombie and gained abilities but didn't leave their horses. However, now they didn't have a choice due to the special zombies…
"Luke, once you reach your home and contact this person, what are you going to do?" Rina asked.
"It will depend if they will help me contact my parents, if they can do that, I will stick with them to help, but if not…" Luke said and then considered his options. "I don't really know."
"Remember what we told you about creatures and their instincts?" Rina asked.
"Here we go again…" Shalia said and then sighed.
"While ordinary zombies are stupid, even with their instincts, there are several things they automatically do," Rina said. "One of them is to find the exits of a place and block them with their massive numbers."
"What? How can they do that?" Luke asked in shock since Miami was perfect to be surrounded by zombies.
"I don't know, it is just how things are…" Rina said. "That is why I still think you should find a group and work with them."
"Ignore that and focus on strengthening yourself," Shalia said. "You will be able to enact much more influence in this world if you focus on slaying zombies."
"That won't solve anything, the zombies will eventually begin to move toward the exits once the number of prey decreases," Rina said. "However, if you work with others, you might open a hole in the zombie horde."
"Given time, he will be able to do that by himself," Shalia said.
"... All right, that is enough, I will deal with that at the right time," Luke said. "Right now, I will focus on what is ahead of me."