The answer to that problem Luke thought relied on magic… he needed to obtain a skill that would grant him the power to create weapons fast. Finding such a convenient skill while fighting was close to impossible, so Luke realized that he had to use the shop system, and for that, he needed gold coins… many, many gold coins. With that in mind, while it was counterproductive at first, Luke filled many backpacks with knives before sunrise.
"I thought we were looking for water and food…" Amanda frowned while looking at Luke's new stock of food.
"Don't worry, what you found is yours," Luke said. "I will only carry what my parents left at home."
It seemed pretty insane from Amanda's perspective. At most, that amount of food and water wouldn't last for more than three days. Still, that showed how determined Luke was to reach his goal. Since he had many more weapons than food, he planned to spend most of his time fighting instead of resting.
"All right, let's do some tests with the pickup," Luke said. "Look for a zombie and run over it, Patrick."
"I can drive," Amanda said.
"I won't make the terrible mistake of letting a woman drive me in the apocalypse," Luke said.
"Why you…" Amanda glared at Luke.
"Just kidding… you and Celia are the only ones who can use long-ranged attacks," Luke laughed a little. "You won't be able to use your bow while driving.
Amanda and her father nodded. While he obviously didn't like that idea very much since a zombie was most likely a human before, they needed to see if they could get gain experience and gold coins by using things like vehicles. If that was possible, then Luke would try his hardest to leave Miami that very same day because once some asshole learns that, they will probably nuke the place and get tons of experience and gold coins. Just in case they get lucky, Luke also made sure to put the radio transmitter on the back of the pickup.
Patrick began to drive, and probably due to the noise of the vehicle, it didn't take long for them to find an ordinary zombies. It was probably someone who turned recently… but Patrick stepped on the gas and ran over the monster in the end. Unfortunately, the zombie was sent flying instead of being smashed by the tires of the vehicle.
Patrick hit the creature again before it could get up, and then he nodded while looking at Luke… that was bad. He really gained experience by using a car to kill a zombie. While it didn't seem the best way to kill them, it certainly was a bit safer.
"Let's check the exits on the northern side first," Luke declared. "If we are lucky enough, we might a boat along the way and escape through sea… there aren't zombie animals close to the coast right now, right?"
"The number should be low now… but new monsters must be spawning in the ocean as well, and they will only find food near the coast," Rina replied.
"In the sea, monsters cannot survive without strength, so only the strongest will appear here," Shalia added. "The ones you can find there will probably be a few leagues above the ones you can find on land."
That was really troubling, but there was nothing Luke could do… he had to accept the lesser of evils in that situation. Besides, the airport was in that direction… they needed to check things there.
The more the group moved, the more zombies they began to find. It was hard to know if it was due to the vehicle's sound or if it was due to the fact that few zombies had been killed in that area… Nevertheless, after driving for just ten minutes, Patrick was forced to stop because the vehicle was starting to get damaged after hitting so many zombies. Even though Luke was helping him with his knives and Weapon Augmentation, the number of zombies was too high.
"Billy was right… and you guys were right as well," Luke furrowed his eyebrows. "We are only twenty kilometers away from the airport, and we can't get any close due to the number of zombies."
"You didn't believe us…" Rina said.
"Well, I am rather skeptical about everything," Luke shrugged. "I need to check everything with my own eyes to believe it… anyway, we are going to force our path on foot. You keep driving the pick up since we can't abandon our things."
Luke wondered if he should check some gun shops in the area… while he said that they should get used to fighting without them. That situation was really troubling, to the point where he was thinking of relying on them.
Before doing that, Luke equipped his handgun and then tried to hit the zombie's head. Even when they did it, the zombies needed two hits to truly fall… firearms were getting less effective. As for his sword, Luke could split the zombie's head with a single strike of it. For the time being, firearms granted him the advantage of range, but eventually, that advantage will become meaningless…
As if things weren't troublesome enough, a new enemy suddenly appeared, blocking their way. They were wolves that had green fur… at least, they looked like wolves due to the posture and fur. Their color and the fact that their fangs and claws were as big as knives made them sound like something else.
"What is that?" Celia asked while she looked as pale as a ghost.
Starving Wolf
LV 13
HP: 155/155
MP: 96/96
SP: 111/111
That thing was trouble… it was as big as the pickup they were in, so Luke bombarded the creature with his knives and Weapon Augmentation, but the beast was fast enough to dodge half of the attacks. In the end, Luke jumped from the truck to block the charge of the beast. Before Luke could even ask what she did it, Rina used some magic on his arms, and he felt power overflowing on him.
"It will only last for thirty seconds," Rina said.
It was plenty… probably. Luke swung his sword toward the monster's head, and the beast tried to bite him. However, in the end, the creature changed its mind and stopped the sword with its fangs. Luke opened his eyes widely when he heard the sound of metal colliding with something incredibly hard, and he frowned, even more, when their charges canceled each other.