"It's cockroaches... and they're fucking big..."
....
Jeff and the others were stunned upon hearing what Pati said, they were expecting some deadly Zombie that can be hiding inside the restaurant with sharp claws and a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.
That is the kind of Zombie that they pictured inside their heads, the terrifying one.
Even the other two men who overheard their conversation from the side were caught off guard, they already experienced Pati's strength first-hand and expect him a fearless fighter.
Someone that can be brutal and sheer heartless, they didn't expect Pati to be scared of insects.
Without a doubt, cockroaches are one of the insects that everybody hates and is disgusted with. The way they move and coupled with their dirty nature, it's not a surprise that many are disgusted by the insect called cockroaches.
"Wha- Are you serious...?", Dinda mutters in utter disbelief.
Although they know that somewhere there are Zombies stronger than Pati and will certainly terrify him, this is just ridiculous for them. But despite her look of disbelief, Pati is dead-serious.
There is no hint of joking in his expression aside from utter fear.
Salsa who is also surprised can't help but shakes her head, but then she realized something, "Wait... does that mean animals and insects can turn into Zombies too? I never saw one before"
"Yes! We met with Tanky in the cafeteria earlier and she's already Zombified", Pati replied with a nod.
Both he and Jeff has met with the Zombified Black Cat in the cafeteria when they're in search of supply, Pati was forced to kill Tanky with a heavy heart but he did get the Leap Skill from Tanky.
That alone shows that not only humans, but other living beings can turn into Zombies.
Pati saw the cockroaches above have a completely grey body, even their exoskeleton is grey. Without a doubt, these cockroaches have been Zombified, They dragged the people in the restaurant and dragged them to the restroom upstairs.
While rolling her eyes, Dinda then crosses her arms in front of her, "Are you even a man?"
"How can you face Zombies along the way without any sign of fear but shuddered just from witnessing Cockroach Zombies? How is that even make sense?", she grumbled still in disbelief.
Hearing this, Pati didn't even reply to her and just kept silent.
That just shows how he's unwilling and terrified of cockroaches that he doesn't even say anything back to Dinda, this made her glance at Jeff and said, "Jeff, this is your time to take the spotlight! Go and kill those cockroaches"
"You can do it Jeff!", Salsa added cheering him up from the side.
But even after a moment, there's no sign of movement from Jeff's side which makes Dinda frown.
She glanced back at Jeff again and finds him smiling wryly while moving his chair a little bit away from the stairs, "D-Don't tell me... you're scared of cockroaches too?!", Dinda face-palm herself.
"Don't give me that look, they're dirty and scary. What am I supposed to do?", Jeff rebutted.
Dinda was utterly speechless by what she was seeing right now, she still can't believe two people that killed Zombies along the way without batting an eye becomes this scaredy cat in front of the mighty cockroaches.
The leader on the other table chuckles to himself, "Well, they're still young alright"
Just as Dinda was about to flip the table in utter disbelief, there was a banging sound coming from the second floor before the sound of rapid flapping can be heard.
Pati and Jeff instinctively glanced up in reflex before their faces drained from all colors.
Exactly as what they both thought it was, two grey cockroaches flew from the second floor before spinning on the ceiling aimlessly. Their ability to fly sucks so they smashed left and right.
"Fucking hell, do something!", Pati shouted with a pale expression.
Hearing the shout coming from the man that just killed three people, Dinda then shouted back, "Just whack it using your sword for fuck's sake, you're strong!"
"You go and hit them yourself", Pati replied before tossing the sword towards her.
The Peacekeeping Sword Grinder makes a heavy thudding sound upon landing on the ground not far from Dinda, this, in turn, attracts the grey cockroaches as their antenna wiggles before they started flapping their wings toward Dinda.
Bzzzt!
A rapid flapping sound can be heard as the wings on their backs looks like a blur.
Dinda jumped to the side seeing one of the cockroaches heading toward her way, she managed to dodge the cockroach as it crashes to the table and destroyed it.
With her dodging succession, she then grabs the sword Pati threw and tries to lift it up.
"Mpphh...!", Dinda groans while trying to lift up the sword to no avail.
Just like how the man Pati killed before is unable to lift the sword, Dinda also can't lift the sword. In order to lift the sword, they need sufficient strength points that they simply do not have.
Pati's strength is comparable to fifteen people lifting the sword together.
If his strength is put into the people prior to the apocalypse perspective, he's already reached the superhuman level. There's no doubt he will become the strongest man in the world capable of lifting cars with one hand easily.
Looking back at Pati that is hiding under the table, Dinda was aghast, "I can't lift it up!"
"I saved your life a couple of times so help me on this one, they should not be that strong so you go and kill them", Pati said from under the table without even showing himself since the table cloth is covering the entire table and down.
But not long after that, one of the cockroaches that crashes onto the stairs stands still on its spot.
Its antenna is moving to wiggle up and down while it's standing still on the staircase, and out of nowhere, the cockroach flaps its wings away when Salsa out of nowhere appears and tries to stab it using the daggers she bought from the Pershala Merchant.
"I missed!", Salsa exclaimed seeing the cockroach manage to fly away.
Without a doubt the antenna can even detect Salsa despite her using the Sneak skill she got as a Novice Rogue, she then looks up and finds the cockroach hanging on the ceiling.
Reaching that cockroach is impossible for her so she shifted her attention to the other one.
After trying to lift the sword that Pati just threw at her and failed, Dinda kept dodging the cockroach that has its movement pattern completely random. It's like the cockroach tries to hit her but its wings are unable to go on a straight path.
It's like driving a plane without a license, that's what the cockroach patterns look like.
"Jeff! Throw me your damn ax if you're just going to hide there like Pati", Dinda shouted once more while glaring at a table, and soon she saw two axes got vomited out from under the table cloth.
Dinda make a run toward the axes before she grabbed them and turns her body around.
Her eyes dilated when she saw the cockroach already trying to ram its body toward her, but with the axes in her hand, she swings them in retaliation to the approaching cockroach.
Slash!
With the sharpness of the axes, Dinda manages to embed the axes into the cockroach's head.
The cockroach makes a disturbing squealing hiss as its head got slashed by two axes, and green blood squirted from its head while Dinda kept pushing the axes deeper into its head.
She manage to overpower the cockroach as the axes got pushed deeper and deeper.
It comes to the point that the grey cockroach is already lying flat on the ground holding on to the last thread of its life, but out of nowhere, Dinda saw the antenna move chaotically before trying to whip her right on her face.
Before the antennas can even reach her, Salsa came out of nowhere and slash them off.
The cockroach lost everything that it can use as a weapon and also the axes are still digging into its head with blood flowing out, with that, it didn't take long before the cockroach finally died.
Dinda glanced around and asks, "Where's the other one?"
"It should be up there", Salsa replied while pointing up, but soon she frown when she didn't find it.
Hearing that there is no hissing sound that came from the cockroaches, Pati peeks out from under the table and saw the dead cockroach in front of the girls. This prompted him to get out from under the table, but then suddenly his eyes caught something.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw a grey shadow scurrying toward him swiftly
Pati glanced to his right before his eyes widen seeing the cockroach has given up from flying and now scurrying its big legs toward him, this sight sucks the soul out of his body.
Brak!
In reflex, he jumped knocking the table in the process.
"Dinda!! It's the other one, kill the other one!!", Pati shouted while pointing at the grey cockroach.
While this is all happening changing the silent restaurant into havoc, the leader and the man watch everything that occurs with straight faces as they are speechless while watching this.
Since they're from the gang that is tasked to explore, they have met with these cockroaches.
Every living being starting from humans, animals, plants, or even insects can be influenced by the black wind and thus become Zombified, so cockroaches that are crawling in the sewer and anywhere that is dirty can also turn into Zombies.
They already dealt with these cockroaches multiple times and are even already used to it.
Seeing that this group of students that just beat them up got so scared of cockroaches, they doesn't know how to react or even feel about it. They even wanted to cry from watching them.
After a couple of minutes later, the last cockroach is killed with a bit of difficulty.
Unlike the other ones that attacked in a straight line by flapping their wings, the other one is crawling on the ground with swift movement chasing after Pati. No matter how much he wanted to become strong, fighting cockroaches is a no go.
Something about them is very disturbing, and Pati never used to cockroaches until now.
Dinda pulls out the axes from the carcass of the last cockroach while Salsa also did the same, she's the one that killed the last cockroach surprisingly by stabbing at its eyes and ripping them off.
Both of them are breathing heavily after chasing the cockroach all around the restaurant.
While on the other hand Pati and Jeff came out of their hiding while still paranoidly looking around in case there was another cockroach inside the restaurant, they then fixated their gazes on the girls before giving them two thumbs up.
"Thank you for your hard work!", Jeff said with a wife smile.
Hearing this Dinda can't help but roll her eyes before throwing the axes back at Jeff, "Thank you my ass, you guys are such little boys scared of measly cockroaches", she remarks before sitting down.
Because of the cockroaches, their Insanity stat rises once more. It's reaching a dangerous level.
Pati grabs the Peacekeeping Sword Grinder again before unsheathing it on his waist, with the cockroach Zombies gone the restaurant went back to its silence once again.
Since the restaurant is safe, they can finally rest.
But when Pati was about to eat the brains in the bag, a banging sound can be heard from the door.
These banging sounds attracted the attention of the others, they all glanced at the door and finds that there are many Zombies outside which should be attracted by the fighting sounds.
Upon seeing this, Dinda and Salsa's expression turns pale, "W-We can't be near Zombies anymore"
"Our Insanity stats are too high, this is not good", Salsa also mutters in worry.
Pati then stepped toward the door with his wide back exposed to the others, he then stopped just beside the door before he glanced back, "You girls don't need to worry, as long as it's not cockroaches I can deal with it"
"Leave it to me, think of it as my gratitude for you killing the cockroaches", he added.
Although the girls should be amazed or touched by this, they can't help but look at Pati with different eyes. Of course, the fearful expression on Pati's face from meeting cockroach Zombies will forever engrave on their minds.
Dinda sneered, 'Even he is not able to do everything I guess...'