Zombies.
[Ace POV],
Zombies.
And a lot of them.
Even though they were not in large numbers on the streets, they were visible at every turn.
Given the circumstances outside, it won't be long before some of them gather in front of the building where I was and surround it.
By then, I'll be trapped.
With this in mind, I went to Anna's side and gently kicked her leg to wake her up.
However, judging by her outward appearance, I had to conclude that she is still a long way from having any form of awareness.
Only after a few more attempts to wake her up did she eventually move.
She had a drowsy expression on her face at first, then, as if she suddenly remembered something, the sleepy expression vanished as she tried to get away from me, but when she saw my face, she visibly calmed down and remarked softly with a yawn;
"What's the problem, Ace?" she asked.
To which I answered, saying;
"There are zombies outside, and a lot of them," I said calmly.
"Oh," she responded before shouting in hushed tones.
"Zombies?" she exclaimed, her visage devoid of any signs of sleep.
Faced with her question, I nodded lightly and informed her that we needed to get out soon because they were already gathering around this building.
I had already equipped my twin blades while speaking with her.
The twin blades came with a scabbard that allowed them to be worn on my back when not in use.
It formed an X on my back.
Anna was ready to say something again, but I ignored her and stood up.
When she saw this, she stood up quickly, producing a slight noise that startled Chris.
When he awoke, he had the same expression as Anna at first, but when he discovered it was us, he calmed down and looked at us suspiciously.
I told him the same thing I told Anna, not knowing what he was thinking.
He was even slower than Anna, but when he realized what I was saying a few seconds later, he was going to exclaim, which Anna swiftly interrupted.
While all of this was going on, I ignored them and stretch my body as a warm-up.
When I was finished, I looked around the room and noticed that Chris was already armed with his sword and Anna was holding a sleeping Mia.
When I saw this, I was about to go but stopped and returned to the side of the window, lifting the entire curtain as the sun's rays touched my eyes, forcing me to close them slightly.
The windows were already slightly open, so I opened them more while making as little noise as possible in order not to attract zombies.
That is if the zombies here act like the ones in movies.
After doing what I needed to do, I turned to Anna and stated quietly.
"Send a scout out," I said, and she nodded.
Anna dropped down on one knee after carefully giving Chris the sleeping mia so she wouldn't wake up and began to chant something in a strange language as a purplish black circle with a trigram in the center appeared in front of her.
The familiar figure of her summoned crow slowly materialized in the center of the purplish dark circle as she continued to chant in a strange language.
It was the first time I saw Anna use summoning magic.
It appears interesting.
I believe she also stated that she had not yet contracted the crow.
I'm curious about what would happen if she did.
When she summoned the crow, it quickly flew out the window and began multiplying.
When I saw this, I turned to Anna, who had already stood up and had taken the sleeping Mia in her arms.
I moved after seeing that she was still behaving normally, well, I don't know how she behaves, but after seeing that everything was 'normal', I left the room.
As we exited the room, I was in front, with Chris at my back, and Anna and Mia following closely behind.
Only when we reached the front door of the building did I stop and looked at Anna.
Seeing this, she closed her eyes and opened them again the following second, but this time her pupils were silver.
This only happens when she shares her vision with the crow, I knew.
Her eyes returned to normal a few seconds later as she told me that it was okay to go out now since there was no zombie in front of us, but they were approaching, so we needed to hurry.
Hearing this, I quietly opened the front door, making as little noise as possible to avoid trouble.
When I finally opened the door and led us out, the front was deserted, exactly as Anna had said, but based on the sounds I was hearing, we couldn't stay here for long.
As we moved further, I wondered why the primordial chronicle didn't begin another stage, but my thoughts were cut short when I noticed a zombie.
Running to the side of a wall quickly and making as little noise as possible, I poked my head out from behind the wall to view the zombie that was slowly approaching our location.
Unlike the previous zombie I saw and killed, which was over two meters tall, this one resembled a person save for the gray eyes with no pupils and black and rotting skin.
[Zombified Mutated Human level 11],
I was able to relax my guard a little after seeing its level.
It is weaker than our group, but the only challenge is figuring out how to kill it quietly.
As this notion passed through my mind, I spoke and asked a question without glancing at Anna and concentrated on the zombie.
"Anna, could you help find a path with fewer zombies, as our many zombies are in the area?" I asked.
"OK," she simply said, saying nothing else.
I knew she was already at work, so I didn't talk to her again and instead spoke to Chris behind me.
"In a little time, I'll make a move, so get ready to back me if needed," I stated, to which he nodded solemnly.
Chris's appearance as a child may cause others to underestimate him, but the power his small body possesses in this new world is vast.
His damage output may have been equal to mine if not for his level, simplistic sword maneuvers, and lack of battle experience.
After all, he is level 13,
I adjusted my posture and prepared to move, both hands on the twin sword at my back.
The only thing keeping me from moving is the fact that I am still waiting for Anna's report.
At the very least, I need to know how many zombies I might encounter to get out of here.
I did have to wait a long time for Anna's report.
"There are 15 zombies in our current surroundings, and there are a little more than 25 zombies distributed around," she said, pausing before continuing.
"And the route I chose has only 8 zombies and no more," she explained.
I agreed and was about to tell her to show out the route after hearing what she said.
But before I could say anything, she said:
"But the problem is that we now have to pass past the zombies in front of us to get to the route," she added simply.
She just looked at me.
I understood what she was thinking even though she didn't say anything.
We will attract additional zombies if we force our way past the ones in front of us right now.
If we knew the levels of all zombies, we wouldn't be so cautious about avoiding the stronger ones.
If we want to take the route Anna chose.
We must now force our way past the zombies in front of us, and based on the numbers 4, 5, and 6, there are a total of six zombies in front of us.
I told the others behind me to get ready after making a decision.
We're squeezing our way out.
We don't have many options, therefore we can only do this.
After telling them what needed to be done and receiving no objections, I ran out, my hands on the twin blades at my back.
Chris was close behind me on my right, and Anna was behind us with Mia in her arms.
Because of our movements, the zombie in front of us became aware of our presence and let out a roar before charging at us.
I'd already done a front flip jump to land behind the zombie, and before my feet touched the ground, its head had been separated from its body.
I charged forward, not looking back, to the remaining zombies in front of us who were already aware of us.
I saw a red light flash past me in the direction of the zombie in front of me, ripping its head from its body, before I could reach it.
It was quick, clean, and precise.
I knew this was Chris's attack, but he shouldn't be able to make such a clean shot, so I took a quick glance at him and when I saw his stance, I figured his reward had to be related to swords, but the situation didn't allow me to think much.
Even though the zombies were aware of our presence, everything was going smoothly until something unexpected happened.
As I moved forward, I felt a gaze on me and instinctively rotated my body to the side, forming an X with both blades in front of my chest to defend myself.
Feeling the sudden strong strike that almost caused me to drop the sword and make my hands numb, I stared at the attacker, and my pupil narrowed when I saw who attacked us.
It was a zombie, but unlike the one I had just attacked, it was taller and slimmer, and I could tell it had intellect from the way it looked at me.
Like the first zombie I saw, which had a body built for strength, I deduced from its recent attack that this one was built for speed.
But it was the level that concerned me.
[Zombified Mutated Human Level 18],
'Strong'
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