Ethan glanced sideways as most of the figures approached slowly, but he noticed an exception: one of them was rapidly closing in from behind. He assumed the others were waiting for the one in the back to take him out before they approached.
Swoosh!
"So close, yet so far," Ethan said with a mocking smile as he easily dodged a rather peculiar baseball bat swing that was clearly aimed at his head.
Looking behind him, he noticed his attacker was a bald, muscular man in his thirties. He wore a sleeveless shirt, shorts, and sandals.
"Attack!"
The bald man let out a thunderous shout, revealing the figures in the darkness. Instantly, Ethan recognized them: they were the same people from the bar who had followed his brother. Each of them wielded an improvised melee weapon, from kitchen knives to wine bottles and frying pans.
"Oh?" this puzzled Ethan for a moment. Initially, he had assumed they were just random thieves attempting to steal his visible firearm from his uniform pocket.
Ethan presumed they had spotted him from afar and had hidden upon noticing his weapon.
Still, seeing these ordinary humans act this way in such a short amount of time made him realize they were truly a despicable species in every sense.
They were masters of alternating between good and evil, depending on what suited them; even demons seemed simple in comparison.
"Aaaaaah!"
A middle-aged, overweight man holding a kitchen knife lunged at him with a wild and greedy look in his eyes, fixated on the gun.
The others, seeing an opportunity to overwhelm him, attacked from various directions, while the bald man prepared to strike again with the bat. However, he struggled to lift it, as if the weapon were exceptionally heavy for him, which puzzled Ethan.
"You are wasting my time, but at least it's entertaining."
Most people would be cornered and unable to do anything, but Ethan felt the situation was somewhat amusing.
He focused first on the overweight man with the knife, waiting for the right moment, and when the man was half a meter away, he launched a powerful upward kick.
Crack!
"Ahhhh, my hands!" cried the man in excruciating pain that seemed to pierce through his entire being!
The impact was stunning: the force of the blow instantly broke the man's wrists, sending the knife flying through the air. Ethan wasted no time and, with an agile movement, he dodged the clumsy attacks from the others and pounced on him.
"L-let me go!" the overweight man pleaded, sweating profusely from the pain as Ethan's arm tightened around his neck. Despite his slim appearance, Ethan displayed surprisingly formidable strength.
The bald man and the others halted, especially the bald man, Anthony, who was breathing heavily from the exhaustion of wielding the heavy bat.
He motioned to the others not to intervene. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Ethan.
"Don't do anything rash. We just wanted to steal your gun; you know in this situation, a firearm would be essential. But since you're so strong, we'll leave you alone. So, let him go and go away, we won't pursue you," Anthony spoke nervously, as if fearing that Ethan might kill the overweight man, conveniently forgetting that he had wanted to incapacitate Ethan not long ago and might have accidentally killed him.
The strange thing was that Anthony kept glancing at Ethan's Glock 19 from time to time, with expressions of longing so fleeting that most people wouldn't notice, but for Ethan, it was too obvious.
But Ethan only looked at him with disappointment. He hadn't expected them to surrender so quickly. His gaze slowly swept over each of them.
A twisted smile formed on his face as he replied, "Just because you want to leave things in the past doesn't mean I agree. Let's finish what you started!"
"Noooo!" the bald man yelled.
Craack!
Plaf!
A chill filled the air as the overweight man's lifeless body fell to the ground, his neck twisted in an abnormal direction.
The sound of the cervical vertebra breaking echoed through the air, and everyone stood in shock, witnessing the brutality of Ethan's action.
"M-murderer!" shouted a woman, apparently in her thirties, her voice filled with fear and anger.
"He really killed him, he's a damn madman!"
"A-anthony, what do we do!?"
The group of around ten people was extremely nervous and enraged by Ethan's actions.
"Son of a bitch, since you want to die, then go to hell! Everyone, attack!" Anthony roared, veins bulging from his arms as he advanced quickly with the strange bat in his hands.
"Grrrraaargh!"
"Rrraaarrr!"
"Hrrrnnngrrr!"
Just as they were about to overwhelm Ethan, leaving no space for him to dodge, the zombies in the elevator emerged like a tidal wave, attacking every living being in sight.
There were fewer than five zombies, with three heading toward where most of the humans were, and the other two going straight for the nearest isolated person.
"H-help, Anthony! There are too many!" a young man in his twenties, his voice trembling and breaking, cried out in desperate panic as he watched the two hungry creatures closing in on him.
Anthony gritted his teeth, ignoring Ethan and making an inevitable decision.
He lunged to rescue the young man, aware that there was no other option; otherwise, another one of his companions would be in imminent danger of death!
"Uuuhhhrrr!"
"Arrrgghh!"
Despite the dangerous situation and the terror engulfing him, the young man held onto a piece of metal pipe tightly, using it as an improvised weapon to fend off the hungry creatures.
However, he knew it was only a matter of seconds before the predators bit him!
Swoosh!
Bang!
Just as one of the zombies opened its disgusting, putrid mouth to bite the young man, a bat fiercely struck the left side of its head, causing the creature to explode like a watermelon bursting into pieces.
The scene was shocking, and the young man could barely believe what he had just witnessed, his face smeared with blood.
But the most incredible was yet to come. The force of the blow didn't stop there, as if the zombies were extremely fragile. The bat continued its trajectory and, with astonishing speed, leaped onto the other approaching zombie, striking its shoulder with devastating force.
The impact tore the creature apart, scattering flesh and bones through the air!
"...?" Ethan observed with great curiosity. Although he was quite strong now, he knew he couldn't achieve that level of destruction on a zombie with just a regular baseball bat.
His gaze shifted to Anthony's bat and noticed it was vibrating at high speeds, as if charged with some strange, powerful energy.
"So, that's it..." Ethan whispered as he realized that Anthony had upgraded the bat with a coupon. Now, the bat had become a powerful weapon with effects comparable to his Glock 19.
Huff! Huff!
But seeing Anthony panting with trembling arms, Ethan knew his pistol was a better option.
Although both weapons were rank E, the Glock had much greater destructive power and didn't require as much strength to use. The only drawback of the gun was its limited ammunition, and Ethan didn't know how to get more level three energy.
So, he wanted to use it only when absolutely necessary.
In contrast, the bat seemed to be usable infinitely, but its weight appeared to be too much for Anthony. He wouldn't be able to keep using it for long without ending up completely exhausted.
The other people were busy defending themselves from the remaining zombies, while the young man was pale with fear, and Anthony was kneeling under the blood and flesh of the zombies. His exhausted eyes fixed on the distance, noticing a horrible horde of zombies slowly approaching them.
The noise caused by their attacks had attracted the undead, and now they had to face an even bigger threat.
"D-damn it!" he cursed quietly, his voice trembling with exhaustion.
"!"
Suddenly, he remembered the young man he had killed moments ago. He urgently searched for him and widened his eyes when he noticed that he was standing behind the woman in her thirties.
"Sto-"
He could barely open his mouth before helplessly witnessing Ethan, with a casual smile, kicking the woman's back, sending her straight into the arms of a zombie!
She, with a lost and terrified look, watched as a disgusting mouth with rotten teeth sank into her face, mercilessly tearing it apart.
"Aaaahhhh!" she screamed desperately, a cry that tore through the air, a mixture of pain and terror.
Her desperate screams were drowned out by the resounding growls of the bloodthirsty creature as her hands frantically tried to push away the monster attacking her.
But this only lasted for a few seconds before the woman's body stopped moving.
"You bastard!"
Anthony's furious shout echoed all around.
"I told you already, you have to finish what you started!" Ethan said with a smile. He wasn't going to let go of these people who had attacked him so easily. He would never allow any living being that had raised their weapons against him to survive, not a single one!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Suddenly, as if surprises never ended, everything began to tremble as if something was causing great destruction in the building. The rumbling and shaking seemed to be getting closer, enveloping them in an atmosphere of imminent danger.
However, Anthony, filled with rage, ignored the surrounding chaos and lunged at Ethan with his bat in hand.
Boom!
Unfortunately, his advance was abruptly interrupted when the ground next to him broke into countless pieces, raising a cloud of dust.
A colossal figure emerged slowly, leaving everyone astonished.
"Well, long time no see, big guy," Ethan said with a smile that grew wider and wider.