It took a whole hour to reach the mall. James had no choice but to take a detour and go search for food in the local shops.
"I remember there was a local shop in our locality."
He reached towards the alley where he killed the zombie. He was shocked to find out that there was only the baseball bat instead of the body, which was not there anymore.
"There is only one possibility, a mutant animal!"
The mutant animals came into existence after a week had passed in apocalypse. They were animals which got infected after they had eaten the zombie corpses.
James picked up the baseball bat and started walking softly, taking the surroundings in care.
"The development of zombies that should have started after three months and the mutation of animals which took a week. Why the hell is infection progressing so fast!?"
In his previous life, he ran away from his house late night when the apocalypse had just started and encountered a group of people that went out for collection of resources.
James joined the hunter squad after seven years and contributed a lot to the shelter, but there was a zombie wave that destroyed the shelter. There were only ruins left.
He went on his journey and killed every zombie that came in his way. He was not alone, there were countless people who started this journey along with him. Not only that, but he was soon left behind by his teammates because being a third rank hunter was his limit.
There were a total of nine ranks for a hunter.
F-rank < E-rank = Fourth rank hunter
D-rank < C-rank = Third rank hunter
B-rank < A-rank = Second rank hunter.
C-rank was the limit of mostly all the people, but, there are always exceptions. Beyond the C-rank, hunters were geniuses.
S-rank < SS-rank < SSS-rank = First rank hunter
James's all comrades had surpassed the Third rank and advanced to the A-rank. But, he was left behind in a fight as a cannon fodder to lure out the S-rank zombie from its nest.
He escaped with a crippled body and was killed by a low rank zombie, after which he has reincarnated to the past.
He was already near the local shop, but there was no zombie in sight, as if they had vanished. Likewise, he didn't care much and entered the shop with shattered glasses and blood stained door. There was a quest alert from the system.
"You have entered the nest of low rank zombies. Clear the zombies.
Reward: Depends on the performance of host.
Failure: Host will die"
He stepped on a broken glass, which made enough noise for the zombies to take notice of him. "Ha, That's what I wanted!" There came two zombies walking towards him, following the noise he. James held the baseball bat tight and dashed towards them. He hit one of them with all his strength at the jaw and pierced the eye from the kitchen knife his father gave.
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 10 Experience Points after a killing a zombie. The skill 'Spiritual Devour' has taken effect and absorbed the zombie's energy. You have acquired a strand of spiritual energy."
He ignored the system alert and shut the mouth of the zombie from a magazine that was on the ground and stabbed him at the same place from the knife.
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 10 Experience Points after a killing a zombie. The skill 'Spiritual Devour' has taken effect and absorbed the zombie's energy. You have acquired a strand of spiritual energy."
As soon as he killed the zombie, there was another zombie that ran towards him. He dashed towards the zombie to cover his face with the magazine and then piercing the knife right through the chin to its brain.
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 10 Experience Points after a killing a zombie. The skill 'Spiritual Devour' has taken effect and absorbed the zombie's energy. You have acquired a strand of spiritual energy."
He went on with the killing spree and killed without blinking.
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 10 Experience Points....."
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 10 Experience Points....."
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 10 Experience Points....."
The system alert kept on appearing in front of his eyes.
Later, he reached the middle of the shop and encountered the dead body of a mutated dog, whose body was getting eaten by a zombie.
He remembered that mutated beasts and zombies never co-existed with each other, they devoured each other to evolve. He attacked the zombie while it was distracted and aimed at it's head. The knife broke in half pieces the moment it came in contact with its head.
"The host has encountered a zombie higher than their strength. It is suggested that the host should run away."
"I knew it won't be easy." exclaimed James before he stepped back to maintain his distance.
The zombie glared at him with fiery red eyes. There was no escape for James because the pile of dead bodies in the store made it hard to run, which would be an advantage for the zombie.
He dropped the baseball bat and remembered the stance of his skill 'Three Style Boxing' while hitting the zombie with all his strength. Its skin was as hard as metal and the experience was painful.
It was only injured a little bit while James was getting tired.
"System, how do I kill it!?"
"Host, you can raise the level of your skills from the strands of spiritual energy you have acquired. Do you wish to proceed? YES or NO".
"Yes" James exclaimed.
*Ding*
"The skill 'Three Style Boxing' has absorbed thirty strands of spiritual energy and evolved."
"Skill name-Three Style Boxing
Rank-E (Evolvable)
Description-Any damage dealt will be experienced three times the original value. It will grow along with the host."
When James could no longer attack the zombie, it ran towards him. His jaw was blocked by the baseball bat and a nail was pierced in its head with the last bit of his strength.
"Congratulations, Host. You have gained a total of 100 Experience Points after a killing an F-rank zombie. The skill 'Spiritual Devour' has taken effect and absorbed the zombie's energy. You have acquired strands of spiritual energy X10."
"Congratulations, Host. You have cleared the nest of low rank zombies.
Rewards-The F-rank skill 'Spot'(Evolvable)."
He had already recovered the small injuries from zombie's energy. He then collected all the resources and went back straight towards home, killing the zombies getting in his way. The sun was setting already, and he collapsed unconscious on his home's door right after knocking it.