The blue-fur monkey grinned, finding the Necrotic heir more interesting than he initially thought.
Grey drew out [Bane sword] and gasped in surprise at its unique look. It had veins streaked over it, glowing with purple energy that pulsated like a heartbeat.
Grey swung the sword and it made a soothing humming sound as it sliced through the air. Not only was the weapon intimidating, but it also had a special effect that would increase Grey's strength by 10% whenever he used it.
Walking towards the stairs, Grey took out all the shard stones he had gotten and began to swallow them. His stats increasing yet again.
"So...since you'll be monitoring me closely. Would you get involved in my fight or do nothing?" Gre asked Apollo, who was standing on his shoulder.
"I want you to get stronger. So helping you will be counterproductive, don't you think?" Apollo replied.
"That's good. I don't want to be babied by a monkey. Don't get in my way, or I might mistakenly hack you down along with the zombies."
"You couldn't do it if you tried."
"We'll see."
Grey planned to clear the zombies as he moved upwards the building, leveling up until he reached the top. It was the ideal plan to get stronger and Grey didn't want to waste no time getting at it.
As soon as he entered the next floor, multiple zombies attacked him.
Grey, with a blitz, decapitated them with a single swing of [Banesword]. His movement was more faster and fluid. Free. And this freedom came due to the fact that Grey was acting according to his true nature.
He hunted the rest of the zombies with unrelenting ferocity, using some of his abilities in the attacks. The proficiency of his elemental skills rising.
As Grey weaved through the zombies, multiple bodies fell, some getting sliced in two.
Grey cut down a zombie at his side, but then another zombie approached him from the other. And Grey used [Static Surge] to punch the zombie in the chest. Its body tore through the air like a rocket, slamming into the wall with such force that the upper half of its body was reduced to a bloody mess.
"Shit," Grey exclaimed, shocked by the raw power in his fist.
He knew he was strong, but he didn't think he was this strong.
His fist had already become a deadly weapon enough to take down regular zombies even without [Bane Sword].
But Grey figured he'd rather use his sword than his fist, as he didn't like getting his hand bloodied. There was also the high risk of getting bitten so Grey knew he had to be cautious.
In the next minute, the last zombie was taken down and Grey rested looking around the place.
"You're still a disappointment. I would have taken them down in seconds when I was at your level of strength," Apollo bragged, but Grey shook his head, ignoring the statement.
One thing he had noticed was that Apollo loved attention.
He then checked his stat window and noticed that some of the proficiency of his elemental skills had increased. Mostly by one, which was quite slow, but it was still progress.
The shard stones he had gotten so far weren't as much as the ones he got from defeating the juggernaut, but it was something, and Grey wasted no time ingesting them.
He had to admit he had gotten used to the taste of them dissolving in his mouth. As he had consumed so many.
All of a sudden, he heard a noise and, squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what it was.
Looking around, Grey could hear quiet sobbing, and he realized it was coming from under a bench in the meeting room.
Bending, he saw two people—a lady and a man—with looks of terror on their faces. They sighed in relief as soon as they saw his face, at ease that person before them was a human and not a zombie.
'Survivors,' Grey thought.'
"It's alright, you two are safe. You can come out," Grey encouraged, and though they looked hesitant, the two stepped out, looking around warily.
"What happened? The whole place was filled with zombies?" the man asked.
"Well, I killed them. This floor is now safe. The rest of the building not so much. I wouldn't recommend leaving."
"You killed the zombies?" the man asked in a skeptical tone. "There were more than a dozen."
"Well..." Grey responded. "I'm quite strong,"
"No, you're not." Apollo retorted way too quickly. And Grey glared at him.
He glanced down at the man's suit and noticed on his tag was the name, Greg.
"Wow it's your name if you change the last letter to G." Apollo pointed out just for the sake of it.
Grey then turned to the lady who began to whimper looking rather troubled. "Everyone... everyone turned into monsters. They were biting each other and..."
"It's okay Amy," Greg said reassuringly and placed his hand on her shoulder and she flinched slightly.
Grey observed her closely and noticed the upper part of her shirt was roughened. Buttons missing like it was yanked off
"Boo hoo...crying won't save you from zombies you have to get stronger," Apollo advised.
But surprisingly Amy didn't react to this, and neither did Greg, which Grey found rather confusing. He wondered if he was the only one who hadn't seen a monkey talk until now due to the lack of reaction he was getting.
So he decided to ask:
"Why aren't you both surprised by the talking monkey?"
Greg frowned in confusion,"What talking monkey?"
Grey pointed to Apollo on his shoulder, and Greg didn't look any less confused.
"All your pet is doing is making monkey sounds."
"Damn it, don't call me a pet," Apollo said aggressively, but to Greg, he was just hooting, seemingly displeased by something.
This stunned Grey and he decided to ask once again.
"You mean you can't hear him talk?"
Greg frowned starting to look at Grey like he was a lunatic.
"You must be using his monkey to cope with the horror of what was happening," Amy said rather empathetically and it made Grey blink in confusion.
'Cope with what now?'
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you only you can understand me," Apollo suddenly said, and when Grey finally understood what was happening.
"Why... why are you telling me just now?"
"Well, I don't know you tell me."
Grey furrowed his brow. The information would certainly have been useful earlier before he made himself look like someone crazy.
Greg then began to back away pulling Amy along with him. Grey observed Greg holding a steel bat, similar to the basic weapon Grey had first gotten when the system descended.
This was an indication that everyone did have a system.
Grey narrowed his eyes at the pair or rather at Greg who was glaring at him with quite the animosity. This made him wonder what he did wrong aside from him being a crazy person talking to a monkey like it was human.
"Okay, I'll just leave," Grey said rather awkwardly and turned away but Amy yelled:
"Wait!"
She attempted to move towards him but Greg held her back.
"Look Amy he'll just abandon us. You should stay with me and together we can survive this," he said holding her wrist and she tried to get it off looking rather uncomfortable.
This behaviour caught Grey's attention and he took a step forward. But all of a sudden Grey pointed the bat at him.
Grey furrowed his brow and he asked:
"What is this about?"
"Walk away dude."
Greg spat and Grey frowned:
"Is this how you thank your savior?"
"Bullshit, you expect me to thank you? Who knows you could be a zombie. I've seen people get bitten and hide their infection. It's not easy to spot them, but i can. And I can tell you're a monster."
Grey ignored him and turned towards Amy who held his gaze for a moment before looking downward, seemingly in pain with how Greg gripped her wrist so tightly.
"Okay I hear you, but how does that explain why you're holding her wrist like that?"
Grey responded pulling Amy back:
"She's fine. It's none of your business!"
Grey furrowed his brow and said to him:
"She doesn't seem fine to me."
He could see it.
Her eyes pleading for help.
Something was wrong here, and Grey sensed it didn't involve zombies.
It had something to do with why there was a cut on her lips and also why some of the buttons on her shirt were missing.
Grey sighed staring at the ceiling, Apollo watching silently as he wondered what action he was going to take.
Although Grey had come to terms with killing zombies, killing humans would be another case.
But with the way he felt.
With the rage he felt towards the filth in front of him.
He didn't think he'd have a problem crossing that line.
Grey exhaled heavily and then said in a cold voice:
"Let the woman go."
Greg exclaimed:
"What?"
There was a slight pause, and Greg seemed to be considering it.
But ultimately he responded with an insane grin.
"No."