Step One: Scouting the City
Before I could lure Revenants into my little death traps, I needed to map out the city. The good news? I'd lived here my whole life, so I already knew the layout. The bad news? A year of apocalypse had turned my hometown into a wasteland. Cars rusted in the streets, buildings stood as hollowed-out skeletons, and nature was slowly reclaiming everything.
The city wasn't completely dead, though. Wildlife had crept back in, filling the void humanity left behind. Birds nested in skyscrapers, feral cats darted through alleyways, and I'd even spotted a deer once, grazing in an overgrown park. If there were still animals, that meant there was animal blood. And animal blood was the perfect bait.
I spent the rest of the day sneaking through the city, noting areas with good visibility and plenty of cover. Rooftops were ideal—high ground gave me a vantage point and a place to retreat if things went south. Abandoned stores and gas stations made for decent choke points. If I was lucky, I might even find some leftover supplies.
Step Two: Collecting the Bait
The next step was less pleasant. I needed blood, and unless I planned on slicing myself open (hard pass), I'd have to get it from the local wildlife. Lucky for me, the apocalypse had made me pretty good at hunting—or at least, not scaring animals off immediately.
I set up snares in the overgrown park where I'd seen the deer, using scraps of metal wire I'd scavenged. For smaller game, I used makeshift traps baited with stale food from the convenience store. It wasn't elegant, but it worked. By the end of the day, I had a rabbit and a feral raccoon.
"Sorry, guys," I muttered as I went about the grim task of collecting their blood. "It's either you or me, and I'm a little attached to living."
Step Three: Setting the Stage
With the blood stored in scavenged plastic bottles, I moved on to phase three: laying the traps. The city's layout was perfect for this kind of thing—narrow streets, echoing alleyways, and plenty of abandoned cars to use as obstacles.
I chose three locations to start: a gas station on the outskirts of town, an old subway entrance downtown, and a crumbling office building near the park. At each spot, I set up a lure. A bottle of blood splashed on the ground here, a rigged car horn blaring there. Anything to draw the Revenants in.
The goal was simple: get them to chase the noise and scent, then pick them off in manageable numbers. I'd use the rooftops for ambushes, my spear for precision kills, and my legs for a quick getaway if things went sideways.
Step Four: Execution
By nightfall on the fifth day, everything was ready. I stood on the roof of a two-story building, spear in hand, watching the gas station from a distance. The car horn I'd rigged blared into the darkness, echoing through the empty streets.
[Warning: The Revenants are reseting!]
It didn't take long for the Revenants to arrive. They came in droves, their shrieks piercing the night as they swarmed toward the sound. My heart pounded, but I forced myself to stay calm. This was the plan. This was what I wanted.
I waited until a smaller group split off from the main horde, drawn by the scent of blood I'd splashed near an alleyway. Then I struck, leaping down from the rooftop with all the grace of a cat dropped from a balcony.
I didn't wait for the Revenants to notice me. If there's one lesson this nightmare of a world teaches you, it's this: hesitation kills. So I attacked first—quick and clean. My spear felt different this time, sharper, deadlier. The blade sliced through their concrete-like flesh like it was soft butter.
It was for sure the Skill evolution.
The first Revenants had no idea what was coming. I drove the spear straight into its chest, piercing its heart with one clean thrust. It let out this grotesque, gurgling groan that echoed through the desolate alley. Of course, it also alerted the others. Revenants aren't exactly bright, but they're pack hunters, and noise is their dinner bell.
But I was already moving. No time to celebrate the kill, no time to gloat. The second Revenant lunged at me, its hollow eyes filled with that eerie, unblinking hunger. I pounced first, driving my spear into its skull. The blade punctured bone with a sickening crunch. Before its body even hit the ground, I yanked the spear free and spun, stabbing the third in the throat. Black ichor sprayed out, warm and foul-smelling, staining the cracked pavement.
It wasn't perfect, though. One of them managed to graze my arm with its claws, a sharp reminder that overconfidence gets you killed. The shallow cuts stung, but I didn't have time to dwell on them. Caution kept me alive, and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's surviving.
By the time it was over, the alley was a graveyard.
[Gained 700 Mastery Points!]
[Your Weapon Mastery has leveled up! Spear (Lv. 8)]
The System notifications chimed in my head, as cheerful as ever. I stared at the carnage around me, bodies piled like discarded garbage. "Spear level eight," I muttered. "Guess I'm one step closer to becoming atleast slightly stronger."
This wasn't just any fight, though. I'd taken out the Revenants on reset day, something that was supposed to be impossible. They're faster, stronger, and more relentless during resets. And yet, I'd done it. Barely.
Sure, I had a few scratches—nothing the System's healing wouldn't patch up in a few days. But I was still alive. Still standing. My plan had worked, even if I was lacking in power and numbers.
Survival wasn't pretty, but it was survival. And for now, that was enough.
By the time dawn broke, I was back at the convenience store, battered but alive. The plan had worked, at least for now. I'd thinned their numbers, bought myself some breathing room, and proven that I wasn't completely helpless.
Leaning against the wall, I let out a shaky laugh. "Divide and conquer," I muttered. "Who knew I'd make a decent general?"
It wasn't much, but it was a start. In an unbelievable reality like this, sometimes a start was all you could hope for.