The cat was incredibly fast, but it was his own speed that shocked Adrius. According to the status window's scale, a healthy human's stats before the world changed, should have been between eight to ten. So, based on his current speed, Adrius was now more than twice as fast as a healthy human, possibly even faster than an Olympic sprinter.
The moment Adrius and the cat came face to face, the cat's mouth was wide open, heading straight for his shoulder. However, Adrius had a plan. He quickly leaned to the right, and as his shoulder moved out of the cat's jaws, he swung the signboard with all his might into the cat's face.
As Adrius slid backward on his feet from the impact, distancing himself from the cat, the cat stumbled slightly to the left and let out a short growl. Adrius was certain that his strike had more than enough power to hurt the cat, but the damn weapon was useless. He glanced at his weapon— the signboard had bent completely backward, now looking like a crooked sickle... a one-and-a-half-meter crooked sickle.
Without wasting any more time, Adrius threw the signboard aside and, out of necessity, prepared himself to fight the cat with his bare hands. He had no other choice; he couldn't just watch a little girl get eaten and do nothing. Right now, his body was all he had left.
"Hey, mister..." Adrius looked toward the woman, who was holding a military knife.
"Maybe this will help..." she said, tossing the knife to him.
As he caught the knife, Adrius had to dodge a new attack from the cat, so there was no time for thanks. The cat growled angrily and attacked again. In that brief moment, Adrius only had time to step right and land a kick to the side of the cat's neck.
This time, Adrius's kick sent the cat flying nearly a meter to the left, and it was clear that it had caused significant damage. However, the cat wasn't the only one who took damage. As Adrius's foot landed, the cat managed to scratch his left leg with its claws, causing moderate bleeding in his thigh.
Adrius and the cat continued their speed-based attacks for several minutes. In the end, Adrius had received two more wounds— one on his right arm and another on his chest. The cat, despite its fluffy appearance, was clearly suffering from internal injuries. After several final attacks, its movements became slower and more stiff, and its front right leg was starting to limp.
However, it was clear that before the cat would collapse due to its internal damage, Adrius would pass out from the excessive blood loss. Therefore, he needed to finish the fight quickly and tend to his wounds before his condition worsened. With a few quick leaps backward, Adrius created some distance between himself and the cat, getting closer to the woman and her daughters, creating a gap of about ten meters between him and the cat.
Adrius and the cat locked eyes again, and both of them charged toward each other. Adrius held the knife in his hand, reversed, and launched himself toward the cat with all his strength and speed. It seemed the cat also decided to put everything on this final attack. The sparks and lightning-like streaks around its body intensified, and its yellow eyes began to shine more brightly. The increase in the intensity of the yellow lightning around the cat boosted its speed a little, making it even faster toward Adrius.
At a meter away from Adrius, the cat stopped for a fraction of a second and then leapt toward him with full power, intending to use its entire weight to pin Adrius down and finish him off. However, the moment the cat's legs left the ground and it dove toward him, Adrius bent backward without losing speed, sliding on the ground and slipping under the cat's body— a move similar to a soccer tackle. While sliding, he aimed the military knife and slashed it from the cat's neck to its stomach.
The cat fell to the ground with painful growls, trying to get back up. This state lasted about a minute until it finally succumbed to its severe blood loss and internal injuries, dying.
[> You have absorbed *The life flame* from the Level 11 Thunder Cat. 5+ Speed, 3+ Mana, 2+ Magic. <]
[> Congratulations! You have successfully leveled up to Level 6. <]
[> You have gained 3+ status points. <]
Adrius struggled a bit but finally reached the dead cat's corpse and grabbed the two floating crystals above it.
[> Treasure Crystal (Medium Tier) <]
"One more treasure crystal, that makes two now... I need to find a safe place quickly to treat my wounds and open these crystals, maybe I'll find a useful weapon." he muttered to himself as he checked the second crystal.
[> ------------------
Cold Logic (Passive Skill, Medium Tier) Level 3: Cold Logic gives you the ability to think logically and react in critical situations, allowing you to gain the maximum benefit from every situation with minimal loss. The power of this skill increases with its level, impacting your mind more broadly.
------------------ <]
"Should be useful... especially in these conditions..." he murmured to himself as he put the two crystals into his pocket and walked toward the woman and her daughters.
The little girl was staring at Adrius with awe and smiling, as if he were one of those flashy superheroes from American comic books. Adrius, holding the military knife by the handle toward the woman, smiled at the little girl.
"Thank you for the ontime help…" Adrius said and started walking away to find a safe place to hide.
He hadn't walked more than a few meters when the woman called out to him: "Mister, would you mind watching over me and my daughters for a little while?" Her voice was filled with anxiety and hopelessness, and it was clear she had tried hard to say those words, though she didn't have much hope it would succeed.
The teenage girl quietly said to her mother, "What are you doing, Mom?! Look at him, he's clearly one of those homeless people who steal our stuff while we're asleep and kill us... and if he doesn't rape us…"
The woman snapped angrily, "Be polite, Patricia. Without asking, he put himself in danger to save our lives... Don't judge people by their appearances… but it doesn't matter... no one makes their life harder than it already is. The three of us are just extra baggage..."
Adrius took a few more steps, actually intending to ignore the woman and her request, but the little girl called out to him, asking: "Mister, are you a superhero? Are you going to help other people too?"
After hearing the little girl's words, Adrius changed his mind. Maybe the woman knew a bit about first aid and could help him bandage his wounds. In any case, the three of them weren't entirely useless, and Adrius couldn't leave the little girl alone in this messed-up version of London.
With slow steps, he turned back toward the woman and her daughters and said to the woman, "I'll stay with you until the government finds a solution or establishes a safe zone for refugees like you." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The blood loss from his wounds was starting to take its toll because he felt dizzy and, most of all, incredibly thirsty.
The woman, surprised that Adrius had agreed to her request, smiled warmly, making her beautiful face look even more radiant. However, in these circumstances, Adrius's mind was too preoccupied to admire that beauty, even in his thoughts.
The woman happily said to Adrius, "Thank you so much, mister… My name is Miranda, this little one's name is Charlotte, and that grumpy lady is Patricia."
Adrius nodded and replied, "You can call me Adrius, or even just Adri… It's a pleasure to meet you." He then smiled at Charlotte and continued, "Do you know of any safe place around here where we can rest for a bit? I need to take care of my wounds, or I'll pass out from blood loss."
The woman returned the military knife to Adrius and answered, "Actually, we were heading home. Running from the zombies wasn't hard, but we couldn't do anything about the cat. If my husband... if my husband didn't sacrifice himself to buy us time, we wouldn't have even made it this far... If you want, we can go to our house. It's only about ten minutes from here."
It was clear that Miranda was doing her best to stay strong for her daughters, and she barely managed to hold back her tears.
Adrius responded with sympathy, "I'm really sorry, Miranda. My condolences," and after a moment, added, "That sounds like a good idea. We might even get news of the world's situation and figure out what to do... Oh... have you checked the internet during this time or tried contacting the police?"
Miranda shook her head in despair, "I left my phone in the car, but Patricia tried several times to contact the police, but the lines were always busy. Eventually, her phone's battery died." She shot Patricia a glare and continued, "But when we get home, we can use the laptop and the landline."
Adrius, wincing from the pain of his wounds, took a deep breath and finally answered, "That's a good idea. We'll do that, so please, lead the way." Then he took another deep breath, clenched the knife in his hand, and walked with Miranda and her daughters toward the house.
Along the way, fortunately, they didn't encounter any more serious trouble like the cat, although they did come across about thirty to forty more zombies in the Level range 0f 3 to 6, which allowed Adrius to level up to Level 9. He also obtained another treasure crystal, plus several additional status points. During this time, he noticed that his wounds were healing faster than usual, and he could almost feel that the bleeding had slowed down. Especially since most of his added status points had been related to health, which made him think that if he added his twelve free status points to health, the healing speed would double, maybe even more. However, he didn't do it, as the free status points had saved his life during the last fight with the monster cat. So, he decided to keep them for emergencies.
As Adrius was lost in thought, searching the area for zombies or greater dangers, Miranda said, "Our house is right here," and Adrius let out a sigh of relief.