Adrius stared at the army of zombies, in his mind His first priority was the safety of Miranda and the girls. With this thought, he quickly began scanning the surroundings. Eventually, a white van appeared in his line of sight, several dozen meters away from the zombies. Fortunately, the van's door was left open, as if its owner had hastily fled through the passenger side.
He turned to Miranda and said, "We're heading toward the bridge. Once we're close enough to the van, I want you and the girls to get in as quickly as you can and hide in the back and Lock the door behind you. Can you do that for me, Miranda?"
Miranda, her voice tinged with fear, responded, "You want us to leave you with them alone?"
Adrius ignored her question and continued pulling her along as he moved toward the van. Miranda had Charlotte in her arms, and Patricia was clutching her clothing, trailing behind them. As they got closer to the van, just before Adrius could push Miranda toward the door, he suddenly sensed a small shadow moving toward him at an incredible speed. Instinctively, he spun around 180 degrees and, without thinking, executed a sweeping slash from left to right with his sword.
The sound of clang echoed—a sharp metallic noise signaling the collision of two metallic objects. Moments later, a small, dagger fell to the ground a few meters away from Adrius. but He paid no attention to the dagger, his gaze fixed on the direction from which it had been thrown. Across the street, on top of a multi-story building, stood a man wearing a half-red mask resembling a monster's mouth. Due to the considerable distance, Adrius couldn't clearly make out the man's face or the mask, but his slender frame and ninja-like attire immediately caught his attention.
The masked man stared at Adrius for a moment before, to Adrius's surprise, bowing to him. This behavior confused Adrius—first, the man had tried to kill him, and now he was bowing?! A second later, the spot where the masked man had stood was shrouded in thick, dark smoke, and after several seconds, when the wind blew the smoke away, the man had completely vanished.
Miranda, equally confused by the masked man's behavior, asked, "What was the point of that? If you hadn't been able to defend yourself, you would have been badly injured! Then why did he bow? What does that mean? I don't get it!"
Adrius shook his head and said, "I think he was testing me... and his bow... I think it was an apology... but I'm still not entirely sure."
Before Miranda could respond, a group of survivors emerged from an alley, walking in the opposite direction. There were about fifteen or sixteen of them, with two young men leading the group. As they reached a hundred meters from the zombie army, they stopped, just like Adrius had.
Seeing the survivors, Patricia exclaimed happily, "It looks like these people are heading for the downtown too. Let's join them, that way our safety will be better…"
But Miranda quickly interrupted her, anger evident in her voice. "Don't you remember what Adrius said at the house? We don't know any of them. We don't know if they're good or bad…"
Patricia, visibly upset, replied, "You don't know that... they seem like good people to me."
Adrius turned his head toward Patricia and said, "Would you be willing to risk the lives of your mother and little sister to find out if they're good or bad? Because if they aren't the right kind of people, you won't be able to call the police for help. I sure won't be able to handle all of them, especially those two men in front... Before you know it, they'll take all the food and water we have, then make us zombie bait so they can escape... But, you're right, neither your mother nor I, knows for sure. Our lives don't matter that much. We could take the risk... So, what do you think? Shall we go...?"
Patricia lowered her head and, in a soft voice, replied, "It was just a suggestion. You don't have to get this angry at me... I'm sorry…"
Adrius turned his attention back to the group and began analyzing the situation. The two elderly couples at the back of the group didn't seem very dangerous, and Miranda could handle them with her gun. Three women and four other girls appeared frightened and not ready for combat. Only the two men in front, along with a tall, muscular man behind them, seemed dangerous. The rest of the men stood next to the women; their scared expressions immediately ruled them out in Adrius's mind.
In Adrius's philosophy, a man who lacked the courage to defend himself and those around him wasn't truly a man. Being a man and being male were two very different things to him. But the blond man at the front, who was sizing up the zombies, seemed different. Adrius could sense the power emanating from him.
The blond man suddenly turned toward Adrius and, while looking at him, started stroking his short-beard, which covered his chiseled jawline. Finally, he spoke loudly, addressing Adrius, "You look strong. Would you help me, my brother...," he looked toward the muscular man behind him, "...and Arthur? That way, the four of us stand a chance against them. I can tell you're heading for Westminster too. and the closest route to it, is through this bridge."
Adrius, with confidence and a firm voice, replied, "Good idea, but your group stays back. They won't get near my sister and the girls. Is that clear?"
As the blond man nodded in agreement, Miranda asked, "Your sister?"
Adrius answered, "I'll explain later. For now, you three get in to the van and lock the doors. I want your weapon always ready in your hand, Miranda…" He looked at Patricia and continued, "…Patricia, I don't know if they're good people or not. But I don't want to take the risk... Please stay by Charlotte's side, and keep the knife ready."
Then, as he started moving toward the blond man, he said, "Don't leave the van until I call you."
As Adrius approached, the survivors huddled together, with one of the men stepping behind the women, which only made Adrius feel more disgusted. At the same time, the blond man and his two companions moved forward, and the four of them stopped, once they were about twenty meters away from the zombies.
The blond man said, "I'll take the left, you take the right. My brother and Arthur will go down the middle." He slapped his brother on the shoulder and, as he ran toward the zombies, yelled, "I hope you stay alive, stranger!"
As the blond man reached the zombies, several flaming arrows appeared above him, shooting toward the zombies at incredible speed. Each arrow found its target with pinpoint accuracy, piercing the zombies' heads and killing them instantly. With each step he took, the smell of burning flesh filled the air, and more zombies collapsed. It seemed his brother was just as powerful—icy projectiles formed around him, shooting toward the zombies with the flick of his hand. Every time an ice projectile struck a zombie, its body became frozen, and the freezing effect spread throughout its entire body. But Arthur, the muscular man, was different. He wielded a large axe, and every time it slammed into a zombie's head, he let out a loud battle cry. As his massive frame suggested, his skill was based purely on strength. Every time a zombie approached him, he swung his axe with wild abandon, smashing the zombies' bodies into pieces and sending them flying.
Seeing the other three men's skills, Adrius also used all 42 of his strength and 37 speed points, charging toward the zombies. He didn't want to reveal his shadow manipulation ability in front of them, at least not for now, so he relied on his sword to decapitate the zombies or split their bodies in half.
[> You have absorbed the Life Flame of a Level 8 Zombie. +2 stamina. <]
[> You have absorbed the Life Flame of a Level 9 Zombie. +1 Resistance. <]
[> You have absorbed the Life Flame of a Level 9 Zombie. <]
[> You have absorbed the Life Flame of a Level 9 Zombie... <]
[> You have absorbed the Life Flame of a.... <]
With the death of so many zombies in the range of Levels 8 to 10, Adrius no longer received any more status points. He only gained two more treasure crystals and leveled up once again. After killing twenty-seven zombies, his battlefield had cleared, and a huge zombie stood before him. Adrius could see the bloodlust and its desire for carnage in the bloodshot eyes of the zombie. This zombie was almost two meters tall, with muscular, distorted limbs, and its skin had a bluish hue. But it was its face that caught his attention most of all. Its skull looked misshapen, with its forehead and right cheek swollen, causing its head to tilt to the side.
Seeing the zombie, Arthur let out a loud yell and charged at it with full speed. Upon reaching the zombie, he leaped, causing cracks to form in the asphalt, and swung his axe down at the zombie's head. The zombie raised its arm to block, and the axe's blade collided with its forearm. To Adrius's surprise, the zombie's arm wasn't severed; the axe blade only sank a few centimeters into its flesh. Arthur, stunned, pulled back his axe to strike again, but the zombie didn't give him a chance. It swung its hand down with full force, hitting Arthur. He didn't have time to dodge, only managing to block the attack with the axe's handle. The moment the zombie's hand slammed into the axe, Arthur screamed in pain and was thrown several meters back, nearly losing consciousness.
With Arthur now in a bad position, Adrius glanced toward the blond man and his brother to see if they could help, but it seemed the two brothers were engaged in an equal battle with another powerful zombie. Adrius realized he was completely alone against this strange zombie. The zombie glared at Adrius and charged at him with full speed. Upon seeing the zombie's attack and its running style, Adrius noticed its left leg was thinner than its right, causing it to lose some balance and reducing its speed—though for a creature focused on power like this zombie, such a weakness was hardly a significant flaw.
Adrius raised his sword, preparing for defense. First, he had to assess the zombie's power to come up with an appropriate strategy. The zombie raised its hand and, with all its might, swung down at Adrius's head, intending to crush it with a single blow, just as it had done to its previous opponent. The strike was incredibly powerful, but Adrius was able to block it by raising his sword horizontally above his head, absorbing the blow. Though the hit was intense, it was bearable. The zombie didn't allow Adrius any more time to think and swung its other hand down with equal force, crashing into Adrius's sword again. Adrius blocked the second strike as well.
Furious that Adrius had blocked both powerful blows, the zombie, now acting like a madman, raised both hands high and slammed them down on Adrius's sword once more. The third blow came so fast and suddenly that Adrius only had time to slightly move his left foot to regain his balance. When the zombie's hands landed on the blade, Adrius felt like a car had just crashed into his sword. He could feel the bones in his forearms cracking and his knee joints grinding against each other. His knees buckled, but he was still able to withstand the blow. However, if the fourth strike came, his bones and joints would surely give out, and the fifth blow would break every bone in his body, or his skull would be shattered directly from the sheer force of the strike first…and zombie attacked with its both hands again….
There was no other choice—he had to act quickly. With both hands gripping his sword, Adrius threw himself toward the zombie's right side. Due to the zombie's slow speed, the weight of its hands, and the power behind them, the zombie couldn't react in time to stop its attack, causing it to strike nothing but air. The zombie spun around furiously, and in that moment, Adrius used the opportunity to create some distance between him and the zombie, buying a few seconds to think.
Power-wise, Adrius was almost on par with the zombie, and in terms of speed, he was certainly faster. To fight this zombie, which specialized in strength, and whose body was built for it, Adrius knew he would need more than just strength—it required speed, more speed than he currently had. Without hesitation, he allocated all 15 of his free status points to increase his speed.
[> Speed: 27 (+10) >< +15 >< 42 (+10) <]
He took a deep breath, reveling in the lightness and flexibility that overtook his body and muscles. The giant zombie, still enraged, limped toward him and shouting.
Adrius aligned his sword parallel to his side, the tip touching the ground. He bent his knees slightly and whispered, "Time to settle this…" With that, the asphalt cracked beneath his feet, and he disappeared.