“Good luck,” Eric gave a thumbs up before taking the lead.
The group left the main entrance and walked through the parking lot. Michael thought for a moment before saying aloud, “Let’s split up.”
“Okay!” Eric agreed.
“Uhm, is that really necessary?” Elizabeth said hesitantly.
“Yeah,” Michael nodded, “you only get credit for the kill if you get the last blow, so us grouping up will only make the quests take longer.”
David grabbed Elizabeth’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, Liz, we’ll go together if you want.”
“Okay,” Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief.
“See ya,” Connor said. He looked around with squinted eyes before picking a direction and disappearing into the fog.
Eric separated from the group and began his hunt. He ignored all of the level 1 and 2 zombies and only focused on the level 3 and 4 ones. He only had so much stamina, and fighting the wrong targets would be a waste. An hour later, his quest was progressing smoothly, but he was running dangerously low on stamina. Thankfully, he was prepared. He found a safe location before taking off his backpack. He took out some perishable food and ate it.
Banana
Durability: 4/5
Restores 4 stamina.
Apple
Durability: 4/5
Restores 4 stamina.
Orange
Durability: 4/5
Restores 4 stamina.
He filled up his stamina, but as a result, his stomach was now stuffed. If he ate anymore, he felt he would throw up. He chuckled to himself, “Looks like you can’t gain stamina from food endlessly.”
Gripping his bat, he continued the hunt. A few hours later, he swung his bat at a zombie with half a neck. The force of the blow caused the zombie’s head to fly into the distance.
“Ugh,” Eric frowned in disgust.
A screen appeared in front of him after the zombie died.
Quest complete!
You have received 1 skill point.
“Yahoo!” He punched the air in celebration.
He quickly opened up his character screen and went to the skill shop. All of the skills were the same, except for one. The blunt weapon mastery was now level 2.
Blunt Weapon Mastery - Level 2
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Effect(s):
+50% Blunt Weapon Damage
“Hehe, even more damage!” Eric grinned. Without a second thought, he purchased the second level of blunt weapon mastery.
It was now nearing nighttime, so it was time to head back. Just before he left, he glanced at his level and saw that he was almost level 10. He figured he might reach it if he fought some zombies on the way back.
Just as he reached the school parking lot, he reached level 10 and acquired a skill and stat point. When he opened the skill shop, he was delighted. There were 3 new skills!
Heavy Blow - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Requirement: Level 2 Weapon Mastery.
Effect(s):
Consume 1 stamina to perform a heavy blow. Deals 100% increased damage.
Sweeping Strike - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Requirement: Level 2 Weapon Mastery.
Effect(s):
Consume 1 stamina to perform a sweeping strike. Deals 50% damage in a wide arc in front of you.
Tenacious Skin - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Requirement: Level 2 Weapon Mastery.
Effect(s):
Passively reduce all damage taken by 1.
Eric immediately fell into deep thought. There was a defensive skill and two offensive skills. He hasn’t been touched by a zombie yet, so he didn’t feel the need to get tenacious skin. The two offensive skills were fundamentally different from each other. One was for single targets, and the other was for multiple targets.
Considering that he was putting his stats into strength and stamina, he felt it best to pick sweeping strike. His goal was to one shot multiple Level 1 zombies! He spent his skill point and acquired a new skill. Michael already explained to him how activating a skill worked, so he knew what to do.
Eyes bright, he quickly gathered a few zombies together. He swung his bat and shouted, “Sweeping strike!”
An illusory bat overlayed itself over his own, except that it was three times bigger. When he swung at the zombie in front of him, the illusory bat collided with the other two zombies. Eric grinned, “Success!”
He had nearly instantly killed three level 1 zombies! With light attacks, he finished them off and made his way into the school parking lot. It was dark now, so he took a quick nap before going on guard duty. He accomplished a lot today.
Chapter 16
When everyone returned, they gathered together and shared their new abilities. Michael reached level 10 as well and used both his skill points. He upgraded his fireball to level 2, improving its damage. He also bought a new skill.
Fireball - Level 2
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Skill:
Cast a Fireball at your target.
Consumes 2 Mana.
Deals 4 Damage instantly, and another 20 damage over 5 seconds.
Has a chance to spread to other targets.
Mana Shield - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Requirement: Level 2 elemental skill.
Skill:
Activate to form a mana shield around you. The shield absorbs 2 damage for every mana point.
He tested the mana shield earlier and fell in love with it. A blue barrier formed around him that block all attacks. With his current mana, he could absorb a total of 40 damage. He put 5 points into wisdom, raising his mana from 10 to 20.
Mr. Drew reached level 5 and purchased blunt weapon mastery. David purchased earth spike, Elizabeth purchased a gust of wind, and Connor purchased something different from everybody else. He bought scavenging.
Scavenging - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Effect(s):
Occasionally receive useful items when killing undead.
“Why did you buy that? That doesn’t help us kill zombies at all,” Eric frowned with frustration.
“Heh, just wait until you see this,” Connor was full of confidence as he pulled off his backpack. He opened the zipper and pulled out a few items. One of them looked like a bandage, another was a rusty hammer, and the last was a semi eaten apple.
“What about these?” Eric raised an eyebrow.
Connor rolled his eyes, “Inspect them.”
The group took a close look at all the items. As they did, they let out gasps of shock. All of the items weren’t normal.
Bandage
Durability: 5/5
Restores 5 health upon use.
Rusty Hammer
Damage: 2
Durability: 14/50
Half-eaten apple
Durability: 2/5
Restores 2 stamina.
“Did you perhaps get these from…?” Eric’s voice trailed off.
“Yes. The scavenging skill,” Connor said with pride.
“Damn. How many zombies did you kill to get these drops?” Michael asked inquisitively. Connor’s answer would determine how useful the skill actually was. If the drop rate was garbage, it wasn’t really worth it.
Connor recalled, “I killed 15 zombies after getting this skill.”
“Hmm, the drop rate is pretty good,” Michael nodded.
Eric held out his hand to Connor as he said with embarrassment, “Sorry I looked down on you. You gave us some good information today.”
“No problem, bro,” Connor shook his hand.
The group chatted casually for a bit before choosing who would guard first. The days continued to pass, and soon the 7th day arrived. After spending every day hunting, the group gradually rose their levels. Even though
the zombies were leveling up, they were growing stronger as well. Things were going smoothly. At this rate, they would be able to survive forever as long as they procured enough food.
Such happy thoughts ended on the 7th night.
Eric was first up on patrol duty. He was very confident in dealing with any zombie now, so he casually made his way around the school. He was thinking about the past few days and wondered what the limit was. How strong would he grow in this new reality? What abilities would appear?
His thoughts turned towards the military and police. What was taking them so long to show up? Surely the might of the military could handle such weak zombies, right? An assault rifle could easily kill zombies, much less a tank, missiles, or bombs. Wasn’t there also the air force? He couldn’t figure out the reason no matter how much he thought about it.
The moon was especially bright today, so the fog was a clear gray. It was then that something happened. The fog turned red, reminiscent of the color of blood. Eric paused in bewilderment. He muttered, “What the…?”
He looked up and found the moon. It was bright red. He felt like something bad was about to happen. He shook his head in disbelief, “Why’d the moon change colors?”
Right in front of his very eyes, the fog churned. The fog formed together to create a figure. Eric widened his eyes as a zombie was created right in front of him. He thought, “Michael was right!”
Just as he was about to kill the zombie that spawned, he froze. All around him, the fog began to move. Ten zombies were created, then twenty, then fifty, then over a hundred. Hundreds of figures could be seen in the fog. Sweat fell down Eric’s forehead as he backed up. Moaning could be heard from all around him.
Eric turned around and ran towards the cafeteria. A catastrophe had just occurred!
He entered the cafeteria before any zombies got close. They spawned a bit of distance away from the school, so they had a bit of time. A few minutes at most. Eric cupped his hands over his mouth as he shouted, “WAKE UP! Hundreds of zombies are coming!”
Michael, Connor, Courtney, Mr. Drew, David, and Elizabeth’s eyes snapped open immediately. The adrenaline that filled their bodies in recent days was especially active right now. Due to their increased stats, and common encounters with zombies, they were wide awake and ready to move at a moments notice.
In the past few days, the other students finally became accustomed to the new world. They could finally sleep normally, but when Eric shouted just now, they woke up with fear.
Just as Michael was about to ask Eric what happened, he saw the red fog. Eric preemptively shook his head, “I don’t know, I don’t know, man. The moon suddenly turned red, and hundreds of zombies spawned around me.”
“The moon? Created by the fog?” Michael wasn’t delighted that his theory was right. This wasn’t the time to celebrate.
“What’s going on?” A student asked.
“You said you’d protect us right? Right?!” Another hysterically said when they saw the red fog.
Michael frowned before he shouted, “Everyone needs to fight right now! If you don’t have a weapon, punch and kick them!”
“Are you crazy? Didn’t you take more food because you said you’d protect us? Now we have to fight?!”
“Yeah! What she said,” The fear of the students caused them to side against Michael.
Michael’s frown deepened, but he didn’t have any time to argue with them. He and his group grabbed their weapons and prepared for battle.
Eric looked over at his family and saw the tears in his sister’s eyes. He would protect her, even with his life if he must!
Chapter 17
Michael ran outside to get a closer look at the situation. His face was grim when he saw hundreds of zombies. Only a few were level 1, most were level 2 to 5, and some were level 6 or 7. Level 7 zombies had 70 life. They would reach the school wall within a minute. He turned around and found Mr. Drew. His voice with firm and full of authority as he said, “Take the principals car and run over as many as you can.”
“Right,” Mr. Drew responded with an anxious voice. He ran past Michael and exited the school. He made his way through the zombies towards the principal’s truck. He needed to relieve the pressure on the others.
Near the front entrance were a bunch of school desks and tables. Eric and Michael used them to create a narrow passage for the zombies to walk through. Just as they finished setting it up, the first zombie entered the front entrance. It was level 4.
Michael, Eric, David, Connor, and Elizabeth stood side by side as they clenched their weapons tightly. Michael glanced at his companions with a grim smile, “Save your mana for a pinch!”
“Okay,” Elizabeth and David nodded. They had a gust of wind and earth spike respectively.
Some students watched them from behind. They quivered in fear, and some were crying. Eric stepped forward and swung his bat upwards. The neck of the level 4 zombie broke as its head fell backwards. It survived with 18 HP. Another attack finished it off. Eric stepped back and rejoined his friends.
Three zombies entered, followed by another five. This time, Michael, Connor, and David stepped forward and finished the zombies off before stepping back. In this manner they defended the front entrance. Two minutes passed as they defended successfully.
The little passage they made was full of zombies. Every time they killed one, another zombie took its place. It never ended. It was at this moment that the other doors disappeared in a flash of light. The zombies broke through the other two doors of the front entrance!
“What?!” Eric’s eyes widened in surprise.
Michael clenched his teeth, “Damn, higher level zombies must have stronger attacks as well.”
Michael glanced at Elizabeth and shouted, “After me, Elizabeth!”
Elizabeth nodded slightly, “R-right.”
Michael waved his hand as he snapped his fingers. A fireball flew towards the middle of a pack of zombies. One of them caught on fire. Right after the zombie caught on fire, Elizabeth waved her hand, sending out a gust of wind. The pack of zombies were knocked backwards. Not only that, but the fire spread to other zombies. 4 zombies caught on fire, then 10, then 20, then 30. The combination of fire and wind was astonishing. This was something Michael thought of a few days ago.
Before the doors broke, they could hold off the zombies just fine. They took turns and rotated between each other. Now, though, all of them had to make a line to defend the front entrance. Every time the fire went out, Michael and Elizabeth used their magic together.
It was in this manner that they defended the front entrance. Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen. Fifteen minutes of continuous fighting took quite a toll on their stamina and mana. They wouldn’t have been able to last this long if they didn’t take a small break to eat something. Still, they were barely holding on.
Eric took a chance to look at the students behind him and shouted, “We won’t last much longer. We need some help! Use your fists and legs!”
A few students clenched their teeth and stepped forward. When the first punch landed, only 2 damage was dealt. It was pathetically low.
With the help of the students, they lasted another five minutes. Michael looked at the zombie pack and noticed that their numbers were running thin. If they could hold on for a little bit longer, they would survive this ordeal.
It was at this time that screams rang out from the cafeteria. One scream lead to another, and soon hundreds of students were screaming. This could only mean one thing. The zombies came in from another direction!
Eric shouted at Michael, “We need to retreat!”
Michael looked around and nodded, “To the gym!”
Eric turned around and shouted at the students behind them, “Head to the gym! GO!”
The students watching them began to run to the gym. Some students ran with all their strength and pushed down other students. The students who fell to the ground experienced what it felt like to be trampled. Whether they would l
ive or die was unknown.
ZOMBIE SLAYER!!: A LitRPG Apocalypse Page 9