Chapter 3: Chapter 3: A different zombie

Chapter 1.03: A different zombie

24/04/2123

The fall, the awakening, the great judgment, the system’s descent, the great opportunity…. This day will be known under many names.

However, even years within the New Era, even after going through countless battles and tragic wars spanning through the universe, all the Terrans would still agree that this day was the darkest in humanity’s history.

On this day, of the 15 billion humans populating Terra, almost three fourth died in the first few minutes of this new era and the casualties only continued to grow in the hours that followed.

Those first few minutes were enough to show that the disaster humanity was about to face was enough to cause its extinction and nobody was ready to face it. Whether it was those that never had the chance to wake up as themselves or those who died at the hand of those creatures that were once relatives, friends, lovers, colleagues, or mere strangers.

Still, humanity wasn’t one to go down so easily. Faced with such an apocalyptic event, the survival instinct buried deep within our blood once again kicked in and people all over the world rose and showed extreme resilience as they fought for survival.

--

Aurora College, Cardano Arena, 01:43 P.M

“Silvi, run. We need to get out of here, fast,” a black-haired girl shouted, her voice full of panic as she dragged her reluctant friend toward the court.

“B... but Caleb and Uncle are still there. We can’t leave them behind, Louisa.” Silvi answered as she kept looking behind, her face filled with unwillingness. It was obvious that all she wanted was to go back and help them.

“No, we can’t, we need to run,” Louisa said as she violently tugged on Silvi’s arm and continued to run after taking a last glance at her dad and brother who were doing their best to buy them enough time to escape.

“I am sorry,” she mumbled, tears streaming down her face as she continued to run. She hated herself for being so selfish, for being such a coward. However, she knew that not only would nothing have changed if she stayed there, but she would also have probably made things worse.

There were just too many of those people that went mad -she wasn’t sure what was wrong with them and she didn’t care- and the only reason she and Silvi could even escape was that they were seated in the front seats and were in one of the few areas where most of the people stayed normal.

The only thing she could do now was run and make sure Caleb and her dad's sacrifices were worth it. Unfortunately, nowhere seemed safe and there were ‘crazy people’ everywhere. If things continued like this, it won’t be long before one attacked them, and then it’d be the end.

“Where to go? Where to go?” Louisa mumbled as she frantically looked around hoping to find a lifeline. It was then that she saw something so stunning that it almost stopped her dead in her tracks but also filled her with infinite hope.

In the middle of the court, not far from her, one of the players of her college team was taking a casual stroll in the middle of a crowd of ‘crazy people’.

Unlike everyone else who was panicking, he seemed completely relaxed as if the chaos around him had nothing to do with him. Every time a crazy person tried to attack him; he would swiftly deal with them. Most of the time, all it took was a kick and he would resume his road. It seemed so simple and easy that Louisa could hardly believe that those fighting him were the same as those that were making everyone desperate.

She had seen how easily one would get down once caught by them and she knew the strength of those crazy people wasn’t to be underestimated. But now, it looked like no one of that mattered in front of that guy. She wasn’t sure how he could do such a thing, but once again she didn’t care and the only thought that stuck in her mind at that moment was that only by following him could they find a way out.

“Silvi, come. Let’s follow that guy,” Louisa said as she quickly dragged Silvi and started running toward him.

Louisa and Silvi weren’t the only ones who noticed the seemingly unusual situation around Jay. Just like them, many of those on or close to the court noticed him. Some were players that were still on the court, staff members, or audience members like Louisa. And just like Louisa they instantly followed him.

Naturally, Jay who was constantly keeping an eye on his surroundings noticed all those people moving toward him. However, he didn’t care as long as they didn't create trouble for him.

Well, their mere presence could be considered troublesome as they would attract more zombies toward him. However, it was not like he could ask them to not follow him. And even if he did, he knew they wouldn’t listen.

Thus, he didn’t pay too much attention to them and simply focused on dealing with those zombies instead.

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“Do I look tastier or what?” Jay grumbled as he sent yet another kick and broke yet another zombie’s knee. Was the situation normal, he should have reached the tunnel by now. However, along the way, every zombie he met seemed hell-bent on having a piece of him and even those who already had a target would still rush toward him. Faced with such a situation, he couldn’t avoid the zombies even if he wanted to and had no other choice but to fight most of them.

Though it may seem that he was having it easy, only he knew how much effort he put into each confrontation. 

Not only did he need to be constantly focused to avoid falling the gasp of a single zombie, but each of his kicks also had to mobilize all his strength and hit the target with pinpoint precision to achieve an optimal result. And all that had to be done as fast as possible. Worst, it was still his flesh that he was using to hammer each zombie and at this point, he was starting to feel the pain even with his tolerance.

The only good thing was that he finally managed to reach the tunnel and after clashing with so many zombies, he got a better understanding of them, and dealing with them became easier with each fight.

‘Finally, it would have been so much easier if I had even a simple knife’ Jay mumbled. 

There was a set of stairs at the end of the tunnel and there was a door after those stairs. Once that door was closed, he wouldn’t have to deal with the threat represented by the countless zombies in the arena. Only those within the staff area would have to be dealt with. And that was much easier and safer.

As he stepped within the tunnel, he breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed it was empty save a zombie guard who was feasting on the body of another guard. After all, the tunnel area was narrow and it wouldn’t be easy to deal with too many zombies here.

Without hesitation, Jay moved toward the zombie, intent on quickly getting rid of it. However, for once things didn’t go as he expected them to. The moment his kick was about to land, the zombie moved back and unexpectedly dodged.

‘This,’ Jay mumbled, as he hurriedly blocked a punch sent by the zombie, and that was yet another thing it wasn’t supposed to be able to do.

‘It seems things couldn’t be so simple,’ Jay mumbled as he quickly regained his calm. No matter how unusual this zombie was, the only thing he needed to do was kill it and kill it fast. As for what was special about it, he would think about it later.

As he was having those thoughts, the zombie had already thrown another punch toward him. However, this time he had no intention of taking it and simply ducked before quickly dashing forward and moving behind the zombie. Then, before the zombie could react, he threw a kick on the back of its knee and made it lose its balance.

With the ‘smart’ zombie now on the ground, Jay would not waste the opportunity to get rid of it. That being said he quickly grabbed its head and smashed it on the ground again and again until it stopped moving.

‘Could it be that the head is the only weak point?’ he thought as he took a deep breath and looked at the disfigured zombie under his feet. After all, this was the first time he took down a zombie and he couldn’t be sure if there was another way to kill them.

“HAA!!!” a startled cry woke Jay from his daze and he raised his eyes to see a dozen people staring at him, shock all over their faces. Jay wasn’t sure how much they had seen. Anyway, he didn’t care. If they were still unable to understand the situation they were in, he could only wish them an easy death in advance.

“Move. Fast.” He told them as he moved and walked down the stairs.

****

Bestiaries:

1- Zombies: They are those whose bodies couldn’t accept mana and died as a result. After their death, the mana in their body is converted into undead energy making them into one of the undead. Their tireless, and fearless nature, plus their unnatural hate for the living make them one of the main threats encountered by non-awakened inhabitants of newly ascended worlds.

Type: Undead

Rank: F

Characteristics: Strength +, Defense +, Speed =, Wisdom -, Coordination -, Reaction -

(Comparison with a normal human)

 

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