“Yeah, they attacked us first!” Roy added.
Michael narrowed his eyes and said, “I’m going to get everybody together. This time… it’s them that’s going to be hunted!”
At this time of day, most people were out hunting the undead. Michael had no way to contact them, so he could only wait. When night arrived, everyone was gathered into the cafeteria. When they heard that two groups lost members due to other humans, they grew worried. They’d be hunted by other humans outside? Wasn't it hard enough just dealing with the undead? They had such thoughts.
Michael gave an eloquent speech and riled everyone up. At the end, he said, “it’s either us or them! Now who wants to help me?!”
Everyone raised their hands and gave cries of victory.
“We’ll wipe them out!”
“We’re no pushovers!”
“We’ll show them not to mess with us!”
When Eric arrived from hunting all day, he was informed by Michael about what happened. He closed his eyes as tears fell. Mr. Drew was dead? The guy they initially thought was an asshole? He was the one who ended up saving Michael, Courtney, and Eric from the zombies on the first day. He owed him a great debt, and yet he was dead? Killed by other humans?
Eric listened to Michael’s plan before leaving the school. He would hunt with increased vigor tonight.
The revenant appeared. Compared to its first appearance, it was different. The once old and debilitated bones were now white.
Level 6 Revenant
Health: 25/25
Even though it was stronger, that was only in comparison to its past self. It was still no match for Eric. But he knew one day, it would. He would continue to grow stronger so that he would be prepared for when that time came. After killing the revenant, Eric vented his anger and sadness onto the undead. It was therapeutic for him.
After feeling better, Eric encountered the new undead that started to spawn after the 4th blood moon. It looked like an obese human. Its stomach seemed to be on the verge of exploding. Eric shivered in disgust and avoided it. He learned earlier that when he attacked it, it would explode. The explosion wasn’t dangerous, but he would be covered in sticky bile. The bile attracted other undead.
Level 1 Boomer Zombie
Health: 5/5
Deep into the night, Eric felt a familiar presence. He had a genuine smile as he turned around and saw the vampire Veronica. She wore different clothes today. Unlike the loose robe, she wore modern clothes. She wore a red shirt with a skirt. Eric was stunned. She looked even more beautiful than before.
Veronica spun around and asked, “What do you think?”
Eric answered honestly, “Beautiful.”
Veronica covered her mouth as she laughed joyfully. She had been stuck inside of the system for who knows how many years. Now that the system was activated, she was free. She loved spending time with Eric.
Eric walked up to her as he shook his head, “You know what? I’m really lucky.”
Veronica tilted her head, “Why?”
Eric stopped in front of her and looked into her eyes. He said softly, “I’m visited by a goddess every night.”
Veronica’s pale cheeks turned red. She punched him softly on the shoulder as she said, “Who taught you how to flirt at such a young age?”
Eric scratched his cheek as he laughed. He suddenly remembered something and took off his backpack. As he rummaged through it, he said, “You said vampires can eat food, right? I got something for you.”
Eric pulled out a rectangular candy bar from his backpack. It was a hershey's chocolate bar, a gift from Connor. Eric handed it over.
‘
Veronica held it in her hands and asked, “What is it?”
“A candy bar.”
“A candy bar?” She repeated in confusion.
“Uhh, think of it as a dessert.”
“Oh, sweets! How long has it been since I’ve had one?” Veronica opened the wrapper and took a bite of the chocolate bar.
“Mm! Delicious! What is this taste?”
Eric thought to himself, “Probably the sugar…”
She wouldn’t get addicted to sugar, right? If there was one thing earth had plenty of, it was sugar.
Eric watched as Veronica ate the chocolate bar. His heart started to beat faster, but he didn’t realize it. They talked about various things. Veronica told Eric about the planet she came from, and what kind of creatures existed there. He shook his head repeatedly at the strange and wonderful tales. Earth was quite boring in comparison.
When the sun was starting to rise, Veronica said goodbye and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Eric watched as she disappeared into the fog. He turned around and looked at the horizon. Today, he would get revenge for Mr. Drew and the others.
Chapter 33
On the 30th day, an expedition set out. Their goal? Find the enemy base. The expedition consisted of over half of the students. The ones who stayed behind were the weakest. Their job was to protect the school.
If the undead could think, they would have avoided such a group. Alas, they were as dumb as rocks and felt no fear. Their only purpose was to kill. The undead they came across were pierced through by multiple spears. They stood no chance.
As they walked to the gas station, Eric looked through the skill shop. He had saved the 2 skill points he acquired from the boss for when new skills appeared. He reached level 50 last night, so there were 2 new skills, and both of them were very powerful. He had been considering deeply for the past few hours on which ones to pick. At this moment, he decided.
Stunning Strike - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Requirement: Level 5 Weapon Mastery.
Effect(s):
Consume 1 stamina to stun a target for 1 second. Reduced effectiveness on targets that are a higher level.
Considering that he was about to fight humans, it would probably be a good thing if he could stun them briefly. He was reluctant to purchase this next ability, but Veronica suggested on multiple occasions to invest in defense. So far, he had put all of his points into attack skills. He hadn’t even purchased tenacious skin, and that ability appeared in the first week.
Sighing heavily, he purchased another ability.
Shrug it Off - Level 1
Cost:
1 Skill Point
Requirement(s): At least level 50. At least 50 endurance.
Effect(s):
Consume 5 stamina to reduce all damage taken by 50% for 15 seconds.
Shrug it off consumed a considerable amount of stamina, and the skill only lasted for 15 seconds. Time would tell how effective it would be.
The students’ previous confidence was waning. They were going to fight humans. If they survived this far, that meant they were considerably powerful. They would have spells and skills just like them.
Michael could tell what people were thinking. He faced the students behind him and explained, “Don’t forget, they have the same abilities as you! Fireballs? Ice lances? Earth spikes? We have them too! That means we can anticipate their movements.”
“...Right… that makes sense…”
“I suppose…”
It was at this time that they arrived at the gas station. Surprisingly, there were two people there. They were young men and wore loose and baggy clothes. They each had a sword in their hand, and both were steel.
Michael gave a shout, “Surround them!”
The students roared as they spread out. The two young men were startled, but quickly got ready for a fight. When they realized there were over 50 people… they fled!
Connor immediately ran forward at full speed. In a few seconds, he reached them and stabbed them in the legs with his spear. They collapsed to the ground and shouted in pain. The students quickly surrounded the two young men. The young men looked up and saw the glares of the students. One of them forced a smile and said, “Uh, eh, what’s going on? Why did you attack us?”
Ted stepped forward and a
sked, “Remember me?”
The young men looked at him closely for a second. When they recognized him, their forced smiles disappeared from their face. Instead they snarled, “You ran and got your friends, huh? Couldn’t beat us with six, so you got fifty? Pathetic!”
“You call yourself a man?!”
Ted was ashamed. They were right. He was weak. So weak that he left his friends after they were killed. No, he was sure he fled when one of them was still alive. The young men saw that their taunts were effective. Just as they were about to continue, Michael kicked one of them in the chest. He pressed down with his foot and said, “Do you know a guy with a mohawk?”
The young man on the left responded, “You talkin’ about Whack?”
“Hey!” The young man on the right snapped at his friend, “Don’t tell them nothin’!”
Michael continued, “What about a man who rides a motorcycle?”
“You met the boss?!” The both of them exclaimed at the same time.
After a second, they looked at each other and were about to berate each other for giving away more information, when Michael shouted, “Enough! If you don’t want us to torture you, tell us where your base is!”
“Torture?” Eric’s face fell, but he didn’t say anything.
The two men turned to look at Michael with a stunned expression. The one on the left asked, “You want to see the boss?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, we’ll lead you to him,” The two men snickered at each other as they stood up. Their legs hurt from being stabbed, but it was just a flesh wound.
Michael was confused, but he quickly understood why the men were willing to lead them to their base so easily. They must think their group was stronger. Strange. Even after seeing all their people, they still thought they could win? This was bad.
Fear began to rise up among the students. Was this battle really necessary? Why not try for peace first?
Elizabeth’s cold voice rang through the crowd, “You really think we can make peace with these people? Did they ask for peace when they murdered six of our people? No.”
The silence was their answer. This battle was necessary. It had to be done.
Michael asked the two men, “Where is your base located?”
“It’s the power plant on the edge of the city.”
“Hm.” Michael nodded and turned to look at Connor, “You’re the fastest of us. Can you check it out?”
“Sure.” Connor asked for specific directions before leaving. Everyone waited patiently. Michael used this time to question the two young men. He wondered how exactly they dealt with the blood moons. Michael asked, “So, did you guys fight a boss a few days ago?”
The two men nodded repeatedly with pale faces, “Yeah, yeah. That thing was tough as nuts!”
“It had over 800 health! It was crazy strong, man!”
“Wait,” Michael was startled, “How much health did it have exactly?”
The two young men looked at each other and said hesitantly, “I think it was… 825 health?”
“That sounds right, bro.”
Michael was confused. Why did theirs have more than double the health compared to the one these two young men fought? Michael asked another question, “How many undead usually appear during your blood moon?”
“A few hundred or so.”
Michael grew even more bewildered. What was happening here? Why were their blood moons so much weaker? Michael asked, “How many people do you have in your group?”
The two young men snickered as one of them said, “Hundreds!”
Michael scoffed. That couldn’t be right. Wait. An idea suddenly crossed Michael’s mind. Was the strength of the blood moon dependant on how strong the group was? Or was it how many members they had? Michael decided to take a small risk. He smiled at the two men and said, “Actually, I already know how many you have. It’s around 30, right?”
“Huh?!”
“How did you know that?”
Michael nodded to himself. It looked like he was right. The strength of the blood moons were dependant on the group’s numbers. From the tank boss’ health, he gathered the number of people in their group. Michael continued to ask questions, but the two men finally realized they were talking too much. Michael didn’t care though, he already had enough information. They could win this battle! They had over 50 members, and all of them were strong.
An hour later, Connor returned.
“Well?” Everyone looked at him.
Connor reported his findings, “There’s no fog there, so it’s definitely someone’s territory. I even got a message saying so.”
“How many people did you see?” Michael asked.
“Not many. I watched it for about 30 minutes and only saw 1 person leave.”
“Mm. That sounds right,” Michael nodded slightly. This information coincided with what he learned from the two men.
Michael asked his final question, “Did you see a motorcycle?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s eyes lit up, “That means their boss is there. Most of their group is most likely out hunting. This is our chance. Let’s move out!”
Their group made their way to the edge of the suburbs.
“This is… the power plant?” Michael looked at the strange structures in front of him. There was no fog here, meaning this was someone’s territory. A screen appeared in front of everyone.
You are entering someone's territory!
Eric inspected the wide open area. There were numerous cars parked in the territory. All of them were luxury vehicles. Something a high school student like him wouldn’t be able to afford for years. Why were so many expensive vehicles parked in a power plant of all places?
“Hmph, stole these cars, did you?” Michael asked the two young men.
“Haha, that’s right! We take what we want, when we want! Drugs? Cars? Woman? All of it is ours!” The two men guffawed. They followed their boss and obtained all sorts of things. They stole from mansions, and protected woman in exchange for sex. It was 100% consensual! They approached the boss, not the other way around. Of course, they disagreed with such actions. They thought they should just take the women by force! Unfortunately, the boss killed someone who did such a thing, so these two were too afraid to try. They guessed that it was because the boss had a sister. He treated women fairly.
Michael’s heart beat quickly as he listened. Take what they want? Absolute freedom? No rules? Wait. That’s right. He was living in such a world right now. Why was he performing the act of a leader?
Ah… he remembered now. It was because he was just going through the motions. He had lived his whole life like that, so he didn’t think he could change. But now… he realized. The world as of now welcomed a person like him!
“Huh? Is that Johnny and Lenny?” A voice rang out from in front of them. A man with a mohawk walked towards them. It was Whack.
“Whack, huh? Well… we got captured,” The two men shook their heads in disappointment. It didn’t sound like they were taking this seriously.
“And you thought you would lead them to the boss? Well, in the end, it doesn’t matter. Even though they have the numbers, they can’t beat him,” Whack whistled loudly.
The door to the main building opened as a man with broad shoulders ran out. He was wearing jeans and a black vest. Eric recognized that vest! The man who attacked him while riding a motorcycle had that same vest. Was this the same person?
The Boss walked over and stood next to Whack as he looked at his guests. The Boss was a little under 6 ft tall. He had a shaved head and chinese tattoos running along his neck. The most distinguishing feature were his broad shoulders. He was built like a tank. The only uncharacteristic thing about him was his red eyes. It looked like he had been crying lately.
“Ah, ah, the boss is still upset his sister died during the boss raid,” The young men whispered to each other. They kept their voices as low as possible, but Eric still heard it.
Eric’s hear
t quivered. So this person before him was still human, huh? No, wait. Don’t think like that. This was his enemy. He was the leader of a group who killed six of their members. Don’t sympathize with him.
The boss took a step closer as he said with a hoarse voice, “So… why have you come to my territory?”
ZOMBIE SLAYER!!: A LitRPG Apocalypse Page 17
