There was a monster more powerful than Apollo at the top of the building. Grey could sense it, and Apollo could too. Walking towards the stairs, Grey took out all his shard stones and swallowed them, his stats increasing yet again.
"Are you going to help me in this fight?" he asked Apollo, who was standing on his shoulder. "No. I want you to get stronger. Helping you will be counterproductive, don't you think?" Apollo replied. Grey nodded. "That's good. I don't want to be babied. Just don't get in my way, or I'll hack you down along with the zombies." "Sheesh... cold much. You couldn't do it if you tried." "We'll see." Grey planned to clear the zombies as he moved upwards, leveling up until he reached the top of the building to face the powerful being—if it didn't come down to him first. He didn't know what would happen if that did occur, but one thing was for sure: he wouldn't back down from a fight. As soon as he entered the next floor, multiple zombies attacked him. Grey, with a blitz, decapitated them with a single swing of his sword, moving faster than ever. Grey was impressed by his strength and the sharpness of the sword which had made his hunt much easier. He hunted the rest of the zombies with unrelenting ferocity, using some of his abilities in the attacks. His [Lightning Manipulation] proficiency was slowly increasing, though not as fast as it initially had. As Grey weaved through the zombies, multiple bodies fell, sliced in two. Grey cut down a zombie at his side, then another zombie approached him. With a swift punch, the zombie's face caved in and it tore through the air like a rocket, slamming into the wall with such force that half its body was reduced to a bloody mess. "Shit," Grey exclaimed, shocked by the raw power in his fist. He knew he was strong, but he didn't think he was this strong. His fist had become a deadly weapon enough to take down regular zombies even without [Bane Sword]. But Grey figured he'd rather use his sword than his fist, as he didn't like getting his hand messy, and there was also the high risk of getting bitten. Right now, he was pretty much bullying them. In the next minute, the last zombie was taken down and Grey let out a heavy sigh. "You're still disappointing. I could have taken them down in seconds," Apollo said, shaking his head in disappointment. Grey frowned, ignoring his statement. It seemed the monkey loved attention. He then checked his stat window and noticed that his proficiency had increased by one, which was quite disappointing, but it was still progress. The shard stones he had collected weren't as many as when he fought the juggernaut, but it was something. Grey wasted no time ingesting them. He had to admit he had gotten used to the taste of them dissolving in his mouth. All of a sudden, he heard a noise and, squinting his eyes, tried to figure out what it was. Looking around, Grey could hear quiet sobbing, and he realized it was coming from under a bench in the meeting room. Bending down, he saw two people—a lady and a man—with looks of terror on their faces. They sighed in relief as soon as they saw his face, at ease that he was a human and not a zombie. "Survivors," Grey thought. "It's alright, you two are safe. You can come out," Grey said, and though they looked hesitant, the two stepped out, looking around warily. "What happened? The whole place was filled with zombies," the man asked. "Well, I killed them. The floor is now safe, though I wouldn't leave if I were you," Grey said. The floor might be safe, but the rest of the building was not. He could sense they weren't strong at all, meaning they hadn't killed a zombie. "You killed the zombies?" the man asked in a skeptical tone. "There were more than a dozen." "Well... I'm strong," Grey said casually, noting the name on his ID: Greg. The lady then began to whimper. "Everyone... everyone turned into monsters. They were biting each other," she cried. Grey also checked her ID and saw her name was Amy. "Boo hoo... crying won't save you from zombies trying to eat your brains, haha," Apollo mocked, but Amy didn't respond to his comment, neither did Greg, which shocked Grey. "Why aren't you surprised by the talking monkey?" Grey asked, pointing to Apollo on his shoulder. "What talking monkey? All your pet is doing is making monkey sounds." "Damn, don't call me a pet," Apollo said aggressively to Greg. But to Greg, Apollo was just hooting, displeased by something. This surprised Grey. "You mean you can't hear him speak?" Grey asked. Greg looked at him like he was a lunatic, thinking Grey might be using his monkey to cope with the horror of what was happening. "Yeah, I forgot to tell you only you can understand me," Apollo informed. "What... why?" "I don't know, bitch." "Was calling me 'bitch' necessary?" Grey asked, furrowing his brow, and Apollo shrugged. Grey, realizing he was talking out loud, saw Greg and Amy backing away from him, Greg holding a steel bat—similar to the basic weapon he got from the system—threateningly. An indication everyone did have a system. Grey narrowed his eyes at the pair. "Is this how you thank your savior?" “Bullshit, you expect me to think you alone killed all those monsters. Impossible." Greg spat and Grey frowned. “You are a deeply mistrusting person Greg, and honestly it's starting to piss me off." “Okay let's come down there's no need to fight amongst ourselves.” Amy said as the mood was becoming tense, but Greg wasn't backing down, neither was Grey. “Why bother about them." Apollo said. “You should kill them for the betrayal." “Apollo not helping.” Grey had come to terms to killing zombies killing hmans would be another case, but with the way Grey felt, he didn't think he'll have a problem crossing that line. Not at all.“How do I know you're not sick like the rest of them? and turned into some f*cking vampire." Greg asked still very much willing to swing his bat at Grey. “Zombies...they're freaking zombies." Grey corrected.“Who cares." "Zombies?" Amy interrupted.“ You mean like those monsters in apocalypse movies?" she asked. "Yes," Grey replied, and Greg let out a chortle. Grey didn't understand what was funny, and frankly, the man was starting to annoy him. "Look, I'm glad you saved us, but aren't you taking things too far? There's no such thing as zombies." "Really? Then how do you explain that?" Grey said, pointing to a zombie coming through the entrance. Greg's face went pale as he saw the zombie approaching them, and Amy screamed. Grey, with a sigh, raised his hand and released a lightning blast, finishing off the zombie, much to the surprise of the two. "Showoff," Apollo remarked, picking his nose, and Grey shook his head. "How... how do you do that?" Greg asked. "The system reward
Greg, who had his back to the window, wondered about Grey and Amy's reaction until the glass wall behind him shattered, with the bird-like creature crashing into it. Grey pulled Amy out of the way and covered her from the shards of glass, but Greg wasn't as fortunate. The bird-like creature gripped him by the shoulder with its powerful claws, dragging him forward. Greg screamed and cried out for help, but he was silenced by two stabs of the bird-like creature's beak piercing his skull, ending his life. It then dropped Greg's body on the ground and frantically began to gobble up the inside of his brain. Grey and Amy watched in horror at the gruesome sight. "Oh, that's a scary one," Apollo uttered in an amused tone. Amy covered her mouth, holding back the urge to throw up, while Grey's scrutinizing gaze lingered on the huge bird.===========================[Name: Cockatrice] [Quest: Defeat Cockatrice in 30 minutes] [Reward: New Skill]===========================The head of the c
Amy could hear the cockatrice and Grey fighting as she headed to the stairwell, indicating an intense battle. Going down to the 5th floor, she was nervous and scared she might run into a zombie, but she saw nothing. The whole place was empty, and not one corpse could be seen. Grey was right; there were no zombies left. Their deaths were most likely caused by Grey, whom she considered an anomaly. No normal person would adapt so quickly to something as crazy as an apocalypse, yet Grey was treating it like a game. It was weird, but people with adaptability were winners, and Amy chose to stand on the winning side. She was completely resolute in her decision to stand with Grey. He was the only way she could survive. But Grey was cold. Too cold. She saw the look in his eyes when she argued to stay. He tried to hide it, but nothing could get past her senses. She could tell: Grey had considered killing her. Was she mistaken? Maybe. But one thing was sure: she had sensed hostile intent i
Grey placed his hand on the body of the cockatrice and wasted no time activating [Essence Plunderer]. Immediately, a notification popped into his vision. ============== [Ability detected: Blade Scattershot] [Unsuitable for host] ============== Grey felt disappointed, but it made sense, after all, he didn't have feathers he could shoot out blades like the cockatrice did. However, before Grey could retract his hand from the cockatrice, another notification popped up, widening his eyes in pleasant surprise. ============== [Searching for a more compatible ability for Host] [New Ability detected:] [Iron Carapace] [Iron Carapace: Solid iron scales interlock to form a durable carapace, enhancing your defensive capabilities and shielding you from harm] [Would you like to plunder it?] ============== "Yes," Grey said, and immediately he felt something flow into his arm that caused him to feel a slight jolt. Grey then checked his stats window. ======== Name: Grey
Wendy could hear the steps of the Sabertooth quickly reaching her.Despite her dizziness, she forced herself to run, her heart thudding wildly as she felt cold chills on her back.The Sabertooth shoved and clawed its way through the zombies toward Wendy, a feral look on its face.Wendy was exhausted; she wasn't athletic and fast enough to outrun the beast. It was only a matter of time before the zombie caught up to her.But suddenly, she saw someone come out of the stairs holding what looked like a bat. Relief washed through her, and she yelled without reservation, "Help me!"The man saw her and his eyes widened as he noticed the Sabertooth dangerously close to her. He gripped his bat tightly, set it on fire using his element, and hurried towards her.In just a few steps, he had reached Wendy and raised his flaming bat, ready to swing. For a split second, Wendy was sure she was the target, but then he shouted urgently, "Duck!"Instantly, Wendy ducked, and the flaming bat struck the Sa
Grey was on his knees, panting heavily, while Apollo stood, his face reflecting a mix of emotions.Grey had only managed to land a single strike during their fight, and for Apollo, that was a big deal.It scared him how strong Grey would be when he reached his level, but at the same time, he was also excited by it.He didn't have a system like Grey.His soul had been damaged as a human, so when he entered the monkey, only a fraction of his power came with him.He understood that his recovery would take time, and was confident he would return to full strength but would his recovery rate be higher than Grey's growth rate? He didn't know. 'Should I just kill him now?' Apollo thought but shook his head.If he did, it would be out of fear, which was cowardly, and that would also mean he was going back on his word. So Apollo decided to let it go and buried his worry."That was good training, though. I bet you regret it right now," Apollo said."No. In fact, I should be thanking you," Grey
"Who are you?" Rush asked cautiously."Me, I'm..." Grey didn't get the chance to finish as a looming figure surged forward with lightning speed, delivering a devastating punch that thundered into his side. The impact sent him skidding across the ground, gravel, and debris swirling in his wake."Nathan?" Rush exclaimed, seeing Nathan's arm already covered in rocks, his ability [Earth Gaunlet] activated.He then turned towards the stranger to see the damage done. Yet, his jaw slackened when he witnessed the stranger casually dusting off his coat, completely unharmed.The mysterious figure certainly wasn't normal, remaining unscathed by Nathan's blow. Even the monkey perched on his shoulder seemed untouched. Then, as if that wasn't shocking enough, something strange happened. Without warning, Nathan's earth gauntlet began to fracture, small shards tinkling to the ground like raindrops.In the split second Nathan had attacked, Grey had managed to counter with lightning speed using [Over
Apollo shook his head, realizing the girls were not even in Grey's thoughts.Wendy noticed his realistic gesture out of the corner of her eye and did a double-take to check what she saw."What a cute monkey," Wendy said, trying to touch Apollo's head. "Grey, I didn't know you had a pet.""Hands off, bitch," Apollo said, but what Wendy heard was an aggressive grunt followed by her hand getting slapped down, much to Wendy's annoyance, followed by a chuckle from Amy."Pius... back so soon? What happened?" Nathan asked seemingly surprised.Pius had separated from the group to search for his son in grade school.He had been speaking to his son on a phone call, but the connection suddenly got disconnected, and then there were zombies.He adapted quickly taking down a couple of zombies with Nathan and Rush.Looking down at the glass walls Pius saw zombies alongside different types of horrific monsters wrecking the city.This made him extremely worried for his son's safety, and he decided to f