“Hold your weapons!” Ace shouted as he accelerated the car’s speed. “Where’s the helicopter?” He asked the girl beside him while pushing their way through the hordes of zombies. “We’re not going to last more than ten minutes like this. We have to kill them all,” he decided, his grip tightened on the wheel.
“We? I haven’t killed anyone before!” A boy yelled from the back.
“Well, congratulations. You’re having your debut right now. It’s either kill or be killed! A moment of hesitation will be your death. Make sure you don’t get bitten or scratched! Otherwise, your friend will be the one to kill you if you turn into a zombie just like them,” Ace warned, his foot never leaving the gas pedal.
“The helicopter will be here in three minutes!” the girl informed them, her hands shaking while holding a phone and an ax.
“Great. We have to survive for three minutes. You’re old enough to fend for yourself so do your best to survive. Good luck!” Ace braced himself as he made up his mind to confront the undead before him.
He pursed his lips as the car’s powerful engine roared, pushing through the horde. Ace kept a dark expression on his face as the zombies’ bodies thud against the metal. Some of them clung desperately to the sides, their rotten fingers scraping against the window.
“Shake them off!” Ace yelled at the teens who were frozen at the back. “Hey! I can’t do this alone. At least don’t turn into one of them!” he gnashed his teeth in frustration when the others did nothing but cover their eyes and ears.
“Oh shit!” Ace removed his foot on the gas for a second before stepping on it again, surging forward, taking care of a few zombies.
“Guys, we need to help!” The girl in the shotgun seat told her friends. Her hands were shaking while holding the ax but it didn’t stop her from motivating the others. “He’s right. The only way to survive this is to fight for ourselves. We just have to kill all the zombies!”
Ace almost choked on his saliva after hearing what the girl said. “Easy for you to say that, missy. But you’re right, we need to decrease their numbers if you want to safely get in the helicopter when it arrives.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so scared I can’t move. But we’ll try our best,” the other girl agreed and held the ice pick. “Boys, we need to buy time. Just think of this as playing a video game. We’re the players and the zombies are the enemies,” she added.
“Sounds fun. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Yes. Me, too. I don’t want to die here.”
‘Hah! These guys won’t do something unless the girls tell them to. What a silly bunch,’ Ace thought to himself as he kept moving forward to the center of the field.
“It will be fine, brats. Two minutes have already passed. We’ll survive this,” Ace said and smiled.
The others nodded and prepared. The bloody defense started with the teens stabbing and slicing the zombies’ heads. Ace told them about the zombies’ weakness based on his experience. It wasn’t easy but they managed to decrease the number of zombies in the field.
“Woah! We killed hundreds!” A boy said while looking at the mess they made.
There were almost no zombies left aside from the ones on the other side of the field. Ace thought it would be fine if they got out of the car to breathe, though he almost changed his mind after inhaling the bad smell coming from the rotten corpses.
Ace shook his head. “There were only 40 at most, including the ones that died after getting crushed by the car. We wouldn’t even last a minute with these dull blades if there were hundreds of them.”
“You’re no fun, old man. I’m just trying to make myself feel good. After all, I murdered them,” the boy mumbled, hanging his head low.
Ace patted the boy’s head “You did it to protect yourself. They will never even feel like you do right now if it was you whom they killed and not the other way around,” he said, ruffling his head.
“Cheer up! You may be brats but I think you did good back there. Be proud that you made it out alive,” Ace continued and looked up at the sky. “It seems like your ride has arrived,” he told them while pointing at the helicopters.
“Thank you so much for your help. My name is Alessia Wilestein. Tell me your name and I’ll make sure my father compensates you for the hard work you’ve done to help us,” the bratty girl, Alessia, said.
Ace shrugged and replied. “Ace Crown. I’d like to ride the helicopter with you as the repayment for this favor but I changed my mind,” he said and laughed. Ace decided to stay behind and travel with his car instead. They killed a number of zombies and he would like to gather the mana stones from them.
He wasn’t sure how it could be useful but his guts were telling him that the colorful stones coming from the zombie's head must have some uses that could be beneficial for him and his family to survive.
The others started introducing themselves before the helicopter could land.
“Are you sure you don’t want to ride with us?” Alessia asked for the nth time.
Ace shook his head. “It’s fine. I would rather travel alone than listen to you noisy brats,” he replied, earring groans from the bunch.
After bidding their goodbyes, the helicopters left one after the other, leaving Ace alone in the middle of the field full of corpses and walking dead.
“I should fill the tank again. I might not have time to do it later when encountering another horde,” he said, taking out a fuel container from his dimensional storage and filling the jeep’s tank.
Ace started picking up the mana stones from the zombies when he noticed something. The corpses of the zombies they killed started to decompose faster than they should be. It completely vanished and left no trace on the ground.
“Oh… Fascinating,” Ace muttered as he finished picking up the mana stones he could find.
[Ace! You have acquired 44 mana stones]
[Your total mana stone is 45]
“That same voice again,” Ace rumbled as he shook his head.
He got in the car and started the engine. He checked the time and frowned. “I’ve wasted enough time. I should be home in an hour,” he said and drove away.
“Wait… Wait for me!”
Ace moved his gaze to the rearview mirror. His eyes widened when he saw a little thing chasing after his car. “Is that… A zombie?” he asked himself in confusion.
“Don’t leave… Take me with you, please!”
“A child?” Ace blinked twice when he heard a child’s voice. He thought it was a zombie but the zombies he encountered weren’t talking at all.He stopped the car and watched as the figure ran in his direction. “How come there’s a child in the field with zombies? I should have noticed him earlier when we were taking a break and waiting for the helicopter,” Ace mumbled and sighed.He got out of the car to check what it truly was. He started to sweat coldly when he thought of what he was going to do if the child was indeed a zombie.“Hey! What’s your name?” Ace asked as he slowly approached the small figure that stumbled on the ground. He couldn’t help but frown when he heard a soft groan from the child.Ace didn’t waste any time and helped the child get up. He could just kill him if it was a zombie, but if it was a human child, he’d be swallowed by guilt if he didn’t do anything but watch him roll on the ground.“Hungry…” the child mumbled when Ace held him up.“Are you hurt?” he asked th
“Aw!” Nicola groaned when the car hit the metal gate.Ace grunted when he didn’t manage to push through the gate. On the other hand, he was glad that even with the car, he couldn’t open it. It only meant that his parents and other people were safe behind the gate.“Cover your head, Nicola. We’re going to try again,” he told the child while driving backward to gain momentum.“Can’t we just get down and enter normally?” Nicola asked with a scared look in her eyes.Ace almost laughed seeing the girl scared by a possible collision than the zombies outside. “We can’t get out. We’re surrounded by the zombies,” he said, clicking his tongue.“I can use purification,” Nicola suggested.Ace also thought about that but he was worried Nicola would get hurt if she tried to face the zombies. He couldn’t let the child take care of the problem if there were other alternatives.“Or I can just break the gate. Now that it comes to this, we’ll have to get rid of all the zombies to feel safe,” Ace mumbled,
“I didn’t know you'd bring me a grandkid when you returned. I’m glad to live until today to see that beautiful child.”Ace groaned. “Mom, Nicola isn’t my child. She’s a girl I found on my way here,” he said, wiping the gun his father gave him. “She’s the only survivor of their town. I’m not sure if others survived aside from her but I saw the town burning earlier,” Ace explained.“What is going on? We felt an earthquake in the morning. It was too strong then a few hours later, those things appeared,” Jonas, Ace’s father said. He felt better after Nicola’s ability healed his wound.Ace stopped what he was doing. “I’m not sure. But after that huge explosion, the world has suddenly become like this. The situation here is better than in the city. I was there when everything was ruined,” he mumbled, clenching his jaw.Eula, Ace’s mother, rubbed his back. “I’m glad you made it home safely, Ace. We wouldn’t know what to do if something happened to you,” she said, hugging her son.Ace gently p
Everyone’s eyes were wide open as soon as they saw the fence upgraded to a wall and the fixed and more durable gate. Ace finally understood the ability he had, not fully, but a little that helped him make use of it.“Isn’t this nice? Now, I can go without getting too worried about you. Just stay inside the wall and avoid causing a loud noise. Zombies might get attracted to the loud sound so do your thing quietly unless there’s an emergency and you have to scream,” Ace explained.“Are you going now? Please be safe. I’ll pray that you return with your sister,” Eula said and hugged her son.Ace hugged his mother back and smiled at him. “You, too. Keep safe. Do not engage in any battle against the zombies unless necessary. As long as you stay inside the wall, nobody should be able to harm you,” he added and bobbed his head at his father.“Make sure to fire properly and only use that gun against the enemy. Do not harm another person, Ace.” Jonas firmly held his son’s shoulder. “Save your si
It was already past 7 p.m. when Ace and Nicola arrived at the Academy. As he expected, the place was swarmed with zombies. They checked the vicinity first, looking for an ideal route to use if things went south.“Ace, that gate has fewer zombies,” Nicola pointed at the small gate at the back of the Academy. “Think we can use it?” she tilted her head to the side, her finger poking on her cheek.Sighing, Acee nodded his head. “We have no better option than this,” he replied, removing his seatbelt. “Listen, Nicola. Stay here and watch over our car, okay? Meanwhile, I’ll go inside to get Ava.”He was worried she might follow him again. “It’s not safe for you to roam around at this hour. As you can see, only a few lights are working. I won’t be able to find you if we’re separated. You need to guard the car, too. Do you think you can do that?”“So, I’ll kill the zombies who come near the car?” Nicola asked, her brows furrowed in concentration. “Okay! I will do that. But you have to be quick,
Nicola crossed her arms on her chest, staring outside the window. An hour passed and there was no sign of Ace coming back with his sister. This made the girl wonder what could have happened to the young man.“Did the zombies eat him?” she muttered, tapping her fingers. “I knew I should have come along,” Nicola said, removing her seatbelt. She jumped off her seat and rolled down her sleeves.“I’m going to pick ‘em up,” she mumbled, reaching out for the door handle before kicking it open. Nicola smiled at the cold wind brushing her face. She took a deep breath only to choke on the smelly air.“Err! Not good,” she spat and covered her mouth, trying not to puke.Nicola closed the door and looked around. She couldn’t sense any zombies, but before walking away, she did some preparation.“Purification~” she chanted, casting a spell on herself, and giggled. “This should keep the zombies away from me like the last time,” Nicola whispered and tread lightly toward the gate.Humming, Nicola effor
Ace Crown stepped on the gas, speeding his way out of the city. He pursed his lips, focusing his gaze on the road ahead. His mind was filled with thoughts about Hannah, his girlfriend, and soon-to-be fiance.Earlier that day, Ace went to pick up the engagement ring he had ordered to propose to his girlfriend, but suddenly, a huge explosion broke the bustling rhythm, sending shockwaves throughout the city. A blinding light flashed for a minute before it was replaced with thick and dark smoke.Buildings crumbled one after another like sandcastles, and a thick dark smoke spread through the air, turning the day into night with the darkened sky. People reacted by instinct, running through different directions to escape, terror and confusion painted on their faces.It didn’t take another minute for everything to fall into ruins. Debris and abandoned vehicles were scattered on the once-lively street. Amidst the madness, screams for help and death throes could be heard. Nobody was prepared for
“This should be enough,” Ace mumbled, gathering any weapon he could find inside the house and putting them in his dimensional storage. He let out a sigh of relief when he didn’t feel the weight of the objects inside his storage.Ace wasn’t sure how to use his newly found ability aside from making it his invisible storage. He was certain that nobody could steal anything inside the dimensional storage. It only activated whenever he thought about it, making it impossible for others to use it.“Hah! I can’t believe they’re growing in numbers in the blink of an eye,” Ace heaved as he watched the zombies scattered outside. He closed the door and took out an ax to use. It was supposed to be a decoration so the edge of the blade was a little dull, though with enough force, it could render the enemy unconscious or shattered their skull.Ace swung his hand with an ax until his arm got used to its weight.“I’ll have to leave as soon as I can,” Ace muttered to himself before kicking the door open.