“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, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.
Nicola took a deep breath. “I’m ready,” she said, covering her head with both hands. “Do it quick, Ace!”
Nodding, Ace's knuckles turned white as he gripped tightly on the wheels, taking a few deep breaths with determination etched in his eyes. His sweat dripped off his face as he pressed down on the accelerator. The jeep surged forward and the loud screeching of the tires was heard.
Ace clenched his jaw as the gate loomed closer. The car collided with the gate along with a deafening crash. Ace didn’t stop and pushed through, leaving the metal gate bent and twisted.
“We’re in,” he said, catching his breath. “Nicola, run to the house. You’ll find my parents there. I’ll take care of this mess alone,” Ace ordered as he got out of the car.
He watched the little girl struggle from getting down so he had to lift her. “Don’t look back and run. If I don’t come back, make sure you tell them to lock the door and don’t let anyone enter. Do you understand?”
Nicola nodded her head and clenched her little hands. “Be careful, Ace.”
A smile appeared on Ace’s face after hearing the girl’s words. “You should worry about yourself, shorty.” His face became serious when zombies entered the broken gate. “Run, Nicola. Faster!”
Ace didn’t have time to check whether the girl successfully entered the house. He immediately took out his ax from the storage and started swinging it against the zombie’s head, crushing its skull.
Ace repeated the same process until his arms felt tired. He started to slow down, feeling the weight of the ax. “This is not good. I should finish this as soon as possible,” he groaned.
[Ace! You have acquired 20 mana stones]
[Your total mana stone is 65]
“What now? Is there even a use to gather those mana stones aside from expanding my storage?” He huffed, still swinging his ax to defeat the enemies.
“Oh. I have that,” Ace muttered when he remembered something. He didn’t plan to use them yet but he had to clean up as soon as possible.
“I can’t spend all day crushing your skulls. I’ll just burn you down into cinders,” Ace grumbled, climbing on top of the jeep and taking out the fuel containers from his storage. He waited until the zombies gathered around the car and poured the gasoline.
Ace took out a lighter, started a fire, and tossed it on the zombies. He jumped to the opposite side where he threw the lighter, crashing the zombie’s head with his ax to clear a path for himself.
“Goodbye,” Ace whispered and watched the zombies turn into ashes. He wiped his sweat and walked to the gate to check if there were still more outside.
“It looks like everything’s been taken care of. I should fix this gate later,” he muttered and scratched the back of his head.
It had only been a few hours since the disaster happened, but Ace could already feel the huge changes. He brushed his face with his hand and walked to the house.
A smile appeared on his lips when he saw his father’s farm animals and her mother’s vegetable garden. “We don’t have to worry about food for now,” Ace whispered and stopped in front of the door.
He was about to turn the knob when he heard a scream from the inside. “Nicola!” Ace exclaimed before kicking the door.
“What’s going on?” he asked and was dumbfounded to find a few people in the house aside from his parents. Ace scanned their faces and realized they were the workers his family hired to help with the farm.
“Ace! You’re back,” his mother cried while on the floor. “Your father… He tried to save as many people as he could when the zombies started to appear… But he was bitten by one of them. I don’t know what to do,” she sobbed, covering her eyes filled with tears.
Ace balled his hands into fists. He stared at the man lying on the floor. There was a huge wound on his father’s arm that seemed to be contaminated with whatever virus came from the zombie.
“Ace, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it,” Nicola said, fidgeting with her hands.
“Nicola, can you help my father?” Ace asked the girl, hopeful for a positive response. He witnessed how Nicola used her ability to kill the zombie.
“I’m not sure but I will do my best for Ace,” Nicola said quietly.
Ace nodded and kneeled next to his father. “Just tell me what to do to help you,” he told Nicola.
Nicola took off the hoodie she was wearing. It was too big on her, the hem reaching her ankles.
“Oh, honey. Let me help you with that,” Ace’s mother said, unzipping the hoodie to help the child.
“Thank you,” Nicola said and smiled at the elderly woman. She stood next to the lying elderly man and extended her hands toward his wounded arm.
“Purify!” Nicola screamed and a white light slowly erased the dark part of the patient’s wound.
Ace’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Nicola, it’s working!”
Nodding with a smile, Nicole continued. “Purify! Purify! Purify!” The girl went on until the wound was fully gone.
“Oh… Why am I lying on the floor?” Ace’s father asked in confusion.
“Goodness! You’re awake. Thank you so much for coming back to me,” Ace’s mother cried, throwing herself to her husband.
Meanwhile, Nicola started to feel dizzy. Her vision turned dark and the next thing she knew, she was fainting.
“Nicola!”
“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.
“Dan, he’s probably not around here. Look at his clueless face. He must have thought he could get supplies from this supermarket,” the shortest guy among the three said, he took out his knife and licked it while looking at Ace.“I want to rip off that annoying face. I dislike good-looking rats,” he added and glared.Another guy with a tiger tattoo on his arm patted the shorty’s head. “Calm down, Simon. Once we get rid of him, I’ll carve out his face and make a mask out of it. You can have the mask if you want,” he told Simon and grinned.“They’re out of their minds,” Ace whispered, holding the strap of his backpack tightly. He examined the tattoo on the guy’s arm, trying to remember where he saw it.“Enough. You’re making me lose my appetite with that poor imagination of yours, Greg. His build isn’t that bad. We could use him as our errand boy. The boss will be happy to have a useful slave,” Dan, the biggest among the three, said.Ace pressed his lips when the men gave him a nasty look
“This is awesome!” Ace exclaimed as he accelerated his speed.On his way out of the supermarket, he found a jeep parked just a few meters away from his truck. He contemplated at first but after checking the ‘abandoned’ vehicle, he realized it was modified and would be more useful than his old truck.Ace didn’t hesitate and drove the jeep since the previous driver could no longer use it. He had to go back to the bodies he killed and take the key, making him decide to get rid of the bodies out of the supermarket. He thought that other survivors might get their supplies inside and it wouldn’t be pleasant to find three corpses next to the grocery section.“I should be home in two hours. Mom and Dad should be safe until then,” Ace mumbled and maintained his speed. Somehow, he felt like a reckless driver, ignoring the traffic lights.“There it is,” Ace said when he saw the nearby gas station in the area. He needed to store a lot of fuel and fill up the tank before going home. “How I wish I c