There were many reasons why Gary ran away after seeing the tiger zombie. Ai had told him that he would be able to level up faster than others, so when he himself was level 18, how could there be a level 25 tiger zombie?
Did this mean that the levels of animals were built differently compared to humans? Or was there something else that Gary didn’t know about.
There were so many questions running through his mind, and the downright scary appearance of the tiger zombie didn’t help that either.
Despite how he felt, he had to attack this monster for the sake of reaching his goal. He jumped and kicked up at the tiger as it came down at him.
Before his leg could hit the tiger, its long paw struck his chest and sent him packing down to the ground. The tiger zombie landed on the ground and sprang forth to pounce upon him while he was still on the ground.
[Get up!] Ai shouted. [You can’t fight that monster on the ground!]
Gary, however, clenched his fist and readily threw his fist at the tiger that pounced on him. His fist connected, and all of his 450 strength stat packed a pretty punch that broke one of its fangs and made the tiger zombie groan in pain. But it still didn’t let go of the advantage it had. It stayed on top of Gary and tried to bite his head off even after losing a fang.
[I told you!] Ai shouted again. [Get off the ground, or you’ll lose.]
Even though Ai made it sound easy, Gary was already being overpowered. His chest was profusely bleeding from having taken a claw attack from the tiger zombie, and he was still doing his best to not get eaten by it. It was taking all of his strength just to survive and not get caught in its mouth. So, how would he be able to get out of this situation when he wasn’t even in a position to think about escaping?
The struggle was as real as it could get. One wrong move, and his head could get bitten off. He didn’t have any available points to put on strength, so he had no other option left but to keep trying with what he got.
In that desperate struggle, he managed to grab the tiger zombie’s forelimbs and move a paw into the line of the tiger’s mouth. The tiger zombie was too furious to see what was happening, and it ended up biting on its own paw.
Screaming, it jumped off of Gary.
Without wasting a moment, Gary got up to his feet and attacked the humanoid tiger zombie with his legs this time as he could put his maximum strength through his kicks.
The tiger zombie’s bones, however, were sturdy enough to deal with his kicks. Gary still didn’t give up.
[Target its thighs.] Ai yelled. [Strike the side of the thigh repeatedly!]
Gary was so desperate, he followed Ai’s words and kept whipping his leg at the tiger zombie’s thigh.
The tiger zombie was forced to its knees.
[Attack its neck with all you got! NOW!]
Gary spun and gathered as much momentum as he could into the kick. His shin whistled through the air and struck the neck of the tiger zombie so perfectly, the tiger zombie’s head crashed to the ground and its neck broke.
[Crush its skull!]
Gary jumped high, somersaulted multiple times in air, and came down with a heel kick that struck the tiger’s skull and split it. The tiger zombie slowly stopped struggling.
But Gary’s heel bone also cracked, but he didn’t cringe in pain and instead bore it all. Nevertheless, he had to sit down because his muscles were all spent.
[Incredible Achievement!]
[You’ve defeated an opponent that was more than seven levels higher than you!]
[You’re the fifteenth person in the world to achieve this since the start of the apocalypse!]
[You leveled up!]
Gary was very much happy with his level rising to 20 directly, and because of this level change, his bleeding also stopped, but he asked Ai, “Wait, how do you know that I’m the fifteenth person to achieve this feat in the world? What the fuck are you not telling me?”
[Calm down, Gary. I’m not your enemy.] Ai tried to play it cool.
“Yeah? How can I trust you when you keep things from me?” Gary growled.
“The people who survived the energy wave when the heaven’s gate opened are eventually granted with a system that would help them level up. You also received one minutes after I entered your body, but I absorbed it, so I know what’s happening around the world because I copy the data of the central system that’s overseeing the guardians.]
“Guardians?”
[Guardians are the people that survived the opening of the gate. You are also a guardian because you received the system. But then you’re also not a guardian because the central system can’t oversee you as I absorbed the system it sent you.]
“What the hell is this central system?”
[The local heavens are trying to stop the invasion of the foreign species using an advanced artificial system. Their way of countering is to strengthen its people into powerful soldiers that can defeat the enemies and close the gate.]
“Huh? So they have the same job as me?” Gary was shocked.
[Yeah, but you think all of them will unify to fight the Immortal King? I don’t think so. Even if they try to get together, the seven keys won’t let them. The job of the seven keys is to prepare this world for the Immortal King to enjoy it.]
“Enjoy? Like what? He’s gonna rape the world or something?” Gary looked disgusted.
[He’s going to EAT all of you. From elderly people to infants, from the tallest trees to tiny saplings, from great mountains to meager rocks, he’s going to enjoy devouring all of you bit by bit. If you want me to speak in your world’s terms, he’s the devil incarnate.]
Gary felt chills all over his body. His hands stood at the ends. “And you want me to defeat that monster?”
[No, you don’t have enough time. You won’t be able to level up enough to defeat him. All you need to do is defeat the seven keys and close the heaven’s gate! Otherwise, you can kiss your world goodbye.]
After defeating the tiger zombie, Gary received 20 free stat points. He didn’t use them but kept them as available so he could use them all when needed.[Name: Gary Lennon.Title(s): Zombie Killer.Age: 27.Level: 20XP: 110/200HP: 1204/2100STR(Strength): 759STA(Stamina): 380DEF(Defense): 330SPD (Speed): 352AGL(Agility): 301Available stat points: 20Energy Pot: Ghoul, Spider beast, lizard, zombie]Though he killed more types of beasts, he didn’t absorb their energy as per Ai’s advise.“I lost more than sixty percent of my health in the fight,” Gary thought. “After I leveled up, some of my health recovered, but it’s not much. Still, I can’t believe that even with my abnormally high strength stat, I was still overpowered by the tiger. If I hadn’t striked the spots that you told me to, I probably would have lost. The zombie’s defense was also stronger than me, how did I exactly win?”[Simple. The thigh has joint points, and I made you strike there from the side, and the tiger zomb
[You fucked up! Run!]“Where to?” Gary asked. As far as his eye could see, the streets and rooftops were full of monsters of all kinds. “Running away will not help me find Leah. Didn’t you say I shouldn’t run away if I want to think about saving the world?”[That’s…] Ai couldn’t find words at the moment.Gary turned around and walked to the center of the rooftop. It was a building with a little over 10,000 square feet in area, so there was plenty of space on the rooftop. It should be enough for a battleground.Gary stood there and waited for the monsters to come to him. The first monster that came upstairs was a land bird that resembled both ostrich and kangaroo, but it looked very terrifying.Gary instantly remembered the Terror Bird he saw in games. This was like a terror bird with arms as well. And its scream was ear-piercing.[It’s level 31!] Ai hurriedly said. [If you get hit by its beak once, you’re dead!]Gary clenched his fist as the monster bird furiously flapped its little w
A group of humanoid spider monsters were sniffing and searching everywhere as they roamed the streets.Through two small holes in a wall, a young lady was observing what was happening outside. She had a long thick brown braid that reached all the way below her bum. “These spider monsters are everywhere. They are in dozens,” she looked at the people behind her, most of whom were injured.“Can’t we escape without being seen?” an elderly man asked. “If we leave this city, then maybe, we’ll get to a safe place. There’s a mountain in the west. The monsters probably won’t get there.”“Unfortunately… these monsters are not that easy to fool,” she said. “They are leaving tiny threads everywhere. Those threads will probably send them signals if we touch them. Even I will have a difficult time crossing these roads without alerting them. Once I get spotted, I’m done for.”Her words didn’t help them at all. “You’re level 34, aren’t you? Even you can’t do anything, Sesi?”The brown-haired woman Se
More than thirty monsters with upper bodies of humans and lower bodies of spiders came climbing the building from every direction.Naturally, Sesi screamed in fright. “We should go!” Though she said that she had no way of escaping them because even though she was at a higher level than the spiders, the spiders were faster than her!However, Gary didn’t look the least bit interested in running away.He grabbed Sesi’s hand and picked her up into his arms, startling her.“W-What are you…” Sesi’s face flustered.He threw her up high into the air. “Kyaa!” Sesi let out a cute scream because she really wasn’t expecting that. She thought he was going to run while carrying her in his arms, but not this!The spider monsters did not care about Sesi right now because Gary was right in front of them, and they shot webs from every direction. But none of their webs hit Gary, for he turned into a blur and utterly destroyed the bodies of the spider monsters with his punches. One punch was all it took
Gary was walking in the street, with his eyes closed. He was searching for Leah’s presence.Sesi was fighting the monsters in front of him. (He said he wants to save the world, but he’s looking for his lost lover? Can I really believe his words?)She mostly used her braid to get the job done. As long as she wasn’t outnumbered, she managed to beat the monsters and level up.Gary didn’t step in unless it was necessary as this would help her level up fast.In a matter of an hour, Sesi reached level 40, and she was thrilled about it.“I’ve played a few games in the past, but this is much more exciting,” Sesi told him. “I don’t even have to punch or kick, and I can still kill monsters without getting my clothes dirty. This is a really cool ability. If I hadn’t encountered that long-tailed rabbit, I wouldn’t have acquired this skill.”What Sesi noticed was that she got new skills only after defeating monsters that were leveled higher than her. No matter how many low-leveled monsters she ski
A few days later.In the western half of the city, a group of humanoid dogs had dragged living humans over to the neighborhood full of trees.They dropped the humans at their boss’ feet. Their boss was a twelve-foot-tall black werewolf, who was dripping poisonous saliva from his mouth. He was not a person from this world.“Is this all you could get?” he growled as he saw the four people. “They wouldn’t even be enough for a snack!” He was sitting on top of a throne made from cutting big trees. “If you don’t bring me at least ten people next time, I’ll add you all into the soup.”“We will bring you the people, Boss Boggy! So, please don’t kill us!” The dogs begged for their lives as they left the scene.The werewolf, Boggy, picked up the wounded people and went to the nearby garden where there was a lot of boiling pot. Next to it were piles of leftover bones. He tossed the humans into the pot, added some herbs and leaves before closing the pot with a big lid and then sat upon the hot li
“I asked you a simple question, mud bloods,” Boggy had his hands behind his back. His amused expression was slowly glowing darker. “Why do you have that black sword that belongs to the Dark Witch!”Leah didn’t answer, or rather she couldn’t. (Dark Witch?) She had no clue who that was.“Leah!” Rowan yelled. “I’ll buy time, so run!” He charged the tall werewolf, which was even more intimidating than the minotaur.“No!” Leah shouted. “Stop!”But Rowan swung the mace with all he got. “Bubble Blast!”However, nothing happened. Boggy stopped the mace with two fingers by holding one of the spikes.Rowan’s eyes widened to the max as he realized just how much of a power difference was there between him and his opponent.“Rats that don’t know their place tend to die early!” Boggy kicked Rowan in the gut, sending him flying. He coughed out blood. His ribs broke, and he crashed into a tree. Ninety percent of his HP was drained with that kick. He was bleeding from the nose, mouth, and ears but sti
Boggy brought Leah and Rowan to his throne and tossed them on the side. He then kept staring at the pristine black sword. “The Dark Witch’s sword… It’s possible that she died.” He frowned. “I heard that she used to be the favorite concubine of the Immortal King. For her to lose her sword, it probably means that she’s lost her life. Last I saw her, she was battling the Cosmic Cultivator Chun Fu! Even the First Key couldn’t defeat him! I can only hope that she managed to gravely injure that monstrous man before dying.”Boggy felt like rushing to his boss Yves straight away, but he couldn’t just leave his soup that was in the middle of being cooked. There was also Leah and Rowan that he needed to deal with.“What should I do with these two?” he wondered, squatting down next to those two. “Should I wake them up and make them fight each other to death? They look like friends, but I bet they’re going to slit each other’s throat the moment you tell them only one of them can live. No matter w