Chapter 20: Elite Zombie
The logic was simple.
As a Level 2 player, Joo Joowon did not feel his own improvements were overwhelmingly dramatic.
There was no reason zombies should undergo earthshaking transformations every time they gained a level.
At that point, it would no longer be a question of game balance.
It would simply become a slaughter.
If that happened, then all the players on Gaia would quickly die out completely, making the existence of the game itself meaningless.
Joo Joowon stored away the three cards and did not have time to inspect them carefully yet.
He quickly walked over and pulled the bolts out of the small zombie’s corpse before storing them properly.
These were not disposable items.
Although each use caused some wear and tear, as long as the shafts did not break, the bolts could still be reused many times.
Naturally, he had to recover them carefully.
The small zombie had created enormous commotion earlier and had nearly smashed the door apart.
When Joo Joowon walked over after looting the corpse, he discovered that part of the doorframe had already broken loose entirely.
A lingering sense of fear rose within him.
Based on that destructive power, even if he had stubbornly chosen to hold his ground instead of taking the risk earlier, he would soon have been forced into direct combat anyway.
At that point, with the small zombie conserving energy while he exhausted himself, he might not have been able to dodge its attacks at all.
The noise had been so loud that Joo Joowon worried someone might risk coming over to investigate.
Therefore, he immediately began searching through the apartment without stopping.
This household had a child.
Families with children usually stored large amounts of supplies, so there was no way Joo Joowon would simply leave after killing the zombies.
Households with children always seemed to possess some degree of hoarding habits.
Joo Joowon packed two large boxes and one huge bag full of supplies.
Only after cautiously observing the surroundings for a while did he carry everything upstairs.
Perhaps because going outside at night was simply too dangerous, no one appeared during the entire time he searched the apartment.
That finally allowed Joo Joowon to relax slightly.
After returning home, Joo Joowon immediately began reviewing the previous battle.
This was a habit he had developed since childhood.
Although most of the time, he used this habit while replaying arguments in his head and regretting how poorly he had responded back then.
His unusually high eight points of mental Power also allowed him to clearly recall many combat details instead of forgetting everything immediately after the fight ended.
"I was still not prepared enough."
Joo Joowon did not regret failing to retreat immediately after discovering the third zombie hiding inside the apartment.
After all, living in the apocalypse meant it was impossible to remain safe forever.
He could not simply run away every single time he sensed danger.
At the same time, greed had also played a role.
He knew that a zombie capable of hiding itself intelligently would definitely possess a higher level than ordinary Level 1 zombies.
And that meant the loot it dropped would naturally be far more valuable as well.
This was also a mistake caused by relying too heavily on past experience.
Joo Joowon had assumed that since the apocalypse had only just begun, even if the little zombie was stronger than an ordinary Level 1 zombie, the difference should still be limited.
He never expected it to actually be an elite monster.
If he had prepared more thoroughly, such as finding something to use as a shield, then perhaps he could have handled the situation far more calmly.
He also should not have tried to act clever by deliberately exposing an opening while pretending to loot the equipment in order to lure the creature out.
As an ordinary person, his entire body was already full of openings to begin with.
Rather than trying to bait the zombie, it would have been better to stay cautious and maintain a defensive posture from the start.
With how desperately zombies craved flesh and blood, it was hard to say who would lose patience first.
Even if the creature truly managed to endure it, once Joo Joowon began retreating without even taking the equipment, it probably still would not have resisted charging out after him.
That way, he could have fought it while fully prepared instead of taking the infection risk he faced earlier.
Although the motorcycle helmet on his head protected him from having his skull crushed, the clothes covering his body were not bulletproof armor, but only ordinary padded clothing.
Even with some thickness, their defensive ability was limited.
Once a zombie got close enough to scratch him, the risk of infection would undoubtedly become extremely high.
Joo Joowon silently engraved this lesson into his mind.
He absolutely would not allow himself to make the same mistake a second time.
This was the apocalypse.
No one could say for certain whether a single moment of carelessness might cost them their life.
At the same time, he could not help pondering over the Level 3 zombie referred to as a Chimera.
There had been pet supplies inside that household.
Combined with the color of the fur growing on the small zombie’s body, it was obvious the original pet had been an orange tabby cat.
Perhaps the child had not transformed into a zombie at first.
Maybe the zombie parents had only scratched the child.
After hearing the crying, the orange cat instinctively stepped forward to protect its little owner.
But the infected child attacked the cat instead.
Through some strange coincidence, the two ultimately fused together into an entirely new species.
Joo Joowon did not know whether this Chimera Zombie was an elite monster specifically arranged by the game for this building, or whether higher level zombies naturally evolved along this kind of path.
However, he felt the possibility of it being an elite monster was much higher.
After all, even if killing enemies above one’s level increased drop rates, it still should not have dropped three pieces of equipment at once, including a green grade item.
And compared to the generous equipment drops, the experience reward had been absurdly stingy.
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