Chapter 40 Are we going to die?
Clang!
A metallic clang sounded because the zombie had reacted in time to raise its left hand before his neck protectively.
Unfortunately for it…
Psshh!
Luke's sword was currently enhanced by more than 20 mana points. So, it easily slashed through its hand and then its neck.
Thud! Thud!
Its head remained attacked to the neck for a moment before it rolled down and fell to the ground along with half of its hand. Then the rest of its body swayed for a moment before it also fell down.
Phew!
Luke exhaled in relief and waited for the announcement, but there wasn't any.
So, he glanced down at the zombie head and could see it wasn't completely dead yet. Its foggy eyes were glaring at him with a venomous look.
"How resilient!" He muttered before piercing his sword through the head, completely killing it.
Just as he did that, a globe of white light, over two times larger than the level 8 zombie he killed a while ago, flew out of the zombie's carcass and entered his body. Then the announcement followed.
freely.]
'A first order zombie is indeed different from normal zombies. It [You gain first order, level 11 zombie's soul power. +5 strength, +4 Health, +2 Stamina.]
[You have reached level 9. You receive 2 status points to distribute freely.]
'A first order zombie is indeed different from normal zombies. It helped me reach level 9 and even gave 9 extra attribute points. Not bad!' Luke nodded to himself, pleased.
A few hours ago, he had killed several dozens of zombies, most of which were above level 4 and quite a few at level 6, 7 and 8. However, he could only level up twice and, apart from the status points rewarded at each level up, he didn't get any attribute points.
Now, however, he only killed a single zombie, although it took all he had, and he levelled up by 1 level and got so many attribute points. So, it was natural for him to be pleased.
He then calmed down as the last attack replayed in his mind, "If it was a little stronger or faster, I may not have been able to kill it and with my mana emptied, it would've been I who died."
He then opened his status screen and added the two free points to his agility.
[Luke Greyson
Level: 9
Race: Human
Class: None
Title: None
Strength: 28 (25 +3) / Agility: 24 (22+2) / Health: 23 / Stamina: 23 (28) / Mana: (0) 40 / INT: 101
Skill points: 2
Status points: 0
External active skills: Berserk Level 5 (First order), Mana amplification Level 3 (First order).
Passive skills: Rapid steps Level 3 (First order), Basic weapon mastery (First order), Rapid Recovery Level 1 (First order)]
Why agility and not stamina or mana which he relied on more?
The answer was simple. After killing this zombie, his stamina had reached 28 points and although his mana didn't increase, it was still sitting at 40 points, only second to his intelligence, which was 101.
28 stamina and 40 mana were enough to face his current enemies, but his agility — which was lowest with 20 points, now 22 and with the added boost from his shoes, 24 — was not, if he didn't use his [Berserk] skill.
He closed the status screen and just as he wanted to move the zombie's dead body to see what it dropped; he felt a wave of exhaustion and his vision became blurry.
'Huh? What's happening?'
For a moment, he was confused before remembering that he had completely exhausted his mana in those two attacks.
'I shouldn't have… used all… of it.' A bitter smile appeared on his face.
Just a while ago, he had fainted because of the exhaustion of stamina and mana. He even preached Lori and others about not exhausting their stamina and mana completely, but here he was, doing exactly the same. He even wondered if the 101 intelligence points were there only for show?
Of course, that wasn't the case. The intelligence stat didn't signify how intelligence/smart one was, but one's affinity with mana, and it also helped in mastering and efficiently using mana skills.
This was the reason he could improve his mastery over [Mana enhancement] skill after using a just a few times.
Thud!
Luke glanced at the berry plant fifty or so meters away. For a moment, he was tempted to eat one of those berries. Perhaps it would restore his mana and he wouldn't have to fall unconscious here. However, before he could even move his feet, his consciousness blanked out, and he fell to the ground, right beside the zombie.
A minute after Luke fell unconscious, a figure emerged out from the withered plants and walked over to his side.
"Tsk! Tsk! You are really impressive to kill such a strong zombie in two attacks, aren't you? I wonder if I would get your skill that you used to make your attacks stronger if I kill you now?"
If Luke was awake and saw the man standing beside him, he would be surprised because this man was the same yellow clothed man, Derek's subordinate, who he had 'killed' in the food factory before saving Julia.
The man stared at Luke for a while, his eyes gleaming.
Eventually, he shook his head, and then kicked Luke in the gut, sending him flying a few meters away.
"Since I don't want to kill you, I can only kick you for revenge for almost killing me." He muttered before shifting his gaze to the zombie's carcass.
"Let's see what this guy dropped. It should be something good since it was quite stronger and, unlike others, had some intelligence, too."
With his leg, he moved the zombie's carcass away to reveal an orange colour box, different from the usual red treasure boxes he was used to seeing.
"An orange box?" His eyes shined as he picked it up. "It must have better things than what the red boxes have, right?"
He was tempted to open it what was inside but stopped himself and stored it instead. He then walked over to the berry tree. "So he was after this tree, an evolved plant, huh? How did he know about this? Is he related to the rulers, too?"
His eyes flickered with a chilly light when he thought of this.
'If he is related to the rulers and I save him, wouldn't I be doing my people a big disservice?' He thought as he plucked the small bush tree out of the ground and turned to walk away.
But just as he was about to exit the garden, he stopped, turned around and walked over to Luke, lifted him up and slung him over his shoulder before walking away while muttering something under his breath.
Something worthy to note was that as he walked through the streets and passed by some zombies, none of them seemed to notice him. Unlike everyone else who had to be on their toes at all times, he was basically strolling in his backyard.
---
In the building where Lori and others were, Keen looked at his mother and said in a low voice, "Mom, I'm hungry."
His mother looked at Rio when she heard Keen. Rio sighed and glanced at Lori, wanting to ask if she had something to eat. But he hesitated.
Lori, who had also heard Keen, took out a protein bar from her waist bag. She gave it to him and rubbed his head. "Eat this. After your big brother returns, we'll go to our place. You can eat your fill then, alright?"
"Okay, aunty." Keen obediently nodded while Rio and his wife gave Lori a grateful look.
Julia, who was sitting beside her mother, nudged her and asked, "Mom, do you have another?"
She hadn't eaten properly since morning and was naturally hungry, but didn't say anything about it until now because she hadn't seen any of them eat anything and thought they might have nothing to eat with them.
However, when she saw her mother take out a protein bar, she couldn't help but ask.
Lori's face fell when she heard this before shaking her head. "That was the last one." She now regretted not carrying a little more supplies when they came to save her.
"Oh?" Julia was a little disappointed but when she saw her mother's guilty expression, she smiled, "It's alright, mom. I can eat later."
"Big sis." Keen's voice attracted their attention. He was holding out half of the protein bar toward Julia as he smiled brightly, "Here, big sis. Eat this."
"No, it's okay. You eat it." Julia felt warm in her heart, but just as she was about to extend her hand to rub his head, everyone's expression changed into one filled with horror and despair because,
Grrr! Grr!
They heard zombie growls from downstairs and from what they could tell, there wasn't a single zombie but several, and they seem to be coming up.
If there was one, Lori and Rio might be able to handle it, and this was only if it was a low levelled zombie. But now there were several coming for them? How were they supposed to survive?
"Are we going to die?" Rio's wife muttered, her body trembling in fear.
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