[You killed a Lv. 1 zombie dog.]
[You have absorbed soul power till your limit. You gain an undistributed stat.]
When Bittu saw the notification flash before his eyes, a flicker of hope ignited within him. Without hesitation, he allocated the stat point to his strength.
[You have used an undistributed stat.]
[Your strength increases.]
[Strength: F → E]
He'd made this choice deliberately. Staring down the vicious, drooling zombie dog, he'd needed to feel something other than the cold grip of impending death.
What better antidote to fear than raw power? If only he'd considered how laughably inadequate this single point would be against a creature whose strength had already mutated beyond normal limits.
But rational thought had long since abandoned him in this nightmare.
[You have killed a Lv. 1 zombie dog.]
[You have killed a Lv. 1 zombie cat.]
[You have killed a normal zombie.]
The notifications continued to appear as Bittu moved through the horde with terrifying precision. His body knew what to do even when his mind didn't.
"Gurrr..."
"I WILL KILL YOU....!!!"
He spun, his knife slicing through the throats of three zombies in one fluid motion. Before the bodies could hit the ground, he'd already hurled his blade into the eye of a leaping zombie cat. Mid-backflip, he snapped the neck of another zombie while simultaneously bringing his axe up to decapitate a zombie dog that had lunged at him.
Landing smoothly, Bittu retrieved his knife, delivered a roundhouse kick that sent another zombie stumbling, then finished it with a brutal swing of his axe. He barely paused before punching a zombie cat in the gut, sending it flying, then scooping up his weapon again.
"Die... Die... Die..."
As he cut down the undead with mechanical efficiency, a thought surfaced unbidden from the depths of his consciousness: Who was he, really? Why did these killing moves feel so natural, as if they'd been burned into his very bones since birth?
However, as soon as this thought surfaced, he shoved the question aside. Answers would come later—after he'd purged this city of the walking dead and uncovered the truth about himself.
For now, he surrendered to the instinct that guided his hands, his feet, his entire being. He didn't think. He simply acted. And he would kill anything that stood between him and his goal.
Sliding beneath a bus, Bittu emerged on the other side and used his momentum to slice the legs from two approaching zombies. He positioned his weapons precisely where their heads would fall, ensuring instant death upon impact.
slam
splash
[You have killed a normal zombie.]
[You have killed a normal zombie.]
As Bittu freed his hands from the corpses and rose to his feet, every muscle and nerve in his body tensed simultaneously. A shadow loomed over him—something massive, something powerful.
"...Ssscrerrrretchhhhh....."
Slowly, he turned to face the newcomer, but the moment he did, he had to squeeze his eyes shut against the hurricane-force wind blasting from the creature's roar. The sheer power of it threatened to lift him off his feet and slam him backward into the bus. Though he didn't break any bones, the impact left him battered. His facial muscles strained against the violent vibrations, as if they might tear free from his skull.
This was the zombie dog's special ability—a roar that could level buildings.
If Bittu had been thinking clearly, he might have felt grateful for that single point of strength he'd just gained, the only thing keeping him anchored against this assault. But his mind was elsewhere.
"...Aaarrrggghhhhh...."
Instead of retreating, he fought forward. Every muscle screamed in protest as he pushed against the invisible wall of sound, inching toward the beast.
The death threat warning that had been whispering in his mind since the fight began now screamed at maximum intensity. He was confronting something that could end him in an instant—but his face showed no fear, only raw anger and pride.
"...Gur..."
Surprisingly, his defiance didn't trigger an immediate attack. The dog hesitated, circling warily. Its survival instincts had served it well before—back when it had been the only one in its pack to avoid the deadly crystals that had killed the others. It had learned caution the hard way, and now it waited for Bittu to make a mistake.
Unfortunately for the creature, that hesitation would prove fatal.
"...Die you motherf*cker.... DIE!!!..."
The roar suddenly ceased. With the sudden absence of pressure, Bittu shot forward like a released spring. Eyes snapping open, he drove both weapons toward the dog's eyes.
Gaining strength absurdly he miscalculated his enhanced strength. The knife missed its intended target but plunged deep just above the left eye, while the axe carved through the right eye socket. The difference in weapon length had saved its life.
"....Ssccrrrrreeettttch...."
The dog shrieked in agony, its paws flailing as it tried to reach the weapons embedded in its skull. Obstacles and its own anatomy prevented it from removing them.
"...Cough... Cough...."
One of its thrashing hind legs caught Bittu square in the chest, sending him flying backward into the bus with enough force to dent the steel. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he slid down the vehicle and collapsed to the ground.
His vision swam in double images, his body in shock from the impact. It was miraculous his fragile human frame had survived such a blow—but he wouldn't survive another.
The dog's pained howls momentarily stilled the other zombie animals, though regular zombies continued their advance. Bittu saw four figures approaching—though his blurred vision showed them as eight. Weaponless, he staggered to his feet and swung at the nearest threat, his fist connecting with a zombie's head while the other hand struck empty air.
"I will kill you..." he mumbled through bloodied lips, and somehow managed to do just that.
The words caught the blinded dog's attention. Still reeling from pain, it turned toward the sound and unleashed a rage-filled roar that promised death and suffering.
ROAR
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH"
Bittu met the sound with a war cry of his own, clenching his fists in a defensive stance as the creature charged.
From standstill to full speed in seconds, the zombie dog barreled toward him.
One second...
Two seconds...
crash
At the last moment, the dog's head struck a minibus parked between them, altering its trajectory just enough to hit Bittu on the left side, between chest and stomach. Bittu braced himself, but the creature's momentum multiplied its already superior strength.
crash
"...Cough... Cough... Whaaa...."
He spun through the air, blood spraying from his mouth with each cough. The impact with the edge of the bridge sent him bouncing into a damaged car with a cry of pain.
Roar
The dog, too, felt the consequences of its collision with the minibus—a pair of exposed steel rods now protruded from its skull, while the knife embedded near its brain rested just a millimeter from the vital tissue. One fraction deeper, and it would have been fatal.
"Argh!" Bittu cried out again, the pain preventing him from focusing.
Blinded and enraged, the dog sniffed the air, pinpointed Bittu's location, and charged once more.
ROAR
"Arrrrghhh...."
Bittu forced himself upright through sheer will, answering the roar with one of his own. As he regained his footing, two zombies closed in from either side. Before he could react, the dog struck again, sending him airborne—but this time, instinct took over. His hands locked around the creature's neck, anchoring him on the back of the creatures as it shot forward.
The movement drove the steel rods deeper into both of them. Pain exploded through Bittu's chest as the metal pierced his flesh. And with the pain came something worse—the zombie blood coating his body began seeping into his wounds, trying to claim him as one of them.
"Gurrr.... Gurrrrrrr..... Guuuurrrrr...."
The enraged dog ran blindly, shaking its head violently to dislodge its human passenger. Then, without warning, its legs found no ground beneath them.
Bittu looked up and realized—they'd fallen through a gap in the bridge, likely created by a crashed vehicle. Suspended in midair for a brief, impossible moment, they began their descent as gravity finally claimed them.
The blinded dog roared in confusion and terror.
"Gurrrrrrrrrr..."
Bittu, too disoriented to do anything to the creature suddenly locked eyes with his enemy.
A cool sensation suddenly flowed in the deepest part of his head and an idea sparked in his pain-addled mind.
With a roar that echoed deep within the creature's ear he spoke for the first time in what felt like hours.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh... DIE... YOU WRETCHED CREATURE!!!"
ROAR
He raised both legs and stomped down with every ounce of strength he possessed, driving the knife and axe deeper into the dog's skull and jumped high towards the bridge to hold onto.
SPLASH
[You have killed a mutated Lv. 2 Zombie Dog.]
Each heartbeat stretched into eternity, time slowing in his eyes as he climbed higher and higher ready to hold onto the slightest opportunity, slightest hope.
But no matter how higher he reached—
It wasn't high enough.
It never was...
SPLASH