It was strange.
For the first time since the beginning of the apocalypse, a creature was faster than him.
The Blob hadn't been fast. None of the other zombies were comparable either.
Lu Zhang could only barely catch the blur of green death zooming towards him, raising his arm up entirely on instinct as an Empty Fang flared into being.
Clang!
Lu Zhang was sent flying back from the force, his arm flung back as the hastily created Fang flickered.
'It's fa-'
Before his thought could even finish, the mantis was in front of him again, the tip of it's scythe arm almost reaching his eye when he batted it aside with his other hand.
He had managed to push the scythe away from piercing his head, but the mantis' other scythe had pierced through his right shoulder and flung him aside.
The mantis' head rotated as it looked puzzled briefly. It had been sure that strike was going to tear Lu Zhang apart, not expecting him to be able to deflect it's strike.
Now much more wary, the mantis stayed back observing, the deflected scythe arm trembling lightly as it chittered.
'It... hurts?'
The flash of pain was turning into a throbbing, hot blood trickling down his side.
'Me...?'
'I'm hurt?'
"Ahh..."
For a moment, Lu Zhang couldn't associate the gaping hole in his shoulder to himself.
He hadn't really been hurt till now. Since birth till this moment, the worst injury he had was a broken arm from his sister pushing him off the bed as a kid.
Not against the first zombie.
Not against the Blob.
Not against entire hordes.
He had simply... never been hurt.
The chittering noise of the mantis grated against Lu Zhang's ear, snapping him back to reality.
"AHHH!!"
Fear.
Fear pounded through his veins. His head throbbed with every heartbeat as the mantis approached.
When experiencing fear, the four basic responses to it are- fight, flight, freeze, and fawning.
His heart was beating faster as he touched the wound. Lu Zhang's jaw clenched.
Lu Zhang's response to intense fear was simple.
Fight. Rage. Kill it.
An intense, burning rage erupted in his heart, indignation filling him as his scream of pain turned into a shout of anger.
The mantis blurred backwards upon hearing him, sprouting thin wings on it's back, ready to take flight in an instant as Lu Zhang leapt to his feet.
'You useless green insectfucker.'
[Stat Points: 15 ->0]
'You want to compare speed?!'
[Speed: 34 ->49]
'Let's race.'
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Su Yao dodged a rotten hand reaching for her eyes, before grabbing it and pulling the zombie into the path of another, pushing them both backwards into other zombies, who tore them apart instantly.
Stepping on their remains, more zombies lunged forward, as Cai Dajiang kicked up a wooden table from one of the ground floor libraries.
The table crashed against the zombies in the front of the tide, stalling them briefly.
"Hold them off for a bit longer!" Su Yao shouted as she darted into another hallway.
Cai Dajiang strained as he pushed the table further back, his shout masking the sound of his body creaking as he held the zombies off.
"Anytime now!"
The table shattered into wood chips as Cai Dajiang dashed backwards, "Now!"
Su Yao appeared from the corridor she had run down, holding a blood covered fire extinguisher that she unleashed against the zombies.
Cai Dajiang caught the extinguisher she tossed over, before smashing it against the edge of the wall and tossing it into the midst of the zombies. Su Yao grabbed Cai Dajiang and pulled him back down the same corridor she had emerged from.
The zombies, confused by the sudden loss of their prey, began tearing into each other instead, letting the two humans pick off any that managed to stumble outside the white fog, one at a time.
'There shouldn't be many zombies left on this floor aside from the ones here,' Su Yao thought to herself as she crushed one crippled zombie's head under her heel.
'Meaning... it's all up to you now.'
A keening, inhuman screech rang out.
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The Wind Mantis' scythe-like arm clashed against a fang shaped mana construct with far more force than it had expected.
Wary, it began beating its wings as it took flight, hovering in the air close to the first floor's balcony as it observed the strange creature below it.
It was debating whether it was more beneficial to simply leave this prey with thorns, or devour it, when Lu Zhang crouched down, gathering power in his legs.
With a whoosh, he took off with a powerful jump towards the mantis.
The Wind Mantis was overjoyed at the prey delivering itself so easily. It simply moved backwards, Lu Zhang's jump not quite reaching it while it's flight capabilities gave it a great advantage.
The Mantis moved in for the kill, since it's prey had no way of moving in the air like it.
[Double Jump]
Lu Zhang leapt off of seemingly nothing, moving into the mantis' strike instead of away.
His injured arm moved as an Empty Fang surrounded it, clashing with the attacking scythe, his other arm reaching for the mantis' head before being blocked by it's other arm in the nick of time.
'So what?'
Lu Zhang's right leg snapped up, carving a line of yellow-ish green blood across it's chitinous body as the mantis froze.
He pushed off the mantis with his left leg, landing on the first floor balcony.
The Wind Mantis felt the burning line of pain across it's torso, it's body shaking as it hovered midair.
It was just as unfamiliar to pain as Lu Zhang.
For the first time, both beings who had been untouchable among their environment, would truly stake their lives on an uncertain battle.
The Wind Mantis looked down at Lu Zhang, and let out a loud, keening screech that rang throughout the building.
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[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 7]
[Strength: 17]
[Speed: 49]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Endurance: 17]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Mana: 40/200 -> 130/200 (Empty Fang)]
[Skills: Inspect lv 3, Empty Fang Lv 6, Double Jump Lv 4]