How long will it take before this fucker attacks me?
No response from the system.
How long will it take for this fucker to attack me if I were within 5 meters of him?
Once again, no response from the system.
How long will it take for this fucker to attack me if I were within 3 meters of him?
[3 Seconds!]
A slight sigh escaped my mouth.
Narrowing my eyes at him, I stepped forward. With a tightened grip on the cleaver, I simply kept my calm, showing no apparent change in my expression.
"Mark," I said as I tried to see if he would react to my voice. I tried to see if IT would react to my voice. But perhaps he wasn't too evolved. He simply tilted his head to the left.
"Buddy, if you were going to get out of the room, why couldn't you have done it while I was hunting the other zombies?" I asked as I once again checked how long it would take me to reach a distance of 3 meters around him.
[6 Seconds!]
6 seconds meant 3 more steps.
I walked slowly as I closed the gap even more. But to my surprise, with each step I was taking, he was taking half a step back.
Is this fucker baiting me? I narrowed my eyes.
"That's not fair, you know?" I continued. Slowly walking towards him, while he took about half a step behind for each, I walked forward.
After a slow 6 seconds exchange, standing at a small distance of barely 3 meters, I used my skill to wait for the time after which he would attack.
[3 Seconds!]
[2 Seconds!]
For the first 2 seconds, he was still there, not doing anything. But perhaps he grew restless; he raised his hand and began moving towards me as he opened up his mouth wide.
"How stupid," I said, mocking myself, mocking Mira, and last, mocking this whole fucking situation.
-Slash!
Using the cleaver, I slashed right across his neck. Aiming to kill him in a single attack, I wanted to finish in one go.
-Thud!
Though… rather than killing it in a single instance, it got stuck halfway around his bones as he fell sideways on the ground.
I turned to him, looked at him. He had fallen on the ground, half of his neck broken, still slowly moving his hands towards the cleaver, as if trying to take it out. I then peeked at the smiling face of the dead Mira once again.
"Just why…" I sighed.
Why did this have to happen?
Moving towards Mark's head, I placed my leg on the cleaver, on his neck. And then, before he could change his position, I pressed the cleaver to the best of my ability.
-Thum!
Why does it have to be like this?
The cleaver passed through his neck, severing it from his body.
[You have killed a Lesser D-Grade Zombie!]
[+500 Exp!]
[You have Leveled Up!]
[+1 All Stats!]
[+1 Free Skill Point!]
[+1 Free Stat Points!]
"How stupid indeed," I sighed as I finally lost my composure a bit.
There were a lot of things I could have done.
I could have held Mira's hand before she rushed towards that zombie. I could have warned her about the evolved zombies… and perhaps just a slight single warning or a word of caution would have been enough.
I did not blame her for what she had done.
Though it was dumb, I could bet that all the daydreaming and worrying wasn't because of the apocalypse; it was probably because of her partner, her love, Mark. And seeing him standing there, her emotions might have taken over her in an instant.
Thinking back, I could have also checked Mark's status using [Inspect] when I first saw him in the 3rd recovery room, and killed him then and there. That way, I could have avoided all this from the start.
It's not fair.
"Well… I… should make some rules for myself," I said, as I needed something to not repeat the same mistake. First and foremost was a rule to check the status of anything that I saw moving.
That way…
-Grrr!
Turning to see Mira slowly turning into a zombie as well, I sighed again.
[Inspect!]
[Zombie: Unevolved
Type: Lesser E-Grade]
It's… just not fair.
"Good night, Mira. You did well," I smiled as I moved closer to her, placed an osteotome near her neck and then pressed it with all the force…
[You have killed a Lesser E-Grade Zombie!]
[+25 Exp!]
"May your soul be blessed in heaven," I prayed.
With a heavy heart, I sighed. But then, thinking about Eva, my family and the others who could still be alive, I shook my head, slapped my cheeks hard this time, enough to turn them red, before moving to the bag that Mira was carrying.
Wearing that bag on my front side…
Heavy
…I then began walking towards the emergency exit.
It was heavy. These emotions… the mistakes… they were heavy.
There was a lot to think about. The zombies were evolving at a rapid rate, and since I had already witnessed a few Lesser D-Grade, it won't be long before a D-Grade appears as well.
A crawler could probably end up evolving into something like a licker, while a thinker might gain more ability to think and deceive. Perhaps as they evolve, they might even mimic humans and start living among the human survivors.
Just thinking about the possibilities sent a chill down my spine.
I should level up fast.
That was my best chance to face the amount of absurdities that this world was about to throw at me. I could not delay getting stronger anymore. Or perhaps I need to increase my pace more than now, at least.
Other than killing zombies, there was only one other thing that I could do to make a significant change in my power right now.
"Should I use them?" I questioned as I looked at the 6 skill points that I was saving for now. I wanted to use it on something that would be more useful than the skills that I have just now.
[Eyes of the Timekeeper!]
This skill… was pretty much unknown. I did not know how it would evolve, and what features it would unlock. They could be great, or they could end up being a dud, wasting my skill points completely.
[Inspect]
Evolving this would most probably give me more information about the objects and zombies. Maybe I can get a glimpse of their weaknesses as well. Though at what level of the skill it would give me the weakness was another thing to consider.
Walking up the stairs, I paused my steps on the 15th floor. I moved towards the mini cafeteria and hid one of the bags behind the dustbin in the corner. Then, sitting on the counter, I considered for about 10 minutes before finally deciding to use one skill point to upgrade each of them.
[Inspect has been upgraded to Level 2!]
[Eyes of the Timekeeper has been upgraded to Level 2!]
[Inspect (Level 2)
Effect: Allows the user to see the stats of the objects and people around him. Gives a detailed description of the target, revealing some of its stats.
Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 2]
[Eyes of the Time Keeper (Level 2)
Effect:
Allows the user to see the time duration of all inanimate activities.
Cost: 1TP/sec
Allows the user to see 1 second into the future.
Cost: 10TP/sec
Skill points required to upgrade the skill: 2]
"…"
Dumbfounded, I just stared at it blankly.