On the ground floor, Theo took a deep breath and sighed.
Passing through the door, the brightness made him squint his eyes.
════════════
New Mission: [The One Who Levels Up]
Objective: Reach level 5.
Reward: 400 essence.
Bonus Objective: Reach Level 3 with [Stealth] Skill.
Reward: 10 Lottery Roulette.
════════════
Looking at the page that appeared, he thought about the mission's difficulty. Reaching level 5 wouldn't be quick. However, there was no deadline. He already wanted to level up, and gaining something while achieving his goal of becoming stronger was satisfying.
'I'm not used to using my Stealth skill; I need to start using it so it becomes part of me.' Theo thought.
Passing through the hotel entrance, he thought again about the gas station.
Walking while still holding the burning piece of wood in one hand and the sledgehammer in the other, he began to move, entering stealth mode, walking in the 'green lines.'
Using a skill isn't unlimited; there's no bar like HP, but it definitely uses some kind of energy that has a limit for each person.
His increased when he reached level 2, doubling in value, in fact.
It was a feeling, like knowing whether or not you're tired.
Putting that aside for now, he opened the interface.
[HP: 169/201]
'My HP is slowly recovering.' Theo thought: 'If I eat, will it recover my HP?'
With other things on his mind, especially the existence of ghosts now and even possible mutant animals, he didn't even consider that idea.
"..."
[HP: 315/315]
[HP: 320/320]
Two zombies, a teenager with tattered clothes and an elderly one. The teenager had the most HP.
Throwing the burning piece of wood near them, Theo ran in stealth mode toward them.
"Grrrrrjahhhhhh!"
"Grrrrhahhhhhh!"
The teenage zombie ran toward the sound, as did the elderly one, but when they found nothing, they returned to their slow walk.
*PANCADA!*
*CRACK!*
[HP: 99/315]
With a single hammer blow, the elderly zombie's HP was reduced by 99.
"Grrrahhhhhh!"
The teenage zombie came toward Theo, charging at him.
Theo used the sledgehammer's head to hit the teenage zombie's nose head-on.
*POW!*
[HP: 288/320]
He couldn't use much force and barely took any life from the teenage zombie, and the elderly zombie was already charging at him.
When he saw the elderly zombie's dirty nails almost scratching his arm, Theo stored the sledgehammer in his inventory and jumped back quickly.
At the same time, he took out a set of keys he had deliberately stored in his inventory, throwing them in another direction.
*Breng~ Breng~ Breng~*
When the keys hit the ground, the sound was loud.
While the zombies' attention was drawn away from him, Theo entered stealth mode again and grabbed the sledgehammer.
'Die!' He shouted... in his mind, of course, because he wasn't foolish enough to yell and draw the zombies' attention back to him.
The elderly zombie didn't even notice when the sledgehammer's head struck the back of its neck.
*CRACK!*
*Beng!*
[HP: 0/315]
A very large hole opened where it was hit, and the elderly zombie fell forward.
The more metallic sound he heard when hitting the zombie's brain was almost certainly because Theo hit the core.
Sending the sledgehammer to the inventory, stretching his right arm to the side, the sledgehammer reappeared, and with a smile, Theo used all his strength to swing it toward the teenage zombie's head.
*POW!*
*CRACK!*
[HP: 72/320]
A critical hit.
The force of his blow sent the teenage zombie crashing to the ground headfirst, bouncing twice before lying still.
Without giving the teenage zombie time to get up, Theo moved faster, arriving and, with his knees bent, hammered downward.
*POW!*
*CRACK!*
[HP: 0/320]
'Mm, not bad, it was easy.' He thought.
He was panting, with little strength left, barely able to lift the sledgehammer...
The front of the teenage zombie's head was gone.
You could see the entire front crushed; it was disgusting.
Even the core glowing among the skull's bones and brain was visible.
Kicking the body lightly to turn it over, Theo went and touched it with a single finger.
[It was identified that the Host found a level 3 core, 62% pure, would you like to absorb it now [Yes] or [No]?]
He clicked 'yes.'
[+18 essence]
'As expected from a level 3 core.' He thought.
He went to the elderly zombie afterward.
[+17 essence]
'Hey, if I used a level 3 core to unlock inventory slots, would it be like using 3 level 1 cores?'
No reaction.
Well, he would have to use it and find out for himself. The truth was that the inventory was very useful.
Even in his fighting style.
If he had more space, he could store larger weapons.
Even the iron bar with concrete that was still in the apartment could be used.
He kept walking.
About to cross the street where he saw the pair of 'grandfather and grandson' zombies, he saw a female zombie wearing a tattered skirt full of holes and missing half of her chest.
[HP: 335/335]
'Poor woman, they ate her chest…'
Why did he have to overthink and imagine that this woman exhausted her lover so much that he had a heart attack, then came back as a zombie and bit her chest?
Shaking his head to get rid of these nonsensical thoughts, Theo took a fork from his inventory and threw it against the wall on the right side.
*Beng!*
The metallic sound successfully drew the attention of the female zombie.
"Grrrrahhhh!"
Running with her hands forward, she was almost passing Theo.
*POW!*
*CRACK!*
[HP: 32/335]
It was just one hammer blow, and almost all of the zombie's HP was gone.
She went bouncing on the asphalt until she crashed against the wall.
*Bang!*
[HP: 28/335]
She lost a few more HP points just from the impact.
At the back of the zombie's head, there was a large hole, but it still wasn't enough to finish off the zombie's life.
Walking up to the zombie, Theo got very close and, like a croquet player, struck the zombie's head with moderate force.
[HP: 0/335]
'Yes, I'm kind.' He was satisfied seeing that, compared to the teenage zombie from before, he didn't make as much of a mess of this zombie's head.
He reached out to the zombie's head and touched it with his finger.
[It was identified that the Host found a special level 3 core, 61% pure, would you like to absorb it now [Yes] or [No]?]
'This breaks my heart…'
It wasn't his skill, but it was a special core.
Sighing, he took a pair of gloves from his inventory. Unfortunately, they weren't disposable gloves; they were wool gloves. They even felt tight on his hand.
Anyway, he took a large kitchen knife and started cutting open the zombie's head.
Once done, he cleaned the core with the glove itself. After that, he sent the core to his inventory before removing the glove and throwing it on the ground.
Taking the core back, he wanted to see what kind of special skill it was.
[Level 3 Zombie Core with skill: [Ice Manipulation (Level 1)] - Description: Allows the transformation of Mana into ice.]
'Actually, my heart is strong and steady, please send me more of these!'
Another thing, this also confirmed the existence of a magical power force!
Well, he kind of already knew. But it was like this: without certainty, it's just a theory. Now he was certain, as he trusted the system's description.
From the building, he saw that there weren't many zombies around here, which was why he chose to come here.
At first, he didn't plan to face a zombie with 400+ HP, and if it was in the same place he saw from the building, there was one just ahead with 400 HP.
'I wonder if it would be considered a level 4 zombie, or still a level 3?'
He didn't leave immediately. He climbed the wall and sat on top of it, resting a bit.
The wall he climbed was about 4 meters high, enough to get a good look over it and see if he could spot the zombie he wanted to hunt next.
*Chew, Chew!*
"…"
Theo saw an unbelievable and revealing scene.
The zombie he was looking for was actually eating another zombie's head!
'Would that be considered cannibalism?' He felt his thoughts were a bit off today.
[HP: 0/340]
[HP: 489/489]
[HP: 491/491]
With each passing second, the zombie's HP increased.
'My dad always told me, never mess with a dog that's eating. That saying applies to zombies too, right?'
Without thinking twice, he entered stealth mode and fled as quickly as possible from there.
Take advantage to attack?
No fucking way.
At this rate, before he even got close, the zombie would turn into a special zombie like an Incendiary.
How did he know? He didn't know, he just deduced that a zombie becomes a special zombie when it reaches 500+ HP.
If that happened, it would be too late for him to cry if he dared to stay and try to face such a creature.
He wasn't arrogant enough to believe he was invincible and could defeat a special zombie with skills like shooting fire.
Or maybe manipulating ice?
Whatever it was, he wasn't sticking around to find out.
Returning to the building, before starting to climb, he took a piece of wood from his inventory and pulled out the lighter.
Wrapping the tip with a sheet of paper, he set the paper on fire.
Waiting for the wood's tip to catch fire, he advanced toward the building as soon as it did.
'Sigh, I'll have to find another hunting spot.'
He had already broken into all the doors from the fifth to the thirtieth floor; it was easier to search from this building.
Climbing the stairs, he noticed that the number of ghosts seemed to have doubled.
'Are they weeds? Are they sprouting from the ground?' He thought: 'This hotel wasn't built on a cemetery, right?'
Maybe that would explain something.
"Buhahaha~"
"Hey, hey, drop that, come play with us~"
"Hihihihi"
"Tsk, tsk, he's naughty!"
"Hahahaha"
"You know that won't protect you forever, right?"
"…"
'I'm surprised by my own mindset.' Theo thought: 'If this were months ago, I would've shit myself facing a scene like this.'
Near him, ghosts surrounded him.
They tried to open their mouths whenever they had the chance and suck something from him, probably his soul, but Theo reacted accordingly, attacking with the burning wood.
He tried hammering their heads, but they were quick to escape.
The fact that they didn't get too close made it hard to hit them, and Theo didn't dare let them get closer.
If it were just 1 or 2, he could handle it, but dozens? No way.
"Hey, handsome, wanna give a kiss to this big sister~?"
"…"
'It's definitely a ghost that's never seen its reflection in a mirror to say something so disgusting to me. Or maybe its purpose is to gross me out?' Theo kept ignoring them.
"Hahaha, he rejected you~"
"Tsk, looks like my beauty scared him~" The ghost struck a pose while raising its arm.
"…"
"Pffft!"
Unable to hold it in, he let out a laugh.
If their intention was to make him laugh, they succeeded.
And it was, indeed, as their expressions grew even more horrific, opening their mouths the size of a clenched fist, and inside their mouths was pure darkness.
Theo used the piece of wood with fire at the tip to scare them off.
Some screamed, but one above was very close to his head.
'Looks like I have no choice.'
Still calm, he took a can of spray deodorant from his inventory and pressed it.
**
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