Qian Feng's death

Pushing the thought towards the back of my head, I walked up towards the group of people. Qian Feng was the first one to notice me.

"Tang?" He scoffed. "What are you doing here? This isn't a place for cowards like you."

Biting the urge to lash back at him, I kept silent and walked past them. Qian Feng grabbed my shoulders and raised his voice. "Hey dimwit. I believe you heard me."

I glared at him. Demetria just wanted to step in and stop us when a guy behind him stopped us. "Cut it out Qian Feng. Tang is also here to help by the looks of it. Just cut your stupid ego for god sake."

Qian Feng huffed but shut his mouth as asked.

The guy walked in front and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you Tang. I've heard about your past conflicts with Qian Feng. But let's just let bygones be bygones and put our strengths to good use shall we?"

Placing my sight on his hands, I decided against shaking it. I had a hunch in my back that he was not someone to be made friends with.

"My name is Liam. When the apocalypse started, the 10 of us got together and fought hard to survive. I am the leader of the group. Would you like to join us? we would appreciate some fresh blood."

I shook my head.

"I have a team of my own. I don't need another." I said as I rejected him.

Qian Feng laughed under his breath. The others followed him too. "Who do you think you are? Liam is already LV 3, are you possibly higher than him?" someone laughed and asked.

"I'm LV 4." I said coldly and turned away. "By the way. It's YOU guys who are under my protection. But since you're so strong together, I suppose it would be better if you leave us alone."

Stunned, Liam blinked.

"You're… LV 4?" he stammered. Regaining his senses, he snarled. "Tang Jun Wen. Now is not the time to lie and make up stories to back yourself up. Do you even realize…" then he shut up as I showed him my stats.

Name: Tang Jun Wen

Age: 18

Race: Human

Condition: Healthy

LV: 4

Abilities: Death's Grasp

Points: 170

Mana: 100

Health: 100

"How…" Liam stammered. "How is that even possible…."

I patted his shoulders and whispered next to his ears. "Do not cross me. Or the mutant risen will be your end."

Then I raised my voice and called over the 10 people. "We're going to embark in a minute. I suppose you all know what are we going to do. If you quit now, I wouldn't say anything. But if you happen to run away in the middle of the operation, I'll kill you."

I rested my eyes on Qian Feng.

"Any objections?" I asked.

Everybody shook their heads. Feeling satisfied, I walked towards Demetria and said. "Keep an eye on Liam and Qian Feng. They now know I'm LV 4. They may have the thinking of stabbing me in the back when the time comes."

Demetria nodded her head and asked.

"And you're telling me this?"

"I trust you." I said without thinking. It suddenly dawned to me what I just said as I noticed Demetria's ears turning red. "I mean… we're comrades right? So you have my most minimal trust."

Demetria stared at me and coughed into her fists.

"I'm coming with you." She said. "I know you enough that you must be planning to… do something to Qian Feng. You're going to need me to keep the others at bay."

I nodded my head. To be frank, I actually thought that she was going to follow me so I didn't ask her so.

Guess a guy can't be too confident sometimes.

"Get ready. You still have your weapon with you?" I asked. Demetria nodded her head and pulled her spear out. "Still at half condition. Better than nothing. Unless we run into a mutant risen, the spear will hold."

Nodding my head, I opened the door and stepped out towards the field.

At the corner of my eye, I saw Liam and his group of people muttering to each other. Glancing at me from time to time. "Clear the way." I ordered them. Qian Feng just took a step forward to protest when Liam stopped him and repeated after me. "Clear the way. Do as he say."

The others in his team started pulling their weapons out and rushed forward. Even the girls that were hiding at the back rushed forward. Standing beside me, Demetria asked "You're just making the durability of their weapons lower so that they can't fight back when you decide to… finish them off right?"

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

"Gods, Demetria. What kind of person do you think I am. I wouldn't do something that evil."

Demetria rolled her eyes and walked forward, stabbing her spear into the heart of the risen. "If you were to do something un-evil one day. It would be a day those stupid risen would stay still and hand out their hearts for us."

"Ouch, I'm hurt." I snickered as I chopped of the head of a risen as I walked after her.

+10 points

"By the way. I need you to look for someone able to take after your work. And can be able to listen to my commands. Total loyalty."

Demetria stopped in her tracks. "Why?" she asked, her voice a little shaky. "Tang. Its just day two. If I did anything wrong that unsettles you…"

"I want you to be by my side. Be my sword." I said.

Hearing this, Demetria turned and stared at me. She looked so stunned that she didn't even realize that a risen was rushing towards her. Pulling my new swordstaff, the one named Reality out, I swung it towards the risen and smashed it's head into pieces.

Looks like the 20 points of strength actually worked out.

+10 points

"You look flustered Demetria. That is not the way of a warrior." I smiled as I flicked her forehead. "Every king needs an executioner. Ken can't be that. Nor can Devora. But you can. An executioner, a sworn knight and a faithful bodyguard. Ken says that I can believe you, so I will."

"So at the end it's still because of Ken eh?" Demetria turned away to avoid eye contact with me.

"Not totally." I answered as I gazed at Liam and his group slashing at the Risens. "Ken just convinced me that you can be trusted. A woman worthy of being in the inner circle. But making you my right hand was my own idea."

Demetria scoffed.

"I should probably thank you for that. What should I do now? Kneel down and wait for you to knight me?"

I laughed and patted her head. Without saying anything, I left her alone and continued smashing Risens.

+10 points

+10 points

+10 points

Just as I straightened myself, a Risen started tumbling backwards towards me. In a panic, I backhanded the Risen and pinned it onto the ground. Raising my swordstaff, I smashed it's head into pieces.

Looking towards the direction where the Risen came from, Qian Feng saluted me and yelled over the commotion. "Sorry! That thing's legs were too wobbly it stumbled towards you after I accidentally pushed it away!" Grinning, he went back to killing more Risens.

Gritting my teeth, Demetria placed her hands on my shoulders and shook her head. As if telling me 'Not Now'

+10 points

I grumbled under my teeth. "Qian Feng…."

I nodded at Demetria and stood up. Glaring at Qian Feng, I gazed upon the horizon and pointed at the storeroom. "Liam. There's the storeroom. There're weapons inside. Go gather the weapons and come back here in 30 minutes."

Liam turned over and studied me. Finally, he nodded his head and said something to his team and they set off towards the storeroom. Leaving only a girl and a boy behind. Walking towards the both of them, I asked cautiously. "Why are the two of you still here?"

The boy lowered his head, refusing to answer. The girl stomped her foot and said.

"Just because I said that we should listen to you as you're the one who brought everyone together, Liam forbid me to come along and get new weapons. He said that he would organize all the weapons and give a suitable one to me later. But who knows what kind of weapon he's going to give me."

I studied the girl and asked.

"What's your name?"

"Amelia."

I nodded my head and continued asking. "Thank you for standing up for me. How did you happen to get along with Liam?"

Amelia just opened her mouth to speak when the boy beside her spoke.

"Don't you think you're being a little privy?" he asked, a little frustrated. "We're in this condition because of you. Shouldn't you give us some compensation?"

"Alex!" Amelia protested.

"Shut up Amelia. I never thought you would be so stupid to stand up against Liam just because of him. Even if he's LV 4, what can he do by himself? He…"

Demetria raised her spear and pointed it at the boy's throat.

"Mind your words. He's not alone."

Amelia raised her hands to stop us from arguing further.

"Liam is not what you think he looks like. He's cold-hearted and bloodthirsty. There was a girl who didn't dare to kill the Risens. Liam he… he forced her to kill one and threatened to kill her if she didn't do so. After building her courage and killing a Risen, she vomited on Liam's shoes and… he… he pushed her towards a horde of Risen…"

Demetria gripped her fists.

"How can he do something like this? Just because a girl can't make herself to kill something?" finishing her sentence, Demetria looked at me and gulped. "I mean… although if someone who can't kill is fated to die sooner or later in this apocalypse…"

Amelia glanced at Liam and his gang, they were rummaging through the pile of weapons inside the storeroom. I didn't really care anyway, almost all the good stuff have been taken away by me.

"Liam is good in brains. He make up tactics so good that we managed to get this far together." Amelia explained. "We all owe him our lives. So we can't actually complain much when he decides to take them back."

"Wait a second. What's that?" The boy beside Amelia asked and pointed at something behind me. We turned and faced a human figure so bloody that we couldn't make up its features. It had long hands and a tongue so long and curly that it dragged along the cement floor. Curling up a corpse of the risen, the monster started picking up the bodies of the Risens.

"Tang…" Demetria muttered.

"I guess we found what we were looking for." I smiled. "I'm going after it. You guys coming?"

"Wait… what?" The boy exclaimed as I started sneaking towards that monster. "Are you crazy? That thing is totally different from the normal Risens we've faced. How do you expect to kill that thing?"

"I never said anything about killing it." I raised an eyebrow as I turned back to look at him. "I'm going after it. Find out why is it collecting all those dead bodies. By the way, why am I even explaining my motives to you?" I snorted and continued sneaking forward.

Demetria squatted behind me and followed me slowly.

We walked as soft as possible around the corner to approach the monster. Picking up 5 bodies in a row with its tongue, it started crawling away at a brisk pace.

"Follow up." I whispered towards Demetria. She nodded and we continued following the monster. For some unknown reason, the other Risens all kept away from us in a radius about 3 meters. The stench of the monster was so strong that we almost puked.

Saliva dripped onto the ground as the monster dragged the bodies of the Risens with its tongue. To my surprise, its saliva was so corrosive that the cement ground started dissolving with a hissing sound a few seconds after the saliva hit the ground. "Gross…" Demetria muttered under her breath behind me but I could still hear it.

The monster entered a building where the form 4 students studied at. Disappearing from our sight, I stood up and stretched. All those sneaking made my back ache. "Demetria, I'm going in." I announced.

Demetria almost chocked on her breath and grabbed my sleeve.

"You're what?" she hissed. "That thing is too dangerous. We can't kill it now even with numbers. It's saliva is too acidic that it can even melt the cement floor. Much less killing it yourself."

I pointed towards the gates of the school.

It wasn't so far away so we could see the timer ticking clearly

"I never said anything about killing it." I snorted. "I only said that I was going in. Getting intel before making up a plan on how to remove that thing from existence. We need to get enough intel and think about a plan to kill that thing before that stupid timer runs off"

Demetria stared at me with the corner of her eye. As if she didn't believe a word that I said. I sighed and opened up my hands. "Look, I don't have a suicide plan and don't believe that a miracle is going to happen if I go inside there without a good plan and some info on its weakness."

Letting go of my sleeve, Demetria sighed and nodded her head.

"Stay safe." She said. "I'll wait for you outside."

Grinning, I stepped forward and entered the building.

The air inside was so acidic that my nose started to feel numb just by breathing it. Hiding behind a wall, I took a peek and found out the risen just now kneeling down and knocking on a door.

Wait a moment.

Knocking on a door?

A raspy voice sounded inside. The door opened by its own and the monster walked inside. Just as I scooted forward to get a better look, the door closed itself with a loud slam. Narrowing my eyebrows, I realized that things were starting to get a little more complicated. I thought the monster was 'He Who First Rises' so I decided to follow it and make up a plan. But now it seems that I was mistaken and an even more dangerous existence is just behind that door.

I gulped and turned backwards, sneaking back towards where Demetria was waiting.

"How was it?" Demetria asked me as I walked towards her. "Are you hurt? Is everything okay?"

I rubbed my hair and let loose a sigh.

"I don't know Demetria…" I admitted. What I saw just now was just too mind-blowing that I couldn't except it just yet. Making sure that we were safe, I explained what I saw to Demetria.

"We can't possibly fight against that thing. Much less the unknown risen inside that room." Demetria placed her fist on her forehead and sighed. "We need to tell Ken about this. Maybe he could think up with something."

I nodded my head in agreement. Looking at the timer in the distance, I sighed and walked back to Amelia and Alex. Just as we reached them, Liam spotted us and waved his hands at us.

"Tang! Look what I found!" he said as he showed a hard plastic sword.

Hard Plastic Sword

Dmg: +3

Strength Required: 10

He nearly scared the wits out of me. His enthusiasm made me think that I forgot a good weapon and he managed to rummage out something good.

"You can have this." He said as he passed the sword to me.

"A plastic sword." I noted. Not sure what to say just so that I don't get on his back side yet.

"It's better than nothing." Liam shrugged his shoulders. "Better than fighting the risen with just your bare hands."

Qian Feng rolled his eyes.

"If you ask me, I wouldn't even bother giving him a weapon." He muttered under his breath. "Tang cant even fight. He probably got to lv 4 by crafting all sorts of stuff, that's what he's good at."

I heard what he said clearly even though he kept his voice down. That was when I realized that my hearing was now better than normal people. Hearing what he said, I glared at him with coldness in my eyes.

Glaring back at me, Qian Feng gritted his teeth and walked towards me with his fists gripped. "You dare glare at me?" He snarled as he grabbed hold of my sleeve. "Let me tell you what I think, punk. I think that you're not fit to have that weapon as you are just a nobody."

Demetria tried holding him back but Qian Feng pushed her away. Stumbling onto the hard cement floor, I gritted my teeth and headbutted Qian Feng in the face. "My tolerance is not a weakness for you to continue attacking me." I snarled and threw the plastic sword onto the floor. "You think I want this sword? I cant even kill a mutant risen with this stuff. What makes you think that I would need this stuff?"

Qian Feng pulled out his dagger from his belt.

"Tang Jun Wen! You dare hurt me?" Qian Feng yelled at me and poised with his dagger ready. "I'll gut you like a fish!" he then rushed forward at me. "Die! Fake lv 4!"

I summoned my makeshift spear and sidestepped. In my eyes, his movement was slow enough for me to smack him back in the head just as he stumbled over me. At the corner of my eye, I could see Liam crossing his arms studying us. it was then I confirmed that he was no easy person. He didn't stand on either side, but would fall over to the winner the second things end.

Cunning and dangerous.

"How bold of you to get distracted when fighting me!" Qian Feng yelled again and rushed forward. This time, I grabbed my spear and tried stabbing him when he was a meter close from me. Stabbing and grabbing my spear back the same moment. My spear grazed Qian Feng's stomach and he groaned in pain.

+10 points

Skill: Throwing Stab (Locked)

Throwing and stabbing at the same time with your spear is no small feat.

Attacks at a longer range without losing your weapon.

Usage: 10 mana

Progress: 1%

Suddenly obtaining a skill was enough to put me into a daze. I was still studying the skill when Qian Feng rushed forward again. I sidestepped again and used the butt of my spear to smack him on the head.

"You dare toy with me?!" Qian Feng roared and rushed forward again.

Annoyed by his ugly face. I wanted to kill him on the spot but I remembered that Liam and the others were here. Killing him on the spot wasn't a really good idea since I didn't know if Liam and the others would be revenging him or not.

"Yield." I said as I sidestepped again and tripped his legs.

"To you? Never!"

Rushing forward, I punched him in the stomach with all my force. Hardening my voice, I demanded again. "Yield."

Glaring at me, Qian Feng spat on the ground and glared at me. His look angered me and I landed my spear in front of his chest. "This is your final warning. Yield and kneel." I growled.

"I know you well Tang Jun Wen. Are you brave enough to stick that spear inside me? To end my life? You were a coward before and you will always be a coward." Qian Feng laughed and spat on my shoes. "Come on" He challenged me again. "Kill me if you dare."

Squinting my eyes, I nodded my head and said.

"As you wish."

Trying out the new skill I obtained that was still locked, I took a step backwards and thrusted my spear inside Qian Feng.

Skill: Throwing Stab (Locked)

Throwing and stabbing at the same time with your spear is no small feat.

Attacks at a longer range without losing your weapon.

Usage: 10 mana

Progress: 11%

+50 points