26 Solo Hunting - Uprooting Doubts With Violence!
He rode down the twisting roads to the north of his property, and technically, they were part of his land as the beautiful Mawasaki 9SZX sang her heart out, attracting all sorts of creatures and animals as it roared down the empty hills.
Thirty minutes later, he saw a strange sight: an abandoned storefront with two upturned cars near the road...
The loud click of his metal centre stand was pushed into the gravel facing the forest entrance, and the entire parking lot was empty. No customers, visitors, or even the family that ran the forest seemed absent.
Seth's bike was stopped outside a small store just before his target destination, but the eerie silence and bitter cold gave him a bad feeling... That his apocalypse started the moment he rode north.
'They are dead... right? This is just like the start of a certain game... I'll head in a store, find a bitten cope or something...'
He slowly adjusted his balance, posture and mirrors to check for any blind spot or hidden zombie, but thankfully, it seemed they were inside, waiting for prey to pass them by or maybe didn't exist at all.
No, that was wishful thinking when the side entrance was covered in blood...
"Well, it's a shame my name isn't Leon, but let's not fuck around while my experience is waiting for me."
⁜ Detected a psychological crisis within the Host. Suppressing fear and doubts with violent and sexual impulses will lead to a negative character trait... mostly found in villains.
'No shit... I was brought to another world, and from a peaceful life of enjoying sexy sisters and fun novels to fighting the undead... their breath stinks, a few hits, and I'm dead. Did you expect me to become a supersoldier overnight?'
"'I'm doing my best... Rome wasn't built in one day."
His pistol's grooved grip and cold shaft somehow started comforting Seth when he crept near the undead. As he walked through the forecourt, the stench of decay and rotting bodies started to waft gently with the night breeze, and that's when he pulled up his gun and started taking this seriously.
The small store was big enough for ten or twenty people to fit inside, a mid-sized franchise store with two gas pumps and a small storage yard to the left of where he stood.
"Let's just try the front doors..."
He crept towards the front door; it was hard to see through the dirty windows covered in dust and dried forest gunk... the blinds were twisted in place, but all that was visible were the isles of shelves and cash register...
'There's nothing from what I can see... but I feel it, like a gut instinct.'
Behind the door, various large items were pushed over, so when he pushed against it, there was a feeling of resistance as a gap barely big enough for him opened, causing Seth to shake his head.
'You're kidding me, right? Is this not a game? Why are you making these cheap jump scare situations for a zombie world!'
Seth tapped his head with the pistol before approaching the dark, musky opening. 'I cannot smell anything but old unwashed feet... and nasty expired milk.'
He slowly pushed through the gap, each inch causing more sound as the metal canisters and blinds tapped the glass...
He was sure there were shuffles and steps in the darkness, but his eyes were too focused on getting inside... finally, after one last push, he was inside.
"...." Observing the room, he saw three visible corpses on the ground... although two were mangled and seemed impossible to get back up, Seth wasn't taking any of that third-rate horror movie shit.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Not even taking a risk, his pistol smoking with the residual heat and smoke of the rapid shots, blowing the brains from all three of the corpses...
⁜ Killed Stage One Zombie x 3
∟ Gained 3 experience points (3/80)
∟ Gained 30 Bonus experience points for skipping a Plot Scene! (33/80)
'Hmmm? How is this a plot scene? There was nothing like this in the novel?'
⁜ The world and the plot have changed, and now you, as the villain, will have your plots until you kill the Heroes or die.
"Where can I buy a copy of my future plot to have an easy life? Also, I think you made a mistake; there is one hero. The term Heroes sounds ominous!"
⁜ In your dreams!
'By the way... System: what was Seth Darkwood's Evolution? He died so early that it was never released. I am not going to get some bullshit response that because there was none in the novel, I won't get one, right?'
Seth wasn't distracting himself but trying to wait for the zombies to slowly shift around and leave their hiding places.
He had already killed the first trap and wanted to fight the rest on his terms, like the first three, while taking small items into his inventory, snacks and energy drinks that would energise him for this final evening of easy mode.
⁜ Level 10 - You will gain your first chance to evolve. As for the plot, it has nothing to do with the world or novel... but to do with you. Seth Darkwood, the man from another world, is your side-story, and the world will adapt to the difficulty as it sees fit.
Worry not.
This is like playing games in the old world and taking a side quest.
'Then... can you inform me when I start my plot? Since it can adjust the difficulty, wouldn't it be good to know?'
Two zombies began to sway closer, but another was lurking on the ground, acting dead, but ever so often, it began to crawl closer to the area where the gunshots were fired.
⁜ Side Story Commenced - Uprouting His Doubts with Violence and Sexual Desire
'Thanks... now it feels like my life is a novel. I just hope the world doesn't like to screw me over too badly...'
A sticky, wet sound echoed above Seth's head, causing him to peek upwards almost the instant both zombies staggered into the open and came into his previous vision. Yet his eyes were fixated on a monster...
'!!!'
A true monster with long limbs twisted and snapped. Its body was like a human twisted into a spider. It seemed blind and, in the novel, was called a thirster due to the sharp, tongue-like tentacle protruding from the face with no holes... or eyes...
It was eerie to see in the flesh... as the body was like it was turned inside out.
Seth reacted fast, shooting the two stumbling zombies and running towards the counter as the monster leapt towards him, crashing into the floor and creating a crater... it's a sharp tentacle swirling around and destroying half the shop's shelves and the zombies into minced meat.
'Damn! What the hell is that?!'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seth shot six rounds towards the Thirster, but it dodged with incredible speed, leaping and rolling across the floor, avoiding each bullet.
"How the fuck!? You're blind!"
Without any choice, his left hand lowered, the lightweight machete dropping into his hand, sliding along the grip he waited, reloading his pistol as the magazine dropped to the ground with a thud.
Seth's mouth widened into a twisted but handsome grin. The music in his helmet was a heavy breakdown as he jumped onto the counter; the Thirster also jumped towards him at lightning speeds, the sharp tentacle slicing across Seth's shoulder as he sliced down on the long appendage, causing it to sever and fly across the room with a spray of dark red blood.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three more bullets fired as Seth kicked the thirster away, jumping off the counter and charging forward, aiming to cut its head off or cripple its legs... yet the tentacles kept slashing at him even when severed, causing him to twist his body and the machete to swing, cutting the air and missing.
"Fucker!"
Angered, Seth half jumped and stomped on the spider-like body, slamming it down, the power of his status barely able to keep it down as it thrashed and wailed... the sound of zombies and their low groans building...
'This fucker is bringing more trouble!'
Without a second thought, Seth pointed the cold muzzle against the fleshy monster's head, the exposed brain and flesh bubbling and pulsing under the gun's silence; taking a deep breath, he squeezed the trigger...
Bang!
Its head exploded like a water balloon, spraying Seth with rotten blood, puss and grey matter as the body twitched and convulsed, becoming still.
'Disgusting... this is worse than a video game.'
⁜ Host has defeated Stage One Thirster: + 100 Villain Point (1500)
∟ Gained 30 experience points (63/80)
∟ Gained 90 Bonus experience points for Avoiding the Side Story Death Flag! (73/160)
—LEVEL UP!
STR + 2 - DEX + 1 - AGI + 1
STR + 1 - DEX + 1 - AGI + 2 (Elena Primrose)
STR + 1 - VIT + 1 - AGI + 1 (Su Muyue)
STR + 3 - AGI + 1 (Anna Kovella)
Hearing that everyone had levelled up and for some villain points were granted, Seth had countless questions... but he stepped forward, the bodysuit now covered in nasty blood and flesh, while holding a machete in one hand and his pistol in the other, he stepped towards the storage room ready to kill anything that moved.
"One Flag Down, Many to Go!"
