Second floor

After absorbing the Essence of three zombies, Ailee's fear was washed away.

This feeling lasted only for a few seconds but she felt a little bit less scared than before.

While she stared at the corpses that littered the ground, her expression was not filled with disgust.

Instead, she felt the desire to start hunting zombies all by herself.

Ailee could clearly feel the strength that coursed through her body, and her eyes shone in nervous excitement. It was obvious that everything was not a game, and that the enhancement her body had received was indeed real.

Thus, she wanted to find a way to procure a weapon just like Dilan and Oliver had.

The Glock in her hand looked useless because they couldn't use it without attracting too many zombies.

As such, her gaze turned in all directions to look out for some sort of long-range weapon.

A bow or crossbow would make her feel the safest, but finding something like that in a hospital was quite difficult.

To begin with, the Glocks they possess were not something they should have either!

She had to accept that her only way to gain Essence crystals right now was through Dilan.

And that was slightly frustrating.

Fortunately, Dilan was quite nice.

He might look like he would kill everyone mercilessly, but Ailee could tell that he was not someone who would kill innocent people just because he could.

Otherwise, he would have already taken revenge on Jack, Oliver, Sarah, and even more so Bianne.

From the looks of it, Dilan didn't even hold a grudge against them for being shot, and for being robbed.

This was quite weird, if she were to be honest, but she could clearly notice that Dilan was treating only Oliver well and trying to make him become more confident, while he was mostly ignoring Jack.

His subtle behavior was not easily noticeable as he did talk to Jack but not as much as he talked to Oliver.

However, this was something that caused Ailee to observe him with even more interest.

Dilan was fully prepared for all kinds of surprise attacks as he lead the group while slowly climbing up the stairs.

Jack had approved his idea to clear a part of the second floor in order to turn the entire entrance hall into a safe zone.

But even without Jack's approval, there was not much he could do against Dilan.

Not even his Glock would force Dilan into submission, not after he had gained Oliver and Ailee's favor in a matter of hours!

Though that was something Jack had yet to realize.

"On the second floor, there should also be a few corridors that can be sealed, right? For now, we should focus on creating a safe area, where we can decide upon how many monsters we want to fight at once!"

Dilan pointed out the first task they had to complete when suddenly Ailee appeared next to him.

"There are only three corridors, and the one on the left has this portal…or gate you talked about…"

Ailee had fled from the second floor to the first one when she had woken up from the commotion the Primordial Ascension had caused.

She had been asleep in the room of her mother, who was being treated for cancer in the hospital that had progressed to the final stage.

As such, Ailee had been prepared to let go of her mother for months already, but to her horror, she was ripped apart by zombies in front of her eyes.

Recalling the horrifying memory brought tears to her eyes again.

But no tear escaped her eyes. She bit her lower lip and swallowed them before shaking her head.

If she wanted to survive all of this, she had to become stronger…for her mother's sake and the last words she had managed to say to her while being eaten alive, ''Stay alive…by all means!!''

Dilan nodded his head with the information he received before taking a peek at the second floor.

In the large intersection hall, he could roughly gauge less than 40 zombies.

A small cafe was located in it with a few zombies being stuck between tables.

He could also perceive a few rats crawling through the cafe which attracted his attention.

The number of zombies was less than expected, but the corridors worried Dilan a little bit.

"If the doors of all corridors were to be thrown open, dozens of zombies will charge towards us from three different directions." He mumbled, only to add inwardly,

'And then there are the horned rats. They don't seem particularly fast, but that might as well be because they're not running fast'

Scratching the back of his head, Dilan tried to think of ways to find a solution while his heart was beating wildly, and adrenaline coursed through his body.

"How about we use the emergency button on the corridor's automatic doors?"

Turning around, everyone looked at Oliver who had given a suggestion all of a sudden, but he mumbled in his defense when he felt the collective gaze upon him,

"It was just an idea…the hospital is still running on energy, after all…"

With every spoken word his voice turned into a hushed whisper and it was hard to catch the last few words. Oliver was staring at the floor, feeling unsure of himself, but Dilan couldn't help but smile brightly.

If it was possible for them to reach even one corridor without being found, closing the automatic door wouldn't be as difficult as he first thought.

They had already forgotten about the emergency button next to the automatic doors, which was in place for a situation wherein a psychic ill person would try to run away.

After all, the second floor of the Rian mountainside hospital was specially reserved for palliative and mentally disabled patients!

"Alright, in that case, the corridor on the right should be the closest. If we reach it, either you, Jack or Ailee should press the button.

Meanwhile, I and Oliver will protect you two!"

Dilan treated Oliver as if he was all geared up to fight with him head-on again 40 zombies.

This led the young skinny man to smile.

He was pretty sure that he was older than Dilan, but the way he behaved made it seem as if Dilan was the older and wise one in their group.

Oliver felt reassured by sensing this, and Ailee felt the same.

Only Jack couldn't help but grind his teeth, feeling as if he was being ordered around and slowly losing his position.

And this was, in fact, exactly what was happening.

Waiting for the right time when most zombies would be further away, Dilan and the others rushed up the last few stairs to reach the second floor.

Being the fastest, Dilan thrust the Reinforced Stone Spear forward, killing one of the few zombies that were in the way, following which he killed another one.

Oliver appeared next to him a moment later, the dagger calmly held in his hand before he emerged in front of a growling zombie.

For a fraction of a second, he hesitated, but curled his fingers tightly around the hilt and thrust the Reinforced Stone Dagger out.

With all his status points invested in agility, Oliver could now almost match Dilan's velocity.

Adding the basic dagger mastery ability that he had bound, his knowledge and mastery over the dagger he wielded had increased by leaps and bounds.

Thus, a single motion was enough to thrust the dagger into the side of the zombie's skull before pulling it out, at once.

His movement was almost as fast as Dilan's, allowing him to smile brightly.

Yet, when Dilan saw the expression of disgust and shock in Oliver's eyes, he frowned lightly.

"Don't stop, or you'll die!"

While saying so, Dilan pierced out with the stone spear, killing another zombie.

Advancing ahead, he threw a quick glance in the corridor to their right side.

There weren't many zombies near the door, and when he saw that Ailee was right by his side, Dilan shot inside the corridor to clear a way for her to break through the few zombies.

He wanted to help Ailee reach the automatic doors.

Thus, his entire focus was concentrated on killing the zombies, while Ailee had to trust that he would protect her.

With quick steps, she appeared next to the automatic door, before slapping her flat hand on the emergency button.

A moment later the doors on the right corridor began to close, and a faint smile emerged on her face as she exclaimed.

"Nice!"

Dilan felt great as well, but instead of exclaiming, he killed the two zombies next to them.

Seeing dozens of zombies emerging in the corridor, a frown appeared on his face, but luckily the doors closed, and what they could hear was the muffled sounds of zombies running against the doors.

Their efforts were useless and they couldn't reach the humans on the other side of the door. Dilan smiled when he saw this before rushing back to Oliver, who was struggling to tackle his opponents.

He had killed more than four zombies in a short period, but that had been rather subconsciously owing to the memories and experience the passive ability [Basic Dagger mastery] provided.

As such, Oliver's mind was still a mess even though he was slowly adjusting.

Only when Dilan appeared next to him, pushing two zombies away before thrusting the Reinforced Stone spear in the body of the third zombie did Oliver regain his senses.

The cold eyes of his friend and the sweat that trickled down his temples were a clear sign that Dilan was exhausted.

And this was only obvious after clearing 40 zombies on the first floor while protecting Oliver and then continuing to fight them on the second floor as well.

Understanding that he relied too much on Dilan, Oliver gathered all his courage before he shot up, emerging next to Dilan.

Piercing one zombie after another, his movements became faster.

His mind and body were accepting the information and memories of his passive ability, allowing him to fight with deadly precision.

Thus, the more time passed, the more zombies died as Oliver had transformed into a killing machine.

"Let's close the next corridor!" Dilan announced, breathing heavily, only to see that Ailee and Jack were already on their way.

He and Oliver attracted all the attention. This allowed Jack and Ailee to do the only tasks they were capable of, right now; closing the doors.

Jack boosted his agility with the five status points he had received from leveling up especially to evade the surrounding zombies if even a single one were to reach him.

As such, he reached the middle corridor quite easily.

And to his fortune, no zombies obstructed his path to the automatic door of the middle corridor.

They had already entered the large room on the second floor, which was why the number of zombies seemed to have increased instead of decreasing.

This was great for Jack because he could rush towards the emergency button, and immediately press it, while only Oliver and Dilan faced problems.

However, it was just when he turned around that he discovered something that caused his eyes to widen in shock.

"What the hell is this?!"