A Trail

The smell of rotten flesh stuck to every wall and floor tile in the old resident district. It was a place where those with the lowest income used to live in normal times, but it had become a dumping ground for corpses during the first few weeks of the apocalypse.

This was the 17th day in a row John had to endure the stench while he cleared out monster nests with the others. It had become such a common occurrence that he no longer even noticed the smell, as though it were a background sensation.

"Watch out!" Maria warned as a horde of monsters emerged from a side corridor, their claws and mandibles snapping furiously, but John didn't even turn towards the monsters, instead, a powerful blast erupted from his back and blew the horde to smithereens.

Maria couldn't believe her eyes. Those were all 2-Star Monsters, some of them stronger than the Draconian they had fought that time and John could just take care of them with a blast from his back!