Death's Scent

"Aaaaargh!" The Giant swang its fists as it roared madly, trying to hit Dave. However, its fists were missing Dave as it hit ordinary zombies behind him, sending them flying and even killing some of them.

Swoosh!

A fist brushed closely near his head, yet Dave dodged it at the last moment. He quickly moved to the Giant's back when it leaned forward due to a fist strike and cut tendons at the back of its knee. Losing its balance, the Giant fell on one knee.

Taking an advantage of it, Dave sprang forward as he infused mana into his sword and beheaded the Giant.

Thud!

As the Giant's head fell on the ground, Dave took a deep breath as he mumbled, "Should have found a dagger for me. Would have been much easier with it."

His battle style usually circled around a one-handed sword in his right hand and a dagger or a battle knife in his left hand. He had also used throwing knives with attached mana threads to them in his past life.

He used the sword since it was [Swordsman] class's speciality and he dealt more damage with it due to [Swordsmanship] skill. He used weapons with a short blade like a dagger since they were great for reaching vulnerable spots on the body. Swords were too long for that purpose.

'Levelling up is getting harder. I didn't level up if even I had killed a mid-rank Giant.' Dave thought in a sad tone. Well, he should find a nice hunting ground for himself if he wants to level up faster.

Next, Dave sent a glance towards his back. Behind him, humans and zombies clashed in a ferocious battle, making it almost chaotic. However, in all the chaos, Dave still noticed some order in survivors' movements.

"Swap places! Fast!" Dave could hear Dean Siphon shouting. At her command, survivors, that made a line on the front and fought with zombies, quickly stepped back as their spots were taken by the people behind them. That way, two rows were swapping places with each other as they steadily killed zombies in front of them. Zombies that passed through the first line were killed by survivors in the second row.

Dave could also see familiar faces among them. He was able to note Luther, Brook, Oscar, Evelyn and Arthur. On top of them, he had also seen some unfamiliar faces with weapons from System. They were more lacklustre than Evelyn and Arthur, but they still perfectly filled their roles of the main group force. Dave suspected the dean had given them special attention back in the underground complex.

Although he couldn't see Adam and another duo, Dave still saw flashes in the air. Light blades flew in the air and small fireballs hit areas crowded with zombies. As for Adam, a short spear flew above zombies and was supporting vulnerable spots of their improvised formation. Adam was helping survivors that were close to being killed by zombies.

Having killed the most dangerous ones, Dave joined the main force in killing ordinary zombies. As he had killed the Ghoul and the mid-tank Giant, it was a matter of time before they will be able to kill all of them.

The problem was that zombies were drawn to the noise, and more of them came from their surroundings. Frowning, Dave thought, 'We should quickly wrap everything up before more zombies reach us.'

...

Several minutes later, the ground reeked of blood and rot as cascades of corpses rested on it. Stepping over the head of a dead zombie, Dave approached Dean Siphon and asked, "Any casualties?"

"Surprisingly, but there are no casualties among us. Thanks to them..." Dean Siphon's eyes followed to Adam, Brian and Rebecca, who stood behind everyone yet had the largest impact on the battle. Without them, the dean understood clearly that their formation wouldn't have lasted long.

"Heh...Have even no one been infected?"Dave asked in doubt. The whole battle was a complete mess, so Dave clearly understood that the absence of casualties was impossible, especially when even a minor injury was a dead end.

Dave turned to Brian and said, "Brian, can you check if anyone was infected? Somehow, you can distinguish between zombies and humans. Will the same work for infected ones?"

Feeling slightly fatigued after using [Small Fireball] consecutively, Brian replied in a slightly weak manner, "Theoretically, I should be able to notice changes in auras of people around me. If I focus my Life Pulse on our auras and notice dwindling life energy in anyone, I should be able to point out people who were infected. Just give me some time."

Dave gave Brian a hand sign, indicating that he could begin...doing what he needed to do.

Brian closed his eyes and sent one wave after another to check the auras of people around them. He stood motionless for half a minute. Then, he raised his arm and started pointing at people. "Him and him."

In total, Brian pointed at two men. One was a man in his mid-thirties that had short, curly hair. Probably, he was one of the professors in their university. Another one was just a young student. Dave believed he was of the same age as him. Well, if it was regarding his current age.

When Brian pointed at two of them, both of them turned pale and stepped back.

"It's impossible! I wasn't even scratched." The young student said in a frightened tone.

"Right! Dean, we don't know how much accurate it is. For me, it just looks like shooting in the air." Professor said, trying to convince his dean.

Eyeing them, Dean Siphon said coldly, "Search their bodies! I want to see clear bite marks or wounds as proof."

At her command, the bodies of the two were checked thoroughly. As a result, a bite mark was found on the Professor's arm. To Dave, it seemed like Professor wanted to conceal the fact that he was bitten.

On the other hand, judging by his reaction, it looked that the young student was truly ignorant of having been infected. Although hardly noticeable, he had vague marks of being bitten to the hand. The poor student didn't even know about it and hadn't been trying to fool them. It was a big shock for him.

"No, it can't be. It's just a scratch...a small wound," The young student said with trembling lips.

Compared to the young student, Professor reacted more calmly. He didn't resist nor did he tried to break off. He just stood since he clearly understood that all his efforts would be futile regardlessly of what he did. At best, he had half an hour.

"So, what are planning to do with them?" Dave asked his dean. The best choice was to kill them until they haven't turned into zombies. Even better was to tie them and use them as a way to increase the number of Enhancers among them.

"As a dean, I failed my duty to look after them, so I'm responsible for giving them painless deaths as much as possible. We'll wait till they turn in, and I'll personally kill them" Dean Siphon said resolutely.

Wasting half an hour on them is not worth it. We should quickly enter the living complex until more zombies come here.' Dave thought worriedly. They had already wasted several minutes, searching for infected people among them.

"Dean, allow me to accompany you in our mission. I still have half an hour till I turn in, so I can still kill several zombies during that time," Professor said in a determined manner. He looked like a person who had accepted his coming death.

She intensely stared at the man in front of her. It was happening again. People were dying before her eyes. A short while later, Dean Siphon said with a slight hint of sadness in her cold voice, "Fine! You may choose how would you die. Regardlessly, we can't lose time in a place like this."

At her words, everyone looked at their surroundings. Corpses lay everywhere they looked, and a disgusting scent stood in the air. They sensed death around them, which was quite of an odd odour. It was a mix of iron, rot...and fear.

It was unfamiliar to them but not to their dean. Dean Siphon had come to this university in the hope that she could escape death's scent. However, she hadn't thought that she would witness another scene of a bloodbath...of people dying.

She hadn't thought that this scent would haunt her, on top, that it would descend on whole humanity. She had felt uneasy since the voice sounded in her mind, as she sensed that something big was washing over the world. She felt that nothing would be the same as before. Therefore, she needed to steel her heart for what awaits her on her path.