Clash With The Zombies (II) : Regional Rankings

[System: Zombies Killed: 189/25000]

[System: Zombies Killed: 191/25000]

[System: Zombies Killed: 194/25000]

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[...]

[System: Time Remaining: 05:35:43]

[System Alert: The Tutorial Panel is being updated...]

[System Alert: The Total No. of Participants is being updated...]

[System: Total No. of Participants (Region: C): 6352]

[System: The zombies in Region C are being eliminated at a rapid rate !!]

[System: Participant 'Raven' is dominating the battlefield !]

"Haha sis, did you see that?", the man asked his sister while hacking a zombie with his sword again and again.

"Yup, I saw it....and these are Channel announcements you dumbass...everyone can see it, not only me."

"Uhh...yeah, you're right sis...but you know I've been thinking about it for some time now..."

"What? Your little pea-sized brain is even capable of thinking something?", the woman replied while shooting two arrows consecutively at a nearby zombie.

"Sis, you're really going too far. Can't you see how much powerful I've become", the man replied angrily while targeting the zombie's head with his sword at full strength.

The head was neatly chopped off and flew off in the air.

"Hahaa, did you see that? I'm much more powerful than before..."

"Yeah, that you are. But I can still kill you by shooting an arrow into your head...do you want to try it, brother?"

The man stuttered while listening to his sister saying those words in a cynical tone.

"Ahem sis, it's not the time for that. We've to kill the zombies first...." 

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about it. After killing zombies, I'll save an arrow for you little brother." 

"Hey, that's not fai - WHAT THE FUCK?"

The man was startled when he saw an arrow directly coming towards him.

He dodged it by sidestepping and the arrow pierced the zombie's head behind him.

"Watch your back you little shit...", the woman replied in an angry voice.

The man was still thinking about what would happen if he didn't manage to sidestep at the last moment.

"Ahh, thank you sis...but please warn me from next time before suddenly shooting towards me..."

The woman didn't reply to him and nocked another arrow and started channeling her mana in it.

She already had a feeling that incorporating mana into the arrows while attacking would make it more devastating.

And she just confirmed her suspicions by shooting an arrow like that.

The zombie wasn't able to block it with its thick skin.

The mana-imbued arrow directly pierced its head and killed it in one shot.

While she felt ecstatic that she was right in her hypothesis, she also understood that it was quite hard to control mana and imbue an arrow in it.

With some difficulty, she was able to imbue another arrow in her mana and shoot it in the direction of another zombie.

The arrow went straight through its right eye and the lifeless body of the zombie fell on the ground. 

[System: Congratulations! You've successfully hunted a zombie by imbuing mana into your arrow attacks.]

[System: You've received 1 Skill Proficiency Point as a reward.]

[System: Current EXP: 255]

[System Alert: EXP Limits crossed for your Current Level.]

[System: You've started leveling up!]

[System: You've leveled up !]

[System: You've reached Level 1]

[System: You've received a total of 6 free Stat Points (With Class bonus)]

[System: Your Health and Mana has increased.]

[System: Your Current HP: 123/150; Your Current MP: 107/135]

[System: Current EXP: 5/500]

[System: Unallocated Stat Points: 06]

[System: Unallocated Skill Proficiency Points: 02]

[System: TP Collected: 420]

[System: Your Status Window has been updated...]

The woman didn't say anything as she saw her updated status window. She was happy to see that she had quite a good amount of Stat Points just by having a Class.

'I just have to do a little bit more...I can feel that I can surely achieve something if I continue to imbue mana into my arrows....probably it would be a new Skill.

Can I learn multiple Skills like him? I'm sure that he is using many other Skills in his attacks that no one else has here. I've to become like him to become stronger and survive in this new world...if I were to fail here, my little brother would be in danger...' 

"Sis, did you just level up?" the man asked as he saw a golden light, the same as the one which enveloped Nehar and his companions, wrapped his sister too just some seconds ago.

"Yeah, I reached Level 1."

"Wow, you're really good sis."

"No, it's not enough to reach him and join his team...we've to work harder. How many EXP points do you need before leveling up?"

The woman asked him with a stern tone.

"Ah, I need 15 EXP points more." 

"Good, killing a Level 0 zombie provides around 20 EXP points, while killing a Level 1 zombie gives near to 25 EXP points. As we're still not ready to kill any Level 2 or more powerful zombies, let's kill all the Level 0 zombies around this place before we proceed to hunt those Level 1 bastards."

"Heh, that's a good idea sis..." 

"Hey you idiot, tell me what did you want to ask me back then?" the woman asked while nocking an arrow.

"Umm, yeah...why didn't we approach him back then and ask him to take us with him?"

The woman looked at her little brother.

'A big but simple man....he has nothing in his head despite being 19 years old...'

"If we approached him then, there was a high chance that he wouldn't accept us. And even if he accepted us, he would've used us as Cannon Fodders for those zombies."

"Huh? What are you talking about sis?"

The woman shook her head in resignation while shooting another mana imbued arrow at a rotten bastard on her left.

"He was too much powerful and dominating and at that time we were only at Level 0, at the very bottom of this new world. If we approached him then, he would've thought that we were trying to take advantage of his powers by clinging to his side...and thus he would've trusted us less and used us as shields against these monsters..."

'I've seen him butchering all those people....his eyes, they had almost no emotional fluctuations when he killed so many humans...he doesn't trust weak, petty, and opportunistic people as his own...he would've left us to die had we approached him before...'

"So, you're saying if we level up quite a bit and then approach him, he wouldn't kick us out or exploit us?" 

The woman didn't reply verbally and only nodded her head.

"Then it's settled sis. We'll level up some more and then approach him to take us with him. I just want to learn that 'Slash' he had used before while using his sword...such a good and powerful sword attack, but now he is only using his daggers..."

The woman silently listened to her brother's words.

'This is what is actually bugging me...he can use sword and dagger both, he can use mana in his attacks, he can also use the movement skill of the thieves...and in the last fight, he also used a Caster class-specific skill....just what is his Class then? How can he use so many Skills when there is a limit on the number of skills?

Moreover, how can he actually use mana like that? I've seen him covering his whole body in mana...he just looked like a giant blue monster then...while I can't even properly apply mana into my arrows without depleting my mana bar at a fast rate...how frustrating...'

"Hey sis, are you even listening to me?"

"Huh? What?" she snapped out of her thoughts.

"Don't you think there should be a Ranking or something like that? I mean this is a Tutorial, just like some games we've played at home before...there were Rankings for people...so why is something like that not here? And I don't even know how many people are actually in this Tutorial other than us in this Region..."

The woman listened to his words and thought about it for some time. She also remembered all those previous messages between those <Higher Beings> and others.

"Hello, is anyone here? Lackeys, Observers, Administrators...anyone?"

The woman shouted while looking at the above.

"Hey, what the hell sis, what are you even doing? More zombies will come towards us if you continue to shout like this...."

"Ahh, I'm sorry...I was just trying something..."

'I thought if I called them like that, they'd appear in the sky just like before...but it seems I was wrong...'

"You called..." 

A deep voice boomed from above. 

Almost everyone present in the surrounding region, looked above to see where this voice was coming from.

The figure slowly materialized near the woman and looked at her.

She hadn't thought that someone might appear.

"Holy shit sis....he is just like those two Lackeys before, black-clothed, Wolf masked...."

The woman felt embarrassed by her brother's stupidity, thus she didn't bother to reply to him anymore.

She looked at the figure who was just at some distance from her, still floating in the sky, and asked, "Is there any ranking system here to know how is everyone performing? And can we know how many people are taking part in this Tutorial?"

The figure looked at the woman and sighed.

"Yes, there's a Ranking System which is quite important. It should've been released by now, but...", the figure trailed off.

"Umm, but what Sir Lackey?"

The brother asked him while cutting another zombie with his sword ferociously.

"Uhh, just Lackey would be enough....Sir Lackey is quite absurd..." 

"Ahh, I understand that Sir Lackey."

The Lackey and the woman, both felt like facepalming themselves right now.

"Well, the rankings are being released late because of the high mortality rates in the other Regions. More than 150 to 200 people died till now almost in each Region, excluding yours only."

"Huh? But why?" 

Though the woman was quite surprised after learning new information, she couldn't stop herself from asking more. 

"This is all because of that monstrous Participant of your region, 'Raven'."

This time, not only the brother and sister, but almost all the surrounding people, who were quietly listening to their conversations while battling zombies slowly, became surprised.

"What did he do?"

"Well, he is just too much powerful for the beginner stages and because of this, the Celestials and Stars are interested in watching him more than others. Thus many of them even left their Channels and joined this one. 

Though it seems like it's not a big deal...but in reality, it's not. When a large number of Celestials and Stars leave a Channel in the Tutorial because of any reason, the Warding against the Evil in that Channel and Region becomes weaker than before. It's kind of a System Protocol. The monsters there become more active and attack almost everyone in a frenzied state to kill or devour them, thus many will die in those Regions.

Though there are some good and powerful Participants from other Regions, none of them can match him in a battle. When the 'World Ranking' will be released, you will understand it much better."

The woman finally confirmed her doubts while conversing with the Lackey.

'So, he is so powerful that not even the other powerful Participants from different Regions could become his match...so, he must be at the first rank when the 'World Rankings' are released...

I've to become more powerful...'

After replying to them, the Lackey disappeared silently. While disappearing he looked towards the region where Nehar and his companions were rampaging. 

'He is really odd...I can't believe that he has leveled up so much.

While others are still struggling and dying to kill those zombies, he is killing and suppressing them like mere ants...not only he is killing them, he is also power-leveling his team members... 

I wanted to see his growth with my own eyes by supporting him in his journey...if he finally gets to qualify for the Tutorial, he will certainly become an iconic figure in the Tower and the Awakened Worlds...but at the same time, he is quite dangerous...

The Administrative Head had given us a special order to not get entangled with him by any means, as the <Higher Beings> themselves are keeping a watch on him...and also the whole Administrators' Bureau is in an Emergency because of him...

Observer 'Zion' was suddenly killed and his past exploits are now in the open....everyone in the Bureau is suspicious about others as they've heard about the <Special Watch List>...no one knows who is under that List and who is not...

Those two Lackeys, who were there with the Observer 'Zion' last time, suddenly disappeared after the <Holy Warrant> was imposed...I'm sure that they're not even alive anymore....many more were arrested and are now imprisoned...Sir 'Roel' is almost cleaning up the whole Bureau from the lowest to the highest level...

Most importantly, there are many newcomers...all those people from the Lower Seats of the 'Echelon' are now in the Administrators' Bureau...while they are angry, they don't even have the power to do anything...but this is not the hottest topic at this time...

The newly demoted 'Observer' Andrea von Rocheveron has gone missing....this news has already created huge ripples inside the Bureau...I don't even know what'll happen from now...

All this happened just because they tried to test that puny Participant's limit...I really shouldn't involve myself with him....there are rumors that he has some strange powers which he used to take down the Observer, Sir 'Zion'...if such a powerful Observer was killed by him using some strange means...then we ordinary Lackeys don't even stand a chance against that power...'

The figure finally disappeared without a trace.

"Hmm? I felt someone was watching me...", Nehar commented absent-mindedly.

"Well, whatever, let's just finish this."

[System: Zombies Killed: 484/25000]

[System: Time Remaining: 05:05:12]

[System Alert: The Tutorial Panel is being updated...]

[System Alert: The Total No. of Participants is being updated...]

[System: Total No. of Participants (Region: C): 6335]

'Nearly 55 minutes have passed...and a total of 45 Participants had died...

I guess, this is still quite low...during the last time, there were more than 2000 dead at the end of the First Wave, just from my Region...I don't think that this time it would be more than 1500...'

While Nehar was still thinking about the number of deaths and hacking more zombies, an announcement popped up in front of everyone's eyes.

[System Alert: The Regional Rankings have been announced.]

[System Alert: Regional Rankings are being announced for all 26 Regions of the Tutorial Phase.]

[System: You can check your ranking in the Regional Ranking Leader Board.]

[System: You can compare your ranking with others (From Other Regions) once the 'World Rankings' are open.]

A giant-sized virtual screen appeared in the sky, where over 6000 names are listed according to their ranks.

-------*****--------

[Regional Ranking Leader-Board (Region: C) - Channel A53]

1. Raven: Level 9 (61.16%); Kills: 141 (Participants), 247 (Zombies) 

2. Artemis: Level 3 (35.4%); Kills: 9 (Participants-Team), 68 (Zombies-Party)

3. Hecate: Level 3 (17.2%); Kills: 9 (Participants-Team), 42 (Zombies-Party)

4. Elena Gilbert: Level 1 (15.7%); Kills: 33 (Zombies-Team) 

5. Aiden Gilbert: Level 1 (11.2%); Kills: 27 (Zombies-Team)

6. Liam: Level 1 (1%); Kills: 20 (Zombies-Team)

7. Noah: Level 0 (97%); Kills: 16 (Zombies-Team)

8. Theodore Rykner: Level 0 (69%); Kills: 10 (Zombies-Team)

9. Elijah Hermon: Level 0 (56%); Kills: 8 (Zombies-Team)

10. Neferet: Level 0 (35%); Kills: 5 (Zombies-Team)

11. ...

12. ...

-------*****--------

The moment 'Regional Rankings' was announced, everyone started looking up and checking it fervently.

While many were still searching and trying to find their names in that 6000-name-long list, Elena was watching the giant-sized floating Leader Board silently.

'He is at Level 9...while I'm still at Level 1...there is an abyssal difference between us... Should I just drop the fantasy of reaching his level?

No, I can't do that...I need to hunt more to become more powerful...now that I have this in front of my eyes, I can check how much he has improved and how much I'm improving over time...

This is not over...I'll reach your level Raven...to protect the last one in my family this time...'