05 - The Way

Lucian knew that he needed to show the way for both Trevor and, more importantly, Ava. Lucian wanted to find a foolproof way to make sure that she would gain a little confidence, and one of the best ways to do that is simple—a display of strength.

'Still, this is fucking scary.'

There were so many zombies in front of him, and he would need to face them. Still, he knew that it was now or never.

He needed to act right now.

"Lucian, quick! L-Let's run!"

Lucian couldn't let Trevor ruin his plan. He raised his dagger in the sky before pointing toward the zombies as if declaring war. He quickly counted how many there were, and it seemed there were at least five of them.

He knew that he would need help from either Ava or Trevor. But he would be the one showing them the way. He just needed to take the first step forward.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Trevor shouted when he noticed Lucian approaching the zombies and not running away.

Lucian put on a smile worthy of being an actor. "We can't keep running away forever. You know that. Right?"

After saying that, Lucian turned his back to them, facing the zombies without the slightest hesitation.

Ava was impressed by Lucian's actions; she would have never done anything like this. But seeing him try his hardest was inspiring. She almost felt like going up there with him to help. However, she stayed behind, eyeing what he would be doing next.

Before rushing in mindlessly, Lucian used his skills on one of the zombies. He wanted to make sure that he could at least kill one of them with his stats.

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[Zombie]

[Overall Rating: Zombies are the weakest that exist. Even you, Lucian Urias, could potentially kill one with that shitty talent of yours. However, there's no point in trying to get stronger. Your death is inevitable, cannon fodder.]

—-----------

Lucian gritted his teeth as the system was once again insulting him. He wondered who was making those descriptions, and he promised himself that he would get his revenge when he found out about him.

'Still, it says that I can kill one, right?' 

Lucian knew that this was only the tutorial, which meant that everyone should have a chance at surviving and reaching the Otherworld in normal cases.

He took his courage with both hands and started running toward one of the zombies, stabbing it right in the chest. He was hoping that it would die in a single hit.

And that's exactly what happened; the zombie died from a single hit from Lucian. The fact that it had been killed from a single strike gave Lucian a lot more confidence in himself. He knew that he could kill another one.

"Woah! Lucian… T-That was incredible!"

[You have gained experience points.]

[You have gained 100 Points.]

Lucian didn't even see that message as he tried to go ahead and kill another one. However, this time, the zombies were ready for him. They were all looking at him, ready to pounce on him.

"Fucking run away! There's no need to be a hero. Didn't you see the death counter?! Only one thousand people need to die, and this is over…" 

'Death counter? Was that a thing?'

Lucian frowned, as he hadn't seen any of that appear. He only knew that 2000 zombies had spawned and that he needed to defeat some of them. At least, that's what he thought.

However, from what he had understood, the death counter indicated the number of deaths from humans. It was the indication that the angel had given them to track how many people needed to die before they could leave for the Otherworld.

'Still, simply surviving won't help us in the long run, the angel made it clear. We need to get stronger right now while facing those weak monsters. Who knows what might appear next? We don't even know what will happen once that counter reaches its objective.'

While Lucian wanted to kill those monsters, he knew he couldn't face them alone, so he quickly returned to where Ava and Trevor had been watching him. Lucian had now turned his back on the zombies. He thought they were too far to reach him, and he was right—they were too far. At least, the normal zombies were.

"That death counter, where did you fi-? Argh!"

Lucian had gotten hit by a zombie. The hit was so powerful that he was pushed to the feet of both Ava and Trevor. There was now a huge scratch on his back.

—-----------

[You have been infected by a Zombie. However, because of your great luck, it doesn't have any effect on you.]

—-----------

Lucian didn't have the time to read that message because of the pain.

"L-Lucian! Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere? Can you stand up?"

Ava seemed extremely worried about Lucian. For some reason, she was already going to support him as if her life depended on it.

"Just what the hell is that monster? There's no way that's a zombie, right?" Trevor muttered as he looked up in the air.

'Why the hell is he looking up there? I'm down here.'

Lucian wanted to look back, but because of his injury. He wasn't able to. It hurt so much that he even struggled to get back up on his own two feet.

"I-I'm okay. Please just help me get up..."

"R-Right. Here!"

Ava immediately supported him as he tried to get up. They were now once again close to one another. While Ava tried to look calm and collected, Lucian wasn't duped. She wasn't in her right state of mind. It was even quite easily noticeable. Her eyes were wide open as if observing everything surrounding them.

"T-Thank you!"

Now having some support, Lucian turned around and was able to get a glance at the monster who had attacked him. 

"This… H-How…" 

There was a clear shock in his eyes. All the zombies he had seen beforehand looked normal in size. But this one… this one… was much bigger.

'What a way to give them trust in me...' 

He had wanted to show them what real strength was. However, it seemed that he had failed miserably, giving them instead a feeling of inferiority, the complete opposite of what he had wanted to do.

Trevor's voice also wasn't helping one bit. He kept being negative about dying. Couldn't he just shut up for one second?

"We're going to die... No way we can kill this thing… This is the end, Mom… Dad. I'm sorry, I should have treated you better."

He was muttering it so quietly that only Lucian and Ava could hear it, and they couldn't help but be extremely pissed off by him.

Still, he wasn't wrong. They hadn't moved a single inch from where they were earlier, and the giant zombie slowly walked toward them. Trevor quickly realized how bad the situation was looking and knew he no longer had a choice. He needed to survive and would do so by utilizing whatever he could.

"I-I'm sorry, but… I-I don't want to die..." He muttered before pushing both Ava and Lucian toward the giant zombie.