Standoff

Hayashi stopped on his way to the city, he stopped for a bit and chose to hide by a nearby car while he opened the ammo pouch and his bag. The pouch was of medium size, grey in color, and seemed to be in the mint condition he looked at it while opening his bookbag and taking out a handful of modified marbles, and pouring them into the pouch.

"This pouch is a Godsend, since I owe the Baisho siblings right now, I'll have to delay my departure for another two days."

Hayashi closed his bag and the ammo pouch, slinging his bag onto his back and putting the ammo pouch on his leg using its velcro straps.

"That should do."

He nods to himself coming up from behind the car as he looked across the way he got into the city.

"Dear God...That's a lot of zombies..and on top of that...a mutated zombie and a mutated monster..."

Zombies of all shapes and sizes roamed around however none were as big as the mutated zombie, it seemed to be the corpse of a body-builder, the mutated monster on the other hand looked like a rose given a human shape of green stems made up of its body and its thorns were its weapon. "Seems I'll have to get crafty" a small click is heard as the pouch opens up when he takes out some of his ammo now running towards the city but only makes it halfway across the bridge before getting blocked off by a hoard of zombies.

"I'll play with you!"

Hayashi said as he locked onto a zombie. "Create Munitions! Add Attribute! Eye of the Hunter! Strong Shot!" He casts his skills as a blue and orange light glowed from the modified lethal "Stinger" as it went through another modification the window popped up showing the new "Stinger" round's stats.

Ammunition: <Stinger> round

Weapon: Slingshot

Attribute: Pierce

Hayashi fired it and 3 zombies fell as he whistled.

"Now that's firepower, three zombies down...a couple of dozen to go..."

"PING!" The system made its sound again letting him know that his Ranged Weapon Proficiency has gained a little bit of EXP as well as the acting skills he just used.

"Nice.." He shoots once again taking down another two zombies, then six, then another two.

"PING! PING! PING!"

More windows popped up telling him where he gained proficiency EXP until there were about fifteen zombies left, which he would take them down with his slingshot at melee as he rushed them all, as soon as he stabbed two of their skulls the rest were alerted and tried to charge him now, looking at them, he took his way out and kicked one in the stomach before stepping on its head and running through the group of remaining zombies then rushing the other zombies and killing them all, the road was soaked in blood and so was Hayashi.

"PING! PING! PING!" The System went off again "Proficiency up.. one-handed weapon...Profiency up Dual Weild? That's weird...Proficiency up Unarmed, Proficiency up Ranged...Let's check the stats and skills for now. Check Stats!"

"PING!" The stat board shows up

Name: Hayashi Tetsu

Age:16

Profession: The Hunter/ Munionist

LVL:5

STR:16

DEF:8

INT:12

DEX:20

AGI:15

VIT:10

Hayashi looked at his stats.

"Even for a level 5, this is...wow...I guess it also counts my real-life stats...no matter how low they could have been I wonder if..."

Hayashi saw another zombie and chose to shoot it, as his DEX rose by one point as he looked at his stat board again

Name: Hayashi Tetsu

Age:16

Profession: The Hunter/Munionist

LVL:5

STR:16

DEF:8

INT:12

DEX:21

AGI:15

VIT:10

"Hm...So it goes up..but there's no allocation..."

Hayashi looked at the defeated zombies and stretched out his hand."[Harvest]!" The [Harvest] skill took its effect and he ran towards the Forgery again as he burst through the door and panted.

"Anyone here!?"

Hayashi yelled out getting no response, now once again traversing around the place and going into the door of the forging room before getting met with a bat to the face only to block it.

"Woah!" Hayashi blocked the blow and injured his arm "AUGH!" He jumped back and took off his mask. "Hey, I come in peace..." Hayashi put his hands up as the person came out of the darkness.

"Hayashi-san? Is that you?" The dark figure asked, putting down his bat.

"Yeah. It's me Hyung-nim.." Hayashi opened his arms now feeling less threatened

"Come here, bro!" The dark figure picked him up squeezing him with a bear hug

"Awww!"

Hayashi strained his voice in a bit of pain "Hey hey cheer up big guy it's alright" Hayashi took deep breaths as he was released from the crushing hug.

"Where's Gramps?" Hayashi asked

Nishiwaka shakes his head "Not here...He got...kidnapped.."

"Alright...Is there anyone else in this area...?"

"Yeah..a few youngins, my grandma, and a few other high schoolers and adults.."

"Alright, I'll round them up...and get them to my base...you too Hyung-nim so come on GRAH!" He held his arm in pain.

"Damn you got me good...we gotta be fast, with an injured arm my combat power will be limited..so come on!"

"Right!" Nishiwaka spun his bat.

The duo rushed out the door and started to gather as people in groups of five while fighting off zombies in the buildings that people called out from both of them gained proficiency in one-handed weapons however Nishiwaka gained proficiency in two-handed weapons as he too gained a system that gave him his special power as Nishikawa called out his skill.

"[Discharge]! Speed"

Nishikawa took his anger out on one zombie by bashing its skull with his baseball dozens of times within a minute before its skull was blown to bits and the headless corpse laid on the ground, another pair of kids, popped out of nowhere and started cutting down zombies, both of them armed with a pair of hook blades as they helped to fight off the zombies as Nishikawa called out to them.

"Shuang-Gao Tricksters!"

A woman exclaimed as she saw them fighting off the zombies in the house she lived in, Nishikawa and Hayashi were beating zombies in any apartments they could bust into and quickly eliminated them. Hayashi kept using [Harvest] after each group of zombies as they all turned to dust, soon Hayashi had turned a large apartment into a safe house for people to rest for the night, even Hayashi needed a break as he leveled up, Nishikawa was exhausted and the Shuang-Gao tricksters were asleep on a couch as everyone had just survived the equivalent of a zombie wave.

"Damn it...are you good..?"

"Yeah..." Nishikawa panted

"What about you two?" Hayashi tried to talk to the sleeping duo but they didn't respond.

"Are they dead?" Hayashi looked at the two again

"Nah they're not dead, just asleep" Nishiwaka put his finger under their noses

"Hm, alright...Phew...we move at dawn. So we need to rest..." Hayashi fell asleep as soon as he said that.

-THREE HOURS LATER-

Hayashi woke up it was in the middle of the night

"Mnnn...I've got to stop waking up at times like this..."

Hayashi looked at the sleeping children as well as Nishiwaka "You look like an older brother with two kid siblings..."

"Here, you guys look a lot safer with him.."

Hayashi had pulled the two kids into the arms of Nishiwaka before jumping out the window and seeing dozens of corpses.

"All this loot..just for me..." He smiled putting his hand in the air. "[Harvest]."

The usual effect commences as he closed his hand and then looked at the window of his system. "Perfect." He put his hand on his face and started to laugh.

"Use [Harvest]! Break them down!"

once the command was authorized the materials he wished to break down were all broken down, his task was complete, He didn't want to attract more zombies and the [Harvest] breaks the bodies down so not even the blood remained as he took a look in the inventory as of now he had a full stack of 100 [Tin Metal Plate] 60 [Zombie Fang], 20[Log], 35 [Thick Branch], 2 [Iron Bar], 20 [Wood Plank] as he seemed happy with this haul.

"This is a lot of material! when I get back to base, it'll have a makeover"

Hayashi had a villainous smile plastered on his face before going on his way to get to his house, he hears something behind him and looked over his shoulder it was some sort of thorny vine as his speed increased suddenly in order to dodge the attack.

"I was wonderin' when you'd show yer ugly mug.." Hayashi readied his slingshot.

The monster screeched as it launched another attack.

Hayashi suddenly had a flashback and found himself repeating the {Hayashi Creed}.

"We, The silver hunters, come out every full moon, and I with this arrow...will pierce through Fate set in stone and Destiny written in the stars!"

Hayashi shot the monster

"[Strong Shot]!"

a glowing, powerful stinger round was shot out from the slingshot covered in white light and went through the rose monster, tearing its fines as it screeched in pain, launching another attack, with no time to dodge, Hayashi was thrown into a wall making a crater before he drops down, wincing in pain.

"Nice shot...but it's the only one you'll be getting!" Hayashi charged at it. "[Create Arms!] Upgrade the entire frame with Tin metal plates!"

"PING!" The order was acknowledged as the slingshot developed a sharp blade at the bottom and the handle became longer and more comfortable to hold.

"Here we go!" The rose monster shot 4 vines at him from all sides,3 of them cutting his arms and legs but he caught one of them cutting off the thorns as a timer appeared above the slingshot not that Hayashi cared, he planned on ending this fast as he backed up.

"Again! [Eye of the Hunter!]"

Hayashi locked on to the monster while looking for weak points as it tried to corner him to no avail. A strange voice called out as the monster was suddenly stunned.

"[Hammer from the Heavens]!"

The voice called out as a large hammer construct hits the monster in its bud stunning it and making its attack stop midway.

"Huh? Who's there!?" Hayashi became defensive now noticing the silhouette of a grown man.

"Relax kiddo," the man said before leaving. I mean no harm.

"PING!" the system window timer reached 0:00 as the slingshot reverted to its previous form and the [Tin Iron Plates] were now ruined and beyond salvaging. "So, it was only temporary...I'll have to keep that in mind. [Harvest]!"

"PING" "Error! Target not yet defeated!" Hayashi looked wide-eyed as he looked at the monster taking a last-ditch effort to recover.

"[Strong Shot!]" Hayashi shot the rosebud as both the bud and stinger round exploded.

"PING!" The system showed that he gained EXP and his Proficiency in skills and weapons had risen.

"That was close...to think it was still alive after a blow like that..."

Hayashi recalled the mysterious man who hit the monster with a giant hammer construct. "Terrifying...[Harvest]!"

The skill takes effect as the monster shrivels up and Hayashi gained 5 items: 2 [Rose Nectar]40[Monster Rose Thorns] 5[Mutant Core] and 1[Dungeon Key: Amazon] 1[Dungeon Key: Dark Manor]

Hayashi looked at the items. "Not bad, but I best get home now...I don't want to wake up a giant mutant." Hayashi looked behind himself again before just sprinting into the ruined apartment building finding a small room while looking at his inventory. A new system window popped up

"PING!" it read "A new evolution tree has been found! Would you like to upgrade [Hornet Emperor]'s <blade>? using skill [Create Arms?]"

Hayashi looked stunned but wanted to know more. "Please show me the new evolution tree..."

"PING!" The new evolution tree opened up, titled Anneal Evolution tree, as it could upgrade part of the frame which was compatible with the sharp end of the slingshot but the other parts of the tree were locked all of them having some sort of requirement to unlock looking at it he sighs.

"Alright then. Please upgrade [Hornet Empreror]'s <blade!>"

"PING!"

The system acknowledged the order as a green light swirled around the sharp end of the slingshot the stake-like end started to look more curved as the metal bent looking like a giant rose thorn.

"At least now I can cut with it, not just stab...Show me the stats!" Hayashi said before going back to sleep suddenly

"N-No not yet...Zzzzz..."

TO BE CONTINUED...