Silence

Aurav commanded five of his subordinates to separate from the horde. He ordered them to dig a hole in the ground so that he could bury Saira in it.

It was due to the fact <Flesh Root> required him to bury her in the ground in order to absorb the nutrients.

Aurav wasn't clear about <Blood Moon Chrysanthemum's Blessing> . Although, it said Chrysanthemum who knew whether it actually referred to the flower or something else entirely. The information he had received from the <Game Eye> about it was very minimal.

'Haa...whatever...I should deal with the credit shortage first and think about this later...'

He shook his head as he walked back towards the town he had just left a while ago. He didn't bring any Subordinates with him as they would severely slow him down. By now their state of decomposition was too much to bear. Flesh was almost falling off of their bones. Their speed was reduced to a crawl.

'I can't bring them with me when I leave...they're too slow. I should leave them here...they can protect Saira's grave as well.'

'This place is probably a small town. It should at least have 5000 people. I should be able to find enough victims...' He thought as he glanced at the distant square structures.

Oddly,all of the houses looked like squares or rectangles with usually, an open roof.

This was because there was probably no snow in this region. On top of that,everybody hired their own contractors and builders resulting in messed up houses not to mention the pitiful state of the roads.

'Who cares...?'

Aurav looked down at his tattered clothes and filthy green skin as he groaned:

'I should buy some <Functions> for myself and take a shower. I'm filthy as hell...'

As he walked towards the town he looked up at the sky. A slight smile hung on his lips as he looked up at the two moons and the shining stars. The sky was clear and the moonlight cascaded on his face like silk.

About half an hour later he entered the outer perimeter of the town. There were a few houses scattered here and there. There were various broken motor bikes on the ground. A few cars crashed into each other here and there. A few of them drove straight up until a wall.

'Haha... should get a proper mode of transportation once I save up enough credits...'

He opened up the <Map> function. There were a few blinks indicating humans in various houses but he wasn't willing to go to one house at a time only to kill one or two people. He needed to infect 172 of them. It's not a small number.

As he walked deeper into the town a gentle breeze surfaced. Although, it would be a pleasure for anyone it only sufficed to increase the horror of the ghost town. There was no Human or Zombie in sight. Silence.

Aurav halted as he looked around:

'Wait...where are the Zombies?'

No Humans could obviously be explained. It was due to the Zombies but no Zombies?

Why is that?

Simple.

There must be some unknown factor(s) at play here. Factor(s) he wasn't aware of.

*Shiii...*

Aurav bent his knees and raised his arms but before he knew it he was lying on the ground a few feet away.

"F*ck!!!"

He tried to get up but he heard that strange sound again but this time it was coming from behind:

*Shii...*

Instinctively,he bent his head down in a bid to dodge whatever, it was. It passed over his head. It only scratched him lightly but a chunk of flesh from his head and fingers was gone.

It skillfully maneuvered it's wings in mid air as it turned around. Aurav finally got a look at his mysterious assailant.

It was a bat.

It was three feet tall with pitch black wings and three blood red eyes. It's ears were unnaturally large with sharp claws. It's ears twitched as it moved.

It was definitely some form of beast.

'Shxt!!!'

Seeing the bat flying towards him Aurav clumsily rolled sideways and barely dodged it's claws. He crawled and ran towards a nearby car without thinking twice.

Unfortunately, the bat was faster than he had expected. It had come back and stabbed it's claws in his neck.

Aurav stumbled and fell down on his knees. The bat was flapping it's wings and twisting it's claws in a bid to kill him.

*Snap*

His neck was broken but he was....

Alive!

Aurav gritted his teeth as he grabbed it's wings. It struggled violently as it tried to flap it's wings repeatedly.

Aurav tugged at it violently a few times but it was all for naught.

Instead, he decided to grab its right wing with both arms. It was a struggle but eventually he pulled its claws out of his neck. There was a huge chunk of his flesh in its class.

Right now,his head was hanging down sideways but he wasn't concerned about this right now.

Instead,he smashed the bat on the ground again and again as it helplessly flapped it's wings.

Suddenly,the bat's crimson eyes shone unnaturally...