Chapter 6: HOTD 3
A loud banging on the door wakes me up from my deep slumber. Startled, I grab the daggers resting right next to my head and look around. It takes a moment to realize where I am. The sound of banging increases and I refocus on the door. Not finding any better place to hide, I get under the table that stands on the right side of the entrance. A small gap between the tabletop and its back side gives me a clear view of the door. With a screeching sound, the table in front of the door is pushed to the side and two people in military outfits, carrying handguns enter the room.
'Fuck' I think to myself.
They look around and spot my sleeping bag. They visibly tense up make eye contact, nod to each other, then rise their weapons and a lot more carefully start searching around.
'Double Fuck!' Seeing no visible identifying markings on them I can't judge if they are friendly. The shorter of the two is getting dangerously close to my hiding place. With no other option I reach into my pocket and pull out the pink phone and through the hole in the desk throw it to the right. The phone makes a loud "Thud" as it lands and pulls the attention of the two. Both of them now facing away from me. I move swiftly and silently and extract myself from my hiding spot. I arrive just behind the closest one bringing my dagger right in front of his throat. I move forward and whisper into his ears. "Don't move." Not even a second has passed since the phone hit the ground.
The shorter one lets out a girly scream and tries to move away, but the combination of me pulling him back, pressing myself up to him, and pressing my dagger right to his throat, stops any other sudden movement. A trickle of blood flows down the side of his throat as my dagger lightly cuts into it.
By this point his friend has noticed me, his gun pointed right at my head, which I promptly hide behind my hostages.
"Sorry to scare you like that. You and your friend kind of barged into my temporary home. Care to explain who you are and what you want?"
"Yuna, are you okay?" The guy hurriedly asks, totally ignoring my question and still pointing his gun toward us.
"I alright." To my surprise, my hostage turns out to be a girl. Just as I realize that my lower half reacts to her firm backside pressing onto it. Pulling back her elbow she tries to hit me in the gut, but I move out of the way.
"Try that one more time and you'll end up losing your head." I spit out with venom in my voice. Blood rushing back from my nether region to my brain I move my free hand end remove the gun from her hands.
"I'll be taking that." I look at the guy in front of me and repeat my question. "So care to tell me who the fuck you are and why the fuck were you so adamant on getting in here?"
"What you're doing right now is a crime! We're from the JSDF and we're looking for survivors." He says.
"Put your gun down and show me some proof." I say.
"I'm in a military outfit what other proof do you want?" He asks while still aiming his gun at me and my hostage.
"What's your badge number?" I ask with a smile. He freezes and I can see the determination in his eyes. His grip on his handgun tightens but I'm quicker. With a swift motion, I rise my new gun, release the safety, and shot in his direction. The first bullet missed, but the next one hit him in the chest. With a cry of pain, he drops his gun and presses both hands on his new wound. At the same time, my hostage lifts her hands and tries to pry my hand off her throat, trying to get out of my hold. My superhuman dexterity allowed me to adjust the angle of my dagger and sink it into her throat without any issue. Dropping her on the ground I move closer and plant a bullet into the guy's head. The girl's gurgling sounds stop and I'm greeted with three new notifications.
[Human x2 slain 100 XP Received]
[Skill: [Gun Mastery] unlocked.]
[Class: [Gunner] unlocked.]
[Gun Mastery LVL:1/100]
- Increases accuracy with guns by 0.5%/LVL
Quickly looting the two of them, I pocket the two guns and 6 magazines filled with bullets. In the end, I didn't find out who these guys were, but I'm sure someone will start to look for them soon. Using the shirt of the guy, I clean the blood from my dagger and hands, then not forgetting about the phone I go and check it. The screen was shattered but the phone still worked. Till they drop that nuke, it will be good. After a quick check on my wound, I determine that it's not infected, still a bit painful, but I'll live through it. It's a good thing I picked up that immunity system, going to a hospital to get antibiotics would be a pain. I pack my stuff and prepare to leave.
Exiting the building I find a large horde of zombies closing in, the gunshots must have alerted them. Thinking about performing an early morning exercise I rush into the horde while pulling out my new katana. With a wide smile on my face, I close on to my new targets. Holding the katana with both of my hands I use a swiping motion from left to right, beheading five zombies at the same time. Bringing back my sword, I laugh maniacally just in time to sidestep a lunging zombie I behead it mid-flight with a swift downward swing. Using my high-speed and enhanced reflexes, I swiftly clean up the rest of them. Total of forty-two zombies re-died, granting me eight levels in my class and two levels in my global level. This allowed me to unlock one inventory slot and I instantly placed one of my handguns in it for quick access. Checking on the quest status I notice I'm 10% done with the Tier 0, today I'm farming.
Four hours and two hordes later I rage as I check my notifications.
[Tier 0 Zombies x218 slain 14,591 XP Received]
[Global Level up x9]
[Global Level has reached Level 35]
[Class: [Scribe] level up x21]
[Class: [Scribe] has reached Level 21]
As you can probably guess it. After leveling up to level 35, I stopped gaining experience from Tier 0 zombies. The only saving grace was the other notification I received.
[World Tier increased to Tier 1]
That was a lot quicker than Index said it would happen, but it might have been because I removed a few key figures right at the start. At this point, I couldn't even see a single human on the streets and the number of tier 1 zombies increased by a lot. I avoided them till now, but now that I don't gain experience from normal ones, to continue leveling I'll have to try and kill one of them.
With a heavy sigh, I think about what I'm going to do next. My future plans revolved around leveling up here as much as I could and collecting enough money to fund me in the next world, but the first part might get harder from now on.
Backtracking to the intersection where I've seen a T1 zombie not long ago, I find him munching on another zombie, while three other T0 zombies stand near him. Moving in fast I first discard the three annoyances and move in to strike at the T1. Not caring for any damage it lunges at me with its hands extended. It's unprecedented speed, almost rivaling my own. I quickly dodge to the left and aim my katana toward its throat, its momentum and the sharpness of my blade allow me to behead it without any real trouble.
[Tier 1 Zombies x1 slain 150 XP Received]
Fighting multiple of these might be an issue, but they still can't use their brains so ambushing or simply outsmarting them is possible. A new plan forms in my head, taking out my phone I search for the nearest gas station and plot a course toward it.
Finding it relatively empty, with only a few strugglers around I take care of them and move to the first pump. Pressing the handle, I start spraying gas all over the place. A few hundred litters later, I'm standing in a larger puddle of gas. Going into the building I search for a bucket, a lighter, and something to force the pump stuck. I find some wires and I smile. I don't forget to check the cashier and I'm greeted with another 4.2 UC. After filling the can and tightening the wires around the handles of the pumps, the smell of gasoline starts to make me light-headed. Returning to the building I max out its speakers and blast some music from it. Whoever set it up, had good taste in music, heavy metal blasted from the speakers. I feel like the soundtrack is kind of suitable for this situation. Already seeing some zombies coming this way. I poke a hole into the can and with brisk steps run as far as I can, while still paying attention to the bucket and my surroundings. Half a street later, the can is empty. Checking the nearest car, I find an older model with its doors unlocked, so I sit inside and wait. With nothing else to do, I check my system.
System Info:
Name: Andrew Thompson | Titles: Slime Slayer | Race: Human | Tier: 0
[Global LVL: 35 XP: 24,548/27,102]
[Class: Scribe LVL: 21/25 XP: 14,081/15,709]
Stats:
STR: 4
DEX: 33 => 54
AGI: 29
INT: 7 = > 28
WIS: 9 = 30
Other:
Spells: [None]
Skills: [Sneak 5=>7] [Muted Steps 7=>9] [Dodge 25] [Small Blade Mastery 32] [Deception 6] [Drawing 4] [Writing 2] [Dual-wielding 7] [Counter 3=>6] [Large Blade Mastery 1=>7] [Pain Tolerance 2=>5] [Gun Mastery 1=>3]
[WP: 1,566]
[UC: 72.40]
"Not bad for now." I say with a smile. Locking the car doors, I close my eyes and quickly fall asleep.
A louder 'Thud' startles me. I jerk out my dagger, about to stab toward the origin of the sound. Then I realize I'm still sitting inside the car, fully surrounded by an uncountable number of zombies. Thankfully, the gasoline trail ends only a few steps away from the car's door, but opening said door might be an issue. The orange-colored sky tells me that I've slept for at least five to six hours.
'Nothing like a good afternoon nap.' I silently chuckle to myself, then refocus on my predicament.
With multiple zombies pressing onto the side of the car, it's a miracle they didn't break any windows. Smiling at my luck in choosing an older car model, I reach to the side of the door and rotate the handle to slowly lower the window. The gap I create is just enough to stab to death the nearest zombies and light the gasoline trail on fire, so I do just that.
Watching as the trail of fire slowly advances toward the gas station, lighting a few zombies on fire on the way, was a majestic sight. Not even half a minute later a huge explosion rattles the street. All windows around me shatter as the shockwave travels outwards. Even my car's windshield didn't survive the explosion, thankfully, it didn't fall in. A huge fireball spawning hundreds of meters rises towards the sky. My ears keep ringing, and as bits and pieces of flesh rain down on the street I'm greeted with a few notifications.
[Human x3 slain 150 XP Received]
[Tier 0 Zombies x7,875 slain 0 XP Received]
[Tier 1 Zombies x207 slain 31,050 XP Received]
[Class: [Demolitionist] unlocked.]
[Title: [Zombie Slayer] received]
[Zombie Slayer]
- Increases damage dealt towards zombies by 25%
[Global Level up x4]
[Global Level has reached Level 39]
[Class: [Scribe] Max level reached additional class experience discarded]
[New class selection available]
[Selectable classes: [Assassin] [Samurai] [Gunner] [Painter] [Cartographer] [Demolitionist] [Warrior]]
7x [Quest: [Kill Quest T0] Completed 10 WP(x2) Received]
2x [Quest: [Kill Quest T1] Completed 50 WP(x2) Received]
"Some idiots were nearby...." I shrug as I look around "Damn, that was a lot of damage." The ringing in my ears slightly subdues while I check the street around me. A few hundred meters away from me the concrete was shattered cars are flipped upside down and there is black smoke rising up at the end of the street. Most of the road is cleared up and at the same time covered in gunk. I exit the car and feel a bit dizzy. Yea, that explosion definitively did a number on me. Checking my current WP and UC count, I come out a bit short on all fronts. I'm still missing 600 WP for the Reality Warping Background System upgrade and at the same time, my current funds won't be enough for a peaceful life in my next world.
'First things first, I'll rob a few banks. Even if I can't get into the vault, the tellers should have some money on hand. Next, I'll repeat my last exploit and bomb a few gas stations. I'll probably need a few stronger speakers to pull in a larger group.' With that thought finished I select a new easy-to-level class.
Demolitionist 0/15
+1 INT, +1 WIS per level
25% increase in the size of explosions.
50% reduced damage taken from explosions created by you.
Gain instinctual knowledge of where to place explosives for the best result.
Hopefully, I'll max it out before heading back. Selecting the class, I check my status.
[Class: Demolitionist LVL: 0/15 XP: 0/330]
[Maxed: [Rogue] [Scribe]]
The XP requirements for the class went up again. My second class was 2.2 times and this one is 3.3 times the first one. So my first guess was correct, the experience requirement goes up with each maxed-out class. Wonder how that works when leveling multiple classes at the same time. Well doesn't matter, removing the phone from my pocket I check for the nearest bank. Finding one quite close I head towards it. The noise of the explosion will probably drag a lot of zombies this way, so I moved quite fast. As the pandemic started on a weekday and the panic midday, most of the shops, offices and other buildings are wide open. Same for the bank I'm standing before. The sliding doors are currently blocked by an already dead zombie and they move back and forth trying to close. It would be a funny view if not for the mass of other zombies currently residing inside the building.
With a sigh, I take out my trusty katana and rush inside massacring anything that comes even remotely close to me. To no one's surprise, none give me experience. Moving to the teller's boots, I cannot spot any ways to go inside them. So my only option was climbing over them. Placing the sword into my mouth I jump and grab onto the top side of the booth and pull myself over. Looking around for any enemies I don't spot anything in the remote vicinity. Dropping down I start searching each and every table. Some of the drawers were locked, but with my daggers, I pried them open. In the end, I picked up 250 UC, or in layman's terms 2 million Yen. Looking out through the window I notice the sky getting pretty dark. So I move towards the office areas of the bank find one, not currently occupied by a rotting corpse, and barricade the door. I take out my sleeping bag lay it on the floor and take out one of my last lunch boxes.
"Ehhh... Rice, chicken, and salad... Again..." I sigh "How do they say it? Itadakimasu!" I say with a smile and dig in. While eating I was checking the map application and jolting down bank and gas pump locations for tomorrow. With all that done I lay in bed and watch the ceiling. Not really tiered because of my earlier nap, I think through my actions and behavior throughout the few days I've been here. Would the old Andrew kill someone with cold blood? While not even batting an eye? Am I influenced by the system or is it something else? These thoughts circle around my mind, but I can't come up with a certain answer. I slowly close my eyes and force myself to fall asleep.
"First time in a few days that I'm not woken up by someone." I say out loud as I stretch. Picking up the last bento I eat it with gusto. If everything goes to plan today is my last day here.
The same bank robbery process as last time was repeated in multiple locations throughout the day. In the end I was 1,197 UC richer and had a total of 1,269.40 UC in my coin pouch. The amount is almost equal to 70.000 dollars, not even a small part of what the bank vaults could be holding. But none were opened and I had no way inside. Believe me, I checked. While jumping between banks I blew up 4 gas stations without any trouble and they gifted me with enough experience to almost max out my class. If everything goes as planned this one will be my last station and I'll head home. There's no way something will go wrong right?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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