Chapter 81

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Ace

Chapter: 81

Chapter Title: The Best Day

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Today was truly the day.

The best day.

The reason the Haedong Faction and Guro Apartment had rung their alarm bells was exactly as I'd predicted: the emergence of Takers. And just like that, I'd rushed over and taken them all out.

The people from the Haedong Faction and Guro Apartment couldn't shut their mouths when I effortlessly slaughtered the Takers, monsters that must have seemed utterly impossible to them. Especially the folks at Guro Apartment, who already saw me as a divine emissary—they were looking at me like I was some holy being.

But forget that. What mattered right now was what dropped when you killed a Taker.

Today's Takers were like walking honey pots. Coins, demonic energy, new drop items—you name it, they gave it.

Each one netted 800 coins on its own, which was insane. Their demonic energy levels were a notch below the monsters from that other world, but still leagues ahead of regular zombies.

And on top of that, the extra drop items from each kill were pretty solid too.

My sword's durability was wearing thin, so it felt like the system was handing out replacements: weapons galore. Swords, guns, bullets—the works. I could distribute those to my subordinates.

I only needed a few myself anyway.

After quickly helping out my allies, I headed straight to my zombie aggro farm—the elementary school—using the fact that Takers were sensitive to sound. Ring the bell here, and zombies swarm in automatically. High chance the Takers would tag along too.

Hell, they might even pick up sounds regular zombies miss and come running.

I designated the elementary school—which I'd been using masterfully throughout the Zombie Wave—as an additional zone. Now I could zip between my base and here in less than a second, saving tons of time.

Well, since I'm here, why not round up some zombies?

I rang the bell, letting the chimes echo out, then set up a barricade.

I installed the barricade right away, and it spawned with the same health and defense as the ones at my base. The only difference was the radius—still fixed at about 5 meters, like the first one.

But I didn't need it any ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bigger here anyway.

All I had to do was draw in as many zombies as possible and make sure they didn't smash the place before I could handle them.

"Oh, here they come already. Huh?"

The zombie horde, aggroed by the bell, started swarming in fast. But surprisingly, no Takers in sight. I'd figured they'd come charging at this sound. Where were they?

I'd expected at least three to show up, but it was just regular zombies, Lacers, and Smashers.

Maybe I should wait a bit just in case. I kept the bell ringing for about five minutes, but still no Takers.

Does that mean there aren't that many of them overall?

Maybe they're scattered across different areas. If so, the only one in my zone might've been the one I grabbed this morning. I'd have to cross into other districts for more.

That's a bit of a letdown.

I'd been hoping to farm Takers solo for massive gains, but it didn't look like there were enough for that.

Oh well, time to clear this horde first.

No Takers, but the bell had drawn a ton of zombies. One spell swept them all, bumping my level to 20.

Hitting level 20 meant I could pick up a new trait.

This was huge. Sure, someone like Ha Dongseok might've scraped level 10 for an extra trait, but most people probably hadn't even reached that.

Me? I could snag two more on top of what I had. I was light-years ahead.

I wanted something good for the new one. Something as killer as Base Manager.

That trait felt like something the system creator made so Awakeners could keep using modern tech to some degree.

That's why it wasn't locked behind mutant zombies—you could buy it from the shop if needed, accessible to anyone.

Flip that around, and it means powerful traits aren't in the shop. You have to kill mutant zombies for those. And they'd probably outperform the shop ones.

I wanted one of those. But nothing appealing showed up.

As I was sorting through options, I remembered the rat I'd caught yesterday.

The sudden Taker invasion had made me forget all about it. I hurried back to where I'd stashed it, but the building was wrecked—probably from a Taker attack.

Looked like the little guy had squeaked while tied up and gotten nabbed.

I'd planned to feed it to a zombie to mutate it. Shame. Probably croaked to the Taker I bagged this morning.

Whatever. On to likely Taker spots.

I planned to cover max ground today, so I buffed myself with body enhancement magic. Had to move faster, farther.

As I zipped along, I wondered if my body enhancement spell showed up in the status window.

Did it really apply here?

Oh ho? It tracks perfectly.

Killing zombies with my magic now counts as my kills, so buffs like this should show up too. Still, I wasn't sure until I checked.

And yep, a basic body enhancement spell boosted my strength by 5.

From memory, Sohee the Combat Specialist and Ha Dongseok only got +2 from their skills. Mine's better.

Sure, their skills might outpace this later at high levels. But that's far off.

Besides, my main style is ranged magic, not melee. Comparing us is apples to oranges.

Though right now, I'm ahead even in close quarters. Funny that.

Leaping building to building, I finally spotted a Taker.

It had found an Awakener inside a building and was smashing through the wall, reaching in to grab them.

I rushed over to snipe it. By the time I arrived, it'd already munched two Awakeners.

But that's not my problem. The Taker was.

From behind, I hit it with a surprise Devouring Dread before it could react, ripping its head clean off in one shot.

The headless corpse crumpled, and I absorbed all the remaining demonic energy.

That's when I felt eyes on me. Looking up, someone peeked from the building—the one the Taker had attacked—staring in wonder.

Looked like a woman, but zombie apocalypse hadn't been kind. Messy long hair hid her face; couldn't tell what she looked like.

Didn't matter anyway. I wasn't some psycho rapist who couldn't control himself around women.

Just as I finished sucking up the demonic energy, a zombie horde approached. Drawn by the crash?

"Eek!"

The woman yelped, spooked by the horde.

Looked like a lot. I'd gather them up front and nuke 'em with one spell.

I hopped up to her spot and threw up a barrier to block the zombies.

"Wh-what?"

She freaked when I leaped up, backing away to put distance between us.

Made sense—guy barges into her hideout. I left her be.

Zombies piled up below the hole. Some tried jumping in but bounced off my barrier.

"Kyaa! Wh-what?"

She screamed thinking one got in, then gawked in amazement as it flew back out.

"Alright, time to clean up."

No more incoming. I prepped my spell.

Mid-tier would've been overkill. Five Darkness Arrows would do.

Then I heard her mutter:

"Ar... arrows..."

Her word "arrows" caught me off guard. I turned—she was staring at the floating Darkness Arrows, not me.

What the hell? This woman.

She can see them?

To test, I floated one slowly toward her. She reacted, eyes wide with shock as it approached.

Normal people can't sense demonic energy, so they see no magic. What was she?