Chapter 126: Efficient Attack
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 126: Efficient Attack
When I heard the term "efficient attack trajectory," I thought it meant I would see my own attack path, similar to how I could see the enemies' attack trajectories.
Showing me how I could attack with a slightly shorter, more optimized path when making a move.
Isn't that what it would show?
But if that were the case, there would be a problem.
Wouldn't it be confusing if the incoming enemy's attack trajectory overlapped with my own?
Sure, if the colors were clearly distinguished, it might not be an issue, but having too many lines in my field of vision could make me lose sight of the opponent.
But that was just my own misconception.
"Wow."
I encountered a single zombie on the way.
Since it was just a Level 1 zombie, I intended to casually stab it in the neck with my dagger and move on, but the trajectory of my swinging dagger was subtly different.
Thwack!
"Huh?"
The path of the dagger as it quickly struck and pulled back was somehow different from usual.
Even this was a change so minute that I only noticed it because of my muscle memory from swinging a blade thousands, tens of thousands of times. Anyone else wouldn't have even registered it.
"Wow..."
I realized what that subtle change was.
Unless I was an idiot, there was no way I wouldn't notice.
After all, experiencing this subtle change was the very reason I was on my way right now.
"This is insane."
It wasn't that a trajectory appeared and I had to follow it.
The Level 7 Hunting Expert option had already been integrated into my body.
And when I took action, my body naturally executed it.
"This actually works?"
Well, it could just be my own assumption.
Maybe I had always stabbed like this, and I was just experiencing a placebo effect—like drinking sweet water from a skull in the dark—convincing myself it was different simply because I got a new skill today.
But the chances of that being the case were low.
Stabbing a zombie in the neck was something I had done even after reality turned into a zombie apocalypse.
And even before that, it was a habit I had practiced at least hundreds of thousands of times.
I knew better than anyone at what angle and with how much force to stab the neck and pull back.
I thought I had been using my strength and speed with the utmost efficiency.
But today, it felt somehow lighter.
I had rarely ever felt this way.
Only when my stats rose past Level 10.
Back then, when I realized I had surpassed my limits and felt my body move faster because it was so light.
It was the exact same feeling.
But right now, my stats hadn't increased at all.
Which meant I was producing lighter movements with the exact same stats.
"Does this even make sense?"
Let's say it's possible.
But just because the attack trajectory changed slightly, it could bring about a difference so tangible?
Right now, it was just a single swing, but in a battle against a crowd, these minor adjustments would stack up to make a massive difference.
My body felt lighter.
I would consume less stamina and be able to fight longer.
Of course, I had previously thought that if my stamina was overflowing anyway, it wouldn't matter much—but with a feeling like this, the story changed.
A lighter body meant attacking the enemy even 0.01 seconds faster, and when those differences accumulated, it meant I could ultimately kill one more bastard.
The absolute ceiling.
In an average battle, people might ask what the point of saving that split second was, but if a moment ever came where I had to fight a zombie army led by a Level 5 zombie, this skill would be an immense help.
"...Fuck, Cheat Mode..."
I thought nothing could surprise me anymore.
It was a hubris I fell into every single time I raised the Cheat Mode level.
But because I was someone who had played for 100,000 hours, I took it even more seriously.
To think something like this was possible.
I was someone who believed I could hunt zombies better than almost any NPC.
And yet, there was still room for further correction?
Well, it was only a single Level 1 zombie.
It might be different in a fight against a crowd.
There would be moments where split-second situational judgment mattered more.
But even in those moments, clean and efficient movements would only help; there wouldn't be a single instance where they'd be a disadvantage.
With a fluttering heart, I headed toward Hanyang University.
---
Should I call it a stroke of luck?
Hanyang University was already packed with zombies, starting right from the bridge leading up from Seongsu-dong.
"Now this is the apocalypse I know."
Up until now, the apocalypse had been a bit dull.
Just at the very beginning.
When the zombie virus had just broken out and people were panicking, the streets at least resembled the picture of the zombie apocalypse I had played. But after that—especially after the 1st Zombie Rush—the survivors used the excellent system of skills to hunt zombies and get used to surviving. As a result, the streets were gradually starting to have more humans than zombies.
I had played a part in that, so I didn't really have room to talk.
The deciding factor was when Base Invincibility reached Level 10. Once the zombies were weakened, anyone with even a shred of courage to fight could beat them down. Consequently, you could say zombies were practically going extinct in most neighborhoods.
Around Seoul Forest, it had reached a point where you couldn't find a zombie even if you actively looked for one.
And even in areas slightly further away, survivors were crawling in to set up bases and live there simply because of their proximity to Paradise, leading to the rapid eradication of zombies.
On the Paradise Gallery, there were even jokes circulating like, "If we wipe out all the zombies, how are we going to earn Coins? Do we have to go on an expedition?"
Of course, knowing that was an incredibly idiotic joke, I didn't agree with it.
A zombie apocalypse.
The setting of the zombie apocalypses that most people, including myself, had experienced was usually not the immediate outbreak of the virus, but a world where the virus had already spread to a certain extent.
A world where zombies overwhelmingly outnumbered survivors.
A world where only a fraction of humanity barely managed to survive.
So, for the zombie apocalypse I envisioned to truly arrive, more time had to pass.
A few more Zombie Rushes had to sweep through.
Only when the city was completely overrun with zombies would the real apocalypse begin.
And regarding that, there was a fundamental premise that needed to be resolved.
"Will zombies respawn once the Zombie Rush starts?"
Honestly, I was curious too.
In the zombie apocalypse game world, zombies did respawn.
There were all sorts of lore explanations, but in the end, they definitely respawned.
While they could be packed from the very beginning, the default setting kept the zombie population moderate at first, only to peak around one to three months of in-game time.
That meant zombies respawned, and it meant having to survive amidst a constantly growing horde.
But reality wasn't like that.
Since humans were beating down zombies right from the start, as time went on, the zombie population would only decrease instead of increase.
Although the human population would also dwindle with each passing Zombie Rush, the humans who grew stronger would eventually wipe out the zombies entirely, making it a zero-sum game.
To resolve this, respawning was the only way.
Could such a thing actually be implemented in reality?
I had a vague suspicion.
The disappearance of zombie corpses.
Where did the disappearing corpses go?
Probably no one had paid attention to it.
Whether they vanished or not, people were just glad they didn't have to deal with corpses piling up in front of their houses.
"Well, it's fine if they respawn."
I felt the same way.
Honestly, whether zombies respawned or not wasn't a major concern for me.
In fact, I preferred it.
I wasn't the protagonist of some zombie apocalypse story, nor did I have a sense of duty like a game's main character to develop a vaccine and end this era of ruin.
I just wanted this apocalypse to last forever.
And within it, I wanted to build my own kingdom, ruling over it in comfort.
Because that was a far more valuable and better life than the "me" of the real world.
It was the way to enjoy the zombie apocalypse without worrying about dying.
"Whew."
After cutting through the zombies blocking the bridge, Hanyang University came into view.
After killing about a hundred of them, I could say for sure.
This Level 7 Hunting Expert skill, which optimized my attack trajectory, was definitely correcting my movements.
It didn't tell me what to do in a given situation.
It didn't hand down an efficient, precise answer.
Rather, when I swung my dagger to kill a bastard.
It merely assisted with the optimal path and force distribution of the swing I intended to make.
Just up to that point.
Which actually made it better.
The choice was entirely mine, and the skill was just a helper to extract the best possible result from that choice.
Of course, if I made a bad move, I would have to pay the price, but the important thing was that the decision remained entirely under my own judgment and choice.
There would be nothing more disgusting than a skill manipulating my very thoughts.
"This is fun."
Dodge and stab.
Seeing this concise motion work so easily against Level 1, Level 2, and even Level 3 zombies made hunting genuinely enjoyable.
I wasn't just overwhelming them with a raw difference in stats.
With pure skill added to the mix, the efficiency of my stats was multiplied several times over.