Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Leveling Up by Hunting Zombies
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After taking a brief rest, we filled our stomachs with yesterday's leftover kimchi stew, then got ready to go out after washing up.
I wanted to spend the day rolling around in bed with Eun-ji and Ha-rin, but that wasn't an option.
We needed to level up.
And if I saw any pretty female Awakened, I had to capture them and make them my slaves.
I was also busy trying to capture male Awakened, medical professionals, and technicians who knew how to handle machinery—people with specialized skills—to turn them into slaves preemptively.
Plus, we had to secure food supplies since we didn't have enough to last even a month.
Of course, leveling up was the top priority right now.
Once the Zombie Repellent ran out, we'd need enough brute force to roam the streets.
“Huh? The internet cut out...”
Just then, Eun-ji, who had been browsing the web and searching for Special Zombies, made a tearful face.
Ha-rin showed us a few photos saved in her album and said,
“I downloaded all the information we could find on the Special Zombies that have been discovered so far.”
“Oh, good job. Let's see.”
We gathered around Ha-rin's phone and checked the photos of the zombies, taken without a single pixel of mercy, along with their descriptions.
“The names for the Special Zombies aren't official; the website just made them up.”
“Yeah? Let's see... Bitchy...??”
Hey, even if it's an unofficial name, Bitchy?
Is it a 'Bitchy Zombie' that spreads its legs the moment it sees someone?
“It's a female-type zombie that screams when it detects a human... It's female, but it draws aggro like crazy, so they called it Bitchy.”
“That naming sense is grotesque. What about the others?”
“Ugh... This one is Human Centipede...”
“Damn... What the hell is this thing doing wandering around...”
A grotesque photo appeared of a zombie composed entirely of human upper bodies stuck together.
Just looking at it made my mental fortitude feel like it was chipping away.
Even if it is a Special Zombie, isn't that going a bit too far?
“So things like this are wandering around?”
“It seems they've been spotted in various places. According to the description here, it's actually a fairly common Special Zombie. They say they crawl out of residential areas with lots of apartments especially.”
“Uh... They climb up the exterior walls of buildings to target high-level survivors... Haah... The rich people living on the upper floors are all screwed.”
The fact that they're made of upper bodies stuck together must be an evolution to make climbing easier.
The thought of these things crawling up apartment walls to ambush people holding their breath in hiding...
Just imagining it gives me the chills like I've just watched two horror movies back-to-back.
“Hoo... No matter how disgusting they are, Special Zombies give more experience.”
“We need to kill as many as we can while the spray is effective.”
“If you spot a Special Zombie, kill it on sight.”
Even if they look hideous, there's no other choice.
One Special Zombie gives more experience than ten regular zombies.
Since the spray has a short duration, we have to kill these things the moment we see them.
“So, is everyone ready now?”
“Yes, Oppa.”
“I'm ready too, Master.”
We had already confirmed each other's skills.
As a Cultist, I have 'Tentacle Summon' and 'Slave Mark'.
Tentacle Summon can only be used three times a day, so I need to save it and use it as a last resort against hostile Awakened rather than against regular zombies.
Slave Mark consumes a massive amount of mana, so it's difficult to use recklessly.
So, if we capture an Awakened outside, I plan to use the 'Gag for Suppression' I got as an achievement reward last time to seal their power, drag them home, and turn them into a slave.
If the Awakened slave happens to be male, there would be plenty of ways to utilize him.
‘But what if a slave gets bitten by a zombie and turns... Does the slave status remain?’
A sudden curiosity popped into my head.
I guess I can test it out next time I capture a useless guy.
Next is Eun-ji, the Shadow Walker.
Eun-ji has the 'Shadow Weaving' skill, which allows her to pull weapons out of shadows.
She says it consumes about 2 mana per weapon, and these weapons have a durability of 3.
That means they break after swinging them about three times.
Of course, that's plenty practical enough.
She can pull out a weapon right away when her hands are empty, and if enemies don't know about the skill, it's perfect for ambushing them.
It's a skill worthy of an assassin.
Finally, there's Ha-rin, the Barbarian.
Ha-rin has the 'Heartbeat Tracking' skill, which allows her to hear the heartbeats of living creatures.
She can sense the presence of people within a certain distance, which is another skill specialized for combat against humans.
‘The fact that she can secretly pinpoint the enemy's position without them noticing is a huge advantage...’
Since she can also sense enemies on the other side of a wall as long as they are within a 'certain distance', it seems like the best ability for human detection.
The important thing is that it consumes mana while active, and Ha-rin hasn't used it much, so we don't know exactly what that 'certain distance' is.
‘We'll figure that out as we go.’
The skills we three possess are roughly as described.
They are skill combinations better suited for hunting Awakened than hunting zombies.
It even feels like we're human hunters.
‘If we grow a little more like this, the three of us should be able to raid a mart easily... Same goes for Daiso.’
Thinking that, I picked up a baseball bat.
Eun-ji grabbed a hammer she had set aside for self-defense, and Ha-rin took the bow she'd had since we first met, along with a spear she made by taping a kitchen knife to a clothes hanger rod.
“Everyone, put on your masks.”
“Yes! I've got mine on, Oppa!”
“Me too.”
“Yeah, good.”
In case zombie blood splashes into our mouths or our faces get known and identified later causing trouble, we pulled masks and hats down tight.
Especially Eun-ji and Ha-rin are quite pretty, so thugs or lawless bastards might pick fights with them.
In a world without law or morality, having beauty without power is more likely to be a poison.
If there are any hot-blooded bastards, they might kidnap and imprison women to use as sex slaves the moment they see them.
Or maybe they're already doing that.
Even just me, if I find a pretty woman, I'd probably try to capture and mark her with a Slave Mark.
In times like these, many people would abandon their humanity early on and fall into pleasure.
The kind of guys who would jump on any woman...
I am not the type of guy who accepts all women just because they're women.
I have my own selection criteria.
Beauty is the baseline, and on top of that, they must have no troublesome conditions like disabilities or mental illnesses, and ultimately, they must be Awakened.
Unless they have a face that's on the level of a celebrity with a plausible backstory, if they don't meet those three criteria, I have no intention of welcoming them as a burden.
Even if I take them as slaves, I wouldn't treat them like Eun-ji or Ha-rin.
These two are practically comrades, not actual slaves.
“The goal for today is to level up as much as possible.”
“Let's spray the repellent and clear out all the zombies in this area within two hours.”
“Yes!”
“And don't hesitate unnecessarily when you have to kill people.”
“It's annoying if you show unnecessary mercy and get counterattacked.”
“Kill without hesitation when the situation calls for it.”
“Especially you, Ha-rin.”
“Remember, if you had shot me to death the moment you saw me, I wouldn't have become your slave?”
“Yes... Master.”
Thinking back to that time still makes my blood run cold.
If Ha-rin had been a ruthless survivor, she would have either killed me right away or shot my legs or arms to leave me combat-incapable, snatched my bag, and disappeared.
I hit by an arrow, I would have failed to use my skills due to the pain and likely become zombie food.
In the early stages of the apocalypse, there are still many naive humans.
Right, there are still many people left who show deep rejection to killing, and those who still believe in the illusions of past moral norms and human rights.
Just how far will they survive?
I won't let my guard down, whether the opponent is Awakened or not.
I will force them into a binary choice: die or become a slave.
That's the only way I can survive and stay happy for a long time.
An era has come where I must consume others to survive.
I am more than willing to trample on others to survive.
“Eun-ji, since this is your first time outside since the fall, I'll warn you in advance.”
“The smell of rotting corpses is way worse than you think.”
“Just in case you suddenly vomit, that would be troublesome.”
“You know what I mean?”
“Yes. I'll be careful.”
“Good. Let's go now.”
“Spray the repellent on your face.”
Splat, splat, splat.
A 120-minute countdown starts now.
We have to get the best efficiency within two hours.
Creak.
We went outside.
No matter how I think about it, two hours isn't that long.
We have to kill as many zombies as possible in this short time.
“Let's go, let's go!”
I took the lead, Eun-ji was in the middle, and Ha-rin was last.
We descended to the first floor in this formation.
“Uraaaah!!!”
Although I thought I had cleared most of them out when I brought Ha-rin yesterday, zombies were crawling around again.
Maybe they came down from the upper floors.
“Die!”
I brought my bat down mercilessly on the head of a zombie walking down the hallway.
Whoosh—
CRACK!!
After smashing its skull and knocking it to the floor, Eun-ji and Ha-rin following behind quickly finished off the prone zombie.
“Ugh...!”
Crack!
[You have earned 40 Coins for killing a Zombie.]
We get about 5 coins per zombie.
Seeing as we got 40 coins instantly, the coins from the zombies Eun-ji and Ha-rin killed are also coming to me entirely.
As slaves, they can't acquire anything on their own.
It all becomes mine.
The skill selection authority is also mine.
Of course, I plan to choose skills after consulting with them.
We quickly went downstairs, beating down the zombies in the hallway, crushing every zombie we saw so they couldn't get up again.
“It's so easy, I don't even need to stick close to you guys!”
As soon as we reached the first floor, Eun-ji said that.
It seems she's thrilled because the zombie skulls pop so easily.
“Then don't go too far away!”
“Kill them on your own while staying in sight of each other!”
“Yes!”
“Yes, Master.”
With the spray on, we were invincible.
The zombies couldn't even react as we beat them to death.
This must be a perk most Awakened received, and its performance is just too good.
Although we can only use it 3 times total, with a 2-hour interval.
That should be enough to beat down a considerable number of zombies.
[Your slave 'Lee Eun-ji' has leveled up by 1.]
[Please select a skill for your slave.]
“Hell yeah!!! Oppa! I leveled up!”
As expected, running around and smashing zombie heads the hardest, Eun-ji leveled up first.
As a fan of horror thrillers, she doesn't seem to fear zombies at all.
Seeing her enjoy the tactile feedback of hitting them actually scares me a bit.
It's like... her eyes turned the moment she saw blood.
Why does it feel like the killer instinct hidden inside her has been awakened?
Is it just my delusion, or is it the true nature of that small and cute Eun-ji?
“Oh! I saw that too! Good! That's the spirit! Our Eun-ji did well!”
“Hehe...! Oppa! Should I pick a skill now?”
What is she talking about?
We don't have time to pick skills when we're busy killing zombies.
“Let's pick them when we get home later!”
“Yes, Oppa!”
In contrast to the energetic Eun-ji, Ha-rin was showing the reaction of a perfectly normal human.
“Huff... huff...”
[Your slave 'Seong Ha-rin' has leveled up by 1.]
[Please select a skill for your slave.]
Of course, as an Awakened and my slave, she also beat down zombies quite well.
It's just that seeing blood, flesh, and brain matter made her mentally a bit distressed...
Still, Ha-rin leveled up almost at the same time as Eun-ji.
Since Ha-rin worked hard too, I should praise her.
I bent down and patted Ha-rin's back as she gasped for breath.
“You did well.”
“Thank you...”
As someone with a weak heart who hates horror movies, she looked sick from looking at the smashed zombie heads and corpses.
Still, we can't go back now.
The Zombie Repellent spray is too precious.
“Let's suffer a little longer.”
“Yes... I'll get used to it...”
“Yeah, our Ha-rin can do it. Cheer up.”
“Yes..!”
She has to cheer up.
What other choice is there?
After leaving those words of encouragement, I went around smashing zombie heads again.
Most zombies died without even noticing our presence, just getting beaten and falling over.
“Weak... Too weak... These zombie bastards are total trash!”
[You have leveled up by 1.]
[Please select a job skill.]
While smashing the stupid zombie skulls, I leveled up without realizing it.
To be honest, I thought this difficulty level was manageable.
Until we hit the one-week mark of the disaster.