Stepping out in the street, Zain wondered what their next move should be. First, there were the military personnel. He could try to find their base and follow them, but what would happen if they spotted Skittle?
He could look for other survivors, but that would likely turn into a mess, and then there were the two Main quests he had received. First, finding a live meteorite and what the Zombies' goals were.
He had looked around the city and noticed plenty of areas covered in smoke, which meant there was some fighting going on there, or like this spot, it was due to the wreckage caused by the meteor strike.
Just when Zain decided to head in the direction of what he judged as the least probable to encounter someone, Zain noticed a zombie next to the large dead body of the Titan.
[Mutated Zombie]
'I guess if there is nothing else to do, I can always level up.' Zain pulled out his baton and was ready to charge forward, but suddenly, he noticed that the mutated Zombie was acting weird.
It had bent down and stuck its whole head into the Titan that was already dead. Zain also heard the crunching noise, as if someone was eating ice. When the Mutated Zombie lifted its head out of the Titan's body, Zain noticed blood could be seen all over its clothes and was still dripping out of its mouth, but the most significant change was in its hollow eyes.
'Don't tell me..'
It was too late. Suddenly, the veins on the mutated zombie started to bulge. Its eyes were sinking deeper into the back of its skull. Soon, its muscles began to expand, and the skin texture started to change.
Everything was happening so quickly that Zain knew he had to act fast. He ran forward while the zombie was growing in size and swung his baton hitting its arms, but it felt like he was hitting it against a brick wall as the rebound deflected it back.
Trying to find a soft spot, Zain brought out the other baton and used both, hitting the zombie everywhere he could. Still, unfortunately, the evolution was complete, and he could not do anything to stop it.
[A stage 2 'Titan' has appeared]
From the second it started to turn, Zain knew what the outcome would be. He didn't know why or how, but a bad feeling kicked in.
Immediately, the Stage 2 Titan threw down its fist, attempting to hit Zain, who rolled backwards and avoided the blow. However, when he stood up, the ground below his feet was shaking, making him stumble before he could regain his balance, and that was when he saw the damage the Titan had done to the road.
'Even if I had ten points of resistance, I don't think I would survive that.' Zain thought. 'But if I found some way to kill it, I would be able to get exp points to level up.'
Seeing the Titan fight before, Zain knew it wasn't going to be an easy task to defeat it, but the black skin that covered the zombie's body looked to have little cracks, revealing the fleshy interior that one wouldn't notice or hit unless they were up close.
However, in the current area, Zain wasn't alone, as someone else was nearby and observing the whole fight.
'I thought this person knew what they were doing, but they didn't take the crystal out of the Titan. The best thing to do now is just get out of here. But, should I help?' the stranger pondered.
He was expecting Zain to run away, but he soon saw the latter doing something entirely different.
"I'm fighting to survive!" Zain shouted as he ran toward the new Titan. He inclined himself and slid underneath its legs when he got close enough. Then, before the new Titan could turn around, Zain jumped on its back and pulled on a large portion of black skin on his back.
It was as Zain had felt. The skin was more like armour. Then, using his hands, he pulled it with all his might, severing the muscular flesh from its skin.
"ARGHHH!" The Titan screamed as if it was in pain. Which was a surprise since Zain believed the zombies couldn't feel pain.
Since the strength of his arms alone didn't seem to work, Zain then proceeded to stick the baton in the small gap he made and tried to use its hardness as leverage as he pulled his body weight on it. He had to weaken the mutated zombie as much as possible. But just then, something unexpected happened.
The next second, the zombie jumped and lay flat on its back, crushing Zain on the ground. The zombie was too heavy for Zain to use his strength and push it off, and he could only fight with willpower against the crushing weight.
[Several bones have been broken]
[Would you like to use emergency healing?]
The zombie was slowly getting off Zain, and as it did, he immediately used the emergency healing function.
[-40 Energy]
Because the number of bones that were crushed was too many, hence he needed a lot of energy to heal himself and have the ability to fight back. But Zain's legs were also destroyed, which heavily affected his movements, so the healing wasn't working quickly.
'I need a distraction. I can only use Skittle.' Zain sighed. He didn't wish to use this plan, but thinking of the Strength stat point he had added, he felt Skittle would have a good chance of survival in this clash.
As soon as he commanded Skittle to attack, the latter had run forward like he always did when set for an attack command, and Zain's plan seemed to have worked. Unfortunately, however, it seemed to work a little too well. The Titan stood up from its feet, ignored Zain, and threw a powerful punch straight toward Skittle's head.
"Skittle duck!" Zain shouted.
Skittle didn't understand and continued forward until someone from the side swept him off his feet. Then that person pulled Zain up and placed him down. Before they could react to what happened, the two of them were standing on the street near an alleyway in front of the stranger.
"If you can get up, I suggest you follow me." The man said.
Zain noticed something strange was happening, but the fact that this man saved Skittle and the Titan was trying to kill them made him more inclined to go with the man. His legs had healed, and he had given up on the idea of defeating the Titan. It was just too risky, and it was better to get out of there if they didn't have to fight that zombie.
Sprinting towards the alleyway, Zain followed the man into it, and Skittle wasn't far behind either.
'Now that I'm close, I'm sure of it, this guy...he doesn't smell like a human.'
*****
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