Ascenders Rift

Chapter 14: A Level 2 Zombie! Arelithian Cape!

It was difficult to tell the time in Arelith, the perpetually gray skies with lights shining from an unusually dim sun shone for miles upon miles, eras upon eras. Yet, despite this gloomy sight, some fought bravely within its setting, as they tried to add life into this ruined world. A pity, the battles occurring at this moment, would only seek to add desolate new corpses that would forever rest upon these lands.

Swing! With the sound of something sharp cutting through the wind, three zombies who rushed towards an individual had come to a stop. As this happened, the object then made a swirling motion as it reached over to the other side of a young man garbed in simple ragged clothes, who casually gripped its handle. His figure had dashed between the assaulting zombies in one swift motion, making a twirl with the weapon in hand before halting at their opposing ends.

Splat! The heads of the three zombies soared into the air as their corpses fell to the ground. After this happened, a series of notifications sounded.

[5 EXP Gained!]

[5 EXP Gained!]

[5 EXP Gained!]

As Evan saw his experience points, he shook his head and looked at the curved sword in his head as he spoke, "The EXP is low, and the drops from these zombies are really not up to standard. However, this cutlass sword is not too bad, a bit low in quality but usable for the time being,"

[Arelithian Cutlass - Rank 1: Lesser Grade]

[Damage - 3]

[Durability - 2]

After inspecting its details, Evan nodded as he then shouted in his mind, "Status!"

[Evan Cross - Special Status - ????????]

[Race - Human | State - Awakened]

[Class - None]

[Level - 1]

[Next Level - 1000 EXP]

[Total EXP - 505]

[Health - 150]

[Battle Power - 5]

[Strength - 13 (10+3)]

[Vitality - 9]

[Agility - 10]

[Talent - None]

[Skills - None]

"Well, at least it added an extra layer of power to my strength, now along with the addition of my +5 Battle Force I should be able to barely handle a Level 2 zombie. As long as it's not too fast, and I avoid any special skills, I should be able to kill it. Che! It's been more than half a day, and I am still far away from Level 2. I can't keep wasting time here..." Evan said with a tone of reluctance as he checked out his stats and the weapon details.

Not long after, Evan had left the area of doomed zombies, he began to wander further into this city of death. As he cautiously moved amongst the structures, he would continually pick off more straggling zombies. Eventually, he had arrived at a deeper part of the city after spending more than 20 or so hours grinding nearby Level 1 Zombies. His EXP was now only a few dozen away from reaching Level 2.

While wandering the city, Evan soon came across a group of different zombies, with a single more massive zombie standing at their core. This zombie had a unique air about it as if one looked closely, they would see a strange black colored energy vaguely coming from its body.

Evan's eyes grew stern as he saw this, he shouted in his mind, "Inspect!" Following his voice, the details regarding the zombie had appeared before his eyes.

[Cursed Arelithian Zombie - Level 2]

[Evolved beings cursed by the gods of Arelith, forced to wander the world as a lifeless corpse never to be reincarnated. It carries a savage will, to consume all life to vent its sorrow and rage. Be careful, for this creature has awakened death energy.]

[Health - 300]

[Strength - 20]

[Agility- 14]

[Skills:]

[Cursed Scream - A breath of death energy that can corrode all things.]

[Cursed Bite - ....]

[Cursed Claws - ...]

Evan's face turned stern as he thought, "Although he's only at the base of a Level 2 monster, this fellow has already achieved another class of strength. I must be careful..."

The Level 2 Zombie was far from the likes of Level 1 as it had keener senses, although it couldn't tell Evan's approximate location due to Evan's hiding skills it was able to smell his lifeforce.

"Kreee!" Level 2 Zombie roared as if commanding all those around it.

As they heard this, the previously disorganized Level 1 Zombies got into formation as they began to patrol the area more carefully.

Evan, who was hidden on top of a structure, frowned at this change as he spoke, "It has such keen senses... I've even gone ahead and suppressed my presence with my Battle Power. Yet it could still detect that I'm nearby. It seems that it's also awakened Spiritual Consciousness... this must be the reason why has managed to grasp Death Energy. Hmph! Since it's like this, then I'll take them out before I face you..."

After completing his thoughts, Evan glared at the group for Level 1 Zombies surrounding the Level 2 Zombie. Although they were moving cohesively, they were still slight inconsistencies within them.

Occasionally one would stray as it shuffled about a random path before regrouping. Evan took the chance when one of them had done this, and jumped down from the building, descending like a bolt of lightning.

Swoosh! The Level 1 Zombie was stunned as it smelled a lifeform above it, but by the time it lifted its head to react, a cold light had greeted its eyes.

Shing! Evan used the momentum from the two-story building to cut the Level 1 Zombie into two halves, as this happened, he then kicked his feet from the ground, pushing himself towards a nearby alleyway.

The Level 2 Zombie, along with the others, was startled by the sound. Quickly, they arrived at the scene, but Evan had already vanished. Having some minor degree of intelligence, the Level 2 Zombie was angered, he lifted his head and roared, "Kreeee!"

The zombies then began to scatter about the area using their different speeds to search for Evan's whereabouts, it seemed that they were given the search and destroy command.

Evan smirked at this, as it couldn't have gone any better. He promptly 'swooshed' about the ruins picking off the weaker Level 1 Zombie in only a few moments.

"Whew! I have to be careful; I'm not like these guys with endless stamina. My Vitality is still a bit low after all..." Evan said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He looked at the dried-up blood on his cutlass before giving it a hard swing to clean it off, afterward he looked at the furious Level 2 Zombie below him and smirked.

"It seems he's started to panic..." As Evan spoke, the Level 2 Zombie was currently venting on the Level 1 Zombies. It struck its massive fists onto their bodies, quickly hurling them into distant walls as those unlucky enough to be caught by it was ripped apart.

After a short while, Evan, who had caught his breath, finally prepared to act, gripping the cutlass firmly in one hand as he spoke, "It's time."

Not wasting any moment, Evan jumped from a different structure at the Level 2 Zombie, which was surrounded by corpses of its kin. Yet, unlike the previous Level 1 Zombies that failed to react to his previous assault, the Level 2 Zombie swiftly responded by shifting its body to the side.

Evan's sword attack, which was meant to cut the zombie into two fell onto the stone-paved floor, causing the cutlass to slice into the ground as it sent sparks into the air after a loud ringing sound.

"Damn! Its speed is only one step behind mine; with the aid of its keen senses, it can easily dodge my attacks." Evan cursed as he prepared to pull the sword out, but it was at this time the Level 2 Zombie had counterattacked.

"Kreee!" The Level 2 Zombie shouted as its body vanished like a blurry shade appearing behind Evan, it then struck out both of its arms, preparing to smash him into the earth.

"Hmph! It's not so easy to kill me..." Evan said as he quickly pulled out the earth-plunged cutlass and jumped forwards doing a front roll.

The Level 2 Zombie's hands that were gripped together narrowly missed Evan's body, but they didn't stop descending. In moments, they had crashed into the stone-paved floor, creating a terrifying scene.

Bang! The stone broke into a series of fissures, and a sinkhole had formed for roughly ten meters, causing a cloud of dust to build in around the zombie. The shockwave of this attack, then pushing away the surrounding corpses, hurling them into the air for a height no less than a hundred or so meters.

Evan, who was already prepared, had his cutlass plunged into the earth once more before him. His body had only been pushed back by a few dozen meters from the Level 2 Zombie, leaving a long trailing line on the ground from its position.

Evan's eyes narrowed as he recalled Ralph's attack and contemplated, "I couldn't clearly tell because of my unwakened state back then, but that stalker should if not the same be slightly more powerful than this creature. Hmm, his strength would then only be inferior to that recorded by Alan during the arrival of the Ascenders Rift. Nevertheless, as I was one to start late, I am a bit uncertain whether the details I've heard are correct. It's highly likely that he was at a stronger Level during the time... not to mention those from that RADA group that's acting in the shadows..."

While Evan pondered, the dust cloud that shrouded the Level 2 Zombie was beginning to clear itself. Soon, the glaring red eyes of the zombie could be seen shining behind clouds of dirt as it bared its savage teeth and roared.

"Keeee!" Following its battle cry, the Level 2 Zombie had begun to take a deep breath, small amounts of black energy erupted from its body.

Evan seeing this grew even more solemn as he pondered, "Now isn't the time for thoughts... I need to kill this beast with this chance, or it will be troublesome."

"Haaa...." Evan exhaled a deep breath as he gathered his Battle Power, causing the indefinite amount of steam to flow from his body once more.

As the atmosphere around Evan changed, a tinge of red could be noticed around the cutlass that was plunged into the earth. Evan promptly stood up and took a decent combat posture positioning the cutlass at his side.

The Level 2 Zombie had already built up its strength, its eyes shone with a cruel light as it opened its mouth and blew out a black gas that quickly encompassed a majority of the area.

"Haaa!" Evan, having already gathered his full momentum, jumped into the air reaching as high as few dozen meters.

As his body 'swooshed' over the rapidly expanding black gas that eroded everything within twenty meters, he then began to fall towards the now vulnerable Level 2 Zombie. He lifted the cutlass with both of his arms and swung it towards its neck with full power.

"Die!" Evan yelled as the cutlass sliced through the neck of the zombie after suffering from only a bit of resistance.

Whoosh! The zombie's head went flying into the air as Evan landed behind it, with his feet crouched on the ground and his arm holding the cutlass by his side. Soon, the corpse fell to the ground as the corrosive black gas slowly began to disperse into the air.

[20 EXP gained!]

[Ding!]

[You have ascended to Level 2!]

[You have received a Rank 1 Arelithian Cape!]

At this time, Evan, who had stood up once more, smirked as he spoke while looking at the series of notifications, "Right on time, I've even got a dropped item. Tsk! It's already so hard to find these things."

As Evan spoke, a dark brown cape with strange symbols appeared in his arms, he looked at it in depth before commanding, "Inspect!"

[Arelithian Cape - Rank 1: Middle Grade]

[Vitality - 2]

[Agility - 6]

[Durability - 4]

When Evan saw these details his eyes went wide, but he soon became so happy that he wanted to jump and shout in excitement. However, he knew better, he calmed down and pondered.

"Truly a great catch! I was a bit worried about that fighting a Fallen of all things, especially while being under-leveled and poorly equipped, but this might be able to level the plain field a tiny bit. If I can get my hands onto a stronger sword, or even a simple leather armor, then my chance will be better. I still have about two days, and based on my previous trials, I believe that the Fallen should be somewhere within this city's central execution zone. Since that's the case, I'll see just how far I can go in one more day before I head to challenge him."

After Evan said this, his eyes flickered with determination as he put on the cape and dashed forward. Instantly, his body blurred and vanished from this location filled with a desolate air.