The World Cataclysm

Gulping down the Strength Potion, Brian had felt how strength surged in his plump body as his muscles became stronger and sturdier. Now, he may even rival some weaker Giants in strength since it had exceeded the 10 points mark.

'Now, I can less worry for Brian since, coupled with his Small Fireball and high strength, handling a Giant won't be a problem for him, even though he is not an opponent for a Hunter.'

Dave was satisfied with the progress reached by Adam and Brian. Just several days ago, they had a hard time killing even one zombie, but look now, Brian had taken down a Giant just by himself, even though Adam's rapid progress was more spontaneous than hard-earned.

As he thought how much both of them had advanced, Dave couldn't help but relax a bit. Even though he had returned back in time, he still didn't have a definite goal except for becoming stronger, so it was calming to know that there was someone who could cover his back. His biggest wish was to find his little brother with his aunt and uncle, but it wasn't possible for now.

"Hey, Adam, I'm stronger than you now. With my strength and Small Fireball, you won't even be equal to me. After you had awakened Telekinesis, you became too arrogant, so look forward to how I'm going to remove your cheeky smile from your face."

"Pfft...You are too slow to follow after me. What's the point of your magic if you can't hit me with it? While you will chant your spell, I'll quickly handle you with my Flying Spear."

'Maybe not now...'

Dave sighed inwardly as he heard how they were bickering with each other. He agreed that having a competitive spirit was beneficial for their growth, yet he didn't like the idea of death due to the commotion that they had caused.

"Lower your voices, you are going to attract all zombies close to us. Brian, lead us to another group of zombies."

Exasperated, Dave decided to resume their hunt on zombies since they still had half an hour before they planned to return to the dormitory building. Perhaps, they even might stumble on another evolved zombie. Even though they didn't leave the range of half a mile from their base, there were still a lot of zombies wandering on the roads.

After ten minutes, they were unable to find a small group of zombies, so Dave started thinking about wrapping up their expedition, but as he was preparing to propose to go back, Brian changed in his facial expression. Apparently, he became fearful of something as the colour had drained from his face.

"I've sensed evolved zombies close to our location"

Brian's voice was slightly shaky as he shared his discovery with everyone. When Dave heard him, he quickly understood why he was so fearful. Brian had was scared as much as now only when Dave had faced with 2 Hunters in front of the dormitory building.

"How many of them?"

"1 Giant and 2 Hunters. All three of them are low-rank and there is also a bunch of zombies next to them."

Maybe Brian didn't say it directly, yet looking at his face, it was apparent that he was unwilling to kill them. They had never targeted more than one evolved zombie since even fight with 2 Hunters was more spontaneous rather than anticipated.

"Let's kill them! Our strength should be enough to hunt them."

Even though Brian wasn't eager to go after them, he still yielded under Dave's suggestion. He didn't have high hopes for it, yet he already took down a Giant single-handedly if it could be count as one. He didn't become overconfident, but the thoughts about success still found a place in his heart.

After 5 minutes, they saw a slightly larger group of zombies with a towering Giant among them. Dave looked at him sizing it up. It had a resemblance to any other zombies except for its humongous size. The Giant clearly stood out from the crowd of zombies, while Hunters had blended into the group.

"Brian, we will attack, after you kill a Giant with a Small Fireball. Don't dare miss this one! Adam, you're gonna take a Hunter, while I kill another. You should try to use your Telekinesis, not only for Flying Spear but also try to halt a Hunter in its tracks with Telekinesis or repel it with your mind. Rebecca, you can wait on the backline, before other zombies reach us."

Sharing his plan with everyone, Dave gave a signal for Brian to start chanting his spell. Understanding him, Brian cleared his mind and started mumbling unknown words in a clear voice as he became more nervous with every word. He had enough mana only to shoot one Small Fireball since he had already used most of his mana on Life Pulse and 2 shots of fireball.

After 15 seconds, the fire had gathered in front of him shaping into a sphere. As Brian concentrated his mind on it, the fireball flew in a straight line and slammed into the head of a Giant.

"Success!"

Brian couldn't help but exclaim in delight as a Giant fell down with a loud thud. As it fell on the ground, 2 zombies leapt from the crowd rushing towards them. They had sharp claws unlike humans and black armour-like plates covering some parts of their bodies.

Dave quickly enhanced his body with mana and activated Reinforced Breathing leaping towards one of the Hunters. He especially avoided a second one, giving Adam a reason to fight with it.

Seeing how a Hunter was approaching him, Adam quickly lifted his spear with Telekinesis and shot it towards a Hunter. It flew towards its head in a straight line, yet right at the moment when it was going to pierce its head, Hunter tilted slightly dodging a spear by a hair's breadth and quickly growing closer to him.

Right when the Hunter was already close to him, Adam directed his hands towards it and used his innate ability to push it away from him. At the same time as it got pushed away, Adam concentrated on his spear and stabbed Hunter's head from behind.

When he had killed his Hunter, Dave had already finished with another one as he was observing their situation. With three evolved zombies down, it wasn't hard for them to kill remaining ordinary. This time Rebecca and Brian, who were watching everything from the backline, had also joined killing them.

After slaughtering other zombies, it was a turn to check their spoils. Ordinary zombies had only dropped Survival Coins, while the Hunter and Giant, killed by Adam and Brian, had dropped a White Chest each of them. Only Dave was left with nothing.

'Even though the drop rates of Treasure Chests are higher this time, it seems that the system is still fair enough. Stronger you grow, fewer Treasure Chests you will get killing weaker monsters.'

Dave wasn't surprised that he didn't get one since he was already a level 4 outstripping low rank 1 zombies by a level. He forecasted that he will get fewer Treasure Chests from evolved zombies.

On the other hand, Adam and Brian were beaming as they had opened their corresponding Treasure Chests. Adam had gotten a vial with a blue liquid the same that Dave had gotten and Brian held a crystal apple in his hands.

[Basic Mana Potion

Description: Restores 10 points of mana upon drinking.]

[Crystall Apple

Description: Restores 2 points of the spirit upon eating.]

"You should swap items with each other since Brian needs mana for Small Fireball, while Adam spends spirit for his Telekinesis"

Agreeing with Dave, both of them bartered with each other as Adam gave a Basic Mana Potion to Brian and Brian passed his apple to Adam. Both of them were satisfied with their spoils as they held them. With a mana potion, Brian was able to cast an additional 2 Small Fireballs, while Adam was able to hold his Telekinesis much longer.

Adam was already feeling dizziness from the fight with a Hunter, while Brian was apparently drained from mana. Rebecca also looked mentally exhausted since today was her first-day killing zombies. Her first experience already had a toll on her mentality, not to say constant fighting with zombies afterwards.

"Let's wrap it up for today. Brian, lead us to our base."

Sensing the states of his teammates, Dave decided that it was enough for them for today. When Dave suggested going back, three of them were delighted as they wanted to faster get to the safety.

'Sleep...'

Rebecca was drained from killing zombies and just wanted to sleep on the soft bed.

'Shower...'

Even though Adam was also mentally tired, he wanted to take a shower to wash all the filth from his body.

'Food...'

As for Brian, his desire was quite simple; he was starving after hours of hunting and wanted to fill his stomach with some food.