Chapter 54 Outside
The number of zombies crowding the streets was surprisingly low.
On the other hand, most streets were littered with the remains of their corpses.
It looked like quite a few of them had been eaten based on the mangled bodies scattered all over, and the few zombies they saw were definitely higher leveled.
Most of the ordinary zombies had already attained an Agility of two points or higher!
This was quite the surprise, but not even the tip of the iceberg.
After spending half an hour walking through the outskirts of Rian, Dilan felt that they had already come across more than fifty high-leveled monsters, with at least 10 monsters that seemed to be on par with the War Krendel.
Dilan was eager to hunt down all of them because it looked like most of them were of a different type.
They seemed to have evolved in specific paths such as focusing on one particular stats in the Log of the Ancient.
He presumed that this was their way of evolving; focusing on one trait that would become their first or possibly only development path.
Of course, he had no idea if this was the truth, but it seemed like this was the case as nearly all ordinary zombies had similar traits.
The Agility-focused zombies’ skin was slowly taking on a blueish color.
It was not comparable to the Mutated Swiftness Zombie, which was quite easy to perceive owing to the difference in the darkness of the blue skin color.-.
Thus, Dilan grew certain that they were Agile zombies.
Observing the zombies around them, one could tell that the outskirts of Rian were already more dangerous than what they had been facing inside the Rian mountainside hospital.
“Looks like all kinds of existences are eager to procure Essence crystals…”
Kathrine just nodded her head. She had already noticed that the zombies inside the hospital were weaker than the ones she had encountered on her way here.
“I noticed that already before. Looks like the zombies inside the hospital are just underdeveloped and weak because they don’t attack each other.”
By sharing their assumptions, they had figured out quite a lot about the given situation.
And considering that more humans lived in the center of the city, there might also be stronger zombies that they had yet to come across.
After all, humans possessed their very own Essence crystal.
This was something Dilan was certain of as he had observed a few corpses all around them intently.
If humans didn’t turn into zombies after being scratched, there were always bite and claw marks on their heads.
That was if their head was still attached to their body and not bitten off by some vicious monster.
It was always the same part of the brain that had been damaged, whether it were zombies, humans, or other kind of existences.
But that was only logical because the Essence crystal of all existences was always at the same location!
Neither Dilan nor Kathrine were in a rush and they took their time while calmly walking through the surrounding area.
Even if the hospital had low-leveled zombies, there were a few cannibalists and mutated ones among them.
This meant that they were feeding on their own kind, or used their uniqueness to level up faster than others.
Thus, it was quite interesting to see that not a single existence that was stronger than the War Krendel could be found around them.
“Let’s just start our hunt while approaching the Zoo. I really doubt that we will find a variety of mutated animals in the next few hours.
We should use the zombies, and Mythical beasts around us to level up, and gain a few more Status points.”
Kathrine had thought about the same before already, but she felt as if they required more than just a few monsters in order to defeat the Zombie Centaur.
Her gut feeling told her so, only for her eyes to look towards the sky and locate the sun.
‘It will be afternoon soon, and the generator in the hospital has stopped working…’
Kathrine would have to make use of the last sun rays to reach the fourth floor, or she would be forced to go out in the dark.
The latter would kill her, which meant Kathrine had to wait for the next morning if they didn’t reach the hospital before sunset.
Thus, she nodded her head without too much of a thought.
However, just at this moment, a huge group of reptilian human-like monsters appeared around the corners of a huge building complex.
They were less than a meter tall, had scaled skin that had different shades of colors.
Some were of reddish-brown, pitch-black color while others had a burnt orange shade. A few had dark red eyes.
Each of them had short stick-like legs, long, clawed fingers and a jaw like that of a crocodile!
“Kobolds?” Dilan instinctively blurted out, not even sure if he was correct while trying to assess their strength.
All of them were wielding different types of weapons and most of them were smeared with blood or other liquids.
Their movements were smooth, which attracted his interest as well.
Without thinking too much about it, he caught hold of Kathrine’s clothes and pulled her towards the right.
Only when they reached the closest building’s walls did Dilan calm down a bit.
His eyes were fixated on the Kobolds, just for Kathrine to mumble quietly beside him,
“There should be around four different types of Kobolds, and their leader must be a Bronze monster, right?”
Dilan agreed without moving an inch, as he kept staring at the group of 30 monsters. They slowly inched their way towards the other side of the building, while keeping an eye on the kobolds.
Wanting to get away as soon as possible, they jumped on top of the cars that had been left behind in the middle of the street.
Some zombies were stuck in a few abandoned and crashed cars and did nothing except growl as they heard the noises which the Kobolds made.
But it was just as the first Kobold walked past these cars that the rest of them thrust their spears in the cars.
Their speed was rapid, and it was quite evident that they were familiar with the weapons they wielded.
As such, it was not astonishing to see that each attack pierced through the head of the zombies they targeted.
The Kobolds growled out aggressively, as they kicked and stomped their way into the car where they devoured the Essence crystals of the unleveled zombies they had just killed.
From the looks of it, they made use of every last ounce of Essence.
Their delight while absorbing Essences was clearly noticeable, and one could easily figure that they were already addicted to the sensation.
Maybe this would have interested Dilan as it helped him figure out more about the wild behavior of other socializing races.
However, right now, it was not exactly important as Dilan chose to pick the group of Kobolds as his opponents.
“Just attack from the side, and pay attention to the surrounding beasts. Don’t worry about accidentally hitting me while shooting your bolts of lightning. Stay focused and everything will work out!”
Dilan’s command was simple. There was not much for Kathrine to change in her fighting stance, which was why he moved the moment he finished his words.
“Take care of yourself!” She quickly mumbled, just for Dilan to wave off her concern.
“Of course, I will take care of myself, I don’t plan to die! And I told you that I’ll help you to defeat the monster on the third floor. Don’t worry too much!”
A moment later, his demeanor changed completely. His speed accelerated all of a sudden and he simply kept running alongside the building’s wall.
Only when he had put more than a hundred meters between himself and Kathrine did he change his direction.
A thunderous sound echoed around him, and currents of electricity shrouded his feet as his Agility shot up to reach [8.5].
Pushing his feet off the ground with all his might, Dilan shot towards the broad street that the group of Kobolds used nonchalantly.
The moment the booming noise of the [Thunder Step] ability resounded through the entire street, the Kobolds turned their heads in unison.
However, despite being an aggressive race, they couldn’t even declare war against Dilan as they saw a pair of frosty eyes staring at them…eyes that had witnessed the end of the lives of countless beings!