Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

A small horde of Zombies gathered around the pastry shop. Their lifeless eyes fixed menacingly on the passage from which Ivan had emerged. Ivan halted, briefly surveying the grim scene as he contemplated how to handle the situation. He wasted no more than five seconds to think before he sprang into decisive action.

The zombies surged towards the gaping window. Ivan repelled the encroaching monsters from entering the shop with a powerful, targeted strike aimed at a single monster. The forceful impact propelled the other creatures surrounding the target away from the window. The target monster was reduced to a grotesque, pulpy, bloody mass.

Granting the encroaching monsters no moment of respite, Ivan chopped off the heads, torsos, and legs of any unfortunate creature in his relentless path. His speed, agility, and sheer strength were sufficient to handle this initial batch of monsters; his sword wasn't necessary.

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Ivan relentlessly mashed zombie heads into grotesque, bloody, lifeless jellies. One zombie managed to get dangerously close to him. Its arms shot forward to ensnare him, but Ivan spun around with blinding speed, far quicker than the lumbering creature. His right hand thrust into the zombie's chest region, extracting its pulsating, corroded, black fluid-oozing heart. The zombie stiffly fell backwards to the ground.

Barbaric Fatality!

The monsters continued to pour in. They were all ripper zombies. They were fast, but Ivan was faster, dealing with them as swiftly as possible, maintaining the defensive line he had established. This crucial defensive line was established to prevent any creature from breaking away and harming the civilians still frantically scrambling for safety.

Thick blood splattered across the ground as Ivan severed another unfortunate Zombie. He sidestepped to the left, expertly dodging the lurching torso of the severed zombie. The next thing he saw was a wide, open, clawed, petrified hand arcing towards his face. The alarming speed at which it lunged towards him was notably faster than usual.

'An anomaly.' Ivan swiftly deciphered.

He easily dodged the swift attack, his superior agility surpassing the creature's speed. At that moment, he felt an ominous danger descending from above. Thanks to gravity's influence, another zombie's sudden descent was simply too fast for Ivan to cleanly evade. The zombie landed heavily on the ground beside Ivan, and immediately attempted to sink its monstrous teeth into his shoulder. Ivan's armour creaked with a grating metallic tone as the zombie's fangs futilely sought to tear through its robust plating.

"Another anomaly," Ivan gasped forcefully.

He swiftly obliterated the heads of the two anomalous zombies and then brutally stomped to a pulpy mess the head of the zombie he had dealt with earlier.

A strong, wilder, primal roar announced the terrifying presence of a rapidly approaching horde of monsters, emerging from behind the horde already confronting Ivan. For a reason unknown to Ivan, he could vaguely yet distinctly perceive the approximate number of the new, swiftly advancing horde.

"How come no special characters have arrived on this street to assist with the situation?" Ivan wondered aloud as he drew his unique-type sword from its hidden spatial sheath.

The clouds in the sky parted at this moment, revealing the resplendent golden orb that illuminated the day. The red blade gleamed luminously under the radiant illumination of the giant golden orb. He felt a powerful surge of energy pulse from the sword into his very being.

Invigorated, he moved with blinding speed, utterly decimating the zombies before him. He was incredibly precise with his slashes, finishing off every grotesque monster with a single, decisive cut. Soon, it became a veritable pool of monstrous carcasses. The new, formidable horde swiftly came into his view. These creatures moved considerably faster than the preceding horde.

Unfortunately, some monsters managed to breach his advancing defensive line, forcing him to track back and eliminate them, thereby allowing more creatures to relentlessly push forward. Ivan's relentless efforts were gradually being suppressed. This overwhelming wave of monsters was far more ravenous and fervent for destruction. Monsters mindlessly piled upon Ivan, forming a grotesque heap over him.

"Ah!" A frustrated, primal roar escaped Ivan's lips as he heaved the monstrous pile high and away. He instantly followed up with a fierce attack, leaping high vertically and savagely slashing the monsters dead in mid-air.

Battle Lord!

Info: You have accumulated ten thousand joules of energy from decimating your opponents.

Progress: 10,000/10,000,000 joules.

Ivan only just grasped the significance of the progress from the information. Seeing the word joules at the end of the progress bar, Ivan surmised that the information directly related to Battle Lord.

He was prevented from descending to the ground at his own discretion. More than a dozen grotesque monsters launched themselves at the young adventurer, slamming into him from all sides. They ravenously bit into him, desperately attempting to tear him apart. Yet, his armour remained sturdy.

The relentless attack made his descent rough and brutally heavy. Ivan smartly contorted his body, strategically using some of the monsters as a cushion for the harsh landing. Several of the creatures used as cushions were utterly crushed under the combined weight of Ivan and the other attacking monsters.

He received notifications of experience points gained from successfully eliminating monsters. His body count for this brutal encounter had now reached one hundred and five. Ivan swiftly annihilated the monsters holding him down. He attempted to chase down the monsters that had breached his 'defensive' line, but a fresh handful of creatures pounced on him from behind.

He was limited from utilising his full top speed due to the confined nature of his surroundings. Also, he did not yet trust himself to perfectly control his movements at such extreme velocity. He could only move as fast as sixty kilometres per hour. The anomalous monsters moved almost at the same alarming speed.

"Where do you monsters keep coming from? Where the hell are the other adventurers? People are going to die because no one is coming to help!" Ivan voiced his mounting frustrations aloud as he relentlessly slashed away at the unending horde that swarmed upon him.

Three sudden, simultaneous explosions violently shook the entire street. Ivan initially presumed the zombies must have broken into someone's kitchen, causing a catastrophic gas leak that led to the explosions. He distinctly perceived the acrid scent of roasted meat.

Vigorously fighting his way through the dense crowd of monsters that swarmed around him, Ivan felt the fleeting presence of someone swiftly passing both him and the monstrous crowd. Suddenly, the monsters abruptly ceased their movements, and their heads and hearts violently burst into bloody fragments. Some of the gory remnants splattered upon Ivan's visor and armour. The monsters fell lifelessly to the ground, revealing a torso-armoured man standing calmly on the other side.

The man held a gleaming silver-bladed rapier in his left hand. Ivan considered this slim, light-skinned, full-haired, average-looking man who sported a comical handlebar moustache. The man bowed and said,

"I am swordman Jiggy."

The distinct sound of approaching footsteps drew Ivan's attention. He looked to his left; a burly man with a prominent pot belly approached and halted, deliberately maintaining a close distance. This burly man was bald, his skin deeply tanned presumably from prolonged exposure to sunlight, possessed a rich brown, full beard and a distinctly large, flat nose.

"Aye doing, bro. I'm Door-knob. Funny name, innit?" The burly man introduced himself with a grin.