BOOM!
A figure crushed into a building.
Vincent stared at the supermarket entrance, his eyes wide in terror.
A colossal figure stood before the entrance—a hound twice the size of the previous two demon hounds.
Just standing on its four, Vincent's head barely reached its chest.
A silence followed as the dust slowly settled, and the demonic hound's glowing red eyes locked on the targets around it, on guard for any sudden movements.
The dust settled, revealing Prim lying in the rubble; a puddle of green blood slowly formed below him as blood slashed out of his left forearm.
The bone broke when he took the hit, tearing through the flesh and sticking out. His arm was unusable.
'Take it's attention quickly!!' Vincent screamed in his mind.
Swoosh!
Prim dashed at the demon hound.
"VINCENT! RUN!" Livia stormed back, quickly going into a small alley between the collapsed buildings. "We'll meet at the hospital!!"
Her shout echoed as she disappeared, moving beyond the limit of her boy as in this life-threatening situation, her body produced insane amounts of adrenaline.
Swoosh!
Vincent immediately stormed, running in the opposite direction, his heart pumping blood and adrenaline.
'Stall it at all price!' He gave one last order before disappearing behind the rubble of the collapsed buildings.
Bom! Bom!
The sound of flesh striking flesh echoed before the supermarket as the demon hound and Prim faced each other. With each clash, the force of the impact tore into Prim's flesh. Had it been a human, he would have wailed in pain, but luckily, Prim didn't feel pain.
Still, he was clearly outmatched.
In just a few more clashes, the demon hound tore his arms apart.
Roar!
Seizing an opening, the demon hound bit at Prim's abdomen, its mouth so large it bit his whole abdomen. It barred its sharp teeth, raising him off the ground.
Splash! Crack! Crack!
Green zombie blood splashed around as the demon hound bit. Bones broke, and Prim's body stretched in a weird way.
Crack! SPLASH!
Thud! Thud!
With one last bite using its full jaw strength, the demon hound bit Prim in half.
The two halves fell to the sides while the abdomen and the internal organs remained in the demon hound's mouth. Long intestines covered in disgusting green blood hung outside through the gaps between the teeth.
Uarghhh...
Surprisingly, Prim's upper body still moved.
The demon hound glared at him.
Swoosh! Splash
With a stomp of its massive paw, Prim's head popped under the weight. Green blood and black brain matter stained the demon hound's paw, but it didn't mind.
It glared in the direction Vincent escaped.
Ding!
A new notification window appeared before the already existing one.
'Damn!' Vincent cursed.
[Your undead creature (Prim) has been killed]
[Remaining undead creatures: 0/3]
'I must escape.' He poured everything he had into running, squeezing all his strength. 'It can definitely track me through my scent.' The terror of the demon hound shook him down to the core. 'If I stop running even for a second, I'll die.'
With a thought, the notification of Prim's death vanished and revealed the window under it.
[Species: Demon Hound (Low-Grade)]
[Strength: 21]
[Stamina: 26]
[Agility: 22]
[Perception: 27]
Vincent had used his skill Probe the moment before he turned to escape.
It shook him to the core.
His heart raced in fear, almost jumping out of his chest.
'Prim's boost expired. ' His thoughts raced, coming up and eliminating various possibilities in seconds. 'Even with the boost, he is no match. It's no surprise to be torn to shreds.'
'But how can I escape this disaster?' Vincent gritted his teeth, bearing the intense pain in his legs and burning in his throat and lungs. 'Even Prim, a zombie, could smell Livia throughout the hospital. But the demon hound has a perception close to thirty...It can definitely track my smell.'
Ding!
Another notification followed.
[You killed a lowest-grade demon]
[You received: 60 Exp]
Images flashed before Vincent's eyes. 'The demon I fed the blood must have died,'
[Ding]
Immediately, a notification followed.
[You reached the requirement]
[You leveled up]
[You received: 2 attribute points]
[Current level: 2] - [Exp: 58/150]
It was the first joyous notification he received since he met this demon hound.
[Stamina: 10]
Without hesitation, he put the two attribute points in his stamina.
The burning he felt in his heart and legs intensified, and the sensation spread throughout his whole body.
He felt as if someone lit his muscles on fire from the inside.
But at the moment, where maybe seconds separated him from death and stopping meant death, he couldn't care about the pain. He pushed through it.
Not long passed, the burning sensation gradually disappeared from his muscles, remaining only in his lungs and throat. However, the remaining burning sensation was far less than previously. Most importantly, his exhaustion significantly diminished, allowing him to continue running.
[Ding]
Another notification followed.
[You received a quest]
[Main Quest: Level Up Apocalypse]
[Description: The zombie virus is at the initial stage and is weak; thus, it produces low-grade zombies. Upgrade the zombie virus]
[Requirements:]
[100 corpses] - [0/100]
[10 awakened corpses] - [0/10]
[1000 iron ores] - [0/1000]
[Reward: (Zombie Virus Level Up)]
'Zombie virus upgrade?' This caught Vincent off guard. 'If I understand correctly, the zombies would get even stronger...Hmph!' He scoffed. 'Humans have a hard time even now. There is no way I would strengthen those zombies.'
He abandoned this idea and continued running.
...
[Ding]
After several more minutes of running, another system window popped before his eyes.
[You killed a lowest-grade demon]
[You receive: 55 Exp]
'The Exp I get seems to get lower the more I kill,' Vincent thought for a second but didn't entertain the thought for more. It was not worth it as the answer was rather obvious.
'Ahhh...' As he ran, he touched the left side of his chest. An inexplicable sense of fear engulfed his heart, making him tremble.
Boom!
"AGHHHHHHHHH!"
As if in response to his fear, what he feared came.
Vincent's heart sank.
He abruptly turned back.
Not far from him, a dust cloud rose.
"SAVE ME!"
Horrified screams reached his ears.
"A Monster!"
Swoosh!
Without a second thought, Vincent stormed running.
The fear in him intensified.
'Damn! It's chasing after me!' He cursed internally.
In his fear, he didn't know where he was running.
'Damn! Damn! Why does it have to have such a high perception.'
He continued running at full speed, not stopping for even a second.
But the more he ran, the impending doom over him intensified.
'Zombies!' Vincent's eyes flashed with hope as he saw a few zombies moving aimlessly in the distance.
'If I camouflage my scent as a zombie...' he analyzed. 'No.' His eyes flashed with a better idea. 'Although, I doubt it eats zombies; it doesn't mean it would refrain from killing zombies.
The only way out is to gather a large enough group of zombies and make them stall for time until I escape. After all, they attack anything alive.
But as he got closer to the zombies, he saw flaws in his plan.
'I have no way to gather the zombies. And they are too weak. I need a large amount of them.'
Screech!
Just as Vincent reached the zombies, a cry rang in the sky.
Vincent looked in the direction of the cry.
The dark violet monster, the size of a human, flew into the sky, its gaze locked on Vincent.
'Damn!' His heart sank even deeper. 'Does the heavens want me dead?'
His troubles seemed never ending.
Swoosh!
The monster flew down, descending towards Vincent at a terrifying speed.
"Sigh!" Vincent let out a long sigh as he stopped moving. He tried his best to remain calm and clear-headed despite his legs trembling.
His eyes turned sharp as thoughts on ways to dodge and survive clashed in his mind.
Screech!
With one last scream, the monster opened its beak full of hollow holes to devour Vincent.