Chapter 55: Race against time (6)

The group had three hours to escape Miami, and they could easily see dozens of thousands of zombies blocking their path, perhaps more. They had some time to check the other exits, but neither of them thought they would find better conditions elsewhere. 

While Amanda and the others went pale while contemplating their imminent death, Luke began to make some calculations. Say that everyone levels up for one hour nonstop and increases their focus and intelligence up to thirty. With those attributes, they would be able to take three fat zombies or six fire zombies per minute… no, it wouldn't work. Without taking any risks, the group would only be able to kill a couple of thousands of zombies. They didn't have to worry about aiming since the zombies were clustered, but…

"Even if they fight up close and kill the zombies with a single strike, in the best case scenario, they would have to kill by themselves… five thousand zombies per hour…" Luke thought.

If Luke fights really hard, he will decrease the work of others by half, but could he keep that pace for three hours? No… he has to keep that pace for three hours.

"Shalia, kill the fire zombies," Luke said. "Rina, buff my strength whenever I pick a weapon from the ground."

"Haha, now we are talking," Shalia laughed, visibly excited. "This is the kind of challenge that I like."

"Do you want me to buff your strength to the maximum only in those moments?" Rina asked.

"Yeah, this will help you save some mana, and by killing dozens of those freaks, items are bound to drop, so we should use mana wisely," Luke said and then jumped from the vehicle. "As for you guys, focus on increasing your intelligence and focus on being able to use the bows and crossbows more often."

"He is going to get himself killed," Luthi said. "You should stop him… this challenge is too much for a human who has been fighting only for three days."

"... Buff my intelligence to the max, Luthi," Celia said. "Unless we show that much determination, we are bound to be wiped out alongside the zombies. From high in the sky, the pilots won't be able to differentiate what is a zombie and what isn't, and considering what happened with Luke before, we should assume that those in power will try to get rid of those that might become a nuisance."

"That indeed is possible… this happened on many other planets, but beings like you have partners like me probably will be targeted," Luthi nodded and then sighed. "This is just the start, huh."

The others could see where Celia was coming from, but they still couldn't see any chance of them crossing the 8th street while not getting scratched by so many zombies. Still, they realized that they didn't have any other options. It was a do or die situation…

Andrew tried to decide for them how they should use their status points, and now Luke was trying to do the same, but unlike before, now they could see that Luke's orders made sense. It was the best option they had to survive without getting infected.

You received a new quest!

Quest: escape!

Time limit: 2: 57: 33

Reward: Special skill book.

Luke didn't know why that quest had a time limit and why he received it only now, but he couldn't care less about it. So, Luke approached the zombie horde, he immediately picked his broadsword. Fighting with a two swords style might be useful, but it tires him too fast. It was time to use all the weapons he got… First of all, Luke used Weapon Augmentation level two on the sword and threw it like a boomerang. Rina enhanced his strength at the very last moment. So, the weapon flew toward the enemies at a fearsome speed and easily beheaded dozens of zombies before it finally stopped and cracked.

You obtained 06 experience points.

You obtained 06 gold coins.

You obtained 06 experience points.

You obtained 06 gold coins.

…

Luke didn't stop there. He immediately grabbed the spear he took from Andrew and then threw it by using Weapon Augmentation level one. Since the weapon was specialized for thrust attacks, it flew for quite the distance while impaled zombies one after the other. To destroy the massive number of zombies just a bit more, Luke also grabbed his whip… he wished that he had time to learn how to use it more. Still, he didn't have any other choice… he used it alongside Weapon Augmentation level three. In the end, he raised the weapons and slashed out on the ground, and that created a powerful wave of flames that moved toward the zombies. The ones that hadn't mutated yet turned into charcoal, but the fire zombies didn't suffer any damage. Meanwhile, half of the bodies of the fat zombies melted.

Congratulations! The skill Weapon Augmentation has leveled up.

You obtained 05 status points.

"Why didn't you level up before… damn it," Luke clenched his teeth since he now only had the bracers to use.

When a new group of zombies approached him, Luke saw some of them falling after getting hit in the heads by arrows. At least they decided to fight, Luke thought… Nevertheless, after putting away his sword, Luke equipped his bracers and then used Weapon Augmentation level four. A lot more SP had been used to activate it, and maybe thanks to that, Luke felt his arms burning with power. The skill didn't force him to do anything this time, but he could guess what he had to do. Luke ran toward the group of zombies and punched one of them with both hands.

The attack created a massive shockwave that completely destroyed all zombies in front of Luke in the next moment. One hundred and seven zombies were decimated with that attack alone. However, it wasn't enough... since Luke didn't gain a single weapon out of that massive attack.