I look around and see Lila sitting in an elegant chair. Now I have no doubt that she has a storage item. But I don't have time to worry about that because dozens and dozens of zombies are approaching.
"Run!" I shout to Lila, who is in front of me.
I run to my right, and some zombies chase me, but not all of them. Since she seems to be stronger than me, I don't worry. I enter the ruined building, which has several floors and looks more stable.
I climb some cracked stairs. When I reach the second floor, I take advantage of the fact that the zombies are on the stairs, so they won't be able to surround me, and I start wielding my dagger.
Cut!
Cut!
[You have killed an F-rank human: +0.19]
[You have killed an F-rank human: +0.21]
[You have killed an F-rank human: +0.23]
[You have killed an F-rank human: +0.12]
...
After several minutes, the chaotic situation was calming down, but I was once again covered in the remains of rotten, foul-smelling flesh and blood.
[You have killed a human of rank F: +0.17]
[You have killed a human of rank F+: +0.28]
The last two heads flew off, and I sat down on the steps, but then stood up to go get my backpack. But as soon as I took a few steps outside the building, Lila threw my backpack to me.
She still looks beautiful, mysterious, and damn clean. That made me think she must be stronger than I imagined.
I took a towel out of my backpack and wiped the traces of blood and rotten flesh from my face and hands. Then I put part of the towel in my pants pocket, and we continued patrolling Area 4.
Several hours have passed, and I've been hunting zombies. "I think I can call myself Dan Helsing, zombie hunter," I joke to myself. I keep walking through the ruined city, staying alert because I don't trust those wannabe hunters and also so I can attack groups of zombies that I can handle without using up my fear points, because otherwise I'll start earning fewer fear points.
Do you hate zombies? -asks Lila, who walks beside me, not caring about the stench that surrounds me. Although I can say that the environment already smelled unpleasant.
-No, I just do it to gain combat experience and improve my accuracy in killing monsters. -I reply.
"Although I think what I do hate are those damn goblins," I think to myself and keep walking.
I look at the sky; it will soon be dark, so this time we only find a dilapidated two-story building with a basement.
We go inside, inspect the place carefully, go down to the basement, close the entrance, and Lila takes out a lamp.
-Sleep first. -I tell her.
She looks at me, then takes out her red blanket and lies down against the wall, soon falling asleep.
"System, how many fear points have I accumulated?" I ask in my mind.
[Fear points available: 21.87]
"Hmm, I killed more than 100 zombies, but that's not bad. If I keep up this pace... no, I'd better go to sleep," I stop thinking about the points, take out two packets of cookies, eat them slowly, and then drink a third of the water from my bottle.
The night is getting cold. I keep my senses alert. I feel vibrations in the ground around me. They must be different monsters. It seems that monsters are also more active at night, but at night, supernatural beings also roam the environment.
Time passes, and Lila wakes up; after which I lie down with my head resting on my backpack; when I wake up again, she is next to me and has covered me with her blanket.
-Thank you. -I say. She nods and stays awake.
We wait a few hours, and when my turn comes, I sleep again. I can't risk being tired if I want to keep hunting for fear points.
••••
At dawn, we left the building and headed into the city center. Most of the buildings had collapsed, and some had unnatural signs.
"Something supernatural happened here," was my first thought.
There are few places to hide in the surrounding area, and in the distance, I see an area where a large group of zombies can be seen.
One of the zombies turned his gaze toward us and then started running, wanting to catch up with us. Other zombies saw the movement and followed him.
I attract most of the zombies and hear their screams or strange sounds.
One of the many zombies chasing me jumps, but I am alert and duck, dodging the hands of a long-armed zombie that tries to grab me, and at the same time I cut off one of its legs at the knee. I keep running, this time two long-armed zombies jump. I throw myself to the ground and roll.
I push myself forward from the ground, and when I see an alley between two buildings, I enter the alley and again use the narrow space to face the zombies.
I attack the legs of the long-armed zombies to cut off their mobility, after which I face the rest of the zombies.
The zombies pile up in front of me in a chaotic frenzy they can't help. Some zombies still retain the features they had when they were human, so it's easy to see that there are zombies of different ages among them. In the end, I don't pay much attention to the zombies' appearance, I just keep cutting until there are no more zombies left.
I spent almost an hour cutting zombies. When I finished, I wiped my face with the towel I had in my pants pocket, then threw it away. It was too dirty to continue using.
"Come to think of it, this is crazy. I hope to take a good bath when I get back. And have a few drinks with the hunter Lizand. The brothel is another option..." I leave the alley after extracting the cores from the two long-armed zombies.
Once again, Lila approaches, carrying my bag as if she hadn't faced any mishaps.
I take a deep breath and then exhale, grab my backpack, take out a clean towel, and put it in my pocket.