The air on the stairway between the first floor and the ground floor was heavy, thick with a stench that made the stomach turn. It wasn't just the smell of rotting meat anymore.
It was worse, pungent and suffocating.
Huddled on the landing, the group of survivors peered into the gloom of the lobby below. The man with the ratty mustache wiped sweat from his forehead, his hands shaking so violently that the flashlight he held flickered against the wall.
"We should go back up," he whispered, his voice cracking. "We should go back to the library office. It was safe there."
Next to him, the little girl clutched the hem of her shirt, her eyes wide and wet. She didn't say anything.
She just stared at the backs of the three people standing at the bottom of the stairs.
To the survivors, those three looked like they belonged to a different species. While the group on the stairs was ready to turn and run at the first sound of a scream, Lu Zhang and the others were stepping into the darkness willingly.
"If... if they die," the phone guy muttered, clutching his useless device like a talisman. "We run back up and barricade the door."
The others nodded silently. Fear was the only thing keeping them standing. The fear of what was down there, and the fear of being left alone.
Down below, the atmosphere was entirely different.
"Cai Dajiang," Su Yao's voice was calm, cutting through the low growls echoing from the lobby. "Three on the the left. " She adjusted her grip on the metal ruler, the edge glinting in the faint moonlight.
"Can you hold them?"
Cai Dajiang adjusted his glasses, his face pale but set in a grimace of determination. He held a sturdy table leg he had scavenged from the first floor, holding it like a club.
"The probability of injury in this mad venture is high," he muttered, mostly to himself. "But the probability of death otherwise is higher."
"I'll hold them."
"Good." Su Yao nodded.
"I'll take the ones on the right."
A blur of motion erupted from the center of the lobby, followed by the squelching sound of decapitation.
Lu Zhang was already moving.
"Graaah!" The first wave of zombies from the left lunged at Cai Dajiang. Unlike the slow, shambling corpses from the beginning, these Level 5 zombies moved with a greater, more human, agility. Their muscles were less rotten, their torn skin grey and hardened like leather.
Cai Dajiang gritted his teeth and stepped forward.
'Endurance. Trust the stats.'
He raised the table leg, to intercept and block.
Bam!
The wood collided with a zombie's arm, the impact shuddering through Cai Dajiang's shoulder with supernatural force.
But he didn't buckle.
With his endurance, his body was far tougher than a normal human's.
He absorbed the blow, using the momentum to shove the zombie back into the others behind it.
"Now!"
At his signal, Su Yao stepped in from behind him. She didn't have his durability, but she had agility and intelligence.
To her, the battlefield was a series of weak points. She saw the slight stagger of the zombie Cai Dajiang had pushed.
Pushing off the wall beside Cai Dajiang, she slammed against the zombie sideways as the metal ruler drove into the zombie's skull with surgical precision.
[Zombie Lv 5 killed!]
They were machines, creating a steady, churning death area for the zombies. They ground through the corridor, inch by inch, keeping the stairwell clear.
But while they were fighting a battle, Lu Zhang was speeding to his goal.
He didn't have a plan this time. He didn't need one. He wove through the horde of zombies, his movements faster than their rotten eyes could track.
To the zombies, he was a ghost. A gust of wind that brought death.
[Empty Fang]
His hand, coated in the azure mana construct, flashed out.
Squelch
A Level 6 zombie's head flew into the air, it's body still flailing towards him weakly. Lu Zhang didn't stop to check the kill.
He was already five meters away, burying his Fang-clad foot into the chest of another zombie, before whipping the impaled zombie and foot into another, tearing through both.
'Too slow.'
'Too weak.'
Lu Zhang spun, dodging a bite that came within a millimeter of his face.
'Is this all the experience you have to offer?'
He didn't need an experience bar to know that his levelling speed was slowing down.
The Level 5 and 6 zombies were giving diminishing returns.
'I need more.'
'I need to level up before the main event.'
He glanced towards the glass doors at the far end of the lobby.
The Wind Mantis was still there. It was hunched over, its massive green body rising and falling periodically as tiny holes in it's side expanded and contracted.
Even asleep, its presence was suffocating. A Level 10 monster. Lu Zhang knew, with a certainty that chilled his blood, that if he fought it at his current level, he might die. He needed that extra edge of a level up.
Drawn by the sensory input of corpses gurgling and hitting the floor, some of the zombies that were focusing on Su Yao and Cai Dajiang turned their heads. They surged forward.
Lu Zhang welcomed the swarm as he leapt up. He activated [Double Jump].
He shot into the air, landing on top of a bookshelf. The zombies crowded below, clawing at the wood, climbing over each other to reach him.
"Perfect."
Lu Zhang dropped. [Empty Fang] He didn't aim for one. He aimed for the pile. His legs became scythes of mana. He spun as he fell, a whirlwind of blue light and gore. Squelch! Crack! He landed in the center of the pile, surrounded by severed limbs.
[Zombie Lv 5 killed!]
[Zombie Lv 6 killed!]
[Zombie Lv 5 killed!]
...
The notifications scrolled past his vision faster than he could read. But it wasn't enough.
He heard it before he saw it. A sound like dry leaves scraping together, magnified a thousand times.
Lu Zhang stopped moving. Even the zombies stopped moving.
Slowly, painfully slowly, the mountain of green by the door shifted.
A massive, triangular head rose from the floor.
Compound eyes, glowing with a dull, malevolent light, swiveled around the room.
They passed over the trembling zombies.
They passed over Su Yao and Cai Dajiang.
And they locked onto Lu Zhang.
[Wind Mantis]
[Level 10]
The Mantis stood up, unfurling to its full height as it's extended scythes scraped the high ceiling of the lobby.
Its scythe arms clicked open, dripping bits of congealed blood and flesh. It let out a screech. A high-pitched, piercing sound that shattered the remaining glass in the windows.
"KREEEEEE!"
Lu Zhang felt a pressure settle on his chest, heavy and cold.
'Finally.'
He grinned, wiping black blood from his cheek.
He turned to Su Yao and Cai Dajiang, who were staring at the monster with frozen expressions.
Lu Zhang's voice snapped them out of their trance. "The trash mobs are yours!"
He pointed at the remaining zombies scattering away from the boss. "Clear them out! Don't let a single one interfere!"
"I'll handle the big one."
Lu Zhang didn't look back. He stepped forward, walking towards the Level 10 monster. He flexed his hands.
He had no weapon. He had no plan B. He just had the hunger to level up.
The Mantis twitched its mandibles, it's compound eyes narrowing onto him.
To the others, it simply disappeared. But to Lu Zhang, it was at least a blur of green death rushing towards him.
'Boss Fight, start!'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 7]
[Strength: 17]
[Speed: 34]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Endurance: 17]
[Stat Points: 15]
[Mana: 160/200]
[Skills: Inspect lv 3, Empty Fang Lv 6, Double Jump Lv 4]
[New Function discovered!]
[Not all monsters are the same...]