As Takeru and Rikka remained silent, the light surrounding them faded. The sounds from outside became even clearer to Takeru's ears.
He casually summoned Twilight Moon. With the additional 30 points to Strength, he felt a tremendous surge of power.
It was worth noting that Twilight Night's Shadow, Twilight Night's Armor, and Twilight Moon were soul-bound to him.
Even if others took them, they could use them but wouldn't receive the attribute bonuses.
Because they were soul-bound, Takeru's own attacks couldn't damage these three pieces of equipment. This delighted him but also brought a worry: he relied on others' attacks to break and grow these items through their Destruction Growth effect.
Currently, however, Takeru couldn't find anyone who could damage them. Even in their initial state, Yukino and the others likely couldn't break them.
"Are you ready, Takanashi-san? Let's search for usable items and then leave this place," Takeru said, looking at the dazed Rikka.
"Ah, yes!" Hearing Takeru, Rikka snapped back to attention.
Soon, Takeru searched around. The only potentially useful item seemed to be a kitchen knife, but it was useless to him.
Besides that, there were some men's clothes in the wardrobe. Without much thought, Takeru selected a few, wrapped them in a blanket, and stored them in an item slot.
As for food, his search yielded nothing. There wasn't even running water.
When Takeru opened the apartment door, it was midday. He and Rikka were on the third floor of an unknown apartment building.
What mattered more was what Takeru saw: 'people' in tattered clothes wandering aimlessly.
Their bodies were stained with large amounts of long-dried blood, now blackened. Their faces were utterly terrifying.
"Ta... Takeru-kun!" Rikka, stepping out, also saw the horrifying zombies. Her pupils dilated, and she trembled uncontrollably, overwhelmed with fear.
A nearby zombie heard the door opening and slowly shuffled towards them, as if sensing they were edible.
Though Takeru also felt deeply unsettled, his years of life and prior mental preparation helped. Watching the zombie approach, he swung Twilight Moon, ending it in one strike.
The sharp blade, combined with Takeru's immense strength, met slight resistance from hard bone but still severed the head.
With its head detached, the zombie lost all life and collapsed, dark red blood slowly seeping out.
Looking at the blood on Twilight Moon, Takeru felt a wave of intense nausea. However, he quickly forced himself to adapt to the scene.
During the attack, he had used his Psychokinesis to form a barrier-like shield, preventing any blood from splattering on him or his hands.
"Guh..." Seeing the zombie's detached head, Rikka leaned against the doorway, dry heaving.
Takeru said nothing. He simply eliminated the next three zombies shuffling closer to them.
After dispatching them, the immediate area fell quiet. Takeru noticed many more zombies wandering aimlessly downstairs.
However, those zombies couldn't see what happened here and couldn't easily come up.
Takeru let out a soft sigh of relief. He looked at the extremely bloody scene, forcing himself to adapt quickly.
In truth, Takeru could have killed the zombie much more easily. But to train himself, he chose to attack personally...
The feeling of the short sword cutting through the zombie… Takeru wasn't sure how it differed from cutting a living human, but he suspected it wasn't too different. That sensation made him shudder slightly.
"We should go." After giving Rikka a moment to adapt, Takeru felt it was time and spoke softly again.
"I... I understand." Rikka looked at her own vomit, feeling embarrassed before Takeru.
"You need to adapt to this as soon as possible. These zombies aren't strong. Once you adapt, completing the mission will be straightforward," Takeru said seriously, looking calmly at Rikka.
"Yes." Rikka fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
"For now, let's check if there are any usable items in this apartment building," Takeru said, glancing around.
"Is anyone there?" After deciding on the plan, Takeru called out loudly to the neighboring apartment.
No human response came. Instead, there was a very faint sound that quickly turned into a thumping noise against the door.
Clearly, a zombie was inside. Thinking this, Takeru didn't hesitate. He kicked the door with immense force, sending it flying inward along with the corpse behind it, which was pinned and immobilized.
Takeru's loud commotion caused the zombies upstairs and downstairs to move faster, but unable to locate the precise source of the sound, they continued their aimless wandering.