43 Bonus Chapter: Underground

Underground.

[Ace POV],

"Well...."

I was going to respond when Anna interrupted me by speaking.

"You might want to go down there since I saw a few special zombies and you know there's a good chance they have crystal cores," she suggested.

This....

When I heard this, my immediate reaction was that Anna was bribing me with information to go down there.

It's more direct to say she told me there are a few special zombies down there, so I'll do that.

Perhaps she already knew what I was thinking before I said anything.

We just came to this store with the other party because I spoke with their leader on the way and we happened to be heading in the same direction for the same reason.

This gives me no reason to assist them.

And just because I inquired about the 'camp,' it didn't mean I wanted to join them.

That was merely curiosity on my part.

I was just curious as to what a 'camp' in the new world would look like.

This does not give me a reason to help them, even if they're the only way for me to reach and see the camp.

It was a different story now that I knew there were special zombies down there.

Even though I can't use them right now, it doesn't stop me from wanting to have more crystal cores when I can.

And for now, the only way to obtain crystal cores is from special zombies, which Anna is aware of, and I understand why she did so.

It reminds me of the first time we saw Chris and his sister, and what happened then was a mistake.

But, even if it was a mistake, we benefited since we allied with someone with strength, but looking at the groups of survivors downstairs, I don't think they're worth anything.

It's stupid to me.

Why would you go out of your way and even endanger yourself for something that may or may not be of value to you?

Kindness?

That's just your mind messing with you.

Emotions?

Well, I can't feel them, so I can't say anything about it, and perhaps that's why I'm thinking in this manner.

In that case, it's ironic that the thing I most desire contradicts my thoughts.

'Ah'

I moaned and looked at Anna, who offered me a forced smile as I reflected on all of this.

"Since the zombies haven't appeared yet, you guys will stay here and wait for me," I murmured, disregarding Anna's expression as I leaped from above to the ground, adjusting my posture in the air to avoid causing a fracture in the floor's surface.

After landing, I went straight to the location Anna had indicated earlier.

I didn't run because I wanted to save the survivors; I ran because I wanted to kill as many zombies as I could and get out of this mall before something else was attracted to it and trapped us.

After a while, I came to a door with stairs leading downstairs.

I'm presuming the stairs lead to the parking lot because this is the approximate area Anna pointed to and the only open door I can see here.

I made my way downstairs, gripping the twin blades tightly in my hands, as I infused very little mana into them, lighting them up in the process.

The blades were not coated with flames since I infused little mana into them.

The vein-like lines inscribed on the blades were what provided light.

And in my current circumstance, the light was sufficient to illuminate the deepening darkness as I descended the stairs.

...

[??? POV],

I was both happy and worried when the camp assigned me to a team.

Worried because I'm leaving my injured mother alone in an unknown place with unknown people, yet happy because I'm going out to get supplies.

Even though the camp had only recently been established, I could feel that this was the safest place for my mother right now.

My mother and I might not be breathing right now if it weren't for the nice camp leader.

However, just because the camp leader is nice enough to accommodate and protect weak people like us does not indicate that the camp will tolerate freeloaders.

So here I am, working so that my mother and I may at least have a place to sleep.

And even though my life has been awful since it all started, I am still alive, right?

So I have to try to keep this life going for as long as possible.

Fortunately, my boyfriend is following me and supporting me, and because we registered together, we were assigned to the same team.

Though we just started dating before all this started, he was my friend before it started.

I guess it's a blessing that mom, I, and he were all together when this started, right?

'Haha,' I mocked myself as I thought about these things.

If blessings existed, the first thing I would have seen in this new world would not have been my father being eaten alive by a monster.

"Ah"

'I owe it to the camp leader to repay her for saving us,' I thought as I made my way to where my team was.

...

Fortunately, the team I was assigned to was rather strong.

At least, in my opinion.

The team leader was level10, while the two males under him had a level of 8.

They aren't as strong as the individuals who generally follow the camp leader, but they are better than level 1 me.

My team consists of seven people.

Along with my boyfriend and me, there were two middle-aged man and a woman who appeared to be a couple, as well as the team leader, a male with two men under him.

We were somehow able to stay alive because of the team leader and his troops.

Everything was rather normal until we came upon an odd group.

An emotionless-looking boy in his late teens with twin blades, a loli-like girl, and two kids.

What was more unusual was that one of the kids was armed.

When the team leader saw them, he struck up a conversation with the emotionless-looking boy who appeared to be the leader of the other party, but their chat was cut short by a sharp sound from above.

Raising my head to see what caused the sound, I felt despair when I saw the appearance of what made the sound.

It was a monster.

A massive eagle.

And when I saw that it's level was denoted with a series of ???, I subconsciously screamed in despair  since it meant it was at least five levels stronger than me.

The monster eagle was probably levels higher than the team leader too since his face was quite ugly now.

Seeing this, I thought I was about to die when something unexpected happened.

The monster was killed in less than a minute by the party next to us.

And it didn't stop there.

Except for the youngest, it seemed that everyone in the opposing party was powerful.

Way more powerful than the team leader.

And it was owing to them that we were able to reach safely at a mall.

However, because of a poorly thought-out decision, we are now surrounded by zombies.

At this rate, we'll be wiped out in no time.

As if our predicament wasn't horrible enough, a zombie managed to get past the team leader and into our gap, and headed straight for my boyfriend and me.

But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the one who said he 'loved' me would use me as a shield against the zombie.

When I saw the zombie approaching, I had only one thought:

"I don't want to die."

It was then that I saw a blue flame burning in front of me.