24-34

Chapter 24 Open surgery

While one nurse tried to stop the bleeding with all her might and weight, the other one snatched the gun Jack had dropped to the ground before removing the magazine.

Taking one bullet in her hand, she examined it for a few seconds before tilting her head.

"They should be…made out of an alloy of copper and zinc?"

It was obvious that she was not certain about the answer, and the only thing that she knew was that the bullet was not made out of lead.

Thus, it was a small success. Lead bullets were far more toxic than those made of other metals or alloys.

"He has only one bullet hole, right? That means the bullet is still inside him…but that should be fine if I'm correct with my assumption…"

Owing to the events that occurred just a few moments ago, the nurse was obviously overwhelmed.

Nevertheless, she gave her best efforts to help her companion in any possible way.

After the older nurse used her knee to block the bullet hole, the bleeding stopped and the puddle of blood on the ground around Dilan didn't enlarge.

As such, they presumed that there was only one bullet within his body!

"Re..move…bullet…" Dilan could barely say while taking several heavy breaths, but the older nurse shook her head vehemently.

"That's impossible, we don't have the necessary surgery tools, and even if we had them, this room is full of bacteria, we cannot cut you open, just like that.-.

Other than that, we need an anesthetic, otherwise, you would flop like a fish on land the moment we start cutting you open!"

Afterward, the other nurse added,

"And we are nurses, not surgeons. We might accidentally cut your veins and arteria while trying to save you! Furthermore, If the bullet is stuck somewhere near your arteria which is blocking it, and we remove it, you will really start bleeding like a pig!!"

Under normal circumstances, all of their comments would have made sense.

However, they didn't live in a normal world anymore, and the situation at hand was certainly not normal.

But even then, the bullet could remain within him until they found the necessary surgery tools, and possibly a surgeon as well.

One of them might have survived.

The chance was certainly there, but Dilan didn't want to rely on such a possibility.

His [Lesser Immunity] ability would help him overcome the situation if one was just talking about the issue of bacteria, dirty clothes that clung to his body, and the poisonous material of the bullet.

Yet, even then, Dilan couldn't agree because he knew that he would die if the bullet were to remain inside him.

He had to heal as quickly as possible, using the [Regeneration] Origin ability.

"No…N..Now…otherwise, I..die!"

They had yet to take a proper look at his wound, but after hearing his words, they began to frown.

At this moment, Oliver stepped forward as he hurriedly added,

"When he cleared the hallway between the cafeteria and the entrance hall, we saw that one of the rooms had multiple sterilizers if I'm not mistaken.

There should be a few surgery tools such as a scalpel, tweezers, and so on, right?"

Looking at Dilan's deteriorating condition, Oliver could only try his best to help.

Turning towards him, the older nurse, whose knee was almost pressing into Dilan's throat curse out,

"Fuck it. Bring us everything you can find…"

If Dilan said that he would die if the bullets wouldn't be removed, there had to be some truth to it.

After all, it was very unlikely for him to trust the two old nurses with his life, who didn't even like him.

Dilan was fully aware of this, which made it clear that he was forced to rely on them in order to survive.

Both nurses knew weirdos like Dilan. They didn't like to rely on others and only did so if they would be unable to overcome on their own.

And such a situation happened just now.

Thus, with Oliver rushing out of the room, followed by Sarah, who wanted to help out as well, they came back holding small boxes of various surgical tools.

Rushing back, they dashed to the room once or twice and brought every single thing that looked somewhat useful.

As such, in a matter of minutes, they made the necessary preparations possible and started an operation with two corpses next to them.

Looking at the scalpel in her hand, the older nurse could only sigh deeply, not believing what she was about to do before she looked at Dilan's wound.

For the entire time, they maintained a high pressure on the bullet hole. Adding Dilan's high healing capacities and his Origin ability, the bleeding had lessened.

This allowed them to see a little bit more, only to figure out that the injury was worse than expected.

'At least his internal organs aren't injured…even if everything else looks like it was a wreck…' The old nurse could only think as she began her work, hoping for the best while praying to whichever God was observing them right now.

Gritting his teeth, Dilan could only force his entire body to stand still. His eyes were tightly shut, while he tried hard to not focus on how a part of his chest was cut open.

He was not sure how much time passed, but after he felt the nurses cut through his skin, he sensed cold metal touching the inside of his body.

He could barely control himself from flinching and simply clenched his fists while groaning out in pain. The painkillers they had found were not even remotely comparable to proper anesthetics that would numb his senses.

Still, it helped a little bit.

Forcing his entire body under control was certainly not easy, but somehow, he endured it.

Whether it was half an hour later, or several hours that they would finish taking the bullet out was uncertain.

Dilan had no idea of how much time had passed but it felt like ages already as he was hyperaware of pain shooting up through every single nerve in his chest.

Meanwhile, the nurse disinfected his chest once again before she pulled out the long tweezers with the bullet held in it.

When the bullet was finally out of his body, Oliver, Ailee, and the others sighed in relief.

"You did a great job!" The older nurse could only say as cold sweat trickled down her temples, while the other nurse began to bandage him.

Dilan didn't move much during the entire bullet-removal process which was exceptional.

After all, it had been far more dangerous and risky than she presumed.

The bullet had not pierced deep into Dilan, but his body had looked like a mess before she started the process.

And after she removed the bullet, he began to bleed severely!

As such, the old nurse had been sure that Dilan would die of blood loss, but somehow the bleeding lessened all of a sudden.

He was still bleeding but it was not that heavy anymore.

If the old nurse were to know that it was because of Dilan using the [Regeneration] Origin ability once again, she might not be as astonished and relieved as she was now.

However, even then, the fact that Dilan was still alive could be considered a miracle, or a clear sign that the mortal norms didn't apply to the existences that had already begun their Ascension towards unfathomable strength!

Dilan was just thankful for the help he received.

He lifted his right arm before he gave them a thumbs up, as he smiled weakly.

"Thanks for everything!" He managed to say a few words.

Afterward, he used his remaining 0.7 unallocated status points to increase his mana stat to [2] before he used the [Regeneration] ability once again.

Just a moment later, he could already feel that his body was healing and that his bleeding had slowly stopped.

This caused a faint smile of satisfaction to appear on his face.

"Thanks…" He said, only for exhaustion to take over.

His eyelids grew heavy and he was forced into a deep slumber, which his body desperately required.

Chapter 25 Comfort

For the first time in years, Dilan woke up with a faint smile on his lips.

'I am still alive!' He thought, happy to feel pain coursing through his chest.

Trying to lift his upper body, he noticed that every single move made his muscles ache terribly, and the first Survivor to notice that he had woken up quickly approached Dilan.

"Don't move. You have to rest! The two nurses said that your wound might tear open again if you move… If you need something just ask, I might be able to help!"

Dilan had not expected to be cared for and receive nice treatment after being shot by someone he had trusted a bit.

Thus, he couldn't help but turn his head towards another man, who was in his 30s with visible confusion in his eyes.

"How long have I been knocked out?"

Dilan had no idea what time it was, or how long he had been knocked out.

He faintly recalled having woken up a few times, before using his Origin ability, only to collapse once again.

As such, his body was in a much better condition than before after having rested a bit.

But even then, it was impossible for him to move properly without the fear of tearing his wound open.

This only showed that his earlier condition was much worse than expected as his endurance and healing capabilities were four times the average of an ordinary human before the Primordial Ascension.-.

Meanwhile, the passive and active effect of his ability should be enough to accelerate his healing even more.

"You slept for…16 hours, I guess?" The young man answered before saying,

"By the way, Ailee took your spear to hunt her first zombie. She thought that you wouldn't need it for the time being. So don't worry too much about that."

Dilan just nodded his head, before his stomach began to grumble.

"Is there some leftover food from lunch? I could eat a whole cow right now…"

Nodding his head, the man rushed into the kitchen and returned with a few pieces of bread and some spicy beef stew.

Because the Survivors had many things to talk about and even more tasks at hand, they had set aside a large pot of stew for everyone to have whenever they felt hungry.

This made things much easier and it didn't require many ingredients to be cooked either.

Slowly pushing himself into a sitting position, Dilan leaned against the wall behind him before he was handed the bowl of stew and bread slices.

Only then did he clearly understand that he had been shifted to a different place instead of the familiar corner where he usually slept.

"Did everyone recover from the shock of yesterday's incident…I mean mentally? And is everyone out hunting? I think quite a few Survivors are missing."

Dilan wanted to know what had happened in the last 16 hours, thus Richard, the man in his 30s, answered him with some discomfort in his eyes.

"If they recovered from the incident? Well…I think nobody can trust anyone anymore, so I don't think we can go back to being completely trustful of each other. Oliver, Ailee, and a few others went out hunting, yes.

We decided that everyone should help out hunting, or at the very least, kill one zombie in order to procure an ability crystal.

Like this, everyone does something for the group's survival. If someone wants to continue hunting, they can do so, but if they don't want to, they should just hand over the ability crystal, and do other chores to help the group in whatever way they can."

This was quite a surprise, and Dilan couldn't help but look at Richard with slight astonishment.

He had not expected that someone like Bianne, and a few other Survivors would dare to go out and hunt zombies.

But when Dilan recalled that Jack killed his three loyal followers, and nearly him as well, he could only nod his head.

While having the stew, he figured that it was quite tasty, which Richard noticed from his expressions.

He gave him a second helping of the soup before starting to speak once again,

"The door of the front corridor on the second floor broke open, and the others have already procured a few ability crystals by killing some zombies.

But for now, most Survivors decided to use the ability crystals they were able to procure and hunt a minimum of three more zombies each to gain a few status points.

As such, we have only three extra ability crystals. Now that you are awake we can decide which one of us gets another ability."

Richard's summary was quite helpful, which was why Dilan thanked him.

'So everyone's trust has been shattered, and they chose to level up as well. That's quite risky but definitely good.' The more survivors decided to fight and to become stronger, the better.

It would make things much easier. Maybe they would be able to clear the first and second floor after he was fully healed and well-rest.

Once that was done, they could find out more about the Gates as well, and if it was possible to use them to their advantage.

Quite a few thoughts flashed through his mind, and after he was done eating, Richard took the soup bowl and spoon before leaving him alone.

Looking around, he noticed that almost every survivor was doing something or the other. This was great as well, indicating showing that everyone now understood that reality was far from their wishful thinking.

'Looks like the incident with Jack allowed everyone to realize that they can only survive if they work as well. Lazing around doing nothing will just kill them.'

In total, they were now 16 Survivors, and if all of them were to work together, it would be a perfect team.

Unfortunately, the trust issue seemed to be quite big because nobody was really talking with each other. They were simply doing their work and keeping to themselves.

But before he could even ask himself if there was something he could do to help everyone, the doors of the cafeteria opened, and he saw Bianne and Sarah enter the room.

Bianne saw that Dilan was awake and thought about something.

However, she only bit her lip, shook her head, and left instead of talking to him.

She wanted to apologize for shooting him but felt incapable of doing so.

Meanwhile, Sarah approached him with slight astonishment, not expecting that he would already be fit enough to lift himself up in a sitting position.

"You two went hunting as well?" He just asked as he saw Sarah walking towards him.

"We wanted to become Ascenders as well!" Sarah answered with a faint smile on her face. Seeing that Dilan was fine made her feel both happy and relieved.

Having faced a group of three zombies was already enough for her to be pressured. If it was not for Oliver's help, she would have died earlier.

As such, with another powerful Ascender by their side, it would be much easier to clear the first and second floor of the hospital.

"Ascender? Where does that name come from all of a sudden?" He asked her with an amused smile as Sarah looked at Oliver, who had just returned from their hunt.

"It was Oliver's idea, and I think it's quite suitable, don't you think so?"

Somehow, Dilan felt like her voice was filled with warmth and joy.

This astonished him quite a bit, and he began to ask himself why everyone was being so nice to him all of a sudden.

'Did I do something while being unconscious?'

However, what Dilan didn't know was that he had replaced Jack as their leader and had become one of the only people the others trusted a bit.

From the beginning, Dilan had never particularly tried to be overly nice to anyone, and he didn't even think of favoring anyone because of whatever reason.

That was, at least, what he thought about himself, even if it might not be true in reality.

Dilan was just a grumpy young man, who would do everything to survive.

As such, his goal was never hidden from anyone, and after observing him for some time, one could notice that he took care of people around him in a rather subtle and subconscious manner and wouldn't make a big show of how helpful he was.

If one didn't pay attention to him, one wouldn't even notice this.

Because of that, even though he was intimidating, and certainly not afraid of clearly stating his opinion, the others felt that it would be quite difficult for him to lie or betray them owing to his character.

That gave them a little bit of comfort and reassurance in a world that seemed to have gone insane.

Chapter 26 Exceeding Expectations

Looking at Oliver, Dilan nodded his head.

"Ascender…sounds nice." He remarked before Sarah turned around to Oliver, and waved her hand at him.

"Oliver! Come here, Dilan woke up!"

When Oliver heard his name, he looked in the direction of Sarah, and his eyes fell on Dilan.

This made him smile as he hurried over.

"You look great, Dilan! Maybe you will be fit in a week or two? Your injury was quite bad after all…"

Dilan was not sure why Oliver was so excited to see him, but he simply smiled in response, unsure of being able to fully recover in a day or so.

His mana refilled quite quickly, and he was trying to figure out how to perceive the mana in the surroundings to hasten up the process even further.

But before revealing anything, he wanted to test out a few things, which was why he didn't speak about his experiment.

"I heard that the front corridor on the second door has been broken. Are there many zombies outside, or is it still safe to make use of?"

Oliver wanted to know more about Dilan's condition and force him to rest, but that was not what Dilan seemed to plan.

Thus, he could only smile weirdly before he answered,

"It is a little bit more complicated because there are more zombies than expected, but most of them are still level 0. That made it a little bit easier for me to help the others to get their first kill.

But some zombies have leveled up, and it is quite difficult to differentiate between them at the first glance. So we almost had a few casualties yesterday.-.

We also reached the second floor and tried to block the front corridor, but the others didn't want to continue because the sounds coming from the left corridor were a little bit odd."

Getting to know that some zombies had already leveled up and that the left corridor was having some issues, Dilan could tell that he had to hasten up his recuperation.

With that in mind, he immediately made use of his Origin ability.

Afterward, he took a glance at the Log of the Ancient, where he noticed a big exclamation mark on the upper right side and pressed it out of curiosity.

[[-[Lesser Immunity] Ungraded ★★★-

1) Essence of '30' infected monsters has been absorbed

2) Health property of -4- has been reached

Upgrade to Ungraded ★★★★]]

'I knew that I was forgetting something.' Dilan thought before disregarding his immunity ability once again.

It was a passive ability that didn't really change much about his physique or anything around that.

The only upside was that he knew that he wouldn't get an infection due to the bullet hole, which was quite good for the healing process.

Keeping his own ability in mind, he recalled the three abilities that belonged to the three men Jack had killed.

"Alright. If it's quite complicated right now, how about we figure out how to distribute the three ability crystals after everyone is here?"

Upon hearing Dilan's question, Oliver's eyes gleamed in excitement. He had been the gatekeeper of the three ability crystals. As such, he knew what the abilities were.

He was eager to get one but knew that it had to be distributed with everyone's agreement. Otherwise, the already shaky and wavering trust within the survivors would completely disappear.

With that in mind, Oliver jumped up before he called everyone.

"Guys, we would like to start with the distribution of the three remaining ability crystals. Everyone is here, right?"

Everybody stopped doing whatever they were and gathered around Dilan.

All of them greeted Dilan, which made him feel quite awkward.

He nodded in return, but that was already everything and he didn't say anything further.

The others had not expected him to suddenly start speaking to them either. Hence, they felt good to see that he hadn't changed much.

Giving some space for everyone to see what was going on, they formed a big circle as Oliver placed the three ability crystals in the center.

Nobody was pouncing at the crystals, even though some looked at them with a faint shimmer in their eyes.

However, none of them was greedy enough to take all of them.

After all, this would mean that they had to fight more often, in order to make good use of their abilities.

"Can someone hand me the crystals? I want to see what kind of abilities they're and if one of them is useful for me!"

Dilan would have moved by himself, but he wanted to heal as quickly as possible. Thus he tried to move as less as possible and not let the wound tear open.

Oliver, who was just about to sit, jumped up, but Ailee leaned forward to pick up the three ability crystals.

She was seated near Dilan and handed him the crystals without hesitation.

With a nod, he thanked her before averting his focus on the grayish crystals.

[Arts of Cooking(Passive)] Ungraded ★★★★★

-Provides knowledge about various delicious dishes. Some may even reward special gifts or additional points to the Log of the Ancient!-

[Basic Archer Mastery(Passive)] Tier-0 ★★

-The memories of the teaching, and experience of an Archer will be imprinted in the Host's mind!-

[Violent Strike(Active)] Tier-0 ★

-1 Unit of mana will be used to issue a powerful strike. Enhances strength property by <0.5 > until the strike has been issued!-

"Recipes that boost our stats? Doesn't that mean they use ingredients filled with Essence?" Dilan mumbled wondering if one had to use specific Essence crystals to make the food, or if it was just the meat of certain beasts.

They had yet to test cooking the meat of mutated animals, but Dilan was pretty sure that it was edible. Not the flesh of zombies, and probably not the rats either, but the python from days before might have been edible.

Continuing to read, Dilan thought about it for a few seconds before he returned the ability crystals to Ailee.

"I don't need any of these abilities. You guys can decide on your own."

Dilan knew that the memories of an Archer might help him to gain more combat experience. It might even help him to improve his accuracy with the spear.

But thinking about it on a long-term basis, he felt that it would be a waste to learn the passive master ability of a weapon he wouldn't want to wield.

His Origin ability [Regeneration] and his passive [Lesser Immunity] clearly hinted that he should fight in the front, which was exactly what he planned to do.

As such, the [Basic Archer Mastery] ability would just waste one of his four remaining passive ability slots.

Not knowing whether the number of abilities could increase in the future, Dilan felt that the Archery mastery ability would be a waste.

He felt exactly the same about the Violent Strike ability.

Dilan had no intention to learn to replace one of his two empty active ability slots for an ability such as [Violent Strike].

It might be a decent ability, and it would only grow stronger over time, but Dilan felt no desire to learn the ability because its basic enhancements were simply not worth it in his opinion!

His decision astonished the others.

But after seeing everybody's expression, Dilan felt the need to explain his reasoning.

"Please only choose the cooking ability if you are ready to cook all the time. These special rewards could save our lives in the future, so don't waste your ability and try to improve it.

As for the archery ability, please don't change your weapon of choice later, and take a bow, or crossbow once we get our hands on one.

Meanwhile, please keep in mind that we have only two active skill slots.

I think it would be really suited to initiate one-hit kills against powerful opponents if used properly. Its use can be altered and is compatible with many different fighting styles."

Dilan was not even sure if the others were able to understand him. As such he decided to keep it at that.

There was far more he wanted to say about the abilities, and how they should be distributed.

But at the end of the day, it was not his decision to choose them for others.

Thus, he quieted down and observed how the others went ahead with the distribution.

What he didn't know was that everyone had subconsciously listened to and thought hard about Dilan's words.

Their knowledge about the Primordial Ascension, and everything revolving around it was limited.

However, Dilan had taught them a lot in these past few days, including the information Jack had told them on the day of Dilan's arrival.

Because of his honest words, the Survivors showed their interest only in the abilities they truly wanted.

If the ability held no value for them, they didn't show interest in procuring it just for the sake of having more than the others. Jack had been a good example of what greed could turn them into.

It was quite important and a big step in the right direction, which was something that made Dilan feel quite satisfied.

'This group is far more disciplined and humane than I expected it to be!'

Chapter 27 Healed

Astonishing enough, it was Bianne who got her hands on the [Arts of Cooking] ability crystal.

Apparently, she was the one to have cooked the beef stew and it tasted good.

Only Dilan didn't know that she could cook, which was quite helpful to fill the gaps of experience and certain cooking tips and tricks which the passive ability didn't teach her.

The [Basic Archer Mastery] ability was something most Survivors wanted.

It taught a lot of useful stuff, and by allowing one to fight at a long-range, one could actively gain Essences, status points, and possibly more abilities without being too close to danger.

However, in the end, it was Ailee, who was able to get her hands on the ability.

After giving it some thought, most survivors accepted that they were not eager to face life-threatening dangers on a daily basis.

And these dangers were greater if one included the fact that one was quite far away from others while using long-range weapons.

Thus, Ailee got the ability that she immediately bound to her.

Contrary to Dilan's earlier belief, only Oliver was the taker of the active ability [Violent Strike] and none of the other survivors wanted it.

Or, if he were to put it in better words, nobody wanted the ability because Oliver showed his interest in the ability.-.

Nobody wanted to fight in the front row as much as Oliver and Dilan.

That was why the other Survivors had decided to give both the chance to choose what kind of abilities they wanted, first.

With that in mind, Oliver received his first active ability!

'The ability will have a decent use for Oliver, once he becomes even stronger.' Dilan predicted while gauging how it would be for Oliver, who focused on Agility to use the violent strike.

An increase of 0.5 Strength was worth the status points of only one level, or the Essence crystal of two, or three monsters.

However, this was currently more than enough because they were unable to procure the Essence crystals of hundreds of different monsters.

Taking this into consideration before adding the fact that there were quite a few complications in the zombie hunt according to Oliver, Dilan modified his plan.

"Ailee, tomorrow afternoon I need the Reinforced Stone Spear back!" Dilan suddenly said, attracting everyone's attention.

The two old nurses looked at him as if he was insane because he needed some good rest to let himself heal.

But seeing Dilan's serious expression, and the determination in his voice, they were not able to say anything.

It would be wasted on him, either way.

As such, they just shook their head, while Ailee could only nod.

'Will he really be healed in 24 hours?'

Everyone had the same question in mind, but nobody asked him out loud.

He looked confident to recover in a mere span of 24 hours.

Thus, the survivors stood up before they returned to their previous tasks.

The groups from before changed, as some switched from going out to hunt to completing necessary chores.

Meanwhile, Dilan was left alone, providing him with the necessary time to think and figure out what they were supposed to do next.

'The Gate probably allows a batch of monsters to emerge every x amount of time. A few circles of spawnings should have passed by now…'

Dilan figured that the more he rested the bigger the number of Horned Rats and Grendels coming through the gate would become.

And this was without the possibility of even higher ranked monsters, such as existences like the Goblin Warrior, whom Dilan had seen emerging from the temporary Gate in the forest, step in through the gate in the hospital.

While he was thinking hard about the best possible plan, minutes turned into hours that passed slowly. On the brighter side, he recuperated faster as the effect of the [Regeneration] ability seemed to work much better with more nutrition.

Thus, he had a few more plates of the beef stew, before he got up from the ground after only 12 hours passed.

He knew that he couldn't fight properly yet, but he had to visit the loo.

After a total of 24 hours passed, everyone stared at Dilan, who was stretching his body as if he had never been shot.

When he removed the bandages in order to replace them with fresh ones, one could clearly see that the bullet hole was mostly healed and that only a little bit of flesh and skin was missing for him to be fully recovered.

It was not noteworthy, and once he was bandaged again, Dilan smiled lightly at Ailee before reaching out with his hand.

She let out a short sigh and handed over the Reinforced Stone Spear.

Grasping two rat horn daggers, she decided to use them for the next hunt.

Right now, it was the 5th day since the Primordial Ascension had been initiated.

The generators were still working, and so was the water supply.

Food and water were no issue for the time being.

It were the humans and monsters that caused far too much trouble, instead!

"Let's go." Dilan thus said before he opened the cafeteria's doors with a faint smile on his face as he thought,

'I can rest once I'm dead!'

Taking this motto to his heart, Dilan pushed his feet off the ground to catapult himself ahead the moment he saw the first group of zombies.

Making use of his agility of more than twice the human average, he appeared in front of the zombies before thrusting the spear out.

With the first zombie killed easily, Dilan retracted the spear before piercing it out once again.

A moment later he repeated the same step again but noticed that the next zombie was slightly faster than the rest.

Taking a step back to avoid entering the zombie's range, Dilan quickly retreated before he slashed horizontally, slicing off the upper part of the zombie's head.

Understanding the trouble Oliver had mentioned a day before, he decided to be more careful.

But instead of acting too vigilant, his thursts and slashes with the Reinforced Stone Spear became faster and more powerful with each attack.

He had missed fighting for two days in total.

Because he was rendered incapable of fighting for around 48 hours, the excitement that streamed through him at this moment allowed him to give his all.

In less than three minutes an entire group of more than 20 zombies died, and he managed to clear the hallway between the cafeteria and the entrance hall without any issues.

"Yep, he is definitely not injured anymore…" Oliver commented as a slight trace of joy, and a competitive spirit emerged within him.

The fear of being killed was still present within him. However, killing zombies was something as normal as waking up in the morning.

It was just natural to him now.

But that was mostly owed to his passive [Basic Dagger Mastery] ability as it provided vast information about daggers and the memories of amateur assassins.

Dilan had not received any information about how to wield specific weapons, what movements were powerful, or gaining real-life combat experience by binding an ability to himself.

Instead, he was just excited to fight because it made him feel alive, which was similar to pain.

The pain made him understand that his body was still alive while slaughtering his opponents made him feel euphoric as adrenaline coursed through his veins.

And excitement was something Dilan was bound to feel surging through his entire body for the following hours because many things were bound to change.

Chapter 28 Giant Zombie

In less than half an hour, their group of five people, consisting of Dilan, Oliver, Ailee, Sarah, and a young man, called Pierre cleared the entrance hall and the large hall on the second floor.

It was Pierre's first hunt, but he did quite well because the ability he received by killing his first zombie was called [Calm Mind].

The skill's name was self-explanatory, so there was no need for anyone to ask about the ways to employ the passive ability in their group's teamwork.

After half an hour of hunting relentlessly, Ailee, Sarah and Pierre were exhausted.

Fortunately, their rewards were as great as their exhaustion.

Pierre reached level 1, and he was not far from leveling up.

Meanwhile, both Sarah and Ailee reached level two, with Ailee being close to leveling up as well.

On the other hand, Oliver was level 3, and Dilan was level 4.

If they were to solely compare their status points, Dilan had the most.

But he was pretty sure that Oliver had an advantage in terms of pure combat prowess if he were to properly use the provided memories in connection to the [Violent strike] ability.

It was not important for the given situation, and only something great to know.

Meanwhile, Dilan and Oliver took a look at the front corridor without hesitation upon reaching the second floor.

They ignored the sounds coming from the left and right corridor as they walked through the front corridor.-.

Looking through each room with their weapons held in front of their bodies, they figured that there were far fewer zombies than initially expected.

Only a few could be spotted every now and then.

As such, the two grew more vigilant as they kept advancing further.

Because both knew that some corridors were interconnected with each to allow hospital staff to reach every place without any delay, it was difficult to tell if some monsters of the left corridors had reached the front corridor.

Thinking about it, Dilan felt that it was unlikely because there were not even dead bodies or broken limbs of zombies around them.

However, the moment they reached the middle part of the corridor, they finally figured out why so many zombies were missing.

"Fuck it!" Oliver blurted out instinctively, as he looked at the three-meter tall zombie that was just devouring one of its own kind.

With its height of three meters, the zombie's head hit the lightbulbs in the ceiling, while its width was around 1.5 meters.

It could fit through the corridors but didn't move much as it could reach one of the many zombie corpses quite easily.

They were stacked in a neat manner as if someone had folded and organized clothes, and when a corpse fell to the ground, the tall beast picked it up before neatly placing it on top once again.

Looking at the Giant-like Zombie, even Dilan's mind went blank for a second and he had to rub his eyes to ensure that he wasn't hallucinating.

Unfazed by the sight of the humans, the Zombie kept munching on the corpses.

It didn't even move its short legs, which were partially covered by a round, huge belly, and a single inch

Oliver took a look at his dagger before staring at the huge belly of the beast, just to smile dryly as he took a step back.

"It's above level 5, right?" He asked but Dilan simply shrugged his shoulders.

He had no idea what level the zombie was, but it was certainly something stronger than the Krendel.

That was something Dilan was sure of.

With that thought in mind, Dilan went ahead, entering the small area in the corridor that was slightly broader.

On the right side were the doors that led to the nurses' room.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could even see outlines of two or three nurses.

But instead of paying any more attention to the nurses' room, Dilan thrust the Reinforced Stone Spear straight into the zombie's belly.

The tall zombie retaliated by waving its large hand towards him but even before it could reach him, he disappeared from his earlier location.

Missing him, its flat hand smashed on the ground, and before it could strike again, Dilan slashed out.

A faint smile appeared on his lips as he knew that the strike of his blade was lethal. After all, he had used some of his mana to coat the Reinforced Stone Spear's blade.

When the others thought that Dilan had been fully focused on resting during the last 24 hours, he had actually attempted to actively sense mana.

It was certainly not easy.

Sensing the unknown mythical energy made him feel uncomfortable.

Mana was not something that should exist on Milarn, let alone within humans.

But after spending almost an entire day, excluding a few hours of sleep on sensing mana, it was something he could grasp.

The mana within his body was easier to sense, which was why he focused on it.

Instead of staying idle while resting, he had tried his best to perceive what using up mana and replenishing it meant and how to do it efficiently, he made use of the Origin ability as it required mana to be used.

It was automatically drained from his body to empower [Regeneration], which was something that seemed to be connected to his Essence crystal.

This made it clear that the Essence crystal was the place all his abilities were bound to.

Dilan also understood that mana circulated throughout the body, and not his very own Essence crystal.

Thus, he tested out his first attempt to empower his attack with a little bit of mana.

While his first attack failed to pierce through the hide of the tall zombie, which was thick enough to resist the tip of the spear, the second attack was a success.

A bright smile appeared on Dilan's face as his attack sliced through the zombie's entire hand, including the bone, Dilan smiled brightly.

Retreating just a moment later, he reemerged next to Oliver, who looked at him with squinted eyes.

"We can pierce through it's flesh with enough force! Just use your [Violent Strike] when attacking!"

Oliver just nodded his head, unsure of what the faint shimmering glint around the blade of the Reinforced Stone Spear was.

He had barely perceived it, but it was certainly there.

It was his misfortune that there was no time to interrogate Dilan as the tall zombie began to move.

Despite its huge size, the zombie's speed was not even twice as fast as the average human.

This made it quite easy for them to retreat.

However, the moment it entered the narrow parts of the corridor, both Dilan and Oliver figured that they would soon enter close combat.

Taking a look towards his right and left, Dilan thought quickly before he came up with a new idea to injure the tall zombie.

"Room to your right!" He could barely warn Oliver before he had to retreat once again.

Using the stump of an arm that was missing a hand like a baseball bat, the zombie swung it around, preventing Dilan from approaching itself.

As such, it was only great that Oliver figured out what Dila wanted from him.

While Dilan attracted the tall zombie's attention, Oliver jumped in the room to his right.

Several seconds passed in which Dilan continued to lure the tall zombie towards the large hall on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Ailee, Pier, and Sarah looked at Dilan as if he was insane.

Their expressions were screaming, 'Why the hell are you bringing such a thing towards us?'

But Dilan and Oliver had already thought of a plan.

There had been no need for them to speak a lot with each other and just a few signals and gestures had been enough for them to create it.

As such, Dilan was currently just waiting for Oliver to backstab the tall zombie by making use of his dagger.

However, what he didn't expect to see was that Oliver's force after he activated [Violent Strike] was still too low to pierce through the zombie's skull.

What was even worse was that a crack spread through the dagger's blade when the dealt attack was barely strong enough to crack open a few centimeters of the zombie's head!

Though the blade had managed to land a severe blow, the Reinforced Stone Dagger was stuck in the head of the zombie. Oliver watched in horror as it to turned around, and Oliver smelled its foul breath that nearly made him gag as it issued a deep growl.

"Fuck!"

Chapter 29 Bronze

While Oliver cursed out, he let go of the Reinforced Stone Dagger.

If he wouldn't done that, his body might have either been mashed into a pulp or smashed into the wall next to them.

The tall zombie thrashed around violently, using its other hand to attempt to grasp Oliver.

However, thanks to Oliver using his level-up status points mostly to improve his agility stat, he could evade the zombie's attack rather easily.

Having angered the tall zombie, its full attention was on Oliver.

This gave Dilan the required opportunity to push himself beyond his limits as he catapulted himself towards the zombie before jumping behind its head that was turned towards him.

Using all the energy he could muster, Dilan thrust his spear upon reaching the highest momentum, a faint shimmer shrouded the Reinforced Stone Spear's blade.

Just a moment later, Dilan's attack reached the designated target, piercing through both the damaged Reinforced Stone Dagger and the cracked skull of the tall zombie.

'Sorry about the dagger,' Dilan could only apologize in his head as a bright smile emerged on his face.

Clearly sensing how the tip of his spear pierced through the skull, reaching the softer muscles of its brain, he couldn't help himself anymore as he tried to push his spear further deep into its head.-.

However, this was not even necessary as the tall zombie let out a weird groan before it fell to the ground.

While collapsing face down, it nearly squashed Oliver, who had to jump back to save himself.

Several seconds later, the tall zombie was still writhing on the floor, thrashing its arms and legs as if it would jump up any second and eat both Dilan and Oliver.

Yet, when Dilan jumped on its back without any hesitation to pierce the Reinforced Stone Spear in the back of its head once again, the zombie slowly stopped moving around.

With a sigh of relief, Dilan looked at the empty corridor, his eyes landing on the small and perfectly stacked pile of zombie corpses.

There were no walking undeads left, which gave him the opportunity to look at the tall zombie.

"My…dagger…" Oliver just mumbled with a frown, while holding the hilt of the Reinforced Stone Dagger that now had half of its blade broken off.

This caused Dilan to smile wryly but there was nothing he could do to restore it. He understood the value of the Reinforced Stone Dagger well.

But there had been no way for him to pierce through the hard skull of the high-leveled zombie if it were not for Oliver's preparational work.

As such, it was sad to lose such a good weapon, and now they were only left with the makeshift daggers crafted from the horns of a horned rat.

With that in mind, Dilan's smile disappeared as he turned serious before he widened the gap in the zombie's skull.

Not long after he found the Essence crystal which he took out.

Bronze colored Essence swirled through the Essence crystal making Dilan stare at it in astonishment.

'Huh? A colored Essence crystal?'

The crystal he held in his hand was certainly not an ability. As such, there had to be a reason for the Essence crystal to have a bronze color.

Unfortunately, he was unable to ponder over it for long as he heard several footsteps from further ahead of them.

Immediately he readied himself to fight and changed his stance, but instead of zombies, he found himself facing the three nurses, whose outlines he had seen earlier.

He calmed down a little but didn't even think of lowering his guard.

The nurses took a few breaths when they arrived in front of them. Their faces looked exhausted and he could see bags under their eyes, while their movements were sluggish as well.

They hadn't slept more than four hours during the last five days, but none of that mattered right now.

Finally, someone had come to their rescue, and they were strong enough to defeat the gigantic zombie.

"Thanks for rescuing us, we thought that we were going to die in there!!" The youngest nurse spoke in a relieved voice and her eyes that shone with tears now held a glimmer of hope.

Her eyes were fixated on Dilan.

She saw him fighting against the tall zombie, right from 'heroically' cutting off the monster's arm to the final attack.

"Well, no problem. We just wanted to clear the corridor. But it's great that there were more survivors…" Dilan simply said, not further bothering about the young nurse's behavior.

His focus was on the small stack of zombie corpses further behind the nurses.

He pointed at them, while turning his head towards the remaining three members of their group.

"Ailee, Pierre, use the Essence crystals of the zombie corpses next to the nurse's room to level up! If there are some Essence crystals left afterward, take them back to the others."

After giving out instructions, his attention turned back to the Bronze colored Essence crystal.

'Why a different color? The zombie was definitely still Tierless, so why does it have a different color? Does it have a higher potency or some other use than to absorb it?'

His mind was rattling, and he tried to figure out if it was the most efficient for him to just absorb the Essence crystal, or if he should do something else with it.

"Just take it!" Oliver said while shrugging his shoulders.

He was still sad about the loss of his weapon.

But at the same time, he could tell that Dilan had to sacrifice the dagger to kill the unique zombie.

"If there is a special effect, you should rather absorb the Essence crystal to test out how valuable it is.

That is better than thinking about giving it to Bianne. She can experiment with other Essence crystals."

Dilan came to the same conclusion. Thus he absorbed the Essence crystal after Oliver told him to do so.

It didn't look like Oliver wanted the Essence crystal either way.

[<Bronze > Essence of a Tierless Level 5 Gluttonous Zombie has been absorbed→ +0.8 Strength, +0.6 Health, +0.5 Mana]

[Essence pool has been filled. Host reached level 5! +0.5 Status points can be allocated!]

'I definitely got more Essence from it than I expected…but other than that, a level 5 monster should provide fewer stat points, or am I wrong?'

Dilan guessed that he was able to level up and that he received so many status points because the absorbed essence was 'Bronze.'

This was something Dilan presumed to be the reason for the Gluttonous zombie to be so powerful.

The theory he had in mind was something that excited him.

It not only told him that special types of monsters existed but also that they could not be included in his theory about the status points he could receive from one kind of monster!

Chapter 30 More?

Dilan was unwilling to return to the cafeteria after receiving so many status points and enough essence to level up.

Taking a look at Oliver, Dilan saw that he still seemed to be a little bit depressed about his loss of the Reinforced Stone Dagger.

Nevertheless, he was tightly gripping the rat horn daggers.

'How about we let him go all out? There shouldn't be any more of these Bronze monsters ahead, otherwise, they would have eaten each other, I guess.'

With a faint smile on his lips, he looked at the three nurses and Sarah.

"Sarah, can you lead them back? Oliver and I will continue to clear the front corridor."

A single look at Dilan was enough to tell them that he was just too excited to go back to the cafeteria and start fighting.

It was not just him but Sarah was unwilling to return as well.

She had yet to reach Level 3, and there were monsters on the left corridor that she could kill to level up.

Her information about these monsters was not a lot, but they would provide lots of essence and status points.

That was what mattered to her for now.-.

Because of that, Sarah looked reluctantly at Dilan as she tried to gain some leverage.

"But can't they just kill one zombie right now, when they're already here?

In the meantime, we can hunt together as well!"

Sarah tried her best to convince Dilan and Oliver, but it was entirely useless as the youngest of the three nurses exclaimed in shock,

"K-Kill what!? Nooo…please don't let any of these grotesque monsters even near us…."

After hearing her anxious voice, Dilan's eyes flicked to the young nurse for the first time.

She was younger than expected, had a small build, short brown hair and there were tiny freckles on her cheeks.

Based on her looks, she had finished school not too long ago.

As such, he didn't really expect anything grand from her.

But even the two other nurses were shocked when Sarah suggested that they should hunt, at least, one monster.

Dilan just looked at them with a shaking head and a glint of coldness in his eyes.

Only a moment later, he sighed deeply.

"First lead them away. I believe they will understand the situation later. "

Sarah frowned deeply after listening to Dilan's voice.

But she didn't dare to counter him, and just nodded her head.

Ailee and Pierre would also return to the cafeteria upon completing their task, and Sarah had to acknowledge that she wouldn't be able to fight for long as well.

The earlier fights against the ordinary zombies had already been exhausting, both mentally and physically.

Even if she didn't like that Dilan wanted her to leave, Sarah nodded her head.

"Alright, I will take them back. If there are some spare things that you come across, please leave some for me, hehe."

Trying to hide her slight trace of frustration, Sarah tried to laugh her bad mood off, and simultaneously requested some loot from Dilan as well.

Dilan didn't bother to try searching for the hidden meaning behind her words.

The Essence crystals of Level 0 zombies were of no use for him, and he would require more than 2000, just to level up once.

And after he leveled up, the number would increase exponentially.

Meanwhile, for unleveled Survivors or Ascenders of a lower level, the Essences he didn't require could be considered quite useful.

After he believed that he had answered Sarah in a satisfactory manner he turned around.

Pierre and Ailee worked quickly on the zombie corpses while Sarah led the three nurses to the cafeteria.

Sooner or later they would understand just how much the world had changed so there was no need of forcing them to do things.

Thus Dilan was not worried and walked past Oliver, while tightly holding his Reinforced Stone Spear.

"Let's go."

Even if Oliver didn't actively express his desire to continue fighting, this was not necessary. The two were a pair now- a team of fighters and Oliver would simply tail Dilan on most occasions.

It was not surprising to see him follow Dilan as they entered the front corridor.

"I leveled up!" Pierre suddenly exclaimed with a slight trace of joy, and he gave a bright smile to Dilan, who stepped in.

Dilan was the youngest amongst the survivor, excluding the young nurse, who would join the group of survivors.

But even then, his attitude and demeanor made others believe that he was more mature and reliable than others in the current times.

Nodding at Pierre, Dilan looked ahead a moment later before his eyes gleamed.

'Maybe I was wrong? Are there more strong ones?'

He could hear a deep growling from the intersection ahead, giving him hope that he could find zombies a bit further.

Accelerating his pace, he rushed ahead, passing by the closed rooms they had yet to look through as he emerged in the T-intersection.

With a quick glance thrown towards his right and left side, Dilan assessed the situation in both directions and saw rotten flesh, intestines, and bones lying around everywhere.

This was already odd but not everything he noticed.

'The horned rats are on the left,' he quickly concluded and realized that there might truly be some shortcuts or other paths between the left and front corridor.

Meanwhile, the right side showed them a similar scene when they had first spotted the front corridor and the Gluttonous zombie. Like that corridor, even this one had no zombies.

"Is there one more of those tall zombies? Why are they suddenly starting to eat each other?"

Dilan was not sure about the answer to Oliver's question.

Thus, he shrugged his shoulders and came up with a possible explanation.

"Maybe there are similar types of zombies, or some zombies figured that devouring their own kind will benefit them as well. Essence crystals should be useful for all types of living beings."

If the zombies ate the rats, they would be able to level up quite quickly as well.

Meanwhile, a similar scenario would occur if it were to be the other way around.

That was also why Dilan got more vigilant when he found stains of blood on the left side.

There were also some on the right side, but they were relatively fewer.

"Where should we go first?" Oliver suddenly asked, while tightening his grip on the rat horn daggers in his hand.

They were certainly not sharp, let alone durable enough to pierce through the skull of a level 5 monster.

As such, he was slightly nervous about his next fight, but before he could worry further, the growls of several zombies to his right reached him.

"There is your answer."

Chapter 31 Mutation

He took a last glance towards the left, making certain that there were no monsters before he rushed towards the right.

As most doors were closed, Dilan simply ignored them for now.

With fast strides he passed through the hallway and kept his sight focused on a group of five zombies.

Their looks were similar to ordinary zombies, with only a slight difference.

All of them had a bluish color around the area of their feet.

This was something one wouldn't usually notice, but Dilan had figured it out.

He had an idea about what could be the reason behind this as well.

That was also why he was not astonished when the five zombies shot towards them with a speed twice that of ordinary zombies.

Oliver was baffled for a moment, but instead of moving backward, he pushed ahead while leaning forward.

Dilan used his high speed to pierce the Reinforced Stone spear out.

His prediction of the zombie's trajectory was accurate as the closest zombie ran straight at his spear.

Piercing through its head, Dilan's powerful thrust killed the zombie at once.-.

With a quick motion and his enhanced strength he pulled back the Spear just to slash out horizontally, using the small corridor's restricted width to his advantage.

The attack didn't kill a single zombie, but it distracted them as they momentarily forgot about Oliver.

However, this was a big mistake as the skinny young man had already appeared next to the zombie that was on the far left.

He had ducked under Dilan's slash, using every single detail of the surroundings to his advantage as he pushed upward using his ability.

[Violent Strike]!

One unit of mana was used up, and it increased Oliver's strength which allowed him to pierce the rat horn dagger through the zombie's chin, driving the tip of the blade deep inside before it pierced into the zombie's head.

Not having the time to be certain that the zombie was dead, Oliver had to let go of his weapon as the zombie next to him lunged at him.

Fortunately, Dilan was already prepared to attack once again.

He appeared right in between Oliver and the zombie without hesitation and blocked off the zombie's path.

But the monster wasn't picky about whose brain it feast on.

Thus, its hands reached out for Dilan, brushing past his clothes in an attempt to kill him.

The attack barely missed Dilan, and when Oliver saw this, his eyes widened in shock as he realized what kind of dangers Dilan had thrown himself in just to protect him.

However, Dilan's sky blue eyes showed no signs of worry, and his ice-cold gaze hardened as he pierced the Reinforced Stone Spear.

Due to the narrow space between Oliver and the zombie, Dilan had to thrust his spear right into the zombie's chest pushing the monster back before he kicked it hard.

Afterward, he advanced towards the staggering beast and in a clean cut chopped off its head, before jumping in the fray of the other two agility-enhanced zombies.

Their speed might be twice that of ordinary zombies, but that was still not fast enough to face Dilan.

His combat experience was slowly increasing with time and each subsequent kill, and his movements were much smoother as well.

He made far fewer unnecessary steps and actions in the combat style he was slowly creating and adapting himself to.

Thus, he lashed out towards the zombie on his right.

Due to its high speed, Dilan was not able to pierce its head in time.

However, that was fine because he had aimed for its left shoulder, to begin with.

Pinning the zombie on the right to the wall, Dilan used his strength that was now thrice that of an average human before the Primordial Ascension and lifted his left leg up to the height of his abdomen before hurling the zombie away like dead meat.

His shoe connected with the head of the zombie on the left, and the impact caused its neck to break.

It was only a fraction of a second later that Oliver shot past Dilan, piercing his remaining dagger in the head of the left zombie, before he reached out for the other zombie as well, ending its life.

Dilan would have to retract the Reinforced Stone Spear before piercing out in order to kill the zombie he had just pinned down.

Thus, Oliver had believed that it would be for the best to help out a little bit.

It was not necessary but Dilan nodded his head to thank Oliver before he did a cursory check and signaled to Dilan that the coast was clear for them to proceed further to the hallway.

There were no monsters in their immediate surroundings, and they could only hear the growling of zombies from a few rooms, but that could be easily ignored.

Turning to the corpses, Dilan thought about something which led him to act rather fast as he opened the skull of the two Zombies he killed.

[Essence of a Tierless Level 3 Agile Zombie has been absorbed→ +0.5 Agility]

"As expected." He could only mumble as the first Essence crystal crumbled in his hand.

The zombies they had just killed were likely to be advanced mutations of ordinary zombies, which told them why their agility had improved to such heights.

This also explained why their speed was so high and made it clear that all the bodies accepted three to four Essence crystals of all types of monsters post which wouldn't provide any status points further.

As such, he absorbed the last crystal as well, gaining 0.3 points in Agility before Dilan continued his way through the hallway.

"If all corridors are connected, there should only be a few rats on the right side. How about we use this chance to clear the rooms first before killing the stronger zombies.

We should imprison the weaker zombies, one in each room. This would make it easier for us to procure abilities when we have more survivors."

No sooner had he shared this idea, the numerous closed doors came into his view.

Oliver wasn't really paying enough attention and his eyes widened when he received a total of 1.1 Agility from the three Essence crystals.

This boosted his Agility above 3 Units, which was higher than Dilan's Agility of 2.9 Units.

Only when Dilan repeated his idea did Oliver listen to him, just to nod his head.

'Why am I even asking for your opinion if you just nod to whatever I say?' Dilan began to question himself, shaking his head lightly.

Having agreed on the decision, they began to clear all the rooms one after another. Luckily, in some rooms they could only find a single zombie.

Thus, Dilan closed such rooms once again, engraving a big 'I' on the center of the door.

A total of four hours passed, and they encountered more than a hundred zombies on their way through the hallway that connected the left and front corridor.

They didn't encounter a single evolved zombie, let alone a special zombie.

All around them, they could only find unleveled and level 1 zombies.

However, this time, they didn't kill them.

Either they led one zombie in an empty room before Dilan cut off its leg, or they simply avoided larger groups, slowly splitting them up before filling the empty rooms with one zombie each.

This took up most of their time and required their utmost focus as well.

As such, the two didn't even notice that they hadn't encountered a single horned rat or Krendel on their way.

Stretching their body after they were done, Oliver felt like falling asleep right on the spot he was standing on.

Meanwhile, Dilan returned to the front where they had yet to clear the rooms after the nurses' room.

"The nurses should take medics from the nurses' room to the cafeteria sooner or later," Dilan suddenly mumbled.

There were quite a few things he had to pay attention to in order to ensure everyone's survival.

However, it was just as he was about to clear the remaining rooms of the second floor that he halted in his tracks.

'Am I not being too much of a thinker and a strategist right now? Someone else should think about sorting all this mess. Just let me fight!!'

Chapter 32 Frustration

Dilan decided that he shouldn't shoulder all the responsibility and be the savior of everybody around him and that everything should return to the usual just like it was before.

He was excited to fight, but instead of ordering others around about what they should do, and being a chief battle strategist to avoid casualties, ration food, and just about do everything a thoughtful leader of a group would do, Dilan now focused on himself!

'The first two attempts to use mana in my attacks were quite decent. I should focus on that to become stronger, while the others can play leader, or whatever!'

Shrugging his shoulders, he cleared the last few rooms of zombies before taking a last glance at the left side of the T-shaped corridor.

He couldn't see any horned rats or Krendels, but it was only a matter of time before they would flood the corridor.

Afterward, Dilan turned around to go back to the cafeteria.

While passing the hall on the second floor, Dilan heard a loud banging from the left corridor.

This made him freeze on the spot as he tried to listen to the noises carefully.

'Not even the Gluttonous zombie would survive there, and neither the Krendels nor horned rats can issue such noises!'

Excitement spread through his body as he looked at the few dents on the door just to keep walking.

He and Oliver returned to the cafeteria, where they were greeted with smiles.

Some Survivors expected them to bring a few Essence crystals, but only Sarah dared to approach Dilan while the others just watched them curiously.

"Dilan, do you have some Essence crystals for me?"

Because he nodded his head when she requested Essence crystals, it was a given that she would receive, at least, a few crystals of a lower level. Hence, the others grew hopeful that they would receive something too.

However, Dilan just shook his head before he put down the empty backpack.-.

Cleaning the Reinforced Stone Spear afterward, he placed it aside and started rolling his sleeves down to get ready for a bath.

A frown appeared on his face when he looked at his blood-splattered and dirt-smeared clothes.

If his clothes could be labeled as dirty even before he entered the hospital, they were nothing more than items worth discarding in a trash bin.

There were two huge holes in his shirt; one from being punctured by a tree trunk, and one owing to the nurse tearing open his shirt to take the bullet out of him.

As such, he sighed deeply, ignoring Sarah's disappointed expressions before he asked,

"None of you have spare clothes, right?"

Dilan didn't expect a miracle to happen and suddenly be offered clean clothes, which was why he accepted the fact that nobody gave him a useful answer.

But even then, he couldn't help but feel a little bit annoyed by the attitude of some Survivors.

The three new nurses had red cheeks, and their expressions looked like they had been in a verbal fight with some other Survivors.

Meanwhile, a handful of the Survivors that resided in the cafeteria since day one looked at him in visible disappointment.

He didn't bring them more Essence crystals. As such, they couldn't grow stronger.

Seeing everyone around him, he could only ridicule himself for his generosity to help the other Survivors receive a fair chance at becoming stronger.

To him, it felt as if the last few hours of arduous work from both Oliver and him had been wasted. Even Oliver couldn't help but look at the few Survivors that did the least to help their entire group to have it easier to live in the new era that arrived on Milarn

Even though it had not been long since everybody ensured that they would work hard to ensure that they were useful to the group, there were some Survivors, who went against their words.

"Why am I even trying so hard?" Dilan suddenly grumbled, taking a short glance at the doors before he shook his head once.

At this moment, a whiff of an aromatic smell permeated the air around Dilan, which was followed by his stomach which began to grumble.

He turned to the kitchen and entered it, and saw that Bianne was working hard to cook a delicious meal for everyone.

Thus, he smiled lightly before saying,

"At least, I can fill my stomach with some nice, hot food, thanks."

Bianne had not expected Dilan to open the sliding door, just to mumble something in addition to a 'thanks'.

Afterward, he looked at the food, which caused her to mumble nervously,

"I need..a few more minutes. Please be patient.."

Bianne was still nervous, fearing that Dilan would take revenge on her.

After all, she was the one to have shot him on their first encounter.

Now she knew that it had been a wrong decision, but Bianne was also aware that she had been too frightened.

There was not really an excuse she could come up with to justify her action, and she didn't want that either.

However, Bianne never found the right timing to apologize to him.

And just when she thought that it was possible to avoid an awkward situation, Dilan disappeared after he nodded his head at her.

Her eyes were fixated on the sliding door that closed behind him as he stepped out, her mouth slightly open as she had just gathered the courage to say something.

Sighing deeply, she could only feel little bit frustrated.

But Bianne's frustration was insignificant when compared to Dilan's frustration that everyone in the cafeteria could sense.

If one was able to use their head, just a little bit, one could easily figure out that Dilan's earlier exclamation of 'Why am I even trying so hard?' had nothing to do with him trying hard to fight monsters.

Fighting and killing monsters was evidently something Dilan had taken a liking to, even more so if his opponents were stronger.

By adding the words 'At least' to his sentence in which he thanked Bianne for the food, it was not hard to tell what was on Dilan's mind.

The door had been open and his voice had been clear enough for the others to hear outside the kitchen.

Ever since he had arrived in the hospital, Dilan had been treated like a pushover, was shot at and none of the survivors had thanked him for what he did to allow all of them to gain strength.

This was not even something Dilan wanted, and he would simply ignore their words of gratitude.

However, given the fact that they cleared the front corridor up to the nurses' room several hours ago, it was ridiculous to think that nobody thought of taking the extra set of clothes of the patients that resided in the rooms before.

At the very least, one could have thought about moving the mattresses from the second floor to the cafeteria as well.

To Dilan, the majority of Survivors felt like freeloaders that were not even willing to actually fight.

But even then, they would look up to him for an ability crystal, and some of them had procured it, just to waste it on themselves, without making use of it.

This just meant they wasted precious resources due to their selfishness.

One could also see it as an instinctive action of someone truly frightened.

However, Dilan didn't really care. He just felt like he should act exactly like the other Survivors, mind his own business.

He was going out and risking his life every single time to kill zombies and they would just throw him disappointed looks if he didn't get any Essence crystals for them.

The way some of them were waiting to be spoon-fed everything was starting to get on his nerves.

From now on, only those who were willing to be of use would matter to him, and the others could even die, Dilan wouldn't bat an eyelid if something were to happen to them!

With that in mind, he postponed taking a bath because it would be entirely useless to begin with.

Dilan didn't speak a single word during dinner and quickly left when he was done eating.

Returning to the same old corner, he closed his eyes and decided to take some much-needed rest.

His body required sleep even though his mind cursed out the lazy and entitled Survivors who expected the world from the few hard-working ones while giving them nothing but disappointed looks in return.

Meanwhile, his sulky mood didn't go unnoticed by a few eyes that had been trained on him.

"Does he always have such an attitude?" The youngest nurse asked while looking at the now resting Dilan with a scorn.

Earlier, she had found him quite charming despite the fact that his clothes were worn off, and his face dirty.

However, right now, she felt that he was not even acting like a human.

"How disappointing!"

The moment these two words left her mouth, almost everyone stared at her with daggers in their eyes, while Oliver even got up from the ground, and spoke to her scathingly.

"If you want to leave, feel free to go! We would be better off without giving you food…one less stomach to feed, you know? So, at the bare minimum, shut up, will you?!"

His voice was low, but everyone around them could clearly hear every single word he uttered in contempt.

If not for Dilan, half of the crowd would have either gone insane or dead by now.

But that was something quite a few of them had yet to digest and realize.

Most of them were far away from reality, hoping that this was a nightmare that they would wake up from and everything would be alright in the world again.

Too many things had happened during the last few days, and it was already a wonder for them to be alive.

When Dilan had been injured, most of them understood that they were also required to do something to survive.

Even if they were not able to fight due to various reasons such as their fear, or the incapability to react in time and to move quickly, there had been more than enough other things to do.

Yet, instead of working hard for several hours, some did a few shallow tasks for half an hour before deciding that it had been enough.

And that was not all as they demanded something for their menial work.

Not just Dilan but even Oliver was getting fed up by now, only for the young nurse to fuel his anger even more.

"S-sorry…."

Chapter 33 Backing up!

Dilan didn't notice the drama he had been missing out on as he entered a much deeper slumber than he had wanted to.

Oliver was already enraged by the entitled behavior of some Survivors. However, the youngest nurse was downright rude and ungrateful in his opinion.

He was furious and had every right to do so. They had endangered their life in order to defeat the Gluttonous zombie, and kill numerous other zombies.

In the end, they even accepted that the three nurses could join their group of Survivors, even though nobody knew whether they were trustworthy enough to be allowed in their group or not!

Strangers could always be like Jack, or possibly even worse. The chances to encounter insane Survivors in the Rian mountainside hospital were not little, after all!

Nonetheless, with Dilan's help, everything had been fine, and he had taken responsibility by allowing the nurses to join them.

As such, the nurses should be thankful to Dilan and try their best to make themselves useful, but the youngest was behaving as if she was a five-year-old.

Oliver felt immense gratitude towards everything Dilan had done to help him become the person he was.

Others such as Ailee, Pierre, and a few more felt the same, including the two nurses, who had operated on him not too long ago.

"We did our fair share of work as well, so why are you acting like this? It's not like we have anyone here, who does nothing! Can't we, at the very least, hope to get a few Essence crystals?" One of the older men suddenly asked in an annoyed voice.

He had been in the group of Survivors since the beginning, but nobody really took notice of him.-.

But that was only obvious because he was always quiet owing to Jack's domineering manner.

Even after Jack was no more, he preferred to stay unknown, as Dilan attracted the attention of everyone, turning into their leader that they all had accepted without even realizing to have done so.

That annoyed the old man, which was why he wanted to gain something from the so-called leader.

Yet, his words were too much even for Sarah, who was now beginning to feel bad about her demand for Essence crystals.

Only now did she understand that most of them were acting like spoiled kids in a world where everything had to be earned through hard work.

As such, Sarah felt even worse the moment he heard Ailee's angry outburst in response to the old man's demands.

"So far, Dilan has killed hundreds of zombies, protected us from getting exploited, possibly raped, and even killed.

All of you should know that he finished off the other beasts as well…and he gets what from us? Bianne makes him food, Oliver and a few others are also fighting to give him an easier time, but you? You made ONE fucking rat horn dagger in the last two days…woah, amazing! I am impressed!!"

Ailee clasped her hands together, looking at the old man with fiery eyes as if she would skin him alive then and there. She clearly knew just how much Dilan had to suffer because of them.

She also knew that Dilan's original plan, before he was somewhat forced to enter the hospital, had been to go to the supermarket to get some groceries and leave afterward.

But fate had something else in mind and had sent him inside the hospital. He had been suffering ever since entering the hospital and choosing to stay behind, even after the incident with Jack!

Everyone who had spent some time with Dilan understood that he wanted to fight, become stronger as quickly as possible, and continue to advance.

As such, the stronger beasts inside the hospital and the Gate on the second floor might have been the reasons for him to stay back despite Jack's betrayal.

After today, she even doubted that there was another reason for him to continue staying with them.

And if Ailee were to be honest, she was also fed up with some of the Survivors, and the only thing that held her back from throwing them out was the fact that they were bound to die if they would try to survive even one day on their own outside the hospital.

"Don't think I didn't notice your lazy ass! And the others as well…To be honest, it really is ridiculous that nobody tried to get their hands on new clothes, a mattress, maybe even shampoo or some other stuff from the rooms we cleared today.

We are not running after you to give you guys tasks, but please use your brain to ease everyone's burden just a little bit, to give those that risk their lives for everyone's safety some relief and respite.

I am way too exhausted after fighting just a little bit, and I can not even imagine just how dead-tired both Oliver and Dilan are after fighting for several hours with little to no break!"

After Ailee stopped speaking, an awkward silence spread throughout the cafeteria.

Some of the survivors looked at Oliver, and everyone could see the dark circles under his eyes.

It was clear that he was beyond exhausted.

However, the comments of some Survivors, especially the young nurse and the old man had just been too much.

As such, he couldn't help but be thankful that Ailee was on their side, and that she was trying to put some sense in those who were just empty vessels that made noise but did no substantial work.

There were a few more Survivors that nodded their heads in response to her fierce speech, which was even more reason for Oliver to feel slightly better.

'Even if it's just for a few… it is certainly worth fighting for!'

This gave him the necessary reassurance to leave their small circle and find a nice corner to take his share of much-needed rest as well.

Ailee left as well, and so did both Sarah and Bianne.

With this rather intense discussion, the day ended and everyone's mind was filled with a wide variety of things to think about.

Some Survivors were simply angered by the behavior of Oliver, and Ailee, but deep down they knew that they were correct.

Meanwhile, others were simply ashamed because they had been too scared to take even a single step in front of the cafeteria.

Their fear had overwhelmed their ability to show some confidence, even after Ailee, Pierre, and Sarah told them that the entrance hall was cleared and that the hall on the second floor would soon be fully cleared as well.

On the other hand, the three newly arrived Survivors couldn't help but feel as if they had left one hell, just to enter a different one.

But this time, there was a trace of hope within them as the older nurse of the three remarked,

"I think it will be necessary for us to adjust as well, otherwise, everything will only get worse…"

With that being said, the old nurse stacked the plates before starting to do the dishes.

Not many would see her do something, but as long as all the necessary chores would be completed, nobody would complain, and trouble could be avoided.

And trouble within their own rows was something they didn't need to add to their growing list of problems, they were already struggling to save themselves from the dangers of the outside world!

*[Several hours later, early in the morning]*

Dilan was having a headache owing to the banging noise that came from the left corridor's door, and the frustration from the behavior of some Survivors.

The banging sound and his raging emotions prevented him from sleeping any further than the few hours that his body desperately required.

As such, he got up from the ground and grasped the Reinforced Stone Spear instinctively before he moved outside the cafeteria.

Contrary to before, a huge metal chain held the cafeteria doors closed.

This made it easier for him to leave as he opened the doors using the key that was hung near the doors.

To avoid making noises, he told one of the three nurses he had saved in the afternoon to come and help him.

She was unable to sleep due to the events of the last few days that terrorized her mind the moment she closed her eyes.

Thus, despite being dead-tired, she tried to keep her eyes open and follow Dilan's command to open the door quietly without having the energy to think what was happening.

"Lock the doors again!"

He instructed after stepping through the doors.

The nurse did as said, only to spend more than ten minutes putting the chains in place to lock the door before she mumbled,

"Is he still angry about last evening? I guess he needs some time for himself."

Shrugging her shoulders, she put back the key before lying down on the hard ground.

'Maybe we should have brought a few mattresses to the cafeteria after we finished dinner…'

Just a moment later she fell asleep, giving in to her exhaustion.

Chapter 34 Night hunt

Even though Dilan was still frustrated about the evening before, he calmed himself down as he walked up the stairs towards the second floor.

His steps were not loud, yet the gloomy silence all around him made his steps echo throughout the surroundings.

However, that was not something that unnerved Dilan.

Rather his mind was able to calm down, while his heart began to beat wildly when he started to hear the sound of an unknown being banging against the closed door on the left corridor.

'Looks like it heard me.'

Taking a glance towards the left corridor, Dilan forgot his earlier frustration as adrenaline began coursing through his veins.

He knew that the next few hours would be thrilling, and worth spending outside.

However, even if he was ready to fight against the powerful being he hoped would be a Bronze monster, Dilan walked through the front corridor.

During the last few days, he didn't pay much attention to his hygiene because his lesser immunity included resistance to bacteria.

Nonetheless, since he had thought of getting a nice bath the evening before, his clothes began to bother him more and more.

Even if they were facing the dangers of numerous monsters and death was lurking around every corner, he was in need of clean and somewhat decent clothes.

Despite washing his body he had been itching for quite a while.-.

Discarding his old smelly clothes, he picked up a rather loose tracksuit, a loose shirt, new underwear, a pair of socks, and running shoes.

Wearing his new clothes, Dilan felt like a new person.

Feeling as if he gained more freedom and confidence just by changing his clothes, he took a deep breath before leaving the patient room once again.

Turning towards his right, he kept walking through the corridor.

Circulating traces of mana through the tip of the Reinforced Stone Spear, Dilan kept walking and training his multi-tasking ability.

Using mana as often as possible also allowed him to increase his proficiency.

As such, it was even possible for Dilan to retract a portion of the unused mana when he reached the T-intersection.

A few zombies continued to growl from the right as he passed by, but they were locked up in their rooms, so Dilan simply ignored them.

His attention was on his left. Without showing any hesitation, he stepped into the left hallway armed with the Reinforced Stone Spear, ready to end the life of hundreds of opponents.

After taking a few steps, he heard a few growls of zombies from the doors to his right and left.

However as the doors were closed, Dilan ignored them for now.

His main focus was on the ten horned rats and four tiny pig-like bipedal beings, called Krendels.

They were not attacking each other and moved along.

Instead, the monsters were scampering against the wooden doors, trying to break through in order to kill the zombies within the rooms.

Maybe this would interest others, but Dilan brandished the Reinforced Stone Spear before he used his agility that was thrice that of an average human to shoot ahead.

Aiming his weapon at the four Krendels that were the most tricky and strongest opponents, he tightened his grip on the spear.

In one smooth flick of his hand, he slashed the Reinforced Stone Spear across the back of the four monsters that were less than 60 centimeters tall.

Blood gushed out of their bodies and splattered all around as painful squeals bounced off the walls, amplifying the sound a lot more.

But, Dilan simply ignored the cries and readied himself for the next attack.

With the kill, he had turned into the main focal point of attention.

However, that was perfectly fine because his agility was the highest, and so was his strength.

Using his strength and speed precisely, it was possible for him to eradicate the small group of monsters in a matter of minutes.

Puddles of blood formed on the ground, and the growls around him continued to grow louder while the smell of blood permeated the air.

Dilan's eyes gleamed in excitement as he finished the fight.

His speed and agility was no match even for the Krendels when their group had encountered them before.

But now that some time had passed, Dilan's strength was much higher than before, and there was no need to be afraid.

By now, his confidence had increased considerably as he knew that his life and death lay in his own hands.

And to overcome all dangers, strength was the only thing that mattered.

Thus, he collected the Essence crystals of the Krendels and horned rats before absorbing them.

Dilan didn't level up, but he received a total of 1.3 status points, distributed in 0.3 Strength, 0.3 Health, 0.5 Stamina, 0.2 Agility.

This was quite decent, but far from enough for Dilan to be satisfied with his night hunt.

'More rat horns would be great…' he instinctively thought, only to halt in his tracks.

He thought about the way in which the Survivors had acted earlier and he felt like he shouldn't provide them with anything to help them fight.

But then again, without any tools, they wouldn't be able to fight, even if they were to show their desire to do so.

'At least for myself, Oliver, or Ailee it would be useful.' He finished his conclusion and proceeded to cut off the horns of the 10 horned rats.

Leaving the remaining corpses behind, Dilan went ahead.

He ignored the raging zombies in the rooms around him that continued to pound on the door and solely focussed on the monsters ahead.

There were just a dozen horned rats and 6 Krendels that came rushing towards him due to the commotion Dilan's fight had caused.

The number was less than expected, but that was to Dilan's advantage.

Moving quickly ahead, he simply ignored the attacks of the horned rats as he focused on killing the Krendels.

Instead of thrusting their horns in Dilan's leg, the horned rats pounced at him and sunk their sharp teeth into his flesh.

A pained groan escaped his lips, but Dilan kept fighting, and did not let his speed lessen as he continued to assault the Krendels.

Afterward, he swung the flat side of the Reinforced Stone Spear at the horned rats that were viciously digging into his leg like a juicy piece of meat, trying to rip out his skin, flesh and nibble his bones.

But this was certainly not easy because Dilan's health stat was far higher than someone at level 5 would usually have.

As such, his body was far more resilient than the ordinary Ascender, preventing the horned rats from inflicting severe injuries.

Dilan noticed this, which was why he used the Reinforced Stone Spear just like a baseball bat.

The horned rats he hit were smashed against the hallway's walls as the sound of breaking bones reached Dilan's ear.

With one clean swipe, all horned rats were flung far away into the air and on his left leg were removed, lying around him with broken necks, spines, and other severe injuries.

This made it much easier for him to use his free leg to kick at the rats on his other leg.

Smashing his feet on their unprotected back, he mercilessly shoved them away and the resulting force was enough to break their spines and flatten them below his feet.

He was not unscathed, and his legs hurt a little bit, but with the use of [Regeneration], the bleeding stopped almost instantly!

The higher Dilan's Health stat was the stronger his Origin ability.

'I wonder when I can see the requirements to upgrade my Origin ability!'

Just when Dilan thought about this, he pierced out with the Reinforced Stone Spear, cutting open one of the Krendels' heads.

He bend down to pick up the Essence crystal but immediately sensed that something was off.

Instinctively, Dilan's head turned towards his right. His eyes were fixated on the scratched door, and it was just at this moment that he heard a deep growling sound that grew louder.

The door burst open, revealing a zombie, whose entire skin was blue, with short sparks of lightning zapping through the lifeless eyes.