Chapter 13 - Blast

The giant worms destroyed more than half the hospital in less than one minute. The building was very large and sturdy, but it was as easy as a house of cards for the worms to break it.

Wain was the first to run out of the hospital, so he was safe. Before he ran into the alley, he looked back and saw two people fighting worms. It was hard to call it a fight, though. It was more like ants trying to move a mountain.

One of the two was Anita, and the other was a guy in a blue cloak. He had a blue bow in his hand to shoot energy arrows at the worms.

'Hmm, this guy's soul has something to do with the bow. It would be nice to have some sort of long-range combat skill too. Unfortunately, until I evolve, I won't have more than one additional soul. But, I still have two slots for active skills.

While Wain pondered, one worm attacked the guy with the bow. It raised its tail high and swatted the man like a fly. When Anita saw that her partner's body had been turned into a pancake, she ran away in fear.

Those who had awakened their souls could kill zombies or weak insect monsters. But, they had to become much stronger to fight the giant worms. However, people with powerful souls and skills like Wain could fight such monsters on the first day of the apocalypse.

'I need to get to the armory before someone else robs it. Thanks to my miracle ring, I can carry dozens of grenades. As long as the monsters haven't gotten too strong yet, powerful weapons will work against them.' Thought Wain and opened the map on his phone.

He didn't know if there were any gun stores in this town, but the people at the outpost had machine guns and pistols.

Wain looked at the map and smiled, 'Great, not only is there a gun store in this town, but there are also two shooting ranges. One of the shooting ranges is quite close by, but there's no point in going there. That's probably where the people in the hospital got their guns from.'

The gun store was two kilometers away. It was close enough, but it was dangerous to walk even a hundred meters in an apocalypse. Wain, however, was not worried. He had tried many times in his world to get a soul and killed weak monsters relying on his skills.

"Okay, let's go." Proclaimed Wain and ran forward as fast as he could.

Many monsters were moving along the roads, and anyone who dared come out of hiding should have moved slowly and not attracted attention. But Wain didn't think so. It was much safer to sprint through the danger zone than to stay in it for a long time.

Moreover, he was strong enough to handle sudden accidents.

"Here come the first contenders for death." Said Wain looking at the zombies walking toward him.

They were slow and weak, but Wain could become stronger with their souls. One of his most important tasks was to level up. The higher his level, the stronger he would come to the point of evolving.

Wain swung his hand, and the dark sword headed towards the zombie. A second later, the heads of three zombies were already on the ground, and Wain saw several messages.

[You killed the Zombie Level 1]

[You killed the Zombie Level 3]

[You killed the Zombie Level 2]

Three white souls flew into Wain's body, and he immediately crushed them. Unfortunately, they were all Destroyed, but that was the most likely scenario considering the sheer number of zombies.

[You have acquired the Soul Essence of Zombie level 1]

[You have acquired the Soul Essence...]

'I wonder how many simple zombies I have to kill to get to the next level?' Thought Wain.

After a couple of minutes, he saw a gun store in the distance, but something made Wain frown. There was another man on his way to the gun store, and there was a whole crowd of zombies running after him.

He ran faster than Wain into the store and closed the door. Wain was left outside, alone among dozens of zombies, but he wasn't going to back down. He just had to get into the store.

Crackle.

Wain kicked the door with all his might and kicked it out of the doorway.

"What are you doing?! They're going to kill us now!" The man exclaimed. He didn't expect anyone else to burst into the store suddenly.

Wain looked at him threateningly, and the man realized that Wain had no intention of having a dialogue. He grabbed a gun from a nearby shelf and pointed it at Wain.

"Stay back. I'll shoot!" His hands trembled, he was afraid, but he had enough determination to murder for survival.

But, Wain was not going to stop. He stepped forward confidently.

When the distance between them was reduced to one meter, the guy pulled the trigger, but no shot was fired.

"Idiot, it's not loaded." Said Wain and sharply snatched the gun from his hands.

Wain slammed the butt of the gun into the guy's head with all his might. He was instantly knocked out and bleeding from his head. Then Wain picked him up and threw him outside the gun store, leaving him to be eaten by zombies.

But, the zombies would eat him in just a minute. Wain needed something to block the exit. He lifted the door and moved some cabinets. The zombies would eventually break through such an arbitrary barricade, but Wain wasn't going to stay here for long.

He quickly grabbed all the weapons he could find and moved them into the Ring of the Damned.

'There are no professional rifles here, only the most common variants, but there are plenty of powerful pistols and an extensive range of grenades.' Thought Wain moved a bag of grenades and a couple of ammo packs into the ring.

Wain was already picking up the last weapon from the warehouse, and in the last box, he found something interesting. It was a large pistol, no less powerful than a massive revolver.

'Wow, not bad. Engraved frame, enlarged magazine, and a huge caliber. Just the thing' thought Wain.

Crackle.

By then, the zombies had already burst into the store, Wain wanted to run out the back door, but he changed his mind at the last moment.

'I've got at least twenty zombies coming my way. It's a real feast of souls. I shouldn't miss out on something like this.' Thought Wain looking behind the monsters walking slowly in his direction.

Wain grinned, and two grenades appeared in his hands. They were some of the most powerful ones Wain had found in this store. He threw them into the midst of the zombies and disappeared behind the wall.

Booom.

There was a deafening explosion. It was so powerful that the building shook and dust sprinkled from above. A severed zombie head rolled in front of Wain. The next moment, more than twenty white souls entered Wain's body.

He saw multiple messages and began to look through each soul.

"Wow, looks like I got lucky this time." Among all the souls were all Destroyed except one.

[Soul of Zombie(Whole)

Chronicle: Primary

Rating: Common]

Wain did not hesitate to crush it as well as all the other souls.

[You have acquired the Soul Essence...]

[You have acquired the Soul Essence...]

[You have acquired the Soul Essence of Zombie level 3. Strength+2, Agility+2, Stamina+2, Vitality+2]

Zombies were monsters without any specialization. They were not good at defense or attack. Zombies were bad at everything, which is why Wain got all kinds of stats, but little by little.

[You get Common Rating Soul Chest]

"Did I get Soul Chest? Great!" Wain exclaimed.

The Soul Chest was an item that could only be obtained using Whole Soul. As the name implied, inside this chest was some equipment. It could be a weapon, armor, or even costume jewelry with special properties.

Wain decided to see what kind of item he would get right away. The Soul Chest looked like a small, white wood chest. It originally comes into the system like a card, but Wain could activate it, and the Soul Chest would appear in front of him.

'Hmm, it's small. Perhaps it contains some costume jewelry? Though that's unlikely, what's in there then?' thought Wain.

Often by the size of the Soul Chest, one could guess what kind of item was in there. If the chest was massive, it was logical to assume a weapon or even a whole set of armor. If the chest was small, it was more likely to contain costume jewelry, which was what Wain thought.

Wain didn't wait for more intrigue and opened the chest. He wasn't expecting something incredible because he got a white chest by crushing the soul of a pathetic zombie.. But, the excitement made his blood boil.