Chapter 16 - More People, More Enemies

Wain had almost reached the university building. He had a few turns to make. But, suddenly, on his way, he saw a mutated insect. Wain decided to fight it, as he needed one more creature for the Zombie Glove to give him a random potion.

The mutated insect was a large and. Ants were everywhere, so Wain was not surprised to encounter one species. The ant was huge, two meters tall, and over three meters long. It was digging through piles of garbage, trying to find something, and not paying attention to what was going on around it.

'Great, you'll be my third victim.' Thought Wain and waved his hand.

A black sword appeared next to him and flew toward the ant. Wain wanted to deal with the monster from afar. But, suddenly, the ant's tendrils hissed, and it turned toward Wain.

The ant put its front paws out in front of it and easily beat back the Destruction Sword flying at it. Wain was surprised that the ant was able to block this attack. He was sure that the dark sword was sharp enough to chop the ant into small pieces.

"So that's how he was able to do it, I see," Wain muttered, looking at the ant's front paws.

Its were armored and covered with strong, small plates. During the apocalypse, monsters didn't just get bigger and stronger, but their bodies changed as well. Moreover, this was only the beginning, just like with humans.

Wain tried to attack a few more times, but he was unsuccessful. The ant masterfully blocked each attack and threw the Destruction Sword aside.

'Hmm, I won't get anywhere at this rate. I'll have to change my fighting style. Wain swung his arm, and the sword flew into his hand.

Wain took a slow step towards the ant. The monster was just as aggressive. It wanted to tear Wain apart.

When the distance between the ant and Wain had shortened enough, Wain decided to use the effect of surprise. He used Lightning Lizard's Dash and turned it into a lightning bolt.

The ant didn't have time to keep track of Wain's incredible speed. So when the ant realized that Wain had disappeared from his sight, Wain had already pierced his head with his sword.

Crackle.

Wain struck a few more swift blows so that the ant would not survive, after which he shattered the ant's head and brought the Zombie Glove to the ant's flesh.

The jaws opened wide and began to devour the ant's flesh slowly. After a while, the jaws closed.

But, after a couple of seconds, the jaws opened again. After all, all the conditions had been met, and Wain must have received some potion.

From the creepy mouth slowly emerged, an oblong flask, the kind they store reagents in chemical laboratories. The flask was filled with a liquid, dark brown.

[Ant Power Potion (Primary Chronicle, Common Rating)

Ants are known for their great Strength - they can easily lift an object several times their own weight. Drink this potion, and you will increase your Strength by 10 points within five minutes.]

'Not bad, moreover if I use the Codex of Light and Darkness, I can increase all my characteristics by two units with this potion.' Wain thought and moved the potion to the Ring of the Dead.

He was pleased with the potion he received. The effect was simple but quite useful. But, Wain was frustrated that the Zombie Glove could only be used once every seven days. Now, he would not be able to get the potion.

Next, the white soul of an ant flew into Wain's body.

[Soul of Ant (Destroyed)

Chronicle: Primary

Rating: Common]

Ants were one of the most common insects. So unless it was some mutated ant species, there was even less chance of getting Whole Soul than there was of killing a zombie.

[You have acquired the Soul Essence of Ant Level 4]

"Huh, I wonder what would happen to me if I got into an ant colony? There must be hundreds or more of them there. I can find a huge number of souls there." Proclaimed Wain and went on his way.

In a minute, he had already seen the University of the Bright Sun. It was a complex of rather large buildings, but they were all in the same area, making it easy for the monsters to surround the university.

A high wall surrounded the university, and barricades in the passageways. But, the people there did not attempt to kill the monsters. It seemed strange to Wain.

'Did they lock themselves inside, and that's it? Maybe they don't have weapons, but at this rate, they'll all be killed.' Thought Wain looking at the pile of monsters.

They mainly were zombies, but there were also a lot of mutated insects. Even though Wain was within sight of them, they didn't attack him. He was alone, and the university had hundreds of students and other people outside the walls.

Wain wondered what he should do in this situation. He didn't want to break into many monsters to get into the university.

'Damn, there aren't any unique specimens here. That's disappointing. However, it's still too little time since the apocalypse began.' Thought Wain looking at the monsters.

Suddenly, Wain smiled and said, 'Looks like I got lucky. I've come to the most interesting thing.'

Wain saw the main gate open, and a small group of people appeared from behind the barricade. It consisted entirely of students. There were twelve of them. But they had no firearms with them, and some of them had swords and axes in their hands.

'I chose this place for a reason, after all. There's a big shop next to this uni, and it looks like they decided to make a foray. What's more, judging by their confident faces, they've each awakened their Soul Altar.' Wain thought as he watched them closely.

He was curious to see what kind of powers these students possessed. Ahead of them all walked a guy with a long katana in his hand.

'He was lucky to be able to get such a powerful weapon. I wonder what kind of monster he killed? He's their leader. What's the Rating of his main Soul?' Thought Wain.

The guy's name was Gisle Enge. He was walking ahead, and when the monster attacked him, he instantly sliced it in two. Then, his katana became coated with an energy sheath, and he swung his weapon. A blue wave of energy headed towards the zombies, easily slicing them apart.

'I see, apparently, his soul is some mixture of magic and physical power. Usually, such souls are at least Rare Rating.' Wain pondered as he watched the squad cut their way forward.

The rest of the group was just as successful fighting and killing zombies. It was no surprise since zombies were the weakest monsters. They were nothing more than expendable material, necessary for people to activate their Soul Altar.

Among them were people with magical powers, archers, and shooters. One guy with a big build had a big, massive shield. And his skin was strong enough that zombies couldn't even scratch it.

Besides Gisle, the girl with long, golden hair and blue eyes killed the most zombies. She was dressed in her usual student clothes and had a short, wooden staff in her hand.

'Most of them have some object. That means either they've killed quite a few monsters already and got a few Whole Souls, or they're just lucky.' Wain thought.

Wain wanted to wait for the right moment to join their group in battle. He needed other people for information and not just about this world.

After the apocalypse began, something was happening every second in the world. The world was gradually changing and taking on a completely different appearance. Wain should have been aware of these events, at least those happening in this part of town.

But, things did not go according to Wain's plan. Suddenly he heard buildings collapsing behind him. Wain turned around and saw the monster behind him and muttered, "Yeah, you always annoyed me."

Wain stared at the vast, four meter long flea. Almost everyone had encountered these insects, but they looked like tiny black dots hopping from place to place to most. But, up close, the flea, especially the mutated one, looked very creepy, like a fiend from hell.

However, because of the extreme differences in body structure, all insects seemed nasty up close, even butterflies, which people adored.

Wain wanted to attack, but suddenly the flea disappeared from his sight and landed on a small store on a nearby street. The weight of the insect was large enough to destroy the building.

Wain hoped the flea would jump away, but instead, the insect just stared at the group of students and Wain. It was as if the flea was assessing people.

Wain did not want to fight the flea as he considered them very dangerous opponents. Of the common insects, fleas had the strongest legs and were the real record holders in the distance and jumping speed.

A group of students also noticed the flea and decided to the group so that, if anything, they could defend themselves from the attack of this dangerous foe. But, the flea ended up looking at Wain and jumped in his direction.

Even though he was alone, the flea's instincts told her that he was a more dangerous and stronger opponent, which meant that defeating him would make her that much stronger.

Everyone in this world now sought power, and insects were no exception.

Wain didn't expect the flea to decide to attack him, but he wasn't going to fight it alone. He smirked and ran toward the group of students.

The flea landed a few feet away from him, destroying the asphalt, then jumped again. The students didn't expect something like this to happen, but regardless, they wanted to help Wain.

"Hurry up!" Shouted one of the students looking at Wain.

He saw the flea almost reach Wain and, in half a second, crush him with its massive body.. However, before the insect landed, Wain's body was covered in electric shocks, and he turned into a flash of lightning.