My 100th Rebirth a day before the Apocalypse - Chapter 63

Chapter 63 Crystal Core
“Four more zombies incoming from 2 o’clock,” Kisha announced calmly, her larger katana cleaving through one zombie’s neck while her smaller blade found its mark in another’s head.

Her movements were fluid, almost balletic, as she seamlessly danced between strikes, each motion graceful yet undeniably lethal.

Duke displayed his prowess with a long spear, its handle nearly as tall as him and boasting a hefty two-inch thickness. The spear’s blade, double-sided and sword-like, extended his reach significantly. With each swing propelled by his explosive strength, he carved through the zombies effortlessly, slicing them with the precision of a seasoned warrior.

With Kisha and Duke leading the charge, Sparrow and Vulture unleashed their awakened abilities without restraint. It was Kisha who proposed utilizing their powers to the fullest, albeit with caution regarding their stamina and spiritual energy levels, akin to a game’s MP or Mana.

Sparrow and Vulture had to rely solely on their own sensations, making it challenging to accurately gauge their spiritual energy levels, especially when adrenaline surged. They often forget to monitor their spiritual energy level usage, risking exhaustion. Fortunately, Kisha’s ability to perceive spiritual energy gauges provided a crucial advantage, enabling her to oversee their condition and intervene when necessary. This spiritual energy gauge determined how much they could push their abilities further without risking exhaustion.

She can also see a life gauge akin to a game’s HP which was also helpful. But this life and spiritual energy gauge was exclusive to her due to her ‘Eye of Truth’ gift.

She only became aware of this enhancement following the upgrade of her Eye of Truth. This feature allowed her to visually track the spiritual energy level of each individual, and she decided to conduct an experiment with Sparrow and Vulture, given that they had already awakened their abilities. Thus, these spiritual energy gauges would prove invaluable in their endeavors.

Realizing the challenge of monitoring individual stat windows during intense battles, Kisha promptly tasked 008 with sourcing plug-ins from the system or its shopping mall. Her goal is to consolidate all vital information into a single interface resembling those found in video games. This centralized system would allow her to efficiently oversee her entire team’s life and spiritual gauges, streamlining her command and ensuring optimal performance in combat.

Recognizing the potential benefits of such a plugin for her system interface, Kisha quickly conceived the idea, albeit with some skepticism about its availability. Nonetheless, she wasted no time in dispatching 008 to scour the system’s shopping mall and his entire channel in search of this valuable addition.

“Alright, let’s take a 15-minute break over there,” Kisha directed, pointing towards the rooftop of a single-story building nearby. They had been outside for two hours, meticulously inspecting each zombie they killed, hoping to find a crystal core embedded in their skulls. However, amidst the piles of corpses, not a single core had been spotted yet.

After hearing her command, Duke swiftly withdrew the spear he had plunged into the zombie’s skull in front of him. With a powerful swing, he flung it around, causing the coagulated blood accumulated on the spear to splatter onto the ground.

After ensuring his spear was free of blood, he approached Kisha, who was meticulously wiping her katana’s blade on the zombie’s clothing, avoiding direct contact with the gore. Duke couldn’t help but chuckle at her, noticing she was already covered in the same blood she was avoiding. She looked both silly and cute in her fastidiousness.

Hearing Duke’s chuckle above her head, Kisha turned around, meeting his eyes as her own narrowed.

“Let’s head up. Need a boost to the roof?” Duke asked, a teasing smirk playing on his lips.

Kisha ignored Duke’s teasing and stood up, swiftly storing her katanas in her inventory before striding toward the building. Sparrow had already summoned a small whirlwind to lift himself onto the rooftop, looking effortlessly cool as if he were flying, while Vulture created a staircase from earth to ascend to the rooftop.

Kisha and Duke raised their eyebrows in acknowledgment of Vulture’s useful abilities. After Vulture, Kisha, and Duke ascended to the roof, Vulture waved his hands, causing the stairs to crumble to the ground, leaving only a small mound of earth behind.

Sparrow couldn’t help but whistle in admiration at Vulture’s useful abilities, while Vulture proudly accepted the acknowledgment, puffing out his chest and tilting his chin skyward. They looked comical, but it was their way of lightening the gloominess that the apocalypse had brought to their new lives.

After their brief interaction, Sparrow returned to his task of scouting the area. Despite knowing that Kisha had already deployed drones around the perimeter, he wanted to further hone his talents and gifts by actively participating in the reconnaissance effort.

Bell soared through the air, her presence a cheerful addition to the group as she expertly managed the bees scouting ahead. With her improved communication skills, Bell seamlessly relayed information between the bees and Kisha. While the bees still struggled to distinguish between zombies and living humans, their descriptions of what they observed had become more detailed and informative over time.

This improvement made Kisha happy, and also, Bell’s own hive is doing well and the babies she has birthed are growing well, soon, she will be able to deploy her own Scarlet Bees to patrol farther and they can start making the Scarlet honey which will be very helpful in the body’s constitution but what stumped Kisha is how will she help Bell to level up because contracted beast from another world is obviously different from the mutated beast in the world they lived in.

Putting aside her concerns about Bell’s level-up and evolution for the time being, Kisha focused on the mission at hand. The western side of the city presented a heightened level of danger and population density compared to other areas. This district primarily comprised residential buildings, catering to the lower and middle class segments of society. The landscape was dominated by tightly packed apartment buildings, rendering their intended route fraught with peril.

It’s no wonder that no other groups were eager to take on this mission, despite the promise of rewards ten times the usual rate. However, Kisha and her team had a silver lining—their decision to travel on foot minimized the noise they made, ensuring safer passage through the perilous area. Meanwhile, their drones and Sparrows took turns keeping a vigilant watch, scanning for any potential threats from afar.

This combination made their journey a little better, if any group saw this, they could only cry buckets of tears for envy.

However, the drawback was that it took them longer to complete their reconnaissance mission. With no specific target location specified, their task was to thoroughly scout the entire western district, maintaining vigilance for anything out of place.

Kisha wasn’t certain if their heightened alertness was due to the alarming rate of zombie activity, their potential evolution, or something altogether different. Nevertheless, it was this uncertainty that drove her to lead this mission—not solely for the reward, but because something felt amiss, and she was determined to uncover the truth while also searching for Duke’s family.

Even though Duke remained stoic and hadn’t voiced his concerns, Kisha could sense his growing impatience and worry regarding his family. The absence of any word from his other subordinates only added to his unease.

After the 15-minute break, Sparrow took the lead, guiding the team forward. Their strategy was to scout the western district from the outer perimeter inward, ensuring a thorough assessment of the area. This approach would allow them to efficiently complete their task and return directly to the shelter once finished.

“Incoming zombies at 12 o’clock, over a dozen,” Sparrow informed his team that was running behind him.

They required no instruction, and each member instinctively assumed their position, charging ahead to confront the zombies. Sparrow’s agility was on full display as he leaped forward, driving his knife into the first zombie in sight. With remarkable balance, he perched on the creature’s shoulder, crouched and ready for action.

After thrusting his knife and harnessing his momentum, Sparrow relied on his leg muscles to spring back to the ground, delivering a swift but controlled kick to the zombie as he retrieved his knife.

Sparrow appeared to be executing a gymnastics routine as he leaped from side to side, efficiently killing zombies with his agile stabs. Despite being in the process of recuperating his spiritual energy after earlier exertion, he seemed to be enjoying himself. Meanwhile, Vulture employed a different approach. Though he couldn’t execute acrobatic maneuvers like Sparrow, his technique was just as effective. With powerful kicks, he effortlessly sent zombies hurtling through the air.

The dozen or so zombies no longer posed a threat to them once they had mastered killing them.

As Sparrow delivered his final blow to the zombie behind him, he prepared to advance when a glimmer caught his eye—a shiny white crystal nestled within the zombie’s head. “Ah! Miss! Check this out! There’s a crystal core in this one!” he called out excitedly.