The World Cataclysm

Leaving Rebecca and Rachel with unconscious Evelyn, Dave led Arthur outside. First, he decided to test Arthur's skills, so he whispered, "Go and kill a zombie. I want to see how good you are."

At his words, Arthur only nodded his head as he stealthily approached a zombie who stood unmoving in the corridor. Perhaps, it was the one who scared Evelyn by attempting to open the wide doors.

Holding a Broken Spear in his hands, Arthur thrust his spear and killed a zombie by piercing its head from behind. While observing his moves, Dave quickly evaluated Arthur in his mind 'Well, at least, he is good for a newbie. No hesitation or fear so far. Yet how would he behave during an actual fight?'

'Okay, let's not waste our time on it. Now we should head towards the underground basement,' Dave thought as he decided to get to it later.

"Good job! Then, let's get going," Dave said as he patted Arthur's shoulders.

Arthur had only nodded to him as he followed after Dave hastily. Stuck in the office room with Dave and others, he was greatly concerned about the safety of Mary. Especially, the last of words of Kyle that he will take care of Mary had only further worried him.

'I hope that she is safe and sound,' Arthur thought as he recalled Mary's personality. She was meek and slightly cowardy even in high school, avoiding any conflict as much as she could, so he was worried about her.

They quickly left the staff zone, entering the same area full of zombies. However, due to Dave's Mana Sensing, it wasn't a problem for him to pinpoint the safest route towards the door to the underground basement.

Not wanting to disturb all zombies in the supermarket, both of them tried to move as silently as possible. As they moved down the most optimal route, they had reached the door to the underground basement, yet three zombies stood in front of it.

"Arthur, take the one down, while I'll take care of two of them. Can you do it?" Dave whispered to Arthur as he shared his simple plan.

Nodding in understanding, Arthur followed closely after Dave. For safety reasons, Dave had even used Mana enhancement to boost his stats, increasing his strength and agility by 10%. When they had reached close enough, Dave rushed towards the group of three and swiftly cut one's head.

Stunned by Dave's sudden speed, Arthur seemed slightly bewildered, but he quickly came to his mind and dashed towards one of the two zombies. At some point, his speed increased rapidly as he could rival Dave in it.

Quickly appearing next to the zombie, Arthur thrust its head with his spear. At the same time, Dave already dealt with the second zombie, as its head flew into the air.

Noticing a sudden boost in Arthur's speed, Dave thought, 'Not bad! It should be a Shadow Step. Considering that the average human has 10 points in agility, Arthur can show speed 2 times higher than it. But he could have dealt with that zombie without activating his skill.'

Actually, stat points were calculated by reference to the average stats of other humans older than 18, including sportsmen and adults. Hence, 10 points in agility were approximately equal to 4-5 meters per second while running. It was the same for strength, stamina, and intelligence.

"Don't be in rush! You shouldn't have used your trump card so easily," Dave whispered to him after beheading his zombie.

"Ehm...Sorry! I just panicked slightly when you had killed your first zombie," Arthur replied embarrassedly as he glanced at two zombies killed by Dave. He was greatly stunned in his mind since he clearly understood that Dave could have even dealt with all three of them without his help, so he thought, 'How high are his stats?'

"Any restrictions on your skill?" Dave asked as he sighed lightly. Arthur was more careless than he had expected.

"I need some time to use it again," Arthur replied as he scratched the back of his head.

"Stop being reckless. You need to cherish your life, so you won't make people close to you worried. You should think about how your little girlfriend is feeling herself," Dave scolded him. Saying it, he opened the door to the underground basement and headed downstairs. Arthur had only looked at his back helplessly and trudged after him.

As they had opened the door, they could already hear voices from below as someone was shouting. It was more clear as they grew closer to the underground basement.

"AHHHHH!" Someone had screamed as they stood before the door. A moment later, Arthur was the first one to rush into the underground basement as he said "Mary!"

As he followed after Arthur, the first thing Dave was Kyle who was pulling Mary by her hand. A clear red hand imprint could be seen on his cheek as someone had slapped him. At the same time, Kyle screamed "Bitch! I said follow me!"

Seeing how Kyle was forcefully pulling Mary, anger boiled in Arthur's heart as he shouted "Kyle! What are you doing?"

Finding the voice familiar, Kyle had turned his head to Arthur and was stupefied in the next moment. First, he thought 'But he's dead!'

Taking advantage of Kyle's confusion, Mary was able to free herself from Kyle's clutch as she ran to Arthur while saying his name. Just in several hours, she had lost both Arthur and Evelyn which was a big shock for a girl with a fragile personality. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Running towards him, she quickly hugged him as she started crying and bowling "Arthur, you're alive! But Evelyn...Evelyn...She wasn't around me when I woke up. She went upstairs and didn't return. Kyle said she's dead!"

"Don't worry, Mary! Evelyn's alive! Sorry that I left you alone here!" Arthur said softly as he gently caressed her hair.

Watching that scene from the side, Kyle first mumbled something and said more loudly afterwards "How? HOW? How are you alive? I thought you have already dead! Nevermind, I just need to kill you myself!" Saying it, he looked evilly at Arthur.

Next, both of them dashed to each other as they gripped their weapon. Kyle still couldn't understand how Arthur returned alive if he was surrounded by zombies. Just how?

Engaged in combat, it was evident who was in advantage. Even though Arthur couldn't use his skill, he was still slightly faster than Kyle since it seemed that he had put some of his free points into agility.

However, Dave, who was looking from sideways, had only thought, 'What the fuck is he doing?'

Apparently, even though Kyle was the one who was retreating backwards, Arthur still failed to deal any serious injuries to him. It wasn't that Arthur didn't have a chance to do it, no, he had plenty of chances to finish this battle, but it seemed to Dave that Arthur was intentionally holding himself back.

Kyle also wasn't a weakling. Though he wasn't able to land a blow on Arthur, Kyle still dodged and blocked all of his attacks. However, at some point, Kyle just shouted, "Stop! I give up! Look I'll even put my weapon on the ground." Next, he slowly put his Failed Dagger on the floor.

Finding nothing strange, with all of his naivety, Arthur truly believed him, so he turned to Mary since he was still worried about her emotional state. However, revealing his back to Kyle, Arthur failed to notice an evil grin that had climbed on his face.

"Arthur, behind you!" The next moment, Mary screamed in panic as her face paled over. Yet it was too late for him.

Ding!

A clear sound of the metal hitting metal resounded in the basement. Dave had magically appeared next to Arthur as he had blocked Kyle's dagger. Quickly lifting his dagger from the floor, Kyle tried to viciously stab Arthur in his spine.

"Thankfully, I'm not so stupid as Arthur. But you are strong! You should have awakened as an Evolver of strength." Dave said as he remarked Arthur's naivety. Such a low trick was a child's play for him. His Steel Sword was resisting a force that even Dave had found difficult to resist with his 17 points in strength.

Slightly stunned by his remark, Kyle tried to hide his surprise with his aggressive behaviour. "Who the fuck are you? And why are you so strong? Wait...it's YOU! You had saved Arthur! That idiot would have never survived there."

Enraged by that realization, Kyle madly attacked Dave. He stabbed, slashed, and tried to cut Dave as he fumed, 'WHY? Why did you even appear here? You had ruined everything. I'll kill you!'

However, none of his attacks had reached Dave. Since he was much faster and more experienced than him, he easily dodged his attacks. Knowing his fate from the past life, Dave said mockingly, "Don't praise yourself too much! You would have died anyway. I'm just preventing some shit from happening."

Next, Kyle lost Dave from his sight, and a short while later, he felt like everything was blackening before his eyes as his consciousness slipped from his mind. With a clean hit to his head, Dave had easily dealt with Kyle. He decided not to kill him since he still had his own plans for him.