3POV
For a whole second, all sounds vanished—all sounds except for the moaning of the zombies and the heavy breathing of that terrible monster that had sent even Isao, the one they all considered almost a divine spirit, flying aside with a single blow.
That alone made them all stare in shock at the enormous monster with dark, stone-like skin and four arms, from whose mouth disgusting greenish saliva flowed like a waterfall.
The creature wheezed, breathing heavily, paying no attention to the other people, looking only at the destroyed hospital guard booth by the gate, until…
"Anii!" Kotobuki screamed, a deathly cry, calling for her beloved brother.
"Isao!" The voices of two people overlapped as they shouted the name at the same time. Kyoko looked in confusion at the pink-haired girl, who blushed under her gaze.
The survivors—children, women, and the old man, the father of the two girls—flinched when the creature's head snapped in their direction.
Everyone froze again. But even though time continued to move, the monster didn't move toward them; instead, it turned its head back toward the ruined booth, letting everyone let out a quiet sigh.
Takashi, Hisashi, Takuzo, and all the other combat-capable people wanted to approach and try to do something against this monster.
But... but even Isao couldn't do anything. What could they do to it?
"Get on the bus." Takashi quietly hissed this to everyone still standing by the bus, and also pointed at Kohta, nodding him toward the bus, to which Kohta himself nodded, trembling as he held his nail gun.
Everyone else remained outside, slowly approaching the bus with quiet steps, trying to hit the heads of the dead, who had begun to appear incredibly quickly, as quietly and accurately as possible.
A small portion of them began to emerge from different corners of the street, but the larger part... the hole in the hospital wall was a huge damn door that the big guy had opened for its smaller brethren.
"So what do we do?" Hisashi looked at Takashi, striking a dead man in the center of the head, killing it instantly.
"I... I don't know, but I don't want to believe Isao died from that hit." Takashi replied, looking tensely and with slight desperation at the unmoving monster, while killing a dead man that had gotten behind Takuzo.
"He's not dead." Saeko stepped forward, killing several of the dead with two swift slashes. Her voice was full of confidence in her words, not to mention she was relaxed. "Before the monster managed to hit him, Isao managed to create a shield, which dispersed the damage across the shield itself. Only a small part hit Isao, which is what caused him to be sent flying." She raised her blade toward the big guy, which had begun to wheeze angrily. "Not to mention, the dead sense something in people. If Isao had died, it would have rushed us instantly."
Right after she finished speaking, the rubble trembled, causing the big guy to start moving as well. Clumsily, but sharply, it grabbed one of the passing zombies and, with a roar, threw it with all its might toward the rubble.
The makeshift projectile flew at incredible speed toward the rubble, causing everyone watching to freeze in fear. But the projectile didn't hit the rubble; when only a few meters remained, a metal wall appeared out of thin air, against which the dead man collided, instantly exploding into bloody chunks.
"F-fuck..." Isao emerged from under the rubble, tossing a wooden plank aside, making everyone exhale in relief. His voice sounded loud, even over the wheezing and groans of the dead all around. "I'm fucking done playing with death." He slowly raised his finger, pointing at the big guy through the metal wall, which had risen to its full height and begun to bare its teeth, growling loudly.
The defensive metal wall slowly moved aside, opening a space between Isao and the Big Guy, allowing the latter to start moving in bursts toward Isao.
But instead of dodging, running, or using the previously created wall, Isao continued to stand like a statue, pointing his finger at the Big Guy, who was already getting quite close.
An instant, and the entire street flashed with an incredible blue light. The line was branching, not to mention the color of this thing, which shimmered with different tones of blue, an eye-searing brightness that forced everyone to close their eyes.
But it was the sound that followed that deafened them, an incredibly loud crack, which felt like it deafened their ears, and the shockwave of incredibly cold air made them clench their teeth until their gums hurt.
When some people recovered more quickly from this and blinked to drive away the slight blindness, they opened their eyes to see Isao on his knees, and the Big Guy completely encased in Ice, unable to move.
And dozens, if not hundreds, of zombies also stood behind him, encased in the same ice, making them all stare wide-eyed at the sight.
Among those people was Saeko, who, realizing Isao was exhausted, quickly ran to him.
POV Isao Tsumugi, who definitely can't escape the title of Kami now.
My body ached. Even the 'Steel Man' trait and some others weren't helping me cope with the stamina depletion.
Not to mention my head, which felt like a hole had formed in it, leaking all my mental strength, or maybe just my brains, because fuck, I was trembling and felt pain not only in my whole body but, for some fucking reason, also in my... head? My mind? My spirit? The hell knows. But literally everything hurt!
And I realized why.
Unlike people from worlds like Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach, and so on, I didn't have internal energy. I had no chakra, no reiatsu, no cursed energy.
Therefore, all my abilities were tied to my stamina. Every time I use any ability, it gets depleted, and if it weren't for 'Steel Man'...
If not for that, I probably would have died from exhaustion long ago from using my abilities so often.
'Steel Man' made me exactly what the trait name implied. My consumption of food, water, need for sleep—all of it was reduced a hundredfold, fundamentally changing me in terms of endurance. And the 'Strong' and 'Durable' traits helped it out a bit.
And fuck, was I grateful for that, because if not for this combination of circumstances, I would have already died hundreds of times.
Everything was blurring before my eyes, while my hands rested on the ground, supporting me on all fours. I didn't want to collapse completely; I had to maintain at least some Aura Points in front of the people I'd saved.
I felt a warm liquid start to flow down my face, from my nose, and vaguely saw red drops on the ground.
"Ah-h..." Focusing, I tried to stand up, but couldn't. My arms just trembled from the pain, almost making me fall face-first onto the ground, but someone caught me under the arm, stopping me from smashing my fucking face into the dirt.
And this someone gently lifted me, helping me rise. My legs trembled and I almost fell, but instead, this someone managed to throw my arm over their shoulder and grab me by the waist, not letting me fall.
My head slowly turned to the right and lowered. I saw Saeko's shining, dark blue eyes, which were looking at me with incredible love.
She nodded to me and looked forward. I nodded too and looked where she was looking, seeing that bastard encased in a block of ice.
He stood with his arm outstretched toward me, mouth open in a roar, but he was a dead man frozen in a chunk of ice, who would definitely die from my ice-thunder, along with a hundred of the dead in the same ice, standing like statues.
[Encounter and kill an Evolved Zombie]
[Silver Ticket]
[Kill more than one hundred zombies with one blow]
[Silver Ticket]
Damn it! Gacha, are you serious?! C'mon! I'm half-dead right now, what the fuck did you give me silver for instead of gold!
My pitiful thoughts received no answer. And I myself was just complaining because I wanted to complain. I understood I got a silver ticket for killing the big guy because that dead man didn't pose a particularly strong danger to me, and a hundred dead with one blow didn't impress me, because I could have done that with metal blades too.
"Let's go, Isao-kun, you need to rest. You did a good job." Saeko squeezed me tighter by the waist, and we turned and walked toward the bus, me with a limp, and Saeko with a firm step.
With blurry vision, I saw several people running toward me, and as they got closer, I recognized them as Mom, K-imoto, Saya, and Rei, who instantly threw themselves at me, hugging me from all sides.
"Ah, my baby...!" I felt the left side of my shirt get wet from Mom's tears.
"Anii!" K-imoto pressed against me from the middle, squeezing me in her arms with joy and relief.
"Isao!" Saya pressed against me from the right side, also crying and sobbing with relief.
"Isao-san!" Rei pushed Saeko away, causing her expression to harden, but allowing Rei to embrace me.
While I understood why Mom, K-imoto, and Saya were crying, I didn't understand why Rei was crying.
Yes, I was her acquaintance, but enough to cry over me? That was even a little surprising...
"Ow, ow, not too hard... please, everything hurts." My voice was weak and trembled slightly, but I decided not to leave them all without a response and hugged them all back, pulling them all close to me.
"S-sorry, son..." Mom raised her head and looked at me, while tears continued to flow down her cheeks. Her expression was so... vulnerable, and it made my heart beat, feeling the love.
So I kissed her on the forehead and just hugged her. We stood like that for a while, hugging each other and warming ourselves in the warmth of our embrace, but we needed to move...
Yes, move to a safe place, to the Takagi Estate. I'd already saved everyone I needed to save and picked everyone up, so we'd better get moving there now, since...
I looked up, seeing the sun was already beginning to set, even though it felt like only half an hour had passed. But my senses had deceived me.
"Let's get moving..."
"Yes, we should go to the bus, since the boys seem to be getting tired." Saying this, Saeko drew my attention, making me look back at Takashi and the other guys.
And right now, they were killing all the dead that approached the bus. Some were already showing they were tired, their legs trembling slightly, and their hands almost slipping off their bats.
I looked down into the eyes of those hugging me and nodded.
"A-all right, the hug session is over for today. Let's go." Saying this, I moved forward, while they supported me.
We slowly moved toward the bus, and as we walked, my gait slowly firmed up and became more confident, and even the pain subsided a bit, allowing me to breathe a little easier.
When we reached the bus, Rei and Saya let go of me. Only Mom and K-imoto supported me and helped me get inside.
"You can let go... I'm more or less recovered."
"But, Isao!" Mom was against it, as was K-imoto, who pinched my arm.
"Don't be stupid, Anii. We're not letting you walk on your own until you're properly rested." She looked intently into my eyes, making me sigh. After that, I looked around the bus cabin.
Everyone inside was looking at me with admiration, and something resembling fanaticism. And I realized that... I just couldn't escape their "Kami" label.
Simply because I'm just too fucking strong. Not to mention that the Gacha really could make me a god if I pull something that helps me become one. Because of this, I sighed, but accepted it.
"Then let's go to the very back..." They nodded and, holding me, walked to the very last row of the bus. They helped me sit down. K-imoto wanted to sit with me, but I shook my head, because I wasn't planning on sitting, but rather lying down and taking a nap, which they understood without words and left me alone.
I closed my eyes, but before falling asleep, I decided to use the tickets.
How many tickets do I have, Gacha?
[ You have 4 Silver and 1 Bronze]
Use the bronze.
[Rough Knuckle]
|Common Ability|
Allows you to slightly augment your fists with energy, allowing the average man to shatter bricks with their fists. The more energy you expend, the greater the augmentation, but it is not very efficient.
An ability that makes my punches much stronger if I put energy into them? More precisely, if I put my stamina into these punches?
Hmm... overall, an interesting ability. Use the other 4 tickets.
[Bloody Imitation]
|Rare Ability|
MHA - Allows you to transform your physical appearance to the blood of someone you have consumed at will down to the most minute details. The duration of the disguise is equal to (ml of blood consumed x 1 minute).
[Wind Edge]
|Uncommon Ability|
Allows you to cloak any item you are holding with razor-sharp winds to enhance its cutting ability while also allowing you to launch the cloak any time as a projectile to extend the cutting effect.
[The Straw Hat]
|Trash Item|
One Piece - Holds a lot of sentimental value to a certain sun god but not much material value.
[Golden Shot]
|Common Trait|
Your little swimmers are the strongest in the world, any woman you cum inside of WILL get pregnant, even if they are more barren than the arid desserts your semen does not care.
Hmm, Bloody Imitation. Overall, a disgusting ability with good utility, but a pretty dubious method of use. No way in hell I'm using this in normal moments, but if a lot depends on it, I'll have to use it.
Woah! Now the second ability is pretty good. And if combined with my ability to create various metal things, it becomes incredibly useful and good.
The third was an item, namely the hat that belongs to one guy worthy of respect. As soon as we get somewhere where I can "get" it, I'll do it immediately and wear it everywhere.
And the very last one... shit, are you serious? This fucking thing... shit... it's a good thing me and the guys grabbed several, or even a dozen, packs of condoms of different sizes. The path to unprotected sex is now closed to me... and I loved danger so much...
Mda... not very lucky with that last little thing.
[ You have 10 abilities]
[+1 free ability slot]
Oh! Now that's good. I immediately put Wind Edge into the free slot and now I've carelessly drifted off to dreamland...
Yeah... I should... rest...