New York university, being one of the most prestigious universities in the United States as well as one of the most important universities in the world that even foreign students attended, was extremely large.
The campus was several acres in and the University was like a small city. Supermarkets, restaurants, there was even some recreational centers inviting students to stay on campus without going out too much.
The distance between the small supermarket and the cafeteria was only about five hundred meters, but because all the road were plagued with dangers in the form of zombies, evolved animals and insect that seemed to have turned into beast, crossing that distance had become one of the most challenging thing to do.
Along the way Adam had saved other survivors ignoring William's protests increasing the number of people in their group to nearly twenty four.
William dashed relentlessly and slashed with his sword again and again while turning back to ensure Adam and the rest were safe, as he had to take the role of vanguard while Adam stayed back with the slowly advancing group.
A young man with a scholarly look and handsome appearance was chatting with a female student who was looking at him with an obvious infatuation this young man's name was Ben white and he was one of the top members of the University student association.
Before the apocalypse, Ben was one of the more popular model students due to him impressive academic records and in addition to his good looks he had quite the amount of female suitors, even now that the world has changed he was still receiving strange looks from the surviving girls in the group.
Ben had also dared to fight as he had no option if he wanted to survive. He was currently at level 4 and could handle a few zombies on his own. When he encountered William's group he was about to be surrounded by fifteen zombies, which meant death for him.
After William and Adam helped him, Ben joined the group and assisted Adam in killing straggling zombies, after all even for people like William and Adam, who had been fighting and killing monsters of a higher level than them constantly, it was not a 100% to protect such a large group of people without one or two zombies slipping in.
Swoosh!
Suddenly a green blur charged over from the distance towards the group of over twenty people at astonishing speed.
Adam had just killed a mosquito that was almost a thirty centimeters long and before he could react the green blur had already gone past him, appearing in front of Ben.
Ben's face turned pale as he took a step back. If he faced a few zombies he was fine but if a mutated dog or insect with above average speed appeared there was no way he could even react.
Because Ben had only killed ordinary zombies so far, he had only gain a few extra stats in stamina, and he had used the eight stats point he gained from leveling up in strength, so his speed was extremely average.
Ben grabbed the girl he was chatting with and didn't hesitate as he threw her in front of the strange shadow, taking cover in the process.
The green shadow suddenly flashed and in the next instant, the girls body was split in two her blood and organs splattered everywhere as a look of shock and disbelief shone in her eyes before she died.
Even in her wildest dreams, she would never had expected that the normally refined,polite and cultured Ben would not hesitate to make such a cruel move.
The survivors and began to flee in all directions in disorderly manner attracting other dangerous creatures with their noise. Others did not move due to fear and some of the smarter ones moved closer to Adam. As for Ben's selfish act no one noticed.
The green shadow was so fast that no one could react to it's speed. This strange creature suddenly seemed to realize something as it shot off towards Adam with terrifying speed. Clearly, the creature had realized that he was the best tonic for it to evolve.
Adam felt his scalp go number as he raised his spear horizontally.
Bang!
The heavy sound of collision rang out as Adam was sent flying, before he could recover the green shadow was upon him, Adam's life flashed before his eyes, as he prepared for the inevitable a fist flashed from the side and struck the green shadow sending it flying into the side of a building.
William who had immediately charged back when he heard the noise from the survivors had arrived in the nick of time. "You okay buddy?" William asked as he pulled his friend up, Adam still shaken nodded as they both turned towards the crash site.
The green shadow was actually a huge tiger that was almost three meters tall. It's terrifying eyes stared at them with killing intent and slight intelligence as it shifted it's focus towards William recognizing him as the greater threat.
"Be careful! This tiger probably escaped from the school zoo after mutating, it's way faster than anything we've ever faced,I was only able to hit it cause it was focused on you, now's the time to add all your points to agility." William said as slowly.
Adam nodded then without even a second's hesitation, they added all their saved points to agility.
After adding his sixteen saved points to agility, William felt his muscles become stronger and at the same time softer and lighter. William felt as if lightning flashed through his body, giving him a slight itch that soon disappeared.
"I'll face it head on you just find a chance to land a lethal blow." William said to Adam as he went forward to face the tiger.
Swoosh!
The nearly three meters tiger disappeared and in the next instant appeared before William, slashing downwards with it's scythe-like claws
However the current William could finally see and react to it's movement clearly.
Clang!
William and the tiger engaged each other in close combat with the intention of slaying the other. To survive, to evolve, to survive
From Adam point of view he could only see two flickering silhouettes and hear the constant sound of metal clashing against metal, gripping his spear tightly as he charged it with electricity as he watched in alert searching for an opening to help his best friend.
Although William combat experience was next to none and his sword skill subpar, the splitfang sword was capable of cutting through the defenses of any creature below level 40. The tiger obviously had not reached such a level as it's claws and hide had small cracks and cuts that slowly spread.
However William was also covered in small bleeding cuts as the tiger was a terrifying hunter even before mutating so it was naturally more skilled in combat.
Each had their own advantages, and for and instant the battle was deadlocked in what appeared to be a stalemate.
Several zombies, apparently attracted by the sound of battle and the strong smell of life, staggered over.
William quickly spotted them and knew that at this rate not only would all the survivors die, but he and Adam would also fall if they got surrounded. After all the tiger may not be afraid of infection but they were.
Strengthening his determination William surveyed the battlefield as he stepped back slowly luring the tiger towards a specific spot.
"William duck!!" Adam shouted as he threw with all his strength.
Swoosh!
The tiger sensing something amiss tried to avoid the blitzing spear but it was too late. The spear went through the hind leg of the tiger slowing it down.
William immediately sprang into action as he spent sixty points of mana and created six blood chains using the blood of nearby dead zombies.
The tiger still roaring in pain, got taken by surprise and the chains wrapped tightly around it's body and it's movement were stalled. The beast struggled fiercely trying to break free from the chains.
Williams face immediately changed, he quickly dashed forward and slashed at the creatures head with all his strength.
Just as his swords were about to connect, the tiger suddenly shone with a bright green light as it broke the chain and dodged his attack.
Surprised that the trap did not work, William immediately pressed on the attack not giving the creature moments rest. Just as the were about to clash a cunning light flashed through the tiger's eyes as it dodged the attack and flashed forward with terrifying speed. William face paled as he saw the direction the creature faced.
"Adam watch out!!" William screamed out as he watched the tiger's claws tear through Adam's body from shoulder to torso.
The world seemed to have stopped as William saw his friend bleeding out on the floor, an un-ending rage and sorrow seemed to consume him as his eyes went completely red and an extremely baleful aura burst out of him.
{ Title:???? Resonates with emotional state. +30 strength, -5 health every minute}
{Congratulations you've awakened bl…..}
A couple of messages flashed through his eyes but he couldn't even see them as he charged at the tiger.
"Arghhhhh." William roared almost like a beast as he attacked with ferocity. Despite the sudden power up the creature wasn't going down easily.
William suddenly raised his left hand as all the blood in the vicinity and even on the tiger's wounds flew into the air darkening the area. The blood in the air turned into tens of spikes hanging over like a guillotine.
"Die!!!" William waved his hand as the blood spikes stabbed down at the tiger turning it into a porcupine.
{You've gained....}
"Adam" William scampered towards Adam in concern, completely ignoring all messages he got from killing the beast. Adam while alive was not far from death as he was losing a lot of blood.
"He's going to die if you don't do something about all that blood, use your blood control skill to stop the bleeding." A female voice cut through the silence, William immediately did as the voice asked, not bothering to look for the source. After stopping the blood loss he tore his jacket to wrap the injury.
Scanning around as he lifted Adam unto his back he saw a lot of bodies both zombies and the remaining survivors filled with bloody holes. "I did that?" William thought to him self as he rushed towards the cafeteria.