‘Lightning Movement’!

Aleen killed a few other zombies that were hindering him and escaped from the horde of zombies. Making use of his high-speed movement, he disappeared from the zombies' sight and hid on the roof of a building.

He had been fighting the zombies for a full fifteen minutes; it should be enough for the others to escape.

Despite only using his skill twice during the all this time, Aleen’s mana was reduced by forty percent; besides, he was beginning to feel mentally tired.

After all, fighting wasn’t the same as training. Aleen had to be alert constantly, to avoid being ambushed by another level two; and that was very tiring. Aleen estimated that he could only maintain this state for around twenty minutes more before he begins to commit mistakes.

Taking a deep breath to relax his nerves, Aleen wondered how the others were doing.

But then, he remembered that he could use the COM to communicate with Aya.

The COM was only available in cooperative games, and only the main participants could use it. Aleen never used it before, because he participated only in D’vina’s games until now; but according to her, you only have to think about the people you want to communicate with and the AI on your brain will connect you with them if they also have the function available.

“Let me see… I have to think about the person I want to speak with huh…”

Aleen concentrated and tried to send his thoughts to Aya.

‘Can you hear me?’ He asked.

For a while, he didn’t get a response, so he thought that he was doing it wrong. He tried again to be sure, and this time, he heard something.

‘Huh? Aleen? Am I imagining things?’

‘No no! You are not imagining anything! I’m using a function of our AIs to speak with you. Try to send me your thoughts to answer.’ He sent his thoughts and explained quickly how the COM works.

Aya’s side was silent for a while until Aleen heard her again. ‘Like this?’

‘Yes.’ Aleen sighed in relief. ‘How are things on your side?’

‘… We escaped already, but someone died.’

‘… Who?’ Aleen asked after being silent a few seconds.

‘I don’t know his name, but it was the slightly overweight guy. Besides, one of the bodyguards was injured by a zombie. I fear he is infected.’

Aleen stayed silent.

Finally, he sighed. Now wasn’t the time to think about them.

‘Do you think you can reach the meeting point?’ He asked.

‘… Yes.’ She answered. ‘We aren’t far from there.’

Aleen sighed in relief. ‘Very well, wait for me there.’

Aleen heard Aya humming in agreement and then cut the call.

He grabbed his sword and peeked out from his hideout to see how many zombies were nearby.

The street was still full of zombies, but their number was slightly less than before; probably because some zombies wandered around searching for him.

He carefully stood up and thought about his next action. His basic speed was faster than the zombies, so he could escape easily if he was careful.

Aleen adjusted his mental state and took a deep breath before departing.

It took him only a few minutes to leave the zombies behind. He was forced to kill some zombies and used his skill a few times before finally escaping their chase.

When he made sure that the zombies no longer were chasing after him, he then headed to the meeting point.

The meeting point they chose was a strange building a bit away from the central tower. The building was also a tower, and it was easily noticeable, so Aleen thought that it was perfect as the meeting point.

This tower was spiral-shaped and it was the tallest building after the central tower. Aleen thought that it probably was the headquarters of some kind of organization.

He thought about meeting them in the central tower, but something like the final boss could be there, so Aleen finally chose the second-best option.

Aleen examined the map briefly and chose a path that seemed easier towards the spiral tower.

He received a message from Aya telling him that they reached the building; so Aleen once more asked her to wait for him.

But five minutes later, he received another message from Aya.

‘… Aleen, we have a bit of trouble here.’

Aleen immediately had a bad premonition.

‘What happened?’

‘We are being attacked by zombies. In the beginning, they were just a few, but the number continued increasing and now we are starting to have trouble killing them.’

Aleen fell deep in thoughts when he heard it. He tried to think about the best course of action, and a few seconds later, he came with a suggestion.

‘Get out from there. We can use the COM to communicate, so you only need to tell me where to go and I’ll find you.’

Aya didn’t answer immediately.

A few seconds later, a slightly distressed voice sounded in Aleen's mind.

‘… We can’t leave.’

‘What do you mean?’ Aleen frowned.

‘If we leave now, some of us will be injured or die. There are too many zombies here.’

Aleen went silent immediately.

‘… What are you going to do then?’ He asked after a few seconds.

‘We are going to enter the building and try to find another exit. I’ll call you if something happens.’

Aleen could only nod. ‘Very well, I’ll be there soon. Try to not die.’

Aya hummed in agreement and cut the call.

Aleen increased the mana coursing through him and sped up.