“God…” The stubble guy unconsciously said when he saw the first zombie.

It was humanoid, but its humanoid shape was the only remaining proof that it was human once. It stopped near the group, and used its four limbs and claws to crawl through the roof slowly, waiting for the remaining monsters to come.

The creature didn’t have eyes, and its ears were enormous. It also was completely hairless, with disgusting red skin. Aleen could felt a disturbing smell of blood coming from the monster.

“Is it a licker?” A bodyguard asked.

Aleen also associated the creature with the iconic monster of the famous videogame, but it lacked the long tongue of the lickers. It also looked more ‘human’ and did not have an oversized brain.

Maybe crawler was a better name. Aleen decided to call them crawlers for convenience.

Of course, that wasn’t important now.

The important point, was the level of the monster.

Aleen could feel it, it was at least as strong as him.

It was a level-two.

While the group was observing the crawler, another two came from different directions.

Aleen heard the people behind him gulping nervously while the crawlers circled around the group, searching for a moment of weakness to attack.

With a deep breath, he observed the situation carefully. Using his skill could help him to kill at least one of them instantly, but the problem was the other two. He was unable to take two level-two monsters for himself without the help of his skill.

The best option was to kill two creatures when he uses his skill, but Aleen knew that it was going to be difficult. And if it fails, the others will have to endure against one monster while he kills the other.

Aleen noticed that the crawlers were becoming impatient. They probably thought that the group of humans couldn't defend against three of them.

Aleen made his mind.

“You’ll take one of them. Endure until I kill the others. Can you do it?”

The group’s expressions paled.

“M-Mr. Aleen? That’s impo–”

“I’ll do it!” Aya interrupted the stubble guy and replied firmly.

“M-Miss Aya!?”

“Don’t worry about this side, Aleen. I’ll take care of it.”

Aleen put a startled expression when he saw the firm expression on Aya’s face; but one second later, he smiled.

“Very well, I leave it to you.”

“Count us in.” The two bodyguards took a step forward and stood beside Aya. “We’ll help you miss Aya. Boy,” One of them looked towards the stubble guy. “Protect our young miss meanwhile. I’ll kill you if something happens to her.”

The stubble guy nodded frantically. “I-I understand.”

“George, Carlos, be careful.” Their young miss said with a worried tone.

Seeing that everybody was ready, Aleen prepared himself to use his skill. He observed the crawlers circling around the group and waited for an opportunity where two crawlers were near each other.

But the beasts were planning another thing.

Before Aleen could find the perfect opportunity, one of the beasts was unable to continue waiting and jumped towards him.

‘Dammit!’ Aleen cursed in his mind, but he knew that he could not hesitate anymore. When the beast was still in the air, he activated his skill.

‘Lightning Movement’.

Feeling the lightning coursing through his body, Aleen pointed the tip of his sword towards the creature’s head and took a step forward.

Time slowed down, and he used it to evade a claw from the monster and used his right armguard to deflect the other claw; then, he pierced with his sword.

The crawler was completely unable to evade the blow.

Aleen didn’t reserve his mana, and coated his sword using Sharp Blade; The tip of the sword entered where the beast’s right eye was supposed to be and exited by the back of his head. In an instant, Aleen was already behind it.

But he had not time to celebrate. His skill was still ongoing, and he had to kill at least another level two to ensure the safety of the team.

So, Aleen searched by his next victim.

Under his accelerated perception, he looked around and observed the state of the surroundings. The remaining two crawlers took the attack of the first as signal, and were preparing to pounce forward. At the same time, Aya was holding her short spear firmly while looking to one of the crawlers.

So, Aleen chose the other.

He used his left foot as a pivot and willed the rune in his mind to change the direction of his acceleration. It was a flawless movement, as if he would have practiced it thousands of times before. Everything happened in just an instant.

However, that instant was more than enough for the crawler.

It felt the incoming danger, and instinctively, jumped aside.

Aleen sword passed where it was just an instant ago, and left a cut in his chest. The creature, however, managed to survive.

Aleen gritted his teeth when he saw it, but he didn’t give up. His skill was not finished yet; so, when the beast jumped aside, he forced himself to change of direction again.

‘It’s now or never!’

“AHHHH!”

And this time, the sword pierced through its heart.

Aleen’s body continued forward, cutting a chunk of flesh from the monster’s chest; and the skill finished.

Time returned to its normal speed.

Aleen stood behind the second crawler, keeping his thrusting stance, and then, two explosions happened.

The first one destroyed the head of the crawler that attacked first, and the second one, destroyed the heart of the other.

Silence enveloped the place and everybody looked to the scene with astonished expressions. Even the last crawler, who just a moment ago was about to attack, stopped abruptly.

Nobody could believe the scene before their eyes.

However, when they thought that the two crawlers were dead, the second one stood up.

It looked to the hole in its chest and used its tongue to lick the blood flowing from the wound. Then, it turned towards Aleen furiously.

Yes, Aleen knew it; the last attack was unable to kill the crawler.

He suspected that crawlers, as a kind of zombie, could survive without their hearts, but Aleen had the hope of killing it with the last blow.

When he realized that he would be unable to cut the crawler's head, he aimed for the second-best option, its heart.

Apparently, though, he failed to kill it.

Enraged, the crawler bared its teeth to Aleen and gave a roar of fury.

“*ROOAAAARRRRRRRGGGG!!!*”

Then, as if the wound on its chest was fake, it attacked him.

The second round between Aleen and the crawler began.