Adam’s group had simply lost too fast. By the time Kaius managed to get inside the hospital, Kyle had already been killed.

After Kaius entered through the west entrance, his first sight was seeing AJ about to kill Kayla. Without hesitation, he shot a Shadow Bolt at AJ.

The sound of AJ’s scream alerted the attention of Kripp and Gordon.

Kaius leisurely walked up to AJ’s dead body and glanced at him with a hint of pity, thinking that he acted too rashly and lost an opportunity to summon a Skeleton Soldier.

Turning his gaze to Kayla, Kaius asked, “are you ok?”

“Yes, thank you.” Still stunned at sudden the turn of events, Kayla quickly snapped out of her daze and responded.

“Who the hell are you?” Kripp asked angrily from a few meters away.

“How dare you kill one of our members? Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with, asshole?” Gordon threatened.

“You sure talk a lot for someone that’s about to die,” Kaius mocked as he materialized a Basic Short Sword in his right hand.

“Bastard!”

“Kill him!”

Both Kripp and Gordon charged at Kaius simultaneously.

However, before they could even get near Kaius, they felt a blurry shadow rush past them. They instinctively wanted to turn their heads around, but when they tried to do so, they suddenly realized to their horror that their necks had been slashed and blood was gushing out non-stop!

In their panic, they dropped their weapons and desperately tried to cover their necks with both hands to stop the bleeding.

It was at this moment that Kaius’ indifferent voice sounded out from behind them.

“Try to stay alive for a few more seconds.”

Bone Confiscation!

Dark mana started glowing from within Kaius’ eyes. The next moment, Kripp and Gordon seemed to have lost control of their bodies as they fell and spasmed on the ground. Then, their flesh, blood, and organs quickly melted away as two sturdy looking Skeleton Soldiers slowly stood up and awaited Kaius’ command.

Kaius looked at the stats of his two new Skeleton Soldiers with delight.

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

8

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

34

Vitality

5.5

Dexterity

7

Intelligence

5

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

8

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

35

Vitality

5.5

Dexterity

6.5

Intelligence

4.5

Seeing these stats, Kaius finally has a better understanding about his Skeleton Soldiers. Based on the four Skeleton Soldiers that he created, Kaius concluded that a Skeleton Soldier’s strength stat is 10 higher than the original host’s body, but their vitality, dexterity, and intelligence stats are halved.

While Kaius was appreciating the magnificence of his Skeleton Soldiers, Chris couldn’t help but blurt out a question from the side.

“What kind of monster are you…”

As soon as these words came out of Chris’ mouth, he tried to cover his own mouth, fearing that he had asked a question that he shouldn’t have.

A few meters away, Kayla, who was originally grateful for being saved, also raised her vigilance against Kaius.

Seeing their nervous expressions, Kaius couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m a human just like you. I just got lucky and obtained a rare skill to summon these skeleton creatures after killing a bunch of zombies.”

Kaius waived his hand and dismissed the two Skeleton Soldiers back to the Netherworld.

Changing the topic Kaius asked, “aren’t your friends still in danger? Let’s go save them.”

Hearing that Kaius wanted to help save their friends made Chris and Kayla less weary of him.

After the two groups started clashing against each other, the fight separated into two areas. Kayla, Kyle, and Chris were fighting in the west section of the hospital against AJ, Kripp, and Gordon, while Adam and Scott along with their group of level 1 people fought against the rest in the east section.

Kaius made his way to the east section. Since Chris got wounded, Kayla lent him her shoulder to lean against and they followed closely behind Kaius.

The fight in the east section looked about finished by the time they made it there.

Adam and Scott had wounds all over their bodies. They were barely able to stand, let alone continue fighting.

On the other hand, Nelson and Jax only suffered some minor cuts.

While all the fighting was happening, Kane felt bored watching everyone else fight, so he decided to exercise a bit and killed off all the level 1 people from Adam’s group and collected the System Coins that they dropped.

Nelson stood tall in front of Adam, gloating at his miserable state.

“You didn’t think you would end up like this one day after locking us out half a year ago, did you? Luckily, the zombies around this area seem to have disappeared somehow so we were able to break in here before you can react. Otherwise, you might have had a chance to escape.”

Adam glared at Nelson with regret. “I should have killed you that day instead of just locking you out.”

“Hehe, too late for regrets now. Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick and painless.”

Nelson raised his sword high up. Just as he was about to slash down at Adam, he suddenly felt a sense of danger. He quickly used his sword to shield himself and jump backwards.

A Shadow Bolt hit the blade of Nelson’s sword and bounced off, grazing Nelson’s right shoulder.

“That hurts!” Nelson cried out in pain.

The sudden attack caused both Nelson and Jax to retreat. Kane looked towards the direction of the attack with furrowed brows.

Kaius waltzed in their direction leisurely, followed by Kayla and Chris.

“Who are you,” shouted Jax. Then, seeing Kayla and Chris, Jax narrowed his eyes. “What happened to our men?”

“Your men are dead, just like you will be in a few minutes,” Kaius said plainly.

“Bastard!” Jax cursed.

Jax was about to charge forward, but Kane lightly grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

“Go take care of Adam and Scott,” Kane commanded. “I’ll take care of this guy.”

Seeing Kane about to take action, Jax looked at Kaius with a gloating expression. “You’re so dead, you little shit.”

Jax was about to turn his attention away from Kaius when a horrifying sight made him widen his eyes. Two Skeleton Soldiers appeared out of nowhere behind Kaius.

“What are those…?”

“I don’t remember giving you permission to leave,” Kaius said casually. He took out two Basic Short Swords from his inventory and gave them to the Skeleton Soldiers.

“Take care of them.”

The two Skeleton Soldiers obeyed without question and clashed with Nelson and Jax. Faced with the Skeleton Soldiers’ overwhelming strength, Nelson and Jax were barely able to fight evenly due to their faster speed.

Seeing that the situation wasn’t in their favor, Kane wanted to go kill the Skeleton Soldiers first. However, he suddenly sensed danger and dodged to his left; a Shadow Bolt narrowly missed his head.

“Your opponent is me,” Kaius looked straight at Kane and curled his finger towards him.

“Bastard, you’re courting death!” Kane cursed angrily.

Shing!

A sword appeared in Kane’s right hand. It looked longer than the Basic Short Swords that everyone had been using.

Kaius immediately cast Eye of Mana on the sword.

Name

Basic Sword

Category

Weapon

Class Use Restriction

None

Strength

+3

Kaius’ lips curled up in a smile. “Thanks for delivering such a nice weapon to me.”

“How dare you look down on me,” Kane was thoroughly enraged.

Rush!

Kane activated his skill and immediately closed the gap between him and Kaius. In the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of Kaius.

Raising his sword up high, a fierce red aura gathered around Kane as he brought his sword down to strike at Kaius.

Unfazed by the approaching attack, Kaius cast Eye of Mana on Kane once more.

Name

Kane (PK level 10)

Level

12

Health

Normal

Mana

10/60

Strength

48 (+16)

Vitality

14

Dexterity

29 (+10)

Intelligence

13

Skills (active)

Lesser Strength Enhance (15MP): temporarily increases Strength by 3. Duration: 15 minutes.

Rush (15MP): temporarily increases Dexterity by 10. Duration: 3 seconds.

Force Impact (20MP): temporarily increases Strength by 10. Duration: 10 seconds.

“Wow, you really went all out on me,” Kaius raised his brow slightly.

The Rush skill increased Kane’s dexterity by 10, while his strength was triple enhanced by his weapon, Lesser Strength Enhance, and Force Impact. Kane unleashed his maximum battle strength right at the start.

Although Kane’s strength was able to temporarily surpass Kaius, his speed was still far from Kaius even with Rush’s enhancement.

As the sword slash was able to land, Kaius’ figure suddenly blurred.

“What the…” Kane’s eyes opened wide as his empowered attack hit nothing but thin air.

A cold voice could be heard from behind Kane.

“Where were you aiming at?”

Shadow Bolt!

Kaius maneuvered around Kane with an even faster speed and shot a Shadow Bolt point blank at his back.

“Ahhhhh!”

Kane fell forward as he let out a painful cry.

Shadow Bolt blasted a hole through the clothes on Kane’s back, creating a huge, bloodied wound.

Without giving Kane a moment to recover, Kaius cast his skill four more times.

Shadow Bolt!

Shadow Bolt!

Shadow Bolt!

Shadow Bolt!

Kane let out a blood-curdling scream each time one of his limbs got hit.

Not bothering with the dying Kane at all, Kaius went forward to pick up Kane’s sword and unceremoniously put it into his own inventory.

“How… are you… so strong…” Kane spit out his words with difficulty.

With a light smile, Kaius gently placed his right hand on Kane’s head and said, “I’ll tell you my secret after you become my undying loyal servant.”

Bone Confiscation!

Dark mana began to glow from within Kaius’ eyes. Deep fear could be seen from Kane’s expression as he tried to resist. However, his futile resistance only lasted for a short second before his body started to spasm on the ground. Then, his flesh, blood, and organs quickly melted away as a sturdy looking Skeleton Soldier slowly stood up and awaited Kaius’ command.

Kaius brought up the stats of this new Skeleton Soldier with anticipation.

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

12

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

42

Vitality

7

Dexterity

9.5

Intelligence

6.5

“Nice,” Kaius nodded with satisfaction at the high strength stat of this Skeleton Soldier.

Taking out the Basic Sword from his inventory, Kaius handed it to this Skeleton Soldier.

“Go help your brothers and kill those two.” Kaius pointed at Nelson and Jax.

Over to the side, Nelson and Jax initially thought that Kane would be able to quickly take care of Kaius, then come over to their aid.

However, when they saw how easily Kaius had killed Kane, they became stupefied for a moment before their body was overcome with unprecedented fear.

Seeing their former leader transform into a Skeleton Soldier made them throw all thoughts of fighting out the window. The only thing remained on their minds was to escape.

Nelson and Jax gave each other a quick glance before bolting for the south entrance of the kitchen. Their plan was to escape through the kitchen’s backdoor.

The duo soon reached the kitchen’s backdoor. Glancing back quickly, they let out a sigh of relief seeing that no one had chased after then.

Nelson quickly opened the backdoor and was about to dash outside when his vision was suddenly filled with countless skeleton warriors and zombies.

A group of undead creatures crowded outside the kitchen’s backdoor. Earlier, this group of undead had been summoned by Kaius before he went inside the hospital. In fact, he left a group of undead to guard each hospital entrance.

The duo instinctively wanted to turn around and flee, but it was too late. A few zombies that were crawling on the ground latched onto their ankles and caused them to fall over. Taking this opportunity, the group of undead quickly swarmed on top of them.

The zombies mercilessly bit into their flesh, while the skeleton warriors clawed at their skin.

Blood-curdling screams quickly filled the entire kitchen.

As the duo was getting slowly eaten alive, they saw Kaius had somehow appeared in front of them, standing perfectly safe amongst the group of undead.

Desperate, the duo reached out to Kaius.

“Help me…”

“Please…”

To the duo’s surprise, Kaius reached out and grabbed their hands to help.

“Of course I’ll help you,” Kaius responded with a gentle smile. “After all, you’re about to become loyal servants of mine.”

Bone Confiscation!

Dark mana once again glowed from within Kaius’ eyes. The duo’s bodies were pinned down by the group of undead so they couldn’t even move. Then, just like Kane, their flesh, blood, and organs quickly melted away as two sturdy looking Skeleton Soldiers slowly stood up and awaited Kaius’ command.

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

10

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

38

Vitality

6.5

Dexterity

8

Intelligence

5.5

Name

Skeleton Soldier

Level

9

Health

Normal

Mana

1/1

Strength

37

Vitality

5

Dexterity

7.5

Intelligence

4.5

“Welcome to the family,” Kaius looked at the two new Skeleton Soldiers warmly.

A few minutes ago, outside the kitchen.

Kayla and Chris watched as Kaius killed Kane, then saw Nelson and Jax escape into the kitchen. Kayla and Chris wanted to chase after them, but Kaius stopped them.

“Leave them to me. You should probably go check up on your friends.”

Kayla and Chris thought for a moment before agreeing. The two people quickly went over to Adam and Scott’s side to help dress up their wounds.

Watching Kaius leisurely walk into the kitchen, Adam couldn’t help but ask, “who’s that? Is he even… human?”

“I’m not sure,” Kayla responded hesitantly. “He should be human…?”

“He doesn’t seem to be our enemy for now at least,” Chris added. “You’ve seen how easily he killed Kane and how he summoned those skeleton monsters. If he wanted to harm us, we won’t be able to resist anyways.”

Right at this moment, Nelson and Jax’s agonizing screams could be heard from the kitchen. The screams only lasted for a short moment before everything went quiet again.

Adam’s group looked at each other and saw traces of fear in everyone’s eyes.

The door to the kitchen was pushed open and Kaius walked out by himself.

Adam’s group looked at Kaius nervously, unsure what he would do next.

Seeing these people’s expressions, Kaius couldn’t help but force out a smile.

“No need to look at me like that, I’m not your enemy.”

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

With Chris’ help, Adam managed to bear with the pains from his wounds and stood up to properly face Kaius.

“Thank you for saving us,” said Adam. Then he began to introduce everyone. “I’m Adam. This is Chris, Kayla, and Scott. We’re all doctors here.”

“You can call me Kaius,” Kaius replied. He decided to give his real name instead of the original host’s name since he figured that anyone using a Scan skill on him will probably see his name as Kaius. “From the looks of it, you guys seemed to have been living here for a while. How come you didn’t make your way to the nearest city?”

“That was our plan,” Chris answered. “But on our way to Guelph, there were just too many zombies. We didn’t have enough strength to fight off the zombies and protect the people that couldn’t fight at the same time, so we had to hide ourselves in this hospital. Luckily, we were able to quickly barricade all the entrances, so no zombie was able to get in.”

“What’s the story on the group that attacked you guys just now?” Kaius asked.

“They used to be our neighbors and colleagues at the hospital,” Kayla replied this time. “We were originally all hiding out in the hospital. Every time we go out to scavenge for food, we end up having to kill groups of zombies, hence we were able to slowly level up and become stronger. However, Kane and his men let this strength go to their heads and started to lose their sense of morals over time. They saw themselves as superior and simply killed anyone that spoke out against them without remorse.”

Recalling up to this point, Kayla felt a sense of anger and sadness.

“To protect ourselves, we all came to a decision. One day, Kane’s group left to scavenge for food as usual, but the rest of us stayed behind. When they came back, we had already locked all the entrances and didn’t allow them back in. This way, we had been able to keep ourselves safe from the zombies and Kane’s group until now.”

“However, it seemed that being constantly on the run outside made their group a lot stronger than us. They finally came back today to settle our debts. And you saw what happened after.”

Kaius got a rough understanding now of the conflict between the two groups. He didn’t blame Adam’s group for what they did. If he was in their position, he might have been even more vicious and schemed to kill Kane’s group instead of just locking them out. Afterall, dealing with a group of powerful Players that had lost their sense of morals was even more dangerous than facing a group of zombies.

“Now that Kane’s group is dead, you should make your way to Milton tomorrow. The path to the city should be almost free of any zombies and I’m sure the people in charge there will be more than happy to welcome a group of doctors,” Kaius suggested.

“If the path to Milton is as safe as you say it is, then I think that’s our best course of action right now,” Adam said after thinking for a bit.

“Why don’t you stay here for the night, and we’ll go to Milton tomorrow together?” Kayla said to Kaius in a friendly manner. “We have plenty of empty rooms here and there’s still a bit of food left.”

“Yeah, please stay for the night and let us provide you some food and shelter. It’s the least we can do after you saved our lives,” Scott added.

“Sure, I’ll take you up on the offer,” agreed Kaius.

“Great!” exclaimed Kayla happily. “I’ll go prepare some food for everyone.”

“Chris and I will clean up the bodies,” said Scott. “Adam, your wounds are the most severe. Go get some rest.”

“… Sure, thanks.” complied Adam. He turned around and dragged his tired body back to his room.

While everyone went to busy themselves, Kaius walked around the hospital. After not finding anything of particular interest, he went into a clean, empty room and sat on the bed to inspect his own status.

He had lost a few zombies and skeleton warriors during the fight in the hospital, but those can easily be replenished later. He was more focused on the huge harvest he obtained.

Looking at his inventory, Kaius had obtained the Basic Sword from Kane, which gave +3 strength to the wielder. It was the strongest weapon he had come across so far from the System. The only other weapon he had seen was the Basic Short Sword. Unfortunately, since he had turned almost everyone from Kane’s group into Skeleton Soldiers, he was only able to obtain 131 System Coins from AJ. Adding to his current 299 System Coins, Kaius now had a total of 430 System Coins.

Putting his inventory aside, the biggest gain from this fight had to be the Skeleton Soldiers. Kaius gained five new Skeleton Soldiers, with their levels being 8, 8, 9, 10, and 12, respectively. Now, Kaius finally had some strong undead creatures under his control.

Soon, Kayla called out for everyone to have dinner. During the meal, everyone chatted harmoniously, and Kaius got to know Adam’s group better. Kaius concluded that these doctors were still good people since they had been taking care of the level 1 people before Kane slaughtered them all.

After cleaning up the dinner plates, everyone packed up their belongings and went to rest early to recharge for the journey to Milton tomorrow.

At night, everyone slept soundly. Of course, due to Kaius’ cautious nature, he stationed a group of zombies and skeleton warriors outside the hospital, while having two Skeleton Soldiers stand guard inside his room.

11:00 PM

11:01 PM

…

11:58 PM

11:59 PM

January 1, 2023, 12:00 AM

The monotonous voice of the System suddenly rang out inside everyone’s minds.

[Tutorial Phase has ended. Commencing Main Phase I]

The sound of the System woke everyone up from their peaceful slumber. Everyone gathered in the main hallway and looked at each other in confusion.

“What’s going on?” asked Kayla tensely.

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good…” Chris said gravely.

“We need to leave for Milton now. It’s probably not safe here anymore,” suggested Scott.

“You’re right. What do you think Kaius?” Adam asked.

Everyone turned to Kaius to wait for his opinion.

“I also agree,” Kaius nodded.

Everyone promptly went to retrieve their belongings and headed towards the main entrance.

On their way out, Kaius secretly commanded his undead creatures outside the hospital to move away from the main entrance to avoid scaring the doctors. Although they trusted him now, it would still make them feel uneasy if they went outside and were greeted by a large group of undead creatures.

“Do you think those still work?” Kayla pointed.

Everyone looked at the direction that Kayla pointed to and saw the six motorbikes used by Kane’s group.

“Let’s give them a try,” Chris hastily went towards the motorbikes. He got on one of the motorbikes and turned the key. The sound of an engine revving filled everyone’s ears.

“Great, they still work!” exclaimed Scott.

Everyone promptly made their way to a motorbike and turned on the engine.

“You guys head to Milton first, I’ll join up with you later,” said Kaius.

“Where are you going?” Kayla asked with a hint of concern.

“I’m going to have a quick look at the portal in Durham,” Kaius responded.

“That’s too dangerous!” Kayla argued.

“Relax. Zombies are pretty much harmless to me now,” Kaius reassured. “Also, since the System said we’re in Main Phase I, it’s better to find out what changed sooner than later.”

“He’s right,” Adam agreed. “Things will most likely become even more dangerous from now on. It’s better to have more information so that we can increase the chances of our survival.”

Then, he turned to Kaius, “please be careful.”

“Hmm.”

A few minutes later, four motorbikes could be seen travelling south on Highway 6 towards Milton, while one motorbike travelled north towards Durham.

On the outskirts of Durham, Kaius got off the motorbike and observed the center of the town with his brows furrowed.

The 5-meter-tall blue portal is no longer there. Instead, taking its place was a 10-meter-tall green portal. The number of zombies coming out of the green portal was four times more than before.

Roar!!!

A large figure slowly climbed out of the portal. Its huge, muscular body stood tall at three meters. Its body was covered with a thick layer of grey skin that seems virtually impenetrable. Its arms and legs were nearly five times as thick as a normal human’s arms and legs.

Hiss!

A slender figure with elongated arms and legs crawled out from behind. Its long, sharp tongue flailed around and made loud hissing sounds. Instead of hands and feet, it had claws at the ends of both its arms and legs. Its appearance was as though someone had peeled off all the skins from a human body, leaving the exposed flesh showing underneath. It also had one hole on each side of its head where the human ears should be.

Rumble!

A fat figure waddled out of the portal with much effort. It had an obese body, limbs that were way too short for its body size, and a small head. The middle of the obese body had a large mouth that can open, revealing two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Blagggghhh!

The fat figure’s large mouth burped and spit out a glob of green liquid on the ground. Upon contact, the ground made a sizzling sound and looked like it was being dissolved by acid.

Eye of Mana!

Kaius looked at the status of these three creatures with an alarmed expression.

Name

Bruiser

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Zombie

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

80

Vitality

80

Dexterity

30

Intelligence

10

Name

Flicker

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Zombie

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

65

Vitality

20

Dexterity

100

Intelligence

10

Name

Devourer

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Zombie

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

55

Vitality

120

Dexterity

10

Intelligence

10