Chapter 29: The Fierce Little Monster

Odin glanced skyward after closing the cabin's door behind him. His tense nerves loosened somewhat when he noticed the fluffy white clouds drifting lazily in the blue skies. Since there were no signs of rain or thunderstorms to come, he could carry out his zombie-killing mission without any worries.

"Let's begin."

He immediately began moving around the resort, starting from the cabins nearest to his own. He didn't need to smash down doors to check whether the zombies were hiding inside a dwelling. Instead, he extended his spiritual energy to envelop a large section of the small cabin with his spatial sense. Then, he could immediately detect whether there were zombies, humans, or other creatures inside by scrutinizing the blurry images in his spatial domain.

Due to his potent meta-powers, his efficiency was incredible, and he managed to cover more than twelve cabins within the first ten minutes of his scouting mission. But later on, he had to slow down as he encountered more and more zombies, especially within the cabins close to the tavern and restaurant.

Fortunately, the zombies he discovered were only at the weaker pseudo-type-I level. They didn't give him any hard time, and he managed to lop off their heads with simple machete slashes before continuing his zombie massacre.

Two hours later, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky, he realized that he had already inspected all the sixty-two cabins around the resort. Although he didn't discover any healthy humans, he was in a relatively good mood since he managed to slay fourteen zombies.

The feat enabled him to acquire twenty-eight Origin points out of the eighty needed to level up. But he didn't dare relax his vigilance, especially when the Origin Order's interface still indicated that the zombie-killing mission was incomplete.

"The remaining zombies should be hiding either in a tavern or the restaurant," Odin thought as he wiped his machete on one of the zombies he'd just slain. "If I clear those zombies, the resort will be finally safe, and we can live peacefully over the next few days."

Odin immediately decided to inspect the restaurant first since that was where the infected survivors had originated. Maybe, if he cleared the zombies in there, he would complete the mission without needing to check out the tavern. And that would save plenty of his time and energy.

Odin's steps were slow and determined as he walked toward the formerly fancy restaurant's entrance. His heartbeat quickened, and he tightened his grip on his machete while continuing to move forward. He was on high alert since his spatial domain had already allowed him to perceive the moving silhouettes within the restaurant's inner space.

At the last moment, he sped forth and rushed through the door like the Flash. He ignored the reek of blood and gore and the ghastly sight of mangled corpses scattered everywhere on the floor and focused his gaze on a nearby female zombie.

Whoosh!

A machete blade flashed the next instant, and the zombie's head flew into the air while the headless corpse started sinking to the ground.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

More machete afterimages continued shimmering and flickering across the room as Odin worked his magic. His improved agility worked like a charm, and he terminated the three remaining zombies even before the first head could land on the ground. He then sank into a nearby chair before taking-in rapid, deep breaths to calm himself down.

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[Killed 4 Pseudo-Type-I Zombified Humans]

[Origin Points +8, Current Origin Points: 36/80]

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Odin ignored the notifications and quickly checked the status of the E-grade zombie-killing mission. His eyes flickered with a trace of disappointment the next moment when he learned that it was still incomplete. He would probably have to check out the tavern before slaying all the remaining zombies in the resort.

"Let's get this over with as quickly as possible."

Odin didn't continue dragging his feet in the bloodied restaurant. He rose from the seat and started making his way back towards the entrance. But just then, his eyes narrowed slightly as more blood-red notifications flashed by faster than usual before his vision.

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[WARNING! WARNING!]

[Strong abnormal energy signature detected within the Host's surroundings]

[Energy signature determined to be belonging to Type-I Zombified Human]

[Conditions for D-Grade Mission have been met]

[Reaper's Origin Order Initiating a D-Level Killing Assignment]

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[Pending E-Grade Mission has been updated to the D-grade]

[Pending Missions: 'New' D-Grade Mission -> Terminate the Type-1 Zombified Human. Rewards: +15 Origin points. Failure Condition: Death]

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"A Type-I Zombie!"

Odin's distress rose sharply, but he tried to force it away by tightening his grip on his machete. Since he hadn't faced off against any type-I creatures before, he didn't know what to expect. He was almost as anxious as the first time he encountered the mutated rats in Bozeman.

Odin began taking slow steps around the room as he tried to discover where the type-I zombie was hiding by utilizing his spatial sense. But he soon noticed that there wasn't any active creature within the six-yard radius around him.

Since his spatial sense had drawn a blank, he decided to rely on his acute vision. His eyes darted around the whole room for the next few seconds, and finally, they settled on a small hideous shape perched on top of a shelf positioned in the far corner of the room.

"A baby!"

Odin immediately noticed that the shape was an infant zombie that had probably been less than a year old before its abnormal mutation. Its small twisted face was constantly oozing pus, while its blood-red eyes exuded a menacing aura as they followed Odin's each and every movement. When he would go left, they would also follow, and when he would step to the right, they would dart in the same direction. It was as if they possessed high-tech-motion sensors installed within them.

"Waaaaah!"

The baby zombie let out a sort of agonized cry and bounded forward. Its small form left afterimages in space as it sprang from table to table and covered the distance of almost a dozen yards in a couple of seconds. Its bloody oversized maw soon stretched all the way up to its small ears as it tried to take a mega bite off Odin's face.

"Little piece of shit!"

Odin yelled as he struck out with a horizontal slash aimed at the little monster's neck. His blade mastery took effect as his muscles adjusted accordingly to strike from a trickier angle. He was sure that he would lop off its head the next moment.

But the infant zombie proved to be much sneakier than he expected. It contorted its small form while still in the air to dodge the machete blow with an acrobatic move.

The little monster's eyes then exuded a fierce glint as it bounced off a table and instantly lashed out with petite fingers. Before Odin could react, the fingers transformed into elongated sharp claws that gleamed closer and closer to his neck with an aggressive momentum.

Odin immediately felt the specter of death drowning his entire being when he noticed that the deadly claws were only a few inches from his neck. With an inhumanly agile motion, he instinctively leaned sideways, trying his utmost to avoid the mortal blow.

But to his dismay, the claws followed his neck closely even as he tried to dodge. He couldn't simply escape them, even with his swift reactions.

"NO! I can't die now!"

Odin’s eyes flickered with ferocious intensity as he made the resolution to survive. With the claws of the little monster only inches away from slicing his carotid artery, his powerful spirit energy stirred slightly. At that exact instant, at that crucial moment, he concentrated like never before and pushed his entire senses to the absolute limit. He called forth all his willpower and tried to force his body out of harm's way.

"Move it! Damn it!"

Time seemed to come to a standstill, and Odin felt his mind touch some sort of mysterious barrier. Just as the claws of the little monster were only half an inch from his neck, he broke past it with another explosion of willpower, and then everything before him disappeared.