Garret led them into the open, the air cold and still beneath the morning rays. The world outside the gym was a ruin, streets split by broken concrete, walls streaked with dried blood, and the faint, distant moans that never really stopped. He walked ahead without hesitation, his sword slung over his shoulder, his presence quiet but heavy. Leah, Dave, and the two others followed several steps behind. A shy girl with round glasses and a trembling grip on a steel rod, and a tall, muscular student whose fear hid poorly behind forced confidence.
They didn't ask where they were going. The silence between them was enough. When they turned a corner, Garret stopped. Ahead, near the cracked courtyard of the library, a small horde was gathered maybe dozens of them, shambling, dragging their bodies toward some unseen scent. Leah gasped softly. Dave froze. The others moved closer.
Garret exhaled slowly, stepped forward, and in one seamless motion, dashed into the crowd. His blade moved with precision, too calm, too deliberate, slicing through decayed flesh. He didn't aim for their heads. Instead, he cut at the legs, crippling them one by one until the ground was littered with writhing, half-dead corpses clawing at the dirt. When it was done, he stood in the center, his breath steady, sword dripping.
"They can't run," he said, his tone flat. "They can't fight back properly. But they are still kill."
He turned to face the group, eyes sharp. "This is the world now. You either learn to end them, or you end up like them."
His gaze lingered on each of them in turn, unreadable. "Anyone brave enough to take the next step… kill one. Make your kill. Claim your place in the Weave." He said as he offered the Chixiao to the group.
Leah swallowed hard, trembling as her eyes darted between Garret, the Chixiao and the twitching bodies. Then she stepped forward. Her hands shook, carefully taking the sword in her hand and swinging with all her strength. She gasped, stumbled back pale and trembling, but the deed was done.
Dave followed next, his face grim but resolved.
Garret watched silently, nodding once. "Good."
The muscular student hesitated, then stepped forward with a low grunt, he swung the sword at the crawling zombie and passed the sword to the shy girl. The shy girl stood frozen for several seconds, tears welling in her eyes. Then, with a small cry, she thrust the sword through a crawling corpse's throat. Then he made them repeat all that until each of them reached level 3. After levelling up, each had gotten status points which Garret advised that they should use wisely according to the path they choose. Leah had gotten the skill, Lesser Healing and Garret advised her to add her points to mana, magic and health. Dave got, swordsman and Garret told him to focus on strength, agility and stamina. The muscular student(Marcus) got, charge which Garret advised to focus on strength and stamina. The shy girl(Aria) got, Silent Mirage which he advised she focus on agility, stamina and mana.
The four had gotten quite powerful. Garret asked them to familiarize with themselves and how they fought to increase their chemistry in battle. He attracted more zombies and let them fight without interfering. By the time the sun was up in the sky. The highest, Dave, had already reached level 8, the others close at level 7
"These bastards really are slow." The shy timid girl, Aria, who seemed to have changed personalities scoffed
"Like you would say this a day ago." Dave countered as he passed a water bottle towards Marcus.
"Remember this moment," Garret suddenly said, voice low and even. "From now on, you're not just survivors. You are part of the Weave. Every kill you make; every breath you take, it changes you. Whether you realize it or not."
His ambition was growing.
While Garret and his group hunted under the harsh noon light, the others remained near the gym, the air heavy with the stench of death and the metallic tang of fear.
The Leontaur corpse still lay sprawled across the cracked pavement, its body a grotesque monument of muscle and fury. Even in death, it radiated menace. Its massive frame shimmered faintly under the sun, the once-blazing mane now reduced to a dull embered hue still too hot to touch. Eira stood several paces back, arms crossed, her face calm but her eyes sharp. Kael and Darrius knelt beside the body, with a few students standing behind them, clutching makeshift tools.
"Careful," she warned. "We don't know what kind of toxins or reactions its body might have."
Kael nodded and leaned in, pressing a crowbar against one of the monster's forelimbs. "It's… solid." He grunted, straining to wedge the tool deeper. "Like stone."
Darrius, sweat gleaming on his skin, stepped forward with a grim expression.
"Let me."
He swung his axe down with a roar. The axe struck the creature's hide and rebounded with a ringing clang. The impact sent a shock up his arm, and the weapon tumbled from his grip.
"...What the hell," Darrius breathed, staring at the shallow white mark his strike had left, if it could even be called that.
Kael rubbed his arm nervously. "That thing's dead, right?"
Eira didn't answer. Her gaze remained fixed on the body, her fingers twitching slightly. Darrius took a slow step back, his voice quiet.
"This was killed, by something."
Eira, Kael, and the others had stopped trying for the moment. Tools lay scattered around them. Darrius sat nearby, rubbing his forearm where his weapon had nearly jarred his bones apart. A faint breeze whispered across the broken ground. Then, from that same silence, footsteps.
Heads turned.
Garret approached through the haze, eyes cold, his blade resting casually over one shoulder. Dust clung to him like shadow, but his movements were smooth, unhurried, the gait of someone completely in control.
Kael blinked. "Garret? You… you're back already?"
Eira didn't speak, though her gaze lingered on him longer than she meant to. Garret stopped a few meters from the corpse, his eyes scanning the deep gouges, the failed marks, the dented steel lying around the body.
"You've been at this for a while."
Darrius snorted, rising to his full height. "Yeah, genius. Thing's hide is harder than concrete. Not even my axe could break it." He crossed his arms, his voice laced with challenge. "So what, you think you can do better, 'speedy boy'?"
A faint smirk tugged at Garret's lips. "I can try."
That only made Darrius bark out a laugh. "Try all you want. Maybe you'll scratch it, if you're lucky."
Garret's expression didn't change. "May I?"
Darrius blinked. "You want to use my axe?"
"Lend it to me."
A scoff, but something in Garret's voice, that quiet certainty, made Darrius hesitate before finally handing it over.
"Fine. Break your arms if you want."
The moment the weapon touched his hands, he adjusted his grip effortlessly. Muscles tensed beneath, veins standing out just enough to show control, not strain. He tested the weight with a slow swing perfectly balanced, fluid, as if the hammer had been made for him.
{Rare Grade weapon: Embercleave; A Two-handed battle axe. When equipped adds 30 strength points}
"What a nice weapon," Garret thought as he saw the weapons description in his retina.
Darrius's smirk faltered. "…Huh. He can lift it and handle it soo casually?"
Then, without warning, he moved. His boots slammed against the broken floor as he sprinted, then leapt. The world seemed to slow, a single, weightless instant as his shadow passed over the massive beast. With both hands gripping the axe, he brought it down in a perfect arc.
BOOM!
The impact shook the ground. A shockwave rippled through the air, kicking up dust and debris. The sound was deafening, like thunder exploding at point-blank range. Cracks spider webbed across the Leontaur thick hide, and a dull glow pulsed beneath the surface where the axe had struck.
Kael flinched back, shielding his eyes. "What…"
Darrius just stared, speechless. The disbelief in his eyes turned to a kind of awe. "You… you actually broke it…"