Fighting against creatures of a higher level than his own was truly risky. Fortunately, he managed to succeed; a single mistake would have meant death. Luckily, at the beginning he had blocked the mantis' attack directly with the bow, otherwise he would have certainly died. He also understood that he had a slight disadvantage in this battle by using a bow instead of a sword. Although with the bow he had more possibilities to kill from a distance, if he found himself in a face-to-face confrontation and at a disadvantage without a suitable weapon like a sword, he would be in trouble. Sighing lightly, Andrew realized that he needed to find another weapon for close combat, or he would end up at a disadvantage in direct fights.
In fact, even fighting a Level 3 zombie during the first minutes after the arrival of the Evolution Register System was extremely difficult: one bite, or even the slightest scratch, and everything would have ended there, in that precise instant.
In truth, if it had not been for that stroke of luck, Andrew thought, I would probably already be dead.
At that time, since the window of his room was small, even the Level 5 bee had no choice but to fly directly through that side, which made it much easier for me to attack it, since I knew where the assault would come from. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for me to defeat such a fast and unpredictable monster.
It was also thanks to that single kill that he obtained his ability, Fire Control.
[Fire Control
Allows the manipulation of fire and thermal flow.]
If it had not been for this ability, I would not even have been able to leave my room successfully and would have already become food for zombies.
However, even with these abilities, fighting high-level monsters was still risky. The rewards obtained were far greater than those gained by defeating monsters of the same level; the extra stat points alone were equivalent to two or more levels, considering the fact that each person only obtained two stat points per level.
Not to mention the additional rewards obtained by killing higher-level monsters.
Andrew took a deep breath and quickly approached at spheres and the two scrolls, stuffing them into his backpack before standing up again. Immediately, without even a moment of rest, he firmly grabbed the bow and shot five arrows simultaneously toward the zombies staggering in his direction.
Thirty seconds later, the remaining zombies had been eliminated by Andrew.
"Professor Faulkner. What happened to all the others?" Andrew frowned, looking at the professor in her thirties whom he had saved earlier.
"Andrew… The others… I'm afraid they ran away when they saw the situation getting worse. As for the direction… I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know." The professor replied with a bitter smile.
This professor's name was Esther Faulkner, and she was a Chemistry teacher, so she knew Andrew. She had a very gentle personality and was very beautiful; she was the type of woman who matched his aesthetic taste. In the past, she had treated Andrew quite well, even though he did not have the best grades in chemistry.
"I see." Andrew simply nodded, looking at the twelve people who remained.
Half of them had fled at the sight of the zombies and the mantis. These people would probably die if they did not dare to fight for their lives; but even then, the chances of dying were much higher than those of surviving.
As for this, Andrew could do nothing. At the moment, it was already difficult for him to survive, and a single Great Mantis had forced him to use all the status points he had saved for moments of crisis. If he had not used those status points against that huge mantis, Andrew would probably have died, unless the battlefield conditions favored him enough to kill it from a distance with a single arrow.
Since those people had fled, they had nothing more to do with him. He had simply saved them earlier because he happened to be passing by and did not want to see his own kind become food for other species.
"Let's go. We need to head toward the gym. Only then can we rest a little," he said as he turned to leave.
The twelve remaining people followed him without daring to fall behind. Their eyes showed fear for the future awaiting them; they looked intensely in every direction, afraid that some strange mutated creature might take their lives at any moment.
On the opposite side of the male dormitory stood the female dormitory. The distance between where the girls rested and the gym was exactly the same as the distance between the gym and the male dormitory.
A group of about twenty people headed toward the gym. It was composed mainly of women, but among them there were also seven men.
However, whether they were women or men did not matter; all of them looked at the back of the woman leading them with respect, admiration, or love.
A group of five zombies staggered toward the crowd of survivors. Seeing their distorted expressions and empty eyes, many of them could not help but shiver, accompanied by the sound of choked sobs.
The woman leading the group and carrying the hopes of those twenty people had splendid blonde hair and blue eyes. Her skin was white as milk and smooth as the purest silk, giving her an appearance similar to that of a true fairy. However, her expression was cold as ice, without any apparent emotional fluctuation. And yet, although her expression was cold, her body was warm like fire, full of curves in the right places and extremely captivating.
At the sight of the five zombies, this young woman of only twenty-two years did not panic; her gaze did not change in the slightest. She made a gesture with her hand, and five swords made of ice appeared floating at her sides. With another wave of her hand, the five ice swords shot rapidly toward the approaching zombies.
With great precision, the five ice swords struck the heads of the five zombies, who were moving at embarrassingly slow speed, creating a hole the size of a small fist in each target's head. However, no blood flowed from the wounds, as they began to transform into ice sculptures.
When the twenty people behind her saw this, their expressions improved, and their reverence toward this woman immediately increased tremendously.
On the other hand, the woman's expression remained as cold and indifferent as ever.
From another direction, another group of survivors advanced at a rapid pace under the leadership of two men.
This group was composed of about thirty people, so the strong scent of life attracted many zombies and other grotesque creatures intending to devour them in order to evolve.
Two zombies suddenly appeared from inside a building and staggered toward them. However, before they could even scream in terror, they were decapitated; their heads separated from their necks and fell to the ground, leaving them immediately lifeless.
The survivors looked with admiration and envy at the young man who wielded the sword. He wore sports clothes and held the sword firmly in his hand. The young man ignored them, lifted the sword, and wiped the blood from the blade with a piece of cloth.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a mutant dog appeared, charging at a speed three times faster than a normal person. The large brown dog opened its jaws wide with the intention of biting off the young man's head. With the jaw strength of this Level 9 mutant dog, the young man's head would have been crushed in a single bite.
However, what greeted the dog was a huge axe.
Bang!
The dog's head shattered into pieces. Brain matter, blood, and flesh flew everywhere, creating a gruesome mess. The animal collapsed to the ground completely lifeless.
"Even if you're fast, if you don't attack me first you're too weak, stupid dog!" A burly man with a beard spat on the dog's corpse.
This man appeared to be around thirty-five years old, and the expression on his face was fierce. He held a metal-colored axe almost as large as a door and handled it with great skill, even though it was clearly a very large weapon.
The group continued advancing toward the gym.
Naturally, Andrew did not know that besides him there were other people who had the same idea and the same temporary objective.
However, even if he had known, he probably would not have been too surprised. After all, the gym was located right at the center of the university campus, so it was accessible from all directions. Moreover, the gym was also one of the few facilities that could be considered relatively safe.
Besides Andrew, there were certainly other people who dared to fight or simply had no choice but to fight if they wanted to survive. Consequently, there were several individuals who experienced fortunate encounters, acquiring powerful abilities and treasures.
Twenty minutes later, and after making several detours in the area to find the easiest and least difficult path for the people he had saved, Andrew was finally only thirty meters away from the gym.
However, things seemed a bit complicated.
"Andrew, what do we do now…?" Esther Faulkner asked with a pale face as she looked at the scene in front of her.
Andrew slightly furrowed his brow as he crouched in a corner and saw a group of zombies wandering near the gym. There were more than fifty zombies, all too close together for him to kill easily. Even for someone like Andrew, it was not an easy task to fight against fifty zombies with only a bow and arrows.
If he had more magical reserves and had rested a little longer, Andrew was sure he could eliminate all fifty zombies given enough time. However, fighting fifty zombies with the little magical energy he had left was a challenge even for him, who had been leveling up continuously.
What surprised him the most was that those zombies did not seem to have any intention of moving; they simply remained there.