Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 137: The Proverbial Grim Reaper

Zane entered the dining area of the underground bunker where he and the girls resided. As they were chatting about their plans for how to deal with the remaining Stalkers, Zane decided to use what little time he had before the fight to properly level up.

Because of this, Zane used his two attribute points to invest in Dexterity, bringing his Dexterity to 17 (+5), the +5 bonus being the effect of his legendary cloak. This meant that his Dexterity was functionally set to 22. Which though he had not been able to test it yet, he presumed this would allow him to move at superhuman speeds.

After all, if 10 dexterity was that of an average human, and 15 dexterity was that of an Olympic level athlete, or perhaps slightly greater, than how quickly could he move with a dexterity of 20+? This was an excellent question, one that Zane figured he would test out the moment he got into the field and fought the undead.

Of course, while sitting at the table, Olivia and her keen eye noticed that Zane had a peculiar new item, one that she had not seen before, and because of this, she was quick to ask.

"Sick cloak Zane, where did you get it?

The term "sick" when used in the way which Olivia had intended was a much older slang term from the 2000s era, which was evident when Olivia, who was in her early thirties, had gone through adolescence.

It was woefully outdated as few people spoke in such older slang these days, but it was honestly something Zane found it to be endearing. And thus he was quick to respond to this question with an almost wholesome tone in his voice.

"I got it from an achievement. Evidently, I had two of them unlocked, which I had yet to claim. You won't believe this, but there are features of the system that only reveal themselves after unlocking certain hidden achievements."

This comment alone caused the women to gawk at Zane, and he went over the effects of the inventory feature and the others that he had unlocked and inspected for a short time.

Although this news was stunning, daylight waited for no man, and because of this Zane was forced to conclude the conversation, and force the women out of the bunker, and towards the armored vehicle which they would take to entrap and eliminate Eliza's remaining stalkers, which there were only three left.

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The HuNovelFireee drove into town. Its hull would protect Zane and the girls from a direct attack by any undead below Tier V, albeit, if an Abomination were to charge towards it head on, the result would leave the vehicle heavily damaged.

Luckily for them, Eliza was out of abominations, which Zane and the girls had already eliminated over the course of the past two months. And with Zane's peak of human wisdom, he could perceive things in the shadows that were normally hidden from a living being.

Thus, he drove the car directly into an area that would allow the Stalkers to encircle Zane and the girls. Something that Zane wanted to happen. And just as planned, the moment the group stepped out of the car, they found themselves attacked by hundreds of walkers.

Yet they did not panic. Instead, the girls focused their combined efforts, with both their skills, and their firearms, on eliminating the horde of Tier I undead, something which at their level and experience was quite the easy feat.

Of course, Zane did not move. Sure, he fired a few shots into the crowd of undead, but his focus was on his surroundings, waiting for the moment the Stalkers made their move. And like he had anticipated, their first move was to attack Angelica.

After all, she was the one who appeared to be the most helpless. The Stalkers vanished from their hiding places, where Zane had already detected them, something they did not expect, and instantly appeared in front of Angelica with their claws drawn. Vicious and sadistic smiles were across their rotting faces, not expecting the living beings to be fast enough to deal with their intense speed.

Yet what they did not realize was that Zane's speed was equal to, if not superior to, their own, and the moment they pounced he too moved, vanished into thin air, instantly reappearing directly behind the three stalkers who were attacking Angelica.

His knife drawn, and his arm cut, Zane manipulated his blood into deadly scythes, which effortlessly severed the heads of the three stalkers, instantly killing them before they realized it was they who had been stalked by one of their targets.

The Stalkers hit the ground, suffering a second and permanent death without even realizing what had killed them. And the sight of Zane suddenly vanishing from his nearby position, and reappearing with bloody scythes coming out of his forearms, was truly a terrifying sight to Angelica.

Zane had appeared behind the undead, whose specialty was speed, assassination, and espionage, a proverbial grim reaper who took their heads as his prize. The moment the Stalkers fell, Olivia cast a large area of effect lightning spell to strike their location, while Madison surrounded them with her force fields. Instantly killing off what remained of the hundred + undead who surrounded them.

It was only after their environment was clear of enemies did the girls, other than Angelica, realize what had happened. Angelica was on her knees, in shock, as Zane manipulated his blood back into his body, sealing off the wounds he had inflicted upon himself with a crystalline wall, and allowing the blood to recirculate through his veins.

Though only Angelica had witnessed the instant deaths of the Stalkers who had been outplayed by their own game, the fact that Zane had killed the Tier IV Undead so quickly left the other women in the party full of shock, and admiration towards the power which Zane currently wielded.

Now that all of Eliza's elite forces were taken care of, Zane and the girls could focus on farming the rest of the Horde King's forces to help them level up. And thus Zane gave a command to his party, with a stoic tone in his voice.

"The objective is complete. Fall back to Gravestone."

Without hesitation, the girls entered the armored Humvee, unaware that Zane's new inventory ability allowed him to auto loot the blood crystals, and whatever other items may have been 'dropped" by the undead they killed.

Items which he would use upon returning to their settlement to enhance the capabilities of his forces via the Settlement Management feature.