Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 147: A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

The terrifying shout of a juggernaut could be heard throughout the entire ruins of Old Reno. It was a damn near ear-piercing screech at such a close distance, and if not for Zane's increased constitution, which was at the peak of a normal human being's endurance, he would have been dealt a lethal blow simply from the sound.

The last time Zane had seen one of these behemoths, he had quickly run away from the city, and towards what eventually became his current residence. But he had only been able to do so because at the time the Juggernaut was several hundred meters away from him and the girls.

Yet there was not even a hundred meters between him and the monstrous undead at this very moment. Every instinct in Zane's body told him to flee. But he chose not to. And why was that? Because the system was telling him that the creature could be beaten, albeit with some difficulty.

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[Juggernaut – Tier V Undead]

[Level: 20]

[HP: 750/750]

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Zane stood still for several moments, debating whether or not he should engage the creature, or simply run. By now, he most certainly had the dexterity to escape from a Juggernaut on foot. But should he do so? Or was this a perfect time to test his newfound abilities?

It took no more than two seconds for Zane to decide as he re-equipped his short swords and sprinted towards the massive beast as it did the same to him. Naturally, Zane knew he could not sustain a single hit from such an enormous and powerful monster. But what he could do was outmaneuver it.

Using all the speed at his disposal, Zane ran up the massive arm of the beast, which was two stories tall while standing on all fours as it swung towards him in an attempt to crush him beneath its sheer scale.

Zane slashed up the monster's arm as he aimed towards its neck, dealing far less damage than he thought he would, while restoring far less health than he expected.

---

[Juggernaut – Tier V Undead]

[Level: 20]

[HP: 745/750]

---

Evidently, because the creature was five whole levels above Zane, his damage was substantially decreased towards it, as was his ability to regenerate his on health. He was barely making up for the negative HP regeneration despite launching five strikes in the span of a second on the creature.

The cuts to the outermost layer of the creature's flesh, or should Zane say armor, were not even an inch deep, and only served to aggravate the juggernaut, which shouted in Zane's face the moment he approached its unsuspecting head.

The sheer power of the shockwave sent Zane flying back towards a nearby building which he crashed through the window of, crumbling multiple times against the ground as he landed within the buildings' interior. Cut, bruised, and severely injured.

Zane saw that from this simple shockwave based attack, which was nothing more than a shout by the juggernaut that he had lost well over 150 HP, which was nearly half his total HP. Knowing this, and how little damage he could deal to the creature at this point in time, Zane wisely stood up just in time to notice that the Juggernaut was slamming its fist towards the building he was standing in.

It took all of Zane's strength, but he managed to jump out a nearby window, falling nearly three stories towards the ground as he tumbled, rolled and suffered from the fall damage, which was another whopping 50 HP lost.

At this point Zane did not intend to stick around any longer, especially since he truly believed in the next moment he would be squashed like a bug, instead he sprinted off towards the location of his hidden vehicle, outrunning the massive undead monstrosity by a significant amount.

It was only after Zane had left behind the ruins of Old Reno altogether and was halfway back to Gravestone that he finally sighed in relief. Luckily for him, his wounds were not so serious that they needed immediate attention. He could survive long enough to get into the bunker and awaken Angelica so that she could properly heal him.

Instead, Zane looked at his loot, which he had gained, and was stunned by what he saw. Zane had killed far more undead than he thought in his brief foray into the outskirts of old Reno. Evidently he had 325 Tier I Blood Crystals, 57 Tier II Blood Crystals, 23 Tier II Blood Crystals, and 5 Tier IV blood crystals.

He also looted many crafting materials, and junk, which when selling off his Tier I blood crystals, and his junk loot, was enough gold for Zane to purchase the Stygian Iron Works. As a result, Zane had accomplished one of his goals on this night, and because of that, he could sigh in relief.

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Zane's injuries had only worsened by the time he arrived at Gravestone, to the point where he needed assistance from the night sentries to actually get into the bunker. Once he was inside, the two sentries who practically carried Zane into the complex pounded on Angelica's door, awakening the girl, and everyone else who slept beneath the surface, while screaming madly for help.

"Saintess! Wake up! We need your help! Zane is severely injured!"

Immediately after hearing this, the door opened to reveal Angelica, who was dressed in little more than a nightgown. She had intended to take longer to properly prepare herself for whoever was pounding on her door, but the moment she heard that Zane was hurt, she dropped everything and made sure she was presentable in the bare minimum sense.

Her emerald eyes opened wide, as her face was stricken with horror when she saw the condition Zane was in. Quickly, she led the men over to her bed, where she ordered them to lay Zane down.

"Get him on my bed. After you do that, please get out... I'll take care of this…"

The sentries did as they were told, leaving Zane in Angelica's care, all while leaving the bunker complex entirely as they knew they were not welcome within it. Angelica was so busy healing Zane's wounds that she did not notice the other girls burst in.

Instead Angelica spoke with a soft tone, using her free hand to hold Zane's bloodied cheek, while asking him if he was alright.

"Zane, are you alright? Stay with me now?"

Zane was barely conscious when he arrived on Angelica's bed, but the warmth of the woman's healing rapidly brought him back to life, but he was still incredibly tired, because of this he didn't even realize it, but he was actually smiling when he saw Angelica crying over him, doing everything she could to stabilize his condition and save his life.

His final words before passing out were meant to comfort Angelica and the other girls, who were panicking by her side.

"Don't cry… I'll be alright now that I'm here with you…."

After saying that, Zane passed out entirely, where his body would be fully healed in his sleep due to Angelica's rare skills.