Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 84: Hunting Howlers

Zane and the girls had no idea what was happening at the Safe Zone, or the revolution that was currently taking place. Nor did they seem to care. Zane had made it abundantly clear he did not trust the government or other survivors. And thus far, from what Elen and Olivia had seen, Zane's judgement had been correct.

The limited contact they had with other survivors had all been negative, usually resulting in a fight of life and death, and all for whatever supplies they had on them. But Zane also had a new understanding of the system, and in his opinion, the best way to level up right now was to grind out achievements.

Thus, he had spent much time debating on which of the available achievements which were listed that he wanted to complete. There was one that, until recently, would have been a suicidal thought to even dare to attempt.

But things were different now. Zane had a suppressed rifle, one that was designed in what might call an "urban sniper" configuration. He could easily take out these otherwise dangerous targets without calling unwanted attention to himself.

The targets in question were Howlers, in order to get the achievement unlocked, an achievement that granted 10,000 XP, and another title. Zane and the girls would have to kill 25 Howlers or other Tier II Undead.

But since Zane only knew about Howlers, at least insofar as Tier II Undead were concerned, he decided to set them as his focus. Luckily for him, there was a horde which had been dispersed after the Horde King's loss at the Battle of the Storm.

And currently that Horde was roaming the streets of the city seeking to infect any living being they could get their hands on. This made Howlers much easier to replace and eliminate. Because of this, Zane and the girls drove their looted HuNovelFireee out into the streets, going to a shopping district which had a wide and open vantage point.

One where Zane could make use of to eliminate any Howlers he might be able to spot.

The shopping center was designed in such a way that by climbing on the roof of one of the stores, Zane and the others could effectively eliminate any moving target that was not hiding behind some cover. Thus, after doing just that, Zane adjusted the magnification on his scope to 5x, as he surveyed the area looking for Howlers.

And Zane saw just this. Standing among a large group of walkers, who were aimlessly wandering about, Zane pointed out his target, while issuing a command to Elena, who was nearby with her M4 carbine in hand.

"Elena, seventy-five meters out on my eight o'clock. There's a howler along with several Walkers. Can you cast your skill at such a distance?"

Elena looked down her fixed 4x scope and saw exactly what Zane was talking about, where she then answered in a way that Zane did not replace helpful.

"I have no idea, but I can try, get ready, because I'm about to cast it!"

Zane aimed down his optic, placing the illuminated reticle on his target of choice. Loaded in the thirty round polymer magazine was some standard m855 ammunition, which had a mild steel core to aid in its effectiveness at longer distances.

At a mere 75 meters, the benefits this ammunition provided were non-existent. But M855 was still among the most common types of 5.56x45 ammunition that could be found within the borders of the former United States.

Thus, Zane flicked off the 45 degree safety that his rifle had, and rested his finger on the trigger, ready to pull it at a moment's notice.

In a flash of scarlet light which enveloped Elena's figure, running down her body and centralizing it on her hands, she made a "finger gun motion" before firing off the skill which flew like a bolt of lightning through the air before hitting the ground in front of the Howler, instantly freezing the creature on the spot.

Whether this was a result of Elena upgrading her skill to the second tier, or simply something that she had not discovered until now, nobody really knew. As much of a skill's use came down to experimentation.

Regardless, the moment time froze within a five meter radius of the Howler, Zane squeezed his two-stage match grade trigger. A crisp and audible break could be heard, or it could have been if it was not accompanied by a gunshot.

The gunshot was muffled, but there was still a noticeable supersonic crack. After all, a "silencer" as it was more commonly referred to as never made a gunshot silent, like one would see in the movies. It simply reduced the sound to hearing safe levels and helped obscure the location of the shooter.

Instantly, Zane saw the bullet fly through the air and hit its mark. Penetrating the skull of the Howler and splattering its decaying brains all over the pavement. The moment Zane did this, he flipped the safety back onto his rifle and let out the breath he had been holding.

He then checked his system's ui to confirm that he had taken out the first Howler for the achievement.

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[Achievement: Slayer of the Dead – Tier II]

[Progress: 1/25 Howlers or other Tier II Undead slain]

[Rewards:

Title: Slayer of the Dead – Tier II

10,000 XP]

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Once Zane had confirmed that the system had indeed updated his progress on the Achievement, he looked over at Elena and gave her a silent nod of approval. He was not one for overt compliments, or anything of the such. But this simple gesture made Elena smile, as if it were the highest praise that Zane could give her.

A sentiment that caused Olivia to pout as she requested how she could be useful to the team rather than simply standing by and providing backup in the even they had to fight their way out.

"Zane, what can I do to help speed up the progress?"

Zane looked over at where the howler lie dead and immediately issued an order to Olivia, knowing just how to make use of her ability.

"Do you think you can cast your skill on the corpse of the Howler?"

Zane did not explain why he would ask such a thing, but then again, he didn't have to. Olivia instinctively followed his orders, where she charged up her skill. Bolts of blue electricity flickered around her figure as she made raised her fist in the air and brought it down in a single motion.

In doing so, she called forth lightning from the sky, or so it appeared, which struck the corpse of the howler, and dealt damage to all other undead within a ten meter radius, frying them all to a crisp on the spot. And thus clearing the path to retrieve what Zane hoped would be a Tier II Blood Crystal.

Zane also gave Olivia a slight nod of approval before removing his weapon from where it was resting on the edge of the building. He then managed the bipod so that its legs were no longer deployed and thus made it more maneuverable.

This only took a second of time as Zane then began to lead the girls down to retrieve the first of their spoils. Though they needed to clear a few other walkers, which the trio managed to do without attracting unwanted attention. Primarily, through the use of melee weapons, they eventually arrived at the Howler's corpse, which had been turned into a pile of ashes.

But buried within this pile of ashes was a small green crystal, almost like a spherical and diamond cut emerald. It was slightly larger than a standard Blood Crystal, but not nearly as large as the one Zane had retrieved from the Abomination that his former classmate had turned into.

Once Zane retrieved this crystal, he stashed it away. As he figured, it would be the first of several that he would be retrieving throughout the day. Zane and the girls would continue these tactics to covertly eliminate half of the howlers they needed to complete the achievement.

Where they would be surprised by the fact that every single Howler they killed had a Tier II Blood Crystal embedded in its skull. This was a curious discovery for Zane, because it meant that only the low level Undead, such as the Walkers and potentially other Tier I Undead that Zane had yet to come into contact with were the only Undead who did not guarantee a blood crystal with their death.

While this was a curious discovery, its implications were unknown. After all, throughout the entire day of searching through the city or at least within a five-mile radius of where Elena's home was. Zane and the girls had only found a handful of Howlers. Meaning that while their drop rate was likely 100% There were significantly fewer Tier II Undead to loot.

But that was a matter to worry about for another time.