Old York had descended into total chaos.
High-pitched growls and terrified screams echoed through every alleyway. The streets were swarmed with horrifying abominations that had been human only moments before the blackout.
They lunged at any living person nearby, tearing flesh from bone with mindless hunger. The most gruesome realization was that those bitten by the creatures turned into the very same monsters.
After killing the woman at the stall, Ezra fled toward a nearby building. He made sure to snatch the bow and the quiver as he ran. There were nearly a hundred arrows tucked inside the sleek container.
"What the hell? What the hell?"
The adrenaline began to fade, replaced by the crushing weight of what he had done. The reality of killing someone had finally reached his brain. Ezra was panicking internally, but he knew he could not afford to succumb to the fear.
"That wasn't a human," he muttered.
He scaled the perimeter wall of the building because the main entrance was already choked with a frantic crowd.
The roars of monsters drifted from every direction, even from within the structure itself. Still, the numbers on the street were far higher.
His chances of survival were better inside than out.
The building he was entering was a five-star hotel, a place famous for its astronomical rates and celebrity guests. The security measures there would be superior to anywhere else.
Ezra's mind raced with calculations for survival. He did not waste a second trying to understand why this was happening.
He only cared about staying alive.
When Ezra reached the side door of the hotel, it was already halfway closed. Even at full speed, it seemed impossible to make it in time.
A guttural growl vibrated behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw one of the monsters crawling toward him with terrifying speed.
It was another woman, her body twisted at a sickening angle.
The eyeballs attached to her exposed brain locked onto him hungrily. Rows of sharp teeth snapped open and shut along the length of her exposed spine.
Ezra's will to fight died the moment he saw her. He ran with every ounce of strength he possessed. The security guard at the door locked eyes with him, wearing an expression of hollow apology as the gap narrowed.
"No... no..."
Ezra could feel the hot breath of the monster on his neck. The smell of blood was suffocating. His eyes widened in pure terror.
It was late. It was too late to even reach for an arrow. He could not outrun this thing. He was going to die.
But he could not die. Not while his five-month pregnant wife was waiting for him at the hospital. Not before he had the chance to hear his unborn child call him papa. Not in a place like this.
"I can't die!" Ezra shouted.
At that exact moment, something inside him snapped. A sudden, violent force unlocked within his muscles. His speed doubled. Then it tripled.
Before the hotel door could seal shut, his body blurred through the remaining gap. His momentum was so great that he could not stop.
He went tumbling over the ornate water fountain in the center of the lobby, splashing into the cold water.
"Huff... huff..."
Gasping for air, Ezra turned back toward the entrance. The monster slammed into the reinforced glass, growling as it stared at him with those twitching eyes.
But his gaze was not on the creature. Instead, he focused on a small dot that had appeared in the corner of his vision after his first kill.
At first, he thought it was a stray bloodstain on his eye. Now that he looked closer, the dot looked eerily like a home icon. His gaze involuntarily locked onto the icon.
In the next heartbeat, he felt a strange pull from the center of his vision as a shimmering blue screen materialized before him.
A large bell occupied the center of the display, with several other options flickering beneath it. Ezra focused on the bell, and it expanded into a notification.
[Congratulations on being the first to kill a Mutant on Planet #6666.]
[You have gained the title 'One-Shot King'.]
[You will gain 10x rewards if you kill a mutant in one shot.]
The messages faded, leaving behind three distinct icons.
[Status]
[Shop (Locked: Reach Level 5 to unlock)]
[Star Net (Locked: Reach Level 10 to unlock)]
He wondered if he was finally hallucinating. Perhaps the constant rejection from job interviews had finally caused his mind to fracture.
Ezra blinked until his eyes burned, but the screen remained, glaring at him with clinical indifference.
A heavy bang vibrated through the room.
The monster was still hurling itself against the glass door, the sound jarring in the cavernous lobby.
Fortunately, the reinforced glass held firm. After a minute of fruitless effort, the creature abandoned the entrance and turned back to the easier prey outside.
Ezra crawled across the floor, tucking himself beneath a heavy mahogany table. The screams of the people outside sent a cold dread down his spine.
If he had been a second slower, his fate would have been identical to theirs. He recalled that sudden burst of speed. It was impossible for adrenaline alone to bridge that gap.
With a flicker of curiosity, he turned his attention back to the floating display and willed the [Status] icon to open.
[Ezra Thein's Status]
Class: Archer (1*)
Title: One-Shot King (Equipped)
Rank: Iron 1
Level: 1 (5/100)
Skills: None
Attributes (Standard Human = 1):
STR: 2
AGI: 3
INT: 3
CONST: 1
Mana: 30 (10 x INT)
HP: 10 (10 x CONST)
He wanted to study the numbers more closely, but the environment was too volatile. Low growls echoed from deeper within the hotel, punctuated by the sharp crack of distant gunfire.
At least the security inside seemed to be putting up a fight. His agility was triple that of an ordinary human.
That explained the explosion of movement at the door. Ezra glanced toward the reception desk, where the security guard was now hiding.
He could hear muffled sobbing coming from that direction. Based on the pitch, he guessed there were two women hiding with the guard.
They were loud, their cries echoing enough to attract any monster roaming the upper floors. Thinking of his own wife, a fresh wave of anxiety washed over him.
He pulled out his phone to call her, but the signal bars were gone. The network was dead.
"Fuck."
The two women continued to cry, their voices rising as if in competition. Ezra decided he needed to put distance between himself and that noise.
He spotted a service staircase that remained silent and began to tiptoe toward it, his movements fluid and hushed.
His goal was the roof. He knew this hotel had a private helipad, and he was certain the military would arrive within hours to evacuate the high-profile guests.
He just had to be there when they arrived.