The second morning arrived in the Blighted Metropolis.
Moon stood on the rusted fire escape of a partially collapsed parking garage and looked over a wide intersection. He twirled his newly acquired high-density carbon-steel riot spear.
The weapon felt like a natural extension of his arm. It was not just the pristine balance of the weapon but the [Lethal Flow] skill actively rewiring his brain.
Every time he shifted his weight, his mind automatically calculated the most efficient angle to thrust or sweep. There was no wasted movement at all.
"Alright, day two," Moon muttered as he exhaled in the cold air. "Time to go grocery shopping."
He did not mean food. He meant stats.
He vaulted over the rusted railing and used his 1.7 Agility to drop gracefully onto the hood of a crushed hover-car below. He landed with a soft thud and his knees bent perfectly to absorb the shock.
The sound of his landing was just loud enough.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The ground beneath the ruined asphalt vibrated. Moon's head snapped toward the source.
Emerging from the shattered glass of a massive bank lobby across the street was a walking nightmare.
It was an Abomination.
That was the only word his mind could conjure. The creature was easily four hundred pounds of rotting asymmetrical muscle. Its left arm was grossly overdeveloped and dragged along the ground like a fleshy wrecking ball. Its right arm was shriveled and tucked into its chest.
Its jaw hung entirely unhinged as a thick river of black sludge poured from its mouth.
"Jesus," Moon breathed and his grip tightened on the black spear. "You look like a tumor that grew legs."
The Abomination's sunken milky eyes locked onto him. It didn't roar. It just charged.
For something so massive, it moved with terrifying speed. It tore up chunks of asphalt with its giant left arm as it basically gorilla-walked toward him.
"Let's see what this spear can do," Moon grinned and dropped into a low perfect martial stance.
The Abomination swung its massive left arm in a devastating horizontal clothesline that would have turned a normal human into meat paste.
Moon didn't block. Relying entirely on [Lethal Flow], he dropped to one knee and slid under the massive fleshy limb.
As he slid past the creature's center of mass, Moon thrust the carbon-steel spear directly upward into the monster's exposed armpit.
SQUELCH!
The razor-sharp blade easily pierced the rotting muscle and sank deep. But the creature simply ignored the blade and violently twisted its body to backhand Moon with the same massive arm.
Moon yanked the spear free and vaulted backward to flip out of range.
CRACK!
The Abomination's fist slammed into the crushed hover-car where Moon had just been standing and caved the metal in completely.
"Too much fat and muscle to hit the vital organs in one strike," Moon analyzed instantly. "Fine. We bleed it out."
Moon went on the offensive. He darted in and thrust the spear into the back of the creature's thick knees. He severed rotting tendons and immediately leaped back before the retaliatory strike could land.
SHING!
He sliced across its abdomen. Black blood spilled onto the street.
SHING!
He severed the bicep of its shriveled right arm.
The Abomination swung wildly and destroyed streetlamps in a blind rage. But Moon was never there. Every dodge positioned him perfectly for a counter-attack.
"Timber," Moon whispered.
He dove forward and slid across the asphalt. He brought the heavy spear blade down in a brutal sweeping arc against the creature's already mangled left ankle.
SNAP!
The bone gave way. The Abomination bellowed a gargling shriek as its massive bulk tipped over. It crashed onto the street with a heavy thud.
Moon didn't hesitate. He leaped into the air and drove the spear down with both hands. He put all 1.8 of his Strength into the downward strike.
The carbon-steel blade punched straight through the back of the creature's thick skull and pinned its head to the asphalt.
The massive beast twitched once and then went dead still.
Moon stood atop the massive corpse with his chest heaving slightly. A wild smile stretched across his face.
He ripped his bare hand from his pocket and slammed it onto the creature's back.
[Ding!]
[Target Killed. Activation Requirement Met.]
[Limitless Plunder (Stage 1) Activated.]
A torrent of energy ripped from the corpse and flooded into his arm.
[Plunder Successful!]
[Raw Strength +1.5 acquired.]
[E-Rank Active Skill: Savage Charge acquired.]
Moon gasped as his eyes went wide. "One point five? From a single kill?"
His muscles expanded and hardened. His Overall Bodily Power was skyrocketing. He felt like he could punch a hole through a tank.
But then the golden interface flickered violently and turned a blaring angry red.
[WARNING!]
[Host has encountered a Bodily Bottleneck.]
[Current Strength: 3.3]
[Current Vitality: 1.5]
[Analysis: Host's muscular and skeletal output (Strength) vastly exceeds current biological durability (Vitality).]
[System Restriction: Activation of E-Rank Active Skill 'Savage Charge' is temporarily locked. Utilizing this high-kinetic skill with current F-Rank Vitality will result in catastrophic muscle tearing, bone fracturing, and potential self-dismemberment.]
Moon's celebratory grin vanished instantly. "Wait, what?"
He read the red text again. His face turned extremely pale.
"I can hit like a truck, but if I actually try to use this new skill, I'll literally rip my own arms off," Moon muttered. "My body can't handle the torque."
He couldn't just blindly stack Strength and Agility anymore. He needed Vitality to reinforce his tissues and bones or his cheat ability would end up killing him.
"I need tanks. I need things with high health pools," he concluded and pulled his spear free from the corpse.
Later that afternoon, Moon was crouched on the roof of a four-story hardware store and munched on a stale protein bar he had looted.
Down in the streets below, a tragedy was unfolding.
Three Awakened survivors were backed into an alleyway. They were armed with nothing but broken table legs and a fire extinguisher. Two men in business casual and a woman in a track suit.
Closing in on them was a horde of at least thirty regular Blight-Fiends.
"Help! Somebody help us!" the woman screamed and sprayed the fire extinguisher blindly into the faces of the undead. It did nothing but annoy them.
Moon watched silently from the edge of the roof. He took another bite of his protein bar.
With his 3.3 Strength and his 1.7 Agility along with his [Lethal Flow], he could probably jump down there and slaughter the entire horde in three minutes. He could save them easily.
But why would he?
Trash mobs yielded absolutely zero raw stats for him now. He could convert them to points, but exposing his incredible combat prowess to three desperate strangers was a massive liability. They would cling to him and beg him for protection. They would just slow him down.
"Sorry," Moon whispered coldly. "The universe is unfair."
He turned his back and walked away. The screams from the alleyway abruptly turned into wet tearing sounds. He had his own survival to worry about.
By nightfall, Moon had secured a safe room on the second floor of a sturdy commercial bank. He had dragged heavy oak desks to barricade the heavy security doors. He left only a small gap to peek out into the hallway.
He sat in the dark and rested his muscles. His spear rested across his lap.
Outside the reinforced window, the Blighted Metropolis was dead quiet.
Suddenly, the hairs on his arms stood straight up. A strange sweet scent came through the cracked window.
Moon stood up slowly and crept toward the glass. He peered out into the darkness.
Clinging to the side of the building directly across the street was a grotesque monstrosity. It was a Siren-Fiend.
It looked like a bloated pale human woman but its limbs ended in suction-cup appendages. This allowed it to scale the sheer concrete wall. Its stomach was swollen and glowed with a faint blue light.
Moon froze. The creature's head snapped directly toward his window.
It didn't have eyes. It just had a massive gaping hole lined with hundreds of needle-like teeth.
It had smelled him. It was intelligent.
The Siren-Fiend's chest expanded massively. Its glowing stomach pulsed rapidly.
"Oh, you bastard," Moon cursed and instantly grabbed his spear.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
The creature unleashed a deafening high-pitched scream. The glass of Moon's window instantly shattered inward. Moon covered his ears and dropped to his knees as blood trickled from his nose.
The scream wasn't an attack. It was a dinner bell.
From every alleyway and every ruined building, a chorus of guttural roars answered.
The ground began to shake.
Moon wiped the blood from his lip and looked out the shattered window. Below, the streets were flooding with a sea of gray armored bodies. Hundreds of Blight-Fiends were sprinting toward the bank.
He was trapped.