Chapter 21: Ben's Poor Performance
Ben and the first Agility Zombie clashed in the middle of the street, sparks flew when the swords and claws met.
Breaking apart, Ben stepped forward again and swiped his Katana at its throat. It deflected the attack with its claws, seeing this Ben pivoted on his right foot and reverse gripped his Ninjato. Doing a half turn, Ben stabbed it in the side.
He continued the motion, making a full turn, ending up behind the zombie. He had let go of the Ninjato, leaving it in the zombies side. Grasping his Katana with two hands, he made another slash towards its throat.
The blade passed through its neck like it was cutting butter. The head toppled to the ground followed by the body. The hair on Ben's neck stood up and he instinctively turned and raised his sword in front of himself.
*Boom!*
Ben was sent flying into the side of the building. He didn't crash through six walls or anything but cracks appeared along the wall and an impression of Ben's back.
'What the hell.' Ben said ignoring the pain he felt throughout his body.
Looking up, Ben saw an Agility Zombie coming at him.
Moving his head to the right, he felt it's claws whistle by his head, leaving a scratch on his ear. Ben stabbed his Katana upwards through its body. The sword pierced its stomach and came out of its upper back.
The zombie let out a soul shaking scream next to Ben's ear, almost making him pass out.
Pushing the zombie with his free hand, Ben retracted his sword before stabbing it in the head, killing it.
Ben felt wetness coming from his left ear, touching it he found his fingers covered in blood. He also realized he couldn't hear anything.
Ben saw that it was a Strength Zombie that sent him into a wall. He found Duke being attacked by two Strength Zombies while other stared at him hatefully.
Duke could only retreat from the zombies attack, crushing anything they hit. If it wasn't for Duke's AGI and DEX he would have been crushed already.
Cloey was sending icicles towards the last Agility Zombie as it headed towards her. Ben wanted to help her but was stopped by a Strength Zombie.
'Duke use Bloodlust!' Ben yelled in his head.
Duke gave a bark in agreement. Red aura surrounded Duke, his muscles swelled in size and his fangs and claws grew longer and sharper.
Duke went on the attack for the first time, swiping his claws at the zombies. It crossed its arms in front of its chest, protecting itself from Duke's attack.
Long deep gashes were left on the Strength Zombies arms.
Duke continued to attack with a frenzy, not giving the zombies a chance to react. Finally, one of Duke's attacks got through and pierced the zombies head.
The other zombie released a bellow before attacking Duke in rage.
Duke only had another 10 seconds left before his Bloodlust skill time was up.
An idea came popped into Ben's head.
"Bloodlust!" Ben yelled out. Similar to Duke, his muscles started to swell and a bloodthirsty red aura surrounded him. The edge of his vision was tinted with red.
Grasping the Katana with both hands, he let out a war cry before charging the Strength Zombie. Knowing he only had 30 seconds, he had to kill Strength Zombie before Cloey was killed by the Agility Zombie.
The zombie threw out a heavy punch towards Ben, the air seemed to scream in protest due to the strength of the punch.
Ben stomped on the ground, lifting himself into the air. The punch whistled by underneath him. Rotating his body mid air, Ben kicked the zombie in the face, causing it to take a step back.
'Ouch.' Pain shot through Ben's leg.
Landing, Ben shot forward with his Katana stabbing towards the zombies eye.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
An almost human yelled emerged from the zombie before it died.
Ben turned and hurried to help Cloey.
He stopped and couldn't believe his eyes.
Cloey was standing over a dead Agility Zombie. Icicles had pierced the zombie all over but a large one had pierced it's head. Ben saw ice on the road and pieced together what happened.
'Covered the road with ice to make it lose its footing before attacking it. Colour me impressed.' Nodding his head in approval he went to make sure Duke was okay.
Though Duke's Bloodlust skill was over he had already injured the remaining zombie enough to kill himself.
*Ding!*
After Duke killed the zombie the familiar sound appeared.
Ignoring it, Ben yelled at Duke and Cloey, "Let's get out of here. No way these are the only zombies in the city."
Nodding, they both headed out of the city. Ben could feel that Duke was exhausted so he didn't ride him. He himself felt tired and sore from the battle and using the Bloodlust skill.
He dashed over to the first zombie he killed, retrieving his Ninjato before heading out of town.
….
They ran for an half an hour before stopping at an abandoned house. Ben checked inside for any zombies or beast but didn't find any.
Ben and Cloey entered the house, Cloey sat at the kitchen table while Ben laid down on the couch. Duke was too big to fit inside and he went to go find himself a drink of water.
Grabbing a bottle a water for himself, Ben drank half before stopping for a breath. He passed the other bottle of water he had to Cloey.
She accepted without saying anything and started drinking.
Ben channeled Natural Energy to heal his ears so he could hear again. After a few minutes, he was able to hear sounds again.
He looked at Cloey who was leaning back in the chair with her eyes closed.
"You know," Ben broke the silence between them, "I was impressed with how you killed that zombie. Can't see I expected that."
She opened her eyes and glared at Ben, "Why? Because I am a girl?"
"No, not entirely. Because you don't seem like a fighter." Ben defended himself.
"I don't seem like a fighter because I am a pretty girl?" she continued to glare at him.
Ben threw his hands up in defeat.
"I'm more surprised on how you have survived this far. You have to be over level 20 but you didn't use any elemental energy? Your plan to kill the zombies was crap and you have zero awareness of your surroundings when fighting." Cloey continued to berate Ben.
Ben stood there speechless.
Seeing his loss for words she continued, "You are a skilled fighter, there is no denying that but your style is too rough. Too inefficient. You need to kill your enemy quickly, not injure it and then kill."
Her voice took a softer tone this time but still gave Ben a scolding.
"Hahahaha! I like this elf. She's completely right!" a booming voice came from the door.
Standing in the doorway was a mountain of a man. His arms were as thick as Ben's thighs and waist was as wide as a bears. His brown hair was short and starting to gray, he looked to be about a middle aged man.
"Hello, my name is Tuk." the man smiled looking at Ben.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone