Chapter 20: Stage 1: Greater Zombies

Eleven layers, ninety-nine permanently dead zombies and one challenger, for Alex, slaying the lesser zombies- as she called them- had become instinctual. It came as naturally as breathing.

She had cut, slashed, stabbed, punched, kicked, slammed and much more, yet she was unbelievably energetic.

All thanks to the bright green hue around her slim blades.

Each floor till the eleventh floor had a capsule in the wooden floor and an item with a boldly engraved next to it.

The first floor contained a flame carved from wood.

Fire

The second floor contained a wooden seed on a flat disk, beside the seed was a single word etched into the tree's bark.

Forest.

The third floor presented Alex with a solid water drop.

Rain.

The Fourth floor held a plastic rainbow.

Light.

The fifth floor contained a branch.

Branch.

The sixth floor gifted Alex with a piece of charcoal.

Forge.

The seventh floor awarded the climber with a plastic bee.

Hive.

The eighth floor gave the girl a petri dish full of sand that could not fall out.

Dunes.

Within the ninth floor was a singular thunderbolt carved from wood.

Lightning.

Inside the tenth floor was grass, real grass. Beside the disk was the least creative word out of all Alex had seen.

Grass.

The eleventh floor contained a miniature sun. The wall had an especially exciting word.

Supernova.

Now, at this point Alex's curiosity was overflowing: she yearned to know what these little items could do. Moreso, she was eager to discover the conditions attached to this particular base. She did not doubt the power of what she had found and stored, but she was certain the conditions attached to this base were certainly terrifying.

Despite that, she refused to take even a second glance at the items after securing them in her cube storage.

It was this storing process that ate a lot of time, without it, Alex would have gotten to the eleventh floor thirty minutes earlier.

She glanced at the golden numbers, to see 154: 08: 01, before opening her map to get a preview of the greater zombie - as she now called it.

' Open interface '

She was greeted by a 3D model of the tree. She zoomed in and passed through the walls of the twelfth layer. She was shocked to find an inexplicably huge forest. Unlike the lower layers, this layer extended past the possible space of the tree, becoming its realm with a radiant sun. The sun's presence starkly contrasted with the moon that lit up the actual desert outside the tree.

There were trees, forest animals, plants, two ponds, and a tiny community with a plethora of wooden houses. It was an entire ecosystem.

She navigated through the layer from a ground-level perspective and by the time she got to the center of the layer within the forest, she was not pleased by what she saw.

Thick green ominous vines pulsed eerily on the clearing's lifeless brown dirt that was surrounded by a few equally lifeless trees only for the trees behind them to be healthy. The origin of those vines stood in the midst of them, allowing them to converge and intertwine on a lean figure, likely a zombie.

Alex observed the creature and its surroundings for a good ten minutes, familiarizing herself with every minute detail concerning her next foe. The slight heaving of its chest with every breath, its emaciated figure, the way the vines dug into its eye sockets, these facts all pointed to a mystically enhanced zombie, rather than a physically inclined fighter.

Moreover, the vines seemed to root the creature to the bare ground, hinting at its possible immobility. Alex took note of all the possible factors before closing her interface.

Before the imminent fight, Alex settled on a plan to defeat the zombie with the lowest possibility of failure.

Emerging on the twelfth and final layer, Alex poked her head through the square hole in the ground and then finished climbing the wooden ladder. Next to the ground beside the ladder, Alex saw the familiar black panel with a red handprint.

Her plan would require thorough preparations, so Alex began her search quickly.

She navigated past the forest, making her way to the community of wooden houses and ransacked each one. They all contained a room that had a bed with blankets, and a set of light cotton clothes, in a smaller room was a toilet, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a metal bucket, additionally, there was a small storage unit containing bottled water, fresh bread, eggs, tomatoes, apples, and bottled milk.

Alex sifted through each house, dropping all the desirable materials in the centre of the village, before storing them in her storage cube all at once.

This took her about 25 minutes. Then she headed to the forest to gather both dead and dry leaves and branches. She piled them, creating a circle relatively far from the zombie, but properly surrounding it except for two intentional gaps.

Alex inspected the height of the wooden fuel, which barely reached her knees. With a look of satisfaction, she held out both arms, only for two gleaming circular chakrams to materialize on her palms.

The circular entrapment had a break in its lining, free of twigs or obstructions. Alex stood within it, her eyes set on the central figure ensconced by unordinary vines.

Pushing all her power for her take off, Alex dashed to the zombie, reached it in mere moments, and then slashed the zombie's side without easing her speed or changing directions.

She continued straight ahead, not sparing a moment to observe her attack's success or otherwise, instead, she ran through another break in the formation and seconds later fell through the very hole with a ladder by its side.

Right behind her, was a slithering vine wrapping around the air. It uncoiled itself before pointing its tip to the right and left, then silently slithered deeper into the forest where it had emerged from.

Alex recovered from her fall just in time to witness the retreating vine just above the hole. Her brows furrowed with concerns about the future.

'How am I supposed to deal with seven of these things at once?'

She also had to consider protecting the lives of her group members, although it was not a priority.

" I'll worry about that later, right now I have a forest to burn." A big smile appeared on her face before it quickly disappeared along with her spotless chakrams.