God Of War System : Apocalypse King

CHAPTER 11: THE DEAD CITY OF BANYUWANGI

The first step onto Javanese soil felt like stepping on a disgusting, wet sponge.

"Don't look down. Keep moving," Satria commanded, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. He jumped from the hull of the boat, landing steadily on the bloated belly of a floating corpse.

Cindy swallowed hard, fighting back the nausea burning in her throat. The stench here was a thousand times thicker than it had been in Bali. The smell of mass death. She followed Satria, leaping from body to body, trying not to think that her footing was a human face, chest, or back.

"I... I can't..." Abigail whimpered from behind. Her injured leg made it difficult to keep her balance. She nearly slipped on an arm slick with gangrene.

"Take my hand," Satria said without turning, extending his left hand behind him.

Abigail snatched it like a drowning person grabbing a life raft. She let Satria pull her across the sea of corpses.

Andy, walking at the very back, watched the scene with a darkening heart. His own girlfriend preferred holding onto another man.

*CRACK!*

A mutant crab the size of a dinner plate burst out of a corpse's chest cavity, its serrated claws aimed at Andy's feet. Without thinking, Andy stomped on the crab's shell with the heel of his boot. The shell shattered with a crisp crunch, oozing foul-smelling green fluid.

"Disgusting!" Andy hissed.

After ten minutes that felt like an eternity, they finally reached the shore. It wasn't the soft white sand of Bali, but black volcanic sand mixed with garbage, shattered fragments of fishing boats, and tangled nets.

"We made it," Cindy said, breathless. She immediately leaned against the ruined concrete wall of the dock, trying to settle her churning stomach.

"Don't relax yet," Satria said. His eyes scanned the city's main street visible through the gaps in the port buildings. "It's too quiet here. Silence in a place like this is often more dangerous."

Sure enough. There were no horns, no shouts. Only the rustle of the wind carrying the stench of death. Cars lined the streets, intact, as if their owners had simply abandoned them.

"Maybe everyone turned into the corpses we just stepped on?" Abigail piped up, trying to sound optimistic.

"Maybe," Satria replied. "Or maybe... the survivors are smart enough not to make a sound."

They started walking into the city. Their footsteps sounded loud in the silence. They moved along the side of the street, using the parked cars as shields.

Andy walked with a blank mind. He kept replaying the events on the boat: Satria taking charge, Cindy defending him, Abigail admiring him. It felt like the world was conspiring to make him look useless.

*Why him? Why didn't I get that power? I'm smarter, richer...* Andy thought. He was so consumed by his resentment that he didn't notice a pair of sneakers lying in the middle of the road, next to a trail of fresh blood drag marks.

Suddenly, a swift movement caught Satria's eye from a narrow alley across the street.

It wasn't the shambling gait of the zombies in Bali. This was more like the movement of a stalking predator. Agile and fast.

"Stop," Satria whispered. Everyone instantly froze.

Satria narrowed his eyes. He saw a thin figure hunched over something. Its movements were jerky, its head twitching rapidly left and right.

"Is that human?" Cindy whispered.

"No," Satria replied.

The creature lifted its head. Its face was pale with glowing red eyes. Its mouth was torn open to the cheeks, dripping thick drool. When it saw Satria's group, it didn't growl. Instead, it grinned, then shrieked with a high-pitched sound like sudden screeching car brakes.

*SKREEEEE!*

The creature shot out of the alley, running toward them on all fours like an animal. Its speed was incredible.

"Runner!" Satria yelled.

"Andy! Watch out!" Abigail screamed.

The Runner targeted Andy, the closest and most obviously distracted prey.

Andy snapped out of his daze. He saw the monster sprinting toward him. Only ten meters away. His brain froze. His feet felt nailed to the asphalt. He could only stare, waiting for death to claim him.

"Idiot!"

*BAM!*

Satria's body slammed into Andy from the side, sending the man tumbling behind a sedan. Simultaneously, Satria spun around, swinging his crowbar to meet the Runner's claws.

*CLANG!*

The iron crowbar clashed against the creature's steel-hard claws. Small sparks flew.

[ENEMY ANALYSIS: RUNNER TYPE-1]

[THREAT LEVEL: LOW (TO USER)]

[WEAK POINT: MEDULLA OBLONGATA (LOWER BRAIN STEM)]

[SUGGESTED ACTION: QUICK PRECISION STRIKE]

The Runner leaped backward, landing nimbly on the car hood. It tilted its head, studying Satria with the intelligence of a wild beast.

"This thing... it's smarter," Satria muttered.

The Runner shrieked again, then leaped from car to car, moving in a zig-zag pattern to find an opening.

"Stay behind me!" Satria ordered Cindy and Abigail.

When the Runner leaped from the roof of a van, Satria didn't wait. His body moved on its own, following the system's instructions. He ducked low, letting the creature sail over his head, then, with a quick and efficient rotational movement, he swung the pointed end of his crowbar upward.

*THWACK!*

The tip of the crowbar embedded itself precisely at the base of the Runner's skull, piercing the spine and brain stem.

The creature froze mid-air. Its shriek cut short. Its red eyes dimmed. Its body fell limply onto the asphalt with a dull thud.

Silence.

Satria pulled out his crowbar. Black fluid spurted from the wound on the zombie's neck.

[EXP +50]

[LEVEL UP! LEVEL 2 (EXP 20/200)]

[STAT +5 (FREE ALLOCATION)]

[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: EAGLE EYE (LONG-RANGE VISION)]

Satria ignored the notification. He turned, walking toward Andy, who was still sitting on the asphalt, his face deathly pale.

"Get up," Satria said coldly.

"I—I..."

"Get up!" Satria snapped. He roughly grabbed Andy's collar, forcing him to his feet. "Do you want to die? Huh? In this world, one second of daydreaming can get your head ripped off! Focus!"

Andy was shoved until his back hit the car door. He stared at Satria with eyes full of a mix of fear and hatred. There was absolutely no gratitude for being saved. Only a burning sense of shame.

He had been humiliated. Yelled at like a child. Saved roughly in front of Cindy and Abigail. Satria hadn't saved him; Satria had just shown off his strength. That's what Andy thought.

"I... I was just surprised," Andy argued, trying to salvage what little dignity he had left.

"Next time you're surprised, make sure there's a wall behind you, not a monster's teeth in front of you," Satria retorted sharply. "Now move. And keep your eyes open."

Satria turned, signaling the girls to keep moving.

Cindy gently patted Andy's shoulder. "He was just worried."

But Andy shrugged off Cindy's hand. "I don't need your pity."

Andy walked with a limp, keeping his distance behind the group. Every step felt heavy, not from exhaustion, but from the weight of his hatred. He looked at Satria's straight back. The back of the hero, the leader, the king.

*One day, that back will be turned to me,* Andy thought. *And when it is, I will stab it.*

They walked in tense silence for nearly half an hour, warily checking every alley and store. The city was truly dead. No other zombies were visible, as if the Runner had been the only remaining guard.

"This is strange," Cindy said, peering into an open minimarket. "The goods are still intact. If there had been looting, it would be a mess."

"Maybe it happened too fast," Satria replied, his eyes continuously scanning the rooftops. He activated his *Eagle Eye* skill. His vision immediately zoomed in; details in the distance became clear, like looking through military binoculars.

He scanned from building to building. Empty apartments. Quiet government offices. A hotel with shattered windows. Then, his eyes stopped on a twenty-story office building in the city center, about two kilometers from their position.

On the roof of that building... there was something.

It wasn't the thick, black smoke of a fire. Instead, it was a thin plume of white smoke rising steadily into the sky.

"That..." Satria deactivated his skill. "That's a signal."

Cindy and the others followed Satria's gaze. They squinted.

"Smoke?" Abigail asked hopefully. "Does that mean there are other survivors?"

"Could be," Satria said. "Or it could be a trap."

"So what's the plan?" Cindy asked.

Satria looked at the tall building. In a world full of corpses and despair, that smoke was the only beacon of hope.

"We're going there," Satria decided. "Carefully."