The Origin Warden

chapter 18 : Smith POV : A Smart coward

[ You have killed a Level 8 Dormant creature: Dead Walker ]

[ Congratulations, you have obtained 4 fragments of Origin Energy ]

He was surprised that he had received the same amount of Origin Energy despite the level difference between the previous zombie and the one he had just killed.

He could not help but voice his confusion.

“Ummm... Lady Mandy, do all Dead Walkers give 4 fragments of Origin Energy despite having different levels?”

“Don’t call me lady!” she scolded him with a frown before adding in a praising tone,

“But I have to admit it. You’re actually smart for noticing that. At least there’s something inside that fat body of yours...”

“Ouch!”

“You could say the system is somewhat fair...”

She kicked the zombie’s corpse and added,

“This thing here, both you and I benefited from killing it because the system determined that I participated in killing it even though I didn’t land the finishing blow.”

Smith was surprised by this.

“Does that mean you also got 4 fragments of Origin Energy?”

“No, you idiot. I barely got one fragment. When your level rises, the energy fragments you get from killing something lower level than you become less, or even nothing at all sometimes.”

“Oh.”

Smith smiled awkwardly before following her toward the next target.

*****

Name: [ Smith Mish ]

Level: [10/2]

Rank: [Dormant ]

Origin Energy: [20/17]

Attributes: [ Physical ] [ Spiritual ]

Points: [0]

Smith stared in excitement at the transparent black interface appearing before his retinas, displaying his status.

These symbols alone were enough to improve his ruined mood after killing all those zombies about fifteen minutes ago.

The wide euphoric smile on his pale face, still drained from tension, created such a strange contrast that Zeil beside him let out a faint mocking laugh.

“I see you’re checking your status. Tell me, boy, what level are you now?”

Smith nodded, not minding sharing this with old Zeil, especially since the group was the one that helped him level up.

“Uh, I’m level two... umm, I’m missing 3 fragments of Origin Energy to reach level 3.”

Old Zeil patted his shoulder so hard that Smith felt a heavy pressure on it.

“Not bad, not bad, fatty. You’re higher level than me... I’m only level one!. I’m counting on you to protect me, boy!”

Smith narrowed his eyes and rubbed his shoulder.

“Old man, do you think I’m stupid? It’s obvious you’re above level 10. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine... but at least don’t treat me like an idiot.”

Zeil did not answer him and only kept a faint mocking smile.

Smith glanced once more at the system interface before dismissing it.

He stared at his hands, which still had some blood stains splattered onto his skin when he killed those zombies earlier.

“Hey, uncle. Do you think I’m useless?”

“I mean, I literally fainted from...”

Zeil interrupted him while walking with his hands behind his back as though he were on a stroll.

“Your question should be: Am I a coward?”

“The answer is yes, you are a coward! But a smart coward!”

Zeil stared at the fat young man’s gloomy face and spoke in a somewhat mocking tone.

“What’s with that face? That’s a compliment, boy...”

“As for your first question, the answer is no. Otherwise, why would we bother bringing you with us?. You’re an unstable element. And don’t let this calm atmosphere fool you, at any moment now something may appear...”

He fell silent for a moment, seeming to recall a bad memory.

At that moment, another person spoke in a sorrowful tone.

“Mr. Zeil is right. We lost many people during the past few days...”

“Damn it!”

Suddenly, Smith screamed in fear and jumped onto old Zeil, who had been lost in thought.

Both of them fell to the ground.

Smith pressed his trembling fat body onto the old man beneath him, who was about to curse and ask Smith why he had done that.

But the words stuck in his throat when a terrifying roar entered his ears, followed by someone’s scream.

Smith rolled off the old man to the side.

He had his eyes shut tightly as though the monster would leave him alone if it saw that.

“Get up, fatty. We need to hide. We’re in an open area for the monster.”

Zeil kicked him hard in the stomach, bringing him back to reality.

He opened his eyes and, without another word from Zeil, got up with agility completely contradictory to his excess weight.

Then he started running while covering his head with both hands.

Perhaps he thought that made him safer.

“Wait. Stay beside me...”

Zeil’s voice was drowned out by the sounds of gunfire and the monster’s roar that spread terror into the soul.

“Damn it!”

he cursed angrily while gripping the pistol in his hand and chasing after Smith, who had hidden behind one of the parked cars near a store.

Through the window, Smith stared at the scene that looked as though it had come straight out of a horror movie.

It stood around three meters tall.

Its legs were extremely long and thin like the trunk of a rotten tree.

Its upper torso resembled a skeleton, with skin stretched tightly over its ribs.

Fresh red blood dripped from its long sharp chin down from its mouth filled with pointed teeth that stretched from ear to ear.

With completely red eyes, it stared at the fresh red chunk of flesh held between the fingers of its hand, which resembled claws more than actual fingers.

“Everyone, don’t let this thing scratch you, not even a tiny scratch...”

Eric repeated the warning as loudly as possible while firing at the monster, which was now fighting against a thin black creature resembling a skeleton covered in smoke.

“By any means, don’t let this thing scratch you...”

“Don’t waste bullets on the skull. Instead, aim for the heart...”

The words got stuck in Eric’s throat when he saw those ominous red eyes settle on him.

Without hesitation, he activated his latent powers.

In the blink of an eye, another layer appeared over his skin resembling light brown scales.

At the same moment, the monster grabbed the skeleton by the head with its claws, then hurled it toward Eric in a terrifying display of strength.

The towering monster stopped, its body filled with holes caused by bullets.

Its eyes swept across the crowd pointing firearms at it despite their trembling bodies.

A sick smile spread across the gray skinned monster’s face.

It looked like the smile of a devil.