“Anyways, even though I don’t know why you chose to save me, I’ll always be grateful! Thank you!”

“…” I don’t how to answer that. Even if we have met, to her, nothing I say will make sense. We walk on in silence for a time, passing by the endless trees and following the river. Out here in the country, it’s too early for many monsters to appear.

Good. It’s going to take some time to train Yin to fight on her own. If anything were to come now, I’d probably end up having to deal with it myself.

“So, we’ll be at an actual town soon. Like I said, eventually everything will be consumed by the virus and Hunters will start to turn on each other. But for now, if you want to stay there, it will be safe for a long time. Have you made your choice?” I ask her.

“I…I don’t know anyone else now that Rui and Donovan are…” The cute girl trails off, her voice going quiet behind me. “Let’s get there first and then I’ll be able to give you a satisfactory answer.”

“Suit yourself.” I lead us onwards. The air has a sweet scent. Nature has recovered quickly while humanity has been busy trying to stop the Calamity. Flowers line the road, and while I know one day, they too will be tainted by the virus, right now, they are beautiful. What day is it? Right…it shouldn’t have been long since New Years right? Shrugging, I pull out my phone. It has already stopped working, but it feels good to hold it again after so long. When the power button doesn’t work, I toss it into the river.

*Plonk*

“Why’d you do that!” Yin panics as she sees what I did. “Even if there’s no signal, you shouldn’t go throwing it away!” She stares at the river sadly, but the ripples have already faded in the rapid current. Her hands pull out her own phone. “I’m almost out of battery. But there hasn’t been a signal in so long. And none of the buildings have electricity anymore. What’s happening to the world?”

Gently, I approach her, gazing out over the rushing river. I remember what it was like to discover the first time. The crushing isolation of being completely separated from the ever-present connection of WIFI and text messages. Of course, I was pretty isolated before any of this started, but even for me it was a shock. I can’t begin to imagine how a pretty girl like Yin must feel.

“Do you have any family? Anyone who might still be alive?” I ask quietly, listening to the river pass by. She is quiet for a long time.

“My parents might be alive out there. But to be honest, I tried to call them for days after this started. Back when there was still a signal. They…they never picked up.” Her brown eyes glisten, like they’re filled with morning dew. “My parents never missed a phone call from me before in their lives. If they were still there…they would have found a way to contact me. I have some cousins, but I’m not close to them. They live in Tiendas.”

“I…I see.” Once again, I have no words to comfort her. Other guys were smoother talkers before all of this went down. Maybe they would know what to say now, but even with another lifetime’s worth of experience, I don’t know how to help. “I have no one either. Well, except…”

“Who?” She turns to me curiously. “Your siblings?”

“No…not by blood anyway.” My thoughts go to Sasha, James, and the rest of the gang. They must be out there by now. I hope they are able to level up without me. But Sasha is tough. They all are. They’ll make it! “It doesn’t matter. Let’s keep going. Things are going to get ugly soon. We shouldn’t waste time.”

“Ugly?”

“You’ll see.” I start walking again and leave the picturesque river behind. The sun has begun to set once more. Soon it will be the domain of the dead once more. We need to make it to that settlement soon. I hope my memory is right. Green trees and vibrant flowers fade into duller colors as the light leaves us. Yin grows afraid, drawing nearer to me. However, I leave my cleaver inside my coat. Perhaps I am overconfident but the knowledge of two lifetimes grants me a sense of security even it shouldn’t. When the sun truly dips down beneath the horizon, I notice lights in the distance. A clearing in the trees signals what we’ve been looking. “We’re close, look.”

“Oh!” Yin skips happily as she sees where my finger is pointing. “You were right!”

“Did you doubt me?” I say wryly. Ignoring the look, she sends my way, I quicken my pace. The forest has begun to sound eerie. Creaking overstrained boughs, swaying leaves, and swishing water mix together to give the whole place a spooky atmosphere. However, I’m at home in the darkness.

Too at home.

Though I spent most of my time with the other Death Gods in my past life, we always hunted in the dark. As a matter of fact, in the early days, this would have been the perfect time to gain some levels. Before the System Monsters come over. Right now it’s just weak undead. I stop, thinking it over. “Yin, do you want to be strong? Answer me honestly.”

“Be strong?” She stops while thinking over my words seriously. “Well, in the past, I never cared about staying fit. But after what happened to the others…yea, I want to become strong. As strong as I can! I don’t want to be eaten!” Her conviction might be new, but it is firm. I nod in approval.

I can work with this. She really does remind of Sasha in a way.

“That’s a good answer.” I reply. Though I’m supposed to be experienced, it’s hard to maintain the role of a teacher. In my past life we spent all our days leveling together as a party. I’ve never taught anyone before, unless you count a few newbies at the gym before the Calamity. Shaking my head, I sigh. This is going to be hard. “It’s about time to start your first lesson then.” Taking out my cleaver, I hold it out to her. “We’ll have to get you a real weapon soon, but for now you can use this.” When she gingerly takes it from me, her face wrinkles up.

“Why do you even have this?” She asks. I shrug, digging around the shore.

“It was the first thing I had on hand when the apocalypse started. And it works. You saw how effective it is.” I find what I’m looking for in the mud. A solid-sized stone bigger than my fist. “This will do.”

“Huh…I see.” Yin shakes her long black hair. It’s pretty snarled with all the things that have happened. The pretty girl looks more like she’s going to chop vegetables than zombies with my cleaver in hand. “What now?”

“We’re going to get you to level up, quickly. Right now, there are probably several people who have figured out that killing lower-level zombies can make you stronger. But they don’t know how much bonus experience from higher-level monsters matters. If you’re willing to risk your life, the world will reward you!” I wind up with the stone, aiming towards the center of the river. Comeon, there should be at least one, this close to a human settlement!

*Ping*

My throw sends the stone skittering over the surface of the water. I’m not a pro but in my spare time I liked to skip stones. The flat rock bounces over a dozen times before beginning to lose momentum. I’m rusty. However, it falls perfectly in the center of the river, leaving behind plenty of splashes.

“Woah!” Yin claps in amazement and I lift an eyebrow at her reaction.

“You ready to fight?”

“What?” She stops clapping slowly, my cleaver hanging limply by her side. “Fight what?”

Then the river begins to ripple as the things underneath take the bait. Two pairs of rotten arms rise up from the waterbed, clawing their way to the surface. These are not like Crassia. They are true Drowned Souls, hardly fresh. Their flesh is rotting, and their smiles disfigured. White bone shows through their pale flesh as they snarl and climb onto land to seek the one who disturbed their rest. Backing away, I leave Yin to fight them alone.

“Wha-where are you going?!” She yelps as they find their footing. The limbs of these undead are unnaturally long and when they squat on the shore they seem almost like human frogs, staring grotesquely at Yin. “Hei!”

“Relax, they’re just Drowned Souls. And they’re a higher level than Crassia was, probably Lvl. 7.” I grin. This is better than I expected. Whatever is happening in that settlement, it probably isn’t peaceful to have birthed such strong undead nearby. Evidently some people have been busy doing what people do best. Murdering each other and hiding the bodies. Good thing, I decided to help Yin grow stronger before entering town. “I’m here, but it’s your responsibility to fight.”

“You want me to fight two?! Look at me! How can you make a girl fight!” Yin howls in disgust at me. However, the Drowned Souls are already advancing on her. “Is this even normal?”

“Not really, most people would form a group or party and fight weak zombies together. But I told you, this is a shortcut. You won’t even need to split the experience with me. Isn’t that great?” A ruthless smile crosses my lips. Though it wasn’t Yin’s fault, technically she is a little bit responsible for getting me killed in my past life. Time a little payback. Besides, it’s good for her…

“I…HEI HELP!” She scrambles backwards as one of the Drowned Souls steps forward. Due to the length of its limbs, when it pounces it covers an extraordinary amount of distance. The long-limbed white ghoul drips water which evaporates without leaving a mark on the ground as it reaches for Yin. I call out instructions from behind.

“No! Listen to me, low level zombies can only infect you with their bites! Getting hit by their claws is not as dangerous!” Perhaps trying to teach in the middle of live combat was not the best idea, but like I said, I’m not the best teacher. My grin stretches wider. Also, ever since dying horrifically twice, I feel like I’ve changed. My emotions are hollow, I care less about what people think, even cute girls like Yin. “Remember, you must sever the head to completely disable them, but you can also remove limbs to cripple them first!”

“Easy for you to say!” Yin dodges a swipe as the second Drowned Soul jumps up onto the river shore with her as well. “I’m going to die if you don’t do anything! There’s two of them for crying out loud!”

“You’re not going to die with me here. I promise you.” Something about my words causes Yin to look back at me. When she sees my smile, her face stills and she grows quiet. Unfortunately, she also stops moving. I swear and dash forwards. With my speed as a Lvl. 1 Hunter, I’m not much faster than an ordinary human. My leg comes back and I spin around to deliver a vicious roundhouse to the Drowned Soul about to rip her head off. “Pay attention!”

“I am! You just…weren’t teaching me well!” Yin growls. I pin the downed zombie down with my foot on its head. Pointing at it while watching the other one limp towards us, I sigh.

“Kill it!”

“Fine!” The cute girl runs up and lifts my cleaver up on high. This time, she does not miss, and though the Drowned Soul is freakishly large, its body is completely waterlogged. Dirty river water and zombie blood spurt out as Yin hacks its head off with one blow. Spinning off the corpse, I dance in front of the other one and sway under its claws. The Drowned Soul hisses and I wince as its spit lands on my face. “Hei!”

“Never get distracted by a teammate!” I leap straight up to get my foot level with the thing’s head. Then I twist around and smash my kick into its face. Even a zombie will temporarily lose focus if you rock its brain hard enough. The thing totters backwards and I hold out my arms. “There, now it’s all yours. You can get scratched but if you get bitten you’re dead, understand?” My protégé doesn’t respond as she quickly walks up to the Drowned Soul. I nod approvingly. She’s not hesitating anymore. Perhaps it took a bit to make her understand, but now that she gets that this is life or death, she’s just as good as any of the others in our party.

“Hah!” Yin let’s out a cute grunt as she swings for the Drowned Soul’s face. With its limited intelligence, it doesn’t know how to block and simply attempts to tackle her. I’m a little afraid that Yin won’t expect it, but she already knows to dodge backwards and try again. This would be impossible if the Drowned Soul was in perfect health, but it’s already been disoriented from my perfectly placed kick. When it misses, it overbalances and then the cleaver is there to meet its neck.

*Thunk*