Immediately the last word was said everyone around the world saw a scene that would forever remain etched in their memories.
The sky was falling!
Well not like the sky actually fell.
Rather this was the result of another dimension being imposed on Earth's dimension.
From his position Dante was also able to observe this scene. Despite having experienced this in the past,the fear and awe that gripped him was just like the first time he saw it.
Using the wall as support,he slowly rose up. He had a lot of questions but the system interface was still greyed out so he couldn't ask it any question for now.
Essentially—he was alone.
"Its a good thing I wore my armour."
A quick scan of the building revealed that some parts of the building had already collapsed though it wasn't that much. Some of the people closest to him had also started to stand up when suddenly, bya thunderous explosion jolted the dazed people around him. While most might not be familiar with the sound Dante instinctively knew what it was.
That was the sound of a gun being shot. To be precise an assault rifle!
Immediately after that a cacophony of horrified screams and yells rent the air followed by intermittent gunshots causing those on the upper part of the mall to rush to the railings out of curiosity.
What they saw left them dumbfounded.
Dante was also among those peeking below the railings although he already had an idea of what was going on below.
"Someone's met a zombie huh?"
Down below,the majority of the crowd were running towards one of the south side entrance of the mall away from the direction the gunshots were coming from. It was very easy to see the terror in their eyes as they shoved and pushed each other frantically. Some unlucky guy actually fell down and was stepped on by the rushing crowd, his fate unknown.
The gunshots got closer and soon two security officers could be seen backing away as they continuously fired their guns at something. They also had terrified expressions on their faces though they managed it better than the fleeing civilians.
When everyone was wondering what they were shooting at an inhuman growl pierced through the chaos followed by a gut wrenching scream as one of the security guards fell down.
No,not that he fell down rather a bloodied female student had pounced on him,despite the female student being a size smaller than the buff security guard,she had him perfectly pinned down unable to free himself. Before anyone could make sense of what was happening a sickening crunch filled the malls plaza as the female student ripped off a huge portion of his neck.
"ARRGH! Fuck you my neck!"
"Raph!"
Seeing his companion helplessly flailing on the ground the other security guard raised his gun towards the student. At first he was hesitating but his eyes quickly regained their determination.
Aiming for her head he quickly unleashed two shots at point blank range blasting the student's head to bits,the force of the bullets carrying the now headless body off his friend.
"Oh shit! John, you're bleeding."
Despite shooting the weird monster off as fast as he could he was still too late as a huge chunk of his partner's neck had been ripped out causing him to bleed copiously. The man's eyes had turned glassy while blood continuously pooled under him. Grieving,he hugged his companion's cold body as his body was stained by blood. While they weren't relatives,they were buddies who had gone through a lot together. It was inevitable that he would feel the loss.
He was still holding into his friend when he felt a sharp pain on his neck as something warm flowed down, drenching his shirt. Bombarded by a wave of weakness,he managed to see the eyes of his supposedly dead friend open though they were now a scarlet red.
His friend had turned into one of those monsters!
Despair filled his slowly closing eyes but it was too late to lament.
Without wasting time,the corpse tore the security man's stomach apart before munching it.
Up above,everyone was quiet at first until a spectacled student retched while stammering.
I..is.isn't that a zo…zo..zombie?"
" World War Z is real?"
"ARRGH,run for your lives!"
The moment he said that everybody on the balcony suddenly broke into a run. Now they understood why those people from earlier were running like their lives depended on it. At this moment some even wished they had an extra pair of legs.
Immediately,the whole top floor descended into utter chaos!
"Sigh….the true apocalypse has begun."
Still standing at the same spot a grim look surfaced on Dante's face. Despite the fact that he had survived the initial stages of the apocalypse he still had nightmares about it,any human would
Turning around he saw that most people were hurrying to get into the elevator causing him to facepalm. We're these people dumb?
"Don't use the fucking elevator!"
Running towards the elevator he yelled but sadly no one listened to him as they were preoccupied with escaping. The elevator was the worst place as it was essentially a metal cage.
Exasperated,he turned back and went down the stairs. While there weren't any zombies on the top floor for now it wouldn't last for long,those things had an instinct for finding fresh blood and they usually gathered in groups.
Although he was somewhat anticipating a clash with one he wasn't ready to face a horde—at least not right now.
Furthermore,there was a reason he came here in the first place. He had something very important to retrieve.
Right when he was about to arrive on the second floor the unmistakable scent of blood entered his nose,instinctively he leaned back dodging the bloody maws of a zombie that suddenly appeared in front of him.
WOOSH.
Before the zombie could charge for another attack a huge force rammed into it causing it to fall down the stairs onto the plaza below. It should probably be immobilized for a while. Without even checking on the zombie Dante dashed away as he continued down while thinking to himself.
These zombies were too weak!
If anybody heard what he said they would probably want to kill him but it was the truth. The apocalypse had just descended and most of these zombies were exceptionally weak as they had no rank. Apart for their super strength they were no different from a normal human. In fact a normal human was even faster than them!
Moreover,he was also wearing his power armour giving him a boost in his strength despite also being a normal human hence why he was able to ran the previous zombie away.
[Ding! Black Gear system is back online]
"Oh so you came back eh? Why the hell did you disappear in the first place,my weapons were with you!"
Throwing another zombie away he expected an answer but after a while there was only silence. Just when he thought the system had disappeared again it suddenly replied.
[I was hiding!]
Hiding!
A clear puzzled look appeared on his face as he wondered why it was hiding. Hiding from what? Subconciously he remembered the voice that announced the apocalypse. Could it be hiding from that being?
He wanted to ask but the system interrupted him.
[Champion there's been some upgrades. Whould you like to see everything or only the specific ones you need now?]
"Dummy! I'm in the middle of running for my life. Give me the ones I need now of course!.... Also give me my Resonant chain blade, bashing against these zombies is still painful."
System: "...."
[System analysis online: You can now see the stats of your opponents.]
[Resonant chain blade deployed]
Grinning Dante looked ahead at the bunch of zombies up ahead.
"Couldn't have come at a better time."