Rescue and getting ready to return.

[Ace POV],

Though I regarded myself as someone who will do anything to survive, this is the first time I have witnessed someone using their teammate as a shield to survive.

I'm not sure whether to praise him or not, but one thing is certain: this guy will never get close to me.

This group is quite fortunate that I arrived early.

If not, all they'd have been left with was a cold body, or possibly they'd turned into living dead.

These guys have only been able to survive this long because of the numerous obstacles that could obstruct and delay the zombies' charge.

I must say that despite the fact that the other party's team leader is fairly mediocre, he is still able to utilize his head and think of a method to make use of his surroundings.

That is if my assumption is correct and it was not a coincidence that his surroundings happened to help him.

Taking a brief glance around the parking lot, I couldn't help but shake my head because 99% of the automobiles here are no longer functional.

Even if they work, I wouldn't be surprised if the primordial chronicle classed them as inferior-grade items.

As someone who has come to genuinely comprehend why the primordial chronicle rates some items inferior, I wouldn't even accept the cars if they were working.

There is also the potential that the human body eventually outperform these things.

Anna was also right; among the few zombies that currently surrounded us, I could spot some special ones.

One thing I've noticed about zombies, aside from the special one I last fought, is that they are all stupid and can only be brought down to obey their basic instincts.

This instinct is to eat.

They can't think, can't plan, or do anything except eat and execute this.

What makes normal zombies dangerous and a threat apart from the special ones is their numbers.

They're numerous.

Killing a single zombie is simple; killing a large number of them at once is challenging.

Consider a level 9 human battling ten level 8 zombies.

In this scenario, unless the individual is skilled enough, it is unlikely that the individual will survive.

Of course, if you're powerful enough to ignore the numbers, it's a different story.

In the face of sheer strength, numbers mean nothing.

However, it appears that I will need to reassess the team leader's abilities.

Except for the special zombies who were at level 7 and one who reached level 8, all of the zombies here are approximately level 6.

A level 10 should be able to crush a bunch of these zombies with this setup.

However, the leader is barely able to get an advantage over the special zombie he is up against.

When I was level 10, I could do a lot to these zombies.

It appears that even among the strong, there are some who are weak.

Humanity's future looks bleak.

After all, it was a "civilized world" in which humans lived, not a "world of warriors" in which humans were trained to survive.

In this case, I believe that only the higher-ups in the world's empires have a chance of survival because they are the ones that have their armies trained all year.

I'm curious as to what would happen to the people who are still hoping for the empire to save them.

Perhaps only these 'camps' can provide a 'safe haven' for them.

Without much thought, I concentrated on slaying the zombies around me.

There were no agility-type zombies among the special zombies here, which was a good thing.

The special zombies here are all huge and strength-type zombies, so it wasn't too difficult.

After killing the strong ones among the zombies, I began my 'laborious' work of collecting the crystal cores, leaving the team leader and his party to deal with the normal zombies.

Why didn't I finish the work and kill the zombies?

Well, I came here to collect cores, not to babysit people who were unimportant to me.

I killed only the zombies who were drawn to me and concentrated on collecting the crystal cores.

In addition to the level 18 zombie's crystal core, I also collected six level 7 crystal cores and one from a level 8 zombie.

This gives me a total of eight crystal cores in my possession right now.

A reasonable wealth.

At least I'm not poor in all aspects.

'It's better if I start Alchemy quickly than let these materials in my hand rust in dust in my storage ring,' I thought as I prepared to exit the parking lot.

It was at this moment that I noticed the team leader of the other party approaching me, so I came to a halt and waited to hear what he had to say.

"Thank you very much for your assistance," he said in between his pants, and then continued speaking, saying;

"We might not have seen the light of day again if it hadn't been for you," he added as he attempted to utter what I guess is a joke but unfortunately, I am not emotionally capable of expressing with him so all I did was gaze at him with a blank face.

This resulted in an awkward silence between us, which was, unfortunately, fairly usual for someone like me.

To be honest, calling the man mediocre is like insulting him because, before to all of this, he was most likely a typical everyday man struggling to put food on his table.

But it will be his fault if he chooses to remain ordinary and fails to adapt to the changes that are happening.

After the man finished speaking, he thanked me again and proceeded to his team.

I saw that when he returned to them, he uttered a few words to them and talked with them before the team leader returned to me.

Seeing this, I wondered why he had returned, and as the man returned to me, he had a hesitant look on his face before speaking softly.

"Sir," he began his speech, before continuing;

"I apologize for bothering you, but could you guide us to the warehouse?" asked the other party team leader.

Tilting my head a little, i looked at the man and asked him why.

Hearing this, the middle-aged man responded promptly, saying;

"I'd like you to come and assist us to pack some things," the man stated, and just as I was ready to reject and leave, the man spoke up.

"I swear to you, our leader will pay," the man added.

Hearing this, I halted what I was about to say and wanted to decline again before giving it some thought.

The man is definitely aware that I had something to hold a significant number of items because I did not conceal it, but listening to him now, I thought of what he said.

What will the leader give me as payment if I assist them and pack some stuff?

What do I need that their 'Camp leader' have?

I was going to respond when I remembered something I do need.

Crystal cores.

I want to start practicing alchemy as soon as I get the time, so I need more materials because a lot of resources will be lost when I start because I am new to alchemy.

When I thought of this, I pointed to the corpse of a special zombie and asked him whether he had ever seen one before.

Special zombies are easy to spot since they stand out from the crowd.

Whether it is the size of the body or the level of intelligence.

Hearing my question and looking at the zombie corpse I pointed out, the man immediately nodded and said he had seen the leader and the strong people in the camp killing some and it wasn't until now that he realized why the strong people in the camp had to come out sometimes to kill these types of zombie.

He said that he thought these forms of zombies were just huge and thin zombies.

Though he responded with a lot of irrelevant information to my question, I knew there was a chance that his camp had crystal cores on hand.

Even though it is simply a chance, I must maximize my profit in case they do.

It's not a big deal for me to help with something as simple as this.

After all, I wanted to see the camp before, and if I can gain while doing so, it's a win-win situation for me.

And if the leader is unable to pay, I will not simply drop the supplies.

It's simple.

After making my decision, I told the man to lead the way, to which he responded with what I assumed was a joyful smile.historical

Along the way, I noticed that, even though no one talked about what happened, everyone avoided the guy who used his teammate as a shield.

It was none of my business, so I just gave them a sidelong glance, ignored them, and concentrated on where I was going.

It's worth noting that, despite all of the creatures and zombies I've killed since my fight with the level 18 zombie, I've only been able to obtain enough primordial records to level up to level 17.

It proves that the higher your level, the more difficult it is to level up.

Thankfully, nothing noteworthy occurred during our journey to the warehouse other than some rats that needed to be dealt with.

I was also able to obtain some items from the warehouse.

Wine and alcohol.

Two things that get better with age and last longer.

I didn't need it, but I packed it anyway since I still had some space left after packing the other party items.

After finishing what needed to be done, we emerged from underground and returned to the surface to eat with Anna and the others.

The strange thing was that when I returned, Anna had already packed some things, most of which were clothes, including the children's own.

When I asked her why, she answered, "You don't expect them to be wearing battle-damaged clothes, right?"

I couldn't say anything when I heard this since I honestly didn't see why we needed new clothes.

Only when she mentioned that some of the clothes were for Mia to change in order to avoid illnesses from unclean wares did I believe her.

And it was true that some of the clothes were for kids, and there was still the part where we still had clothes from Gustav's relaxing center.

We only left the mall with the other party when we had completed everything we needed to.

'Time to see this 'Camp' then'