Alex and Stella stepped forward, passing a small store that had once sold alcohol called Aunt Mavory's Grape Wine! It was now abandoned, like most buildings on this lonely road.

'It's a shame; Aunt Mavory was such a kind lady!' Stella thought as she looked at the smashed windows and traces of blood all over the area, especially inside; both of them peaking inside only to see nothing but broken glass and spilt wine left.

"I guess that some survivors tried to escape and chose here to hide...." Alex thought aloud, looking at the corpses with bite marks, claw wounds and a few that took their own lives.

"Let's hope Mavory escaped; she was a kind woman." He continued.

Remembering the woman that once scolded him, slapping his ass with a wooden stick for drinking underage with Sarah, fond memories of the first few years he came to this town.

'Mother... Are you well?' Before they continued, he thought, Stella packed a few of the unbroken bottles of wine, pulling her tongue out at Alex as she replied. "For a special occasion! Hehe."

After leaving the main road, they walked for around thirty minutes before reaching a strange gate made of dark, black material.

"Strange... Why doesn't it seem like something that exist's in this world? It's like when you play a game, and the devs paste a photo of the sky; or distant background. Eerie as fuck!" Stella mumbled as she swiped her fingers across the door.

Alex looked around the area, feeling a sense of disconnection; things that used to exist were gone and now replaced by strange and weird objects.

There used to be a shopping complex to their right, but it was now nothing more than crumbled stone and wild grass; not even zombies entered this area but rather silence; the entire area was silent and filled with only the gentle breeze and the sounds of their breath.

"Stupid place...." Alex snorted, trying to rid himself of the uneasy feeling.

'She mentioned guardians; I've seen them, but where are they now?'

He looked towards the left only to find it hadn't changed; a road led further into the city, where the largest businesses and the best mall were located. But ahead of them was where a massive cathedral and graveyard used to reside.

This was where most people in the city would be taken to be buried or cremated.

Alex had expected to find the graveyard full of zombies, given the current state of the world after the apocalypse.

However, instead of the undead, they found a black gate with a stone wall surrounding a huge amount of land in a massive rectangle.

The atmosphere was dreary, dark, and eerie. The world had just ended, and now everything was in a state of collapse. The air was thick with the stench of decay and the sound of silence, broken only by the occasional howl of the wind. It was as if the world had been drained of all colour, leaving only shades of grey and black.

They could feel the weight of the darkness pressing down upon them as they approached the gate. The stone walls towered above them, and the gate seemed to stretch forever. It was as if the very gates of hell had opened up before them.

Alex and Stella stepped through the gate, and the ground beneath their feet seemed to shift and groan. The dark sky above them seemed to grow even darker, and the air grew colder. It was as if they had stepped into a different realm entirely.

As they continued to walk through the graveyard, they could feel the eyes of the dead upon them. The tombstones and mausoleums loomed over them like twisted sentinels, their inscriptions obscured by the darkness. It was as if the very earth was watching their every move.

Despite the overwhelming sense of foreboding, Alex and Stella pressed on.

Until a sudden sound filled their ears, almost like a voice but distorted and caused their skin to tingle as if it wasn't something that should exist there.

- "Congratulations; you have discovered the entrance to the Safe Zone: Lone Star City."

A moment of delight filled Alex and Stella as she hugged his arm again before remembering that she was trying to resist him, tapping his shoulder and pushing away.

However, Alex grasped onto her hand, keeping it held tightly as the voice began to speak once more.

- "Since the guardian has yet to be defeated, you must do so before entering. Are you ready to fight the guardian now? I can give you 10 minutes to prepare; then, you will be kicked out and banned from entering for 24 hours."

The old voice became vigorous and powerful towards the end like it didn't want to deal with their shit.

Stella struggled to get free for a moment before giving up after giving a hateful look towards Alex; her fingers dug into the back of his hands in defiance as she pouted and looked away, not denying that when he stroked her hands and rubbed her fingers, it felt pleasant.

"What do you want to do, my lady?" Alex spoke with a less rough tone, teasing the cute succubus princess.

She snorted, but a slight smile filled her face as she looked away.

'Yes, that's right. I am a princess; show me that respect! Fufu~ such a nice voice, very attractive.'

For a moment, the cute succubus took some time to think while enjoying Alex stroking her fingers; he would rub along her sore knuckles, which soothed her mind; despite being a supernatural being, she wasn't comfortable with death and places like this graveyard.

Thanks to his comfort, she could think clearly, but wouldn't admit it right now.

"I want to get out of this horrid place; it's dark, smells funny and gives you an excuse to molest me!"

Alex nodded, looking at the area and saw the two strange creatures from his previous times looking towards this place.

Using his "Eagle Eyes," he could get only the most basic information.

Zombie Ghast: Infection Stage 2

A lesser evolved creature, they have fused with the zombie infection deeply and have increased physical power at the cost of speed and endurance, and their intellect has begun to recover.

Their sheer brute force makes them terrifying opponents in battle, able to tear through solid metal with their bare hands and toss cars aside like they are nothing more than toys.

Despite their size and power, the Zombie Ghasts were not mindless beasts.

They possess an unnerving intelligence level, able to communicate with each other through a series of guttural growls and snarls.

The Ghasts Work together to bring down their prey, using their immense strength and cunning to overpower even the most well-armed and well-prepared survivors.

Encountering a Zombie Ghast was a nightmare for any survivor, for these monstrous creatures were nearly invincible in battle.

They can absorb massive amounts of damage and keep coming; their unrelenting fury and immense strength make them nearly unstoppable.

Level - 15

- Strength: 32

- Agility: 5

- Endurance: 13

- Stamina: 15

- Willpower: 20/20

Skills: Charge, Dread Strike, Bale Screech

Spells: N/A

'Hmmm, they are damn powerful! Although it says 5 Agility, there's no way those things are easy to dodge or kite!' Alex thought, one blow from them, and even he might be down for a while, looking at the fragile Stella before unconsciously clenching her hand tight.

"It might be dangerous. Stella, are you sure?" He asked her with a deep and magnetic voice, no longer playing around with her.

Stella could feel his mood and tonal change before looking towards where his eyes were fixated.

The Zombie Ghasts were monstrous creatures; as Alex looked at them with a more focused eye, he felt a sense of thrill, wanting to fight, crush, and devour them, even if he were to explode!

They were humanoid in shape but far larger and more muscular than any normal human, standing over six feet tall and weighing well over 400 pounds, with mottled skin covered in scabs and scars, and their eyes glowed with an otherworldly intensity.

The two Zombie Ghasts wore tattered clothing that hung loosely from their massive frames.

Despite their size and bulk, they moved with a disturbingly fluid grace that belied their immense strength.

These creatures were incredibly powerful, possessing triple the strength of any normal human, which caused Alex to become excited; these were not cannon fodder and were like that huge creature that killed him on the first day.

'I imagine these would be a terrifying enemy for normal people though, that strength against someone with low attributes and not immune, even a single graze from their claws would end them!' Alex thought, his heart beginning to surge with excitement and joy.

'Let's fight them! Hurry, accept the fight!' His mind roared.

Stella could see a huge, dense shadowy aura from the two zombies, similar to when she was casting spells or manipulating her shadows; for a moment, she almost wanted to give up, but the moment she saw the excited red eyes of Alex, glowing like Christmas lights.historical

'Ah, look how excited you are; how could I say I want to run now?'

Her eyes looked at him with a warm look, a slight twitch in her face as she alternated her gaze between the two things.

In her mind, she hoped that these weren't the guardians and that it would be a goblin or something.

"Shall we fight them, Alex?" Stella whispered, her voice trying to hide her fear and tremble.

Alex was shocked and delighted, turning to her with great energy as he smiled from ear to ear, looking more ghoulish than before. Somehow whenever he was fighting or wanted to fight, his face became extremely gruesome and wild, making him look like a monstrous thug.

"Hey, old guy. They are the ones. I can fight them now, right?" Alex asked, his voice excited, tensing and stretching his muscles, releasing Stella's hand for the first time of his own volition since they left that area.

'Ah... He let go... It's a little colder now...' Stella thought as her eyes watched him stepping forward, the huge nodachi swinging across his body several times with a loud howl of the wind.

- "Are you sure? From what I can see, you will die for sure..."

"200 Apocalypse coins!" Alex shouted into the air, his entire body filled with confidence and bloodlust.

His shout confused Stella, but the voice was slightly stunned, and they replied with a slight stutter.

-"Y-you are betting 200 coins? With me? Boy, do you realise who I am? With a single sla...."

"200 Coins, take it or leave it; you're not a coward, right old man? No one cares who you are; this isn't a damn cultivation novel!"

There was a moment of silence as the two Ghast's eyes began to glow an eerie green, lifting their bodies and snapping towards Alex's direction. However, a third one leapt down from the stone walls they guarded with a resounding thud.

-"Okay, 200 coins! If you win, I will give you 300 coins, but you have to fight 3 of them, and neither can die!"

"Hahahaha! I knew you could do it, old man! Come on, Stella, let's kill some zombies! Cover my back, don't get hurt!"

Stella watched as he began to dash forward, her eyes fixated on his thick back, tall and wide as his muscle bulged; like the wind, he was rushing towards the distant zombies that began to charge towards him with their hulking bodies.

The loud laughing and taunts coming from his lips caused her to chuckle before she frowned and remembered to resist him, slowly following behind as she focused her shadow magic around her body.

'He's like a child going to play tag with his friends...'