"You really saved our butts out there." The man held out his hand to me.
I grabbed it.
The man gave me a firm handshake and then said, "Really, if you hadn't done that... And how did you do that?" He gave me a once over and said, "What are you, a ninja or something?"
"Something. And you should be more quiet. They move with sound."
He flinched but then nodded and gestured towards my bag. "Need a hand?"
I shook my head and picked it up, slinging it back on my back. The act made me almost tip over because of the pain in my limbs, but I managed to pull through. At that time...
*ding.*
A soft chime. At the same time, my watch vibrated. This time though, I didn't need to tap the watch to open up the menu.
[Tasks to avoid your Fated Demise]
Escape the building - 1 hour
Defeat the Dreadnought - Hidden Piece
I frowned.
The task had changed... but since it did, it seemed like escape was possible now. The only problem was doing it.
The man gestured for me to follow him, an excited look on his face.
I flicked my gaze to the timer still in the corner of my vision, counting down how much I had left wiht the recalled combat prowess.
About three minutes left... four if I rounded up.
That meant that to make the most of it, I should hurry things up.
I followed after the man, but focused on using my borrowed combat prowess to judge the situation.
The man was strong. Well built. And from the lack of the zombies at the end of the hallway, he seemed to be the one that took care of them.
In a straight fight... I'd lose. So hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
However, if it did... I could kill him. His body was trained, but it wasn't for combat. Like casual body building or fitness instead of proper utility.
-A small part of me noticed that I was regarding everything too clinically, but I didn't have the luxury to waste time on that.
Then, instead of worrying, I thought about how he could be useful in getting us out of here.
Obviously I wouldn't be able to force my way past any zombies below, but the story changed if there was someone like him.
I could make distractions and weapons. I could also devise tactics. However, the problem was that I couldn't take out zombies in a single blow due to my lacking physique.
But he could.
So, if we were just focusing on getting past everything... it wasn't impossible now.
Distraction, ambush, and then go along our way.
Right.
I nodded, a rudimentary plan in place.
And then we arrived at the end of the hallway.
A young woman, probably just graduated from high school... So I guess calling her a teenager was more accurate. Anyway, she stuck her head out from the broken wall and let out a sigh of relief, her face visibly relaxing.
The man stuck a thumbs up and then turned towards me, motioning me inside.
I entered, but as I did, I motioned for them to head further back, sticking my finger up to my mouth to hush them.
The two nodded and followed.
After we entered a bedroom in the back corner, I let out a sigh.
The man spoke up first. "I really don't know how to thank you, man."
I shook my head. "Don't thank me yet. We still need to get out of here." I glanced at his hand and noticed that he had a watch. The teenager... his sister, I believed? Had one too.
"I'm Neil, by the way. Neil Johnson." The man spoke up. He pointed to the teenager and said, "This is my lil sis, Laura."
Laura frowned. "Could you be a bit more serious?!"
"Sorry, sorry." Neil chuckled. "Just excited and relieved." He turned to me and said, "You were really something else, huh? Throwing those knives like that and killing so many zombies at once... Who are you, anyway?"
I shrugged. "Alan Lee. 21 years old. University student."
Neil blinked. "Huh. And your major?"
"Neil! Not the time!"
"Ah, right, right." Neil nodded.
"I agree." I glanced at the timer on my ability. It was still decreasing... and only two minutes now. Shifting my gaze back to the two, I said, "Did you find anyone else?"
Neil grimaced. "No. We heard screaming and managed to kill a few zombies that came our way, but..."
"I thought so."
Laura gave me a weird look. "You... Alan, right? How are you so calm?"
"I have to be. If not, we're going to die... Though if it's with you two, I think we can get out of here alive if we share information."
Neil nodded and then stretched, leaning back against the wall. "Alright. So news, huh? Well, Sis and I got back from the airport a few hours ago before everything went to hell. You?"
"I woke up just before midnight and managed to kill a zombie." I tapped at my watch and said, "Then I got this." I glanced at the two's watches and said, "Did you get the same message? Fated Demise? End of times? Word?"
Laura nodded, glancing at her watch. "That's right. What *is* this thing anyway? And is any of this for real?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. But I do know that we'll really die." I glanced at the corner of my vision, frowning. Only a minute and a half left...
"Not to be too demanding, but what are your words? They're going to be our key out of here."
Neil shrugged. "Mine was 'Crush'."
Laura looked suspicious of me but said, "I got 'Reinforce.' Why? Do you know something about them?"
"Complicated story. But..."
I wracked my brain. Only a minute left now.
But in that minute, information flooded my mind again.
['Word']
Humans were given this power as a result of attempting to defy Fate, and also due to the mythical origins of humanity. The means of communicating, of putting form to thoughts.
With the End of Times, this ability was elevated to an actual power instead of simply turning thoughts to words. And individuals were assigned words at seemingly random.
Of course, a person with a strong enough drive, talent, or ambition could affect a particular word, but most wouldn't and would instead get something loosely related to their life experiences.
Through proper interpretation and analysis, the usage may be expanded beyond the surface meaning.
I narrowed my eyes, ignoring the background information.
Uses. Applications. That was what I needed, not history.
As if in response to my thoughts, the information cleared up. And then...
[Reinforce]
This word allows adding to something that already exists, strengthening its original purpose or features.
[Crush]
This word allows crushing a selected target by using an appropriate weapon or item.
An answer. At the same time, the timer on my 'recall' ran out.
I winced, clutching at my head.
"Hey?" Neil frowned and said, "You alright, man?"
I waved him off. "After effect of my own 'word'. Don't worry about it." I looked at the two and said, "I figured out what your 'words' do though... if you haven't realized already?"
Laura shook her head. "I have a vague idea... I mean, a window shows up when I think about using it and then I get to choose what to use it on and the time... Well, that runs out pretty quick though."
Neil nodded and said, "I kind of get how to use mine too. Basically, just pick something heavy up and smash."
"Mm... Close enough." If they had a vague idea of how to use it, then it should be enough to get going.
"Wait." Laura frowned and said, "You never told us what yours is."
"Because it's complicated to explain. But essentially, I can see how to avoid our fated demises. And..." I glanced at the countdown in my task list. "We have less than an hour to get out of here before we all die. So." I looked at the two. "Would you like to work together?"
Neil and Laura looked at each other.
Laura looked away first and sighed. "I hate not knowing what's going on... And you're being way too mysterious for my liking, Alan."
Neil chuckled and said, "It's fine. A ninja's gotta keep his secrets, right?" He looked to me and stuck a thumbs up.
Laura rolled her eyes. "And you're too much of a weeb for your own good."
"I just call them how I see them, Sis."
"Anyway," Laura said. "We don't have much choice here, do we? And you did save us, so-"
"Great." I nodded and then tossed her my bat.
She caught it and blinked. "H-Huh?"
"You can reinforce things, right? If you select the bat, it should become something that swings harder and knocks things further when you use it."
"...I don't think it works like that." Laura frowned but started tapping at something in front of her that only she could see.
Neil looked at me. "I guess you have a plan?"
"Easy one. You smack things out of the way and we sneak down."
"I like it. Simple and to the point."
Laura rolled her eyes again and tossed the bat back. "And pretty muscle-brained... but I guess it's not like we can do much else."
I grabbed the bat and swung it a few times.
Since my combat prowess ran out, I was basically just flailing around with it. But I did notice that it was lighter now and swung through the air a lot easier than it should have.
Satisfied with that, I handed it over to Neil. "Here. You hold onto that. Now, as for our next step..."
I paused to think.
The objective remained the same... but it would be a bit simpler now. Especially if...
I stopped and looked back at Laura.
"What?" She crossed her arms. "Something wrong?"
"...How many times can you reinforce something? And how many things can you reinforce?"
She frowned and glanced at something in front of her. "...It says five more things? And I can only reinforce something once."
Darn. There went the plan for reinforcing a bunch of items to make things easier. If only there was a way to level that ability up-
Wait.
I looked at Laura. Then I looked at Neil.
Laura waved at me. "Hello? We're not mind readers, you know? What's going on up there?"
"Have you two done your first awakening yet?"
Neil spun the bat around and then placed it on the ground, leaning on it. "Awakening? Doesn't seem familiar. Sis?"
She shook her head.
"...Alright. Looks like it's zombie killing time then."
"Huh?"
