Surely because they are the ones with the most resistant abilities, the zombies that survived the attack of various magical scrolls, the vast majority were those that had exceeded the 3rd limit and also the force type ones were still in better condition.
...well, that was compared to the other zombies that were more unlucky and were now charred, totally frozen, crushed, or butchered.
Although the zombies above the 3rd limit could certainly move to try to fight, they all had parts frozen, burned, or were missing limbs from the magical attack... Furthermore, the greatest sequel and benefit that the attack provided us with was that this group was now dispersed.
For this reason, it was easier for the girls and me to kill any enemy that crossed our path. Besides, to make our struggle even easier we carried weapons cut any zombie as if they were vegetables without us had to make much effort too.
"Let's separate to find the leader of this horde"
Since the system had not notified me that I had completed some of the objectives of this mission, therefore it is certain that that the zombie general must still be alive.
So that after killing some zombies and watch the girls would have no problem or would run high risk to the eliminate them, I decided that it was best to us separate for more ground to cover and to find the zombie general and to deal with him before it takes the option to flee.
But having the ones who stayed in the Helicopter and constantly shooting for support, we shouldn't take too long to finish this group of zombies.
Finishing my words, the girls next to me nod and then each of us takes a separate path. As for me, before moving first I extend my domain and try to look for any group that has come together after the magic attack...
Whenever I have encountered a smart zombie it has kept company with other stronger zombies like its bodyguards, so if it survived and can move, then it will surely try to regroup again.
"Curse!! That damn really is running away!!"
A few seconds after extending my domain and analyzing the surroundings, as I had thought, I discover a group of about 10 individuals who had regrouped but instead of heading towards us or the camp to attack, they were heading in the opposite direction.
With no other option, I start running towards where they are... I should have brought Haruna's dog, if I rode him I would not have to make an effort to do this... no, that damn will probably not allow me to do it and also with its size, it would be very uncomfortable if it were inside from the helicopter with so many people.
A few minutes after I start running I can see the group of zombies running away from us, fortunately, this was made up of only force type zombies and therefore their speed to flee was not so fast.
"I had been wondering if I would meet a zombie that could have evolved to the 5th limit before I left this world, since the number of zombies that my soldiers killed every day on expeditions to small towns was enough to complete the mission before 6 months, there was no need to attack another big city and so I believed that it was unlikely that we would find a zombie of that level in one of those small towns...
But unexpectedly, now I find a handful of these here. Haaa, I do n't know if I should consider myself lucky or unlucky for this. "
When I approach them and try to identify the leader using my evaluation skill, I realize that all of these in the text box above their heads indicated that they were E5...
That certainly surprised me a bit and even makes me stop my feet for a second, but I quickly follow behind them and then as I get closer I discover the most likely reason why the smart zombie must have survived.
This group of E5 should have always stayed by its side and when the smart zombie saw the attacks it most likely ordered them to protect him using their bodies. Even though these were also injured for that reason, due to their evolution, the resistance of their body surely improved again and therefore they were in better condition than the others of their companions.
"Grraaaah !!"
The zombie with the text box that said zombie general above its head suddenly screams as it notices me approaching and in the next instant of that group most turn to face me while only a few continue to escape.
Seeing this, a smile is drawn on my face... with my new sword, I would surely keep cutting these E5 in the same way as the E4 without much distinction between them despite being a higher range.
But this time I want to test my other new weapons that notwithstanding not being as strong as the sword, I also had to check the performance of these.
I take my hand to my waist and draw my pistols, but now they were no longer my old colt and beretta... although I feel a little sad to put them aside because they had accompanied me almost since I was reborn, it was time to change these.
[RSh-12-H]
Revolver caliber .50 of double action system with a capacity of 5 cartridges. This weapon was specially designed to match large caliber rifles and be able to hunt big creatures with it.
I go back to review my new pistols... or revolvers for a second with evaluation and after immediately point them at the E5 zombies that were coming towards me, then having my sights on the first two enemies I pull the trigger.
[Bang !!] [Bang !!]
Immediately the two detonations that eject the bullet are heard, no… more than the sound produced by a weapon, these almost looked like explosions that even made my ears ring for a second.
Also, the recoil was quite a bit bigger than my previous weapons and probably if it weren't for my strengthening, firing these revolvers would be a little awkward. Although seeing the result of the pair of RHS-12, I could not complain about these small demerits...
The two zombies I had shot after feeling the impact of the bullet on their faces, instinctively put their hands to their heads... unfortunately for them, things had not ended with just that. That damage alone would surely end them or at least affect them a lot, but the effect of this new weapon of mine was not over ...
[Boom] [Boom]
One second after the shot, the heads of those two zombies explode and scattering debris all around.
This was one of the reasons why I chose this weapon. Apart from its large caliber, another advantage was that it could use different types of projectiles in it and this case it was explosive bullets.
After losing their heads, the bodies of the two zombies fall, I stop paying attention to them and continue firing until emptying the magazines of both weapons that were still running towards me. Like other zombies these try to protect their heads with their hands, but with that they only won that I had to spend one more bullet on them.
With the first one I amputated its limb with which they covered themselves... or made them explode. And with the second one, the same thing was repeated as with the first two zombies.
Thanks to my new weapons, in just a matter of seconds I pass the headless bodies of this group of zombies who tried to buy time while running towards those who were trying to getaway.
"Graaah !!"
"It's over ... your subordinates couldn't buy you too long time"
When the zombie general sees me approaching him, he roars again but now more than being something threaten, it was more a sound of despair and some fear. The earlier is repeated and the last zombies that accompanied him advance after that, but quickly these also fall like their other companions without being able to do much and leaving only their leader.
[Beep]
[Target Remove Zombie General] [Completed]
Staying if no subordinate to protect him, the zombie general tries to escape on his own but I end up killing him just like the rest without much effort. I had no resentment or reason to drag this out, so after giving him one last word I shot him while he had turned his back on me to run. Doing this, a second later the system's voice is heard in my head.
I collect the bodies and crystals that came out of the zombies' heads from the explosions and then I look for other targets to kill. As these were evolved zombies, these had their value and it would also be better not to let them get closer to the camp since the consumption of the shield to stop them would be greater.
It didn't take long for us to clear this area of any zombie since the helicopter grounded and the soldiers and girls who had been there, with the exception of Shisuka, Haruna and the little girls, get down from this to help eliminate them.
So with nothing else to do here, the whole group come back to the camp... but when we arrived we had to ask them to deactivate the shield for a few seconds. This did not change things much for the zombies as most were quickly detained or neutralized when they entered that short period that there was no protection in the camp.
The rest was simple and we only had to wait a few hours until the zombies stopped coming towards the camp. Seeing all this, it can be said that everything was a complete success and we were also able to protect the camp without the need to use the strongest weapons we possessed.
[Beep]
[Mission / Optional "Camp Defense - H"
Since the terrains of this world are practically controlled by the enemy, losing the little terrain that humanity owns is one step closer to annihilation. For this reason, it is essential to fight to maintain the dominance of these places and in this way, the hope of the people does not disappear along with their homes.
Requirements: Resist the zombie horde
Eliminate the "Zombie General" leader of the horde.
Failure: Death, Loss of Camp, Escape from the Zombie General
Reward: 1x Transmuting Scroll-H (Base Level Homunculus 50)
10,000x Crystals
100,000x Gold]
[Mission / Optional "Camp Defense - H"] [Completed Rating: S
Additional Rewards: 1x H-Rank Item Coupon
10,000x Crystals
100,000x Gold]
In the evening I hear the sound of the system again as announcement of the end of this fight, now it only remained to take care of the aftermath of this one that would also be more profits for me.
[Beep]
[Alexander level up to 56]
[Kurisu 46]
[Saeko level up to 51]
[Scythe Level up 54]
[Leona Level up 60]
[Haruna Level up 48]
[Shisuka Level up to 48]
[Rika Level up to 52]
As usual, after the fight is over the energy of all the eliminated zombies begins to be distributed among all those who participated in it. Then the system notifies me of the increase in the level of the girls that it recognizes as someone with a formal relationship with me and from whom I can see their status.
Kurisu, despite being the first to be with me, seems to have lagged slightly behind the others since she dedicated herself to being in the laboratory for a while rather than hunting zombies.
This should also be the case for Shisuka, but thanks to the almost daily training she performs was able to keep her level close to the girls who went out to fight... that moment of pleasure my and effort of hers was not in vain.
Haruna who is in a similar position as these two previous girls was able to achieve that level to her dog's help, without a doubt of all the girls, she is probably the one who has leveled with less effort than the rest.
Also, along with the system notification the other people start to level up. Although most of the soldiers went up a few levels, the residents who were the weakest were the most benefited from this since they increase more than a limit... perhaps that is why apart from our level being high, also due to the great number of people who participated, the amount for each individual of energy was less.
Thanks to that, many recover a little energy but since it is most likely that mental fatigue remained in them, the best thing would be to do the things that remain to be done for the next day.
Seeing that when most people realizing that there were no more enemies, most of them were now slumped to the ground with a smile on their faces exhausted from the effort they had made since the previous day, then it is better to allow them rest.
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- ------------
The next day as planned, the surrounding bodies of the zombies were cleaned. In the end after putting them in my storage, the amount of these that this indicated to me was 427,814 and also there were almost 15 thousand evolved.
...that was almost the amount of zombies that we eliminated in the city and it took us almost 2 months to eliminate them... but this time it was in one day.
It certainly sounds like a terrifying amount of enemies, but for me, this meant something else... if we say that each zombie has a crystal with an average value of 5... then the number of crystals I now have in my storage is over 2 million.
Curse! Truly this world became a great crystal mine! Also, the best thing was that our group is probably the only one that can get a profit from them and thanks to that, I don't have to worry about others trying to get them or fight us for them.
And most likely the number of crystals I can get from this world will increase even more... although the reason for this also poses a risk to the population here.
After a bit of examining the bodies of the E5 zombies, these apparently didn't change much at the naked eye and instead experienced a qualitative change just like the normal creatures that exceed their first limit causing the value of their crystal to pass from a value of less than a ten to hundreds.
In the case of the E5, the value of the crystals of these had increased again and a single one of these exceeded the value of 5,000.
[That's because the vast majority of creatures or monsters compared to humans or similar beings have always been one step ahead of them.
For example, monsters are born with a crystal that acts as their energy core from the beginning, while humans have to exceed 5 limits to do something similar to themselves in their bodies.
Leaving the fact that a monster has a stronger physique than a human almost always, even without it a monster of the same level of a person, is stronger than this thanks to the previous reason that I have said before]
… Although I understand that each being has its superior qualities, I think it is a little unfair that monsters have such an advantage, Aurora.
[As you say each race has its advantages, Alexander. But since there certainly cannot be such a large imbalance between all of them. So, while monsters have the advantages I mention, humans or the like have others.
Usually they have the easiest time to evolve their soul level, while monsters have a harder time]
I see... it is good to know that our race also has its advantages, although... if the world is a level one, then this would not be very helpful.
[… Well, you're right about that]
Well, my goal is to continue to strengthen myself and since I am not tied to this level 1 world, it is a good thing to know that it will be easier for me and the girls to increase our soul level more easily.
[Don't forget that in your case it will be even easier thanks to my existence and the system of Cross]
You are right, also now that I have completed two missions that the system gave me when I arrived here, perhaps I should go thinking during this month that I still have to stay here which is what I will do in the near future.
It would also be good to leave things here at HOTD as stable as possible so that on my next visit there are no bad surprises.
But the main thing of all is that I have to tell the girls and see which of them will accompany me back to Gaia... or maybe I should say who will want to come with me.
Kurisu, Scythe, Leona, Vrana-chan, and my plant it's certain that they will accompany me... probably Saeko too since she had promised to follow me anywhere, but with the others, I will have to talk with them.
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Hello everyone!!
Thank you all for reading SES and all your comments, this is a moral motivation that drives me to keep writing! Another motivation, although somewhat materialistic, but necessary, is the support of all of you in my p-a-t-r-e-o-n, so if you like the novel and want to read advanced chapters, hope you can and I invite you to visit it!
https://www.patreon.com/Drack21
Is seems that WN is baned the word (p-a-t-r-e-o-n), so "*******" is (p-a-t-r-e-o-n) without "-"
MC level is too low after months of fighting high level zombies. The girls all got 1 pill (10 free levels) as well, did the MC use one? Pill are supposed to work every 6 months. I get the author wants to hold the MC back in order to move to the next world, but the XP math makes no sense. Got decide how these things work before hand, not change them middle story to fit the narrative.
MC math in crystals is also wrong. He should say 5 to 10 mil at least, not 2 mil. Here is another issue, the author is always cutting low in his crystal stock for some reason. This needs a fix before he evolves to soul 2 and starts to fight monsters that are worth hundreds of thousands/millions.
Lvl 5: 5 crystals
Lvl 15: 150 crystals (* 10)
Lvl 55: 5500 crystals (* 1,000)
Lvl 115: 1,150,000 (* 10,000)
Lvl 155: 155,000,000 (* 1,000,000)
The LitRPG system needs to be clear, simple and regular. The soul level idea is good (similar to Chinese novels). The rank system for items/skill is fine. The cost from inventory is all over the place. The use and stock of gold/crystals is all over the place. The XP system for level and for skills is a mess currently.
The HOTD arc was great in general. The action and kingdom building aspects were well done. The harem building was too exaggerated, so hopefully it won't grow much anymore (too many characters makes them lose value). The pet system was great (don't forget to name Venus and evolve her too), but why is that MC doesn't share XP with his pets like the other 3 tamers?
Need better explanation on how this world operates if you plan to revisit it:
1) how zombies evolve (level up)? Do they hunt for crystals? Do they level up randomly by staying on high mana areas? Are they "born" using the living body level (Alex zombie would be 56?).
Basically the system of ranks and how you explain the existence of higher ranks in a town. If they are eating each other to evolve then you wouldn't have a horde of 500,000 , but much lower numbers. If they are born without human bodies now like in a dungeon, the will cities repopulate with zombies? Stuff like that.
2) how living monster work as they will eventually be the main antagonist after zombies are gone from a area.
Cheers and looking forward for the next story arc.
Thanks for reading SES!!
1) Zombies evolve eating crystals or personas of high levels, also with the mana of the world, but since this one is low, therefore to they getting the necessary to can evolve, then it´s need more time for them evolve for this. So the zombies evolve of now is for the crystals that they eat from other zombies.
About of the horde zombie of before, they came from a city of some millions of people and those who came was mainly normal zombis. Only around of 10 mil was evolve zombies E1-E5, more high the level, then they are less.
About what happens with the form they born, this I thing that mentioned in the future as mini arc of HOTD, since this world will remain still open.
2) About the exp. You are right, one of the reason I decreased this, it is for Alex can will go to another world without be too strong. Although I think that with the logic that is more difficult leveling when the level is high and that the experience was distributed on more than 50 thousand people it's a little justifiable that they didn't level as much.
But you are right and this is because at first I thought about making the novel shorter, in fact, after this world, at first I thought I would jump straight into a level 3 world at least.
But after considering it and seeing that several people liked the novel and even supported it, then I decided to include other worlds more than I had thought to put in the beginning.
In fact, I was going to put a message that the ability of Alex and the girls of 100x and 10x would reduce it to 10x and 2x at the beginning of the next world due to the above.
3) About the monsters, this is for the future since we still not are there yet.
Remember support the novel in my patreon!!
@Drack21 thank you for the reply
1) didn't you mention that the big cities were nuked? So there shouldn't be a city with millions of dead people (and now zombies) around. Something to plan/correct for any future hordes/cities arcs if you plan to send the army to loot them in the future (even if off-screen, as in, without the MC)
2) I get the rule of automatic party/raid if you are close to others, which distributes the XP points. However, when Alex and gang went after the big boss they were too far way from the main action, it wouldn't make sense for that XP (+10,000 high level zombies) to not be dedicated to just them. As the girls also used the scrolls, they should have got ~1,000 or so kills each
the MC plans to keep evolving his soul (it's his main goal since the series start), so he should be the one with the highest level on his inner group (excluding new pets that he summons). There are plenty of soldiers around 40 and 50 because of the constant wars and sea farming, so its very weird the main cast is also at that level
3) Do you plan to keep Venus as a non-named pet until 100? I imagine based on her description and evolution so far that you plan to keep her huge plant form and give her the ability to move her humanoid body independently from it, thus keeping her combat potential and adding a new girl to the group. Maybe I misread that tho. MC should be able to name the next pet/summon by now.
4) On XP: as long the rule is simple and understandable that is fine. Up to you of course. Could even use the monster crystal value as its XP.
In this case level 1-9 would give <10 XP, 10-49 would give 100-490 XP, 50-99 would give 5000-9999 XP
Plus a diminishing return rule that you only get XP from monsters that are no more than 20 levels lower than you (So Alex gets XP from 37+ monsters and all others zombies dont count). Makes so killing hordes is useless for XP and forces the cast to hunt stronger monsters.
5) A review of what soul 1 level means would be good for the next arc. So far it sounds like 1-49 is normal humans, with 40 ish being a elite athlete. While 50+ is beyond what humans should be able to do on our Earth, like swinging a huge sword for hours. Then by defining what a level 100 and 150 can do with their mana power.
Cheers
@kalscribblehub Hahaha, I will try to respond some questions but without do a spoiler since somethings that your question is thing for the future.
1) About the big cities, I think that is almost imposible that nuked all of them. So, only the important ones was it.
2)About the exp. I don't can say anything and you are right.I mainly did this because if i didn't, then the next two arc will be no sense and would be boring. So, I had to slow the leveling.
3) About the plant of Alex, also you are right, I think to named this one until reach the level 2 soul, but think that still will keep a plant form or semi-human, to evolve a human form I think that will be until this be a soul level 3. Until then, I think given it some other works than only be a big crusher of meet.
4) About use the crystals to get exp. I will continue with the idea that these is only can use like that to the monsters. For people will continue be pills.
5) This point, I think that you are right thinking like that. People 1-49 normal human, 50 -99 they begin to manipulate the energy. Soul level 2 100-49 will using the energy more easy and have higher reserve of this one, 150-199 they begin to manifest energy physically and even very basic little magic spells
@Drack21 on number 2...why give him system if you will hinder the MC's progress anyway? A novel with MC having a system is guaranteed to have OP progress faceslapping almost anyone he meets especially some arrogant young master bastards and will rarely meet equally strong opponents. For me , it is actually satisfying and not boring. Please don't copy those chinese system novel authors who purposely hinders their MC's level/cultivation (despite having a cheat called the "system" that is) just for the sake of having tension. Dude there are other ways...
@hichris23 Hahaha, well, the idea that I had was not to make the MC totally invincible since I feel that to a certain extent, the emotion is lost when knowing that he ended up defeating his opponent with a blow. I think from time to time that would be fine, but that it happens with each enemy, in the end it would become somewhat monotonous and boring.
Although I also don't want he to go through problems for anyone as you say, sometimes it is also good that he solve the things easily, but I think there should be a little balance between those two things.
Thanks for reading SES and remember to support the novel in my patreon!!