Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne

The situation was dire. The people who followed Jon from the stadium all gasped in unison, as their breath stopped at the sight before them.

The zombies in the stadium had only walked and slowly at that, so it made it easier to kill. But now, one of them was walking faster, its bloated body moving with unsettling speed. It was clear this one was different.

Jenny's eyes widened in alarm as she saw it too. She immediately changed her direction and began running towards Jon while shouting, "JON, MOVE!"

It was obvious that despite barely knowing him, she already considered him a friend. Trust was going to be a precious commodity in times like these, and in this chaos, she'd chosen to start placing hers in Jon.

And as for the others, whether they'd been fighting alongside him or not, he had saved them, intentionally or not, and now they didn't know how to feel as they watched what seemed to be his final moments.

They hadn't even thanked him.

However, Jon, the person they were all so worried about, looked unnervingly calm. It was as though he wasn't the one about to be slashed or bitten, facing death or infection.

That serene demeanor came from something deeper, something no one else could understand yet. A third-realm trait, far beyond anything they'd yet encountered.

But that was a story for later.

Instead of trying to dodge the attack or slow the zombie's movement, Jon did something unthinkable.

He raised his spear, moon energy swirling around it, and met the zombie's incoming claw. There was no tension in the moment, no drawn-out suspense. His spear connected with the claw, and it exploded on contact.

BOOM

Without hesitating, Jon followed through, slashing horizontally across the zombie's bloated head, still coated with moon energy.

SLASH

But it was a bit shallow as the zombie had tilted its head at the last second.

But it couldn't dodge the second slash. And then with a loud thump, the head separated from the body and hit the ground, followed by a burst of radiant light that filled his body.

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 11 POWER ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS…]

"Phew," that was the only sound that escaped his lips. It was like he hadn't even done much, then he scanned the area. About thirty zombies remained, and the ones he had already taken down glowed faintly, with white orbs shimmering among the bodies.

He hadn't even yet noticed the eyes on him yet, both those beyond the zombies and the ones who had fought alongside him.

At this point, Jenny had reached him just as he was gathering his breath. "Hey, what was that? It was dangerous."

"Yeah..." Jon replied, catching his breath. "That zombie was different, it was almost jogging and I had to deal with it a little differently."

"Yeah, I saw. But you need to be more careful. Maybe after this, we'll get a chance to rest a bit."

"Hopefully."

The remaining zombies started moving towards them, but this time Jon and Jenny weren't alone as the zombies were walking slowly towards them.

The female survivors they had gone to assist finally were able to come together, moving to attack from the rear. Unleashing their skills from the rear made them easier to defeat. Some even charged directly at the zombies, inspired by Jon and Jenny's boldness. And from the front, Jon and Jenny unleashed their full strength after catching their breaths.

After about ten minutes which seemed like eternity, it ended. All the zombies were dead.

Then the survivors collapsed on the ground and released sighs of relief. Every single moment of the fight was a tense one because, a scratch was all it took to become like them.

But Jon didn't relax yet and walked over to the glowing orbs left behind by the zombies he had slain.

Of the about ten bodies he had slain, only four had orbs.

After collecting the orbs, he slowly made his way back to where he'd left his bag. Once the orbs were safely stored, he collapsed onto the ground with his head hung low as exhaustion washed over him.

Seeing Jon slump down made them sigh another one of relief. But that didn't change the fact their heads were darting around once in a while.

The messages now came again in all its glory,

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 8 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 7 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED LEVEL 7 ZOMBIE REMAINS]

[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

Jenny also sat beside Jon after collecting her orbs. Only after seeing this did the remaining survivors, cautiously approached, as if unsure how to interact with the two who had so clearly led them to survival. But not before also picking up the orbs from the zombies they killed.

When all the survivors finally approached, some sat down due to sheer exhaustion-mostly female fighters, while others remained standing and looking around.

Then they all looked at Jon, he still looked like he was deep in thought, head lowered. Then they turned to Jenny, hoping she would break the silence, but she merely glanced over at Tunde with her eyes pleading for help.

Tunde nodded, understanding her unspoken request, and stepped forward.

"My name is Tunde Edun," he began. "W-We were at the stadium when all this started and..." He still couldn't really understand what was going on, but he explained what had happened in the stadium.

"Our plan was to find refuge in one of the hostels tonight, and since we don't even know what is happening, the hostel will be a good place to figure it out and," he didn't need to say more and just looked up.

Subconsciously, everyone looked up. The sky was darkening quickly, they had to get to shelter fast.

Then a soft voice broke the silence from the female fighters. "My name is Cynthia," said a girl with creamy hair and striking green eyes, her gaze fixed on Jon. "We also don't know what happened, we were-."

"I-I want to go home." A voice interrupted her as she was about to explain what happened in her location. So when the voice finally got it's wanted attention, the person stepped forward.

He then continued, "D-Do you people know something about what the hell is going on?" He pointed especially at Jon.

"What?" Cynthia frowned at his words. As she was about to reply, Jon who had been silent until now, slowly lifted his head.

And the first thing he saw was someone pointing a finger at him, ignoring it, he looked at his side. He then saw Cynthia with her green captivating eyes that left him in a daze for a moment.

Snapping out of his daze, he looked at the person still pointing at him.

"Eiiikkkk" upon receiving direct gaze, the boy dropped his finger and ran away, surprised eyes were watching him as he ran away. And to where, no one knew and they couldn't do anything about it.

Shaking off the thoughts of the crazy person, he had heard everything Tunde had said and agreed. It was a sound plan, but he still didn't quite understand why they all looked to him for his opinion.

'Did I do something to warrant attention.' he wasn't a fan of attention seeking and clearly wouldn't do anything to attract it, but little did he know, he already held special places in people's hearts.

And as for what he'd been doing with his head down. He had decided to check how far he had gotten, from the stadium till now.

'So do I say status or something, let's try it.'

"Status," Jon thought, and a window appeared in front of him:

[STATUS]

[NAME: JON WHYTE]

[AGE: 19]

[LEVEL: 9]

[CLASS: NONE]

[TITLE: NONE]

[STRENGTH: 20 AGILITY: 25 STAMINA: 24(7) MANA: 120 HEALTH: 20]

[SKILLS: INSTANT CALCULATION (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 5, MOON (FIRST REALM) LEVEL 5]

[TRAITS: COMPOSURE (THIRD REALM) LEVEL 5]

[STATUS POINTS: 24]

'Wow, my status,' Jon thought in surprise, the first time they had all been forced.

'But, how can they calculate this things.' Now thinking about it, he could understand the strength a little, but how were the rest calculated.

He didn't have the opportunity to start looking at everything one at a time, so he focused on the most unique thing on his status: Composure.

And suddenly, a screen appeared.

[COMPOSURE (THIRD REALM) LEVEL 5: THE MORE DANGEROUS THE SITUATION, THE CALMER YOU WILL BE.

SPECIAL ACTIVATION: BLOCK MENTAL ATTACKS FROM THIRD REALM OR LOWER]

"So, that is the reason." Jon nodded as he read the description. Though he had already guessed the reason for his calmness during dangerous situations , seeing it had a different impact.

However, he couldn't linger on them for so long. With a sigh, he stood up.

It was time to leave this place and face whatever came next.