Elias had not anticipated this, a single thought came to his mind.
"When did it go wrong?"
He was on the ground trying to keep the Stalkers away from Derek and Jane. Derek was missing a leg, he pushed Jane to the side earlier and got bit on his leg instead.
Elias bit his lip and grabbed the two Stalkers and jumped down. He was still half-human and this big of a hoard would divert its attention to him.
He dropped on some Shamblers and quickly rolled to the side. A Shambler grabbed onto his legs, another his arms and others leapt towards him, biting him.
He screamed in pain as his flesh was torn from all over his body. But he persisted, he grabbed onto any zombie his hands could find and activated his skills "Grafting" and "Distribution".
The flesh peeled off of the zombies and went towards him like a swarm of ants. His eyes became blurry, his vision faded but his hands never stopped.
The green floating screen appeared again many times in quick succession.
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[New Achievement Unlocked.]
Rot Reaper I - Kill 100 Shamblers.
[New Passive Unlocked.]
Butcher's Edge - When against Shamblers strength is increased by 3.
Elias's body inflated, rotten flesh jumped at his body as if it was a feast of sorts. His height increased, his muscles swelled and a thick layer of rotting flesh grew over his body.
With a single movement of his hand, several Shamblers and Stalkers blew up, only their lower bodies remained. Derek and Jane looked at what happened from the roof.
They were shocked and had an expression of someone who got betrayed. Elias continued his assault, the Shamblers and Stalkers were quickly dealt with. The real issues were the Abberants and the Huskbrutes.
Two Abberants ran towards Elias and clawed him, despite having a thick layer of flesh he got cut, green and red blood oozed out of the wound. Elias staggered back, one pushed him down and forwarded it's mouth to bit him but he grabbed its open mouth with a hand.
The other lunged at him but a bullet passed through its head making it fall limp on the side. Elias used his other hand to grab the other part of the Abberants mouth and split it open, breaking its jaw and tore off a part of its face.
Elias got up, another wave of Abberants came at him. He was out of breath. Multiple Abberants pounded at him making him fall down. They clawed him and bit him, his flesh torn and he lay in pool of green and red blood. His pulse dropped, his breath became slow.
*"Will I finally be free of this curse...I'm coming to meet you my kids."* Elias thought, his mind replaying memories from when he was a teacher.
His eyes felt heavy, his breathing worsened as the onslaught continued from the Abberants. He looked towards the building roof, Derek and Jane kept shooting. Then darkness spread, his eyes closed and only the sound of gunshots came to his ears.
The system screen appeared in front of him but it glitched.
[You are on the verge of dying]
Your Rot Index is increasing rapidly. Rot Index currently is 67%, once it hits 100% you'll be a full fledged zombie.
[Emergency Combat and Rejuvenation Protocol Activated]
Forceful takeover on the hosts body, activating advanced combat using the hosts original knowledge and aptitude.
[Allocating the stat points into strength.]
[Special Quest #1 - Pest Extermination Completed]
[Reward: Necrofiber - Hardened fiber made from excess grafted flesh spreads across muscles temporarily, boosting Strength and Resistance]
[Reward for levelling up]
[New Skill Unlocked: Osseoforge - Bones can be turned into temporary weapons and armor.]
Elias's eyes suddenly shot open, the once red eyes were now green. He grabbed two Abberants by the throat and crushed their windpipes and started to graft them. The previous skin shed as he got up, his left arm swelled up as multiple bones extruded from it. With a loud snap multiple fibers spread across his body and then on top of them a bone armor forms as bones poke out from all over his body as they twist and turn to form the armor.
He now stood taller than almost all of the zombies except for the Huskbrutes. The Shamblers, Stalkers and Abberants all had died. Now only five Tier 4 - Huskbrutes remained. They charged at him but his movements were quick. A bone elongated and became a makeshift blade on his left hand, he slashed and the head of one rolled away.
The others were met with the same ending, one was cut in half from the middle. Two had their faces caved in by his foot and the last one had only its torso intact, its limbs and head lay beside it.
The bone armor shed as green blood flowed down his nose. He felt weak, his head rang with a nasty headache. He staggered but soon his legs gave out as he fell down unconscious.
*****
"I understood that the last quiz was a bit difficult, that's why I did not consider it for your overall grades." A young Elias said as he stood in front of a class of twenty students.
He smiled and handed out the final grades, the somewhat disheartened faces lit up with joy. Elias had added a small factor for all the student due to which everyone passed. He smiled as he looked at the kids.
He was always good with children. Being the oldest of seven siblings he was more of a parent for them than their real parents. His parents passed away in a car accident which left two of his siblings crippled. He being the oldest worked day and night while completing his college to put food on the table.
Even before that, he took care of his siblings when they were infants as well. Looking at the happy faces of his class gave him comfort and satisfaction but suddenly their faces glitched and transformed into mutated grotesque faces.
His eyes widened, his students jumped at him, some grabbed his arms some his legs and some his head. They started dragging him down an endless darkness.
He heard whispers as his consciousness started to come back, he opened his eyes and saw that he was inside a room, Derek and Jane sat in a corner as they whispered something. He groaned and got up. Derek and Jane quickly moved forward and helped him sit straight.
"You looked dead, lad. We were sure you weren't coming back" Derek chuckled.
"Shut up old man, that's not how you talk to someone injured." Jane retorted angrily.
Derek gave Jane a nasty look and stopped laughing. Elias had his torso wrapped in a bandage, the systems force activation didn't fully account for the damage he got.
"So, you both saw what happened there. Right?" Elias questioned.
"Elias..."
Before Derek could say anything further he was interrupted by Jane.
"Dr. Elias, please don't talk about that right now. My eyes can't believe what they saw but I have a guilty conscience, so please rest first." Jane said with a small smile.
He knew they were scared of him since they had watched it all happen. Regardless, they had helped him. He turned his head and looked straight, it looked like he was looking at the open window in front of him but he was looking at the green system screen floating in front of him.
He looked at them again, they were survivors in a cruel world but at that moment they didn't look like survivors to him. They looked like...obstacles. Obstacles he had to eventually remove.
[Side Quest #1 - Kill or be Killed]
There are two survivors currently in Redline Sector-31. Either Hunt them or get Hunted by them. Disguise skill will have a less active time for this quest.