Chapter 29 - 29 Corrupt Sword
Without bullets, guns were no different from fire sticks. That was one of the main reasons why Song Jian had started thinking about learning to use melee weapons. During a battle, enemies won’t wait patiently for you to reload your empty gun.
Pulling out the Tiger Fang Dagger fastened at his waist, Song Jian took a deep breath and hastened towards the zombie that had lost its iron hammer.
Taking a few strides to the front, as he came near to the iron hammer zombie, Song Jian gripped the dagger in his right hand. When he was two steps away from the zombie, he gritted his teeth and lunged forward.
“Kill!”
Suddenly, he fiercely stabbed forward with the dagger. This was a basic move he had practiced the entire day. The movement was flawless, and he couldn’t find the slightest mistake.
Thud-
With a faint sound, the dagger hit the chest of the iron hammer zombie. However, it only entered halfway before losing all momentum. Song Jian felt a shock in his right hand followed by a slight pain, as if the dagger had struck a piece of tough leather. The counterforce almost made him lose grip on the dagger, almost dropping it.
With gritted teeth, Song Jian took hold of the dagger with both hands. His right leg forcefully kicked against the wall at the side, exerting his entire body’s strength onto it.
Thud-
A strong, foul pool of blood spurted out from the chest of the iron hammer zombie. Song Jian used all his strength to swipe downward harshly. With a powerful pull, he withdrew the dagger, and he tumbled from under the ribs of the iron hammer zombie to get behind it.
The iron hammer zombie moved sluggishly, reaching out with both hands to grab Song Jian but found thin air. Before it could react, Song Jian, already behind it, sprang up like a spring possessing his body. His hands firmly gripping the dagger, he ruthily stabbed it into the back of the zombie’s neck with great vengeance.
This time, the dagger easily slid into the back of the neck, going in until only the hilt was visible. The purplish-black, tainted blood spurted out like ink, spreading in all directions like an open faucet. Within a moment, the narrow alley was splashed with a large trace of dark stain.
In all this, the iron hammer zombie staggered forward clumsily a few steps. Its body tilted, and from the back of its neck like a fountain, purplish-black blood spilled all around. The zombie weakened at the knees, collapsing face-first to the ground, convulsing non-stop. In no time, a transparent flame burnt on its body, and soon the iron hammer zombie turned into a pile of black ash.
During the battle, Song Jian’s mind was blank, only relying on instinct to attack. Once the fight was over, he collapsed, sweating profusely as if he had been drenched in water.
Aside from using ten vitality points to perform the Earth Teeth Assault skill, Song Jian had not been injured. However, this was the closest he had ever come to death. If he hadn’t followed his instincts when the iron hammer zombie had thrown its hammer, even the smallest hesitation would have resulted in being killed on spot. Now, thinking back, he was still feeling a residual sense of fear.
Song Jian’s right hand shook involuntarily. The dagger that he held tightly, felt like an extension of his body. It took him some time to regroup from the adrenaline from the fight, turning his gaze to where the iron hammer zombie had fallen.
Next to a pile of black ash, two items shimmering with a green light lay quietly.
“Two items of excellent quality. Not bad. Indeed, encountering a new variety of monster always results in a good drop rate. It’s just that the danger level also increases exponentially.” Song Jian thought to himself.
Of the two items of excellent quality, one was a fiery red fruit, and the other was a long sword.
The fiery red fruit was a type of Attribute Fruit, namely the “Strength Fruit”. After ingestion, it could increase one’s strength attribute by one point. To Song Jian, this was like a treasure that could directly improve his physical condition, so he immediately ate it without a second thought.
A warm current spread from his stomach to his entire body. The dagger in his hand felt much lighter. Song Jian’s base state was poor; even a slight increase in attribute could create a noticeable difference.
After consuming the Strength Fruit, even without relying on equipment, Song Jian’s strength attribute had already reached 5, equivalent to a robust adult man’s strength.
The long sword was an arm’s length long, three fingers wide, and the blade emitted a silver metallic light. The red blood grooves on both sides looked threateningly chilly. At the grip end was a black crossguard, and near the blade part of the sword, there was an emblem resembling a vertical pupil.
“Corrupt Sword (Green): One-handed weapon, attack, 11-19, strength +1, special effect, Armor Break Level 1. Equipment requirements: Level 3.”
“It’s strange, the zombie had an iron hammer, so why did a long sword drop?” Song Jian picked up the long sword, took a glance at it, and placed the Tiger Fang Dagger back at his waist, holding the long sword in his right hand.
In reality, he could hold a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. Still, he wasn’t accustomed to this kind of fighting style. It would decrease his efficiency in battle, even possibly placing his life at risk.
“I guess it’s time to start training with a long sword.” Song Jian let out a silent sigh.
Having obtained a new weapon, Song Jian wanted to find an average mutated zombie to master the basic skills related to the long sword first.
Leaving the alley, Song Jian heard a low growl of mutated zombies coming from a residential building. Judging by the sound, there should be three or four of them. Song Jian held his sword in one hand and carefully approached the building.
The building’s front door was open. In the dark area at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor, three mutated zombies were hunched over a corpse, tearing at it.
Song Jian felt a sinking feeling in his heart. The only thing that could attract a mutated zombie to tear at would be a fresh corpse. It seemed another player had appeared in this game but was attacked and killed by zombies.
With a swift stride, Song Jian swung his long sword towards the nearest mutated zombie, and the blade hit the zombie’s head harshly, causing a critical hit damage of more than thirty to float up from its head.
After a few continuous swings of the long sword, even before the other two zombies reacted, a series of critical hit damages floated up from the head of the zombie nearest to Song Jian.
In no time, this zombie had turned into a pile of ash before it could even get up.
Comparing to Song Jian’s first time in the game, his progress was now evident. Common mutated zombies were no longer a threat to him if they were in small numbers.
After killing this zombie, as expected, a system alert appeared.
System: You’ve used the ‘Corrupt Sword’ to inflict effective damage on a Ivi mutated zombie three times, mastering the skill [Cold Weapon (Sword) (Base)].
[Cold Weapon (Sword) (Base)]: Passive, Level 1, Increases the power of sword weapons by 5%.
Having mastered [Cold Weapon (Sword) (Base)], Song Jian put away the long sword and took out the dagger to attack the remaining two zombies. Although he only mastered one basic move with the dagger, it was much more fluent than the long sword, if not several levels better.
Soon, those two zombies were also turned into two piles of black ash under continuous dagger stabs. Level one mutated zombies could provide very little experience, and their drop rate was much lower. From the three zombies, only two zombie incisors were dropped.
After picking up the zombie incisors, Song Jian unexpectedly received a system message.
System: After a long period of training, your skill [Cold Weapon (Dagger) (Base)] has leveled up.