Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

On the next day, as the morning sun had barely reached over the treetops, Shane assembled his team in front of the metal door buried beneath dirt and leaves.

Beside him were two Elves who had years of scouting experience. There was also Ibrahim, who had decided he wanted to join them together with Tieria, who had found the door with him.

Tieria's prosthetic eye seemed to be very useful here since it had Night Vision, among many other abilities.

Well, Shane was expecting this place to be very dark after all. Although he had light orbs and prepared other items to help them in the dark, he wasn't sure what was inside and that it was better to be ready.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Finally, there was Gregor, who had incredible close combat skills with his legendary-grade axes. With this team, Shane believed that they should be able to explore even some high-tier Zombie Dens.

"Mhmmm…"

Shane studied the door carefully before kneeling with tools in hand.

"Let's see if this'll do it," Shane muttered, activating his Lockpicking Skill. He carefully manipulated the inner mechanisms, feeling the subtle clicks and grooves, but instead of the usual satisfying unlock, a high-pitched clank echoed from inside. Shane frowned, examining the door again with another Skill that heightened his sense and, of course, his trustworthy A.I.

'This isn't your average lock.' Shane thought.

Cloud, his A.I. companion, quickly analyzed the material.

[ This metal door is reinforced with a counter-mechanism. Lockpicking won't be effective. But if you apply force here, here, and here… ]

Small blue markers appeared on the door, highlighting weaker spots in the structure.

" So it's that simple… Brute force it is," Shane said while taking a step back.

Ibrahim and the others just watched as Shane did his thing, and as he stepped back, the others did so as well.

With a few controlled strikes on the precise points pointed by Cloud, the door buckled inward, creaking loudly as it gave way.

'Oh… That's perfect.' Shane gently nodded.

Cloud was still as helpful as ever.

Whooshh~

Suddenly, dust filled the air, and as it settled, they saw a steep stairway spiraling into the dark depths below.

Just then, a message flashed across each of their screens.

[ Warning: You are about to enter a Lord-Tier Zombie's Territory. Proceed with caution. ]

"It's here?!"

Shane's eyes widened. He recalled the chat in the Regional Chat just yesterday! Stay connected via empire

Natalie told them to wait until everyone in their team reached Level 50 before even attempting to enter Lord-Tier's territory.

'Is that a sign that I shouldn't enter this place?' Shane thought for a moment.

It seemed like it wasn't just a coincidence, but it was fate warning him.

Nonetheless, Shane was thankful to have learned about this information beforehand. It appears that his small luck was still doing something for him.

He was close to Level 50, but the rest of his team was not even close.

With this, he knew that he might have a chance of survival, but his team would definitely not.

However, he still couldn't help but doubt Natalie's warning. After all, he couldn't forget that survivors can be selfish individuals. In the end, Natalie might want just to be the first killer of this Lord-Tier Zombie.

Shane then considered for a moment as he thought of a plan. Then he immediately used his incredible Perception and also asked Cloud to help him.

After a few moments, Shane smiled before addressing his team.

"Look," Shane said, "we've got confirmation that a Lord-Tier Zombie is here somewhere. But Cloud and I detected only low-level activity in this first section. We'll mark a path with Light Orbs. We retreat if anything starts to look worse than we can handle."

To be exact, he only felt the danger after passing through the third section of the underground chamber. Although the Lord-Tier Zombie was indeed here, it seemed that it couldn't cover the whole territory and he believed that as long as they just linger around the exit area, they would have the time to escape once he and Cloud noticed the threat.

With nods of agreement, the team carefully descended into the dark.

Of course, Shane took out the first Light Orb, placing it at the entrance to illuminate the way. The small, white sphere glowed warmly, casting steady light over the steps.

He then handed more Light Orbs to his team so they could later create a well-lit path, leaving them at regular intervals to mark their way back.

As they made their way deeper, the path leveled out into a large, underground corridor of thick, concrete walls.

"Sir Shane… I can move in front." Gregor said as he felt uncomfortable seeing Shane, their precious leader, to lead the way. If there was any danger, he felt that he should be the one facing them…

Shane thought for a moment before agreeing to Gregor's request.

As they continued, they couldn't hear any movements of Zombies, so some of them couldn't help but feel nervous.

The silence was dense and it was only broken by the crunch of their footsteps.

"They're coming…" Shane muttered softly, but it was enough for everyone to hear. Shane held up a hand, signaling everyone to stop.

The two elves also nodded as they were just late by a split second to notice.

Suddenly, a faint tremor moved beneath them.

From the darkness, they saw the movement of several figures.

Humanoid figures who seemed to have been covered with clumps of mud and rock moved unnaturally…

'It's not in Cloud's database…'

"I guess they're the Earth Zombies I've heard about." Shane muttered as they matched the description.

According to the chat, there were areas on the continent where Survivors who had died through hunger, accidents, and others that weren't related to Zombies were buried. However, these buried Survivors would turn into Earth Zombies.

They were slow but powerful and definitely a problem if you'd rely on firearms.

"Blunt weapons would be best against these Zombies." Shane reminded.