The Top Ranking Survivor

Breathing in… breathing out…

Sweat was pouring down from all over my body as I gripped the handle of the weapon that I was holding on to. I was panting heavily after killing all the mid-tiered bears around us. It took a huge toll on my body as it was my first time using this power after jumping from wood layer to bronze layer. Though all it took was a swing to kill these beasts, I still used my lightning ability to increase my speed. I was faster than a bullet this time. I was still not fast enough but it was enough to cut the numbers. It was now 2 against 1. The problem was I was up against two high-tiered beasts. A survivor needs to be at least a Gold Layer cultivator to go against a high-tiered beast. To think that a Bronze cultivator would go against two high-tiered beasts, it totally sounds impossible!

Moments ago, the team was ambiguous as to how I got these powers that fast. Even Ash and Grimm could feel that I was on a higher layer of cultivation than they were. I couldn't answer them until I was sure. So I stayed quiet and started killing the low-tiered bears. Now, it all came down to one last push.

I took a glimpse of the katana on my hand. Blood was dripping from it. The killing intent that was once emitted by the sword was now gone. It was really easy to handle mid-tiered beasts, but the situation in front of me was on a different case. My sword could never penetrate them. I needed to do something fast. Otherwise, my team would get killed.

"Ash… get to the cave. The rest of you go to the safe house. I'll hold these guys off." I ordered.

Yeah, this was probably the only way. If I die, I'd rather die protecting everyone. No one has to die following my orders. They needed to live. These people won't end up like Giga. I have to make sure of that.

"No way in hell… I'm not leaving you Paradox…" Grimm said before standing on my right side.

"I can't let you two have all the fun." Grimm said while standing at my left side. She was now smiling from ear to ear.

"It took you long enough to land the plane…" I mockingly said that to Grimm

"Meh… Still doesn't give you the excuse to die alone…" He responded

"You hear that Ash? He thinks we won't make it." I said

"We probably won't." She said while cracking her knuckles.

I turned to look at the rest of the group. Their eyes were filled with worry. There was no way we were surviving this. Two high-tiered monsters versus two Iron layer cultivators and one bronze layer cultivator, the odds were totally against us. This is going to be fun. I flashed a smile towards the group and gave them a thumbs up.

"You guys head to the safe house, we'll follow after we deal with this." I told them while smiling.

The top three strongest survivors in the previous jump were ready to take on these beasts. We might not be in a cultivation layer in which we could defeat these beasts, but we had something that these beasts don't – 10 years of experience in the apocalypse.

I turned to face the beasts as I gripped the long sword that was on my hand. This katana was very light making it easy to maneuver. Sparks were now being released from it as well as a heavy aura of killing intent. Grimm and Ash then summoned their weapons and readied themselves.

"You guys want to take the front?" I said as I smiled at them

"It's not every day that we get to fight these things… so what the heck… let's get on with it." Grimm said in a sarcastic tone.

"This should be fun…" Ash followed suit.

"Grimm… deal as much damage as you can…" I instructed

"Finally… some action…" Grimm said in a sarcastic tone.

"Ash… Trap, protect and block… hit with everything you've got if you see an opening." I ordered her.

She just responded by bumping her fists together.

"What are you going to do?" She asked

"Deal damage through speed while covering you both…" I replied

"Sounds like a plan…" Grimm said while twirling his Giant Scythe before slinging it over his shoulder.

My heart was racing really fast as the beasts were stomping their feet while readying to dash towards us. They were about 30 meters away from the three of us. When I turned around, the rest of the team were already heading to the entrance of the safe house. The entrance was on a wall located at the back of the cave. The metal door was 20 meters away from the ground. The walls of the cave were dug into ladder-like holes so a person could climb up. Only humans could climb it and not the low-grade zombies due to the lack of intelligence. The door was made out of thick metal. Everyone was hastily climbing up the man-made ladder. But there was still one more person who didn't join the rest.

Toni…

"What are you doing? Get to safety!" I ordered her.

"Promise me you'll come back to me… then we'll talk… yeah?" She said with tears in her eyes.

"You know I can't promise that…" I said.

"Just stay alive…" She said before Fairy pulled her towards the safe house.

I'm coming back alive… whatever it takes…

I then turned around to face the enemies before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. We were all drained. So we can only handle this for a short amount of time. But one thing is for sure. I won't let anyone else die… Not again!

*GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!*

The high-tiered bears were now dashing towards us covering a distance of 10 meters in just a second.

"Just another day in the office…" Grimm said before disappearing leaving a trail of smoke before appearing above the beasts.

Ash jumped in front of me and slammed her fists on the ground. The ground shook and soon after, large vines started to appear on the ground in front of us. It formed a wall in front of us and it was 5 meters tall and 2 meters wide. The thickness was at least a meter. Before I realized it, a giant wall was built in front of us through the vines.

"GRAAAAAAAAH!" Grimm yelled as he smashed towards the group of bears.

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

A loud explosion was heard before a set of scorching hot flames were smashing the wall in front of us. The ice around us began to melt turning it to vapor. Soon, the waves of fire stopped. Knowing that this skill wouldn't kill the bears, Ash and I rushed out of the protection of the wall she created and dove into battle.

I took a glimpse of the wall of vines she used to cover us. To my surprise, it was thinned out by the fire. From a meter thick, it was now down to almost a few inches. This skill was truly terrifying.

I was flanking the right side of the beasts and Ash was taking the left. Grimm was frantically defending himself from the attacks of the bears. They were big but they were also extremely fast as well. He was now blocking every claw attack he could.

Ash and I were now focused on one of the bears. The other bear had a burnt mark on one of its paws. That was probably from the skill that Grimm did. This was the best it could do against a high-tiered beast? Those waves of flames that penetrated our shield could only do this much damage to these monster. These beasts were formidable!

"Anytime now guys…" Grimm said while defending himself from the series of attacks.

"Ash, blow the other one away… I'll go help out Grimm…" I instructed.

She then gave me a light nod before she sprinted past me. When she was already a few meters ahead of me, she jumped towards the bear standing behind Grimm.

"CHAAAAANAAAARAAAAYAAAAAAA! HAAAAAH!" She yelled as she punched the bear to on the side before blasting it away.

The bear crashed heavily on the ground 20 meters away from us. It was having a hard time standing up from the pain and was probably shocked about what it experienced. This was more than enough to buy us some time in dealing with the other bear. Let's call it bear number 2…

Bear number 2 was now struggling to defend multiple attacks. Grimm swung his scythe towards the neck of the bear. It parried his attack with its left claw and Grimm was pushed to the side. The bear then blocked the incoming punch that Ash was giving.

"I'm not finished yet! HAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ash was using a set of combo punches and was now punching fast and with each punch, there was a hint of explosive power hidden in it. But these attacks were blocked that easily by the beast. It then finished Ash off by swiping its left claw towards her. Fortunately, Ash was able to block it in time, but she was still blown away by the impact.

Without giving the bear the time to recover, I jumped towards it and raised my sword aiming for its head. The bear then side-stepped and it made me miss my attack. It then used one of its claws to attack me. Thankfully, I was able to block the incoming attack, but I was still pushed away a few steps back before charging in again. There was hot liquid coming out of my mouth. It was blood.

What?! Just one attack from this monster made me spit blood. This is beyond our control. But we didn't give up. I then swung my sword towards the side of the bear. It tried to swipe it downwards with its claw. But years of experience in the previous mind jump definitely gave me the advantage. I then changed angle of the blade upwards before jumping making me avoid its attack.

*GRAAAAAAAAH!*

The bear roared as I hit its left eye. It was now blind on one of its eyes. Their body might be thick. But the organs are still soft as tofu. I was still in the air when I saw that the wound I created was not limited to the eye only, but the wound ran from the bottom left cheek to its forehead.

The face was its weakness!

Realizing this, I smiled. The sword that I was holding was now emanating lightning as I poured out my power to it. I then changed the angle downwards before slicing its other eye off.

Now that it was blind, it can't possibly create problems for us now. There was only one bear left for us to handle. And now that we know its weakness, this will be easy! Or so I thought. As soon as I landed on the ground, the paw of the bear was now heading towards me, ready to pin me down.

It was still not willing to give up!

I was able to block it in time using my sword. The pressure was really getting to me. I was now down on one knee, and my hands were now shaking as the paw was slowly crushing me.

"I'm going to kill you!" I yelled as I started to lose strength.

*GRAAAAAAAAAAH!*

It seemed to have understood me. Just after it growled, it lifted its left leg in a ready-to-kick like position. I watched in fear as I knew where this was going. If this hits me… I'm definitely not standing back up ever again… EVER…

*GRAAAAAAAAH!*

It swung its left hind leg at me. But before it could even reach me, an explosive sound rang through my ears. The next thing I saw was bear number 2's body flying to the side. When I turned to see who it was, it was Ash!

She was heavily panting and her left gauntlet was clutching her right arm. The right gauntlet was now gone. What remained was a heavily bruised and broken right arm. She must've given her all on that last attack and it backfired. This was the price to pay for using power that was not meant to be used at this level of cultivation. Our fighting experience won't matter until our bodies were strong enough to handle our powers.

Grimm then ran towards bear number 2 before digging his scythe to the face of the bear… twice… The bear roared on the first swing and was cut-off as Grimm ended its life with the second swing.

I flashed him a smile and gave him a fist bump sign. He then shook his head before doing the same. This was an achievement for us siblings. Beating a high-tiered bear just like that.

But this touching scene was soon tarnished when the other bear suddenly appeared behind Grimm. It was raising its claw and was ready to attack.

Everything was now slowing down again…

Ash and I rushed towards him…

"GRIMM! WATCH OUT!" I tried to warn him, but the claw was now slowly moving towards him. The truth was enough to make us feel despair. The truth was…

We wouldn't make it in time…

How could we forget about the second bear?

I won't let anyone die again! No! Never again! I will protect everyone until my very last breath!

[System Analysis Complete]

"The System! Yes! How do I get out of this?!" I asked in a panicked tone.

[The host earned 100 blood points from killing all the mid-tiered bears and 50 blood points from the high-tiered bear. I suggest that the host will upgrade certain attributes to Level 1. Attributes like Speed, Accuracy and Strength are required for this situation. But it will back-fire if host does not upgrade his Durability to Level 3.]

"I don't care! Just upgrade it already!"

Suddenly, a warm feeling surged throughout my body and everything was now even slower than before. I looked at Grimm and the claw was just inches away from his body. The claw seemed to have stopped. Is this the effect of the Level 1 upgrade of speed plus my lightning abilities? If so, then this is definitely amazing!

The claw of the bear was what I was aiming for. I was hoping that I would at least parry it. And with my Level 1 Strength, maybe I could knock it off its feet and then stab its face with my sword.

I felt the electricity gathering inside my body as I ran towards the bear. Without thinking much, I swung my sword upwards creating a large lightning strike that pierced the sky. There was now smoke and vapor everywhere. I could not see anything. There was a deafening silence now.

Did I do it? Did I stop him from killing Grimm?

When the smoke partially cleared, I saw a body of a person on the ground…

"Oh no… Grimm…"

I then rushed towards him and held him in my arms.

"Grimm! Wake up!" I shouted

Please don't die…

You can't die…

Not again…

"Stop shouting… Geez… Can't a man get some sleep?" He said

"Oh thank God…" I said sighing in relief.

I dropped him on the ground knowing that he was fine and he complained about it before punching me. The atmosphere was now cheerful.

"Oh… My… God…" Ash said while she stopped jogging towards us and stared in shock at something behind us.

I was so consumed on making sure that Grimm was alive that I forgot that we were still in a battle. We both hurriedly stood up and tried to summon our weapons but it wouldn't appear. We were out of juice!

But when the smoke finally cleared, we realized that we didn't need our weapons anymore. In fact, what we saw scared us more the bears did.

"What happened? Who did that?" Grimm asked

"Paradox did…" Ash said

I did this?

"What are you talking about?" I asked

"I don't know how you did this but I'm sure this was because of you. One second you were beside me. The next thing I knew… you were gone and were already helping Grimm up." She replied.

I then turned to face the figure that was in front of us. The beast that was once a bear was now a headless figure with a huge division from the shoulder to the stomach. The bear was torn in half! A paw was missing as well. And it was burnt to a crisp. The scary part was, it was still standing.

This was the power of just one strike?

"Well what do you know? The top ranker shows-off." Ash said as she looked at the standing corpse like it was a trophy.

I smiled at her before I turned to look at my hands. The power was surging through them.

"Level 1, huh?" I thought out loud

"Well, we better get going… it's not safe out here. Besides, I need to treat my burns…" Grimm said.

"You get burned by your own powers?" I asked

"We might be experienced fighters… but our bodies can't keep up with our powers yet. There's always a price to pay Paradox." He explained

"He's right…" Ash said while gripping her arm.

It was totally broken. They should quickly cultivate to the next layer. It would be for the best.

"Let's go…" I told them

I started to walk towards the cave with a smile on my face. I finally had the power to protect the people who were closest to me! With this, nothing can get in our way.

[WARNING: POWER OVERLOAD. Dispensing the excess energy. T-minus 10 seconds. Brace yourself.]

"What?" I asked as I stopped walking.

[10… 9… 8…]

"What's wrong?" Ash asked.

"Are you okay?" Grimm also asked in a worried tone.

[7… 6…]

"I'm fine… let's go…" I replied but I had a bad feeling about this…

[five seconds to melt down… 3…]

Meltdown? No way… is this the "back fire" that the system was talking about?

"Oh no… run away both of you!" I exclaimed

[2… 1…]

As if it was instinct, the two of them jumped as far away from me as possible.

[0… Meltdown Begin.]

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT!*

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

I was now yelling in pain as I felt like a thousand swords were piercing right through my body. There was electricity sparking out of control outside my body as well. Multiple stray bolts would randomly shot out of my body. The pain was beyond tolerable. It was really excruciating. And the next thing I knew… my vision had already turned black.

___________________END OF CHAPTER__________________