Three vs Seven

Johnathan leaped towards the zombies with his enhanced knife in hand. Reaching one of the buffed-up ones, he jumped up and slashed at its head.

The blade didn't cut its head off, but it went deep enough to where another two slashed would. Johnathan, seeing this, backed up and tried running at it again, but this time a speed-type zombie got in his way. He saw his friends were also battling with their opponents, so he used his ability. 'Now or never!'

Drawing out enough mana to stop time for one second, the world lost its color. Johnathan didn't waste time and leaped at the speed-type zombie. Flipping his knife around, he stabbed its head. It went deep and punctured its brain, killing it.

The world regained its color, and the zombie continued sprinting at Johnathan, not knowing that his support was gone.

Johnathan still had enough mana to stop time for 1.1 seconds, but he wanted to save that. So, taking the harder way out, he leaped at it.

*swish*

The zombie threw a jab at Johnathan, but he luckily ducked in time. Quickly getting back up, he jumped and kicked at the zombies' ribs. Since mana did not enhance it, the zombies didn't move too much. Not stopping his attack, Johnathan rushed forwards but this time, he moved some of his mana to his right arm. Throwing the knife that was in his right arm to his left, he threw a right hook and the zombie's head.

Since it was already cut, the head flew off. Standing still, Johnathan took in a deep breath before moving the 15% of the mana he used to enhance his arm back into his core.

*grr*

The fight wasn't over. Johnathan turned his head to the speed-type zombie that was sprinting to Ivan, who was currently holding off two zombies. Since he was free, Johnathan tried something. Using 10% of his mana, and guiding it to his legs, he ran off. 'It worked.'

The enhancement made him faster, and he could tell by the amount of explosiveness he leaped off with.

Intercepting the speed-type zombie, who was about to pierce Ivan from the back, Johnathan slashed at it. Unfortunately, the zombie stopped in his tracks before the knife could cut him.

"Thanks!" Ivan said, keeping his focus on the two zombies.

"No worries. Just kill them quick."

Ivan nodded and gathered more mana into his attack. Instead of shots of lighting, he put his hand out and guiding his mana out of his palm. An orb of lightning came out of his hand and rushed towards one of the two buff zombies he was fighting.

*zzzzzzz*

The strength of the orb was something else. The body of the zombie burnt to ash, killing it. "Wow," Johnathan said in awe. But he quickly realized how heavily Ivan was breathing. The orb took a lot of mana from Ivan, resulting in him losing 40% of it. But keep in mind, he had already shot some bolts of lightning at them before the orb.

He was tired, but he still had roughly around 35% of his mana left. Standing up straight, he shot a stronger lighting bolt from his finger. The stunned zombie wouldn't be able to move for half a second. Taking the opportunity, Ivan rushed at him while quickly guiding mana into his hand. Using 20% of his mana, he threw a jab at its face, caving it in and almost splitting it wide open.

The zombie was finally dead. He turned towards Johnathan, who had already killed the other zombie. Letting out a sigh of relief, he turned towards Danny, who had already finished one of the speed-type zombies he was fighting.

Johnathan did the same. After finishing his opponent, he turned towards Danny, who was fighting a terrible matchup. Speed-type zombies are fast. Like their name says, unlike the buffed-up ones, they specialize in speed. Danny, who mainly focused on strength, had some trouble with it. But with mana, Danny had it a lot easier. He could easily keep up with it when using mana. Which he was.

Danny threw a punch that was enhanced with his mana, but before it hit, he pulled back and kicked it with his mana enhanced leg. Fought off guard, the zombie fell, giving Danny time to dash to it and punch it in the head.

*splat*

The zombie's head burst open. With Danny's power-enhancing his base strength along with mana now, his punches would do a lot more than the other twos.

After they were all done, they searched the bodies of the zombies they killed. Killing three, Johnathan had the highest chance of getting a crystal. So with that in mind, he had a smile on his face, thinking about what kind of upgrade he'd get.

Searching the three of the bodies, Johnathan let out a quiet cheer. He found one!

Taking the round magenta-colored crystal out of its body, he put it in his pocket.

He wanted to wait until they were in a more secure place. He saw how much pain the crystal brought Ivan. 'I doubt I'd be able to hold in my screams if I ate it now.'

So instead, he took out the small crystal and ate it. Because of eating so much of it, his body grew some sort of resistance. So the number of benefits it brought wasn't anything to make a note of. The only thing it did was refill his mana.

Feeling the mana rush to his core from the outside, Johnathan let out a comfortable sigh. 'Still feels amazing.'

'Hmm, as expected, no changes.'

Johnathan guessed it wouldn't do anything more for him. It was like spice. The more you eat it, the more resistance you gain.

He only kept the crystal for one reason. Refilling his mana. Though his mana was a lot denser, the crystal still worked on refilling his reserves. The reason for this was because his core was the one purifying it and making it denser. [1]

"Got one!"

Johnathan got taken out of his thoughts when he heard Ivan's voice. Finally, out of his thoughts, he walked towards them with a smile and said, "same. The one I killed had one too."

"Lucky bastards. Why is my luck so fucking horrible?" Danny asked in annoyance, making the other laugh.

"Want mine? I already ate the bigger ones. This way we'll both have the same amount eaten."

Danny shook his head at Ivan. "No. Honestly, you need it the most out of us. Johnathan may not have an offensive ability, but he's crazy OP close range with his time stop. You need more mana and stronger lighting. Like we said before, three powerful guys are better than two."

Ivan nodded but before he could eat it Johnathan spoke. "Eat it at your house. That's what I'm doing. We don't want to attract zombies after all."

Ivan nodded in agreement. The three then marched forwards. Continuing their mission.

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[1] Johnathan absorbs mana from the air into his core. The mana from the air isn't dense. It gets thicker and denser when Johnathan absorbs it into his core. (Got this... perk when he ate his fifth crystal.)

AN: Hope that cleared some things up!