Abomination

As Grant struggled with the pain, the zombie continued it's audible assault.

[Fuck me sideways! This hurts!]

{You need to stay focused Grant! The moment that you allow the pain to dominate your consciousness is the moment this fight ends!

The skill that zombie is using is meant to destroy your soul! The only way to stop it, is to stop the zombie itself!}

[No shit Sherlock! I've figured that much out considering that walking corpse hasn't stopped screaming since it opened its mouth! Any normal person would have run out of breath and died by now!]

In an effort to end the fight as quickly as possible, Grant activated Frenzy of Time.

{Frenzy of Time has been activated.

For the next 10 seconds, everything within 25 feet of you will be frozen in time. All forms of manipulation, whether it be damage, movement, or otherwise forced upon entities within range of the skill will be experienced during the skills activation at an exponentially slower pace than in reality.}

However, contrary to Grant's hopes and expectations, the audible attack did not cease when he activated his skill.

[You've got to be fucking kidding me, right?! How does an audible sound transcend time and continue to work?!]

{Finish this fight first, ask questions later. Like I told you, you need to focus right now!}

[You really suck, you know that?! Did you ever stop to think that me complaining is just a way to keep myself distracted from the pain?}

Even though Grant and Sherlock were once again having a mental sparring session, Grant had never stopped his movements after the activation of the skill.

He was slowly but surely approaching the zombie with slow and methodical steps.

The closer that he got to the zombie, the louder and more painful the scream became, which made it that much more difficult to approach.

The timeframe for Frenzy of Time's activation quickly passed, but since the skill had not accomplished what Grant had hoped, it made no difference to the way things were progressing.

After thirty seconds of a non stop and increasingly painful assault on his mind, Grant finally managed to shuffle his way within arms reach of the zombie.

Since the pain was coursing throughout the entirety of Grant's body and it was making it difficult for him to move, he knew that using his sword to attack would be yet another step in the painful ordeal so he quickly discarded the idea.

Instead, Grant quickly activated Unbound Stats and poured a large portion of his Stamina into Strength before cocking his arm back and balling up his fist.

Clenching his teeth, abs, butt, and legs, Grant twisted on the balls of his feet and unleashed his fist towards the chin of the zombie without holding anything back.

Without his abundant stamina, Grant could feel the energy quickly draining from his body, but he endured to the best of his ability.

After what felt like an eternity from Grant's perspective, but was merely a split second in reality, his fist finally managed to make contact with the zombie's chin.

Since Grant's only goal was to get the zombie to shut up and stop screaming like some overpowered Karen, he was surprised by the outcome of his attack.

The zombie, in a grotesquely beautiful way, transformed from it's human form to a cloudy mist of blood, guts, and bone before it painted the walls surrounding the area.

{Congratulations on killing Zombie of Misery - Banshee Level 31.

You have reached level 34.

Gained two status points to be distributed freely.

You have absorbed +0 Strength, +0 Agility, +0 Health, +50 Stamina and +50 Mana.

You have gained +50 Credits and 1 Random Rolls for successfully leveling up.}

When Grant saw the notification floating in the corner of his eyes, let out a deep breathe before collapsing onto the floor taking one deep breathe after the other.

Undoing Unbound Stats allowed his Stamina to quickly return to normal levels which allowed him to gain his breathe even quicker.

[Alright Sherlock. What the fuck was that abomination?! And why are the stats I received so one sided?!]

{I told you before, that monster was artificially created. And not in the way the Skit artificially created his Enlightened Tier monsters.

Skit used survival of the fittest to allow the monsters he artificially created to grow quickly but more evenly.

This zombie was most likely fed normal level 1 people as a form of torture and punishment which caused its stats to be so skewed.

As you know, killing the same monster over and over eventually leads to no absorbed stats, which also applies to normal humans.

The stats you absorbed are most likely from the zombie's Path instead of the monster itself.

That's also why it was obliterated the way it was. It probably had its original strength and health from when it first became a zombie, or only slightly higher than it was originally.}

[Makes sense, I guess. Still, I need to get me a skill that helps defend against soul attack skills.. and probably ones to defend against mental attacks...]

{Ah, about that...

You don't really need them. I can assist you in protecting your soul and mind.

I just didn't because you needed to understand how the skills work. Plus, you've been rather rude lately and a little suffering can be good for you!}

[Deep breathes.. deep breathes... it's an alien robot, he's a dumbass, ignore him...

Right, people need rescuing, kill Skynet later. Got it.

Oh before I completely ignore you though, Fuck you Sherlock!]

And with that, Grant slapped the ground next to him in frustration and forced himself up onto his feet.

He knew from experience that arguing with Sherlock was the very definition of pointless, so he decided to refocus on the task at hand.

Since Grant, could no longer sense any monsters on the floor, he made no effort to conceal his movements anymore.

He quickly jogged down the hallway, looking into each room very briefly as he passed by.

The sound of the zombie screaming had attracted the attention of the more healthy individuals on the floor so they had approached their windows to see what was going on, which made Grant's search even quicker.

Unfortunately, even after checking half the floor, Grant had still not found Lauren and he was becoming increasingly disheartened.

Since he knew that the floor was safe and he was about to pass by where the stairwell was located, Grant decided that if Leonard and Morgan were back from retrieving the potion, he would allow them to assist in the search.

And sure enough, when Grant approached the door, he could see Leonard's face peering through the small window. When Leonard noticed Grant approaching by himself, his face visibly sank and looked on the verge of tears.

Before Grant could even reach the door, Leonard had already swung it open and was bombarding Grant with questions.

"She's dead isn't she? Did you find her body at least? What was all that screaming earlier? Are you okay?"

"Woah woah there little man, calm down. The screaming was from a monster but it's dead now. I haven't finished searching the floor yet, so I don't know for certainty what happened to your mother. I was coming to get your sister and you so that you can join me in the search. So don't get too depressed just yet young man."

"Oh... okay... thank you, Grant."

"Think nothing of it, now, grab your sisters hand and follow me."

Leonard obediently grabbed his sisters hand and followed Grant out into the hallway.

With two new followers, Grant once again embarked down a new hallway.

When the three walked by a room, Grant and Leonard would both quickly glance in only to be disappointed moments later.

As the three rounded the corner leading to the final stretch of rooms, the mood had become noticeably more heavy and somber.

At this point, Leonard was only giving a cursory glance into each room. It appeared as if he had already given up hope.

As they neared the end of the hall and with only 5 rooms remaining, Grant was now the only person who still held out hope and checked each room they passed.

His hope and dedication ultimately paid off when he passed the third to last room.

When Grant glanced in, he saw a woman who, similar to the first woman that he had met and talked too, looked to be on the verge of withering away. Although her features were warped due to her malnourishment and dehydration, Grant could still recognize certain features that Leonard had described.

Realizing that Grant had paused in front of one of the rooms, Leonard and Morgan who had continued to walk, stopped and turned back around to face Grant.

When they turned around, both of them saw a beaming smile on Grant's face which immediately gave them a ray of hope.

Leonard quickly dragged Morgan towards the door and without even looking through the glass to see inside, Leonard threw the door open and rushed inside.

It took him only a split second and a quick glance before he yelled out,

"MOM!!"