Chương 49: Armor

Zoe Chu had absolute faith in Vince's words. Hearing his medical verdict, she immediately stopped worrying about her two unconscious friends.

"Dage, you still need to go outside?" She was confused as to why he wanted to brave the torrential downpour in his current state, but she obediently rummaged through the corner of the convenience store, found two folding umbrellas, opened them, and stood dutifully by his side.

"Mhm..." Vince stared out at the heavy rain, as if searching for something.

"Where exactly did you drag me back from?" He signaled with his eyes for Zoe to lead the way and stepped out into the storm. Crystals! My crystals! That was the absolute most important harvest from this desperate deathmatch. After this battle, Vince truly understood the terrifying utility of the [Sharpness Crystal]. He didn't know if the two smaller hounds had dropped any, but the massive Alpha definitely had one. And every second he delayed picking it up was another second its energy naturally leaked away...

Thinking about this, Vince felt a physical ache in his heart for his [Sharpness Crystal], which was now sitting at a pitiful 35 energy points. He had to recover the new crystals immediately, while the [Feral Potion] was still keeping him on his feet. The rain outside was coming down in sheets. Zoe led the way while Vince followed, holding his umbrella with his good right hand. Before long, he spotted the scattered chunks of gore.

The Alpha Hound, already heavily injured, had been literally blown into four separate pieces by his final strike. He just prayed the crystal hadn't been lost in the blast.

"Help me look for something... It should look like a small glass marble, a transparent stone..." As Vince tried to describe it to Zoe, he realized it would be much easier to just show her. He pinched the umbrella handle between his neck and shoulder, pretended to dig into his tattered pocket, and materialized the [Stealth Crystal] in his palm.

"It looks exactly like this..." Seeing Vince seemingly pull a crystal-clear, flawless gemstone out of his shredded, blood-soaked pockets like a magic trick, Zoe's eyes widened in awe.

"This... Dage, what is this? It's so pretty!"

"Don't ask." Vince had no idea how to explain the LitRPG system drops to her, so he preemptively shut the conversation down. Seeing that Vince didn't want to elaborate, Zoe didn't press the issue. It was none of her business anyway. He just wanted her to help find more of them.

"Dage, where should we look?" Vince suddenly felt like he had shot himself in the foot. He regretted bringing her along; he should have just come out by himself. But since she was already here, he could only lower his head, nudging the chunks of flesh with his boot as he spoke:"It should be somewhere in this meat, or the organs, or maybe just lying on the ground. Anyway, it came from inside that monster's body..." He suddenly spotted his dagger lying on the pavement nearby.

He bent down, picked it up, and handed it to Zoe Chu.

"Take this. Cut open those large chunks and see if it's inside." Aside from the severed legs, which were obvious, the shredded torso was a chaotic mess of unrecognizable anatomy. He had no choice but to have her inspect them piece by piece. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Zoe took the dagger, but looking down at the gruesome pile of gore, a wave of intense nausea hit her. She hesitated, struggling to bring herself to touch it.

But when she turned her head, she saw Vince—still awkwardly clamping the umbrella with his neck—using his good hand to meticulously sift through the bloody sludge on the ground. This must be incredibly important to him, Zoe thought. Forcing down her nausea, she gripped the dagger, sliced open a chunk of meat, and began carefully inspecting the viscera. Finally, as she cut into a tumor-like mass of flesh, the blade struck something hard, feeling exactly like it had chipped against a ceramic jar.

She pressed harder, slicing the mass open, and a crystal-clear sphere tumbled out.

"Dage! Here! I found it!" Zoe picked up the crystal, shouting excitedly to Vince. Hearing this, Vince felt a surge of vindication. Just as I thought! It's not just mutated zombies—mutated hounds drop crystals too! He walked over and took the crystal from her hand. [Armor Crystal] [Energy Level: Incompletely Crystallized — Damaged (Remaining Energy: 2690)] [Quality: Superior (Incomplete structure, cannot be fused)] [Equippable] [Armor: Equipping this item forms a layer of energy armor over the user's body. Sustaining damage while active consumes the crystal's internal energy. (The degree of resistance scales with the crystal's energy level and quality.)] (Note: Damaged-tier crystals will naturally leak energy over time.) An [Armor Crystal]! The effects of equipped crystals were fundamentally tied to the defining traits of the monster that dropped them.

If he had to pinpoint the defining traits of this Alpha Hound, aside from its foul sludge, it was undeniably that dense bone plating that even his Sharpness energy struggled to pierce. It was just a pity that, for some unknown reason, this crystal—just like the two he already possessed—was classified as Damaged.

"Dage, what's wrong?" Seeing Vince take the crystal, stare blankly into space, and freeze, Zoe couldn't help but ask.

"... Oh, nothing. Let's go. Keep the dagger, we're heading over there." Zoe was confused, but remembering Vince's earlier "Don't ask" order, she wisely kept her mouth shut. She turned and walked in the direction Vince pointed. Taking advantage of her turning around, Vince mentally willed the [Armor Crystal] into his spatial inventory and immediately equipped it. In an instant, he felt a strange, invisible field of energy perfectly contour and coat his entire body.

Yet, looking down at himself, there was absolutely nothing visibly there. It was a shame his current physical state prevented him from properly field-testing its defensive capabilities. However, this [Armor Crystal] was rated as Superior quality, whereas his previous two were only Common. It stood to reason that its protective effects wouldn't be weak. He glanced at the potion countdown beneath his Health Bar. He had a little over three minutes left. His HP had already climbed back up.

[92/370] The recovery effect was proving to be remarkably potent. He had to hurry and check the two smaller hounds. The massive 3, 000-HP Alpha aside, the 800-HP banshee and spider-zombie upstairs had both dropped crystals. Logically, these 1, 000-HP hounds should have too. Vince led Zoe toward the side of the gas station. He remembered killing one hound near the alley, and the other near the automatic car wash. As they walked, he suddenly spotted a long, cylindrical object lying in a deep puddle of rainwater.

It was his missing long spear. I can't believe it got thrown this far after getting wedged in that hound... He bent down to pick it up. The razor-sharp tip had been noticeably flattened, losing its lethal edge, and the heavy galvanized steel shaft was visibly bent. Fortunately, there were no deep structural creases or cracks in the metal, so its overall durability shouldn't be fatally compromised. He unfurled the tactical canvas belt and had Zoe help him sling the heavy spear diagonally across his back.

Even if the immediate area was clear of zombies, having a weapon securely on his person provided a much-needed sense of security. Shortly after, they found the first corpse. Looking down at the mangled remains of the Mutated Hound—its flesh washed pale by the torrential rain, yet still revealing deep, dark purple gore inside—Vince gestured with his chin, signaling Zoe to get to work.

"Ah...? You want me to do this one too...?" Zoe had managed to overcome her psychological barrier when dealing with unrecognizable chunks of meat. But looking down at this corpse, which still distinctly resembled a massive dog, she found herself completely unable to bring the blade down. She looked at Vince pitifully, her voice small as she tried to stall for time. Vince didn't waste his breath lecturing her.

Every single person who hadn't died and was unfortunate enough to step into this new world would eventually have to face this reality. If she refused to adapt when given the chance, the world would naturally educate her later. Why should he waste his saliva? He reached out, shoved his umbrella into her hands, and took back the dagger. Dropping to his knees on the wet pavement, he carefully braced himself to avoid pulling his waist wounds. He plunged the blade into the corpse's chest cavity and yanked downward.

However, at that exact moment, the [Feral Potion] finally expired! A tidal wave of blinding, excruciating agony erupted simultaneously from his fractured left arm and his mangled waist!