Chapter 51: Let There Be Rain!

Chapter 51: Let There Be Rain!

Observing the zombies from the sky, Ainsworth noticed that they were actively going outside to take a bath in the moonlight.

From his observation, aside from the zombie ranks, it could be further divided into three stages. Those three stages were the initial stage, intermediate stage, and late stage.

Most of the zombies roaming the streets were in the Normal Rank Initial Stage. The zombies who were staying on the rooftop to meditate and absorb the moonlight at a faster pace were in the intermediate stage, and a few were on the verge of breaking through and reaching the late stage.

Analyzing the behaviors of the zombies, Ainsworth contemplated, ’From what I could estimate, the zombies will evolve to Elite rank in just two days with how fast their evolution speed is.’

’If not for this world’s strange moon, it might take a lot longer for these zombies to evolve. And if I’m not mistaken, not only is this world’s moon strange, but the sun is as well.’

’I’ll have to examine the effects of the sunlight tomorrow and see if it’s harmful or beneficial to humans, evolvers, and zombies. But first, I still have to find a moon crystal or whatever that is.’

’I had commanded my believers to find and collect them, but even I, who ordered them to do that, didn’t even know what it looks like and what it could do. However, from what I could guess, it’s likely a result of the strange moonlight solidifying into crystal form.’

’This should be the first night since the strange moonlight shone on this world, so I doubt if there are already moon crystals formed. My guess could even be wrong, but it’s still worth the shot to see if I can find a moon crystal tonight. The sooner I can find one, the faster I can send an image of it to let my believers find more of it.’

Before starting his search, Ainsworth checked up on his believers via the Hive Mind and, from what he could see, they still haven’t found a moon crystal or an artifact. Nevertheless, he still admired their effort as even now, they were still finding it while converting those survivors they see into becoming one of them.

If those capitalists saw how hardworking those believers were, they might really want to start a cult and let them work overtime without pay and frame it as doing the lord’s work.

Knowing that his believers still hadn’t made any progress in their search, Ainsworth ignored the zombies who were crowding in the streets, as he didn’t plan to kill them.



He had already confirmed that any zombies killed by his believers would be counted toward their team’s main mission kill count. In other words, the Otherworld Mission thought of Ainsworth’s believers as his tools or properties, so his believers performing the main missions was the same as Ainsworth and his team doing it themselves.

His believers had already killed a lot of Normal Zombies, and Main Mission 1 required the elimination of 100 Normal Zombies, 10 Elite Zombies, and 1 Special Zombie.

More than 100 Normal Zombies were already killed, so there was no point in wasting his time killing more when his believers could do all the dirty work for him.

The only zombies that could pose a threat to his team were a horde of Special Zombies or a Zombie King, so he didn’t plan to massacre these zombies. He wanted them to live and evolve so that he could harvest them later on for those sweet kills.

Traversing the skies, Ainsworth ignored those Normal-rank Intermediate Stage zombies meditating on top of the rooftops, and instead, he expanded his search for moon crystals.

An hour had passed, and yet, Ainsworth still hadn’t found any moon crystals.

He didn’t worry about getting lost as he had already left coordinates at the hotel where his team and the survivor group were staying, so he could expand his search for as long as he wanted.

He had the freedom to move wherever he wanted, so his travels were unhindered. Despite that, he had searched for an hour, but to no avail.

Of course, it wasn’t truly without any results, as he did find three Elite Zombies and killed them. Coupled with the Elite Zombies that his believers had already killed, his team had already killed 10 Elite Zombies.

In other words, his team only needed to kill 1 Special Zombie to complete Main Mission 1.

Even with his one-hour search that covered the entire city, Ainsworth still hasn’t found a Special Zombie since even Elite Zombies were rare. Only those Normal Zombies who had evolved faster, consumed more zombies, and had the right opportunity managed to evolve into an Elite Zombie.

Otherwise, an Elite Zombie on the first night of the zombie apocalypse was rare to encounter.

Sitting in mid-air several hundred meters above the ground, Ainsworth finally took a break, gazing at the night sky as he muttered to himself,

"Maybe my search is in vain after all. Not because I didn’t search hard enough, but because I might’ve been looking at the wrong time."



He glanced at the horizon, where the crescent moon hung high but not yet at its peak.

"It’s only 9 PM. If my guess is correct, moon crystals might form—or become more abundant—around midnight, when the moon is at its highest and its power at its fullest."

He leaned back slightly, floating weightlessly as the cold air whispered past. "I’ll wait until then. No point in wasting energy flying in circles."

With that decision in mind, Ainsworth took a nap in the air. Since Freedom of Movement (SSS) is a passive skill, he could use it instinctively, and its mana cost was lower than his mana regeneration.

He also didn’t have to worry about catching a cold as he used Ultimate Freedom (SSS) to regulate his body temperature. No matter how cold the wind would blow him, he could treat it as an air conditioner, as it wouldn’t affect his health no matter how cold it would get.

Turning the air into his bed, Ainsworth took a nap.

...

A few hours later, a loud explosion occurred, which awoken Ainsworth from his nap.

Gazing at the streets below, buildings and zombies caught on fire.

The stronger Normal-rank zombies staying on top of building rooftops were alerted by the explosion. Although they didn’t have any intelligence, they still had instincts like those of an animal.

Everyone was peacefully absorbing the moonlight to evolve faster, yet someone caused an explosion and destroyed the peace? That alone enraged some of the zombies as they left the rooftop and headed to the source of the explosion to deal with the human who caused a disturbance in their territory.

Ainsworth ignored the enraged zombies and focused his attention on finding the people who caused the explosion.

"It hasn’t even been midnight, and someone dared to wake me up at an earlier time. It’s already nighttime for god damn sake so how can someone set up an explosion this loud and bright at night?"

"Do they not want a good night’s sleep?"

Ainsworth checked the time, and it was only 11 PM, so he was an hour off from his alarm.



One of the things he disliked was when his sleep was interrupted. So, like those zombies, he planned to find the one who caused the explosion and started the fire.

However, he didn’t want the fire to spread too much, as that would likely reach adjacent buildings and eventually reach the hotel where they were staying. So, Ainsworth used a combo of his skill set to summon rain!

Waving his hand, Ainsworth used Freedom of Speech (SSS) and Ultimate Freedom (SSS), "Let there be rain!"

To reduce the mana cost, Ainsworth used the water-based superpowers he obtained from his believers’ zombie virus strains.

His Ultimate Freedom (SSS) skill could be used to do almost anything he wanted. On the other hand, Freedom of Speech (SSS), when combined with Ultimate Freedom (SSS), would allow him to manipulate reality with his words alone.

However, summoning rain in the entire city was not something he could accomplish with his meager aura and mana pool. So, Ainsworth opted to use his superpowers from the Evolver class to reduce the mana and aura cost. It would cost less if there were materials used when using Ultimate Freedom (SSS) rather than creating it out of nothing.

Furthermore, he reduced the area from the entire city to just the streets and buildings affected by the fire.

To further reduce his mana and aura usage, he mostly used his viral energy this time as he greedily absorbed the strange moonlight to replenish his viral energy.

And with that, dark clouds appeared above the neighborhood, and rain fell.

The raindrops soon extinguished the fire, preventing it from spreading and worsening.

With the fire extinguished, Ainsworth’s vision was cleared from distractions and he saw a group of survivors being chased by the zombies under the rainy night.

"Found my target."