Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

In the center of the zone stood a massive holographic leaderboard, displaying the rankings of all participants.

Diana scanned the names. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Shane's name steadily climbing. "Of course, he's still in," she muttered, grabbing a glass of cool lemonade from a nearby tray.

The leaderboard also showed live feeds of ongoing battles. Of course, it only shows those within the top 100 of the Survivor Leaderboards since the others shouldn't have any interesting actions going on aside from their struggle.

Looking around, Diana was unable to recognize any of the Survivors who had already been defeated. It seemed they were still fighting, or perhaps the people she knew were actually here, but because the place was huge, they might be hanging out elsewhere.

Survivors gathered in groups to watch the screens, and their expressions ranged from awe to nervousness as they observed their companions or people they knew struggling against increasingly difficult enemies.

For a moment, Diana plopped onto a cushioned bench, letting her tired muscles relax.

At this time, other defeated Survivors passed by her. Some of them would nod at her if she noticed them, while others were too absorbed in their own frustrations to notice her.

'I guess I'm still cute even with how tired I am.' Diana thought for a moment as she confirmed several male survivors would glance at her from time to time.

Then, her gaze drifted back to the area where the leaderboard could be seen.

After resting for a bit, Diana found herself drifting closer to the gathered Survivors. Well, her curiosity was piqued by some conversations he overheard.

Several groups huddled around the large live feeds where several Survivors could be seen fighting against the Spitter Zombies, Screamer Zombies, and a very few of them fighting against Fire Zombies…

Anyway, while their gazes moved between the ongoing battles and each other, they shared their stories of defeat.

One young man with a patched jacket gestured around his group with his voice filled with frustration. "Level 9! That's where I got completely wrecked. Those Runner Zombies were insane. I swear, one of them was faster than a bolt of lightning. I couldn't even see it coming before it tackled me to the ground."

'What? Someone got eliminated there? Wait… I guess he's also Support-Type Survivor. It's not surprising if he's a medic or something. However, why didn't he get some high-caliber guns.' Diana thought for a moment. After all, the Runner Zombies weren't that different from average humans, aside from being fast and incapable of feeling pain or fear.

It means that even normal guns or bullets, or those that aren't upgraded yet, would be enough to deal with the Runner Zombies.

If Diana would guess, she believed that the man had probably looked down on these Runner Zombies and got surrounded.

Of course, she wasn't the only one who thought of this, and they couldn't help but look at the man amusedly.

A woman with braided hair and a heavy crossbow slung over her shoulder laughed dryly after processing what he had just said.

Thankfully, it wasn't to mock him.

"You made it to Level 9? Lucky you. I barely scraped through Level 7 before they overwhelmed me. My crossbow jammed at the worst possible time. Guess I should've invested in a maintenance kit, huh? Ugh… Anyway, I'm not into combat. I work in the kitchen. The Clan Leader will just waste the consumables to me."

The man nodded solemnly. "Tools are a lifesaver. I used an Exceptional-Grade Repair Module. That's probably the only reason my shield didn't fail on me earlier. But in the end, it didn't matter. I didn't have enough stamina to keep running from them. The 30 seconds was just too short. I only have 210 Spirit Points."

Diana's ears perked up as another Survivor, an older man with a scar running down his cheek, joined in. "You think Runners were bad? Try Spitter Zombies on for size. I made it to Level 13 before one of those acid pools melted my boots—and my feet along with them! The Ice Barrier Talisman I bought in the Marketplace barely saved me from getting fully disintegrated."

"Ugh? Ice Barrier Talisman. That one was being sold for 30 Zombie Cores each. Is it worth it?"

"Probably not… He still died at Level 15 after all. Haha!"

A younger boy, probably no older than 16, wryly smiled. "Level 15? That's only impressive. I only reached Level 12. Those spitters are nasty. Their acid splash is bad enough, but it's the explosions when they die that caught me off guard. I used up all my healing potions just trying to stay alive."

The woman with the crossbow scoffed. "You need mobility for Spitters. I had a Spring-Step Elixir that helped me jump out of the acid pools, but even then, it was tough. Level 17 is where I bowed out. Two of them cornered me, and I didn't have enough resources to fight back. Tsk… If I just had Movement Skills, I would've climbed a few more levels."

Diana gently nodded after hearing this.

'If Shane has some time, he should consider selling that three-meter jump elixir or maybe a weakened version of Armored Dash would do.'

As for the amount of Zombie Cores that should be sold, she believed that they would earn a lot even if they only priced it at 200 Zombie Cores.

After all, she recalled that Shane only needed ingredients worth around 10 Zombie Cores to get a full pot of elixir that could fill 20 bottles.

"I wonder if he'll be interested… If not, he should just teach me how to use brew it."

Diana seriously considered this since she really needed money or Zombie Cores… She would browse the Marketplace from time to time, and she would always find interesting things there. They were things that could be helpful for her, but most of them were for the camp she was staying at.

Anyway, now that Diana looked at them, they were actually all wearing similar armbands with the words Sapphire Syndicate.

'Sapphire Syndicate… They're the Rank 20 Clan at the moment… I wonder how many members they have.' She mused for a moment.

Then, at this point, another man, heavily armored with a massive war axe strapped to his back, chuckled at his companions' conversation.

"Level 21 is where it all went downhill for me. Those Screamer Zombies? Their soundwaves disoriented me so badly I couldn't swing my axe straight. And don't even get me started on their stamina drain. I burned through three potions just trying to keep up."

"They could drain stamina?"

"I didn't know about that…"

"Right… I never heard about them being able to drain stamina…"

The others said doubtfully.
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"Hahaha… Of course, you wouldn't know. Only those who are always on the frontlines and those who have fought hundreds of them would know about it. After all, there's no stamina in our status. We also won't get notifications from our system if our stamina is being drained since it's a natural thing when fighting… The drain wasn't noticeable at first, but it would really drain you if you continued getting hit by those soundwaves… No one's talking about it since there aren't a lot of areas with Screamer Zombies anyway. Furthermore, they can be killed with upgraded ammunition, so it's not really a big deal if you're fully prepared." He explained.

It was unfortunate for him that he emptied his ammunition at level 20, fighting against Chief Spitters, so the Screamers killed him at level 21.

A woman with bright orange hair, seated nearby, chimed in.

"Same here. The Screamers are no joke. Their sound attacks practically made my head explode. I thought my Anti-Stun Charm would help, but it only delayed the inevitable. I barely reached Level 23." She then paused for a moment before glancing at Diana's direction.

"How about you, miss? You've been listening for quite some time. You should also share your experiences… We can get acquainted, and perhaps, if we meet outside, we can become closer. I'm Jasmine from Sapphire Syndicate…" The woman said to Diana.

Diana was startled for a moment before nodding shyly.

"R-right… I'm Diana…" She replied, unsure whether to reveal her Clan or not…

"Ahem… You're right… The Screamers are quite brutal. I faced five Chief Spitters at Level 30, and five of them together was a nightmare. I used everything I had—Talismans, Spirit Stones, even various Potions—but it was just barely enough. Ugh… It's all thanks to my Clan's resources that I even made it that far."

The man with the scar leaned closer, his eyes narrowing in curiosity. "What kind of resources are we talking about? I'm trying to figure out what I should prepare for next time. If you can't share it with us. Just forget about it…"

At this time, Diana recalled some of her step-brother's words…

'Right… It shouldn't be a problem to reveal my Clan and the items I used. So once they appeared in the Marketplace, we already have some sure buyers.' Diana thought for a moment, knowing that Vale really had plans to earn a lot of Zombie Cores in the Marketplace, but they were just too busy…

Diana shrugged as she answered their questions and shared some information about the Potions, Talismans, and Tokens…

Then, she also started sharing information about the Silver Weapons that they could start purchasing in a week or so.