Surviving the Apocalypse with Crafting Skills

Rebuilt Church.

A faction that poses no particular issue for the new meta evil characters, or rather, a group that might as well be considered an ally.

They are the insane ones who claim that the old era, filled with evil, was purified by ‘heavenly punishment’ that fell from the sky, and the newly created ‘Newskins’ arising from destruction are the chosen new generation by God.

They not only sacrifice people as offerings but treat them like livestock.

They even have no qualms about eating them…

“Are we involved with those guys!?”

“Our luck is just unbelievably bad. Besides, that man said something about an offering…”

I wish I was overreacting.

Especially since, with skin that is practically that of a slave from the ‘old era,’

Trying to carry the heaviest baggage, which looks the most cumbersome, along with strengthening my stamina—

“Be careful.”

The hand that firmly grabbed me as I was teetering belonged to Curtis.

His usually amiable expression was gone, and now his slightly tilted ears were alert as he scanned the surroundings.

“It’s a bag filled with important items. Give it to James.”

“I’ll take it. Most of the family’s belongings are inside…”

“You carry it.”

Although I wanted to just leave the person-sized bag and go, it’s family items, so there’s nothing I can do about that.

I don’t want to start by causing irreversible damage to goodwill right from the beginning.

“Wait a moment…”

A wallet in this kind of apocalypse situation.

It’s likely to be something like a small photo album containing memories, perhaps.

“It’s okay. Will you carry it?”

…Resist, just—

“Careful, careful. This is a man’s pride. How can I not use force when becoming a man? It’s about twenty kilograms I think.”

“Ughh…!”

Damn it, if only I wasn’t a Crafter, my physical strength wouldn’t be this pitiful.

My legs are shaking a little too much.

That nerfing.

“Okay. Yeah. It’s movable.”

“Can you keep up without falling behind?”

“Of course…!”

The best way to build strength and endurance is to carry a heavy load while moving.

There’s also the method of just spamming direction keys in a 1×1 room, but…

It was patched as a bug, though.

“Alright. Sarah, go ahead. Always be careful.”

“Stay low. Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it countless times.”

Without even turning on the flashlight, Sarah disappeared into the darkness.

The remaining two people also… seemed to have no signs of turning on flashlights.

“How about your night vision? Is it working?”

“No, probably not.”

A trait that’s hard to gain unless one inherently possesses it.

Either one has been active at night for a very long time, consistently consumed good nutrients, or been taking supplements.

Otherwise, it would be hard to obtain.

“Then stay close to James behind him.”

“Yeah… Not strong, no night vision. You know, that monkey you found in the forest…”

“But he seems to know a lot.”

“What were those yellow guys about? They’re so round. By the way, wasn’t that Mr. Wang’s son who went to a university, the one who used to run a laundromat? California?”

“Stanford. Now, let’s stop the chatter.”

The two, who slowly began to move, were followed by me struggling with my steps.

During this time, I slowly thought things through.

Firstly, I had to hope my concerns were unwarranted.

If we find a place to settle down, I’ll ask Sarah or James for cover…

We must eliminate any tracking marks left by the Rebuilt Church in the path we’ve taken.

Although it shouldn’t be too hard to find or destroy them… if there is an ambush, that’s a problem.

And if we don’t remove the marks, we’ll likely be attacked, resulting in injury or death.

If we have a doctor or medical supplies, perhaps we could use bait…

However, the stress during the baiting process is another story.

If only I had access to a trap-making kit… but that darn tutorial.

This headache—

“Ugh!?”

“Shhh.”

A giant furry hand caught me, who was swaying forward.

Why did we stop all of a sudden?

My ears were poked a few times, and I blinked several times.

Damn it, it’s pitch black, I can’t see anything…

“…growl.”

Ah, a familiar sound.

From the mouths of zombies, saliva, mucus, blood, gastric juices… all sorts of things bubbling.

Adding their footsteps… they’re coming this way, right?

-Swish, Swish.

Along with the sound of his hand swiping a few times, James pushed me in the direction I should walk.

Without any sense of direction, I just walked in the direction my body was pushed for a while.

“Sarah.”

“I’m here.”

“Alright, this place should be safe.”

When the light turned on, the surroundings became dazzlingly bright.

Who knows where James got it from, but he hung an oil lamp on an iron frame and looked around.

“The surroundings are safe. There are no chasers either, and no unusual sounds.”

“Getting used to the headset, huh?”

“Yeah, whatever. It’s better than nothing.”

After putting down the heavy baggage, I massaged the overly tensed muscles a few times.

I’ll have the ‘muscle pain debuff’ as soon as I fall asleep.

It’s now or never for doing something.

“Excuse me, can someone cover me?”

“Is there something wrong?”

“…I hope not.”

“I’ll go.”

With Curtis standing up after checking the shotgun’s ammunition,

James, who took the bag, cleared a corner and checked the chamber of his rifle that he was holding.

“Take care of the stuff with Sarah, kid. We won’t be in too much danger.”

Sarah, who checked the shotgun pump—putting one round in the chamber, five in the tube—threw it to me.

“It’s better than nothing.”

“Do you trust me that much?”

“Since meeting that annoying guy, I’ve been encountering an unusually high number of zombies, which has been making me uneasy. Just recently, there were zombie herds going by the way we escaped.”

The Newskins, who can come out of the bunker, continuously bring zombies inside.

Especially the operations led by the Rebuilt Church.

Although the zombies brought in from the outside are usually blind and have no functioning limbs, making them not very dangerous…

The dangerous part is their method of encircling and driving targets into corners.

“What are you looking for?”

“Marks. Totems made from twigs or small animal bones should be around.”

“Just what I needed. Those damn cultists.”

“And what should we do?”

“Keep the door open. If the sudden noise stops or there’s an unusual sound, stay on high alert. And don’t trust anyone with red skin.”

“Red…skin?”

“You’ll know it when you see it.”

Thankfully, I at least know how to shoot from serving in the military.

Surely, the Craft Spec’s shooting ability hasn’t deteriorated, right?

“Have you used a gun before?”

“In South Korea, there’s mandatory conscription. As long as your body and mind are in relatively good condition, everyone has to undergo about a year and a half of training.”

Fortunately, my body was cooperating.

The aiming points aligned well as I wished—

Wait.

That shadow in the light…

No way.

“Whoa, whoa, lower that gun. No need to hurt anyone—”

I pushed James, who was about to raise his hands towards me, firmly with my body and aimed at Sarah.

I could see her startled face, but before Curtis’s double-barrel was pointed at me, I shouted.

“Lie down!”

Right on cue.

Eight black legs.

Six crimson eyes.

It was a giant spider.

-BAM.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”

The bullets that couldn’t pierce its thick exoskeleton just got embedded, splashing greenish blood.

“Sarah, this way!”

James’s rifle flashed.

The deafening sound of the shotgun’s discharge came from the left.

“EEEEEEEEK! EEK!”

“Fall back!”

I could see only three to four of them.

It’s not like we could waste bullets. The dark exoskeletons block rifle bullets.

“Do we have any higher-penetrating ammunition? Like slugs or anti-armor rounds?”

“How can we kill bugs that even rifle bullets can’t penetrate! Sarah, move it!”

“But… ugh…!”

Damn, my legs won’t move.

The spots on my legs turned bluish immediately after the flashlight hit them.

When I ducked earlier?

“Sarah!”

Before leaving the room, I quickly scanned the area.

With the barren bunker’s interior, it was clearly a place prepared for renovations—

That’s right. Hollow iron rods should be around.

“What are you doing, James? Drop the bag and carry Sarah!”

“Hyunwoo, cover me— what are you doing?”

“Cover me so these bastards can’t get near me!”

I put the gun down and shoved the rod under the disgusting face.

Because of their heavy exoskeletons, their movement is sluggish, which is this creature’s weakness.

They expend a lot of energy when they leap, so they don’t move much when they’re close—

“Eeek!?”

Using my thighs as leverage, I flipped the creature over.

When they get too close, their massive bodies have soft, squishy exoskeletons on the underside to release heat.

“Kill it!”

Before James, who carried Sarah in one hand, loaded his rifle, Curtis’s shotgun fire sprayed blood everywhere.

Some of the spider blood splashed on my eyes, causing the remaining spiders to panic and pause.

Since assists count toward kills, I planned to eliminate them all at once.

Since victims of the paralysis toxin require nursing for two days, or even up to five in severe cases—

“Flip it and I’ll blow it up. James!”

“Breathe, Sarah, breathe!”

It’s not deadly.

What’s important is preventing respiratory distress.

“Sarah!”

When I tripped over the legs, the green fluid dirtied the walls and the rod.

After taking out three of them, the spiders began to retreat—

“Where do you think you’re going…!”

Has my strength improved this quickly?

I was able to flip the fleeing spider.

“Die!”

Though the exoskeleton on the top is tough, the underside is weak enough to be torn apart with a blunt iron rod.

I tore it apart, and watched the remaining spiders escape as I skewered the last one.

…Given the number of them, we were probably heading towards their nest if things had continued.

“Did we get them?”

“Yeah, for now.”

It was clear this family had been marked as prey.

Or our luck’s simply rotten.

As bad as mine right now.

“Come on Sarah, stay with me, Sarah!”

“Stay calm, I’ll check her condition.”

She didn’t lose consciousness.

She managed to open her mouth trying to breathe.

And when I shone light in her eyes, they reacted slightly, though slowly.

“Huh, huff, urgh….”

“Sarah, try to breathe slowly. It’s not a lethal poison. If you don’t have a severe allergic reaction. These bastards like to feed on their prey while it’s alive.”

“Why didn’t we know the spiders were coming?”

“Their extremities are soft. They move silently, and their movements are slow.”

“Damn…”

There were antidotes, though.

You could typically find them in the medical room after exploring a bunker, or sometimes from medical supply boxes in corridors.

The problem was Sarah’s condition didn’t look too good.

The bite site was swollen, and her previously pristine face was now flushed red.

“Her breathing is getting weaker, damn it, I’ll go find the antidote—”

“Epinephrine. Epinephrine, yeah. Father, in the first aid kit!”

“I was already going to give it!”

The thick photo album, tableware, canned goods, sleeping bags tumbled on the floor, and he threw me a rectangular bag from deep inside.

As soon as I opened the buckle and the zipper, I could see a syringe with an orange tip.

That’s a stimulant.

“Over here.”

As the orange-tipped needle was jabbed into Sarah’s thigh, her trembling body gradually settled down.

The swelling on her face subsided, and her previously wheezing breaths became calmer.

“Damn it, fuck.”

“James, Sarah?”

“She’s okay. Thank goodness.”

…Though she’s okay now, paralysis will lead to exhaustion.

Though it seems stimulants were used to counteract the paralysis, symptoms are sure to return without using an antidote.

Given the situation, it’s certain the church gang is chasing us. If we can’t escape anymore—

“I have a couple of things to ask of you both.”

Naturally continuing the tutorial is impossible.

So I personally have to hunt the hammerheads with steel plates in their skulls before the Newskins try to strip our flesh.

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