In the middle of their journey towards Sayejij City, they took a break to catch their breath. The journey to Sayejij City was still far; it lay at the eastern end of the border, and they had started their journey at the western end of the border. It was a journey from one end to the other.
The place where they rested looked like an old abandoned school. Its size is the same as the size of Doris' Village. With such size and the eerie silence of the place, they felt a slight sense of dread lingering if they stayed there. There were no signs of any living beings.
"It's so quiet here," Lidya observed from front of the gate.
"If it's quiet here, that means we're free to do anything!" Micah jumped onto the gate and crossed it without caution.
"Hey Micah! Don't just barge in like that!" scolded the girl.
Ignoring the scolding, Micah continued his actions and began unlocking the gate. "So, do you want to rest outside and get scorched by the sun?"
Micah's words were indisputable. The temperature where they were now was hotter than before. In Doris' Village and along the riverbank, they were sheltered by trees. Here, there was nothing but rocks and bones, not even cacti.
"Ah, fine..." Lidya entered the school building.
Unlike the other two, Rudi inspected the place first. He sensed strange vibes enveloping the school.
Seeing Rudi aware of the danger, Camel, who stood nearby, slightly curved the corners of his lips.
"Have you realized it?" asked Camel.
"I'm not sure if I should say it. But there's something off about this school."
"This is an elementary school for children. I heard that the students in this school disappeared suddenly, and no one knows what happened to them. Soldiers were dispatched, but none returned. What's worse, not a single soldier returned afterward."
"No one returned?!" Rudi was surprised. "What happened?!"
"I don't know..." Camel's eyes glanced at the ground. "The marshal requested to investigate, but the duke rejected the idea. If you think about it logically, something must have happened in this school, and the perpetrator must be the duke."
"What about the parents of the students?"
"They were silenced." A smile played on the man's lips, looking terrifying.
"If the duke tried to cover this, isn't it too obvious? And besides, why didn't the duke try to close this place and guard it with soldiers?"
"You'll know..."
Upon hearing those words, Rudi immediately looked at Camel with a trembling, incredulous gaze.
"What-"
"Micah, behind you!"
As he was about to ask for further explanation, Lidya's voice sounded from inside, seemingly warning Micah about something.
*Bang! *Bang!
Several shots were fired, followed by magic to protect someone. It wasn't a good sign; a battle was taking place.
"Let's go!" Camel instantly ran forward and summoned a mace in his hand.
With reflexes and in a panic, Rudi followed Camel and summoned his sword, running toward the source of the sound.
'I sense something bad here!' The feeling that arose in Rudi's heart came from all the stories Camel told.
'What's really happening?' became the big question here.
"Micah! Lidya! Are you both okay?!" Upon arriving near them, Rudi saw his two friends struggling against creatures that resembled humans but looked decayed.
"We're definitely not okay! We're surrounded by a horde of undead!" Lidya screamed in panic while reinforcing the cracked barrier holding them both.
"Undead? So, this is what you meant?!" Rudi finally understood everything.
The reason there was no need for guarding at this school. Where all the soldiers, parents of the students, and all the students themselves went was now clear to him. They all turned into zombies.
"Hyaghh!"
*Brak! *Bruk! *Jblas!
Camel stepped forward and struck the heads of three zombies in succession. As a result, they died instantly.
The bodies of the slain zombies rotted like those in movies. Their faces looked lifeless and soulless. Their skin peeled off, revealing bones. They were like creatures merely following the will of their parasites. They followed only the instincts given by their parasite.
The three zombies showed three people of different ages, occupations, and statuses. The first person looked very young, almost like a child. The second looked like a village mother dressed in tattered, wrinkled cloth. She might have been the parent of one of the students here. The third was an old man wearing armor that only protected vital parts. It was clear he was one of the soldiers sent to this school to deal with the problem, but unfortunately, his fate was not good.
"Argh (swinging his sword)! So, this is what you meant?!"
*Slash! *Braaat!
Rudi's slash hit the head of the small-sized zombie. He felt remorseful for his action, but the child was nothing more than a zombie trying to infect him now.
"Yes! This is what I meant! The Detrals are here! They will turn anyone they kill into one of them!"
"The Detrals? So, that's what you call them?" Rudi gained new knowledge about this world.
"Anyone they kill?! That means their bites are not dangerous?!" Micah, who kept shooting the zombies (or Detrals in this world), echoed one of Camel's words.
"Bites?! They don't do that! They kill you directly. After you die, they will vomit parasites into your body and turn you into one of them!"
"Vomit?!" Lidya said it with a disgusted expression. "I didn't expect to find something more disgusting than tutamits so quickly!"
*Boom!
In one explosion, five Detrals exploded instantly due to Lidya's magic.
"So, that's why their mouths look like they're choking on something big?!" Micah began to realize what was in their mouths. The object in the Detrals' mouths was the parasite that transformed them into what they were.
*Dor! *Dor! *Dor!
Micah tried to shoot the object in the Detrals' mouths, but unfortunately, nothing happened to them. They continued walking without any signs of pain at all.
"It seems that ball in their mouth is not their weakness!" (Micah)
"It is! Just attack their heads!" (Lidya)
One Detral approached Lidya, putting her out of range. Fortunately, she now carried something that helped her.
"Hyagh!"
Thrust!
Lidya stabbed the Detral's chin as it approached.
"Agh?!"
Unfortunately, another Detral approached, and she didn't have time to attack it. The knife she carried was still stuck in the previous Detral's chin.
"Let me handle this!" (Micah)
*Slash!
Micah swung his axe at the Detral heading toward Lidya.
"Thanks!"
"Okay! Keep your distance! I'll be in front this time!" Micah switched positions with Lidya.
Now Micah was in front, while Lidya took cover behind him to attack with her magic.
On Camel's side, his eyes immediately caught something in one of the rooms on the second floor. He saw a shadow peeking. The shadow seemed alive. Perhaps it was the caster.
"Hey! You three! Come to the teacher's office over there (pointing to the room on the second floor in the middle)! We'll meet there!" Camel immediately ran past the Detrals swiftly.
"Damn!" Rudi was left behind, and his distance from Micah and Lidya was slightly far. "Micah! Lidya! Let's follow him!" Rudi struggled to approach them while slaughtering the Detrals.
"Huh?! To the place that person pointed out?!" (Lidya)
"Rudi, he left us! Doesn't that mean he betrayed us?!" Micah tried to think rationally amid the panic.
"I know that, but from how he behaved earlier! Somehow he seems to want us to follow him and see the truth!"
"The truth, huh? I want to say you're crazy! But ah well, let's GO!" Micah stepped out of the barrier and crushed the Detrals one by one with his axe. There was no sense of remorse within him. To him, they were all enemies, no matter their form.
"Hey, wait!" Lidya followed where Micah went.
*Boom! *Boom! *Boom!
She cleared a path for herself and Rudi by blasting the path they would take.
In a room designated by Camel earlier, the Detrals lay there motionless (dead). They were undoubtedly defeated by Camel, who was there first.
Other than Detrals, there were also several tables piled together and tied with wire. It seemed that someone had tried to survive, but in vain because the Detrals had managed to through their barricade.
"Camel... He seems to have entered this room!" Lidya tried to open it.
"Wait!"
*Ckrak!
Micah prepared his pistol to be on guard. "Let's go!"
Lidya nodded. She slowly opened the door, ready to dodge if any Detrals were hiding behind it.
*Krak!
The door opened, but there was no sign of any Detrals or anything. What was there was just...
"Harghhhhh!" a loud cry was heard from inside the room.
They immediately rushed into the room, startled by the sound.
As they looked inside, they were all shocked beyond measure. Their eyes widened, their mouths agape, their hands trembling as they covered their mouths (Lidya) and eyes (Rudi and Micah).
A woman was crying in Camel's arms. Nearby were the bodies of five young children who had turned into Detrals. Their hands were holding white flowers. There was a name written shakily on the wall where their heads rested.
Jer. (male)
Froki. (male)
Bhuya. (female)
Silvanna. (female)
Valta. (female)
"What happened here?" Lidya asked, trembling.