The cafeteria descended into chaos as zombies stormed in, staggering one after another through the shattered glass door. Their lifeless eyes locked onto the students, mouths watering in anticipation of tasting flesh. As their insatiable hunger grew, their staggering pace quickened.
"Magic users, attack!" Dorian ordered without hesitation.
Following Dorian's command, the students swiftly launched their attacks.
"Fireball!"
"Water beads, launch!"
"Spikes!"
The magic class users unleashed their basic spells almost simultaneously, initiating the first wave of attacks. Fireballs, water shaped into tiny beads, rock spikes, and various other spells darted toward the advancing zombies, clashing with their decayed bodies.
Unfortunately, the assaults had little effect. The zombies simply let out loud growls and continued their staggering advance.
The magic users felt a growing sense of helplessness as they witnessed the ineffectiveness of their spells.
Dorian observed the quick exchange with a cold expression, having anticipated this outcome. The basic spells could only chip away at the zombies' health bars but had no effect on their overall vitality, as the undead couldn't feel pain. Even the lingering burn from the fireballs failed to slow them down.
"Brandon, use the strength boost from your martial arts class and hit their brains as hard as you can! Those with relics, use them now! You're our only hope of surviving and getting out of here!" Dorian commanded loudly.
Brandon and a few brave relic users charged at the zombies, following his strategy.
"You damn disgusting creatures! Die!!" Brandon cursed as he delivered a swift punch to a zombie's head, shattering it.
The headless body collapsed to the ground, and a small holographic notification appeared before him.
[ Slayed x1 Zombie, +10 EXP ]
[ 90 EXP remaining to level up ]
"This is just like a video game!" Brandon muttered in surprise.
But his surprise was short-lived as Dorian's disappointed voice rang in his ear, "Ignore the notification and stay alert!"
Hearing the loud order, Brandon quickly snapped back to his senses and noticed a zombie charging at him. Gritting his teeth, he turned to face the zombie and exploded its head with his fist.
The other relic users also attacked actively. Milan, gripping his pyro sword relic, halted in front of a zombie and swung his sword with determination. The blade emitted a fiery glow as it sliced toward the defenseless neck of the zombie.
Two young ladies with bow and arrow relics fired at the zombies, but their aim wasn't sharp enough. The arrows only grazed the zombies' skin, causing no significant damage.
A young lady wielding a jet-black spear, which seemed to radiate a dark aura, stabbed at the heart of a zombie.
"Aim for the neck! The chests of zombies are just rotten flesh and rib cages with no effect on their vitality. Only a shattered neck affects them!" Dorian quickly corrected.
The young lady nodded obediently and delivered two quick stabs to the neck this time. The zombie reacted almost immediately, letting out a pained growl as it began losing vitality and the strength to stay upright.
Seeing this, she swiftly delivered more stabs, finally killing it. She received a notification and reacted just like the others.
She turned to Dorian with an appreciative smile.
Dorian responded with a simple nod and turned to the others, giving instructions on how to kill the zombies.
No one could refute his orders. At this moment, he was their only beacon of hope, and they could only do as he said.
Even Craig, with his bleeding face, followed Dorian's every command, using his dagger relic to fend off the zombies.
The once peaceful and quiet cafeteria had now become a bloody battlefield as the brave relic and melee class users fought for the survival of themselves and their schoolmates.
The sound of weapons clashing and bodies colliding echoed through the hall.
The corpses of dozens of zombies littered the cafeteria floor, their black blood forming pools beneath them.
Amidst the dozens of corpses, two students lay lifeless as well—one young lady and one young man.
Dorian observed their bodies with keen eyes. Behind him, the cries of students who were friends with the fallen could be heard, but Dorian remained unfazed. His focus was solely on their corpses.
"No one's ever really ready to lose someone, even when they know it's coming," Dorian muttered to himself as he strolled toward the bodies.
Two zombies staggered toward him, but he instantly obliterated them with simple and brutal punches to the throat, displaying the stark difference between himself and the others, who struggled to defeat zombies without following his instructions.
[ Slayed x2 Zombies, +20 EXP ]
[ 80 EXP remaining to level up ]
Ignoring the notification, he squatted beside the corpses of his schoolmates, showing no remorse. Beside the young man, there was a knife with a black blade, but sadly, there was no relic on the young lady.
Dorian could only sigh and take the knife.
DING!
[ You have obtained Relic: Knife of Darkness (LV 1) ]
[ Knife of Darkness: +10 Damage on each hit, bonus +20 damage after five successful consecutive hits on the same target. ]
"Not bad at all," he commented.
He waited near the bodies of his two deceased schoolmates for a few minutes as the zombification process began. The first noticeable change was their skin turning a sickly green, and their lifeless bodies starting to jerk slowly on the ground.
After a few more minutes, they completed their transformation into zombies. The young lady was the first to awaken, her body rising abruptly from the ground like a corpse in a horror movie.
Her sudden, jerky movement sent a wave of horror through her friends, and their screams were filled with disbelief.
"Sheila, no!" one of them cried out, her voice cracking with horror.
"Not Sheila! Please, not her!" the others joined in, their voices a chorus of despair as they watched their friend become the very thing they feared most.
'Screaming her name like that wouldn't help, even if you're the daughter of a god,' Dorian scoffed inwardly.