After reprimanding the entitled ladies and shutting them up for good, Dorian turned to Brandon and Craig and instantly signaled them to open the door. With the locks picked by Ivan, opening the door wouldn't really demand more effort anymore — But Dorian still wasn't sure if the dormitory was completely safe and wasn't ready to play the guinea pig to test it out, so he picked Craig and Brandon instead.
Brandon and Craig obeyed immediately and stepped toward the door. Without a single hesitation, Brandon pushed the door open, revealing the dark interior of the dormitory.
There was nothing!
Dorian studied the dark interior of the dormitory with a frown on his face.
'Maybe I was simply overthinking,' he shrugged.
But before he could give the order for the others to get in, two low, beastly shrieks resounded from within the dormitory as two zombies came staggering out, adorned in Starmap Academy uniforms torn and stained with blood.
"Ahhhh, zombies!!"
Craig yelled out in terror as he sprang back hurriedly, losing balance and landing with a thud. His body was drenched in nervous sweat almost immediately. Brandon had the same reaction.
Both were defenseless, and the zombies' appearance was unexpected.
The zombies, on the other hand, continued shrieking while staggering faster toward the two prey on the ground.
The other students behind Rowan let out terrified cries as well, along with the zombies out of the building, creating plenty of annoying, terrified noises.
Dorian facepalmed, clutched his dagger and darted toward the zombies before they attack his minions.
With three slashes to vital parts, the two zombies collapsed on the ground, dead.
[ Slayed x2 Zombies, EXP +16 ]
"Next time, ensure you keep your guards up at all times," he reprimanded both of them.
Craig and Brandon nodded hurriedly. At this moment, the image of Dorian evolved in their minds, and their favorability toward him increased even more — he saved them!
If Dorian hadn't reacted, they would've died and turned by now.
Not only the two, but the other students behind felt the same.
"I believe there are more zombies inside so we can't go in immediately," Dorian announced.
"You, you... and you, come with me to clean up the dormitory."
He picked about twenty of the best fighters among the group to go with him and clear the dormitory.
Brandon and Craig were ordered to stay outside and guard the others from any zombies that may appear.
Nevertheless, the arrangement caused a bit of a ruckus among the others.
"Can they really protect us?"
One of the female students voiced, pointing at Craig and Brandon who still remained on the ground.
Dorian and the fighters he chose were already preparing to enter when her voice reached him, causing a frown to appear on his face immediately — he hates entitled people.
"Are they obligated to protect you? You were all given a package at the beginning to protect yourselves, but you still chose to be spineless and stupid, refusing to use it and relying on others instead. You should be ashamed to even speak," he snorted.
Coincidentally, the young lady who spoke up was among the three annoying Barbies at the beginning who spoke down on Ivan for lockpicking.
'Meh, I hope you get eaten by zombies and turn, so I can kill you myself and earn EXPs,' Dorian sighed.
He repeated his order once more and proceeded into the dormitory with the fighters.
The inside of the dormitory was dark, given it was nighttime and electricity was unavailable.
Luckily, among the group were three mages with flame magic, thereby solving the problem.
"We should divide into three teams, each with a mage. Search every single room thoroughly and slay all the zombies you find; if you encounter a large group you can't handle, scream for help out there. Is that alright?"
They nodded in agreement.
The team formation was brief, and they all proceeded to different floors.
The first two team searched the first and second floor while Dorian and his team went up to the third floor with the stairs, since the elevator was down due to the current situation.
On the staircase, there were bloody footsteps and body parts like fingers, skins and others, revealing the chaotic mess that took place within.
'It is always against the school rules for anyone to stay behind in the dormitory during school hours. The apocalypse began during school hours and these students were still in the dorm, I guess they were breaking rules and nature struck them.' Thought Dorian.
They soon arrived at the third floor.
It was eerily silent and deserted.
Dorian and his team took the right flank first.
Each dorm rooms were already unlocked and thus it posed no stress at all.
Dorian and his team proceeded into each rooms cautiously and did thorough searches. The first few rooms they searched were clear of zombies.
Dorian opened the seventh room cautiously.
SHRIEK! SHRIEK!!
Two loud shrieks immediately drew his attention inside.
Dorian wasn't defenseless and was unfazed by the shrieks. He stood his ground with his dagger lifted in a strike ready pose while his eyes scanned the room thoroughly.
However with the illumination from the mage behind him, he was greeted with a pretty surprising scene.
This dorm room was neat, its furniture were still in the proper places and they didn't seem to be any sort of scuffle inside, which is extremely strange as they were zombies Inside.
"This is weird."
One of Dorian teammate voiced out the thoughts all of them shared at this moment.
Behold, on the neat bed, the two zombies lied down — Tied down to be specific.
Ropes were wrapped around their bodies and the bed they layed, immobilizing them completely. The ropes were so tight that it could be seen digging into the putrid flesh of the zombies, creating a disturbing sight, causing some to nauseate.
"What the heck is this... Did the zombies do this themselves, or was it before they turned? Either way this is weird." The same person earlier commented again.
Dorian on the other hand analyzed the scene but there was no logical explanation. He even had the same thought as his colleagues.
'They couldn't possibly tie themselves up like that, someone else did, but who and why?' He wondered.
He could spend the rest of the night trying to decipher this mystery but he didn't have all the time in the world so he gave orders amongst the team to end the misery of the zombies and then proceeded to search the remaining rooms on the third floor.
After clearing it, they proceeded to the fifth floor as the fourth was already being worked on by another team.
Clearing the ten-storey building thoroughly took about half an hour.
After it was all settled, everyone got in.
Dorian left the first floor empty and made the others inhabit the second floor upwards.
While everyone settled in, Rowan got in his room and opened his system panel.
"It is time to see what character I've unlocked."