"Haa... haa... sorry about that."
Enrico stopped for a few moments and placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath after the long run. Serenya was also breathing heavily, but she still found the strength to respond with her usual pride.
"Huff... you don't need to apologize, subordinate. I was already chasing you anyway."
"I thank you for that, my leader."
"Huff... I accept your thanks, subordinate."
After managing to lose the zombies, everyone gathered in a room filled with cabinets and took a few minutes to rest. Enrico, however, did not remain still for long. While the others recovered their breath, he began examining the corners of the room, opening some cabinets and searching for anything that might be useful.
Kai noticed the strange behavior and stood up.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking for items and a map. Dungeons like this usually have some hidden items and, most of the time, there is also some kind of map to guide explorers."
Enrico opened another cabinet and found a bow accompanied by ten arrows and a spear. A second later, a small screen appeared before his eyes.
[Lost Bow — Common Rank]
[Skill: None]
Enrico picked up the bow and observed it for a few seconds before looking at the others. Everyone was curious about what he had found.
'None of them, except Kai, know how to use weapons. So this bow will probably be more useful to me.'
He set the bow aside and analyzed the spear.
[Ghost Warrior's Spear — Rare Rank]
[Skill: Spectral Charge]
[The user delivers a straight thrust, releasing a translucent spectral replica that travels through the air at high speed, consuming 30 mana.]
'I could only use this twice at most, and honestly, I'd rather spend my mana on magic.'
Enrico lifted the spear and looked at the group.
"I'll keep the bow. Does anyone want the spear?"
Liam raised his hand.
"When I was little, one of my family's guards taught me a little about how to use a spear."
"Great."
Enrico tossed the weapon to him. Liam caught the spear with both hands and began moving it, trying to recall the lessons he had received as a child. As far as Enrico knew, Liam had once been from a noble family, but they had fallen from grace after a failure by his father.
Turning his attention back to the cabinets, Enrico continued searching for the map.
"About the map... I think I saw one earlier."
Vanessa slowly stood up with some difficulty.
"But it was right at the beginning, when I was alone on a staircase."
Serenya raised an eyebrow.
"You found stairs in this place? Everything here is so confusing that I didn't even know they existed."
Enrico nodded.
"Then let's follow your directions."
The group began advancing through the corridors following Vanessa's instructions. Everyone remained alert, as any corner could be hiding another one of those zombies.
Kai walked close to Enrico and, after several minutes of silence, decided to ask:
"Do you know how to use a bow?"
Enrico looked at him with a neutral and almost innocent expression.
"No."
Kai was surprised by those words and asked with a confused expression.
"Then why?"
Everyone continued walking carefully. Some zombies appeared along the way, but they did not pose a serious threat and were quickly eliminated by Serenya and Valença.
"Because I was already planning to use a magic bow in the future. So this is just an opportunity to start preparing. Besides, fire magic works better when I can maintain some distance from the enemy."
Kai nodded, accepting the explanation without any problems. To him, it made sense.
The group continued advancing through the corridor while Serenya occasionally looked back, remaining alert for any sign of the zombies that had pursued the group earlier.
"I almost forgot to mention it. I managed to contact Professor Borem."
Everyone seemed relieved upon hearing that, but Enrico's expression remained serious.
"But he said there was a problem with the portal and that it will take three hours before someone can enter."
The relief immediately disappeared from everyone's faces. Enrico, meanwhile, looked to the side with an almost empty expression and without any surprise.
'That didn't happen in the original story... but for some reason, I'm not surprised.'
The group carefully began descending through the openings between the floors. At first, they did not encounter any enemies, but some zombies appeared along the way and were quickly defeated by Enrico and Liam, who used the fights as an opportunity to test their new weapons.
'Just as they said... they're more resilient than the originals.'
Enrico removed an arrow from a zombie's body and examined the tip before putting it away again.
'I intended to leave this for after the pact, but I'll have to start earlier. I'll follow the path of the Ego Weapons. A path created by knights to keep up with mages, since knights can only reach the Sixth Circle.'
After approximately half an hour of walking, they finally found the staircase Vanessa had mentioned and, nearby, a map attached to the wall. Enrico approached it and analyzed the drawing.
"Can someone copy the map? I'd rather leave it here in case another student passes through this place and needs it."
Sílvia raised her hand.
"I can."
She took a sheet of paper and began carefully reproducing the map while Enrico observed every detail of the original.
'It looks like there are six floors.'
The information reminded Enrico of the original story. In that version, the dungeon boss was the Hunter Zombie. All the students had fought the creature together, but Kai and Valença were primarily responsible for defeating it.
'But now I've encountered a zombie with a head resembling Jupiter's... and another one with blue blood.'
Enrico slightly frowned.
"Has anyone encountered zombies that were different from the normal ones?"
The students began exchanging information, describing the creatures they had encountered during their exploration. The more they heard, the more worried they became.
After gathering the information, they continued descending toward the first floor.
Serenya began counting on her fingers as she organized everything they had discovered.
"That makes three different types of zombies, and there's still the boss. Normally, dungeons of this level only have weak monsters and a boss. Unless..."
She paused for a moment, concern appearing on her face.
"There is a Level Two Zara."
Enrico sighed upon hearing that.
"Then that means there could be more of those three we encountered..."
The group remained silent for a few seconds, absorbing the gravity of that conclusion before continuing downward.
----
A zombie approximately two meters tall dragged two bodies across the floor of the dungeon. After crossing a long corridor, it reached the room where Rirus remained seated on his throne and placed the two corpses before him.
Rirus observed the bodies for a few seconds before raising his eyes toward the zombie.
"My warrior, I see that you have brought good soldiers."
He slowly rose from the throne and raised one of his hands. A dark liquid began to flow from his palm, dripping onto the bodies of the two students.
"My warriors, awaken and spread chaos."
The bodies began to move. The two students slowly stood up, their eyes completely black and their bodies now under Rirus's control.
The necromancer smiled and extended his hand again. A dark magic circle began to form on the floor, surrounding the enormous zombie and the two newly created undead.
"I'll send you to the floor where those children are. Bring me the boy with the sword. He will make an excellent warrior."
The circle shone intensely.
The next instant, the three disappeared.
Rirus walked a few steps forward and closed his eyes, as if he could sense someone's presence beyond the door.
"And you children... you can come out now instead of continuing to spy on me."
On the other side of the door, three people exchanged glances.
Elian, Caelan, and Cris hid a little farther back in their hiding place in the shadows.
'Damn... he's not just a Level Two Zara boss. He also possesses consciousness.'
Elian was breathing heavily because of the pressure emanating from the zombie in front of him while trying to remain calm.
'Only twenty percent of Zaras possess consciousness. So why did our first dungeon have to be one of them?'
Caelan trembled slightly, unable to hide his fear in the presence of that creature. Cris, on the other hand, remained silent, simply observing the inside of the room and trying to understand the enemy.
Before any of the three could react, Rirus disappeared, and the next instant, he appeared behind Cris.
The three noticed the movement and immediately jumped to the sides, narrowly avoiding a sword blade that lightly embedded itself into the ground. The three immediately ran as far away from that place as possible.
Rirus remained still for a few seconds, carefully observing Cris.
Then, without saying a word, he turned around and calmly walked back into the room, as if that attack had only served to test something.
Back at the place where the students were descending the stairs, everyone continued advancing carefully, keeping their senses alert as they approached the next floor.
"We need to eliminate those monsters before the boss appears."
Serenya spoke seriously to everyone. Sílvia stopped a few steps before reaching the next floor and looked at her with concern.
"But wouldn't it be better to hide and wait for the teacher?"
Serenya remained serious before answering.
"Maybe. But wouldn't it be even worse if the boss found us surrounded by those abnormal zombies?"
Sílvia lowered her head, acknowledging the girl's logic. Vanessa then placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.
"You two are right. Eliminating at least one of them and then finding a place to hide would already help a lot."
While the two talked, Enrico, Kai, and the others continued walking a few meters ahead. Enrico looked at Kai and took the opportunity to continue trying to get closer to the protagonist.
"Kai, you seem to have improved quite a bit with the sword. You're not even a little like before."
Kai smiled.
"Yes. You helped me a lot with your advice."
Enrico brought a hand to his nose, trying to hide his own smile.
'It's so easy to befriend cheerful protagonists like him.'
The two were about to continue their conversation when the first student to set foot on the first floor was struck by an arm that suddenly emerged from the darkness. The blow pierced through his body and cut him in half.
Blood spread across the floor, making everyone freeze.
In front of them stood a zombie approximately two meters tall. Beside it were two students whom they immediately recognized as classmates, but something was deeply wrong with them. Their skin was completely gray, and a black liquid flowed from their bodies as if it were blood.
No one had noticed the presence of the three, even though everyone had been advancing carefully.
"Fall back!"
Enrico shouted immediately and advanced alongside Kai. The protagonist drew his sword at the same instant, while Liam, Tolen, and Serenya positioned themselves behind the two to provide cover for the group.
The two zombies attacked at the same time, advancing against the group with a speed that surprised even those who had already faced similar creatures moments earlier in this same dungeon. Enrico raised his hand and fired a fireball at one of them, the two-meter-tall zombie knocking it away before it could reach the others, while Kai advanced against the second and severed one of its arms with a single sword strike.
The zombie that had been hit by the fireball turned its attention toward Enrico and immediately advanced, throwing a heavy punch at his face. Enrico crossed his arms in front of his body and reinforced his muscles with his magic at the last moment.
"Argh!"
The impact was brutal. A crack came from his right arm, and Enrico was sent flying backward, violently crashing against the wall.
Meanwhile, Liam took advantage of the opening and advanced with his spear, delivering a diagonal strike that opened a deep cut across the creature's back.
Kai did not waste time and tried to take advantage of the moment to strike the monster's neck.
The blade managed to cut through part of its skin, leaving only a superficial wound before the two-meter-tall zombie turned its body and struck Kai with the back of its hand.
Kai reinforced his own body with magic to withstand the impact, but was still sent several meters backward. His feet dragged across the ground until he finally stopped, leaving cracks beneath him.
"Crescent Slash!"
Kai advanced again and unleashed his technique, launching an energy slash that tore through the zombie's chest and opened a deep wound.
The creature staggered for a moment, but recovered almost immediately and counterattacked with a violent blow, striking Kai and sending him backward once again.
"Fireball!"
Valença raised her staff and created a huge fireball above the enemy. The sphere fell onto the zombie and exploded with force, completely engulfing its body in flames.
When the smoke began to disappear, everyone could see the creature again. The wounds caused by the attack began closing before their eyes, and the destroyed flesh rapidly regenerated.
"It's regenerating..."
Serenya immediately realized the gravity of the situation. Without wasting time, she used her magic to pull Kai and Enrico closer to her. The two were almost unconscious, unable to continue fighting at that moment.
Even so, Serenya did not retreat. She immediately positioned herself beside the other students and assumed a defensive stance, keeping her eyes fixed on the three creatures standing before the group.
The three zombies silently stared at the students while tension filled the corridor.
'Damn, what ridiculous raw power...'
Enrico stood up with difficulty, wiping the blood from his face with a serious expression.