Of course, Leo had considered that the Lord Guard Zombie wasn't some trash mob, but a mini-boss like the Tiger Vanguard or Iudex Gundyr.
—But have you ever seen a game where the mini-boss spawn-camps you right at the door? Haji-Tong, you wouldn't be this excessive, right?
In any case, Leo, temporarily unwilling to endure another bloody battle, did not choose to sit at the bonfire to [Reset]. Instead, he took off his T-shirt, used the sharp tachi to shred it into strips, and secured his severed arm.
Admittedly, as the adrenaline faded, the pain became unbearable, but in order not to waste this life, he could only grit his teeth and endure.
After all, if he couldn't even stand this much pain, how would he face the endless deaths awaiting him?
However—
"You don't care about your life?"
Seeing Leo insisting on exploring the second floor in such a state, Raiden Mei looked completely puzzled.
"If I can keep it, I'd still like to."
Smiling at Raiden Mei, Leo said, "But if I can trade this life for enough intelligence, it's not a loss, is it?"
"You..."
Hearing this, Raiden Mei's expression became complex, and she couldn't help but ask, "You didn't figure out everything about me through trial and error like this too, did you?"
After establishing a connection with Leo, she could also see the System interface and understood this was some ability of Leo's.
Therefore, she knew Leo could resurrect and start over, but she consistently felt there was no need for Leo to be this extreme.
Even if he might have to fight the Guard Zombie again, wouldn't that also be a form of tempering his kendo?
Besides, no matter what, surely it was better than going down there half-crippled like this?
"That's not it."
Shaking his head, Leo laughed. "My understanding of you comes from elsewhere, but—"
In the interval while he was speaking, he had already descended to the second floor. Immediately, he silenced himself instantly, seemingly afraid of startling the enemies on the second floor.
However—
"..."
Silently watching Leo, who stopped speaking halfway, Raiden Mei couldn't help but grit her teeth slightly. But hindered by the urgent situation, she could only stay silent for now and returned into the long sword in Leo's hand.
Watching Leo lean against the corner and take out the glass shard picked up from the third floor to shine down the corridor, her breathing gradually slowed down; she was simply more nervous than Leo.
Yet, on the second-floor corridor, there wasn't a single monster.
Not relaxing his vigilance, Leo shined the shard into the nearest classroom.
Then—
A huge, utterly rotten face appeared on the glass shard!
"!!!"
To be honest, even Leo couldn't help but be startled. Fortunately, the scenery reflected by this glass shard wasn't clear enough; if he were holding a mirror, he guaranteed his hand would have shaken.
This moment was just like when he played Resident Evil and encountered that zombie with its back turned for the first time.
And the scene emerging in the glass shard was exactly a zombie's big face!
—What is this, a classic reenactment?
The only thing that made Leo sigh in relief was that this one... or rather, the zombies in the entire classroom didn't look very smart, just like the zombies he saw in Raiden Mei's dream.
Therefore, although one zombie had already discovered his glass shard, it only looked confused and showed no intention of attacking.
It's just—
What kind of good person puts the mobs behind the elite monster?
He wasn't sure if Lord Guard Zombie was a mini-boss, but compared to these zombie mobs, she was definitely an elite monster!
He could only repeat that sentence: out of a full score of one hundred, this dungeon's difficulty was at least ninety-something!
"Phew..."
Retracting the glass shard, Leo saw that his hand actually showed signs of bleeding, understanding that he wasn't as relaxed as he thought. At the very least, his body truthfully reflected his tension.
But fortunately... with just this many zombies, even with one hand, I should be able to handle them, right?
Recalling the zombies in Raiden Mei's dream, he had full confidence in the sharpness of the long sword in his hand.
Of course, this didn't mean he wanted to confront these zombies head-on; he was merely contemplating the worst-case scenario.
After all, his target was the teachers' office at the end of the corridor!
Bending his waist and crouching down, he moved slowly along the second-floor corridor.
From time to time, he used the glass shard to look into every classroom.
Counting carefully, there were about five to seven zombies in each classroom, and Chiba Academy only had five classes per grade, meaning there were about thirty zombies in total.
Furthermore, they seemed to have been locked inside the classrooms by someone, the kind of lock-up that didn't leave even a single crack.
Precisely because of this, Leo was able to pass through all the classes with fright but no danger, finally arriving smoothly at the teachers' office he wanted to reach.
This area on the third floor was a utility room; he had already checked it, and there was nothing inside.
But here—
"A treasure chest?"
Having originally prepared for a big battle, he saw through the glass shard that there was a treasure chest in the center of the room.
The teachers' office was empty, containing only this one treasure chest!
Walking inside, he opened the treasure chest while guarding against the possibility of it being a Mimic.
However—
"This thing wouldn't happen to be the treasure chest Lord Guard Zombie was guarding, right?"
Seeing that nothing strange happened, and the chest contained a purple irregular cube and a diary filled with the smell of blood, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch a few times.
—Does this count as me beating the BOSS in advance?
But now was not the time to think about these things. His gaze fell on the items in the treasure chest—
[Tiny Honkai Fragment]
[Description: A discrete body of Honkai energy, but the human body cannot directly absorb it.]
[Effect: After crushing, one can obtain 100 points of Imaginary Energy.]
[—Lies! Lies! Why must I die here too?]
—Imaginary Energy?
Recalling the 77 points of Imaginary Energy obtained when the battle ended earlier, Leo reacted; weren't these just Souls?
However, he hadn't found his Fire Keeper yet, so this thing wasn't of much use to him right now.
Next, his gaze fell on the diary again; this was the true focal point of his trip.
Opening the diary, his complexion gradually changed from iron-blue to grave—
[Day 1]
[Although it's a noble school, isn't this too easy to infiltrate?]
[Day 34]
[After this mission ends, I'll go become a teacher...]
[Day 72]
[Yamagami-san should be a colleague too, right? I observed signs of him provoking students.]
[Day 90]
[Daughter of the Raiden family, please don't blame me. Who told your father to choose that path? But this fallen princess drama is truly never tiring to watch!]
[Day 111]
[Now even the friend you have the best relationship with has betrayed you; the plan can reach the final stage, right? But the higher-ups really arranged quite a few people to infiltrate the school...]
Undoubtedly, the ostracization Raiden Mei suffered was man-made!
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