"Damn it... what the hell happened?"
When Michael arrived outside the library, all he could see was an endless horde of zombies covering the entire area.
... ...
^Annie Hans POV^
"Ummm... Michael, I have something important to tell you."
After thinking about it for a long time, Annie finally approached Michael and decided to tell him what had been on her mind.
"Oh, Annie, you're here... Of course, I'm all ears." Michael smiled despite the obvious exhaustion on his face.
—He must be extremely tired after fighting all day.— Seeing how exhausted Michael looked made Annie feel a sharp pain in her heart.
"There are some people sneaking out of the library and staying outside for long periods of time. I'm afraid someone might get injured and then come back here, causing a disaster." Annie's eyes gradually turned red as memories of what had happened in the cafeteria on the first day of the outbreak resurfaced before her eyes.
Even now, she could still hear the screams of the girl who had been sleeping beside her as she was eaten alive right in front of her.
"Tsk... That's really troublesome. What do you suggest we do? It's not like we can stop them from leaving and imprison everyone here." Michael began massaging his forehead, looking as though he had completely run out of ideas.
"Just leave it to me. I'll take care of it." Annie smiled at Michael, allowing him to rest while her own mind raced in search of a solution to this problem.
"Alright. I'm counting on you, Annie. And if you need any help, you can go to Hank or Zola." Hearing Michael's words filled Annie with both happiness and a sense of responsibility because of the trust he had placed in her. She did not sleep that night until she had finally come up with a plan.
... ...
"Good luck. Come back safely."
At dawn the next morning, Annie woke up early to bid farewell to her brother and the team heading out to explore the park.
"Hank, Michael told me to come to you if I needed any help. The thing is, many people have been leaving and..." Annie met Hank and explained both the problem and the plan she had come up with.
"Honestly, my plan is simple. We'll close every exit except the main entrance. We won't stop anyone from leaving through it, but that way everyone who enters or exits will be under our watch."
"Alright. It's not a permanent solution, but it'll work for now. I'll take care of sealing the other doors, and you explain everything to everyone else. We don't want people thinking we're imprisoning them." Hank nodded in agreement.
"And Hank... I need your help with something else, but please keep it a secret from Yoo-Min and Michael, okay?" Annie hesitated for a moment before gathering her courage and asking Hank to help her level up.
"This..." Hank looked as though he had struggled with the decision before agreeing to Annie's request, something she hadn't expected at all. "Alright, no problem. I was already planning to head out with the others to level up anyway."
"Thank you so much, Hank." After thanking him, Annie went to prepare herself and picked up the sword Yoo-Min had given her for self-defense.
"Alright. Now that everyone's here, let's move." Once the time came, Hank gathered everyone together and urged them forward while Zola was already leading the group from the front.
"Annie, stay close to me. Theodore and I will protect you if necessary." Although Hank meant well, Annie was annoyed by his words. She didn't want everyone to see her as someone who constantly needed protection.
"Hank... can you let me handle this on my own? I need a Skill Book too, you know." Annie remained silent throughout the journey while everyone else fought. Hank offered her several helpless zombies to kill, but she refused every single one of them. She waited until she found a weak zombie. Only then did she step forward and draw her sword.
"So this wasn't what we agreed on. You only wanted to level up... Hah, looks like I got tricked this time." Hank sighed as he finally understood why Annie had refused to kill the helpless zombies. From the very beginning, she had never planned to level up that way.
"I'm sorry, Hank. You'll have to be more careful next time." Annie smiled mischievously and raised an eyebrow playfully before turning toward the zombie.
—This creature is truly disgusting.— Looking at the rotten flesh and pus dripping from the zombie's body made Annie feel an overwhelming urge to vomit.
"I never thought I'd be grateful for Yoo-Min's lessons." Holding the sword diagonally with both hands at a 45° angle, Annie slowly approached the zombie one step at a time. Then she swung her sword horizontally with all her strength. The zombie's head flew clean off its body in a single strike.
[You have killed a Level 1 Zombie. +5 XP]
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 1.]
[You have 3 Stat Points to distribute. Think carefully before opening your Status Window.]
"Finally!" At that moment, Annie completely forgot the disgust she had been feeling. Instead, her mind was filled with excitement and joy when she saw a beautiful green Skill Book with the image of a hammer and a flower drawn on its cover.
{Skill Book: Basic Magical Crafting}
After learning this skill, the user gains standard knowledge of Alchemy, Magical Alchemy, and Blacksmithing. This skill grants the user the ability to evaluate materials and herbs, as well as understand how to process and work with them.
[Rarity: Epic]
[Requirements: N/A]
[Would you like to learn this skill?]
[Yes] [No]
"Of course I'll learn it."
After reading the skill's description, Annie felt a deep intuition rising from her heart that this skill had been meant for her all along. Without the slightest hesitation, she learned it before assigning the three stat points she had earned to Agility and Intelligence.
[Name: Annie Victor Hans]
[Level: 1 {0 / 25 XP}]
[Class: None]
[Mana Points: 22]
[Strength: 8]
[Constitution: 8]
[Vitality: 7]
[Agility: 10]
[Intelligence: 11]
[Skills: Basic Magical Crafting (Lv.1)]
"This is amazing." After finishing the upgrade, Annie began jumping up and down with excitement. The intoxicating sensation of allocating stat points seemed to stimulate every one of her senses.
"Ahem... Ahem." Hearing Hank clear his throat and noticing the way everyone was staring at her, Annie's face instantly turned bright red from embarrassment.
"Well then, I guess this..." Annie gave Hank a grateful look as he tried to change the subject and ease the awkward atmosphere, but before he could finish speaking, Zola's voice echoed from the distance.
"The zombies are coming this way! Fall back to the library!" Zola came sprinting from afar, repeatedly glancing behind him as he ran.
"There's no time to explain. Let's retreat now." The moment Zola reached them, he interrupted Hank, who had been about to question him, and the entire team immediately began running back.
"Close the doors! Quickly!" As soon as the last person entered the library, they hurriedly shut both the doors and the metal shutters, drawing puzzled looks from the rest of the survivors.
"I'm going to check the second-floor windows." It seemed Hank had the exact same idea as Annie as they both rushed upstairs through the library.
"Damn... this is really bad." When Annie looked outside from the second floor, all she could see was a sea of zombies stretching across the horizon and advancing toward the library. There were at least five hundred zombies.
"I think we're in real trouble this time." After several seconds of deadly silence, Hank finally broke it. The expression on his face was impossible to read.
... .
^Michael Santos POV^
"Damn it... what the hell happened?"
When Michael arrived outside the library, all he could see was an endless horde of zombies covering the entire area.
"Wait! Don't be an idiot! The doors are closed, which means they're safe inside." Michael managed to stop Yoo-Min, who had immediately intended to carve his way through the zombie horde to save his sister, despite knowing full well that his chances of success were practically nonexistent.
"Michael... if you don't move out of my way right now, I don't mind slitting your throat before I go." The look in Yoo-Min's eyes sent a chill running down Michael's spine.
"Yoo-Min, calm down. Michael is right." Shawn stepped in to stop the conflict before it exploded. "Throwing yourself to your death won't save your sister. We need to think of another way to handle this situation." Meanwhile, Jin and the others from Selena's team remained silent behind them.
"There has to be a back entrance to the library, right? Maybe we can circle around and get everyone out through it." Michael seriously considered Selena's suggestion. It was certainly possible. The problem was that he and the others would have to circle either around the park or through the residential buildings—exactly where the first zombie horde had come from—to reach the library's rear entrance.
"That won't work," Jin said, shaking his head and rejecting Selena's idea. "It'll take too much time, and we don't have that luxury."
"Then what do you suggest, Mr. Sun Tzu?" Selena replied sarcastically.
Jin ignored the obvious mockery before calmly answering, "Simple. We wipe out the entire horde."
The moment Jin finished speaking, everyone stared at him in complete shock. Not even in their wildest imagination had they expected such a plan.
"I assume you already have a plan." Recovering from the initial surprise, Michael frowned and looked into Jin's usual cold eyes, trying to understand what was going through his mind.
"The problem we're facing is both their overwhelming numbers and the presence of Tier 1 zombies," Jin calmly explained his strategy. "So my plan is to split into several teams, with each team having at least one person capable of dealing with a Tier 1 zombie. We'll lure the horde apart in different directions."
It was reckless. It was dangerous. It was filled with risks and flaws. But under the current circumstances, it was also the only plan that had any chance of succeeding.
"I'm sorry, but my team and I are staying out of this madness." Selena refused to participate and turned to leave with her group, making the plan seem even less achievable.
"I never expected your help to begin with," Jin said coldly. "The four of you here will split into two teams. One team will lure zombies toward the park, while the other will head toward the cafeteria. Meanwhile, we'll have Zola and the others open the library doors so they can deal with whatever remains here."
The two teams were arranged as follows:
Team One: Yoo-Min, Liam
Team Two: Michael, Shawn
Meanwhile, Jin would remain behind to assist the people at the library.
"Wait... did you say Zola? Is he here with you?" When Selena heard Zola's name, she immediately asked about him. It turned out he was her cousin, whom she had been searching for all this time. Because of that, she completely changed her mind and decided to help Michael's group.
"I'm sorry, Boss. He's your relative. You can commit suicide if you want, but I'm leaving." A man in his thirties from Selena's team decided not to stay any longer and walked away, causing the others to hesitate as well and increasing their desire to leave.
"Of course, Morris. You are free to leave," Selena said, her tone dripping with absolute ice. "But make sure that if I return alive... you'll spend the rest of your days living in hell."
Cold sweat instantly covered Morris's back upon hearing Selena's words. He quickened his pace until he disappeared into the forest. The hesitation of the others immediately vanished, and they chose to obey their leader and remain behind.
"Alright then, more help is always welcome." Shawn stepped forward to ease the tense atmosphere, while Michael divided Selena's team as well.
The final formation became:
Team A: Michael, Shawn, and a girl named Jasmine (an archer).
Team B: Yoo-Min, Liam, Eddie, and Selena.
Meanwhile, Jin and the last member of Selena's team, Stephen, would remain behind to assist.
"Alright. Take your positions while I check the number of mutated zombies and estimate their strength." Michael climbed the nearest tree and began counting the zombies from above.
There were roughly four hundred zombies. Among them, there were 6 evolved variants: three Giants, one Hunter, one Runner, and finally, one that appeared to be the Leader.
The last one sat upon the shoulders of one of the Giant Zombies. Unlike the others, there wasn't a single piece of flesh left on its head; it was nothing but a bare skull. Blue flames burned inside its empty eye sockets. It looked exactly like the one Tony had described several days ago.
[Zombie Colonel — Tier 1]
A Tier 1 Zombie possessing high intelligence and a fragile body. It can command other zombies, and some individuals of this type are capable of using magic.
Primary Attribute Bias: Intelligence.
[Level: ????????]
[Skills: ????????]
"Hah... So they have a commander. That explains why they've gathered like this." Yoo-Min silently nodded after hearing Michael's observations. Soon afterward, everyone split up and headed toward their assigned positions.
"Zola! Hank! Come out and help us! We're going to split the horde apart!" Michael acted first. He shouted loudly while hurling Fireballs at the Runner Zombie charging toward him, successfully drawing its attention.
"Let's move! We'll use the buildings and abandoned cars as obstacles to slow the horde until we reach the cafeteria. Once we're there, we'll lure them inside and kill them in groups." Shawn and Jasmine were already sprinting toward the cafeteria before Michael had even finished explaining the plan.
"The first step succeeded." When Michael glanced behind him and saw the library doors opening while blades of wind shot outward, he noticed the zombie horde splitting into three different groups.
However, things didn't go exactly as expected. Most of the zombies remained in front of the library together with their commander.
"Michael, we need to finish these quickly and go back to help Jin and Stephen." Shawn stopped on top of an abandoned car and drew his axe, pointing toward the approaching horde. It consisted of roughly one hundred Tier 0 Zombies and two Tier 1 Zombies.
"It's alright. We'll take down the Runner before the other one arrives. After that, we'll deal with the small fries while taking advantage of the high ground." Michael looked around. They had reached a parking lot, which formed the perfect battlefield against zombies incapable of jumping.
"You two deal with the fast one. As for the giant... leave him to me," Jasmine spoke before leaping across the parked cars without waiting for anyone's response.
"Shawn... I'm trusting you with my life, man. Don't let me down." Michael explained his plan for quickly bringing down the Runner before rushing to assist Jasmine in case she couldn't keep her promise.
"I seriously don't know what's with these suicidal ideas you've been coming up with lately." Shawn shook his head helplessly, his hands trembling violently from nervousness.
"Everything... or nothing."
Michael was betting everything on this plan. If it succeeded, their chances of survival would increase dramatically. If it failed, he would die a gruesome death.