NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20: Locker Room?
<Alex, Real - Prepare, High School Gym>
Alex hesitated for a moment, looking critically at Kaylee. "Hey, what were you… before all this?"
The woman gave a confident smile even as she answered with practiced ease, "Professionally? A Project Manager for a province-spanning construction company. Personally? Eldest child in a massive family. We get things done."
Well, that explains why Grant defers to her so easily. They likely speak the same language.
Speaking of Grant, he was quickly altering settings on Alex's phone and setting up the main screens for the new situation.
"Why did you pick zombies?" Alex was curious.
Kaylee nodded. "My brothers loved zombie movies and shows. It was the enemy that I thought I could actually fight, even if I didn't get much from the System with which to do it. If I'd known more, I might have chosen differently, but the pie's out of the cow, so no use wishing for grass."
Alex blinked a few times before he fully parsed the metaphor. When he did, he found his smile growing. "I think I can respect that."
"You better. Even if you are a big scary level 2, I'll smack you good if you don't listen when you should."
"Yes, ma'am." Then, Alex frowned. "Wait a moment. We all chose slow, shambling zombies."
They all nodded.
"Nothing we've encountered since we got here has fit that description."
Natasha shrugged. "The hallway zombie was slow. That was my 'initial' opponent."
Alex felt his eye twitch. "I'm logging a formal complaint. I was asked for my choice of initial opponents, plural."
He had said it mainly as a means of letting off frustration as well as joking around, and so he jerked back in surprise when he got a System notice in response.
Admin Notice:
Formal Complaint logged.
Watcher Response:
Sorry, Alex. There's nothing I can do.
You were deemed too powerful for the standard scenarios. We had to up the difficulty to maintain balance.
That took all my designs and plasmized them, let me tell you.
I'm having to redesign basically every side and hidden quest on the fly, here.
The main quests are all sorts of unbalanced, but I'm working on those too.
On the positive side, the rewards will be greater.
The balance must be maintained and all that.
Don't get complacent.
Good job so far.
Good luck.
I'll be watching.
Alex gaped for a moment. "Well… chili verde."
Kaylee cocked her head to the side. "Chili verde?"
He glanced her way. "Wait… it actually changes what I say, not just what I hear?"
She gave a small giggle. "Oh, you turned on the censors? Good to know the result. Yeah, it seems to censor both what you say and what you hear."
And what I think… He sighed. He wasn't really cross, though. It added a bit of levity to an otherwise pretty bleak situation. "Well, it seems like the tutorial has been made more difficult for us. Rewards will be better, though."
Natasha gave him an arched eyebrow, seemingly asking if it was because of him. He gave a wry smile and a slight nod.
She just shook her head, her Russian accent coming through more thickly. "Of course."
Alex didn't comment on what the Watcher had either let slip or intentionally conveyed. She was making the sidequests. She had designed this whole scenario, it seemed. He tucked that bit of info away for later. It would inform how he looked at things going forward.
Grant hadn't been paying attention, but as he finished the phone, he handed it back with a smile. "Here you go."
It was a simple interface now. There were only six buttons on the display, one for the group as a whole, and one for each individual in their group.
"When you choose an option, you can then select voice or text."
Alex nodded, depositing the phone into his inventory. "Thank you."
"Thanks for disposing of the bodies." Grant smiled. "That would have been… I was not looking forward to clean up."
Alex nodded again before turning toward the men's locker room door.
James started talking to Kaylee, and Alex paid half an ear of attention. "I'll get up to the roof then and keep watch?"
Kaylee responded in the affirmative. "Our biggest weakness in here is that we don't know what's going on outside. The last info we got before data went down for our phones was that there were more and more attacks moving in this direction. We need to be ready."
Alex narrowed his focus to the door before him, tuning out the rest of the conversation.
Two of their former coworkers who had joined them were ready to remove the blockade for Alex.
He shifted slightly, hopping on the balls of his feet.
He was finally, fully ready.
"Alright, let's do this."
The wood creaked ominously as it was moved out of the way.
Alex shivered and popped the collar on his coat.
No need to leave an opening for attack. He felt a bit foolish for not having done so earlier.
Then, the door was there, ready and waiting.
The room around him was dark, with only scattered lights. He was the brightest thing there with his loops of self-powered illumination. Come on, Alex. You can do this.
For some reason, it was way creepier now than the first time.
Because the first time a zombie lunged out at you, and now your mind expects it.
He swallowed, walking forward and pushing the door open with his left hand, right hand holding his dadao at the ready.
The right-angle hallway was still right behind the door, taking an immediate turn to the right before doubling back on itself to give the locker room privacy from the gym.
Thankfully, the door didn't creak as he pushed it all the way open to thump against the wall.
Good, no zombie behind the door.
His Danger Sense—or more likely his own internal terror because nothing was actively attacking him—was going crazy in the creepy hallway.
He stepped inside and let the heavy wood swing shut, glancing behind the door just to be safe.
There wasn't anything there… except a bloodstain on the wall that looked like nothing so much as the silhouette of a geyser.
Oh, come on. That is a b-horror movie style blood-spray.
He turned back to look down the hall only to see something already looking at him.
It was a head, peeking silently around the wall, casting an ominous multiplicity of shadows behind it, each one of his light ropes giving it another shadow.
He yipped in startlement and fear.
The eyes had pupils, and while the stare was still that of a corpse, there was a literal light within them, purple and malevolent.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The thing licked its lips, still not moving.
He reflexively used Analyze.
Brood-Guard
Undead, ??, Level ??
The head was only about four feet from him.
Its spark was as oddly twisty as every other undead he'd seen, but the strength of it here made him believe that its strength was similar to that of the wight… if in different ways that he had no basis for understanding at the moment.
Fingers, one after another, reached around the wall to grip and give purchase to the thing.
Alex felt as if he were utterly incapable of moving.
Condition:
Brood-Guard's Thrall
Paralyzed
Duration: Condition imposed and maintained by eye contact
Apology Tutorial Addendum:
Seriously? Don't look them in the eyes, man!
"Alex?" Grant's voice came through the door, if barely. "Are you alright? Tony said he heard something."
The Brood-Guard's gaze jerked to the door as it started to open, breaking Alex's locked gaze with it.
He didn't hesitate, lunging forward, and slashing down, both hands on his dadao.
Preparing as it was to lunge forward, his blade connected before the Brood-Guard could pull back.
He cleanly took its head from its shoulders
…that would have mattered more if the body that lunged out—bouncing off the wall to come straight at Alex—hadn't had three other heads.
Even as the first head made a sickening thump against the tiled ground, the other three screeched in rage.
Alex did not look at any of the eyes, even as he hacked, fully dependent on his skills to guide his movements.
The creature had eight arms to go with its four heads. Now three.
One set of arms was hanging limply, but the other three sets clawed and ripped and tore.
The fingers were long and powerful, their claws sharp but short.
They tore his jacket to ribbons, but for the briefest moment, they were barely hurting him.
Then, as he chopped and moved and tried to chop some more, they seemed to realize they weren't getting anywhere.
Two sets of arms clamped down on his legs, while the remaining mobile set grabbed at his arms.
It was strong as it nearly immobilized him and lifted him from the ground with seeming ease.
He had a horrible premonition then.
It was going to slam him backward, right next to the blood splatter of this thing's last victim. It would then bite and tear before taking his head to replace the one he had cut off of it.
No.
<Alex, Introspection - His Plan>
Alex braced his dadao perfectly, and as the brood-guard drove him against the wall, the hilt of the weapon contacted first, the blade centered on the beast's chest.
Thus braced, the weapon caused it to skewer itself; its undead heart punctured.
Alex reached up and placed his hands, each on a side of two of the heads before slamming them together with inhuman force, splattering their brains across the floor.
Even as it fell away from him, dying, he sent a pulse of Basic Life Transfusion into the thing, turning all that remained into dust.
He landed on his feet, shredded coat swirling around him in glorious victory.
<Alex, Real - Prepare, High School Gym Men's Locker Room>
He could do this!
The brood-guard slammed him back against the wall, and he did his best to get the sword into position, but…
The brood-guard didn't bring its torso in close, so all that Alex accomplished was jamming his elbow into the tiles, just as his head knocked against the wall.
Even so, he didn't let that stop him.
He was dazed, but he amended his plans, swinging out with all his might against the restraining arms of the beast. He even managed to cut off another head.
He briefly considered using Force Burst, but not only would that be likely to damage the door, it would use far more mana than he wanted to with an unknown number of zombies ahead of him in need of dusting.
As the newly separated head fell, the two remaining heads squealed in an ear-piercingly high pitch.
Wounds:
Dazed x 1
[10 HP x 1 required to heal]
Perforated Eardrum x 2
[5 HP x 2 required to heal]
Two mouths came in and tried to bite his neck from either side.
Both bit heavy canvas instead.
Alex laughed, a bit deliriously, even as he punched it in the chest with his left hand.
Popping his collar had actually worked.
With his inhuman power, braced as he was against the wall, he threw the thing backward, its fingers tearing free and leaving little trailing cuts on his legs as they went.
Alex blinked and shook his head, pushing off the wall and chopping again, removing another head.
Finally, with only one head remaining, it seemed like it was unable to control its body well enough to function, as it fell to its knees.
Panting with effort, Alex stepped forward and took the final head.
"One down."
Only then did a System notice pop into his view.
Kill Notice:
You killed Undead Brood-Guard (Uncommon), level 8
Reward:
Experience to be granted when in a safe location.
Level 8? Really?
He supposed he shouldn't be surprised given the kind of creature that it was, but still.
All things considered, he was doing alright.
<Natasha, Real - Prepare, High School Gym>
Natasha leveled her spear at the locker room door, Grant and Kaylee near at hand.
Alex had only gone in there moments earlier, and already odd sounds were coming from inside, including one that seemed incredibly high pitched. What bear is that man riding now?
He seemed to have a habit of getting into difficult situations. Though, so far, he'd also gotten out of them relatively alright.
Even so, she didn't want to take his survival for granted, so she approached the door, ready to give aid.
"Ready?"
"Ready." Came back the response from her two group members.
I hope we aren't too late.
<Alex, Real - Prepare, High School Gym Men's Locker Room>
Alex was breathing heavily as he analyzed his fight with the brood-guard.
It had only taken about ten percent of his health, and that was mainly done with bludgeoning damage and the little bit of clawing.
He'd be right as rain in a few minutes.
That made sense, he should be roughly equivalent to a level 18 or so with his rare race and class.
Except I don't actually know what I'm doing yet, and I'm not used to the System.
That was likely giving him close to 50% handicap, so the beast was just about right for him at the moment…
But why was it here?
Likely in direct response, another System window appeared.
Quest [Brood-Guard?]
Brood-Guards are created creatures, designed to protect creatures as they are turned to undeath. If these are here, something more must be going on.
Investigate the High School for other signs of foul play.
Rewards:
Dependent on information gathered, creatures slain, plots foiled, people rescued, and the number of initiates who participate.
Then, the door out to the gym was kicked open, knocking against the main body of the beast, sliding it aside and leaving a trail of blood.
Natasha stood there, spear ready, Kaylee over her shoulder with her crossbow leveled, and Grant off to the side, his hammer raised.
Alex swayed slightly—his perforated ears giving him trouble—even as he raised his left hand in a little wave. "Hey… backup's here. Yay."
Natasha looked him up and down. She spoke, but he couldn't really hear her properly.
He shook his head and motioned to his ears. "I can't hear, give me about 30 seconds."
He glanced down at the dead creature and grimaced.
He kicked it, sending a single point of mana—and roughly four of health—into the thing, turning it to dust. "I need to check deeper in. If there are more, I don't want to have to heal my ears again."
He wasn't shouting. He was very specifically whispering loudly, even so, he kept his eyes at about waist height, looking at the turn-back of the hall.
He wasn't going to be enthralled again so easily.
Natasha shook her head in obvious resignation, though he could see a small smile on her lips. Then, she let the door swing shut, closing him back into the murder hallway.
Alone.
Yay… all alone again.
He swallowed, then crept forward.
Once again his Danger Sense—or his own internal terror—was going crazy.
He did not want to go around the curve of the hallway.
He did not want to look and come face to face with another undead horror.
…Alex went anyway.
There were people counting on him, and he was in a position to help, to defend. This was why he'd picked these enemies… well, the slow kind at least.
He took one step after another—despite his desperate desire not to do so—and peeked around the corner.
He absolutely knew that stealth was off the table.
He was wearing a small rave's worth of lights, and they were throwing shadows and reflections all over the place, but he still couldn't bring himself to move more quickly.
As he poked his head around the wall, nothing was in the switchback of the hallway as he kept his eyes on the floor.
Alright, so far, so good.
He walked forward, sword at the ready, eyes low enough to not catch another brood-guard's gaze.
That was an entirely effective strategy for any of the opponents that he'd faced so far. He wasn't lucky enough to come across one of them, however.
Instead, when his Danger Sense truly did flare a warning, it was just as something dropped toward him from the ceiling.