NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21: Locker Room!
<Alex, Real - Prepare, High School Gym>
Alex stepped forward as his Danger Sense warned him of the attack from above.
He allowed his body to move in a smooth twist even as he whipped his dadao in an arc, sweeping upward and embedding it in the sternum of the falling undead.
At the same moment, a zombie came into the hallway from deeper in, rushing at Alex's now exposed back.
Alex, for his part, continued his sweeping strike up over his head—now with the extra burden—and brought it down upon the head of the new zombie.
Thus, by having the new attacker act as a sort of awkward cutting board, the dadao finished bisecting the first undead and cleaved downward, stopping at the new one's pelvis.
Kill Notice:
You killed Zombie Ceiling Crawler (Common), level 2
You killed Zombie Ravager (Common), level 3
Reward:
Experience to be granted when in a safe location.
Alex did not like that the Zombie Ceiling Crawler was considered 'Common.'
He did not like that at all.
Alex hesitated, fully processing what he'd just done. Huh… that was… that was really cool. I did not imagine that I could do such a thing.
After a moment's reverie and self congratulations, he got back to the matter at hand.
He was about to raise his foot to impart Basic Life Transfusion once again, but then he remembered Force Blast, and how it had treated his sword and clothing as if it were a part of him.
That in mind, he tried to use his dadao as the contact required for Basic Life Transfusion… It didn't work.
He just didn't understand the underlying mechanics well enough to make it work.
It wasn't worth the delay to figure it out in that moment. So, he kicked each one once, imparting a drip casting of Basic Life Transfusion to dust them.
He then sucked in a breath, having marginally pulled a muscle by kicking too high. He clutched his spasming leg, trying to keep from whimpering in pain. Mother goat tails!
He'd moved perfectly, but his body simply hadn't fully adjusted yet. Thankfully, his fast healing meant that his muscles calmed down incredibly quickly.
I really need to take an hour to just stretch… maybe two to do a thorough job.
He heard a subtle pop, pop as his ears decided to fully heal at the same time.
Note to self, figure out how to direct healing to specific injuries in the order that I choose.
Now that he could hear… the silence was still oppressive.
He took the final step to allow the lights he wore to shine into the locker room at large and allow him to get a proper look around. That forced another grimace across his face.
Before him was the flat face of a bank of lockers.
There were going to be at least a few rows of lockers that he would have to fully clear… somehow.
He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his off hand. Then, he steeled his resolve and looked up with determination in his eyes and stance. "Let's get this done with."
Ten minutes later, he was leaning against the far exit from the locker room.
"That could have gone worse." He decided to take a moment to check his resources and status while he caught his breath.
Character Sheet:
Alex Johnson
Life-Aspected Human (Rare), F, Level 2
Class: Life-Aspected Warrior (Rare), F, Level 1
Class 2: NA
HP: 352/660
SP: 320/410
MP: 81/160
Wounds:
Broken Bone x 1
[77 HP x 1 required to heal]
Broken Bone, Misaligned x 3
[500 HP x 3 required to heal]
Deep, ragged gash x 16
[100 HP x 16 required to heal]
Unrewarded Kills:
Zombie Ceiling Crawler (Common), level 2 x 11
Undead Brood-Guard (Uncommon), level 8
Undead Brood-Guard (Uncommon), level 9
Zombie Ravager (Common), level 3 x 9
Zombie Lurker (Common), level 3 x 3
Other than the wounds, he was doing… okay.
As to his current predicament? Of course, there was no way to secure the door.
The lock had been jimmied so that it looked like it was locked, and the door even stuck a bit, but with anything like a good shove from the other side—or a jerk from this one—it would open right up.
Teenagers…
He pulled out his phone and was about to voice call when he realized that if there was a host of zombified students outside the door, he'd rather not call attention to himself at the moment.
Since his right hand wasn't really usable, he began holding the gashes he could reach closed one by one with his left hand, only pausing to type out a text. He'd found that whatever wound had the least requirement would be healed first, which made a bit of sense he supposed.
So, when he held a gash closed, that dropped it to requiring the least HP, making it prioritized.
'Door secured but can't be left so. Need help setting bones. Please advise.'
A moment later, Alex heard the door at the far side of the locker room open.
He knew that it was likely help coming his way, but he still felt his heart rate increase.
My Danger Sense would be saying something if it was an enemy.
Even so, he felt himself twitching as he heard footsteps echoing through the newly secured locker room.
He finally gave into the fear and cast Detect Life with one point of Mana, getting a hundred twenty-five foot radius spherical picture of everything living that existed around him.
He then followed the movement of all of those things for a second and a quarter.
It looked like a few people were actively moving about in the other locker room. If his quick glimpse was correct, he would bet that they were fighting.
More importantly, however, he was able to verify that the being coming his way through the locker room was alive.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
That let him relax a bit, but he still jerked when Lenka stepped quietly around the corner.
"Easy there, Alex." Her eyes widened as she saw him. "I am very surprised by what I am seeing."
Alex huffed a laugh at the censored and altered obscenity that the woman had likely uttered. In this case, it had translated her intent. Either way, he doubted that he'd ever get tired of the alterations. "Yeah… It was a rather chaotic brawl there for a bit."
"The sound insulation on the locker rooms is top-notch. We didn't hear a thing."
"Probably at least a bit magical in nature. They seem to like using magic in their mundane tasks around here. Are the others clearing out the girl's side?"
She nodded, "Yeah, Natasha, Grant, and Kaylee are getting it done. That Matt guy is helping too, with some of his students. They aren't half bad for NPCs."
Alex sighed. "I don't think we'll do well thinking of them that way, but regardless, I'm glad they're useful."
"So, what needs setting? Are you in fighting shape?"
He began directing her to his misaligned bones, while answering her through gritted teeth. "Give me ten minutes, and I'll be solid, assuming we can align everything correctly. Otherwise I'll need about an hour."
She nodded, moving from one to the next with practiced efficiency.
"You seem to have done this before?"
"I trained as a combat medic before being disqualified."
"Oh? Couldn't name all your bones? I hear there are… at least a dozen of those."
She huffed a laugh. "Couldn't stand the sight of blood."
She looked down at him, visibly swallowing back her gorge. Only then did he notice how pale she looked.
"I'll try not to paint you brown."
He nodded slowly, grateful for her efforts. "And you chose zombies?"
"Black sludge isn't blood?"
"That's… fair." He gasped as she put the last bone back where it belonged. After a moment of gritted teeth he let out a long breath."Okay, I'm good here. You can get back to the others."
She shook her head. "No, we're not leaving you in here alone, and I'm needed back on the other side."
He pointed at the lock. "Doesn't lock. What do you suggest?"
She grinned, then pulled out two metal tool stands with their tops bolted together.
It came out of her inventory perfectly, wedged just right between the wall and the door. There wasn't even a sound as it popped into place.
"I've been practicing with precise Inventory use. Thanks for the tip on the skill. I've got it moved out of 'Temp' rarity and into Common."
He nodded. "Nice. Let's—" He sucked in a breath as he tried to stand. "Just wait here for another moment."
"Not possible. I'll re-set anything that needs it, but we have to pull back to the gym. Kaylee's orders."
Alex found himself smiling at that, just happy to not be in charge. "Yes, ma'am."
As Lenka helped him to his feet, both of the phones buzzed.
Lenka was faster, given that she had both arms working, and Alex's one working arm was already over her shoulder.
He was a bit irritated with that.
His supposedly upgraded defensive skill hadn't done anything really useful against the physical attacks of the various zombies. He'd been able to use it a couple of times to block attacks, but the cooldown made it difficult to use effectively. He would have been better served with the common version for clearing the locker room.
The only saving grace was that he suspected that that had been the point.
Life's Defense (Common) was intended to be a general boost that helped a little against everything.
Life's Active Defense (Uncommon) was meant to be incredibly useful against powerful attacks, while doing basically nothing against weaker threats.
He wished that he'd fully understood that before choosing. Though, he probably wouldn't have changed his choice.
No, I definitely wouldn't have.
Regardless, Lenka had stiffened.
"Emergency need, Alex."
Alex sucked in a breath, then nodded, steeling himself against the pain to come. "What's happening?"
"James just let everyone know that the horde is about to arrive."
Alex called up the Group Quest panel.
Group Quest [Prepare]:
Create a base of operations from which you can survive the end of the world.
Outbreak will begin within:
03:21 hrs
"Of course… How long?"
"He says the zombies seem to be pouring into every building they come across. The front runners will be here in less than five minutes if his estimate is correct. The true front wave in…" She sighed, realizing the same thing he had. "Twenty one minutes."
"At the exact half point of the quest timer…" As if in response to that statement, Alex watched the text on his quest panel change.
Group Quest [Prepare]:
Create a base of operations from which you can survive the end of the world.
The outbreak has begun.
Survive:
03:21 hrs
He was quite irritated as he whispered under his breath "I would like to lodge a formal complaint."
Apology Tutorial Notice:
Initiates are restricted to a maximum of one Formal Complaint per day within the Apology Tutorial. The exact number to be determined by the Watcher over the Initiate.
Alex huffed a laugh at that, smiling despite himself. "Fine." He then looked to Lenka whose height—or lack thereof—allowed her to be able to stand straight under his upraised arm. "What do they need?"
"The security cage at the front of the school. It's apparently rather robust and even imbued with magic. Once it's sealed, it cannot be opened for twelve hours, so we don't have to hold the controls to prevent it from being reopened."
He gave a slow nod. "Where are the controls?"
"Right at the front of the school."
Alex gave her a flat look. "There is no way. Teenagers would trigger that all the time."
That got a smile in return. "It requires a payment of 100 HP to activate, and the magics won't allow such if that would kill the activator."
That… made a lot of sense, actually. That essentially meant that no one without levels could activate it.
That made him a bit more hopeful for the teachers who were still locked in with their students that he'd sensed with his Detect Life spell.
"Alright. I'm guessing that the other locker room won't be cleared in time."
She shook her head. "Kaylee pulled back to respond. They're having some trouble against some zombie that seems to be able to move through shadows?"
Alex shuddered. "Lurkers. Let them know that they can't appear where you're looking, and they won't retreat. Put your back to a corner and attack behind yourself without looking. That usually works."
She gave him a long, long look. "Okay, then. I'll let her know."
He grimaced then sighed. "And tell her that we'll get to the door."
<Natasha, Real - Prepare, Women's Locker Room>
Natasha wouldn't have thought it possible, but she was loving fighting zombies.
True, she'd suspected it would be better than the offered alternatives, but the way her magic flowed through her as she slid across the floor or drove her spear through the elusive monsters was simply invigorating.
Those supporting her were a boon to the experience, and likely what took it from a creepy trip through a horror-themed high school locker room and transformed it into something that she genuinely wished had a peppy fight-song in the background.
She did not have much MP, but both her Quick Step and Mine-Not-Yours skills used stamina, and she'd been an avid runner before all this madness.
The System seemed to have honored that dedication, giving her discounts on all her stamina expenses as part of her class.
Initiate of the Guard (Uncommon), F
All skills or spells that use stamina cost you 25% less of that resource.
Your SP is calculated at double your Racial Base.
Your effective Physical Agility and Power for physical attack and defense is 10% greater when wielding a spear or short sword.
You take 10% less damage from Physical attacks when you are armed with a spear or short sword and unrestrained.
You earn double experience when acting in the defense of a person of a rarer Race than yourself.
It was honestly a monster of a class.
The only one she knew of who'd give her the bonus to experience was Alex, but she didn't mind that much.
He actually seemed like someone whom her husband would enjoy spending time with, so she was looking forward to them getting through this tutorial and back home so the two men could meet.
I'm sure we can find a way to all team up on the outside… depending on what's happened to earth in our absence.
She used Mine-Not-Yours before pulling her spear back, letting it slip free of the ravager's guts without any problem.
That—coupled with fast footwork and a Quick Step—allowed her to slip away from a brood-guard's heavy downward slam.
She stepped back in, thrusting into where the heart should be, Mine-Not-Yours letting her weapon pierce much deeper than it otherwise could have.
At the same time, a bolt took a ceiling crawler in the eye as it tried to drop down on Natasha.
Kaylee was keeping a good eye out for those, and Natasha was grateful for that. The minute or two that the other woman had been gone had been more stressful than ideal, but she'd come back with an easy strategy for taking out the one zombie type that had been giving them trouble, so that had been worth it.
Grant stepped forward and crushed one of the brood-guard's heads, even as the local—Matt—filled the eyes of two other heads with knives.
Together, they were bringing the beasts down, and no one had gotten infected, at least not yet.
While fighting the zombies was fun, it was a bit nerve-wracking. After all, they essentially had to be perfect in their actions, because even the smallest scratch might infect them.
They didn't really know the virulence of the plague yet, but it paid to be careful.
All told, though, things were going well.