Season 2: Chapter 19. Battle (3)
The store door eerily creaked and echoed, but it wasn't loud.
"Groan..."
Zombies still twitched on the floor. A few looked in their direction.
'Are they all really lying down?'
The chunky boy gaped in shock at all the zombies lying around.
Having seen this earlier, the clerk beside him seemed slightly less startled.
"Let's review," she whispered the plan in the softest voice possible.
"I'll stand by the west door... Pizza Bread in the middle of the hallway, Soboro Bread by the north door. Right?"
"Yes. When Soboro gives the signal, I'll wave my hand. Close it accordingly."
The three whispered and reviewed the plan. The crux of the strategy was to close the south and north doors simultaneously. While it seemed safer to close them one at a time together, the loud noise of a closing door could attract zombies from above to another door, which would be far more dangerous.
Hence, the store clerk waited by the closest west door while Almond would close the north door at the right moment.
It was a nerve-racking plan. A mistake from either side could escalate into grave danger.
Almond raised his hand in front.
"Most of them can't move. It'll be easy."
His hand signaled the start and swiftly dropped. Quietly, the trio began moving at the drop of his hand.
Just then—
"Raaaaah!"
Clack!
One zombie propped itself up with its arm since its legs were completely useless.
"!?"
Clack!
It swam on the ground by dragging itself with its arms.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
It swam frantically and moved faster than expected.
"Uh...?" the clerk inadvertently let out a muffled scream, but quickly stifled it.
The zombie moving with its arms and the sticky sound of the blood-covered floor made for a grotesque scene.
Slurp!
The distance between them narrowed faster than expected. The horror of it rattled the seemingly normal clerk and the chunky boy.
"Uh, uh, aaaaah!" the previously composed chunky boy cried out.
"Didn't you say they couldn't move!?"
"Ah... Maybe because most of their legs were cut off...?"
It wasn't possible to sever the waists, arms, and legs of all the zombies. Only a few had been incapacitated to that extent.
Almond had primarily targeted their legs to immobilize them, so the zombies could only use their arms to approach and dragged themselves on the ground.
'But there are too many of them that can move...'
Some even began to rise and slowly walked.
'Did they recover?'
The clerk stepped back in shock.
Bang...
She bumped into a metal door and made a rather loud noise.
"!"
"... Gasp!?"
The noise was loud enough for the zombies lying far away to react.
"Raaah!"
"Rawr!"
The zombies came swimming in droves, propelling themselves with their arms.
Clack! Clack!
Clack! Clack!
"He, huuu!" a scream still leaked out even though she bit down hard.
— Poor store clerk...
— They seem scared...
— Does this work?
— Wow.
"What are you doing? I gave you a weapon!" Almond shouted at her, even though he was the one who said the zombies were sensitive to sound.
"You, you're crazy..."
The store clerk tried to call him crazy, but the words wouldn't come out. An overwhelming fear had consumed her. The terror sapped her spirit.
"Just swing it! Whether at their shoulders or backs!"
Only Almond's voice could be heard now.
"!?"
The zombies all turned toward the noise at Almond. Somehow, Almond had already distanced himself from the store clerk and the boy.
‘I should do it since I’m the player.’
For those two, this situation was real. It was happening in reality, and those zombies were once their customers and friends.
It was impossible for them to react. In this place, only a complete outsider like the player Almond could act accordingly. After all, this was just a game to him.
Almond swung the steel pipe with a hammer attached to it at the approaching zombie's head.
Thud!
The zombie's head caved in and burst.
'Did it work?'
Their heads had been impossible to pierce with the sharpened wooden spear, but could the hammer do it?
"Kraaaa!"
The zombie shrieked and trembled before falling.
— Oh, it worked!?
— He killed it!
— Wow!
He killed it. Hitting the head worked, but it had to be crushed.
'It works.'
Almond swung his steel pipe hammer at the next zombie with this newfound knowledge. His aim was precise.
Thwack!
An odd sound occurred.
"!?"
The tape holding the hammer broke. His force didn't fully transfer and only cracked the head.
"Kraaaa!"
The momentarily stunned zombie aggressively lunged again.
'This can't be.'
The new weapon had failed and broke.
The durability of the steel pipe and hammer was high, but the box tape wasn’t reliable. The box tape was the connection point of the weapon, which was its flaw.
Almond looked back at the boy and shouted, "Pizza Bread! Throw me the wooden spear!"
"The wooden spear? But this is..."
Pizza Bread also brought the wooden spear just in case.
"This, you said this doesn't work!?" Pizza Bread continued.
"Hurry!"
Upon Almond's urgent shout, Pizza Bready reluctantly rolled the weapon on the ground. At the same time, a zombie leaped forward with its mouth wide open.
"Kraaaa─"
The zombie crawling toward Almond threw its whole body forward with its mouth open.
Whoosh!
The wooden spear pierced deep into the zombie's mouth and skewered it.
"Kraaa!" the zombie shrieked.
Was it from pain? No, it was still reaching out for the prey in front of it.
Gulp, gulp...
The creature pushed the skewer through its heart and lungs and kept moving forward. Blood violently gushed out as chunks of flesh fell with a thud. It was a gruesome sight.
'This is insane.'
The zombie still charged even with a hole in its body. Fighting such a creature took an entirely different logic from previous battles.
'It's not coming out.'
The wooden spear got stuck in its mouth and wouldn’t come out. Almond began to push the screaming zombie away with his foot.
Thump! Thump!
However, the other zombies didn't wait.
"Kraaaa!"
"Raaah!"
Two more charged at him. Almond had to stop what he was doing to evade their attacks.
"Hey, here's another one!"
The chubby boy threw him another wooden spear, the one that the clerk had.
"Nice."
Almond caught the spear, twirled it around, and targeted the gap between the zombie's jaw and cheekbone where there was no bone. If it hit bone, the spear would be useless.
Swish!
Thankfully, his attack landed precisely.
With the zombie’s jaw slackening, he successfully pulled out the spear that was stuck. Now Almond had two spears. He immediately used one to pierce and disable the zombie on his left.
Thud!
"You have to pierce the arm."
He couldn't penetrate through any bones, so it was about disabling their limbs and muscles.
The crawling zombies began to encircle him.
Whoosh! Thud! Thud!
He furiously attacked with two spears and soon incapacitated them. More zombies surprisingly charged at him, but they fell even faster than they approached.
— Using two spears is fast
— Easy game lol. If one spear isn't enough, use two lol
— Crazy Almond... Such insane physicality... Walnut only tries hard for advertisements...
Holding two weapons in a fight was already challenging enough.
"Kraaah!"
Whoosh!
The zombies attacked, but Almond evaded by a hair's breadth and precisely stabbed over their shoulder muscles.
— What kind of game is this? lol
— I'm sure I'd become a zombie in 5 seconds
— Maybe becoming a zombie and annihilating humans is the main content?
His feats resembled tightrope walking tricks. Thanks to that, the zombies quickly became disabled.
The viewers felt puzzled. Was this game supposed to be this hard? Or was Almond just making it unnecessarily challenging?
— Is this the right way to play? It doesn't seem right.
— How do players like Gum play? lol
***
"S-Soboro Bread..."
The clerk couldn't take her eyes off Almond. The chubby boy, Pizza Bread, beside her was the same.
"What's he doing...?" Pizza Bread muttered and forgot that he shouldn't make a sound.
"Should we close the west door?" The clerk, asked.
"Y-Yes."
They planned on closing both doors simultaneously, but closing one right now seemed better considering the situation. Almond drew all the aggro, so they thought they'd cover his back. However...
"Ugh!"
They ran into a zombie descending the western stairs.
"!"
Pizza Bread's arms began to tremble.
"C-Close the door. Hurry..."
"You... you try it."
The clerk's teeth chattered as if she was standing naked in the cold.
"I-I can't—"
Clang!
There was no time to argue with the zombie only about three steps away.
Shuffle. Shuffle.
This wasn't one of the zombies Almond had disabled already. It could walk and was fundamentally different from the crawling ones.
"Grrr."
Gulp.
Pizza Bread swallowed. The only weapon he had was a steel pipe wrapped in wire. He thought it was possible and recalled Almond’s swing earlier. He was certain he could kill a zombie at least once.
"Let's do it."
Determined, Pizza Bread charged forward. According to Almond, the zombies were usually slow and only moved fast when they charged in to bite. Hence, a preemptive attack was the way to survive.
"Argh!"
Thud!
The hammer struck its head, but then...
"Huh?"
Not everyone could hit as precisely as Almond. A head wasn't flat, but curved. A slight miss could make a vast difference in the impact.
Pizza Bread’s blow only left a terrible bald spot on the left side of the zombie’s head. It was impossible to crush the skull.
"Roarrr!"
The zombie charged at him with blood dripping from its head.
"Oh... damn."
When he thought it was over, the chubby boy suddenly realized it wasn't a total loss.
"Move awayyy!"
From behind, the store clerk’s shout echoed. He turned around and saw her throw what looked like a table.
"Wha—"
Before Pizza Bread could react, it was already too late. The shadow of the table engulfed him.
Crash!
***
"Pi, Pizza Bread!" the store clerk screamed in surprise.
The table she threw pushed away the zombie, but it also hit Pizza Bread.
Thud.
The chubby boy crumbled to his knees from the impact.
"Pizza Bread! I'm sorry! I didn't mean..."
As the disoriented clerk sat next to Pizza Bread, the zombie began to crawl toward them from under the table.
Click, click!
It approached the table while still on its back.
Thump!
Finally, the zombie's hand grasped the hem of the chubby boy’s pants.
"Uh..."
The clerk panicked and tried to grab the hammer, but perhaps she was drained from lifting the table earlier. Her legs gave out as if they had fallen asleep.
Thud.
The zombie opened its mouth toward Pizza Bread’s leg.
"Ahh—"
Just as the clerk's desperate cry rang out...
Whoosh!
A wooden spear flew in from somewhere and lodged itself into the back of the zombie’s neck. The spear avoided the bone and pierced through to the jaw muscles.
"Garggghhh...!"
The zombie couldn't close its mouth. Only drool dripped onto Pizza Bread’s pants. The zombie could no longer bite him.
"What are you doing? Move!"
"Ah!"
Only then did the clerk come to her senses and grabbed Pizza Bread’s arms to drag him back. She finally sat down exhausted after dragging him to the front of the store.
"Ha... ha... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just tried to help..."
"It's okay."
Almond approached and extended his hand to her.
Behind him was a swarm of zombies that couldn't even properly crawl anymore.
Tick... tick...
The pitiful zombies could only make a sound with their teeth.
“It's all over now.”
As Almond said, it was indeed over. The clerk couldn't hide her surprise. While she foolishly threw the table and also struck Pizza Bread in the process, Almond fought through numerous zombies and managed to close the fire door at the east staircase.
"You... you're kind of incredible?"
She felt that perhaps with him, they could navigate through this situation.
Ding.
[The clerk now trusts you!]
***
At that moment, Bubblegum was also streaming.
— Hi hi
— Oh bro, you started the stream early today?
— GumHi~
— Are we really doing Zombie School today?
Bubblegum downloaded Zombie School yesterday and planned on playing it today. The viewers seemed to remember and eagerly anticipated it.
"Heh, hello everyone."
Ding.
A burst of donations greeted him.
[GumPrice has donated 10,000 won!]
[Why did you come on so early!?]
"Oh, thank you GumPrice. I thought I'd come on a little earlier today."
Usually, Bubblegum's stream started around seven or eight in the evening, but he started around two hours earlier at five today.
[Liar has donated 3,000 won!]
[Did you choose this time so Almond's viewers won't come and preach?]
— Lolololol for real
— That's it
— Almond's viewers do have high standards.
"Liar, you need to live up to your name. That’s not why I turned it on~"
— Shameless
— Lolol caught red-handed
— His face is already admitting it.
"Well, as you all said, let's start Zombie School today."
Bubblegum quickly changed the topic, thinking he'd only get teased if he continued the conversation.
"Let's get right into it without delay."
He immediately began explaining the game.
"Ah, for those who may not know, Zombie School is an intense survival game set in a school."
Suddenly, a video donation came in.
[Liar has donated [Even Almond has crappy moments in the game (literally)] a video for 20,000 won.]
— Lololol
— That is...
— Oh, that's the game.
The video showed Almond’s avatar, who mistakenly thought all the viewers had seen him use the restroom, with a dumbfounded expression as he exited the game.
— Lololol it's legendary every time I see it
— His eyes are popping out lol
— A mountain for Bubblegum to climb over.
"Yes, as you can see. As I said, it's a very tough survival game. Even using the restroom has to be dealt with in this game. You could say it's that kind of crappy game."
Bubblegum launched the game.
"So, today's game is~~~"