Season 3: Chapter 2: Occupying The Main Building (2)
The players were unaware, but a total of five teams were participating in this challenge and they were all competing on the same server. No, they weren’t just on the same server. They were all in the same school and were all second years in high school.
"Team 1 is Class 1, Team 2 is Class 2, Team 3 is Class 3... Is this how the classes have been assigned?"
"That's right."
The team's numbers also applied to their class numbers. Naturally, each team started with around forty members, including NPCs.
All the players participating in the challenge had been at the playground during the principal's speech.
"Zombies! Zombies have appeared!"
"Here, the first zombie has appeared!"
They all ran away when the zombie crisis occurred. Some of them even entered the same main building.
The players had the same dream according to their roles, although their classes differed.
"Everyone will probably head to the main building! The player who dreams about the map will have dreamed about the main building!"
All the challenge teams had no choice but to aim for the main building. That was the only clue they had.
"Ah~! Team 1! With unstoppable momentum, they close the entrance while occupying the south side of the main building!"
The first to enter the main building was Team 1, known as the challenge hunters. They occupied the south without any losses due to their position on the playground.
"Team 3 occupies the central entrance!"
The team in the middle, Team 3, made their way to the west toward the center of the main building.
"Team 5 is late and, after finding the entrance blocked, has turned back to the eastern door!"
Team 5 was the last to enter the main building. The other teams were too late to enter the main building.
Chrrrrr! Thump!
Everyone was busy lowering the entrance shutters.
"Are the only teams not yet inside the main building Teams 2 and 4?"
"That seems to be the case! Those two teams will need to look for another location!"
Teams 2 and 4 headed to the construction site and the cafeteria respectively.
"There's no need to focus on the main building just because it appeared in the dream. Everyone is compromising and moving!"
The dream showed that it was advantageous to occupy the main building, but no rule in reality said that had to be the case. After all, the main building had other competitors in it. It could be safer to occupy the construction site or cafeteria like the other teams.
As always, the real enemy in this game was not the zombies.
***
As expected, teams began to encounter each other after a while.
"They’re already meeting!?"
Teams 1 and 3 had met, specifically Almond’s group from Class 3.
Unaware that others were occupying the south, Class 3 had divided their forces into thirds and entered the south side.
"Team 3 and Team 1 were closer than we thought!"
"They haven't turned the corner in the corridor yet. They’re getting closer!"
From their point of view, they hadn’t noticed each other. From above, it was clear that they would soon meet as they walked toward each other.
"Uh... but if they meet, Team 3 will be overwhelmingly outnumbered, right?"
"That's right! Team 1 has nearly forty members swarming around right now?"
The numbers were too unfavorable. Meeting didn't guarantee an immediate fight, but sooner or later, they were destined to become enemies. Whether they met now or later, the danger was the same.
"Wouldn't it be best not to meet?"
Team 1 was the challenge hunter team. If they were aggressively playing the game, they would want to eliminate potential future enemies at the start. They wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity where they accidentally met and outnumbered another team.
"It’s better for Team 3 to avoid them. I think so too!"
"Have they noticed?"
"I guess not."
It seemed unlikely. Without looking from above, they wouldn’t know their distance from each other.
"Ah. I don't know. I don't know. How would we know this? We see it from above, but the players wouldn't know...."
“Huh?”
The commentator paused briefly.
"Is that…? Almond. He must know from how he’s moving, right?"
Putting his index finger to his lips, Almond quieted the students and put his ear to the floor.
— What? How does he know? lol
— Wow, his senses are crazy
"Uh... Did he notice by sound? Can you distinguish them from zombies?"
"Almond! Now they’re hiding in the bathroom!"
Almond entered the bathroom with the students.
"Can he tell how many they have too?"
"That's right...?"
It was rare for someone to hide after hearing just the sound of human footsteps. Almond had even figured out that the opponent had greater numbers.
— What, is this some superpower?
— His sensory level must be crazy high
— Is this the national level of Civil Empire?! Is this the national level of Civil Empire?!
— Whoa
— Miraculous judgment
"This is good judgment, Almond! Was he a player who could make such decisions?"
"The era when he only relied on his physical skills has passed, hasn't it?"
Almond's gaming experience gradually accumulated as he was exposed to various strategies and tactics, which he developed. He no longer carelessly engaged in battles when victory was uncertain, especially since this game was not just about keeping himself safe. He also had to protect the NPCs.
Even if he could break through using his combat skills, the NPCs would get annihilated. Therefore, hiding was a good decision if they hadn't been noticed yet.
"Huh?"
Someone from Team 1 approached the door, looking puzzled.
[Team 1 - Radish Kimchi]
His nickname was Radish Kimchi. He was a skilled streamer, but not a particularly popular one. He planned to gain viewers through his performance in this challenge.
Radish Kimchi grinned. He had discovered someone.
"Hey."
***
A large eye appeared in the keyhole and spoke, "Why are you peeking from there?"
— Whoa
— lol
— Gasp
— We're screwed
— What??
‘Huh?’
Almond unwittingly took a step back.
'We've been caught.'
"You can see everything from the footprints."
The speaker seemed to sneer.
Almond suddenly looked down.
'Ah.'
Bloodstains were scattered here and there. Dragging along several NPCs meant leaving such traces was inevitable. He hadn't thought to avoid people initially, so he didn’t care about leaving such traces.
"How many people do you guys have?" the voice outside asked again.
"We're neither zombies nor infected. Wouldn't it be better to join us and survive together?"
Join them and survive together? That sounded good, but...
"What? Is there someone there?"
"Yeah. They must be hiding."
"Eh? Why hide? Is there an infected?"
The people outside murmured and started to realize that there were others inside this bathroom.
"Guys, come out."
"Forget it. What if they’re infected? Just leave them."
"But isn't it better to have more people?"
It sounded like they were talking about NPCs. These guys hadn't yet understood that this was a competitive setup. They weren't as smart as the class president NPC and didn’t know this was a competition among other teams.
"So... why are we hiding?"
"Yeah, let's just join them. Zombies are scary."
The students from Class 3 behind Almond felt confused.
"Hey. Didn't you hear what the class president and Bubblegum said earlier? We were going to close all the doors and ditch the other classes. Don't you think they would do the same?"
"But... they're all in the main building now. We didn't ditch them..."
"Don't be naive!"
The students argued among themselves.
Almond quickly hushed them and worried that their voices would carry through the door.
"Shh. We need to figure out if it's safe first."
Although he said this, knowing that there were players among them meant it was dangerous.
Almond cautiously asked, "How many do you guys have?"
From what he could hear, they undoubtedly had a large number of people.
"Us? Uh... about..."
Almond peeked through the keyhole.
The guy was looking down at the footprints and counting them.
— Are they trying to match the numbers?
— That guy is definitely a player
— Are they Team 1??
"Looks like we're about ten."
"..."
It was a lie.
Almond briefly closed his eyes. He needed to think.
'It would have been easier if it were Tako.'
Why did such a situation happen to him? He wanted to curse his luck, but complaining wouldn't solve anything.
He focused on the situation using the unique mental techniques he had trained during his archery days.
"Which class are you from?"
"Class 1."
Zzzing.
A message arrived on Almond's phone.
[Takoyaki: Closed the door. Something seems to have happened to Gum bro.]
[Almond: I just ran into Class 1 kids]
[Takoyaki: ???]
[Takoyaki: Really? What's their reaction?]
[Almond: They don't seem like NPCs]
There was no reply for a moment. Then, Tako unleashed a storm of messages.
[Takoyaki: Damn it]
[Takoyaki: Did the challenge planners deliberately not explain it?]
[Takoyaki: I need to stay in the infirmary now, so I can't get there.]
[Almond: I'll try to deal with this alone.]
Thump. Thump.
The people outside began to pound on the door.
"Why are you hesitating? Are you infected?"
The players seemed to be considering forced entry because they knew they had the advantage in numbers.
— Killing for no reason would demoralize the class kids
— Are these guys seriously trying to kill people?
— That's insane
Thump! Thump!
The pounding on the door grew more intense.
"It’s better to come out and deal with the infected!" another voice spoke.
The atmosphere became markedly more hostile after this voice appeared.
"That's right!"
"Are you protecting a crazy infected? Do you all want to become zombies coming out of there!?"
"If there's an infected inside the main building, we can't let that happen! Come out!"
The new voice heavily influenced everyone. Now, Class 1’s group believed that there was an infected among Almond’s group in the bathroom.
The one speaking right now probably had the same role as Bubblegum.
'They’ve been convinced.'
Killing a person inflicted a significant psychological blow in Zombie School, so they were arming their minds. In case they had to kill someone, they ensured beforehand that their group’s morale wouldn’t drop.
"There are no infected in here. If there were any in this tight space, we would have killed them."
Almond made a logical rebuttal, but it didn’t work.
"Hmph. You don't have the guts to come out, do you?"
"Right, the type to hide..."
— lol
— ??? Let them go. Where's the bow?
— They're set on killing
— Bro, let's deal with them.
The chat suggested that Almond should go out and handle them.
'I'd be fine, but...'
If Almond fought against them, his group’s morale could drop.
Huh?
While thinking that, Almond realized something odd. These guys kept talking about killing as if they were infected. At this point, players couldn't even kill a single zombie properly because they didn't have any weapons.
'Could it be?'
Almond looked through the peephole again and examined them closely.
'Is there…?'
Some of them were holding weapons and carrying something like a sledgehammer. Maybe they had taken it from the school facility managers? In any case, acquiring such weapons already was proof that they were not ordinary opponents. They were very adept at the game and had accumulated a lot of know-how.
— Wow, they have weapons.
— What's with the sledgehammer??
— What do we do now?
Thump! Thump!
They started pounding on the door again, but hadn't used the sledgehammer yet. They would probably use it soon.
"Kids, block this door for me," Almond spoke to the students behind him after a moment.
"I'll be right back."
"What...?"
Where was he going? Ignoring such questions, Almond opened the first stall of the restroom where the cleaning tools were kept.
"There it is."
Naturally, there were long mop handles there. Almond grabbed one of them and snapped it in two without any hesitation.
Crack!
He moved to the next stall with the broken handle, grabbed a handful of toilet paper, and stuffed it into his pocket.
Then, he stood in front of the closed restroom door and said, "This is a fight because they're trying to kill us."
Humans felt repulsed at the thought of killing another human. However, what if there was a clear justification to harm that person? The most compelling reason would be that the other group was trying to kill them.
The enemies had unintentionally given Almond a very good reason.
"As long as it doesn't actually look like it... it'll be okay."
Almond adjusted his grip on the broken mop handle.
"When I count to three, open it."
"Open it...?"
"Yeah. Open it, and as soon as I go out, close it."
"You’re even telling us to close it?"
"One."
“Gulp.”
As the count started, the students swallowed dryly.
"Two."
Thinking they eventually had no choice, they slightly stepped back from the door that they had been blocking with their bodies.
"Three!"
Drrrrrrrr!
***
[Beginner's Tip: Most zombies cannot open sliding doors.]