The collapse of the second floor brought the entire building down around Merek. Walls cracked and groaned before crumbling inward, beams snapped like dry twigs, and chunks of concrete crashed to the ground with deafening force.
Dust billowed up, thick and choking, only to be dampened quickly by the falling rain. But even the rain had weakened—it was no longer the relentless downpour from before, now reduced to a softer drizzle.
None of this mattered to Merek.
His eyes were locked on the remains of the powerful zombie. Near it shimmered three essence orbs—two red and one green. But Merek didn't have the luxury of celebration. All around him, from every corner, the groans and snarls of approaching zombies grew louder. A new wave was closing in fast.
He needed time. Time to breathe. Time to recover his mire.
The thought struck him like an instinct: consume the core.
Only two of his undead remained capable of fighting, Yuki and one Vulture. The Vulture that had been used as a bludgeon against Yuki had mangled legs and could barely move. The other, the one smashed into a wall, was little more than a shattered shell. Its cuirass was crushed, and Merek could sense almost no energy from it. Almost.
Somehow, it still clung to existence—barely. Likely sustained by the last remnants of essence it absorbed from the zombie just before death. Had it been even a second later, the wraith would have dispersed entirely.
As Yuki and the remaining Vulture fought to stem the flood of zombies, Merek moved.
He staggered toward the corpse of the armored zombie, blood still oozing from the eye wound Yuki had left behind. Its entire body was protected by an incredibly hard carapace—one that neither Yuki's sword nor his bullets had managed to scratch. There was only one vulnerable point.
Bracing himself, Merek thrust his hand deep into the ruined eye socket of the creature.
With a wet, nauseating sound, he pulled out a small orb, faintly glowing and stained with blood. Letting the rain wash over it, he didn't hesitate. He lifted it to his lips and swallowed.
[You have consumed a Stage 1 Level 23 Type One zombie!]
[You have risen to Level 15!]
[You have risen to Level 16!]
[You have risen to Level 17!]
[You have risen to Level 18!]
[You have gained the Title: Survivor.]
[Title Perks: In critical conditions, your mind becomes slightly clearer.]
The words flashed across his vision, cold and blue, offering a flicker of relief. But even as the title settled into his status, Merek's thoughts turned elsewhere.
[Death's Victor] his true edge. It allowed him to convert essence more efficiently, producing twice as much mire as a normal person. And mire was the key to survival—especially now.
Even with the rush of power surging through him, Merek's body begged for rest. He was battered, bruised, and completely drained. Pain radiated from every inch of him. His head throbbed, his limbs ached, and his breath came in ragged gasps. He was at his limit. Yet with the zombies closing in, he couldn't afford to collapse.
He forced himself upright.
As soon as a sliver of mire returned, he scooped the glowing orbs into the backpack he'd taken from Tevin, then activated the Darkweave Coat invisibility skill. His form shimmered, fading from view.
Without wasting another second, he scrambled onto Yuki's back.
She didn't pause. With deadly grace, she launched forward, carving a path through the encroaching horde, her blade flashing with precision. Zombies fell before her like wheat before a scythe.
Behind them, the armoured vulture wraith carried the other two as it followed Yuki with unflinching precision.
Not long after they had slipped away from the pursuing horde, Merek's invisibility wore off, but he paid it no mind. The danger had passed for now.
Up ahead, he spotted three large school buses parked side by side—used for outside competitions and excursions. Their pristine looks likely meant they could be used.
One of the drivers, now a wandering corpse, stumbled aimlessly between the buses. But the moment the decaying thing caught Merek's scent, it snapped to attention, its milky eyes locking onto him.
Without a word, Merek reached out with his mind. A metal rod—possibly a tool once used for defense—trembled on the ground before rising into the air, humming with invisible power.
After hovering for a heartbeat, the rod launched forward with lethal force, skewering the zombie through the skull. It didn't stop there—spinning wildly through the air, it cracked and burst the heads of several nearby undead in rapid succession, painting the pavement in streaks of dark, clotted red.
Merek didn't flinch at the carnage. He limped over the remains, pulled open the driver's door of the nearest bus, and climbed in. With a tired flick of his hand, he unlatched the passenger door.
Outside, the vulture wraith gently deposited the two damaged others inside the vehicle. Then it returned to its post beside Yuki. Both of them remained still as statues, silent sentinels in steel and bone. As long as no mutant-class zombies or stage-one monstrosities appeared, they were safe enough.
Inside, Merek leaned back against the nice leather of the driver's seat, his mind racing to make sense of everything that had happened. Thoughts swirled like storm clouds, but his exhaustion was heavier than any worry.
His eyelids drifted shut. His body, drained and bruised by strain, finally gave in.
Outside, rain began to fall—soft at first, then steady. The droplets danced off Yuki's pauldrons. Neither moved as they watched over their slumbering master.
….
Tevin stared out through the cafeteria windows, his jaw clenched tight. Beyond the glass, he could see the glow of the pole lights, casting pale circles onto the asphalt, their beams sharp against the thick darkness of a moonless night.
Night had fallen completely—and still, there was no sign of Merek.
"If he isn't back yet, he's likely dead," Nero said grimly. His voice was flat, almost too calm. He gave Tevin a brief glance before turning his eyes back to Felicity, who sat beside Carla.
From the look on Carla's face, it was clear Felicity had said something that gave her hope.
"What should we do?" Tevin asked, turning fully to Felicity, his brow furrowed with worry.
Felicity slowly stood, her expression unreadable. "The professor will be worried," she said. "We can't afford for him to leave the others to come looking, but we also can't abandon Merek. We wait until morning."
"But the professor said there was nothing left for them to eat tonight," Nero snapped, his voice rising. "Are we just going to let them starve?!"
Felicity crossed her arms, firm. "Are we going to abandon one of our best fighters?" she retorted. "They can go without food for one night… and besides, I think moving in the dark would be a mistake."
As Felicity was about to sit, her perception sphere which she suddenly activated because of their conversation picked up a lot of silhouettes approaching the cafeteria. Her eyes went wide.
"We're surrounded!"