"Liam, that should've been mine," Alex said with a pout, though his tone was playful.
"You can't have what's destined for someone else," Liam replied casually.
Alex was known as a tough and arrogant student. Many others were intimidated by him due to his strong physique, while most of the girls idolized him for his basketball skills.
Still, they were neighbors, so they were close.
"Liam, what should we do? There are too many zombies and so many students have been killed," said Lisa, who always stuck by him.
Liam frowned at her words, realizing that even he couldn't fight endlessly against such a massive horde of zombies.
What was worse, the students who died—if their bodies weren't destroyed—turned into zombies themselves a few minutes after death.
"All students, go to the warehouse in the backyard!" a loud voice suddenly rang out. It was a voice all students recognized—it was Principal Nelson.
Liam saw him standing in front of the teachers' office, his body covered in blood.
He was an old man, but he looked healthy and formidable, with muscles bulging all over his body.
"So he didn't turn into a zombie," Alex muttered.
After shouting out where the students should head, the principal began fighting off the zombies surrounding him.
Amazingly, his body actually grew larger.
Most students didn't question it—they rushed to the backyard, remembering that the warehouse had no windows and, more importantly, its door was made of iron.
"Liam, hurry up!" Lisa urged, seeing that he hadn't moved while the others had already begun running.
Of course, Liam had his own thoughts. He wondered what the result of entering that warehouse would be. Perhaps they'd just be trapped inside.
Unfortunately, going elsewhere seemed like nothing but a death wish.
"Alright!" Liam finally followed the others to the warehouse, and Alex chose to go with him.
ROAR!
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed from the rooftop of the school building.
Liam saw that it was Paul, who had four arms with prominent dark red veins.
He appeared to be summoning the zombies outside to come in.
The students were terrified when they saw him—he was Level 3.
He glared bloodthirstily at the students trying to enter the warehouse.
ROAR!
He roared again, then suddenly leapt down into the school's backyard.
Each of his hands turned blood into four massive swords.
Shua!
He swung all four blades at a student, instantly slicing him into eight pieces.
"Help..." the student beside him fell to the ground in fear and became the next target of the four-armed zombie.
Who could save him?
Unfortunately, no one dared to step forward. He too was sliced into eight pieces.
Many students fainted at the sight.
'Iguess I need to change my hand,' Liam thought.
He wondered what kind of hand would be useful to fight this Zombie P.E. Teacher.
If only he could transform completely, that would be great—but sadly, it was only his right hand.
'The hand of a Celestial Wolf, equivalent to a dragon,' he imagined.
Of course, it was just his imagination—he didn't truly know of any "Celestial Wolf."
But wolves might have more dangerous claws. Dragon claws weren't very reliable—they were more brute force than precision.
Shua!
Sure enough, his hand transformed—now covered in silver fur that shone like steel, ending in long claws resembling blades.
Liam felt his hand become very light. It wasn't bulky with muscle, but it was incredibly agile.
Whoosh!
He charged forward, aiming for the Zombie P.E. Teacher from behind.
His speed had increased noticeably thanks to the new hand.
The zombie P.E. Teacher sensed him and quickly turned around, but Liam's claw strike was so fast that he didn't have time to block with his four swords.
Crack!
Liam slashed from his face down to his chest, tearing flesh apart as blood spurted out.
But such a wound didn't seem to affect him at all.
He swung all four swords at Liam.
With no other option, Liam blocked using his own sword.
This time, he transformed his hand into a dragon hand again, knowing he'd need immense strength to withstand the impact.
He chose the stone dragon hand instead of the fire one—just a dark-yellow version.
Clang!
All four swords clashed against his blade.
They were incredibly heavy, bolstered by his tremendous muscular strength.
Liam could feel the intense force.
But the stone dragon hand had the strength of stone itself.
His arm trembled only slightly as he blocked all four swords, and his sword held firm without breaking.
This shocked the watching students—but what confused them most was his shifting hand.
At that moment, Liam could only feel regret—his left hand was just an ordinary hand. If not, this would be the perfect chance to pierce his belly.
To his surprise, Anthony suddenly ran from behind the zombie, holding a fireball in his right hand and the same silver sword in his left.
He's trying to steal my kill, Liam thought. He knew Anthony's intentions—he had already tried it back in class.
There was no way Liam would let that happen.
He pushed his sword forward to shove the zombie's blades and spin him around.
Even though he was two levels above Liam, his strength allowed the blades to be pushed back.
In a test of raw strength, Liam was confident he could win—even facing two of his arms.
As his blades were pushed away, his body spun around.
Anthony's eyes widened as the zombie now glared directly at him.
He hesitated—and before he could regain focus, the zombie roared at him first, clearly furious at being ambushed from behind.
Whoosh!
He slashed two swords at Anthony.
Liam couldn't be more pleased—this was his chance to strike again.
This time, the zombie wouldn't have time to turn around.
Whoosh!
Liam slashed his sword toward his neck, knowing that was the only way to ensure his death.
Of course, he didn't forget to use Wind Blade, summoning wind to coat his sword, making it appear twice as sharp.
Xiu!
The slash became clean and fluid, boosted by the wind's momentum and speed.
It sliced through his neck like cutting through cake.
Moments later, his head toppled from his body.
DING!
(You have slain a Level 3 Zombie. You gain 30 Battle Points and 30 System Points!)
(Bonus: Because he was two levels above you, you gain an additional 30 Battle Points!)
(Battle Points: 80/200)
(System Points: 70)
Buzz!
His body turned into a larger-than-normal ball of light.
When it faded, a massive shield appeared—2 meters tall, 1 meter wide, jet black with bright brown markings.
It flew straight to Liam, landing firmly in his grip.
DING!
(You have obtained a Level 1 Shield!)
This is going to be useful, Liam thought as he examined it.
He tried to lift it—only to find it was extremely heavy. Even with the stone dragon hand, he struggled. He'd need to level up further to wield it easily.
Thankfully, the system provided an inventory. With a single thought, he stored both sword and shield there.
(Inventory:
[Tier 1 Sword]
[Tier 1 Shield])
Liam didn't have time to admire them further. He saw the students entering the warehouse as others struggled to close the door. It was heavy, and some students held back the zombies outside.
Upon reaching the gate, Liam changed his hand back to the wolf form and clawed at the zombies near the entrance.
With one swipe, he sliced them in half. He easily took down five Level 1 zombies and earned another 50 Battle Points.
(Battle Point: 130/200)
"Liam, get in!" the principal called out.
Seeing things were under control, Liam entered the warehouse and pushed the door shut before securing it with a long metal rod.
That was the warehouse's lock.
The space was large enough to hold all the students, but it was dark and packed with unused chairs and tables.
The power seemed to have gone out completely. Those with fire abilities used them for light, only adding more heat to the already sweltering warehouse.
BANG! BANG!
The iron door shook violently from the outside, but it only trembled slightly.
It seemed strong enough to hold off the zombies—for now. Still, no one felt safe.
"What do we do now?" panicked female students asked.
"I want to go home," one of them cried.
"How? Your house might be full of zombies too," her friend replied.
"Anyone got food? I haven't eaten since morning," someone else said.
"There's no food in here!"
"…"
Instead of calm, all anyone could hear was the chaos and noise inside the warehouse.
Liam had no idea what to do either. He was lucky to be able to fight—and that his skills were powerful.
But this was a situation he had never experienced before.
The principal sat silently with several teachers, as if deep in thought, planning their next move.