The clash of metal against beast scales echoed through the central junction, accompanied by the sharp hiss of freezing frost.
"Sounds like an intense skirmish at the central stairwell," the First Player whispered, perching on a row of lockers.
"Let's see who is actually fighting back."
"Keep low... observe their team coordination before jumping in."
"Their positioning and tactical discipline are genuinely impressive for newly awakened survivors."
Below him in the wide junction, four female students were locked in life-or-death combat against a pack of six adult Gobdogs.
Two beasts broke away toward the stairwell landing, while the other four pressed the girls with savage, snapping lunges.
"Appraise... show me their traits," the dark-haired youth commanded, activating his skill to inspect the four combatants.
[ Target: Kendra | Trait: Body Hardening (Rank F) | Role: Frontline Defense ]
[ Target: Vasa | Trait: Ice Shaping (Rank F) | Role: Crowd Control ]
[ Target: Emilia | Trait: Plant Growth (Rank F) | Role: Area Denial ]
[ Target: Yeda | Trait: None (Pure Physical Mastery) | Role: Tactical Striker ]
The girl holding the frontline was Kendra, her forearms gleaming like polished granite as she blocked a ferocious claw strike.
"Hold the line!" she shouted, bracing her feet against the floor tiles with teeth gritted in exertion.
"I can't hold both of them at once!"
"I am right behind you!" another voice called out.
Beside her, Vasa thrust her palms forward, projecting a stream of blue rime that froze the floor beneath the charging beasts.
"Watch their footing!" the frost girl yelled, rime crackling across her fingertips.
"Slip them up on the ice!"
"Root them in place right now!"
Behind them, Emilia summoned thorned creeper vines from cracked floor tiles, wrapping the stems around a charging beast's hind legs.
"I have the left one tangled!" the plant user called out, sweat beading across her brow.
"Finish it now!"
"Leave that one to me!"
The fourth girl, Yeda, caught his attention immediately with her fearless, predatory posture and sharp, calculated footwork.
She had no magical awakening trait, yet she wielded a dense pipe with lethal, calm precision and zero wasted motion.
She sidestepped a lunging hound, driving the bar down across its cervical vertebrae with a sharp, sickening crack.
"Die cleanly, mutt," the fierce girl muttered, spinning the bar into a ready guard without a trace of panic.
"Nice strike on the neck," the First Player called down from the top of the lockers, his voice ringing clearly.
"Who is up there?" the shield girl gasped, blocking another snapping jaw with her hardened forearm.
"Is that someone watching from the ceiling?"
"Stop staring at the ceiling and drop your hips six inches, shield girl!" the youth instructed with sharp authority.
"Plant your left heel back and let its momentum break against your guard!"
The defensive fighter instinctively adjusted her stance, bracing her granite forearm just as a massive hound slammed into her chest.
The beast bounced off her hardened guard, dazed by the solid rebound and exposing its unprotected throat.
"Freeze its throat seam right now!" the First Player barked, pointing down at the staggered monster.
"On it!" the frost user shouted, unleashing a concentrated blast of frost directly into the creature's exposed windpipe.
"Crush the frozen joint!" he called out.
The dark-haired striker lunged forward like a striking viper, driving her bar straight through the brittle, frozen throat seam.
The frozen bone shattered into crystalline shards, and the adult hound collapsed instantly in a heap of dark ichor.
"That is two down!" she said, looking up at the youth on the lockers with a fierce, approving grin.
"You have a good tactical eye, stranger!"
"Two beasts are flanking your right side," he warned, drawing his Corrosive Acid Spear.
"Let me handle these two."
"Show us what you can do!" she called back, stepping into a defensive guard.
The First Player dropped from the twelve-foot locker perch, landing silently between the two flanking hounds with fifteen points of Agility.
"Fatal Strike... execute!"
He funneled fifteen mana points into his corrosive spear, driving the glowing tip through the eye socket of the nearest beast.
The acid liquefied the creature's brainstem in a fraction of a second, killing it before its claws touched the floor.
[ Hostile Slayed: Adult Gobdog (Rank F+) | Experience Value: +20 EXP ]
[ Subzone Quest Update: 1x Hostile Cleared | Remaining Signatures: 43 ]
Without pausing, he drew his service pistol with his left hand, pressing the barrel against the second flanking beast's ear.
"Eat lead, ugly!"
He pulled the trigger once, blowing the monster's skull apart in a deafening crack that shook the corridor.
[ Hostile Slayed: Adult Gobdog (Rank F+) | Experience Value: +20 EXP ]
[ Subzone Quest Update: 1x Hostile Cleared | Remaining Signatures: 42 ]
[ Ammunition Remaining: 2/8 Rounds ]
Across the junction, the girls pinned the final two hounds against the stairwell banister with vines and hardened shields.
"Keep them pinned against the railing!" the plant girl shouted, channeling her mana into the creeping roots.
The dark-haired striker stepped forward with cold efficiency, crushing the skull of the fifth beast with two precise downward strikes.
The frontline girl drove a sharpened rebar spike through the heart of the sixth hound, ending the skirmish in absolute silence.
[ Subzone Quest Update: 2x Hostiles Cleared | Remaining Signatures: 40 ]
[ First Player Party Link Activated: Shared Experience Distribution Enabled ]
[ Experience Gained: +80 EXP (Party Synergy Share) ]
[ Current Level: 3 (EXP: 280/300) ]
"Eighty shared experience points," the dark-haired youth murmured, watching his progress bar climb toward Level 4.
"Party formation unlocked."
The four girls stood in a loose circle around the six dead beasts, catching their breath amidst the steaming monster blood.
"You have real firearms and enchanted acid weapons?" the frost user asked, staring at the smoking pistol in his hand.
"How did you get that kind of equipment in a school?"
"I prepared while everyone else was crying in the classrooms," the First Player answered calmly, holstering his weapon.
"You four are the first survivors I met who actually know how to fight properly."
"We refused to let the council president lock us in the cafeteria," the frontline defender said, wiping sweat from her granite arms.
"He tried to take our weapons and force us to guard outer doors while he hoarded food."
"The student council president is currently sitting on the kitchen floor stripped of all authority," the youth replied with a smirk.
"You dealt with that arrogant coward?" Emilia asked, her eyes lighting up with genuine amusement.
"He won't be bossing anyone around ever again in this facility."
"Good riddance to bad leadership," the frost mage said, shaking ice crystals from her fingertips.
"We have been scavenging tools from the science classrooms to defend ourselves."
"Let's harvest these cores before the blood congeals," the defender suggested, drawing a pocketknife.
"I have two spare core extraction pens right here," the First Player offered, tossing the tools to the girls.
"Extract the mana gems from the chest cavities."
"These tools make prying out the cores much easier," the plant girl said, popping a purple crystal into her palm.
"We have collected six fresh Rank F cores from this fight."
The dark-haired striker wiped a streak of monster blood from her cheek with the back of her hand, stepping directly into his personal space.
She looked him up and down, taking in his Kevlar vest, the corrosive spear, and his calm, unbothered expression.
"You aren't like the other panicking sheep in this school," she said, her dark eyes flashing with sharp intelligence.
"Neither are you," he replied, meeting her fierce gaze without backing away an inch.
"You swing that metal bar like someone who has cracked skulls before today."
"I grew up in the rough district south of the railyard," she answered with a dangerous smirk.
"You learn how to fight dirty or you don't grow up at all in that neighborhood."
"I respect competence far more than magical traits," the First Player said, extending his gloved right hand.
"My name is Nox."
"Yeda," she answered, gripping his forearm in a firm warrior's clasp.
"You running this show, or are you just passing through?"
"I am purging this entire dungeon wing to claim it as sovereign territory," he answered directly.
"And I need four reliable killers to help me raid the Central Clocktower."
"Count us in," she said without a second of hesitation.
"We were planning on taking that tower anyway, and your firepower makes the math a lot simpler."
"Do you know what kind of boss is waiting at the top?" the frost girl asked, stepping closer with curiosity.
"A mutated commander with blood magic and high-tier defensive armor," the First Player answered, tapping his spear.
"We will need balanced crowd control, defensive barriers, and burst damage to bring it down."
"My ice spells can freeze its joints for several seconds," she volunteered with confidence.
"And my hardened skin can absorb heavy cleaves," the frontline defender added, tapping her knuckles together.
"My vines can root its feet to prevent sudden dashes," the plant girl said, nodding with determination.
"That gives us an elite five-person strike squad," the First Player stated with a satisfied grin.
"We have the perfect balance of offense, defense, and control."
"Let's move to a secure biology laboratory and plan our assault," the First Player suggested, nodding toward the corridor.
"We have forty monsters left to hunt before midnight."
"Lead the way, First Player," the striker said with a playful, dangerous grin.
"Let's go take over this school and claim our kingdom."
"The clocktower won't stand a chance against us."