[SPECIAL NIGHT EVENT STARTING...]
Pin-drop silence enveloped the room, as every person held their breath in a collective, suffocating tension.
[The world has entered its first Trial]
[Darkness awakens what the day suppresses]
A second passed as the world joined them in holding their breath.
[Night creatures have been summoned]
[Survival Difficulty: Increased]
[Exp Gain: Amplified]
[Kill Reward: 10% EXP gain has been raised to 20%. 50% EXP will be gained for kills 5+ levels above your own]
[NOTICE: Item rewards are suspended for the duration of the Night Event. Only the strong shall reap the essence of the fallen.]
Kael's eyes widened in surprise at the second to last message.
'This would change everything. My slow growth... my high EXP requirements.'
The system didn't seem to care about his thought process as it continued.
[Those who defy the night... shall rise]
[Those who fail... will be consumed]
[Survive until dawn]
The moment the system message faded, a heavy and oppressive silence swallowed the world, as if something ancient and hungry had descended over the campus.
No wind stirred.
No distant growls echoed.
Even the undead outside the door had gone still.
The sound of several people gulping resounded loudly within the room. They could all feel it deep within their bones.
Something was coming.
And they didn't have to wait long to confirm their dread.
It started with a rhythmic, subterranean thrum that vibrated through the soles of their feet.
The lone girl sitting at the side trembled greatly as she tucked her knees tight into her body. No one seemed to mind her as Nathan shifted his eyes to Kael, whispering in a low voice:
"Did you feel that?"
Kael narrowed his eyes, as his sister tightened her grip on him while Sophia drew closer into his embrace. There was no need for him to answer that question.
They all felt it.
If it was at a different time, Kael would have cursed Nathan for being a dumbass with only a handsome face working for him.
Obviously, this wasn't the time.
-RRRRRRIIIIIP!
It was the sound of reality being unzipped, a jagged screech of metal on glass that resonated in their very teeth.
Alice, Kael, Claire, and Nathan couldn't stop themselves from moving towards the window slowly.
Carefully.
They glanced through the slightly opened window, and what they saw made their blood run cold.
Not far from the school grounds, a rift bled a sickly violet hue, distorting the air around it like a heat haze in a graveyard.
"...what is that?..." Nathan whispered once again.
And this time too, no one replied, their pale faces lit by the gentle rays of the moon filtering through the window.
Kael's heart beat wildly within his chest as a deep fear almost overwhelmed him. But when he felt Sophia trembling like a naked body standing in the ocean, he was able to regain a bit of his composure. He drew her closer into his embrace, an unfamiliar light shining within his eyes as he watched the crack in space outside the school.
He could sense movements within its depth, and before he could react, a long segmented body slid through the crack.
Then another.
And another.
As the number continued to increase, Kael and the others watched the bodies of the arriving creatures glisten with a greasy, oily sheen under the faint moonlight, dozens of legs scraping against the ground in a chorus of sharp, skittering sounds.
The centipede-like monsters, more than five meters long, didn't rush. They didn't roar. They simply spread.
Like a creeping tide.
Feeling the fingers of the two little girls tighten more around him, Kael released the breath he had been holding in a shaky gasp, as a line of sweat slid down his face.
"Does this even qualify as an apocalypse anymore?" Nathan closed his eyes, as he tried to control his emotions.
Claire had already burst into tears, while Alice grabbed the side wall, her face pale.
But it seemed the night had more surprises in store for them.
-AWOOOOO!
A howl suddenly split the night from the opposite end of the campus.
Dozens of glowing crimson eyes appeared in the darkness, followed by low, deep, hungry growls, before massive bodies broke through the tall walls surrounding the campus like they were made of paper.
Packs of dark-furred wolves several meters high burst into view, their fangs bared and their bloodshot eyes locked onto the massive centipedes skittering across the walls and into the campus, the barbed wire doing little to nothing to stop their charge.
The centipede-like monsters' bodies coiled as they prepared to launch into action. But before they could...
-ROOOOAR!
-ROOOOAR!
-GRR!
From within the darkness nestling inside the opened doors of the rooms filling the campus, came a horde of undead, their hungry growls shaking the ground.
It started with a few, before it turned into tens. Then hundreds.
Soon, a black tide of zombies filled the campus grounds, the undead standing undeterred between two savage groups of monsters. Their eyes shone with hunger, and mouths stretched in anticipation.
Among the undead appeared a terrifying few that drew Kael and the others' attention.
They almost fainted in abject fear and horror when they saw the zombies' unique appearance.
Kael and Nathan shared a glance as they silently recognized the undead they had run away from earlier that day.
Yet, never in their dreams would they have imagined more than ten of the abominations.
The zombies' bodies were thinner than normal ones, unnaturally so, as if their flesh had been stretched too tightly over their bones. Their skin clung to their frame like a second dying layer, pale and slightly translucent in places, faint veins pulsing beneath. Their limbs were long, bending at odd angles that didn't seem meant for human joints.
The monsters moved on all fours, their bodies shifting as they skittered forward in sudden, jerky bursts.
But what was most unsettling were their eyes.
Unnatural.
They glowed an eerie blue.
They tilted their heads to the sky, jaws parting to reveal rows of uneven, darkened teeth, and released deep feral roars.
-ROAR!
-ROAR!
-ROAR!
As if receiving permission to act, over five hundred undead suddenly erupted into motion. They charged at the centipedes and wolves, their bodies moving together like dense locusts.
The centipedes' coiled bodies sprang forward like a string as they rammed into the lines of undead.
At the same time, the packs of wolves moved uniformly as a group before colliding with the wall of zombies.
A cacophony of beastly roars, feral cries, and chilling screeches filled the night.
Around various areas on the campus, several human survivors hid in fear as they begged for the night to pass quickly.
They cried to any God to pull them out of this nightmare. Many cried as fear overwhelmed them. More despaired as they realized it was only a matter of time before death found them.
But there was one thing they all shared in common.
A realization that within this God-forsaken apocalypse, they were far from becoming the predators.
*****
AN: Thank you for reading. Vote power stones if you enjoyed the chapterš.