The raging battle continued for several hours, now deep into the night. Yet none of the human survivors was able to sleep, as their hearts drummed against their ribs, their thoughts filled with fear of surviving the night.
At one point, a massive centipede was sent crashing into the side of the girls' dormitory, sending a faint tremor through the building and causing a cascade of dust and debris to fall like a gritty curtain.
The expressions of Kael and the others within the room went rigid as they held their breath.
Luckily, not much happened after, allowing them to release breaths of relief.
Despite how feral and brutal the undead fought, the horde of several hundred was slowly but surely whittled down, as the attacking monsters had more of an advantage. More of the summoned creatures spilled out of the spatial cracks hanging on opposite ends outside the school, like grim reapers waiting to harvest all the souls within the campus.
Yet as time passed, the situation slowly changed once more.
Countless silhouettes gradually approached from the darkness of the night from every direction around the campus, their menacing growls filling the night.
The pale moonlight illuminated the hordes of undead filling the streets as they moved swiftly to the campus, seemingly drawn by the sounds of battle.
With the arrival of several hundred more zombies, the tide shifted once more to the side of the undead, and like this, the battle raged on.
When it was a bit less than an hour before the night event ended, the undead and attacking monsters, as if knowing the end was approaching, suddenly grew more frantic in their attacks.
- ROAR!
- SKRREE!
- AWOOO!
The shockwaves shook the campus, and the cacophony of deep growls, eerie screeches, and beastly howls made the eardrums of the hiding humans vibrate painfully.
The field outside was already a ruin. Crushed remains of the school bus and staff cars, now turned into useless scraps of twisted metal and shattered glass under the weight of the encroaching tide, lay scattered around. Portions of buildings lay crumbled.
"We are all going to die." The lone girl staying on one side of the room suddenly muttered as she shook violently.
The others ignored her actions, as they were not faring much better, each grappling with the situation as best as they could.
Yet the girl's actions grew more hysterical, and not long after, what started as whispers devolved into screams, one filled with despair.
"WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
"THERE IS NO WAY WE CAN SURVIVE THIS!"
"THIS IS HELL! HAHAHAHA!"
"WE ARE ALREADY IN HELL!"
"Hey, keep quiet!" Nathan shouted as lowly as he could, his face pale. The thought of drawing the attention of those horrors out there almost made him piss his pants.
The girl didn't seem to hear his words, as she screamed even more, tears of reluctance running down her face.
Alice stomped across the room in but a few steps before yanking the crying girl to her feet as she gripped her collar. Her pale face had long lost its usual impassiveness. The fear in her eyes gave way to kindling anger as she growled softly at the girl.
"You had better shut up, if not I..."
Before she could even finish her words, the girl shouted at her, her eyes filled with hollow acceptance.
"IF NOT YOU WILL WHAT? KILL ME? HAHAHA!"
"WE ARE ALREADY DEAD!"
"YOU JUST DON'T KNOW IT YET!"
Alice involuntarily released her grip in surprise at the sudden outburst. She could see the unhinged madness resting within the depths of the girl's eyes. Yet hidden within that unruliness was quiet acceptance, one not realized but forced upon her.
Natalie burst into tears, her already heightened emotions finally spilling over, prompting Alice to quickly move towards her and hug her.
Nathan slowly crouched to the ground as he leaned his back on the wall, his hair clenched tightly in his hands as if trying to tear the thoughts right out of his brain.
Ms. Claire cried softly at the side of the slightly opened window, her shoulders trembling as she hugged herself as if offering quiet comfort.
Yet even with all this happening, the sound of explosions still raged outside as the battle continued, uncaring for their emotional breakdown. Flames lit the sky, as skills of various kinds were cast.
The lone girl screamed and shouted at the top of her lungs, with no one caring to stop her actions.
It was then that, despite the loud noise of the battlefield, silent and calm footsteps suddenly drifted into the ears of the screaming girl, prompting her to open her tightly shut eyes as she felt her throat sting.
What she saw made her breath stutter in her chest.
A dark-as-night pupil glared at her, the white sclera that should have surrounded it long having given way to red, with veins spreading across its surface like a map of cracked glass.
Kael's voice came out low yet threatening:
"You wouldn't happen to be the person who shut themselves in the bathroom across the room, right?"
There was a brief silence. Then...
-GULP!
---
Kael watched till the very last moment when the first night event ended. The summoned monsters receded like a black tide into the spatial cracks the very instant only a minute was left.
Soon after, only the hordes of undead remained on the battlefield.
[First Night Event completed.]
[You survived the night.]
[You have received the rewards: 1 health potion (common), one piece of bread, and a bottle of water (500 ml)]
He ignored the system messages flashing before his vision, his eyes remaining fixed on the over a thousand undead.
- ROAR!
- ROAR!
- ROAR!
Kael watched as the zombies roared in triumph, or whatever they were feeling, as he wasn't sure they had intellect. At least, most of them didn't seem to.
Just after one night of battle, the average common zombies rose past level 25, while the rare were around level 23. Finally, the highest-leveled crawler was already at level 21.
The situation almost seemed insurmountable.
Kael's expression hardened. And even as the roaring undead finally came to a calm, before staggering back into the dark classrooms or roaming the field of the campus, with some even leaving the school premises, he didn't move from the window, his thoughts in turmoil.
Time slowly passed.
The sun rose on the horizon, the first rays of dawn lightly illuminating the gloomy room.
After over an hour of remaining still, Kael released a breath before turning around to gaze at the others.
Without exception, everyone was broken.
He watched as Alice quietly embraced her sister. He watched as Ms. Claire hugged Rose, more to seek warmth than to comfort the little girl.
He watched as Nathan sat against the wall, his eyes clouded in despair.
He adjusted Sophia, who had fallen asleep in her fear and panic, more comfortably within his embrace, his shoulders slightly cold from the little girl's shed tears.
He took a deep breath before taking a step, his low voice containing many of his emotions soon resonating within the room.
"The world we know is broken. But we are still breathing."
"These monsters are scary... that much is clear."
"But so are we."
"They have numbers. They have the size advantage. They look drawn out of horror shows. They are built to be stronger, faster, and feral."
"Yet we also have our strengths. We have our intellect. We are one of the most adaptable creatures."
"Not to mention, once more, that we are also scary in our own right."
The eyes of everyone in the room seemed to shine the more they listened to Kael. The despair clouding their eyes slowly but surely receded.
Kael grinned as he raised his good hand and clenched it into a fist, the emotions in his voice finally settling on one.
Quiet resolve.
"We also have power. And abilities. Even before the descent of the apocalypse, we humans ruled this world with our intellect alone. Can you imagine what we could now be capable of with these abilities in our arsenals?"
"Also, none of the undead or monsters seem to surpass the elite rank, something I have been confused about since the system's global message."
"But we have many epic-ranked among our ranks."
"Alice, Nathan, and Sophia." Saying the name of the little girl, Kael drew her closer into his embrace.
"Not to mention, we have this legendary little munchkin." He gestured at his sister with a shake of his head, and silently added in his mind.
'Most importantly, you have me.'
"Hey, are you sure we are actually related? If not, why would you treat Sophia so gently and me otherwise?" Rose pouted her lips as she crossed her arms in fake anger, drawing smiles on the pale faces in the room.
Only the common-rank girl, who no one bothered to even ask her name, remained at the side. Yet Kael didn't care about her. He had better things on his plate. Of course, that was not to say he had forgotten what she did. After all, he was the most petty person in two worlds.
Looking at the surrounding people, who now seemed to have a bit of life on their faces, Kael's expression tightened as his eyes shone with resolve.
'If it will take a bit of madness to survive in this god-forsaken world...'
'Then I don't care if I have to lose all my reason or become a fiendish monster.'
'I will do anything to protect my sister, my family, and...'
His eyes shifted to everyone in the room, unwilling to admit he now felt a bit of something for them.
'Most importantly, even if I have to burn this world down, I will make sure I find that crazy system, and shove my arm up its...'
Before Kael could finish that thought, the familiar sound of the frantic beating of wings drifted into his ears, causing him to yelp in fright.
Rose's eyes widened for a moment before she burst into laughter, her mischievous voice sounding soft and pleasant to the ears.
"What was that sound? Are you sure I shouldn't be calling you big sister?"
The expressions of everyone in the room turned strange as they looked at Kael, but the person in question didn't seem to care about their judging eyes.
'The others didn't seem to have heard it.'
His heart, thundering within his chest, gradually calmed as he realized this.
"If we want to survive in this world, we must grow stronger." He quickly spoke with a straight face, unwilling to give his sister the chance to continue.
Alice rose with her sister, Nathan soon following her action. Ms. Claire hesitated for a moment, but noticing the smile the little girl before her flashed, she gathered her confidence and also rose to her feet before walking to the others in the center of the room.
Kael watched all of them with a calm look on his face.
"And if we want to become strong enough, we need to come up with a plan."
END OF VOLUME 1: FIRST DAY OF THE APOCALYPSE
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AN: Thank you for reading. Vote power stones if you enjoyed the chapter😁.