"That undead girl has to be a boss, right?"
"You mean she could be leading that undead swarm?"
"And she was stronger than the other undead, too."
"I don't think so," Ren said, cutting into Karl, Mike, and Ivan's conversation. He was giving his honest opinion, but he also couldn't pass up the chance to make fun of his friends.
"I doubt a zombie boss could be taken down by three level-one noobs."
"Who are you calling level-one noobs?!"
"Shut it, idiots."
Ren stopped just as Natalie scolded his friends. He then signaled everyone to stop and hide around the corner of the building, right next to their destination—the first-year building where their classroom locker room was located.
"That's quite a lot of them."
"What? You're scared to fight a few undead on your own?"
Contrary to Ren's warning, Tristan only saw a dozen undead students wandering aimlessly behind the first-year building.
He stepped forward, intending to lead the group into battle, but Ren grabbed him by the jacket, yanked him back, and shoved him to the ground.
"You're really looking for a fight, aren't you, bastard?!"
"Beating up a moron like you would just be a waste of time," Ren said bluntly, looking down at Tristan before shifting his gaze toward the upper floors of the first-year building.
"I'm not talking about the undead on the ground."
***
"Shit, that's a lot of them..."
From the fourth floor all the way to the seventh floor of the first-year building, undead students crowded around the windows. Even the rooftop was packed with them behind the metal fence, all seemingly staring in the direction of the gymnasium.
"I guess the undead horde chasing Natch-sensei was only made up of students from the first to third floors."
"If we fight the undead on the ground, we'll definitely attract the ones upstairs."
"Can they really see us? Aren't they only supposed to be attracted to sound or something?" Evelyn asked, joining Ren and Elizabeth's conversation.
"You watch too many zombie movies, Eve."
"You're the one who always wants to watch them, Nat."
"Tsk!"
Go ahead and die of jealousy, third-rate, Karl, Mike, and Ivan thought as they watched Tristan click his tongue and glare daggers at Ren.
Still, the three couldn't help but feel jealous themselves.
"So, what are we going to do now?"
For the first time—and to the surprise of Ren and his friends—Marcus spoke up while helping Tristan to his feet.
Tristan, however, pushed Marcus's hand away and got up on his own before turning back to Ren.
"Go ahead and tell us another one of your stupid plans."
Ignoring Tristan's taunt, Ren laid out a simple plan.
"We'll have Nat and Gian take out the undead on the ground. Then I'll check whether there are any undead inside our classroom locker room before everyone follows me."
Natalie and Gian immediately began picking off the undead one by one from around the corner of the building, taking care not to be spotted. They both knew that if either the undead on the ground or those above spotted them, another horde would pour down from the upper floors and chase after their group.
Eventually, Natalie and Gian took down all twelve undead on the ground, using one of the three remaining quivers of arrows Mike was carrying.
Then, it was Ren's turn.
"Don't worry, Ren..."
"If something happens to you..."
"We'll look after them."
Karl, Mike, and Ivan didn't mention any names, but everyone in the group except Gian, who thought they were talking about Ren's and Natalie's sisters, knew exactly who they meant.
Elizabeth responded with a gentle smile, while Evelyn gave them a teasing grin. Natalie, on the other hand, looked annoyed but said nothing.
Tristan was about to start a commotion, but Marcus quickly stopped him from making any unnecessary noise.
"Go ahead and kill yourself first, bastard," Tristan said, pointing out the flaw in Ren's plan.
It didn't matter that Natalie and Gian had quietly taken down the undead on the ground without attracting the attention of those above. The moment Ren crossed from their hiding spot toward the first-year building, the undead upstairs would definitely see him. The same would happen to everyone else once they followed.
"If those undead do rain down on me, you're probably the one who'll die next," Ren said, mocking Tristan and teasing his friends as well.
"You three won't survive either."
"Don't jinx us, idiot."
***
"Ren got spotted," Elizabeth said, noticing the undead on the upper floors moving as if they were trying to break through the windows and jump down at Ren.
Luckily for Ren—and for the rest of the group—the windows were strong enough to hold them back.
"How is Ren going to get inside? If he breaks a window, the sound might attract the undead upstairs."
"It's not like the windows are locked anyway."
Mike's response to Evelyn's question made the three girls stare at him in disbelief.
Clearly, the guys handled their locker room differently from the girls.
"You're saying you guys don't lock your locker room?" Natalie asked, only to immediately regret it when Karl answered.
"Why? No one's going to steal a guy's underwear, right?"
"Was it the same with the door?"
Elizabeth's question made everyone realize there were probably a few undead inside the boys' locker room.
Regardless, Ren's friends believed he could handle them.
"I'm sure Ren can take them down on his own," Ivan said, reassuring Elizabeth—or rather, simply taking the rare opportunity to talk to the girl he liked, just as Mike and Karl had done.
However, the conversation only made the three more jealous of how much the girls trusted Ren.
"I'm sure Ren can."
"He's strong and reliable, after all."
"He's an idiot, though."
Damn you, greedy pervert bastard, Karl, Mike, and Ivan thought as they watched Ren open a window and climb into the boys' locker room.
***
Inside the boys' locker room, Ren encountered five undead.
One of them was a female student who was still being eaten by the others, despite already having turned.
The other four were guys Ren had fought during combat practice against the other class.
As soon as they noticed Ren, the four undead rushed toward him, their mouths still full of blackened flesh dripping with the girl's black blood.
Ren quickly readied his wooden sword, but his first move was to kick the nearest bench toward them, stopping their charge.
"This time, I'm seriously killing the four of you," Ren said, remembering what total douchebags they had been during their previous match.
He swung his wooden sword, breaking the neck of the first undead that got back up and charged at him.
The other three undead were still crawling across the floor, trying to get up or grab his feet. Ren then remembered Elizabeth's remark about cutting an undead's head with a wooden weapon.
"It's not like I can't do it," he said before splitting the second undead's head open with a single strike.
"But it won't be as impressive as yours."
His third strike beheaded the next undead, roughly cutting through its neck and breaking his wooden sword in the process.
Ren grabbed one of the two remaining wooden swords strapped to his back, approached the fourth undead pinned beneath the bench, and broke its neck with a single strike.
"Eating a girl even after you've become undead... You four really are douchebags."
***
Back outside, everyone waited nervously for Ren.
Barely a few minutes had passed since he went inside, yet every minute felt like an hour.
"Just like when we're flanking, right?" Karl said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Shut it already, would you?"
Natalie scolded Karl. However, unknown to her, Mike and Ivan knew that despite his dejected expression, Karl was secretly delighted. After all, he was a masochistic pervert who liked tsundere girls.
Just then, Ren finally emerged and signaled everyone to follow him into the boys' locker room.
"Hurry up before those windows collapse."
Natalie led the group while keeping an eye on the undead on the upper floors.
As soon as everyone got inside, they saw the aftermath of Ren's fight.
Elizabeth smiled gently at Ren when she noticed the beheaded undead.
"I knew Ren could do it," Evelyn said, intentionally voicing what Elizabeth was thinking.
Tristan only grew more annoyed at Ren, while Marcus paid no attention to his girlfriend praising another guy right in front of him.
"You're too heavy..."
"Pull yourself up a little, fatso..."
"I'm trying..."
While Mike lifted Gian and Karl pulled him up, trying to get him inside, Ivan approached the female undead student out of curiosity.
"Hey, isn't this Cindy?" he said, recognizing the undead despite her bloodstained face. Since Ren had only broken her neck, her face was still recognizable.
"The girl who modeled the Academy girl's uniform."
Ren did remember meeting Cindy a few times. However, his attention was already focused on someone else.
"Where are you going, Nat?"
"To the girls' locker room, of course."