Level Up Arcana

S-Type-1 Zombie

[You have killed a Level 4 Spirit Circle S-Type-1 Zombie and acquired its mana]

The white orb shot into his chest, and Raiden felt the surge of energy flow through him. His mana reserves expanded, and the ache in his shoulder dulled slightly.

But there was no time to rest as two more zombies were closing in fast.

Mira intercepted the first one. This one was a female student with half her face missing. She sidestepped the zombie's clumsy lunge and thrust her palm forward.

"Ignis!"

A concentrated burst of flame erupted point-blank into the zombie's chest, blasting a hole clean through its torso. The creature staggered backward, flames spreading across its body.

Mira didn't wait for it to fall. She spun and kicked its legs out from under it, then stomped down hard on its head while it was prone.

Crack!

The skull gave way to mushy brain matter, and the zombie stopped moving.

Meanwhile, Jace was struggling with the second zombie — a thin, wiry boy who moved with surprising speed. It lunged at him, jaws snapping inches from his face.

Jace screamed and swung the metal rod wildly, catching the zombie in the shoulder. The blow knocked it off balance but didn't stop it.

It came at him again, claws raking toward his chest.

"Jace, down!" Kade yelled.

Jace dropped flat to the ground just as a fireball roared over his head. It slammed into the zombie's torso, engulfing the creature in flames. The zombie shrieked a horrible, inhuman sound and stumbled backward, clawing at itself as the fire consumed it.

Kade didn't give it a chance to recover. He thrust both hands forward again.

"Pyro Burst!"

Another wave of flames shot out, smaller than before but concentrated. It hit the burning zombie and finished the job, reducing it to a charred husk that collapsed onto the ground.

Jace scrambled to his feet, breathing hard. "Thanks," he gasped.

"Don't mention it."

Raiden scanned the area quickly. Five zombies were down already. The survivors had reached the gate and were frantically trying to get it open. A few more zombies were starting to notice the commotion and turning away from the burning shed.

They had maybe thirty seconds before things got bad again.

"Move!" Raiden shouted. "Everyone inside, now!"

The group sprinted toward the gate. One of the latter survivors Owen, had managed to pry it open just enough for people to squeeze through. The survivors were filing in one by one, shoving and stumbling in their panic.

"Come on, come on!" Finn urged, holding the gate open as wide as he could.

Raiden, Mira, Kade, and Jace were the last to reach it. Behind them, more zombies were shambling closer, drawn by the noise of the fight.

"Go!" Raiden pushed Jace through first, then Kade.

Mira slipped through next, and Raiden was about to follow when he heard a scream.

He spun around.

One of the survivors, Dante, the quiet boy, had tripped and fallen a few meters away. A zombie was closing in on him fast, reaching down with bloodied hands.

Raiden's body moved before his mind could catch up.

He sprinted back, raising the Silvermoon Sword high. The zombie's fingers were inches from Dante's face when Raiden's blade came down, severing the creature's arm at the elbow.

The zombie turned toward him with a hiss.

Raiden kicked it in the chest, sending it stumbling backward, then grabbed Dante by the collar and hauled him to his feet.

"Run!"

They bolted for the gate together. More zombies were converging now. At least six of them were all moving faster than before, as if sensing prey slipping away.

Raiden and Dante reached the gate. Finn and Owen pulled them through, and the moment they were inside, Mira and Kade slammed the gate shut.

The heavy metal doors clanged together with a resounding boom.

A second later, the zombies crashed into it from the other side. The gate shuddered but held. Dry, wrinkling hands clawed at the bars, reaching through the gaps, but they couldn't get inside.

Everyone collapsed against the walls, gasping for breath. Sweat poured down their faces and hearts pounded like war drums.

For a long moment, no one spoke a word. They just sat there, trying to process what had just happened.

They'd made it. But barely.

Raiden leaned back against the cold stone wall, chest heaving. The Silvermoon Sword rested across his lap, and the blade was still dripping with black blood.

His hands were shaking again.

He'd almost died out there. Multiple times, in fact. One wrong move then or one second of hesitation, and he'd be one of those things on the other side of the gate.

"Everyone okay?" Mira asked, her voice steady despite everything.

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group. A few people were crying quietly. Others just stared blankly at the ground, still in shock.

Dante, the boy Raiden had saved, looked up at him with wide red eyes from crying. "You... you came back for me."

Raiden met his gaze and shrugged, trying to play it off. "Couldn't leave you behind."

"Thank you," Dante said quietly.

Raiden nodded but didn't say anything else. He didn't feel like a hero right now. He just felt tired.

Jace slumped down beside him, glasses fogged up and crooked on his face. "That was too close."

"Yeah," Raiden agreed. "Way too close."

Kade wiped sweat from his forehead, his body a little pale from the mana expenditure. "How much farther to the armory?"

Mira pointed down the corridor ahead. The training complex stretched out before them — long hallways lined with practice rooms, storage areas, and equipment lockers.

"Should be on the second floor," she said. "If we can get there without running into more of those things."

"Let's hope the building's clear," Jace muttered.

Raiden pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the protest from his aching muscles. "We rest for two minutes. Then we clear out the building and see if we can salvage anything. The longer we stay in one place, the more dangerous it gets."

No one argued. They'd all learned that lesson the hard way already.