Level Up Arcana

Ch.3 Zombies

"What just happened?" Kade asked, his voice shaking as he stared at the now lifeless map.

Mira glanced at him, her usual calm expression had finally cracked, replaced with confusion. "I'm as confused as you all are. I didn't think it would react this way."

"D-did everyone see those weird words and hear that strange voice just now?" Jace stammered, pushing his glasses up with a trembling finger. "It said something about a trial being initiated."

They all nodded slowly, still trying to process what had just occurred.

Raiden's mind raced with multiple different thoughts. The glowing words were still hovering at the edge of his vision, they were faint but persistent. When he focused on them, they became clearer. When he looked away, they faded into transparency. It was like having a screen permanently attached to his sight.

"What do we do now?" Jace asked, looking between them desperately.

Before anyone could answer, a loud explosion boomed from somewhere outside the library.

The floor trembled. Then came the sounds of screaming.

Raiden's head snapped toward the doorway leading back to the main hall. More explosions followed in rapid succession, each one closer than the last. The ancient stone walls of the library shook, and dust rained down from the ceiling.

"What the hell is that?!" Kade shouted over the noise.

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here!" Mira was already running toward the exit.

Raiden grabbed Jace's arm and pulled him along. They sprinted back through the circular chamber, past the study desks, and into the narrow corridor lined with portraits. The painted figures seemed to blur as they rushed past.

The explosions grew louder. Screams echoed through the halls, bouncing off the stone walls and filling the air with panic.

They burst into the main library hall and the sight that appeared made them freeze.

The scene before them was pure unfiltered chaos, straight from the depths of mayhem.

Students and teachers alike ran in every direction, screaming, shoving the nearest person, tripping over each other in their desperation to escape.

Professor Aldine was nowhere to be seen. The organized lecture group had dissolved into a stampede of utter terror.

But that wasn't what made Raiden's blood turn cold. It was what was chasing them. 'Other students'. Crazy right?

No, not students. They were not humans anymore.

Their uniforms were torn and soaked with blood. Their skin was deathly pale, almost gray, as if every drop of blood had been drained from their bodies. Their faces were sunken, eyes vacant and lifeless. They moved with jerky, unnatural motions, staggering forward with arms outstretched.

And they were hunting down any running figure in sight.

One of the creatures lunged at a fleeing girl Raiden didn't recognize, tackling her to the ground. She screamed in fear, tears streaming down her face as it bit into her chest, tearing away the soft mound of flesh with its teeth. Blood sprayed across the marble floor.

Raiden felt his stomach twist at the barbaric sight.

"No, no, no," Jace whispered beside him, his face had turned totally white. "This isn't real. This can't be real."

Another student fell. Then another. Each victim was swarmed by multiple attackers, clawed and bitten until they stopped moving.

And then the worst part happened. The fallen students who were supposedly dead twitched.

Their bodies convulsed, bones cracking and popping as they jerked upright. Their eyes opened, now empty and glassy. Their skin turned the same deathly pale as their attackers.

Then they stood up and joined the hunt.

"Zombies," Raiden breathed, realization striking home.

"Zombies," Mira echoed at almost the same time, her voice hollow with disbelief.

"Zombies?!" Kade's voice cracked. "You're telling me we're being attacked by actual fucking zombies?!"

Raiden had read about them in webnovels and seen them in movies. Zombies were undead creatures that fed on the living and turned their victims into more of them. But those had been stories of fiction for the sole purpose of entertainment.

But now, this supposed fiction was real, happening live in 4k.

The screams were real. The blood was real. The terror on every face around him was unbearably, horrifyingly real.

"We need to go. Now!" Raiden's survival instinct kicked in; better late than never. He grabbed Jace's sleeve and yanked him forward.

Jace stumbled, his legs barely working. His face had gone from pale to greenish, and he looked like he was about to throw up. "I-I can't—"

"Yes, you can! Move!" Raiden pulled harder.

Mira and Kade followed close behind, both looking equally shaken but forcing themselves to run.