HELP

The rain of blood and gore drenched Jon for an entire minute before it subsided.

He even had to quickly step out of the shower of viscera, already soaked from head to toe, just in time to avoid it getting in his mouth.

"How much blood does it have..." Shaking off the excess, he looked at the ground in shock as he moved towards his former dorm.

He didn't know why, but killing the first realm didn't take as much as he thought would take from him. To an extent, he felt he even overused his skill, but he didn't know that fully yet.

...

Inside one of the surviving dorm rooms:

"HELP! HEY, HELP US!"

The desperate screams echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls in an eerie chorus.

Among the voices were the unmistakable cries of girls—an oddity since the girls' dormitories were far from the boys'.

Yet, here they were, huddled in terror with three boys.

The scene was strange. Typically, girls weren't allowed in the boys' dorms, but these weren't normal times. The initial thrill of breaking rules had quickly turned into a nightmare. Now, fear dominated every face.

This wasn't an isolated situation either. Throughout the remaining dorms, similar cries for help could be heard. The dormitories had been overrun by zombies—students turned into monsters with vacant, white eyes.

And in this particular room, six students—three girls and three boys—were trapped, blocking the door with beds and anything else they could find.

The boys, who once always bragged about bravery, were now shaken to the core.

The lax security in the boys' dormitory, once a joke among students, had now turned deadly.

It was well known that guards could be bribed, allowing students to break curfew or sneak in visitors.

But no one had anticipated a situation like this—one where their lives were on the line. Those white-eyed monsters weren't just breaking school rules; they were breaking bodies.

The boys had opened the door earlier to figure out what could make a fellow male to scream like that only to witness a classmate being torn apart.

They were frozen in shock, and began backing away from the door, when they hit each other did they come out their stupor.

Without wasting any time they quickly slammed the door shut.

"What the hell was that?" one of the boys panted, his voice barely steady.

"I don't know!" another shot back, trembling. "But, that... thing... it looked like..."

The words faded as they all realized the same thing: they were completely unprepared for this.

The girls who were in this situation directly broke down in tears, saying things like they shouldn't have been here.

They clearly didn't know the situation outside.

Unfortunately, a zombie outside eventually reached the door and relentlessly slammed against the door, each hit threatening to tear through their makeshift barricade.

They could hear the growls of the undead, and the sound sent chills through them.

They pushed back against the door, trying to keep the creature at bay.

One particularly hard shove caused the zombie to stumble and fall, temporarily quieting the frenzied attack.

Relief washed over them momentarily, but the fear still lingered. They had no idea how long they could last in this situation.

The girls weeped and the boys had grim faces, they didn't know what to say and they surely weren't going to go outside.

However, they didn't wallow in sadness and tears for longer than a day-or rather hunger struck.

"Hey, we have food" the first good news they had heard in the last day.

So the boys went and pulled out whatever food they had and when they estimated it.

They had food—enough to survive a week, maybe—but there was no long-term plan. The dorm, now their prison, was crumbling around them. But at least they had survived.

As the days passed until yesterday, From the window, they spotted something.

Outside, near the untouched dormitory, the zombies were gathering and there were increasing each minute.

They were relived that it wasn't facing their dorm but couldn't help but he curious what they were doing.

Then today, this evening they saw something they would never forget in their lives.

They saw a person approach the horde of zombies wearing a bloody coat and holding a spear.

His clothes were soaked in blood, and his expression was calm. They had no idea where he had come from, but hope flickered in their hearts. If he was still alive, maybe they had a chance too. But, why was he alone,

However, that answer came quite fast as they saw him take down zombies with a single swing for each one, as if the creatures were nothing but paper.

And then, they saw the lion.

A massive, flaming lion—six meters tall—stalked towards Jon. The students had already given up any hope of survival.

They watched, horrified, as the lion moved, its fiery mane sending waves of heat into the air.

Who didn't know that the lion was the king of the jungle and one of the strongest creatures, and this one was now bigger than that image they had, so which hope could they have.

But Jon didn't flinch. He stood tall, calculating his next move.

With a burst of speed, he charged at the lion, his spear glowing with concentrated energy.

Time seemed to slow as he leaped into the air and pierced the beast's skull, obliterating it in an explosion of gore. Blood rained down, a macabre victory shower.

For the students, it was like watching a legend unfold before their eyes. But they weren't just spectators.

Something about Jon's victory stirred them, filling them with a newfound strength. They began to scream for help, their voices carrying over the battlefield of bodies.

"HELP! HELP!"

Jon heard them. Of course, he did.

He knew everything going on within a 600-meter radius, and theirs wasn't the only plea.

All around, trapped students were calling out, hoping for rescue. However, he didn't respond, he didn't even look in their direction. Because,

"They'll move soon," he said to himself with a small, knowing smile.

Jon understood something they didn't.

There was a saying, In times of crisis, heroes are born, he could already see that there were students inside the dorm who had already started organizing, quietly preparing to fight back.

All they needed was an opening—a chance to break free. That's what Jon had given them.

He had thinned the horde, created the distraction, and now it was their turn to act.

And as for Jon, he stepped inside the dormitory, spreading his awareness throughout the building, but what he found was bizarre.

Unlike outside, there were no signs of blood or death here. No bodies. No battles.

Students, who had even turned into zombies were frozen in place, unable to move.

The normal students who hadn't were also immobile, trapped in some sort of stasis.

It was as though time had stopped.

Jon frowned as he sensed a strange energy in the air.

It was thick, pervasive, and unnatural. And, he could trace it, follow its source, so he did.

And as he did, he noticed that the energy was coming.

"What's going on?" Jon murmured to himself, following the trail of energy.

He passed by the frozen students, some alive, some not, but all trapped in the same eerie stillness.

And even when he tried to attack the zombies, his spear met an unbreakable resistance.

"They're... hardened," he observed, deciding not to waste any more energy here.

Something larger was at play.

The strange aura led him to a familiar route. His heart quickened, an unsettling feeling creeping over him.

He had no idea what he was about to find, but whatever it was, why was it coming from his room?