Human Shield

Having dealt with most of the zombies in the area, their group hurried to enter the inner space of a living complex. Since most of the zombies were drawn to their battle, there was nothing that could endanger them inside it. They were past the most dangerous part of their plan.

All they had left were to clean four huge buildings from zombies. Nothing difficult...right?

'Killing leftover zombies isn't the biggest problem. I should immediately find a Devourer and kill it. But firstly, I may need some time to observe its habits and prowess to prepare for the battle,' Dave was already thinking about his next step.

There were some zombies inside the inner court of the living complex, but their numbers were minuscule compared to the ones they killed outside. It wasn't big trouble to kill them all, so they smoothly entered it.

"As we have agreed before coming here, we're gonna divide into 5 groups. One group will stay here and guard the entry point of the living complex. Other groups will take one building each to clean it from the presence of zombies." Dean Siphon started commanding as she personally provided a group that'll guard the entry point.

Dave and his main group would make for one group and Luther's gang of survivors would make for another. The other two groups would be formed from the dean's personal subordinates.

"Then, let's start with a finishing part. I hope this time there will be no casualties in our ranks." Dean Siphon gave a command to disperse as she led her own group into one of the four buildings.

"We'll rest after we'll finish with this. Richard, you're with me. I'm still keeping my eyes on you," Dave sounded more threatening at the end.

Not only did Richard was among them when they fought against a horde of zombies, but he was also one of the main damage dealers in their group, showing remarkable prowess in the battle. As Dave had expected, Adam and others also showed themselves from the good side, having been the valuable members of a team.

At their dean's command, every team headed to their appointed buildings. Every building had 15 floors, so they would need some time to clear each of them.

...

"Woaaah!" Brian dropped his jaws in amazement as he looked around the first floor. "This living complex is amazing! Why isn't my dorm like this?"

'Well, I cannot disagree with Brian. This building is truly top-notch for a dormitory,' Dave inwardly agreed with Brian.

The first floor was a base floor, so there were no rooms for student's accommodation, instead, it had a cafeteria, spacious study rooms and a lounge hall. Dave believed that rooms for students were a floor higher.

However, even though there were no students' rooms, the first floor should still be the most crowded place during lunchtime since most of the students didn't usually sit in their rooms at such times.

"Eeerhg!" Dave could already hear the growls of zombies from the lounge hall. Fortunately, they had Brian with them to detect zombies.

"Ehm...Dave, did you need my help with this? Did you want me to help you with this mission?" Richard fidgeted a bit behind his back as he asked with some hope in his voice. Richard believed that the faster he would help Dave with his business, the calmer he would be in the future.

Dave halted as he heard Richard's question. He smirked and said, "Well, let's say it's a small part of it. However, you still need to win my trust, so you may even start now."

"What do I need to do?" Puffing a mouthful of air, Richard confidently patted himself on the chest. If it would enable him to live fearlessly in the future, Richard wasn't gonna hesitate about it.

"Hehehe...Nothing difficult," Dave grinned widely.

Looking at his best friend's grin, Adam felt shivers down his spine as he shooked a bit. Adam knew Dave for more than 10 years, and he knew that his best friend's widest and most satisfied smile was also his most wicked one.

'I always wanted to hunt like this one time in my life,' Dave thought inwardly.

...

"Brian, Rebecca kill them!" Dave said in a slightly excited tone.

"But what will be if we harm him?" Rebecca asked worriedly. She feared that she might injure Richard if she shot her light blades now.

"Don't worry. Richard is thick-skinned. He won't die," Dave said as a matter of fact.

"Hehe...You don't need to say it twice," Brian laughed evilly as he started chanting a spell for [Small Fireball]. Brian felt no sympathy towards Richard after he heard what he had done from Dave. On top of that, Richard strongly resembled a guy who picked on him in his school years. They were similar. Both of them were bastards with shitty personalities.

Forming a fireball in front of him, Brian mercilessly shot a fireball into the group of zombies. It was much smaller than he usually used since he didn't want to set the whole building on fire...Or burn a hole on the floor.

Currently, Richard lied among the group of zombies that were biting and gnashing their teeth into his skin. However, their bite power wasn't enough to get through its metal skin. Although they were not hurting him, Richard still felt uncomfortable when they clang to him with their rotting and bloody hands.

Having finished forming his fireball, Brian shot it towards baited zombies. It flew in a straight line and landed right on them. It burst in bright light and fire swept across all zombies, setting them on fire and burning their flesh.

Of course, it also swept over Richard, who rolled on the floor to quench the fire. Brian's [Small Fireball] was strong enough to slightly injure him since Richard was still vulnerable to high temperatures. It felt like molten metal was stuck to his skin.

"Sorry!" Saying in a soft voice and having an internal struggle, Rebecca shot light blades to kill the remaining zombies.

"Khek!" Richard cried out since one of the light blades brushed past his cheek, barely missing it. Although he had tough skin, Richard still had vulnerable points, and one of them was his eyes. Moreover, Star's light blades were sharp enough to leave shallow cuts on his skin.

"I still don't think that it's right. I know he's naturally tough, but it should come with a big shock," Arthur said in pity as he looked at Richard. "We should at least have given him his weapon instead of taking it from him."

"Nah, I said clearly that he can't kill anyone. He may treat it as a small punishment for his actions." Dave said resolutely. He had no intention to feel sorry for Richard. Furthermore, Dave wanted to hunt with him this way since he had known about Richard's innate ability.

'Perfect tank, bait and nearly undying cannon fodder. Richard has so many talents,' Dave thought inside, glad he hadn't killed him before. He still needed Richard to deal with the Devourer.

Adam and Evelyn stood on the side, shaking their heads in disapproval and staring helplessly at Dave. However, they decided not to object to Dave since they heard about what Richard had done with other survivors.

Clearing the first floor, they continued heading upstairs, where Dave exploited Richard's innate ability in every possible way.

...

"Go bait all zombies into one room, where we'll kill them with a fireball." Dave used Richard as bait.

...

"I hope you don't mind, pal." Dave made from Richard's body a human shield with which he defended against Hunter's attacks.

...

"No, you definitely can't do that." And Dave strictly prohibited him from fighting back against zombies.

...

Getting into their own pace, their team of seven slowly progressed over the floors. Although Richard didn't like the idea of being a human shield for them, he took this job wholeheartedly, rushing towards zombies without any complaints.

Or not?

"Richard, go block their path," Dave said as he threw him towards the flock of zombies.

Richard crashed at them pretty hard as he groaned in pain, "Fuck! Can't you be a bit gentler?"

Currently, they were on the 8th floor and were welcomed warmly by a dozen of zombies. Thanks to Brian's and Richard's efforts, Dave and others easily avoided dangers on their way and quickly dealt with zombies on every floor. Well, Richard could take all the credits for the latter.

However, they got quite unlucky on this floor as they were immediately spotted by a flock of zombies when they got on the floor. So without any side thoughts, Dave threw Richard on zombies' way.

Fortunately, his strength was high to so!

Quickly dashing at stumbled zombies, Dave quickly killed a pair of them. Suddenly, a shadow leapt behind other zombies and went past Dave, trying to attack Evelyn who stood behind him.

However, being an Evolver of agility stat and raising few levels over the past days, Evelyn promptly dodged it in one step and swang her sword at Hunter's head.

She wasn't strong enough to behead it, so her sword got stuck in Hunter's head. However, the result was the same as it dropped dead several seconds later. As it died, it left a white Treasure Chest behind itself.

"Good job!" Dave said as they finished killing all zombies in the hallway. Adam covered him from behind with his Telekinesis, while Brian, Rebecca and Arthur joined him after he pushed Richard towards zombies. Brian and Rebecca moved to the frontlines since they were low on mana.

Evelyn opened her Treasure Chest as it left behind a wooden longbow in her hands

[Common Longbow

Attack: 23-28

Durability: 20/20

Description: Medieval longbow made from the most common materials. It has a shooting range of 30 meters.]

It also had 50 arrows, following the longbow.

[Crude Arrow

Attack: 3-5

Durability: 4/4

Description: Common wooden arrow with low durability. It has a high chance of breaking after piercing the target.]

"Heh...Has anybody practised archery before?" Dave asked concernedly as he clearly understood that having a bow without an archer was plain useless.