Free and Unfettered 24 Zombies

They just kept running and running and running without pause. At first, the adrenaline had accompanied them to chase away the burn, but as they continued on without rest, the fatigue gradually ended up creeping up on them as they were unsuspecting.

Eventually, one student couldn't keep up anymore as he tripped and fell.

The other four students felt their heartbeat stutter as their hearts felt like it was about to escape their ribcage.

"Andrew!" Valerie cried.

They grit their teeth as they stopped, resolving themselves to fight since they couldn't run.

Valerie pulled Andrew up as he scrambled off the ground. The group of five took this chance to catch their breath and desperately try to remove some of the fatigue by throwing some healing spells at their sore muscles.

They unconsciously held their breaths as they tensed when the crashing sounds neared.

Pulling up all their determination, they resolved to die fighting. They weren't cowards, and they definitely wouldn't leave someone else to fend for themselves while they escaped on their own.

The crashing sounds grew increasingly louder and their hearts practically stopped when the giant head of the Sixth Tier Magic Beast emerged from the foliage.

The five students slid into a combat ready stance, their hands already poised to cast the magic at any time. Their breating echoed in their ears, too soft but too loud at the same time.

Merting the Sixth Tier Magic Beast's eyes almost caused them to lose sight of their determination, but they grit their teeth and fired at different parts of the beast's body.

The beast let out a low roar as it casually shattered the magic being sent towards it with its roar alone. The sight caused the five students to despair as they felt the vast chasm of skills and might.

They felt like they were looking straight into the eyes of death.

Valerie felt her body tremble at the terrible feeling of being so close to death. Andrew didn't look at her, but silently squeezed her hand until she squeezed back.

Five pairs of eyes glared at the Demonic Winged Tiger in a false show of courage, but there was no shaking the determination that blazed in their eyes.

"Even if I die, I'll die fighting!"

Letting out a war cry, the student launched the most efficient magic he could at the tiger, his mind working in overdrive.

Surprisingly, the tiger took one look at him and snorted as its magic landed. It turned around with a flick of its tail and left after giving them a disdainful look.

"???"

They stared after the beast in shock. They... did it? They drove off the beast? They weren't dead yet! Haha! Nevermind the disdainful look, they'd take whatever looks it wanted to give them, as long as they weren't badly injured or dead! Hahaha, they felt like they'd been granted a new life. As long as they made it out of this forest alive, they'd definitely do whatever they hadn't been doing out of fear. You only lived once!

°•°•°•🐢. . . .

By the time night fell, there were twenty bodies laid out on the ground. The bodies were completely motionless and still.

Any passerby who walked by would have gotten a shock at the number of bodies strewn haphazardly on the ground.

If one looked closely enough, you could see that these weren't rally dead bodies, but people who had passed out. Their breathing was shallow and their chest hardly moved.

Not a single person stirred no matter what sounds were heard in the quiet of the night, so it was lucky that no Magic Beasts or monsters tried to approach.

All twenty students had gone through a baptism of fire from the Sixth Tier Magic Beast. Each time it left a team alone, it went chasing after another team for roughly an hour before switching again. This process repeated until the sun set, and it left presumably to hunt something else.

The moment the team reached their campground, they randomly found an empty space and just collapsed there, too tired to drag their heavy bodies to something softer.

In the middle of the night, a single person stirred.

"Ugh," Lucien groaned. He struggled to his feet. His body felt like it was made of lead. He fumbled in the dark fo hi glasses.

His eyelids struggled to stay open, but his stomach was protesting desperately. He was SO hungry.

Mustering all his remaining energy, he started a small fire and started roasting the Magic Beast, salivating as it started cooking.

The smell diffused and one by one, the bodies on the ground started getting up and moving towards the smell.

Lucien eyed his classmates and thought that the scene was eerily reminiscent of a zombie apocalypse movie where humans had been bitten and woke up as a zombie.

The way they staggered towards him sent chills up his spine, and he forced himself not to move.

Ravenously, his classmates started devouring the meat.

Lucien's mouth opened slightly in shock before realizing all the meat was quickly disappearing. Alarmed, he shot forward to grab some meat to eat himself.

"Ice slip!" he cried, making all of those who were rushing towards the meat slip painfully.

Lucien took the chance to grab as much meat as possible, keeping up his scholarly image.

"Roast your own meat," he said, pushing up his glasses menacingly. They somehow flashed even without much of a light source.

The bunch of hungry zombies sulkily subsided, starting to roast the meat of the Magic Beasts they had killed while free from the Sixth Tier Magic Beast.

The moment he satisfied himself, Lucien went back to helping the rest roast more meat. He eyed it, wondering if he could sneak a bit.

"Get your own meat," Aciel hissed.

Lucien looked at Brooke and Eden. They avoided his gaze and turned around casually, stuffing the food in their mouths. They looked like a squirrel with their cheeks that full.

Lucien wanted to poke them. He looked around for Deltan, but it was like the prince had disappeared completely.

Behind a tree, Deltan was foregoing all manners and inhaling the food like he breathed it. Luckily, he had the foresight to hdie himself or his current manner would crash his image in their minds.

Lucien gave up and lay back down, hogging the softest leaves. He closed his eyes and instantly drifted off.

Chapter end