Chapter 9 9: We're Not In Kansas Anymore

You don't get a choice when it concerns not only your life but others as well!" The longer he talked, the more courage he gained almost as if he was slowly convincing himself that he was right in his thoughts. His words sounded reasonable to him and his group but it was utter gibberish to the person it was directed to.

"What the fuucck…." Noah couldn't believe what he just heard, he knew that he was a little crazy, but this Mark guy wins hands down, he was like an imitation of a hero on crack.

Noah no longer had any second thoughts on trying to reason with these kinds of stubborn and delusional people. His only thoughts were getting out of this situation and returning their 'generosity' when he became stronger. Thankfully his immortal body skill was always active, returning him more stamina back every five minutes on top of his natural recovery. He felt confident in getting away as well as having to fight any monster along the way as long as the group is small enough. To ensure his escape, he decided to try his plan, he inhaled deeply which put the opposing group on edge.

"EVERYONE WE'RE SAVED! HELP HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, IF YOU CONTINUE TO HIDE IN YOUR ROOMS YOU'LL ONLY BE LEFT BEHIND!"

He screamed out while slowly backing away. His screams startled not only Mark's group but also the bystanders hiding behind their doors. Unlike Mark's group, the bystanders reacted faster, like a domino effect, it only took one before the rest followed.

"Finally, we're saved!"

"crying* I thought I was going to die…"

One after another the students came from their locked dorm rooms, there were at least 10 that were still alive and didn't try to leave campus or were forced into hiding. This was already more than what he was expecting, now Noah just needed to put the rest of the plan to action now that the students were converging to him.

"Is it the army? Where are they?"

"Are they outside, c-can you take us there? I don't want to run into any more of those things.."

A small triumphant smirk appeared on Noah's face, 'This is exactly how I thought they would react'. He fixed his expression before anyone could notice.

"You don't have to worry! You see them?" He pointed towards Mark's group who were unsure how to react to the scene. "They were the ones who were able to call for help and will be taking anyone who wants to go with them to the meeting place! But they won't take everyone so you'll have to convince them to take you."

"What? Wh-what do you mean we-? Wait! Don't listen to him! We don't have anything to do wit- Fuck just get out of the way, He's getting away!" It didn't take them long to catch on to what Noah was trying to achieve but by then it was already too late. The bystanders were relentless when it came to saving themselves, Mark and his group's words fell on deaf ears. The more they tried to explain and distance themselves from the emotional students, the more the students thought Mark and his group were just trying to leave them and get help for themselves.

Meanwhile Noah was making his way towards the 2nd floor of the building chucklingly to himself along the way with a menacing smile adorned on his face. He was enjoying himself for once in his life. Just being able to figuratively and literally say 'fuck you' with no repercussions was thrilling to him. This new world has only just begun and he can already tell that the stronger he becomes the more he will be able to enjoy himself. But that doesn't mean he wasn't angry, just the thought of Mark and his group behaving as if his life were in their hands disgusted him to no end.

'Hehe, if you want to play hero then I don't mind being the villain, but I don't want to just beat you, I want to overpower you and to do that I need to level up. Besides…I know where to find you when I'm ready..'

He remembered the chubby kid talking about the girls dormitory.

"Sigh…guess I'll check that too…" Very briefly, just thinking of the girls dormitory reminded him of a bad memory he thought he was over with but he quickly recovered, that would be his next target but first he needed to leave the vicinity of Mark. His shoulder wasn't going to be 100 percent anytime soon and Mark still not only had companions but he also had that gigantic sword compared to just his hammer.

When he reached the second floor of the building, he was about to continue making his way down if it wasn't for the sight he came upon when he reached the first step that led to the first floor.

Piled on the steps were zombies and from the looks of it, it appears that there were a lot more than what he had to deal with. The entire floor seemed to be a gathering of them, it was as if everyone that were able to get away failed to leave for reasons Noah couldn't think of.

"If you were gonna run away then at least get out of the building! Damn...this would take too much time to get through…but maybe…"

Noah's thoughts went to his upgrade in his stats, technically his body should be considered abnormal now and to him that meant he should be able to jump from the second floor window without any problems.

Being sure of his new decision, he quickly went into the hall of the second floor to be met by wandering zombies in the area as well as zombies that were also attacking the doors of students that more than likely caught their attention. Unfortunately for Noah, one of the few dorm rooms near him just happened to be a room where zombies were converging on, unlike the time where he was swarmed by countless zombies because of his screams, there were only five zombies scratching away at the door before him.

'Well I won't let free exp go to waste right in front of me.' He could've avoided the zombies who weren't paying attention to him so he could get into the open room next door but why would he not kill the zombies on the way if he could? He was addicted to leveling up.

Excitedly he quickly walked to the group of zombies pushing against each other to reach the door before them. Even though his shoulder was usable to use his hammer, he still decided against using it at this moment. He felt around the side of his bag and retrieved his newly acquired dagger.

'Let's test this little baby out!' As if he found a new toy, Noah hastened his steps to the farthest zombie in the back and impaled the back of its head. There was no blood splattering on himself like last time, it was only when he removed the dagger from the zombies head that blood splurged out from its head.

Noah wasn't sure why but clean kills weren't that satisfying to him, he wanted to revert back to the hammer but now wasn't the time. He didn't want to cause too much attention to himself when he still needed to leave the dorm.

He managed to kill three of the zombies in the same manner. It was while he was about to finish the third zombie that it noticed him growled, alerting the last two zombies before him that he could no longer keep up with his charade.

He retreated back to retrieve his hammer and returned his now bloody dagger back into his bag. The last two zombies still had to maneuver past the dead bodies, leaving Noah time to grab his hammer and kill the last two zombies before they covered any distance. With a pained shoulder, he reverted to using his hips and shoulders to swing his hammer upwards instead of going for the usual overhead swings.

The sounds of metal hitting bone could not be hidden in a hall with sensitive monsters. The ones who were idle slowly turned towards the sound while the ones who were still struggling to get through closed doors didn't let up on their dream.

At this time Noah chose to ignore the rest while he rushed for the open room, but before he entered he noticed the wooden chest laying next to the last zombie he killed. Disappointed that he wasn't lucky enough to get a bronze chest like before, he wasn't going to let free items go to waste. He hurriedly grabbed the side handle of the chest before dragging it to the room with him and closed the dorm behind him. He wasted no time to observe the room, no sane person would be staying here after leaving the door wide open and he wasn't planning on staying here longer than he needed to.

Immediately he opened the chest to view the contents only to become disappointed that he didn't perform his usual ritual of opening it slowly. All he was given this time was a small pile of gold. At Least now he knew that he should expect more to be ripped off when it comes to the drop rates. He would've liked to have spent more time complaining about the chest but he still hadn't forgotten about his reason for coming here, he quickly made his way towards the window after retrieving all of his gold but the sight he witnessed wasn't what he was expecting.

"What in the world…" He momentarily blanked when he saw what was transpiring outside. Towers of smoke were stretching into the skies everywhere he looked but even then that wasn't as shocking as the other more strange things.

He didn't count zombies as strange, not even the hundreds of zombies scattered throughout the university or even the screaming students who were either combating them or fleeing he found strange. What he found strange were the common things you see everyday, Bugs and rodents! But unlike before, they grew to the point that the innocent everyday critters could now be considered a danger. He saw a mouse as big as a small dog take a chunk out of a zombie's leg, causing it to fall over before a few more of its brethren came to use it as a buffet.

He witnessed spiders that reached the height of an adult males knee pouncing on unsuspecting victims, zombies and humans alike.

There were even the common birds that had an increase in growth, he wasn't sure if it was just the school's location but thankfully there weren't many birds in the area. The ones that were seemed to be interested in the dead bodies littered throughout the campus.

Doubt almost began to brew in his heart from the otherworldly scene. Unlike the games and fantasy novels, reality left them no room to grow first or even remotely grasp what was going on.

But his doubt left just as fast as it came and was replaced with eagerness and excitement. The thought of obtaining something like an overgrown spider sounded badass to the current Noah and when he observed briefly the ongoing struggle between some of the students and the 'monsters' out there, he spotted once or twice someone even using magic.

One person had casted a fireball towards a zombie which missed the one he was aiming for but was able to set the shirt of the one behind it ablaze.

Then there was another student who seemed to be saying a chant while her hands were in a praying gesture before using it on a friend who was just attacked by a mouse. Noah was certain that what she used was healing magic but he didn't know how effective it was from this distance but seeing magic for the first time confirmed his will to level up even more.

He wanted to jump out of the window immediately but he didn't want to be too impulsive, he needed somewhat of a plan. As he could tell, he could get overrun easily if he just ran in swinging which is really what he wanted to do. As he observed from a distance he was soon able to spot his first destination.

"The beauty about attending a good school are opportunities like these."