"W... wait... I... I heard someone walking! Shhh!" Jasmine alerted everyone, her body tensing as she pressed closer to the door.
"Maybe it's a zombie," Jessica whispered nervously, clutching her chest.
"I don't think so. Zombies don't walk like this. It's fast and... and more like how humans walk," Jasmine explained, her heart starting to race with a spark of hope that she hadn't felt all day.
She leaned closer to the tiny hole in the wall. "Let me check."
Outside, she saw two girls moving through the debris, effortlessly killing the zombies that crossed their path. It looked like a scene from a movie, but the faces were familiar.
She recognized one of them instantly. "It... it's Rina!"
To begin with, Jasmine and Rina were from different departments. They weren't close friends, but they often saw each other around campus and exchanged casual words.
Without hesitation, she raised her voice loud enough to carry through the rubble and broken walls.
"Ri… Rina… Rina… is t-that you? Please… please help us… we're stuck… here inside…"
Outside the building, the sudden voice made Rina and Seraphine alert instantly.
The horrors of the previous night crept across their skin as they shifted into a defensive stance, eyes darting toward the source.
"W… who… who is that?" Rina whispered, her nerves instantly on edge.
"It's me, Jasmine! We… we're trapped here. Can you help us?" the voice called from the other side.
"W… we? What do you mean 'we'?, 'We' means who exactly?" Seraphine asked, her voice cold and cautious. She wasn't about to walk into a trap, even if the voice sounded human.
"Me, Jessica, Meera, and Lisa," Jasmine replied. Though she didn't recognize the white-haired girl with Rina, she didn't hesitate.
Rina's eyes widened. 'Jasmine, Jessica, Lisa, Meera…'She turned quickly to Seraphine. "Sera, we need to help them. I know them."
"O… okay," Seraphine muttered. She wasn't entirely sure about bringing more people into their group, but she decided to follow the voice.
The two girls stepped inside the crumbled, dark building.
Seraphine took the lead, her hand on her sword hilt as her eyes adjusted to the shadows.
"You guys, where are you?" Rina asked loudly. Her voice echoed through the hollowed-out hallways, sounding eerie against the silence of the ruins.
"We are in the bathroom area!" Jessica replied this time, her voice cracking with relief.
Rina and Seraphine navigated through the debris, climbing over fallen beams as they made their way toward the sound of the girls' voices.
When they reached the bathroom area, the sight stopped them cold, the entrance was completely blocked by massive slabs of concrete, boulders larger than an average human.
"H.. Holy," Rina gasped, her eyes wide as she took in the massive pile of debris.
"Can you get us out, Rina?" Jasmine's voice trembled from the other side.
"W.. wait, let me try! These blocks look heavy as hell," Rina replied. She leaned her bow against a nearby wall and braced her shoulder against the largest slab.
"Ahhh!" she screamed, pushing with every bit of strength she had until her face turned red.
There was no change.
The block didn't move an inch.
"S.. Se.. Sera, help me out!" Rina panted, not giving up as she tried to find a better grip.
"I don't think the boulder will move even if I help," Seraphine stated calmly. She stood back, observing the way the rocks were wedged together, her mind racing for a better solution.
"Then... how do we help them?" Rina asked, looking back with a frustrated expression.
"Let me think," Seraphine said, narrowing her eyes at the structure.
Suddenly, Jessica's voice rang out from inside. "If it's too much for you guys, can you go and find help from other survivors? Get a group or something?"
"Survivors?" Rina laughed bitterly. "You guys are the only ones we've seen so far that aren't trying to eat us."
"Wait... what!" Jessica cried out in shock.
"I don't know if there are others. Maybe they're hiding, but we haven't found anyone else yet," Rina explained.
"Wait, let me try," Seraphine spoke up, cutting through the conversation.
"What are you going to do, Sera?" Rina asked, looking confused. She knew Seraphine was strong, but this was tons of concrete.
"I'm not sure, but giving it a try won't do any harm, right?" Seraphine said. She walked over to the largest stone blocking the path.
She slowly raised her hand and gently touched the rock.
As her palm met the rough surface, she closed her eyes, concentrating on the source of the power she had felt when she first learned the spell.
She could feel it now, a strange swirling energy centered just above her abdomen.
The sensation began near her abdomen, just above it, a well of energy stirring. The moment she thought about channeling that ability, her body's temperature started to drop.
Her skin grew cold, as though she were freezing from the inside out. Yet strangely, it didn't harm her. The chill wasn't foreign, it was like becoming a part of her, merging seamlessly with her body. She adapted to it quickly, as if the freezing temperature was becoming a natural extension of her own biology.
"S... Sera, are you okay? You look like you're gonna freeze to death!" Rina stammered, reaching out to touch Seraphine's shoulder in worry.
"Ouch!" Rina hissed, immediately recoiling as if she'd touched dry ice. "Too cold!"
Seraphine didn't open her eyes, but a faint smile touched her lips. "I'm okay, don't worry about me. I'm trying to freeze this rock."
Still, doubt lingered in her mind. The spell description at Level 1 had only mentioned surface freezing. That wouldn't be enough here. To break the obstruction, she needed to freeze the entire boulder--inside and out.
Small ice crystals began to pour from her hands, spreading across the stone's surface. The frost crawled outward, shimmering in the dim light, until the entire exterior was coated in a thin sheet of ice.
'Woah…' Seraphine whispered in her mind. It was a magical phenomenon that even surprised Seraphine, watching the laws of physics bend to her will.
Suddenly something popped up in her mind.
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ATTRIBUTES :-
• MANA : 14 (-5)
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Seraphine gripped her sword tightly and thrust it against the frozen surface of the rock. The outer layer shattered instantly under the strike, crumbling into shards of ice and stone.
But beneath it, the next layer remained just as solid and unyielding.
"Tch...this is gonna take forever," Seraphine cursed under her breath. It hadn't gone exactly as she expected; the spell was limited to the exterior, meaning she had to peel this boulder away layer by layer like a onion.
Still, she refused to give up. Again and again she repeated the cycle:
Freezing the surface. Thrusting. Breaking.
Freezing the surface. Thrusting. Breaking.
Freezing the surface. Thrusting. Breaking.
The repetitive motion and the constant drain on her mana began to take a toll. Her arms felt like lead, and a heavy mental fatigue started to cloud her focus. "R.. Rina, cast your healing spell on me," Seraphine gasped, her breath coming out in thick white clouds.
"O.. Okay! I've got you!" Rina said, stepping up. She kept her hands near Seraphine, pulsing her healing light to keep the exhaustion from collapsing her friend's lungs.
Together, they continued the ritual for hours—freezing, thrusting, breaking. Slowly, painfully, the massive rock began to thin out.
Finally, with one last push, the two girls managed to move the boulder aside.
Behind it lay another obstruction, but this time the rocks were smaller. Seraphine and Rina pushed them away with effort, clearing the path.
And then, at last, the door came into view.
It was almost completely crumbled, weakened to the point where a gentle touch was enough to shatter it.
They opened it slowly, cautiously, and there huddled inside, they saw the four girls: Jessica, Jasmine, Lisa, and Meera.
Seraphine's eyes scanned the cramped washroom. Two girls sat near the door, two more opposite them, and one lay weakly across another's lap.
"R… Rina, you finally came!" Jasmine's face lit up with relief the moment she saw her.
But then her gaze shifted to the figure beside Rina, another girl standing tall with calm composure.
"May I ask… who are you?" Jasmine asked politely.
"My name is Seraphine Ashbourne," Seraphine said, her gaze calm and steady despite her exhaustion.
"Seraphine? W… wait… Ashbourne?" The four girls froze, dumbfounded.
Their eyes widening in disbelief.
Jessica and Jasmine immediately bowed politely, their fear momentarily replaced by deep-rooted social reflex. "Th.. thank you for helping us, Miss Seraphine!"
"Haa... it's okay. I just transferred here, and it's a long story, so please don't mind the formalities," Seraphine said, waving her hand dismissively.
She felt a sudden wave of awkwardness watching girls of her own age bowing to her. It wasn't as though people hadn't bowed before; she was used to it.
but spending time with Rina had made her almost forget the crushing weight her family name carried.
The Ashbourne name was powerful-so powerful that it bent people's instincts without them realizing.
The Ashbourne name was more than just a title; it was power, and even in the apocalypse, that reality hadn't changed.