Going back a few moments before Luel met up with Mizuru:
"This is a stupid plan."
"Which is kind of the only plan we have."
"3, 2, 1, go!"
At the end of their count, Luel and Kurizu charged toward a group of six undead male teachers who were devouring two female students who had tried to escape through the rear window—only for the undead to rain down on them from the second-floor window.
Or at least, that was what Luel and Kurizu saw the moment they arrived at the back of the academy's main building after avoiding the undead first-year and second-year students swarming the front entrances.
Their plan was simple: get inside Nacht's office through the rear window—which was also stupid since it was a second-floor window nine meters high.
Still, their mysterious enhanced physical abilities should make it possible.
Besides, it wasn't like both of them needed to get inside the building to find and save Mizuru.
ROAR!!—BAM!!
Luel smashed the head of the first undead teacher that rushed to intercept them with a full-powered strike of his makeshift spear.
Kurizu followed immediately, knocking the head off the next undead with a home-run swing of his baseball bat.
ROAR!!—BAM!!
The third and fourth undead teachers went down just as quickly as they had jumped at them, their blackened blood and brain matter splattering across the ground as their skulls shattered and heads split open.
As for the fifth and sixth undead male teachers—"Stop degrading the bodies of these dead girls!"
Luel and Kurizu shouted as they kicked the remaining two undead teachers who, unlike the first four, ignored them and continued devouring the two female students—straddling their corpses, biting their necks, and somehow still thrusting their hips as if they were assaulting them.
BAM!!
Another pair of strikes ended the last of the six undead.
Before the other undead nearby could reach them—or before the two dead girls turned undead—Luel and Kurizu immediately initiated their simple and stupid plan.
"Hurry, idiot," Kurizu said, lowering his stance and clasping his hands together for Luel to use as a foothold to boost his jump.
"Don't mess up the timing with how dumb you are," Luel retorted, taking a few steps back to lengthen his running start before sprinting forward and jumping with all his strength the instant he stepped on Kurizu's hands.
Simple and stupid as it might be, their plan worked.
Luel easily reached the second-floor window, grabbed its edge with his left hand, shattered the glass with a swing of his makeshift spear, and climbed inside Nacht's office.
"Don't do anything dumb until I get back with Mizuru!" Luel shouted, warning Kurizu to stay careful around the undead.
"How can I? You're the one who should stop acting like an idiot!" Kurizu shot back, reminding Luel of their agreement that he would leave after ten minutes if Luel did something idiotic and got himself killed before finding Mizuru.
Cutting off their almost plagiarized conversation, Kurizu made his escape with the undead chasing behind him, running around the academy's main building to find somewhere safe to hide while waiting for Luel.
Meanwhile, Luel quickly went through the vault behind Nacht's desk.
He inserted the key, causing the digital screen above the keyhole to light up and ask for the four-digit password—something Nacht had nearly forgotten to tell them as he shouted it while they ran away from the gymnasium.
Opening the vault, Luel found all the guns they had once used during firearms and marksmanship training: a Barrett M82 sniper rifle, FN SCAR assault rifle, Benelli M2 shotgun, Pit Viper handgun, .50 caliber Desert Eagle, .44 Magnum revolver, Glock 17 and 19 pistols, and a standard police officer's snub revolver.
Although the vault contained many guns, the ammunition for each of them was limited to only three fully loaded magazines.
Still, Luel grabbed everything inside the vault—including a set of tactical knives, an axe, a baton, a pair of walkie-talkies, an emergency flare kit, and climbing rope—and stuffed them into the large duffle bag stored inside, except for the Pit Viper handgun that he chose as his weapon.
Luel didn't have great long-range marksmanship, but even he wouldn't miss a target mindlessly charging straight at him.
Slipping the duffle bag onto his back, Luel was surprised by how light everything felt now that he had mysteriously become stronger.
Maybe I could easily lift a 1,000-pound barbell at the gym, Luel thought as he walked toward the door.
Then he froze.
Multiple locks covered Nacht's office door.
"That muscle head... how did he expect us to get inside when he didn't give us the door keys?" Luel muttered, complaining despite forgetting that he himself had failed to ask for them.
Still, opening the door from the inside wouldn't be a problem.
The undead waiting outside, however, would be.
ROAR!—BANG!
Luel fired the moment he opened the door, killing the first undead that rushed him—someone he immediately recognized after more than two years at Crossroad Academy since transferring in his second year.
Compared to the classroom buildings used by students, the main building was occupied only by teachers and the student council, so there should be fewer undead on each floor aside from the ground level, where the first-year and second-year undead students were already swarming.
Still, that didn't make things easy.
The strikingly attractive MILF science teacher.
The beautiful online-gamer math teacher.
The everyone's-wife-material music teacher.
The yuri pair of the kind, caring P.E. teacher and the cheerful, lively English teacher.
Even the creepy pervert history teacher and the bald, wig-wearing principal.
Luel remembered most of the teachers just as well as his classmates, and unlike outside, he couldn't show sympathy by avoiding them and running away.
He had to take them down if he wanted to reach Mizuru.
ROAR!!!
One after another, the undead teachers charged at him.
BANG!—BANG!
Just like Nacht had taught them, Luel fired the first shot at the body to slow his enemy, then the second shot at the head to finish it.
***
Before emptying the third and final magazine of his Pit Viper handgun—taking down two dozen undead teachers—Luel finally arrived at the student council office on the fourth floor.
But there were still more undead waiting.
Luel holstered his handgun, wanting to save what bullets he had left, then grabbed the makeshift spear strapped to his duffle bag.
He took his stance, waiting for the charging half-naked female advisor and the pantless vice principal.
"I guess the rumor is true—there's really something going on between you two," Luel said as he stepped forward, closing the distance.
Gripping the wooden pole with both hands, he wielded it like a twin-bladed spear.
His first swing struck the undead female advisor in the head, slamming her into the wall.
The return swing struck the undead vice principal, knocking him into the floor.
Both went down in a single strike as Luel passed them, their heads splitting open with blackened blood splattering across the wall and floor—or at least it would have looked that way if he were actually using a twin-bladed spear.
When the undead advisor staggered back to charge him again, Luel swung his makeshift spear once more, smashing her head twice until blackened blood and brain matter splattered across the wall.
The vice principal suffered the same fate, the contents of his skull spilling across the floor.
"That means I lost the bet to Kurizu and Rhiyu," Luel said as he caught his breath. "But it's not like I need to tell them."
ROAR!!!
More undead emerged from nearby rooms and the stairwell.
Luel rushed to the double doors of the student council office—only to find them locked.
He didn't have time to knock and wait for someone to open them, nor anywhere else to run as both ends of the corridor filled with undead.
So Luel gambled everything on his mysterious enhanced strength.
Feeling the lustful heat surging through his body, he sprinted forward at full speed and slammed into the doors with all his strength.
***
CRASH!
The barricade of filing cabinets collapsed as the double doors burst open.
GYAHHH!!!
GAHHH!!!
Everyone inside scrambled away from the entrance before they could even see who had come in—everyone except Mizuru.
"Luel..." Mizuru murmured in disbelief.
"I'm glad you're safe, Mizuru," Luel replied, wanting to embrace her in relief, though he knew he couldn't yet.
ROAR!!!
Luel immediately slammed the doors shut—BAMM!—holding them closed against the undead pounding on the other side.
"Hurry up and fix the barricade!" Mizuru shouted, her commanding tone snapping everyone out of their fear and forcing them to move.