Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Where the Hell Are You?
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Where the hell are you?
[Franken Zombie]
A variant zombie stitched together from dozens of zombies like ragged cloth, true to its name.
One of the field bosses that appears early in the game, but it's not difficult if you grasp its traits.
Even though it's huge, it's still a 'zombie,' so it shares the same traits as regular zombies.
It reacts to the blood and flesh scent of the living and is sensitive to surrounding noises.
Its movement speed is about that of a running zombie, and its skin durability is similar.
However, since it's made by patching together skin from dozens of zombies, it's hard to pierce through to the inside.
Especially in Phase 2, it becomes incredibly tough, making skills essential.
It has two lives, divided into Phase 1 and Phase 2.
One phase is the heart, the other the head.
It fully inherits the zombie trait of dying if the head explodes or the heart is pierced.
'The heart's pierced.'
With that stake-like thing impaled in its back, the heart had been pierced, killing it once.
This time, I needed to blow off the head.
'Wonder where it's attached.'
The things half-melted onto the head position were just lumps of flesh.
Even with those bloodshot eyes attached, they were mere decorations.
A fake designed to trick players and ramp up the difficulty.
The real head was one of the dozens attached to its body.
How do you tell them apart?
Like this.
All abilities will rise to maximum (MAX) for 25 minutes. From Level 6, you can use additional effects. Please select an additional effect below.
— Area Attack
— ■■■■■■■■■■
— ■■■■■■■■■■
I selected 'Area Attack' just like before.
It wouldn't work on the boss, but I'd need it after killing the thing.
I picked up the overturned car and hurled it at the monster.
Boom!!
"Kraaaah—!!"
Hit by the car, it let out a monstrous screech and froze in place.
A head protruding from its side flank whipped around 180 degrees to glare at me.
'That's the one.'
With so many heads attached, it was hard to spot that kind of movement mid-battle.
When it's that distracted, hitting it with an impact makes the head react first.
That's why I threw the car at its back—and it hit dead on.
A beat later, its body twisted around and charged at me.
As it closed in, both arms stretched out grotesquely long.
Extending its arms like tentacles to attack was straight out of the game.
I leaped into the air, vaulting over the Franken Zombie.
I sprinted toward the building next to the student hall, and it lumbered after me with heavy thuds.
Some kind of renovation work must've been going on, because one wall had a steel frame scaffold installed.
I planted myself in front of the building, and its arms came flying at me from both sides.
This time, I didn't dodge.
Boom—!!
With Offense/Defense at MAX, I took no damage, but I still got shoved back.
I quickly sprang forward to show I was fine, and this time it charged with its torso.
The thing was smart enough to learn in that short time that arm attacks were useless.
I twisted aside, dodging its lunge.
As it crashed into the pillar behind me, I hoisted the dump truck at the entrance and smashed it down.
"Kruuuh, kyaaaak—!!"
While it thrashed under the dump truck, I ripped out the entire steel frame from one wall.
I needed the support beams holding the frame together.
I jammed the beams one by one into its flailing arms and legs.
I drove them deep into the dirt floor, pinning it immobile.
Finally, I stabbed one into its chest, turning it into an insect specimen.
"Grrr..."
Listening to its groans, I yanked out the head buried in its side.
During battle, it buries its head inside the flesh like this for protection.
To pull it out, you have to temporarily immobilize it first.
Luckily, I spotted those construction beams and put them to use.
"Kraaaang—!!"
The head wailed as I dragged it out, so I stomped it flat.
With the head gone, the body convulsed wildly before going limp moments later.
You have cleared Field Boss Phase 2. Congratulations! Clear rewards are as follows.
1. 10,000pt
2. 1 Item Exchange Ticket
Since the two villains who'd cleared Phase 1 were dead, all the rewards came to me.
'But who cleared it?'
Navigation tells me heroine and villain locations but not identities.
Before heading back, I should check survivors near the main gate and ask what happened.
The Item Exchange Ticket can be used in the Point Shop when exchange items appear.
No exchange items yet, so I stashed it in my inventory.
Riiip!
The zombie skins covering its body began tearing apart.
The first time I fought one, I freaked thinking it was reviving, but this is just the Franken Zombie's parting gift.
With the main body dead, the attached zombies revert to normal.
Individually not very strong, but dozens reviving at once is a pain.
I toppled the dump truck and swept the corpses inside the building like a broom.
The zombies struggled to break free from the forming bodies.
I bolted out and unleashed a full-power punch at the ground.
Boom—!!
An even bigger crater formed than before, sending a massive shockwave that engulfed the building.
Glass shattered everywhere, walls, pillars, and floors cracking wide open.
The building began collapsing amid the clamor.
Dust and debris flew everywhere, making it hard to keep my eyes open.
It was a controlled demolition without any explosives.
The corpses and zombies on the first floor got buried under the rubble.
【Remaining Time】
Deaths: 01:52
I'd thought three hours was tight, but I wrapped up the field boss in just one hour and ten minutes.
It would've taken longer against villains, but the system must've accounted for this scenario.
Now I just needed to grab the celebrity from the student hall and get out.
The Franken Zombie's attack had demolished half the student hall.
A few students were crying as they cleared the rubble from the collapsed building.
"What's going on?"
They flinched at the sight of me and backed away.
"I'm the one who took down that monster earlier. No intention to hurt you, so tell me what happened."
They just exchanged glances until one girl spoke up, voice trembling with sobs.
"S-sob... People from the third-floor conference room and fourth-floor dorms are buried."
I'd assumed everything was fine since the death counter kept ticking even after I killed the boss.
But that was the death counter, not injuries.
I hadn't even considered the celebrities might get hurt.
My heart raced.
I scanned the nearby survivors—no celebrities.
Asking where the celebrities were when people were buried felt wrong.
"Is this everyone? No one upstairs?"
"The third and fourth floors collapsed almost completely... This is probably it."
If the girl was right, there was only one place left they could be.
Looking at the rubble pile, a curse slipped out unbidden.
'Shit, fuck.'
[Remaining Time 08:11]
The skill duration had eight minutes left.
If I hurried, I could pull out anyone trapped.
"Everyone, back off!"
Startled by my intensity, the kids scrambled away.
Confirming no one around, I started hurling the largest chunks outward.
The kids' eyes went wide watching me toss building debris.
After a few tosses, mangled corpses with crushed heads, twisted limbs started appearing.
I shoved aside a few bodies and dug deeper, finally uncovering the first survivor.
"Ugh... ughk..."
Arms and legs bloodied, but a gap in the debris had miraculously kept them alive.
I carried the survivor aside, and the kids rushed over to take them further in.
Clearing rubble like this, I found two more survivors.
'Where the hell are you?'
The system wouldn't handle a heroine or slave candidate so carelessly.
With the timer running, their life wasn't in danger.
I'm alive and kicking like this, after all.
But the 'what ifs' wouldn't leave my mind.
What if they're unconscious but alive?
What if they're conscious but their intelligence has regressed so much they can't communicate?
Or if the shock was so bad they lost their mind?
Lost in those thoughts, I reached the bottom—no woman resembling a celebrity.
[Remaining Time 02:05]
I flung every last small pile outward.
Running around like a maniac, the kids didn't dare approach.
In the end, with 20 seconds left, I'd cleared all debris that could've trapped someone.
Still no sign of the celebrity I was looking for.
I approached the kids tending to corpses and the injured.
Some wept over bodies, others tore clothes to staunch bleeding, a few stared blankly into space—it wasn't over just because the boss was dead.
I reached for bandages to treat the wounded when a noise came from the stairs connecting to the second floor.
"K-kids..."
Someone was limping down the stairs.
'Roji...?'
It was Roji, a member of the top-tier girl group Pale Blue.