Though Aleen was surprised when he saw the zombies, he quickly calmed down.

To be honest, Aleen thought that zombies were less terrifying than giant carnivorous insects.

The problem was, how was he going to pass through them and exit the building?

Aleen glanced to the map of the city in his mind and confirmed the direction of the central tower. It was around five kilometers away from here, and they obviously had to go through this group of monsters if they wanted to reach there.

Fortunately, Aleen noticed that most of the zombies looked like they were level one; so, though they could be a bit troublesome, Aleen thought that he could pass them easily.

The problem, though, were the others with him.

The truth was, Aleen probably would not die even if he fails the mission. With his current score, losing a single game was not enough to fall in negative.

But if it was possible, Aleen wanted to win.

'Besides…' Aleen looked to Aya who was beside him observing the zombies.

Aya… If she fails the mission, she will die.

It was the same with the other seven.

At difference from him, they could not afford to fail this mission.

Aleen thought deeply about the best way to complete the mission.

Looking at the expressionless look on Aya’s face, he asked something.

“Aya, what is your skill?”

“… Skill?”

“You are a level two, right? What ability you got?”

Aya fell silent for a few seconds before finally replying. “… I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“The thing in my head says that I’m level two, but I don’t know what my skill is.”

Aleen was unable to process Aya’s words immediately.

“Impossible! You never noticed something strange? Something that only you can do and nobody else can.”

Aya thought deeply for a moment and signaled to the silver cat on her arms.

“… I can speak with Lily.”

“Meow!”

Aleen expression turned strange when he heard it.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Was it her skill? Speaking with animals?

Aleen hoped that it wasn’t.

With a sigh, he suppressed his disappointment and decided to teach her the basic circulation method. At least, she could help him to fight the weaker zombies with her level two body.

At the same time, he tried to teach the circulation method to the others. Unfortunately, besides the college girl and one of the bodyguard-like men, nobody else was able to learn it; and even the two that learned it barely could circulate their mana.

Aleen found it strange; after all, he learned to circulate with relative ease, and he did not consider himself a genius when it comes to mana.

Aya, on the other hand, learned in her first try. Aleen wondered if it was because she was talented or simply because she was a level two already.

In the end, Aleen allowed them to try for another fifteen minutes but nobody else succeeded; so Aleen told them to stop. They only had four hours to complete the mission, so they could not afford to waste much time.

It was obvious that learning to use mana wasn't so easy as he thought.

Hiding the disappointment from showing on his face, Aleen began to speak.

“As you can see, this place is surrounded by zombies, but we have to go through them if we want to survive. Any of you have a plan?”

None of them spoke.

Aleen frowned when he saw it. Probably, none of them would survive going through that group of monsters outside, and even if they are able to pass them, they probably will be injured, even if only slightly; and Aleen didn’t want to test if a zombie's bite would transform a human into a zombie.

Without more option, he suggested something. “We will form groups and search around to see if we can find a safer method to leave the building. If after half an hour, we don’t find anything, we will take the risk and rush out. Besides, if you notice something wrong, don’t hesitate to shout.”

The others nodded hesitantly.

“Aya will come with me.” Aleen continued. “You can form the other groups as you want.”

Quickly, another two groups were formed. The first was the college girl with the two bodyguard-like men, and the other was formed by the remaining four people.

Aleen gestured them to start and went with Aya to search for another exit.

But five minutes after they separated, Aleen heard footsteps coming from behind him.

Turning around, he saw the group of the girl and the bodyguards stop near him.

One of the bodyguards stepped forward and walked towards Aleen.

“Mr. Aleen, can we speak with you? We want to make you a proposal.”

Aleen frowned but nodded, signaling him to continue.

“We want to ask you to help us to protect our young miss. In exchange, we can pay you a considerable sum of money once we leave this place.”

Aleen sighed, confirming his suspicions.

He already noticed that something was wrong with them from before, but it confirmed his thoughts.

“Can I ask how did you end here?”

The bodyguard hesitated for a moment before answering. “We were beside our young miss when a portal appeared behind her. Our duty as her bodyguards is to protect her from any harm, so we immediately ran and tried to protect her, but it was already too late, and all of us ended here.”

‘… It was the same that happened with Aya, huh…’

Aleen was sure that the administration knew about this situation, so he wondered why it was like this... Or maybe it was a mistake?

Unfortunately, he failed to find a reason.

Looking towards the bodyguard, Aleen put a serious expression and replied.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do it.”

“… Is there a reason?” Asked the bodyguard after staying silent for a second.

“Though I don’t mind helping you, my safety is first, and Aya’s is second. The rest of you, I will help if it’s possible, but I will not risk my life for you. Besides, even if you promise to give money on earth, I wouldn’t dare to take it.”

The bodyguard smiled wryly understating his meaning.

“Then, is there something we can do?”

“Follow my orders and don't die.” Aleen replied. “I will try to take you out from here, but to be honest, I can’t guarantee my own safety, much less yours.”

The bodyguard nodded. He then returned to the college girl and muttered something in her ear, to which she nodded gently. Staring towards Aleen, she gestured something to her two bodyguards and turned around to continue with the search.

At that moment, however, a shout came from the other side of the building.

Aleen immediately recognized the voice as the woman in the other group.