BXBX NOVEL Chapter 5: [Escape!]
Objective: Reach the outer ground of the Milton High School!
Time Limit: 60 minutes!
Rewards: +5 Free Attribute Points!]
Just like before the [Quest!] appeared on the blue screen, as the white goblin turned silent. His eyes looked at Luke and Alice, while a crude smile was present on his face.
"W-What should we do now?" One of the classmates spoke, as his eyes looked at the timer with a panicked voice. His question was mostly directed to himself but for one reason or another, people looked at Luke, hoping he could guide them again.
I could see Luke gulping with all the pressure but even then he didn't break down and started explaining whatever was on his mind,
"Since it is an escape this time, we can expect a monster or something chasing us. Or perhaps some form of puzzles on our way out. The puzzles could be deadly traps too."
Luke paused. His eyes observed the deadly silence as horror filled in the eyes of the people around him.
Confirming that everyone was listening to him, Luke continued,
"But since we have these [Gifts!], I can hope that we can get out of this if we cooperate properly. I will go first. I have a [Gift] that allows me to increase my weapon proficiency faster. Is there anyone else who has [Gift] related to fighting?"
His didn't exactly calm the situation but it sure made them all hopeful. Their eyes which were horrified before, were now horrified + Hopeful.
"I.. I have a [Gift] for brawls. I can increase my physical strength."
"Me too. I can increase my speed."
"I… it says that I can weaken opponents."
Three voices came up, while others had their eyes down in shame. It doesn't seems like they have anything useful for the situation.
"I have a healing gift but I don't know how well it will work," our professor joined in. He tried to be calm, but the dry voice betrayed the neutral expression that he was making. Still, having a healer reduced the burden to quite an extent.
Luke who seemed to have somewhat calmed, looked at Alice as he asked," Ummm. Alice. Is it all right if I know your [Gift!]? Since you got that [Contract] thing, I wonder if you got something that could help us out."
Though Alice only shook her head with a sigh as she spoke,
"I got a gift related to Mana or something. It says I can manipulate mana faster but… according to the [Contract], it also says that it will take sometime for me to get used to it. Until then, I can only try my best to survive."
These words amazed most of us. Anyone who has read a fantasy novel or played a similar game knows what it means. No wonder she was [Contracted] so early.
Some of us looked at her with envy, while others tried getting close to her, trying to butter up to her. Pretty cliche if you ask me.
Luke on the other hand had a thoughtful look. His eyes seemed to be really concentrated as he mumbled in a low voice,
"One problem is barely manageable but what about the Traps?"
He massaged his temples for a few seconds, as his eye narrowed at the goblin. But then he sighed as if he had resigned everything to fate.
"Ummm… Luke," and then I moved towards him, gathering his attention and of those around him.
"I have a gift related to [Perception!]. It allows me to see through things… Maybe I can help with the Traps?" I sounded hopeful, as if I was trying to be useful in this situation.
And it worked.
Luke's eyes glistened, listening to me, as he held me by my shoulders and spoke with a bright expression," why didn't you tell me that before?!"
'I wanted to build the tension.'
I just forced a smile at him without speaking anything.
"All right. Since we have everything we need. Let's hurry up. Time is running out!" Luke then shifted gears and wasted no more time.
[54 Minutes remaining!]
'Was selecting 5-25 survivors in 10 minutes was a bad idea? I can only hope that other classes can fulfill that criteria,' I sighed on the inside as I didn't want to Lose any precious GM Points here.
Luke and the others then started removing all the chairs and tables from the main gate, and a minute later, Luke was standing in front of the classroom gate while taking heavy breaths.
"Are you guys ready?" He asked the 5 of us, and we nodded.
Luke nodded in return before
-Thurrrr! Thud!
Sliding the classroom gate open. The half bent classroom gate opened only 70%, but it was enough for the 5 of us to slowly move out of the classroom.
The rest were supposed to come behind us, after we dealt with the traps or/and monsters.
Graced with the presence of a long hallway, I saw the empty corridor, that lead all the way to the other end. The staircase was most probably somewhere in the middle of this hallway.
Luke looked at me, and I nodded before moving forward.
[Skill: Lesser Trap Detection Activated!]
[Trap Detected!]
[Acid Trap: Creates a Pool of Acid that engulfs anyone within 2 seconds. 1 time activation only!]
[Trap Detected!]
[Poison Arrow: Fires a deadly arrow at the target. 1 Time activation only!]
I saw a green coloured tile at the left wall, 5 meters away from me and another 12 meters away. Looking at it, I gulped before moving towards it a step.
[Would you like to Disarm [Acid Trap!]?]
[Yes!]
I saw the trap activating on its own and then turning into golden light before vanishing from our sight.
"EEk!!" One of the classmates shrieked as he looked at that trap but I shook my head before looking at Luke,
"I think I can see them and disarm them. Though I doubt I can do it for all the traps."
Understanding my words, Luke nodded. His eyes then observed the front and asked," are there more traps?"
I shook my head and lied," I need to be at least 3-4 meters away from the trap."
If I had told the truth then chances were that he would try to avoid traps altogether. It was the right course of action given the situation but honestly speaking, it wasn't favorable to me if we started avoiding all the traps. Not until I disarm 20 of them.
We walked slowly across the hallway, as I disarmed more and more traps. The people from the classroom made a line and followed behind the 5 of us, with me leading at the front.
As we walked through, a few things became clear.
Firstly, the monsters that were supposed to appear, were only going to appear through Traps. If we do not trigger those traps, the monsters won't appear at all. And given the current situation, I decided to not disarm those traps.
There was a high chance that diarming those traps could release the monsters, which would result in an unpredictable battle. Which was something I would like to avoid at all cost for now.
The second thing which we got to see was that the other classes were not as lucky as we were.
Some of the class doors that we opened showed us the scenes of massacre as blood scattered everywhere. But more surprisingly there was no trace of monsters or dead bodies in those classrooms at all.
'No wonder the betting had only 132 students despite the school being able to contain 500 plus people.'
Luck favored us in many ways.
[40 minutes remaining!]
We reached the staircase swiftly. Plus we were able to save(?) about a dozen more students from other classes.
I looked at the other end of the hallway, wondering if there were more traps to be disarmed. But two things caught my attention even more than the traps.
One was that there were 4 dead students in the hallway. 3 had their body pierced by an arrow, sword, or other weapons, while the fourth one was eaten by the abdomen.
The other thing that I noticed was the dead bodies of 6 zombies on the way. It seemed someone had killed those zombies and proceeded downwards on their own. The open doors of all the classrooms also added to my deduction that people from that hallway have already descended.
Whether they were dead or alive was a different matter altogether.
"Seems like they escaped," Luke spoke as he observed the tragedy in front of us. He had a rather sad expression but we couldn't afford to waste time here anymore.
[Trap Disarmed: 7!]
There was still a long way to go before I could complete my [Quest!].
"Adrian?" Luke asked with a concerned face but I shook my head. I then disarmed three more traps on the staircase at each floor, while glancing at the dead zombies on each floor. And soon we reached the ground floor.
'Seems like there is someone strong among the students,' I thought as I looked at the ground a few meters away from us.
One can see there were about 20 students standing outside, while most of us just stood there watching that semi transparent greenscreen that marked the entry to the outdoor field.
"There are no more traps here, you guys can go," I spoke out, making everyone sigh in relief before all the people who were following us ran towards the outdoorfield.
[35 minutes remaining!]
"Adrian?" Luke, who was about to run out as well, stopped. While Alice, who never moved, observed me with a focused expression.
"I have someone to check on," I lied again as I looked back, as if worried about someone. I needed a reason to go back without creating any suspicion. And for the time being, this was the best thing I could come up with.
"Someone?" Luke still asked, with his eyes filled questions.
"It's embarrassing but… my crush," I faked a smile before I took a step back and turned around. Though as if understanding what I said, Luke shouted back,"come back if it's too much!"
I gave a thumbs up and ran even faster. Gotta disarm all the traps. I also must save as much as possible. Can't let the GM points I betted, all got to waste.
Running back to the first floor, I started disarming all the traps on my way.
"Is there anyone here?!" I shouted as I looked inside each classroom at least once. Though as luck would have it, there were none on the first floor. Either they all went outside, or they were all dead.
[Trap Disarmed: 14!]
Though that was compensated with only one side of the corridor of the second floor. It seemed nobody survived the first level itself.
[Trap Disarmed: 20!]
[Hidden Quest Complete!]
[You have received a new Skill: Perception!]
[You have received +5 Free Attribute Points!]