The Final Exam of Delta Class was scheduled on the last day of the examination period. Other classes have already completed their exams. So some of them had come to view the Battle Royale of Delta Class. The strength factor is not the only thing that matters in a battle royale. Abilities like perception, prediction, survival instincts and adaptability also play a big role. To sum it up, you can never be sure who is going to win a battle royale.

The unexpected outcome arouses the thrill of watching a battle royale. Also, one can analyze a situation and perceive the best method to handle it if they were in such a situation themselves. So it is kind of a learning experience as well. That being the case, students from other classes had been enjoying their time watching things unfold.

But the one enjoying the most, watching the unpredictable variable survive in dire situations, was Angelika. The variable is a well enough guess for everyone though, Noah.

She was eager to see the limits Noah could push.

Current Standings -

Ton - 17

Kaisha - 12

…

…

Melv - 04

Noah - 01

Although only 1 kill, Noah has survived a fight, a Mission event, a Natural Disaster zone and even a deadly beast. Now, he is being targeted by another Natural Disaster, the Sandstorm.

“Staying in the open won’t do. I have to find cover.” Noah whispered to himself.

At a distance, he found two sand dune shacks. He parked his vehicle near one and entered it.

There were some bandages, ammo and weapon attachments like muzzle and stock.

Noah settled down in one corner. His health was full, so no need for any bandages at the moment.

“Another 10 minutes and this sandstorm will be over. I can resume my journey.”

“But why do I feel such uneasiness?” Noah couldn’t even finish his words when he heard a footstep. It was faint, for a second at most.

But Noah survived in the wilderness. The training he had to go through each day for catching his prey, surely enhanced his senses a bit.

He could clearly identify that someone is nearby, mostly in the next shack. Due to the ND Zone, someone else also has also taken refuge in the next shack and most certainly is aware of the position of Noah. As soon as the zone is over, Noah will be attacked by the student.

Noah did not make any suspicious movement. He wanted to make the other student keep believing that Noah is still unaware of the situation. He patiently waited for the storm to be over. It was like anticipating for the predator to show its fangs.

Each second was like a ticking clock. Tick Tock Tick Tock. It was an intense test of nerves.

Noah’s training in the wilderness was bearing fruits. Hours of anticipation sitting on treetops for the wild hare or boar to approach the trap and taking action on the most opportune moment. Noah was in a similar state here.

Finally, the Natural Disaster Sandstorm was over.

Notification prompted -

Natural Disaster Sandstorm has passed.

As soon as the message was prompted, Noah rushed out of the shack.

Meanwhile, a sticky bomb has already been thrown into the shack. Boom! If he had not rushed out of the shack preemptively, it would have been the endgame for him. Noah quickly hid behind the shack as the enemy had already started shooting at him.

Noah used a smoke bomb near him to cover his presence. Now the enemy was uncertain how Noah would react. “Would he hide or would he rush?”

But Noah did neither. Using his 8x scope he tried to locate the enemy position. The other student was still inside the cover of the shack and shooting from there.

“Perfect,” whispered Noah.

He opened his inventory and took out the Molotov cocktail. This one is an incendiary type bomb that contains a flammable liquid and on contact, bursts with fire taking out significant HP of an enemy over time.

Noah hurled the Molotov Cocktail into the other shack. Within seconds the other student rushed out of the shack. His HP went down to 15%, only to meet a bullet to the head. Noah was prepared and used a single shot of his Assault Rifle R-619 Carbine to take out the enemy.

Kill Points of Noah currently stands at 2.

Not wasting time, Noah searched the death crate of the student and got some necessary attachments and painkillers. He also had a repair card which Noah needed the most.

A repair card can fix damaged vehicles instantly. The Sandstorm had heavily damaged the Aero bike which was parked outside. Noah used the repair card to fix it and start for Valle de la Muerte.

The exam was scheduled for 3 hours. However, time inside Virtual Reality was moving faster. Three hours outside would be almost like a day inside Virtual Reality.

The sun had already set and night fell as Noah reached Valle de la Muerte. Noah adjusted his Night goggles to see in the dark.

The town consisted of a large concentration of houses and outposts, with strong amounts of gear, weapons, and military-grade equipment and attachments. It also has multiple garages, which are spaced around the town. Overall, this was a place for heavy loot spawns. So many students took an early drop and the fight resulted in the lying death crates Noah could find everywhere.

This meant that landing here was a high-risk, high-reward situation.

Survivors kept watching Noah while hiding in the shadows. They did not approach Noah, only monitored him. Well, there was a perfect reason for not attacking Noah.

The name Valle de la Muerte or Valley of the Dead as it translates is not just a show-off. It really was significant due to the spawn of zombies at night time.

The zombies were attracted to sound and would flock together towards the target. When attacked, a target would constantly lose HP each second. A clean shot at the head was the only way to keep a zombie down. They would continuously spawn around the area until sunrise.

“Do I shoot these zombies and give away my position to surrounding students or do I hide and hope that the zombies don’t kill me before sunrise? Do I take out the other students and attract zombies with the gunfire?” So many questions with no perfect answers were going through the head of the students.

So they kept waiting, hiding in the dark.

If someone takes on the zombies, there would be two scenarios. Either the student dies trying or the student holds off till sunrise. In any case, one waiting in the shadows has nothing to lose as taking out the surviving fatigued student will be like taking candy from a child. It's a win-win for them if they keep hiding till sunrise.

So, as everyone presumed, the main fight will start at first light.

Noah clearly understood the situation. But there was a reason for coming to this region. The zombie will drop loot on elimination but that's only normal loot. The main goal was the Zombie Boss which will drop the best loot, EM RailGun. This was the only way to get the RailGun. It will not spawn elsewhere.

Notification prompted -

Zombie Event - Revenge of the Dead started.

Noah quickly parked his bike and rushed to the nearest buildings. He was out of smoke and other bombs. He quickly gathered 3 smoke bombs, 2 sticky bombs and 2 molotov cocktails.

The zombies had started spawning and 2 of them attacked Noah. Firing a gun would draw more attention, so he quickly took out his knife and countered the zombies.

One zombie perished with a stab to the neck but the other, even with the stabbed knife approached Noah. Noah found an axe at the right moment and chopped its head off. In this situation, an axe is better than any knife or gun.

Noah quickly climbed to the top of a 3-floored building. It was a good lookout position. With his Night goggles, he can easily spot the movements of the zombies and find the Boss. Well, the Zombie Boss was his main goal after all.

He changed his Assault Rifle’s muzzle to suppressor and firing mode to single-shot mode.

With his scope, he easily singled out the wandering zombies and eliminated them from a distance. One shot to the head for a kill. He cannot waste bullets. Also, the suppressed fire didn’t draw any attention from the zombies. However, the other students in hiding noticed it. But they didn’t take any action and waited for the zombie horde to pass.

The Zombie Boss would spawn only after a certain number of zombies were killed. Noah was aware of this stipulation thanks to playing battle royale games with Melv. Though Melv was not a pro, he understood the game rules and mechanics very well. This is the only thing he studied well as it seems.

Another 10 minutes passed. Noah had taken out around 47 zombies.

Notification prompted -

5 minutes left for the zone to shrink.

“Damn. I am almost out of time. I need to go after the Boss now...” uttered Noah.

The Zombie Boss spawned in an open field area. It was marked on the map. Noah slowly approached the location and hid behind a haystack.

The zombie boss was a Tyrant TX, an experimental failure of the zombie virus reproduction facility. It possessed strength greater than any EQ 15 and was also capable of regeneration. Its degenerative nervous system exposed its heart which was clearly visible upon its chest. Though it protected its heart very carefully, the heart was certainly its Achilles’ Heel.

Noah had earlier switched his Kar98K with a MastiffX shotgun. A sniper is not useful on a monster like this. So he leveraged the Shotgun which fires 8 pellets in a horizontal line. Each shot takes away 100 HP. 20 bullets, so he has 20 shots to make it count.

An Axe and a Shotgun, for the Walking Dead.

The Tyrant TX had an HP of 1200. So, Noah started with a Molotov.

He hurled it at the monster. It burst on the ground and the fire took away 80 HP. The monster grunted and ran away from the scorched zone.

Seeing this Noah rushed with the axe. The first hit was at the ankle. The monster’s intelligence was low but the hide was sturdy. A blow from the axe at the full strength of Noah only chipped away a bit of flesh. It grunted in pain as it turned around and took a jab at Noah.

Noah fell on his back, switched to shotgun and aimed at its heart. Even though it was attacking Noah, it didn’t forget to protect its heart. It blocked the pellets with its left hand. This time the damage was significant. The monster’s HP should be down below 1000.

“But wait, why is it increasing instead of decreasing?” wondered Noah. Within seconds it was back to 1200. Noah fired 2 shots again and the same result. HP decreased and then kept getting up.

“Shit! It can regenerate.”

“But this is too fast. I can only counter it one way. Hit it faster than it could regenerate.”

Only 17 bullets left. Noah fired 12 shots at the fastest speed possible, aimed at its head and heart. It took significant damage and the rate of damage was higher than the rate of regeneration. Noah evaded all its blows in the meantime by using quick movements.

The HP of Tyrant TX was now 200. It knelt on the ground holding its heart and gave a huge roar.

“Wait? What is happening? It is not recovering anymore. But something is definitely wrong.”

The Tyrant TX looked to the skies and left another huge roar. This one was more like a shockwave. Noah fell to the ground immediately. Everyone in the vicinity felt it as well.

Void Zone approaching. Notification Prompted.

“Dammit. I don’t have much time. But why is it not dying?”

The heart of the Tyrant TX started throbbing. Its body started to grow. The nerves became prominent. In a matter of seconds, it has evolved to a … Nemesis TX.

…