Groans could be heard coming from the room's entrance. The five which were on the arena could do nothing but watch as their only exit was now blocked off.

For the horned ones to become zombies in the labyrinth where it was mostly zombie free, was completely unexpected. Furthermore, how did they even get through the second floor? Did they swim?

Did the orange haired man mean that he got them infected? The princess had just assumed that he killed them.

And in this situation, it would have definitely been better that he did. After all, horned zombies were no joke.

On top of having a superior physique to humans... They could use their ability. Profeciently, too.

In a flash, spotting their prey, the zombies rushed at the nearest prey they could find, which was the group. Due to their lack of intelligence, some ended up running right off the cliff, falling onto the burray of spikes at the bottom.

Most of them, however, remained still. It was almost as if they were waiting for orders as they growled at the group from the other side of the bridge.

"What are they waiting for...?" Aurora asked.

Violet pointed at the one in the middle.

A young hairless zombie with pitch black eyes. It was the only one not acting up and the only one which showed signs of intelligence amongst them.

"That one's... Probably leading it..."

"They can do that...?" Aurora asked

"We're about to find out." Said the horned princess as she stepped up with Gray's sister on her back.

Dead dried out vines emerged from the entrance walls, intertwining before forming a drill and spinning towards the group who stood speechless in the arena.

Dust began gathering in the room, forming a slight dust cloud as the ice began to boil. Within that cloud, the zombie group's figure were hidden.

It was then and there that they all felt a chill go down their spine as a dark sinister aura could be felt coming from the depths of the dust cloud.

"It's here!" Exclaimed Violet as the vine drill emerged from the dust cloud, spinning towards them.

They all took a step back, getting ready to time their jump when all of the sudden- Her heart proceeded to skip a beat as instead of trying to avoid it like the rest of them, Gray proceeded to walk towards the drill.

"Gra-"

As worry grew on their faces, as if trying to let them know that everything was okay, Gray turned back before giving them a gentle smile.

He stretched his arm towards the drill, and that instant there was contact, a small amount of blood splashed onto Gray's clothes. The edge of the drill had slightly pierced through his hand.

In the very same instant, another sight which they wouldn't have believed unless they saw it themselves, had manifested in front of thier eyes.

The vines in the form of the drill had completely come to a stop. It wasn't the fact that it halted that surprised them. But the sheer fact that he was able to stop something of it's size.

The drill was gigantic, each vine being their size. And yet he was able to stop them so effortlessly, without a chance in his expression.

"Let's go home, you're all tired aren't you?" Gray asked as he gestured them to come over.

"Yeah..." They simultaneously replied, dumbfounded.

The air around Gray was different, the glow in his eyes was brighter and he had a more confident demeanor. His injuries were healed and his energy had recovered. It was as if he wasn't in death's door just a few seconds ago.

What happened to him? That was the one question they all had in common.

'So my hunch wasn't wrong...' The horned princess thought to herself as she smiled nervously.

They approached Gray, sticking close to him as the zombie's figures emerged from the bridge.

"Pause Level 3." He muttered.

[Chronos Field.]

A spherical field reaching a range of five meters expanded from outside of Gray. After gowing through the field, being unable to move even an inch.

Aurora who had already experienced it many times in a much intimate setting was cool with it, Violet had also expected it so it didn't surprise her. The horned princess on the other hand was very impressed.

After tapping them, they became able to move again. At the same time, the nearest zombie outside the field, lunged at it in aims of chomping down on them, only to be left in confusion as it froze in the air.

Making sure they stayed within the field's vicinity, they followed after Gray who began walking on air as he travelled beside the bridge which was filled with the zombies.

Once they had finally crossed to the entrance, they watched as the zombies stood on stand-by watching their movements. They groaned whenever the field would get close and were avoiding it.

Gray looked straight at the hairless young horned zombie who was filled with confusion. Despite that it continued giving more orders as he watched him.

A second later, the ground inside of the chronos stasis field rose up in spikes. He had found their weakness. The field was strong from the outside, but if something started off from the inside, it was basically useless.

Even so.

The spikes froze after extending at most five centimeters off the ground. It wasn't enough to cause any of them harm.

Instead, Gray's figure disappeared from inside of the field before appearing ahead of the zombie. The field remained in place keeping the others safe.

Gray leaned into the zombie looking at it straight in the eye. At that moment, a dark shadow seemed to loom over Gray's face, covering it as he glared at it with fury.

For a moment, the zombie's face contorted into an expression of fear as it took a step back..

He raised his hand to kill it when all of the sudden. It spoke.

"A-Ah... Please..."

It was quiet, just barely audible but he definitely heard it.

Without a hint of fear, Gray leaned further in, whispering something to it before pause stepping back into the field.

"Are you crazy...?! Why'd you leave the field, you could have been bitten." Violet asked as she and Aurora hastily checked to see if he had been bitten anywhere.

Because of the near death experience he had, the two had been thrown into full overprotective mode.

Gray grabbed them both as he wrapped his arms around them before gesturing the horned princess to come over with his sister. Aurora's cheeks flushed red as her face pushed against his chest.

"What...? What's with the sudden group hug?" Violet asked. "I mean... I don't mind but-"

Violet was interrupted, her eyes widened as the scenery suddenly changed. Looking around, none of them could believe it.

They were standing on a cracked road, just ahead of the labyrinth hole.

In a split second, they had gone from the third floor to the outside.

--------------------- December Goals

250 - Powerstones - 14 Ch / Week

Golden Tickets:

Every 10 Golden Tickets - 1 Extra Chapter release, end of month.