Integration, 1st Year

  Nightmare, Start Zone 381

  15 years, 39 days before System Reset

  Alex stared anxiously at the orb-shaped void in the center of the field. He took a wary step back as the timer ticked down from a minute. He’d just wanted to escape his General Manager’s tirade, what was he even doing here? That invitation was the sketchiest thing he’d ever heard and he’d been a salesman. He could hardly stand straight right now and he’d only been given a dagger.

  A hand landed on his back. “You nervous, kid?”

  “I’m twenty-two,” Alex said.

  “Woah, my apologies then.” The bearded man held his hands up placatingly, his expression still mocking. “Don’t look so nervous though. Who knows what the world’s come to, but we wouldn’t have been chosen for this if it weren’t something we could handle. You got a dagger, huh? Let me see…”

  The man grabbed Alex’s wrist. “Hey—”

  “Hmm yeah, looks like a Scottish dirk. You should have chosen a proper sword, kid. I wouldn’t try fighting up close with that. The best you can hope for is a straight stab into the neck or vital arteries. Trust me, I’m a HEMA instructor.”

  “Right…”

  The man walked off and Alex winced, shaking out his wrist.

  “Good luck anyway,” he called back. “Guess it all depends on what’s coming for us when that timer runs down. By this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a pack of goblins or something! Haha, just kidding.”

  0:36

  What am I even doing here?

  The question repeated in Alex’s head, over and over. Then when he realised it was the same question he’d been asking for over a year, he began to calm down. It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to be. If the world was changing, he needed to change with it.

  Then maybe he and Alyssa could…

  0:23

  It was getting eerily dark now.

  But what was there to be afraid of? He gulped, reading the notification that popped up. His life was already shit; this could be an opportunity to change that. No one else seemed afraid. They even had the energy to be picking fights with each other.

  Who cared about a weird shiver. That wasn’t any reason to be scared, was it?

  Nightmare Scenario 1 — Initiation

  Clear conditions:

  Survive the attack or end up as the one to receive immunity.

  Optional Scenario Quest: Vanquish Thy Evil

  Slay the attackers to complete this quest. The High Council greatly rewards those who take fate into their own hands.

  Good luck!

  0:09

  0:08

  …

  0:00

  ***

  Integration, 1st Year

  Nightmare, Start Zone 383

  1 hour after System Reset

  The dark orb shimmered, warbling in place as if sensing the pulsing hearts of everyone around it. For a moment, nothing happened. Hushed murmurs made the rounds through those gathered there. Then it expanded into a gate and something stepped out, stumbling clumsily. It was a small, furry little thing, barely knee-high. It showed aggression but its growl was more of a high-pitched, childlike snarl than any sort of bestial roar.

  That wrestler from earlier walked up to the creature, laughing. “Ha! Come on. Look at all of you losers! Scared of a little furball?”

  Then a flicker of motion drew his eyes to the gate his bravado left him. He started into the abyssal void and it stared back. They stared back—countless red eyes gleaming in the dark, accented by the clanks of armor as something shifted.

  The wrestler stumbled back, sending his Guiding Light into the gate.

  “What th—”

  Before he could react, the small creature at his feet showed its teeth and tore out his gullet. It feasted, and countless more of the creatures—Chimiks—amassed beside it. Followed by a giant suit of armor. The onlookers were stunned into silence. Then, like a spell, that silence was broken by a shrill scream, and the Chimks attacked.

  From his high perch in the tree-tops, Alex watched as a slaughter like the one he remembered began.

  “Shit! What the fuck is—”

  “No! Don’t leave the—”

  “Assemble behind me you idiots! Assemble behind—”

  Cries and exclamations sounded off in equal order. Too many voices rose above the screams—trying to establish command yet only inviting more chaos. They were all drowned out by the flesh-eager yips and howls of the Chimiks, as they launched themselves in every which direction.

  “Help!” Somebody screamed. “Somebody help me!”

  Alex found the owner of that last voice—a freckled woman warding off a rabid Chimik with her wooden staff. A man jostled her in a mad dash to the forest. Someone else a few meters aside yelled as they were mauled to death.

  No one answered her call for help.

  She had no time to chant before the Chimik lunged. It snapped at her neck and she wedged her staff between its jaws. With a yelp of her own, she tripped, and tumbled side over side with the beast down a grassy slope. She landed on her back.

  “Help!” She yelled again. “Please!”

  She tried to heave herself up but somebody's boot landed on her braids. The Chimik’s claws raked into her sides. It hissed and spit saliva on her face and her wooden staff cracked. Through sheer will, she flung the snarling beast off her and it landed with a thud a few feet away. She hovered over it. Her staff, no longer a tool of magic or mystique, became a bludgeon. The chimik wailed and she wailed on it, each blow wetting the cracked wood with green blood.

  Alex felt perverse to just be watching.

  The woman raised her staff to crush the Chimik’s skull when someone’s misfired attack sent her hurling across the field. Then she was the one staring up at Alex. She lay on her back beneath his tree, looking straight through his stealth as she bled out. She couldn’t form words, but he knew what she wanted to say. Her eyes were pleading up to the very last second.

  Alex’s nails dug into his palms as she died. What the hell am I even doing here?

  Observing, he reminded himself. Gathering information.

  He crouched on a thick branch, funneling more mana into his Stealth skill until the Chimiks drawn by her corpse skittered off in search of more lively things to prey on. Chimiks were small, grangly creatures, but Alex’s memories of this night had sparked in him an ungodly fear of them. Their snouts were pointed and lined with teeth like an opossums; their torsos were long, yet their hind legs out-lengthed their bodies like that of a jerboa’s. They had webbing between their limbs similar to that of a flying squirrel’s, and a horde of them blocking out the sky was the last sight Alex ever wanted to see.

  But he hadn’t come back here just to retraumatize himself. He returned his attention to the field center. It had been maybe a minute, two at most, and the number of survivors had dwindled to about twenty-four. Of those that had made it into the forest, he estimated only half were still alive. The ones remaining in the clearing numbered only twenty-two.

  Twenty-one now.

  In all, they faced three-dozen Chimiks and one Armored Knight, but the Armored Knight hadn’t yet moved. It stood motionless back at the gate like an accessory piece, watching the chaos unfold with a few other chimiks. In the scenario Alex had faced the Armored Knight had been an Ogre, but the rest of this aligned with his memory.

  Three-dozen Chimiks… it’s not an impossible scenario to beat if we banded together, but…

  Well, that was the irony of it. Alex only now realized what Vanquish thy Evil was supposed to mean and it infuriated him how tongue-in-cheek it was. Thy didn’t mean The, it meant Your. They were supposed to vanquish their evil, and work together.

  However, he was doubtful many English majors or Shakespeare-connoisseurs made the cut for Nightmare, and even more doubtful that it actually mattered. It wasn’t that deep. It was just a pretentious dress-over on yet another mindless massacre.

  The scenario even contradicts its own message. Has anyone understood the other clear condition yet?

  Alex’s expression darkened. He set his mind back on task.

  Corpses littered the battlefield. They were trampled on as people fled in every direction, crudely handling their weapons and shooting off skills in their desperation to survive. Alex remembered being down there with them—his sickness from getting splattered in people’s blood, his terror from dodging the flying death rats; the mantra he’d repeated as he ran: Not like this. Not like this. Not like this.

  This group was holding out decently, all things considered. And to their credit they eventually did form an organized defense under the young woman that wrestler had been arguing with before the scenario began.

  “Behind me!” She kept shouting. “Assemble behind me!”

  She had the voice. The type you heard above the mayhem and actually listened to. Under her command, an amateur, yet effective deadlock was forming, holding nineteen remaining survivors. Whenever a Chimik attacked one of them, others would swarm in to kill it, allowing the victim to retreat, battered but still breathing.

  However, they didn’t have a unified plan. They didn’t know each other's skills. Their efforts had come too late, and there was one thing they were all forgetting. The armored knight stepped forward, crouching in a sprinter’s position—then launched itself like a battering ram.

  It was the second row that Alex felt pity for. The people who had no time to react when those in the front peeled away. He’d experienced it countless times—from both sides of the exchange—and it always made him sick. That dark broil in your stomach when you’re marching over innards that should still be inside a person and appendages that should still be attached—it never went away. You only got used to it.

  But witnessing a slaughter was one thing. Witnessing one he should’ve been able to prevent was another.

  “Help me!” A man shouted. “Help—”

  He was one of the ones who’d run. Alex watched him get ganged on by a group of Chimiks and devoured alive. He looked over, expecting to see people dying in droves. To his surprise however, those who had stayed grouped together had held through Armored Knight’s assault.

  Summon Vines, Alex noted. It had slowed the Knight’s momentum, and that man with the Sword Swing skill had wisened up and swapped his scythe for an actual weapon. He staved off the Armored Knight’s attacks through sheer grit, keeping the formation intact.

  It didn’t matter. The panic had already set in and their defense was slowly being whittled away. Fourteen survivors. Three had died in the Armored Knight’s charge, one was still being chased through the forest. Alex looked around and spotted the caster of that Summon Vines skill—just in time to see him mauled by a Chimik. He set his jaw, moving on.

  Minor Regeneration

  Cut

  Another person with Stealth.

  What the fuck am I doing?

  The only thing he could do—searching for people with the skills he needed. Far too many of them were hiding their abilities, taking it easy in the middle of the pack. Their defense was frayed but Alex needed it to snap. He needed them to be left with no other choice except to use their skills.

  And above all, he needed them to know terror. To know it so intimately that even this frail, scrawny form he’d taken could be mistook for salvation. He knew the workings of minds in fright, and any less wouldn’t do.

  He winced as another person was clawed to death.

  The woman was growing more frantic with her calls. “Reassemble! Reassemble!”

  They’d have died either way, Alex told himself. Every single one. No matter what you did.

  Undeniably, it was true. If Alex had been the only strong personality in this group, there might’ve been a chance for cooperation from the start. Maybe if there’d even just been one outspoken person, things still might’ve worked out somehow without him. But any more than that just caused a divide—exactly like what happened.

  And so, he watched the slaughter intently. When the Knight wound back for a second charge, there was probably no mistaking in any of their minds that a slaughter was what it would be. Someone cast a level one Shield skill as if expecting it would do anything against the ramming behemoth, but it shouldered through effortlessly, spearing the man on its shoulder spikes. With no vines to slow it down, the knight continued plowing on towards the center. Chimiks screeched, following its lead opportunistically.

  “Tighten the formation!” The woman yelled. Her skill appeared to have a mental-bolstering effect. “Assemble behind—”

  Then finally, the decisive moment came and Alex shielded his eyes.

  Blinding Flash

  It wasn’t exactly what the skill he was looking for, but it would do. Never mind that its caster let it off in the wrong direction, accidentally blinding the woman who’d been barking orders. She stumbled, losing her footing, and the metal knight swung its sword, cleaving her in half.

  Everyone scattered after that, those who’d clung to safety in numbers splitting off in all directions into the forest. Alex understood. Watching a natural-born leader just kick it like that did that to a person. Made them realize it could happen to them, too.

  He grimaced. I think I’ve seen enough here.

  He noted which direction the caster ran off, then climbed down from the tree. He would reactivate his stealth soon and head there, but he had a needling suspicion in his brain—something he needed to confirm first.

  He walked up to the Chimik the mage woman had clubbed to death moments before, knelt down, and came away with some of its green blood on his fingertips. He watched as it dissipated into coarse ash before him. It was like he thought.

  Well, that makes things a lot simpler.

  If not a whole lot more pleasant. He tried not to let his anger boil up. The rattling of those bloody chains were nearer to his ear than they had been in years; it had been that long since his weakness had affected anyone but himself. Power was the lever that moved worlds, and anyone without it had to suffer the consequences of that. Alex was chained by his weakness. He knew that all too well.

  However, he also knew perceived power would make do in absence of the real thing. A plan was starting to come together, and now there was little other choice but to follow it through.

  It was right when he had that thought that a distant Howl echoed over the tree lines. He frowned. There was something different about this one—not the typical use of the skill. It almost felt like it had nuance.

  He tapped his lip in thought, then entered Stealth, noting the direction it had come from for later.

  He set out into the night.

  ***

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Alex plunged his dagger into the small creature’s jugular—then immediately flinched back in pain. The creature’s sharp, grimy claws scraped to his bones in its death throes—its blood mixing with his own.

  Ah fuck—he twisted his knife deeper into its neck, kicking its limp corpse loose from its blade.

  A level 3 Chimik has been slain!

  +30 Essence Crystals

  Goddamn Chimiks. Every single time.

  He stared at it where it lay, its disgusting, beady little eyes still filled with determination. Even in death, it sought to destroy everything.

  “W-Who are you?”

  Oh, right.

  Alex dropped his shroud of stealth, shifting his wounded arm behind his back. He knew it should’ve been an immediate kill on a normal Chimik, but still, it was careless. He kept the pain from his voice, addressing the man he’d just saved.

  “Nice skill you got there. Shame you’re using it all wrong, though.”

  “Huh?”

  “Your skill. Saw you using it earlier. What do you say we help each other out?”

  Well, Alex heard it at least. And more than that, sensed it. He’d already spoken to the woman with the Blinding Flash skill, and she would make an okay contingency plan, but his plan had evolved once he’d heard that Howl. He just needed to confirm his suspicions first.

  The man gulped. “Y-You mean to survive?”

  "Survive? No, we're going to win."

  “Win?! But—you saw those things. How do you plan to—mmph!”

  Alex clamped a hand over the man’s mouth. “Listen, I just saved your life and I’m your only shot at living. So put it in my hands now and listen to what I say. I know you’re scared, but you’re not alone. Many of the people who fled at the start are still alive. You’re not the only one I’ve talked to. I have a plan and I’ve gathered a team that utilizes their specific skills—”

  "Mmmrf!"

  Alex removed his hand, and the man looked back over his shoulder.

  “We need to run!” He hissed.

  “No. I’ve already scouted the area and Chimiks go after the most lively prey. We have time.”

  “But—”

  “Howl—that’s your skill, right?” The man’s eyes widened. “Tell me what you were thinking when you used it.”

  Alex extended his good arm, helping the man to his feet. He looked to be in his late twenties, early thirties, with bangs that parted evenly around a slightly babyish face. He was well built for his lean frame, and thankfully, knew how to put his long legs to use. It had bought him the time Alex needed to talk.

  Then he met the man’s eyes for the first time and saw fear, the fear he’d needed—but also… recognition? Of Alex’s authority? Recognition, but not faith. The man scanned his surroundings, then calmed down a bit. He seemed to actually be giving his answer some thought.

  Not good.

  The shortened spiel wouldn’t work with this one. He might cooperate, but not out of fear alone. He was calmer and more composed than the others. He would need convincing, which took time.

  “What was I thinking… I mean, it happened so fast. I wasn’t really thinking, I just—”

  “Okay, not thought. Instead describe the sensation for me.”

  “The sensation…?” The man trailed off as a scream echoed over the forest canopy. “Wait, how much time do we actually have?”

  “A minute and some.”

  Less, actually, he amended mentally. If the man had used his skill without active thought then it was a good sign Alex was on the right track. Except his eyes were darting and Alex could tell he was losing him.

  “Hey,” he snapped. “Focus here. Describe it.”

  “Right, I-I think could kinda… feel the skill? Like it was a—”

  “Force that you could shape?”

  “Yes—”

  The yipping from Chimiks sounded off nearby. Alex could tell they weren’t their target but the man’s breath caught, and he shifted restlessly.

  “He—hey, I’m really sorry but I—”

  “Sssh,” Alex whispered. “No sudden movements until it passes.”

  The man’s eyes went wide and his mouth shut. It was a white lie. They weren’t in imminent danger, but if he bolted right this second he probably would be. Alex used the time to think.

  Howl, at its most basic, was a crowd-control skill used to stun monsters—but his hunch about this man’s nuanced use of it had been right. Maybe he had some bloodline or trait, maybe it was something else. In any case, it was relieving enough that Alex felt like collapsing.

  Though really, that was just the malnutrition, lightheadedness, and sleep deprivation talking. His body wasn’t meant for all this legwork, but he couldn’t let his fatigue show. These people needed someone to look to, a veteran to give courage where they feel only fear.

  The man’s voice shook as he whispered. “I-is it gone?”

  He was obviously scared. But fear wasn’t enough to move this one, and Alex didn’t have the commanding presence he once did. It was bad enough his voice hadn’t dropped yet. He couldn’t afford to show weakness.

  His timer had already sounded. Not with another scream but with an uncomfortable stretch of silence. He moved his hand.

  “Now listen carefully. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Alex snapped his fingers as the man was about to panic. “Hey—listen. Your understanding of the skill itself is fundamentally wrong—”

  “No! What am I doing? Win?! I should be—”

  The man slapped Alex’s hand away, and Alex still gripped his collar. “No, you listen to me! It wants you to—Fuck. Stop!”

  He’d managed to push Alex off so…so easily. He turned to run.

  “It didn't have a time limit!” Alex shouted. “The clear condition!”

  The man was rational enough to stop at that. Alex barely managed to hide his heaving breaths. “There was no time limit,” he continued. “It just said ‘survive’, but for how long? You think you can outlast the beasts? You can’t. So what if I told you winning was the only way to survive? What then?!”

  Alex could see the cogs turning within the guy’s head. “Then I’d—”

  “And it is. Winning. It’s possible. I’ve gathered a group, seven of us.”

  “Wait! I don’t have a—”

  “There’s a wieldable sword thirty yards, give or take. Somewhere over—

  “Whose?”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore!”

  Alex bit back his anger. He was directing it at the wrong person. “In any case, I don’t think they’ll need it anymore. Now look, we’ve idled here long enough that you don’t stand any chance of running. The monsters have left in pursuit of us, so the clearing is empty now. We know our enemy and I’ve gathered you all with skill synergy in mind. We convene at the northern side in three minutes; I’ll explain my plan then. Things will be different now. You’ll have me to watch your back.”

  Alex said that last part with conviction—the kind you find yourself naturally projecting after a decade on the battlefield. He shouldn’t have tried. With his weak composition, it completely and utterly backfired and he saw it in the man’s reaction.

  Then he saw something else there as well.

  Oh… if fear isn’t his lever, then…

  Alex half-collapsed, clutching the man’s apparel, wheezing. “Please… I just wanted to help them. But my plan relies on your Howl skill. If you don’t come, then everyone I told to gather there, they’ll…”

  His blood stained the young man’s shirt. He tensed, yet held Alex’s wrists gently, steadying him. His shoulders squared and the look in his eyes refocused.

  “I…understand,” He said, more respectfully this time. “Sorry, I have just one question. When I was with the guardian, it talked about mages who’ve trained for all this. Was it—”

  “Talking about me?” Alex finished for him. He felt signatures of malice lock onto his presence from afar; he’d been too loud with his speech. “I’ll tell you about it if we both survive this.”

  Reassurance settled into the man’s posture. To think he’d remember that small detail… Alex would let him believe that if it eased his his doubts.

  He shivered. “Sorry, we really are out of time now.”

  “Wait,” He interrupted. “There’s actually a problem. I—”

  “Can’t discriminate between your targets?”

  “How did you—”

  “Like I said, you’re using Howl wrong. Skills are more flexible than you think. I wanted to give you more thorough instruction but I’ll leave you with this: You’re trying to push your will onto others. Try pulling instead. Let them be subjected to your…”

  Snarling, and primal howls echoed nearby, closing in fast. It was a disgustingly simplified explanation, but it would have to do.

  “Go on without me,” Alex said.

  The man reeled. “Wait, you’re not coming?!”

  “I need to lead these creatures off your trail first. Remember, we reconvene on the North side. North is in that—”

  “I know which way North is!”

  The man briefly hesitated, then ran off.

  When Alex was sure he was alone, he knelt down to examine the Chimik’s decaying body. It was a good thing it was dark; it would’ve been difficult for him to explain this if the man had noticed.

  Alright… everything’s in place. Now for the hard part.

  A Chimik leapt at Alex from the bushes, and he rolled to the side. By the time he’d drawn his next breath, he was already cloaked in a shroud of stealth. More followed after, screeching and salivating. Alex ducked behind a tree, then fled into the night. Or into its shadow—the night within the night. That’s how it felt to run in the realm of Stealth.

  At Stealth’s novice rank, it didn't erase him from those who had him in their cross-sights already, but it did make him harder to perceive. Having this skill was how he'd managed to survive in his first life—until he ran out of mana, at least. Which was probably going to happen again soon. One minute of stealth sure didn't sound like much, but evading so many targets at once could tire a skill out quickly.

  He reckoned there were almost a dozen Chimiks after him right now. His trait couldn’t give him all their locations, but they weren't exactly subtle or quiet hunters. He wouldn’t be losing them easily.

  For the better probably.

  He had to buy enough time for the other man. But it still put his body on fire—his lungs burning from years of smoking. Then there was that other fire. His anger, burning a pit in his stomach. He could feel his weakness across every muscle in his body, and his limbs worked sluggishly, as though wrapped in those chains.

  A chimik fell from above and Alex zigged out of the way, nearly rolling his ankle. He cursed. You can stop rattling now, dammit.

  But the sound didn’t fade from his ears. There was only one way that it ever would and he was working on it, dammit! It all started with a win here. What other choice did he have?

  Well… there’s always a choice.

  Alex’s mana pool depleted, but he calmed a little as he put more distance between him and his attackers. It was cloudy, just as it had been on that night fifteen years ago. He wondered again whether anyone understood the clear condition this time around, or whether anyone was desperate enough to realize.

  “Shit!” The HEMA Instructor had cursed. “Those…those things aren’t goblins! Kid, you hanging in there?!”

  Alex wheezed, clutching his ribs tight. “My mana pool…it’s almost…!”

  “Shit, don’t die on me, brat! I think we’re one of the few still left!”

  “Still… left…?”

  When it finally clicked in Alex’s head, he uttered the man’s instructions under his breath. “...straight stab into the neck…or vital arteries…”

  Alex coughed, bringing his mind back on track from the memory. He probably could’ve gotten through this scenario with his stealth alone this time. If all he wanted to do was survive, at least.

  He checked the time on his interface. Most of the Chimiks were off his tail; everything should be in place. He just had to hope the abbreviated explanation he’d given the man would be enough—

  No. It will be.

  It wasn’t just a gut feeling. The fact that the man couldn’t control his Howl skill’s output explained why he hadn’t been using it to fight thus far. Alex’s instinct told him the man might be more than just a little talented. It was all the more unfortunate that these were the circumstances where they had met.

  ***

  Jun rushed through the forest, a new sword in his hand. It was thinner and less unwieldy than that giant hunk of metal, and he admonished himself for letting his childhood fantasies influence his decision-making even for an instant. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but his eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the dark. He barely dodged a log that came up to his shin.

  Not a log, he realized.

  But he didn’t let the horror of that stop him. People were counting on him. There was still a part of him screaming that he was making the wrong decision, that he should stop, turn around, and bolt in the other direction. But he couldn’t let that voice rule over him. Not while so many lives were at risk.

  He huffed, his legs starting to feel fatigued. How long had it been since it all started anyway? He’d been on a plane about to land in Seattle less than half an hour ago! Was this happening to everyone else back home, too? To his friends and family?!

  Not right now. Don’t think about that.

  He ran as fast as he could, thinking over that young man’s words instead. “Pull, don’t push.”

  Jun knew nothing about all this, yet instinctively, he could tell that it would do something. He didn’t know how, or what yet, but he was just a normal man. The mage had gone through so much to help them already, he had to trust him. Then if they both survived this, he’d see if there’s something he could do to help with his wounds.

  Survive… wait, the clear condition wasn’t just that, was it?

  Clear Condition:

  Survive the attack or end up as the one to receive immunity

  ‘End up’? Why does it sound so…

  Not right now, Jun reminded himself. His heart pounded in his chest. The odd scream or yell grew less frequent, so he pushed himself faster when he spotted the forest’s edge. He couldn’t have doubts now. He had to see it through.

  He slowed to a walk as he exited the bushes, catching his breath. As the man said, there didn’t appear to be any enemies. It’d been about three minutes now, and Jun saw another person walk out from a nearby bush. The young woman eyed him warily.

  He waved, and she seemed relieved to see him. Or more than relieved… She cried as she approached him, clear signs of trauma in her expression. Would she really be able to fight like that?

  “Take deep breaths,” he told her, uselessly. “Did you meet that man as well?”

  She nodded. Jun looked around in confusion. Weren’t there supposed to be seven of them? The man from earlier wasn’t there either! Did he get caught by those monsters?! He hoped he was still okay.

  The woman hicced, looking around as well. Then her eyes widened in terror. “Why? Why aren’t they here?! Have we been…”

  Red eyes swiveled their way—five pairs from the center of the field. The moon finally began to peek through the clouds, and Jun could see the metal sheen of the knight’s armor. The clearing wasn’t empty at all; they’d just been too blind to notice!

  The woman wailed, cradling her head. Her hands lit up with a blinding flash and Jun flinched from the light.

  “W-Wait! Look, only four of them are coming! The knight isn’t! Get behind me, ma-maybe we can still—”

  Could they, though? Could he fight them? Do I even have a choice?

  They were small but rabid and steadily approaching. Jun recalled the man’s words, then activated his skill. Sense the force underneath the skill. Don’t think of it as push; think of it as pull!

  Determined, he let out an ear-curdling scream from his heart, loud enough to reach all the enemies in sight. They froze.

  I-It worked.

  Then the air shifted, and the monsters unfroze—sprinting directly toward him.

  The Metal Knight, too?! Wait—

  His System pinged.

  Congratulations, you’ve learned Taunt!

  ***

  The Taunt had been much more powerful than Alex had expected.

  He hadn’t been close enough to see the battle start, but it had sounded more like an ear-piercing scream of desperation than a proper roar, like nails on the dusty chalkboard of his shriveled heart.

  Oh, quit waxing poetics. You don’t want to be weak? This is how you do it.

  He sprang into action. He couldn’t get as close as he’d liked without the cover of trees, but it was close enough. He burned a large burst of mana, making his Stealth as flawless as possible as he closed in.

  The night was fully moonlit now, just as in his memories. The grass was a darker shade of green, and the wind whistled through the trees. He could smell the stench of rot mingled with the musky tang of a Chimik. Only one remained, its snout twisted in bafflement as the knight left its side. Its eyes glowed brighter than the others; It was still fighting off the Taunt when it swiveled toward Alex.

  “Too late.”

  He plunged a dagger into its heart. Light faded from its eyes, and its limbs sagged as he twisted the knife for good measure. Its corpse didn’t dissipate into ash nearly as quickly as the others had; it just laid there, green blood seeping from the wound.

  He heard the distant clatter of the armor collapsing as the necromancer animating it died. Alex didn’t spare it a second thought.

  Congratulations! You have defeated a Level 9 Necromantic Chimik!

  +500 Essence Crystals

  Congratulations, huh.

  Alex didn’t feel congratulated. Rather, he felt sick. But that didn’t stop him from plunging his knife into the creature’s gut and digging out its shimmering core.

  Identify.

  Chimik Core - (Unranked, Common)

  The core of a Chimik with Death Aura. Can be used as crafting material.

  It was unranked, but the core had a surprising amount of energy and a lingering aura of death to it. It would go a long way for him this early. And now that he had a better look… all of the items it dropped were shockingly good for the creature’s level. Clearly, the tutorial heavily rewarded beating the initiation.

  His hand paused slightly, then unfroze as he rummaged the necromancer’s belongings.

  Skill Stone (Unranked, Common)

  Break for a chance to gain one its owner's skills.

  Twin Earrings (Unranked, Common)

  Earrings forged from mana crystals. Slightly increases base mana regen.

  Bone-Shard Necklace (F rank, Common)

  Necklace formed from the bone shards of a Necromancer Chimik. Slightly increases Arcane.

  Wolf-Fang Bracelet (F rank, Common)

  Bracelets made of wolf fangs. Increases the wielder’s stealth abilities and backstab damage.

  Alex felt a bitter pang reading the last description. He was about to pocket the belongings when his ears picked up a rustling in the grass. He slipped the wolf-fang bracelet onto his wrist. He knew what he might have to do, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. You can have all the riches and items in the world, but a knife in the back was still a knife in the back—and more often than not, it poisons the wielder too.

  Rising cautiously, he hid his dagger behind his thigh. An Asian man stood ten paces away, blood caking his temple, a limp in his leg, and ash dissipating off his clothes. Alone.

  “You survived,” Alex said. He hadn’t heard a second roar after the Taunt, meaning the man undoubtedly had more mana reserves than he did. He prepared for the worst.

  “Your advice. It came in handy.”

  There was something off-kilter about the man. Alex had noticed it earlier as well, but it was more apparent now. He was more composed than he should be. Tame and mild mannered, yet still somehow threatening, as though that could all change if the right reason came along.

  “Are you Military?” Alex asked.

  “No.”

  Alex looked into the man’s eyes. They were burning with anger, yes, but there was something deeper. And it was that something else that unsettled Alex the most. He gnawed the inside of his cheek and left the knife in his belt loop as he walked past him.

  It won’t come to that.

  Then, the man gripped Alex by his arm. His grip was surprisingly strong for someone barely on his feet. Their eyes locked again, and hurt and anger rasped through the man’s voice. “When you… ask someone to trust you with their life, you need to trust yours with them, too. The other… she’d trusted you with her life, just like me, and now she’s…”

  The man stopped there. No more needed to be said.

  “I did what I had to. And as promised, it helped you survive.” Alex broke free of his grip. “The rest is yours. I took the first loot, but it’s an even split.”

  The man didn’t look away.

  “Jun,” he said coldly.

  “Alex.”

  Alex was the first to break eye contact, walking off. He couldn’t stay there, especially not with that man. His words had felt hollow even as he said them, and now his face twisted into something unsightly. It wasn’t something he had any right to show Jun.

  They would’ve all died anyway, he reminded himself.

  It felt like a pitiful deflection now and irritation boiled up. “Something else,” he’d called it. How vague. The quality he’d seen in the man—what had made him trust that this wouldn’t come to blows—it had a name. It was humanity.

  Alex stopped and gazed into the moonlit night. He remembered this night better than some friends’ deaths: the way he couldn’t let go of his dagger, his fingers stiff in their tight grip; the red blood dripping steadily from its tip; the empty gags and dry heaves as his stomach lurched, his mana pool drained. The terror-filled cry of the man he’d sacrificed echoed in his mind even now. He remembered his body’s silent scream—and how the rest of him couldn’t muster even the faintest cry.

  There’d been no other choice. No other way to outlast the others without mana for Stealth. The System provided no other instructions for gaining immunity other than “end up the one to receive it.” And the moment Alex realized what that meant, he’d known it was his only chance to live.

  He remembered what he’d felt that night when the System congratulated him: Twisted relief.

  "Congratulations! As the last survivor, you have received Immunity."

  The sound of footsteps snapped him out of his memories.

  Another person emerged from the trees into the clearing—a small woman, wide-eyed and bewildered. It was the same woman he’d seen before the attack, the last person to teleport in. She’d been the farthest from the portal, the first to run, the most terrified.

  But she looks as weak as I am. To outlast them for so long, how did she…

  Alex trailed off as he saw the dagger limp in her right arm, blood sliding down its tip.

  Red blood.

  The woman stepped from the shadows, eyes glassy and shell-shocked. She teetered with every step, frail and on the verge of collapse. She tucked the dagger behind her back. “H-How—”

  “We beat it,” Alex said.

  Her face twisted in anguish, and he—better than anyone—understood what those words did to her. Whatever she had just done to survive, was made pointless by his victory here tonight.

  Victory… if that’s what he was calling it. There’d been a choice this time. He could’ve hid himself in stealth and walked away, letting it all happen like it was supposed to. But he’d made his choice. He’d make the same one again, but all the justifications in the world wouldn’t change what it was.

  She would’ve died anyway, he told himself. Whether I used her for her skill or not. But half-hearted excuses only spoke to having a weak will. There could be no excuses for the things he'd done tonight.

  Congratulations, Alex Smith! Scenario 1 has been cleared!

  Remaining Players: 246,753