They kept moving for a while after that. Whenever a building lurched too close or a house dragged itself into their path, Clyde brought it down without hesitation.
Cracks split walls, beams collapsed, and the structures died with long, grinding screams. EXP notifications flickered and vanished without comnt.
Mina followed his rhythm, striking when needed, conserving energy when she could. Because she was not as strong as Clyde.
But even with their levels, fatigue crept in.
Their breathing grew heavier and their muscles burned. Stamina did not regenerate fast enough to match the pace this world demanded.
After putting enough distance between themselves and the main streets, Clyde slowed and raised a hand.
"Co here," he said quietly.
They slipped into a narrow alley tucked between two low buildings. The walls were chipped and stained, old concrete packed so tightly together that even light struggled to reach the ground.
No vibrations ca from beneath their feet and no grinding echoed nearby.
It was quiet. but usable for their hiding place for now.
Because there were only two of them, hiding was easy.
Clyde glanced toward the street before sitting down. The alley remained still.
They realized that not all buildings moved. He had noticed that earlier. Large structures, apartnts, offices, wide residential blocks, those were the ones that awakened.
Smaller houses, olld shops, and cramped hos that looked like they belonged to families who had never had much to begin with stayed inert.
Clyde did not know why.
He did not think on it too much.
They sat with their backs against the wall with their weapons within reach and their posture relaxed but of course still alert.
Mina pulled out the food they had taken from the hotel like biscuits and bread and crushed packaging and stale crumbs, but it was enough.
They ate in silence.
No conversation. No unnecessary movent. Just slow chewing and careful swallowing.
They were too tired to talk and too experienced to be careless.
Clyde watched the mouth of the alley while he ate. His thoughts wandered despite himself.
This scenario would last seventy two hours.
That was what made it cruel.
Not the difficulty alone, but the duration. Long enough to exhaust people and to break them.
With moving houses, living cities, and safe zones designed to turn survivors against each other. It was not ant to be survived cleanly. It was ant to grind them into dust.
At so point, Clyde realized sothing else.
He did not want to save people anymore.
The thought settled without guilt.
Saving people ant watching them die later. Protecting them ant becoming responsible for their fear, mistakes, and weakness. He had done that before. Too many tis.
He did not want to see people he protected die again.
"I don’t think we’ll be able to sleep," Mina said quietly after a while, swallowing a piece of bread.
Clyde grunted in agreent. "Yeah."
This was their condition now.
Always alert and always ready.
"Be strong," he added.
"Of course," Mina replied.
She hesitated, then spoke again, softer this ti.
"You think... if we beco strong enough, we can take revenge on the creatures that created this hell?"
The question caught him off guard.
Clyde turned his head slightly and looked at her.
Mina stared at the ground, fingers tightening around the bread in her hand.
Clyde understood imdiately. She still carried the grudge from her parents.
He did not bla her for it. He could not. He had seen what she had seen. Her parents twisted and reshaped into sothing that should not exist. Their flesh rewritten into an abomination, driven by instinct and pain. And she had been the one forced to end their lives with her own hands.
To raise her weapon and kill them herself just to stop their suffering.
Watching the people you loved most lose their humanity like that did sothing permanent to the heart. It carved deep hatred and left it there to fester.
What Mina felt now was no different from what he had felt once.
The sa fury. The sa need to tear sothing apart just to prove the pain ant sothing.
He wanted revenge too. Had wanted it for longer than he could count.
But then another thought followed.
What would Mina feel if she learned the truth? That the ones behind this were not monsters she could stab or buildings she could destroy, but gods and goddesses. Beings so far above humans that the word ’unfair’ did not even apply.
Higher Beings who treated worlds as toys and lives as numbers to be taken for their own amusents and servants.
Would she still want revenge?
Or would that hatred collapse into despair once she realized how vast the gap really was?
Clyde did not know.
And more importantly, now was not the ti to tell her.
Not yet.
"I think so," he said finally.
It was the only answer he could give her without breaking sothing inside her.
Mina lifted her head and looked at him. Her eyes were sharp again, burning with fresh hatred instead of exhaustion.
"I will beco strong enough to do that," she said.
Clyde held her gaze for a few seconds. Then he nodded.
"Alright."
That was all.
Mina lowered her eyes and finished the rest of her bread. The crumbs fell onto the concrete between her boots as she chewed.
They sat there in silence again, backs against the wall, weapons close, waiting for their stamina to replenish again.
After so ti, their breathing steadied and the burn in their muscles dulled into sothing manageable.
Clyde pushed himself up first.
"Let’s move again," he said quietly.
Mina nodded and rose with him.
They slipped out of the alley and back into the open streets.
The vibration returned beneath their feet almost imdiately, faint but constant.
They had not gone far when the sound reached them.
It was not just the grinding drag of a lone building. But shouting, tal clashing, and concrete exploding.
Clyde slowed and lifted his hand again.
Ahead of them, at the intersection of two wide streets, a large office building was moving.
Its lower floors twisted as it dragged itself forward, windows shattering in waves as it turned.
But it was not alone.
A group of players surrounded it.
Five of them. Maybe six.
They moved with coordination and confidence. One drew the building’s attention and struck its support columns to force it to lean. The other leapt and smashed exposed beams as soon as cracks appeared. A third stood back, launching attacks that detonated against the structure’s upper floors.
They were not panicking. They were hunting it.
The building let out a deafening groan as its core failed. The upper floors collapsed inward and the entire structure crumpled with a thunderous crash. Dust and debris filled the street.
Laughter followed. Actual laughter.
Mina stared, stunned.
"They look confident," she whispered.
Clyde did not answer right away.
His eyes stayed on the group as they regrouped, already scanning the streets for another target.
Their movents were sharp and efficient. Their weapons were given by the system, well-used and familiar in their hands.
They were strong.
Clyde felt a tightness settle in his chest.
"Careful," he said under his breath.
Mina glanced at him. "What’s wrong?"
He did not look away from the group.
"People who aren’t afraid to fight in a world like this," he said quietly, "are more dangerous than the monsters."
"Like you," Mina said.
"Yeah." Clyde shrugged.
—
Reviews
All reviews (0)