Manori stares at me, her eyes flat and unreadable.Beside her, Kiso scowls. "Who the heck is that girl?!" Being extremely confuse of a girl just having pop up against this guy.
Toho only smirks, pushing himself up from the rubble. Adam coughs, struggling to his feet, his expression sinking into a grim realization."I guess," he mutters, brushing dust from his coat, "the time limit finally disappeared."
The girl twirls once, her hair spinning with a faint shimmer of light before she lands and smiles, bright and effortless."Yep," she says, her voice soft but confident, "totally renewed and refreshed."Then she throws her arms around me. Her warmth feels strange—fragile but real.
Adam lowers his gaze, the shadow of guilt heavy in his eyes. He can still see it: her lifeless body, her last breath. Even if it wasn't permanent, it was real enough to haunt him.
Kiso raises an eyebrow. "Just date already."
Manori sighs through her nose, her face blank as ever. "-_-..."
We let go, embarrassed, pretending to focus elsewhere.
Then the ground rumbles.Kiso reacts instantly, snapping up his rifle and firing several rounds into the shaking floor—but the noise of bullets fades beneath something deeper. A pulsing sound. Something alive deep in the underground.
Out of the trembling ground, a moving skeleton stumbles forward. Its eyes hollow, its jaw fixed in grim determination. In its hands—a shovel, lifted like a sword of resolve.Without hesitation, it charges toward the creeping red moss spreading across the ground.
The red flesh ripples, opening to reveal veins pulsing with light.The skeleton strikes—one, two, three hits—each swing echoing with the spirit of an indomitable will.
The shovel lands with a dull thud.Then silence.The moss surges, swallowing the skeleton whole, leaving not even dust behind.
"Even the will of a hero," I whisper sarcastically, "can't hurt that thing…"
Above us, a monster the size of a building lets out a distorted roar, tearing concrete from the walls and hurling it like pebbles. Every hit bounces off uselessly.(0 Damage)(0 Damage)
The red mass absorbs it all, unaffected, growing hungrier.Adam clenches his fists, remembering——that same texture, that same stench, the writhing tentacle he kicked back in the forest… and in that cursed circus.He shivers.
"What is that!?" he shouts.
Kiso reloads, firing again. The rifle roars like a cannon, launching an explosive shell.The blast lights up the room—smoke, debris, chaos—But when the haze clears, the tentacles are still there, glistening, undamaged.Only slowed.
"How the heck would I know…" Kiso mutters under his breath, tightening his grip.
Then, the ground splits open.The floor turns red, the texture shifting—pulsing—until it reshapes into something grotesque. A mouth.The entire floor becomes a living, breathing thing.
Adam reacts fast, grabbing the girl's arm. "Jump!"They leap—ten feet upward—grabbing onto the cracked wall.Kiso fires his hook, the cable snapping tight, and swings upward toward the ceiling.
Beneath us, the red maw closes, crushing everything that remained below.
Adam glances down and exhales. "I guess… there goes my job."
Kiso looks at me with the same expression "Same..."
Adam stares blankly at the chaos unfolding before him. His voice trembles with forced calm."Well… this is normal, right?"
"Definitely not!" kiso shouts back.
The ground convulses—tearing itself open like muscle flaps. Red flesh ripples, shifting and folding with disgusting speed. Hundreds of tendrils burst out, whipping through the air like striking whips of sinew.
The girl Manori leaps forward, blade flashing in quick arcs. She slashes again and again, her movements desperate yet refined—each hit glowing faintly with [+EXP Gained] above her.
Adam clenches his fists, throwing punches into the writhing ground. Each hit connects with a wet thud, but the surface keeps hardening—like punching stone that remembers pain and grows stronger from it."It's fine…" he mutters between heavy breaths, "…not like I've got many jobs left anyway." He sighs.
Kiso grits his teeth, his rifle locking and releasing with a metallic snap. The grappling hook attached fires upward, embedding into the ceiling. He pulls himself into the air just as the ground splits further—and from the crimson depths, dozens of eyes open. Small mouths follow, blooming like tumors along the veins.Each one lets out a shriek before devouring everything in reach—the tombstones, the soil, even the coffin remnants.
One tendril lashes out—and grabs Manori. "tsk"
"Hey!" Adam shouts, lunging forward.
The tendrils coil around him too, tightening like ropes. He struggles, his arms pinned, his mouth gagged by the fleshy cords. He thrashes, kicking with all his strength, but there are too many—and one massive mouth, the size of a door, opens below him, dripping and hungry.
He doesn't have time to think.
A blur of motion—Toho steps in, watching both Adam and Manori entangled in the living pit. Her eyes narrow as realization strikes.Without hesitation, her form shifts—her body rippling, bones reshaping, eyes bleeding into a crimson hue.In moments, she looks almost identical to Manori: blank stare, short hair, the same delicate face—but holding a knife that hums with strange energy.
She slashes at the tendrils—but her strength is fading fast... The blade cuts shallowly, drawing dark ichor that immediately reforms.Still, she lunges forward, grabbing Manori by the arm, pulling her away inch by inch.
Adam watches, something clicking in his mind."Wait… I can just throw techs!"
He stretches his arm out. Sparks of digital light gather around him.(Gained 700 EXP)A surge of energy ripples from his hands—and then, out of nowhere, objects materialize and launch into the air—massive refrigerators, TVs, metal doors, air conditioners—all spinning violently, propelled like artillery rounds toward the creature below.
The monster roars from within the red pit, the sound vibrating through the walls, through their bones. The world dims. Shadows bleed from the cracks in the ground.
Kiso, pale with fear, reloads his rifle and fires a grappling line again, shouting,"Grab it! Hurry!"
He knows—if he stays a second longer, he's dead.
Toho clings to Manori, dragging her upward through the writhing flesh. "Come on! Let's go!" she yells to Adam. "Why do you even care this much about saving her!?"
He doesn't answer. He just reaches out.
The rope swings through the dark, glowing faintly. "Grab it!" Kiso's voice echoes again.
Toho catches it first, pulling Manori along. The darkness thickens—the air turns into mist mixed with blood. The smell of iron burns their lungs.
Kiso's fear finally wins. He yanks the rope, escaping and jumping through the destruction of debris toward the exit—but only with Toho.
(Im a hypocrit! A hyprocrit... Forgive me, hahh)
(I saved no one... Yet i judge) Kiso face was sweating with emptiness in his heart.
Manori slips... Looking at adam as they fall towards darkness she raise her hands and many colorfull knife flies through adam but he dodges and a moment to propell him upward
Adam: "What was that?" as he falls.
Manori: That didnt work...
For a moment, there's only silence.
[Darkness]
Adam's eyelids twitch. He can't tell if he's awake. Everything is black—heavy—his body refuses to move.In that endless dark, he hears it.A voice.Someone crying.
He opens his eyes.
There, standing in the void, is a creature seven feet tall—lanky, grotesque, its flesh peeled outward like wet paper.Eyes cover its body—hundreds of them—blinking independently.Where its face should be, a massive grin splits wide.
{ I am the Renewal... }
{ The Destruction. The Lord. The one who takes and rules. The one who shelters and protects. }
Adam squints at it, deadpan. "…Man, that's cringe."
The creature pauses.Silence.Then it tilts its head—smiling wider.