As the sun set, the sky was ablaze. Orange and blood red, tinged with rust, spread across every corner of the sky; a warm, deathly silence descended upon the height where William stood. There was almost no wind, but a heavy smell of metal and rotting flesh hung in the air.
William squinted as he approached the edge of the apartment building's roof. The scene before him was not that of a city, but of a catastrophe. In the city center, there was a massive dome, the Open Dungeon No. 34. The streets surrounding it, the statues rising from the parks, and the dilapidated apartment buildings seemed to be leaning toward the very heart of the collapse. Broken reflections bent the colors of the sunset like a crystal lens, giving the scene an eerie, surreal atmosphere.
In the middle of the dungeon was a park that must once have been filled with the voices of children. The swings were rusted, and the slides were stained with bright red spots. But what really caught the eye were the thousands of zombies perched or crowded on top of this park and every street, every roof, and every empty car around it. They were motionless. They were silent. But they were there.
Some of them had their heads turned upward. As if they had sensed William's presence.
William took a step back.
He had been wandering the streets and around the massive monolith for nearly a week. He had killed every zombie he could, entered the dungeon, and exited, but he hadn't gotten what he wanted.
He couldn't remember how many times he had narrowly escaped death, but he was grateful for his speed a thousand times over.
When he reached level ten, he again allocated his system points to his SPEED stat. Because that was the only way to escape.
William had given up today. The result of a month's work was nothing but information. He couldn't remember how many zombies he had killed. Now, the few streets around him were littered with the corpses of zombies killed by William alone.
A few shops selling hunting supplies and weapons had been completely emptied by William. During this process, William had not only used a katana but also resorted to a gun.
He had been living on the roof of this building for a week.
William turned around and sat down on the chair he had brought to the roof. He took his phone out of his pocket and began looking at the photos he had taken. Then he took a bag of chips from a table he had randomly placed aside and looked at the photos while eating.
He had taken photos of the inside and outside of the dungeon, every street he had passed, and everything he considered important.
Not only that, but he had also marked dozens of places on a map.
These places were, in William's words, comfortable places.
There was no need to fear a zombie attack in these houses because William had cleared them all.
After finishing the chip, William wiped his greasy hands on his pants and put his phone in his pocket.
He then went to the back of the roof.
What followed was a full-on show.
William jumped from the roofs of a few buildings and finally landed on the roof of a two-story house. He took his bag and a few important items from inside the two-story building, then went out into the street.
He didn't know if it was because he was so confident in his speed, but he no longer cared about the zombie threat. Thanks to his reflexes, he was almost invincible as long as no zombie of the same level or higher appeared.
After getting on his motorcycle, he glanced around.
Then he turned the key. Austin's motorcycle hadn't let him down, and even though he had to push it a few times, it always started.
This time, the motorcycle started on the first try, and all that remained was the dark gray smoke and the smell of gasoline on the street.
William was returning to the shelter at the end of the month.
…
William's journey went smoothly. In fact, the view on his return surprised him greatly because Joseph hadn't been idle during that month. William couldn't see a single unharvested field.
When he reached the shelter, he was met with a scene that was very different from what he had expected.
This place could now officially be considered a small town.
He stopped his motorcycle at the top and looked down.
About twenty new wooden houses were neatly arranged, and a few tents were still visible.
Several generators were lined up side by side, supplying electricity to the city.
William was greeted with smiles by the new soldiers on duty; everyone had seen him at least once.
As soon as William entered, he rode his motorcycle through the metal gate and immediately parked inside, next to the other vehicles.
Eliza was there to greet him.
The news had reached her as soon as he entered.
Eliza greeted William with great anticipation.
"Everyone is waiting for you."
William nodded and followed Eliza. A few large machines he saw on the way caught his attention, but he didn't know what they were.
Almost everyone who was capable of fighting and was of a high level had gathered in the dining hall.
As soon as William entered the dining hall, he was greeted by Austin and Elura, and Min-jun, Kim, Mick, and Jason were also happy to see their friends as if they hadn't seen them in a long time.
"Okay, okay, calm down." William smiled and took off his armor. It wasn't very hot, but he felt stuffy. The wind had been blowing on him on the motorcycle along the way, and now that he had stopped, the heat was affecting him.
After taking off his armor, William saw the computer and projector on the table.
He immediately went over, connected his phone, and opened the photos.
"I want to tell you that I've completely cleared the western region." William began explaining, pointing to the mountains of zombies he had killed.
"But don't think I killed that many zombies. The other parts of the city are less crowded than you might think. Whatever zombies are out there seem to have gone into the open dungeon."
William began scrolling through the photos. "This is the boundary of the open dungeon you see here. There's a transparent barrier, and this barrier covers the entire open dungeon like a dome."
"So is entering and exiting a problem?" Joseph asked. He was curious about the open dungeon and the monolith standing next to it, with every cell in his body, because it was related to their future.
"No, entering isn't a problem. Anyone can enter, and when someone enters, the system sends a notification. This notification contains quests, and these quests are constantly changing, except for one."
William nodded.
"I've entered and exited this dungeon a total of twenty times. Each time, only one quest remained the same. Sometimes, some quests appeared again and again, but one quest was always there."
William raised a finger and spoke slowly.
"Kill a hundred zombies! That's the first quest, and it never changes. There's also a reward, and that reward is the key to escaping the dungeon. You have to earn the key and then break it to get out. If you're too weak to kill a hundred zombies, you'll never get out of this dungeon." William shook his head.
"What are the other quests you encounter?" Joseph asked, examining the interior of the open dungeon William was showing him.
"These quests are difficult, harder than you might imagine. The simplest is a quest to kill a single special zombie. After that, there are quests to clear the dungeon and kill a certain number of zombies. Additionally, while the dungeon's entrance is surrounded by a few zombies, as you progress, the zombies move in groups, making it harder to advance."
William continued showing the photos. The city was literally swarming with zombies, but their levels were low. As the photos progressed, the number of zombies increased, and stronger, higher-level zombies began to appear. Then a mist appeared.
"Beyond this mist lies the second level of the dungeon. The open dungeon is divided into three levels. The number of special zombies is very limited on the first level. I could only count four in total. On the second level, however, each zombie group is led by a special zombie. I couldn't even count how many times I narrowly escaped death here."
William continued to show the photos and finally showed the park in the center of New Telludure, covered with a transparent dome. Inside, there were mountains of blood and corpses, and in the middle of these mountains, a figure stood alone and upright.
Its red hair was long, and there were no signs of decay on its body. Only its skin was a dark gray color. It held a broken hammer in its hand. However, the hammer seemed to be ten times larger than normal. Water was still flowing from the fountain behind it, making the scene even more captivating. Unlike most zombies, its eyes emitted a red glow. It seemed like the embodiment of power and destruction.
Standing over three meters tall with a well-proportioned body, it gazed up at the sky, as if waiting for a rival.
Everyone in the dining hall, including Joseph and Marcus, stood up from their chairs and tried to get a closer look at the photo.
Even from the photo, they could sense the horror, power, and scale of destruction this zombie would bring.
Everyone below the fifth level trembled as they looked at the photo, every hair on their bodies standing on end.
"This is the third level of the dungeon. To enter here, you must complete a mission on the second level. It's the same as the fixed quest on the first level. I'm sorry, but I couldn't enter here. Because even looking at it was enough to make me realize that death was looming over my head."
William shook his head. "It's impossible for us to defeat that thing without reaching Level 11."
Joseph finally awoke from his shock. He went over and patted William on the shoulder. "Well done, son, thank you." William just nodded and changed the photo to distract people's attention.
"I completely cleared the Monolith and its surroundings. There is no danger, of course, for Level 3 and above. It's hard to say how safe it is since there is no protection."
William showed him a photo of a huge monolith and pieces of the monolith.
"I still can't figure out what this is."
Someone William didn't recognize approached the screen.
"It's... very meaningful and simple!" He was slightly overweight, wore glasses, and had hair that looked like it had been blown by the wind, but he was wearing a military uniform and, as far as William could tell, was one of the new members of the defense team.
Joseph stepped forward and introduced the man. "This is Saleem. He's new to our team. He is an expert in computers, and his blessing is remarkable."
William nodded, and a yellow glow appeared in his eyes. William had used his advanced perception ability.
[Saleem Whitaker Lv5]
[STRENGTH: 2(+++)]
[SPEED: 1(+++)]
[PERCEPTION: 4(+++)]
[LEY: 1(+++)]
[Abilities: Computer Expertise III, Sharp Eyes II, Stealth I, Area Analysis I, Sniper Rifle Expertise II, Pistol Expertise II, Heavy Breathing I]
[Blessing: Backward Escape]
William nodded and watched Saleem. He didn't know what his blessing meant, but it was definitely related to escape, and he seemed to be a successful sniper.
Saleem felt as if he was being watched by a monster, as if the zombie he had seen in the photo a moment ago was now right next to him. His hair stood on end, and after coughing once, he began to speak.
It was clear that he wasn't very good at talking in front of people. His voice was sometimes shaky and sometimes lacking in confidence, but he was able to explain what was going on in a way that everyone could understand.
"Just like an MMORPG," Saleem whispered at first, but everyone's ears were sharp enough to hear him.
"This monolith will probably show who cleared this dungeon. And what's really important is how long it took you to clear it. There could be a ranking based on that. Just like in games." Saleem nodded his head up and down.
"If that's the case, everything becomes much easier. Because this place could be a grind area! Open dungeons are grind areas in games and are designed to allow people to improve themselves to a certain level. If that's the case here, it could be the key to making the people in the shelter stronger."
Saleem was determined as he spoke towards the end. William nodded. He wasn't someone who played a lot of games, but he knew what they were, having played a few before.
"That explains everything." Joseph stepped forward and spoke.
"Then our plans become even more important now."
William scratched the back of his head. "Should I tell them about the difficulty of Level 11?"