A stunned thick silence followed the mission's announcement. For a few heartbeats, nobody moved. The players just stared at each other, the words "Kill One Or More Living Organism" burning in their minds. The confusion on their faces was sharpest among those who had found friends or loved ones; their brief moments of relief curdled into a new, more intimate terror.
"What are we going to do?" a slim, wiry man whimpered, his voice cracking as he hugged his own shoulders.
His question was answered by action. A bulky man with a thick neck and cold eyes scoffed. "There are no living organisms here, except us. So what do you expect?" Before the words had fully left his mouth, he lunged. His thick hand clamped around the slim man's throat, driving him backward and slamming his head against the unyielding white tiles with a crack. The bulky man didn't hesitate, his weight pinning the smaller one down as his fingers tightened, cutting off a choked gurgle.
A wave of revulsion passed through the crowd. A few took a half-step forward, a protest forming on their lips. But then, the chime froze them all.
A timer materialized in the air, numbers glowing with a cold light.
4:36
Then, in a blink, it changed.
2:36
Beneath it, three words sealed their fate:
The two-minute penalty was a psychological masterstroke. Panic, which had been simmering, exploded into a frenzy. The time for hesitation was brutally stolen from them.
"Ahhh!" A woman's scream tore through the space as she launched herself at the person nearest to her, her fingers clawing for their neck, her face a mask of survival.
The white space erupted into chaos. The sound of grunts, impacts, and desperate cries replaced the silence. It was no longer a gathering of people; it was a cage fight with thirty participants.
Dave moved like a ghost through the storm. He didn't attack; he defended. His body, honed by a life of hardship, reacted on instinct. A wild punch came from his left; he sidestepped, the air whistling past his ear. As the attacker stumbled forward, off-balance, Dave pivoted and delivered a sharp, precise kick to the back of the man's knee. The man crumpled with a cry, unconscious but alive.
Another player, a hulking figure, saw an easy target and charged, arms outstretched to crush Dave in a bear hug. Dave dropped low, letting the man's momentum carry him over. As the huge man passed, Dave twisted, using the man's own back as a step to launch himself up. He wrapped his legs around the man's neck, and with the leverage of his entire body, brought an elbow down in a swift, brutal impact on the base of the man's skull. The giant grunted and fell face-first to the floor, out cold.
Dave kept moving, I don't want to kill anyone yet. There has to be another way… But the timer counting down mocked his hope. He was just buying seconds, and the seconds were bleeding away.
Then, a new chime froze the room, if only for an instant.
Every head, including Dave's, snapped toward the announcement. There, lying in a growing pool of crimson that looked obscenely bright against the white floor, was a body, its throat torn open. Standing over it was a figure Dave recognized instantly.
The boy with red hair and brown eyes. The one who had materialized first, the one who had seemed so scared minutes ago. But the fear was gone now, replaced by a chilling calm. Dave's initial instinct had been right. This wasn't a frightened boy; this was a predator who had simply been waiting for the hunt to be declared.
A screen hovered above Player Rex's head, displaying his reward:
A visible surge of power went through Rex. He flexed his hands, a cruel smile twisting his lips as he felt the new strength coursing through him. His eyes scanned the chaos and landed on a easy target: a girl trying to shrink away from the violence, her hands clamped over her ears, weeping and whispering what sounded like her last prayers.
It was the girl with the timid blue eyes. The one who had mistaken Dave for someone else.
With a predator's grace enhanced by his new stats, Rex closed the distance in a heartbeat. He didn't run; he flowed. His hand shot out to grab her by the neck, his intent clear, a quick, brutal twist.
But before his fingers could close, a foot connected with his forearm. The force knocked his arm aside and sent him skidding back a few steps across the slick tiles.
Rex didn't look angry. He looked… intrigued. He shook his stinging arm and his smile returned wider. His eyes lifted from the terrified girl and locked onto the person who had dared to interfere.
Dave stood between them in silence, staring right back at Rex, but inwardly, his cursed himself for interfering.
Rex's smile widened into something truly vicious. "Nice," he said. "Then you'll be my next prey."