The sound of the monster's body hitting the floor still echoed in my ears long after it stopped moving. The metallic stench of blood filled the air, sharp and nauseating. My hands were slick with black ichor, the rod trembling slightly in my grip.
I glanced up the broken shaft. Marcus Hale and Claire Evans were climbing down carefully, their faces pale but determined. When they reached the ground, Marcus dropped to one knee, panting.
"Remind me never to question your survival instincts again," he muttered.
Claire knelt beside me, her eyes scanning the cuts on my arm. "You're bleeding a lot…"
"It's fine," I said, though my voice wavered. The truth was, my whole body ached. The adrenaline that had fueled me moments ago was starting to fade, and the pain was catching up fast.
Marcus rummaged through his jacket and pulled out a small first-aid kit. "Found this in one of the emergency lockers upstairs. Didn't think we'd need it this soon."
He tore open a packet of disinfectant and handed it to Claire. She hesitated only a second before pressing it to my wound. The sting was instant, white-hot and sharp enough to make me grit my teeth.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"It's fine. Just make it quick."
While she bandaged my arm, I called up the system window again.
[Status Updated.]
— Name: Ethan Cross
Level: 2
Strength: 8 (+2)
Agility: 5
Endurance: 7 (+1)
Perception: 5
Mana: 0
Traits: Iron Resolve (Low)
Authority: Locked
Coins: 70
—
A small improvement, but every bit counted.
Marcus peered over my shoulder at the glowing display. "You know, if this really is some kind of game, you're probably the main character."
"Don't say that," I muttered. "The 'main character' always gets the worst luck."
He chuckled weakly. "Fair point."
We rested for a few minutes. The distant roars had faded, replaced by the hum of faint machinery deeper within the sublevels. The air here was colder, damp, and filled with the smell of rust and old oil.
Claire spoke softly. "Do you think… there are others still alive?"
Marcus sighed. "There were four hundred people when this started. There can't be many left now."
Her expression fell. "Then… what happens to them?"
The silence that followed was answer enough.
After a while, I stood. "We keep moving. There's no guarantee this place is safe. The system wouldn't make it that easy."
They both nodded.
We moved through a corridor lined with maintenance doors. Occasionally, flickers of static light pulsed through the ceiling bulbs. The deeper we went, the colder it became.
[Time Remaining: 17:28:43]
Nearly seven hours had passed. The day felt endless.
"Do you hear that?" Marcus whispered.
I stopped. There it was again—soft footsteps, echoing faintly from the next hallway. Too light to be one of the creatures, too rhythmic to be random noise.
Someone was walking.
"Stay back," I said, motioning for them to follow silently.
We turned the corner slowly.
A man stood in the center of the corridor, his suit torn, his face streaked with grime. He held a jagged metal pipe in one hand. When he saw us, his eyes widened.
"Humans," he breathed out, almost laughing with relief. "Thank God. I thought I was the only one left."
Marcus lowered the extinguisher slightly. "You're with the company?"
The man nodded quickly. "Yeah. Name's Adrian Clarke. I worked in R&D. You're employees too?"
"More or less," Marcus said. "We've been trying to survive since the first wave."
Adrian exhaled shakily, then glanced behind him. "You didn't see anyone else, did you? I heard screams from upstairs—then nothing."
Claire shook her head. "No… I'm sorry."
He cursed under his breath. "Figures. The moment this place went dark, everything went to hell. Literally."
"Do you know what's causing it?" I asked.
Adrian hesitated. "Not exactly. But before the systems crashed, our department detected something strange. The tower wasn't built—it appeared. But beneath it, something… alive is generating the energy. We called it the Core."
"The Core?" Marcus echoed. "You're saying this building has a heartbeat?"
"Something like that," Adrian said grimly. "And it's growing stronger every hour."
I frowned. "So this isn't just a game."
"No," Adrian said, meeting my gaze. "It's a test. The tower is watching who survives."
Ding.
[New Objective Unlocked: Discover the Source of the Tower's Power.] [Reward: ???]
The message hovered before my eyes like an omen.
Marcus rubbed his temples. "Great. A secret underground monster generator. Just what I needed today."
Claire's voice trembled. "Do we have to go near it?"
I looked down the corridor ahead—an endless path swallowed by shadow.
"If we want to survive this tutorial," I said, "we don't have a choice."
We moved forward, deeper into the unknown.
Behind us, the faint sound of metal scraping against stone echoed once more.
Whatever was still alive in this place—it wasn't done with us yet.