"What the hell? Those looked like giant fucking wolves!"
Lucas slammed himself against the door, chest heaving.
Thankfully the creatures didn't try to break through.
And judging by what he had just seen, Lucas wasn't even sure cement walls would be enough to stop animals like that.
"Those weren't animals… oh my God…"
A message flashed before his eyes.
[Defend yourself from the Wild-Blood Dogs]
Lucas stared.
"Dogs?"
He frowned.
He hadn't gotten a proper look while running for his life, but they had been bigger than any dog he'd ever seen.
Then he finally noticed where he was.
Darkness surrounded him.
A narrow overhead windows let in enough moonlight to see along the corridor
The first thing he noticed was blood smeared across the walls.
He tried stepping forward—
—and tripped over something.
Lucas hit the ground hard.
When he opened his eyes, a pale face stared back at him.
Its eyes were still wide open.
"Ahh!"
He scrambled backward.
"What the fuck is all this?!" he almost started crying.
His hand knocked the head aside and he realized in horror it belonged to the body he had tripped over.
There were more.
Several bodies.
Some torn apart, just like it was outside.
"I thought I heard something this way." A voice echoed from the end of the corridor.
Lucas froze.
'A person?'
Then footsteps approached until a young man in glasses poked his head around the corner.
Another followed behind him.
"What are you doing?" He said impatiently. "We don't have time."
He turned and recognized Lucas instantly.
"You?"
Lucas blinked.
Arnold now had shoulder armor and carried both a shield and a spear, like an actual medieval warrior.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I… I came to restart the power plant." Lucas forced himself up and dusted off his trousers.
"And you came alone?"
"You know him?" the guy with glasses asked.
"Yeah."
Arnold barely glanced at Lucas.
"He's one of those weaklings that never leaves his house."
"Then what is he doing out here?"
Lucas clenched his jaw. They were talking about him like he wasn't even standing there.
"I don't know," Arnold said. "Probably has some death wish. How did you even get here?"
"I walked down the road." he answered with little enthusiasm.
"You used the main road?" the glasses guy asked.
"Are you crazy? The monsters are smart enough to ambush people there."
Arnold scoffed.
"You're wasting your breath. He probably still doesn't understand how the world has changed."
"Come on. We need to find the engineers." he added, already turning away. "The others are still searching,"
The guy hesitated.
"Are you sure we should leave him?"
"Why wouldn't we?" Arnold adjusted his spear.
"We came for a rescue mission. We don't have time to babysit. If he knows what's good for him, he'll find his own way back."
"…Okay."
And just like that they left.
Lucas stood there alone.
Again.
Neither of them cared whether he lived or died.
A message popped up.
[TheSmartOne: No way you actually ran into them lol]
Lucas froze. "What?"
[TheSmartOne: That was Arnold_theGreat_sage. One of the highest-ranked heroes in the world right now.]
"How would you know?"
[TheSmartOne: Because I follow him online, duh. There's a rank list too. How do you not know this stuff? It's like you've been living under a rock.]
Lucas's expression darkened.
"Wait... If you knew they were already coming here? Why did you make me come here anyway?"
[RichFarmer: You said you'd do anything for KP.]
[TheSmartOne: We just gave you something to do. Hehe]
"You fucking assholes…"
Lucas ended the stream immediately.
His hands shook as he clenched it.
"They really let me risk my life for entertainment?"
For a moment he genuinely couldn't believe people could be that cruel.
Then Arnold's words came back to him, 'The world changed'
And Lucas slowly understood.
No one cared.
Everyone was pretending.
For entertainment.
For survival.
For themselves.
His fists tightened.
'if that's the case I refuse to die here'
A new conviction burned inside him. Even if his struggle was pointless.
Even if the whole world wanted him dead.
He would keep fighting.
He would fight until the master of the universe personally came down to erase him.
Lucas turned the corner.
And froze.
Eyes.
Countless black eyes stared back at him.
His heart nearly stopped. He rubbed his own eyes thinking maybe he was hallucinating.
But when he looked again—
it was still there.
A giant spider.
Twice his size.
Its long legs stretched across the corridor. Its body dark and massive.
Lucas felt every bit of courage leave him.
"Please…" His voice cracked. "Don't hurt me."
He raised his arms over his face ready to die.
But nothing happened.
A few seconds passed. Slowly he peeked through his fingers.
The spider was still there. Watching him.
Its head tilted slightly, as if curious, but not attacking.
A message flashed.
[Defend yourself from the Giant Spider]
Then Lucas heard footsteps.
Running fast.
Something shot through the air.
A spear.
It slammed into the spider's side with a sickening crunch.
The creature screeched and scrambled up the wall.
"You moron!" Arnold yelled. "Why are you just standing there?!"
Suddenly streaks of fire lit up the corridor.
Arnold's companion pulled his hand back like he was drawing a bowstring—
then released.
Flaming arrows shot through the darkness one after another.
The spider twisted wildly.
Each arrow barely missed as fire exploded against the walls around it.
It leaped from side to side with terrifying speed, skittering across stone and ceiling alike with Arnold's spear buried deep in its side.
Then it bolted around the corner.
Lucas ran after them just in time to see it reach a narrow crack in the wall.
The spider tried forcing its body inside—
but the spear lodged in its side kept catching against the stone.
Arnold reached it first.
He grabbed the shaft with both hands.
Then with one brutal pull—
he yanked the spider out of the wall and slammed it to the ground.
The creature shrieked.
Arnold planted a boot on its body, ripped the spear free—
and drove it down.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
And again.
Green slime splattered across the floor and walls as the spear punched through its body.
The spider screeched louder each time.
Its legs thrashed violently.
Then slowly curled inward.
Its body twitched one final time—
and went still.
Dead silence filled the corridor.