"Wait," Adrian muttered. They're attracted to light refraction; they love shiny, polished things."
Without a second thought, Adrian reached into his own shirt sleeves. With a sharp tug, he ripped off his favorite, highly polished silver cufflinks— the ones he treasured dearly. "Hey! Look over here, you overgrown glass mutts!" Adrian yelled, hurling the shiny silver pieces high into the air toward the opposite side of the clearing.
The moment the silver caught the dim, iridescent light, the stalkers' predatory eyes snapped toward the glittering objects. In perfect, greedy synchronization, the entire pack broke formation, lunging toward the spot where the cufflinks landed, snapping and fighting each other to claim the shiny metal.
Adrian yelled, his grip tightening as he grabbed Malik's arm. "Run! Now!"
They bolted. The group scrambled through the dense, towering blue trees, their breath misting in the rapidly dropping temperature. Behind them, the heavy, metallic pounding of paws tore through the underbush. Malik ran tightly beside Adrian, his frame easily breaking through low branches to clear a path.
"In there!" Elena shouted, pointing toward a dark, jagged opening in the side of a stone cliff.
One by one, the twelve students tumbled into the narrow mouth of a damp cave. Malik and Damian threw their weight against a massive, loose boulder near the entrance, rolling it just enough to block the narrow opening, and the boulder got stuck. Outside, the stalkers slammed against the boulder, their metallic claws scraping violently against the rock's face.
Inside the dim cave, everyone collapsed against the cold walls, panting heavily.
"We're trapped," Tyler muttered, clutching his knees. "We're going to die in a stupid book."
"Shut up, Tyler, I'm thinking," Adrian snapped. He leaned back against the cave wall, thinking through the plot details of The Chrono- Blade Chronicles."
"Aha! I remember something!" Adrian exclaimed.
"What?"
"Their biological systems are based on sulfur and dark crystal," Adrian explained, brushing dirt off his cardigan. "Standard dairy- alkaloid compounds trigger a volatile chemical reaction in their stomachs. Chocolate. Chocolate is a literal neurotoxic poison to them! But we can't risk fighting them head-on. We need a trap."
"Um...did anyone understand all this? All I heard was chocolate." Mia asked, confused.
"Me too," Tyler spoke up.
Adrian sighed, turning to Stefano.
"Please explain this in a... simpler way to them."
"So essentially, we use chocolate to kill them."
"Oh, okay."
"We build outside, right in front of the cave entrance," Elena commanded, taking charge. "Malik, Stefano, Damian— you're our strongest. Find something to crush them. The rest of us will dig."
"We found an exit, and the coast is clear," Min-soo said, appearing out of nowhere with his twin.
***
While the strongest boys ventured out to locate another massive, rounded boulder, the rest of the students dug a wide, deep trench right in the dirt path leading to the cave. They carefully covered the opening with thin, brittle branches, masking it perfectly with loose dirt and blue moss until the forest floor looked completely undisturbed.
"Okay, the trap is set," Adrian said, breaking off a piece of a slightly crushed milk chocolate bar Riri had pulled from his hoodie. He looked over at the politician's son. "Now we need the bait. Tyler, step up."
"What?! No way!" Tyler shrieked, backing away. "Why do I have to be the bait?!"
"Because you have the loudest, most annoying voice in the entire school," Mia snapped. "Stand on the other side of the covered pit. The second a stalker appears, you shout as much as you can to lure it in. Do it, or we leave you here."
"Just place the chocolate and shout." Min-soo sighed.
"Fine, but if I die, my death is on YOUR hands," Tyler said, taking the chocolate from Adrian's hand and placing it on the floor. "I've done it now, what's gonna happen to me? I guess I'm the only brave one here." Tyler scoffed, his arrogance returning.
Suddenly, a rustling in the bushes signaled that a lone stalker had tracked them. Tyler's legs immediately felt weak as he ran back to the cave. It stepped up to the chocolate bar, observing it before eating.
At first, nothing happened. Then a horrific, wet crunching sound echoed through its body. The stalker let out a strangled shriek, its internal organs violently combusting from the chemical reaction before it dissolved into a pile of smoking black ash.
As the wolf disintegrated, a sudden, soft sound chimed in the air.
Shonte was the very first person to see it. A glowing, semi-transparent status window materialized directly in front of his eyes. But while he expected text, his screen was completely bizarre— a blinding, radiant white field bordered by deep, shifting black shadows.
"What the..." Shonte muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"Whoa! Do you guys see this?!" Stefano gasped, pointing at the empty air in front of his face.
One by one, the others began receiving their screens, but as they looked at each other.
"Wow, mine is purple!" Mia exclaimed.
"Wait, what do you mean purple? Mine is deep bronze." Farah asked, her eyes wide.
"Mine is gold," Elena said, adjusting her posture.
"A dull, metallic silver," Tyler spoke out, his voice shaking.
Every single student had a completely different colored interface. Shonte looked past his blinding white and black screen, realizing that large portions of the text were locked behind mysterious, static-filled question marks;
[USER STATUS]
· Name: Shonte Weldon
· Level: 1
· Powers: [???]
· Weapons: [???]
· Rank: [???]
· Skills: [???]
· Stamina: 20/20
· Hunger: 78/100
· CurrentQuest: Kill 10 Obsidian Stalkers (1/10 Completed)
· Active Penalties: None
Before some of them could even read their screens fully, the ultrasonic death howl of the poisoned wolf finally echoed through the trees. The distress signal had been sent.
"Holy shit! What is that?!" Mia yelled, covering his ears.
"They're coming!" Adrian shouted.
Five massive Obsidian Stalkers violently burst from the thickets, their glass fur bristling with absolute rage. They lunged blindly forward, their heavy paws crashing straight through the brittle branches. With a chorus of angry yelps, all five plunged heavily into the deep trench, trapped at the bottom.
"Where are the boys? We need that boulder now!" Farah said, looking around.
"Guys...I think they're climbing up."
"We're here!"
"Now! Shove it," Malik grunted.
Malik, Damian, and Stefano emerged from the side of the cliff, straining against a massive, rounded boulder that they had successfully rolled to the edge. With a synchronized surge of raw adrenaline, they gave the boulder one final, massive push.
The heavy boulder plummeted into the pit with a deafening, bone-crushing CRUNCH, instantly crushing the five trapped monsters beneath its immense weight.
The status screens flashed violently before their eyes.
[QUEST PROGRESS UPDATE]
· Objective: Kill 10 Obsidian Stalkers (6/10 Completed)
· SystemNotice: Time limit exceeded for the opening sequence.
· Penalty Applied: Hunger -30
"Six down," Damian panted, a sudden, hollow ache opening up in his stomach as the hunger penalty drained his energy. "There should only be four more left in the pack."
But the system wasn't playing fair. Instead of four, the bushes rustled violently as a massive wave of dark shadows poured into the clearing. A massive horde—far more than four—swarmed the area, surrounding the cave mouth in a chaotic frenzy.
"There are too many!" Elena shouted, drawing back.