The goblin shaman raised its bone staff. Purple light gathered at the tip, crackling like static electricity. Kael had maybe half a second before that thing turned into a magic missile aimed at his face. Less if the shaman was fast.
He dove left.
A bolt of shadow screamed past his ear. It hit the brick wall behind him and left a crater the size of a dinner plate. Smoke rose from the edges. The smell was like burned hair and sulfur. His ears were ringing.
Kael rolled to his feet. The pipe was still in his hand somehow. His heart was slamming against his ribs so hard he could feel it in his throat. His mouth tasted like copper.
Half second cast time, he thought. That means I have a window. Hit her before she finishes the next one.
Her. He didn't know why he thought of the shaman as female. Something about the way it moved. Didn't matter.
The shaman was already raising its staff again.
Kael ran. Not straight at her this time. A zigzag. He learned that from years of playing shooters. Straight lines get you killed. Diagonal steps break the enemy's aim. His mom used to say video games were useless. She was wrong.
Another shadow bolt. He felt it pass close enough to ruffle his hair. It hit the ground where he would have been if he'd kept running straight. The asphalt cracked.
Missed me.
He closed the distance. Ten meters. Five. The shaman's white eyes widened. It tried to back away, but it was slow. Too slow. Big things usually are.
Kael swung the pipe at its hand. The one holding the staff.
He connected.
A crack. Not bone. Something harder. But the shaman screeched and dropped the staff. It clattered to the pavement. The purple light died.
[COMBAT]
You disarmed Goblin Shaman (Level 8).
25 bonus EXP.
Enemy spellcasting disabled until staff is recovered.
"No more magic," Kael said. "Now we fight."
The shaman snarled. It lunged at him with both hands. Its fingers ended in black claws that looked sharp enough to tear through metal. Kael barely got the pipe up in time. The claws scraped against the steel, sending sparks flying. The impact jarred his arms.
He pushed back. The shaman was stronger than him. His STR was only eight. It felt like trying to bench press a refrigerator. His feet slid backward on the pavement.
But he was faster.
He ducked under its next swing and drove the pipe into its ribs. Once. Twice. Three times. Each hit made a sound like a wet log splitting. The shaman grunted. It didn't go down.
[CRITICAL HIT]
Goblin Shaman HP: 112/180
It wasn't enough. The shaman backhanded him across the face. Kael's vision went white. He hit the ground hard, his cheek scraping against asphalt. Blood filled his mouth. His left eye was already swelling shut.
Get up, he told himself. Get up or you die here. Sarah is watching. Those people in the safe zone are watching. Get the hell up.
He pushed himself up. The shaman was standing over him, raising a clawed foot to stomp his head in. He could see the dirt on its heel.
Kael grabbed a handful of loose gravel from the street and threw it in her eyes.
She screamed. Clawed at her face. It was a dirty move. Cheating. Exploiting. Exactly the kind of thing he used to do in tournaments when the rules were too strict. The crowd always booed him for it. He didn't care then. He didn't care now.
He scrambled to his feet, grabbed the fallen bone staff, and swung it like a baseball bat at the shaman's knee.
The staff was heavier than the pipe. Better weight distribution. It hit the joint with a sickening crunch. The shaman's leg bent sideways at an angle legs shouldn't bend. She collapsed.
Kael didn't stop. He raised the staff over his head and brought it down on her skull.
Once.
Twice.
Three times. Maybe four. He lost count.
[COMBAT]
Defeated: Goblin Shaman (Level 8) Elite.
300 EXP.
3 Unassigned Stat Points.
Loot: Bone Staff (Quality: Uncommon), Shaman Totem (Quest Item), Goblin Cloth x3, Mysterious Pouch.
Kael stood there, breathing hard. His hands were shaking. There was blood on his face. Some of it was his. Most of it wasn't. His knuckles were split open. He didn't remember punching anything.
Sarah ran up to him. "You actually did it. You crazy bastard. You actually did it."
"Help me drag her out of the way," he said. "The safe zone is right there."
They pushed the shaman's body to the side of the street. It was heavy. Dead weight. Kael's arms were screaming by the time they finished. His back hurt. Everything hurt.
He walked toward the shimmering barrier. His hand touched it. The surface felt like warm water. Then he was through.
Inside the safe zone, the air was different. Cleaner. Warmer. The purple sky was still visible overhead, but there was a golden glow over everything, like standing under a heat lamp after being out in the cold. His muscles started to relax.
A notification appeared.
[SAFE ZONE ENTERED]
Resting bonus active: HP/MP recovery 200 percent.
No enemy spawns allowed.
You may now access the Shop and Chat functions.
A menu opened in his vision. He ignored it for now. There were people here. Maybe thirty of them. Huddled in groups. Some were crying. Some were staring blankly at nothing. A few were checking their status windows like he had.
One man stepped forward. He was older, maybe forty, with a military haircut and a pistol in his hand. Not a status weapon. A real gun. Kael could see the wear on the grip.
"You took down that thing outside?" the man asked.
Kael nodded. His neck hurt. "It was level eight. We're level three. Had to get creative."
The man studied him for a long moment. Then he nodded. "Name's Cruz. I was a staff sergeant. Retired three years ago." He gestured at the other survivors. "Most of these people have no idea what's happening. You seem like you do."
Kael shook his head. "I don't know what's happening. But I understand the system. It's like a game. A badly designed one, but a game."
"A game," Cruz repeated. "People are dying out there."
"I know." Kael's voice was flat. Tired. "And more are going to die. But crying about it won't help. We need to figure out the rules."
He opened his status window.
[STATUS]
Name: Kael Chen
Level: 4
HP: 130/130
MP: 60/60
STR: 8
AGI: 13 (3)
INT: 17 (3)
VIT: 7
Unassigned Stat Points: 3
Title: None
Class: None
Skills: Improvised Weaponry Lv.2, Crude Club Lv.1 (Sarah)
He had three points to spend. He put one into VIT. His health was too low. One good hit and he was done. The other two went into AGI and INT again. Speed and thinking. That was his build. He wasn't going to be a tank. He was going to be the guy who never got hit.
His HP went up to 145. His MP went to 65. Better. Not great, but better.
He opened the Shop menu.
[SHOP]
Available Currency: 0 Coins. 0 Gems.
Free Daily Items:
Minor Health Potion (1 remaining)
Bread (3 remaining)
Water (3 remaining)
For Purchase (Coins):
Iron Dagger (50 Coins)
Leather Vest (80 Coins)
Skill Book: Basic Evasion (200 Coins)
No coins. No gems. But the free items were something. He claimed the health potion, the bread, and the water. The potion appeared in his hand. A small glass vial with red liquid inside. The bread and water were plain, but real. The bread was still warm. Weird.
He drank the potion. His HP filled to max. The cut on his arm stopped bleeding.
Then he ate the bread. It was dry, but it was food. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until that moment. His stomach growled.
Sarah was doing the same thing. She had her own free items. Most of the other survivors were figuring it out too. A few were too scared to even look at their menus.
Cruz was watching everything with a careful eye. "So we get one free heal per day. And some food."
"Looks like it," Kael said. "We need to find a way to earn coins. Probably by killing monsters and completing quests."
He checked his quest log. There was one active.
[QUEST: REACH THE SAFE ZONE]
Status: Complete.
Reward: 100 EXP, 50 Coins. (Unclaimed)
He claimed it. A small chime. His EXP bar moved. He was now halfway to level five. And he had 50 coins.
Not enough for a weapon. But close.
"What's your background?" Cruz asked. "You move like someone who's done this before."
Kael hesitated. "I was a pro gamer. Retired now. But I spent ten years learning how games work. How to break them."
Cruz raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me the person who knows how to survive the apocalypse is a retired video game player."
"I'm telling you the apocalypse runs on video game logic. So yeah. That's exactly what I'm telling you."
Cruz was quiet for a long moment. Then he laughed. It was a dry, humorless sound. "The world ends and the expert is a twenty something esports kid. God has a sick sense of humor."
"God has nothing to do with it." Kael pointed at the purple sky. "Someone built this. A system administrator. A developer. A god. I don't care what you call them. But they built it. And every system has exploits."
He opened his status again. Looked at his skills. Improvised Weaponry was level two now. The shaman fight had pushed it up. The description had changed.
[IMPROVISED WEAPONRY Lv.2]
15 percent damage with makeshift weapons.
8 percent critical chance against enemies 2 levels higher.
New passive: Weapon Familiarity (Reduce attack speed penalty for unfamiliar objects by 20 percent).
That was good. That was really good. He could pick up anything and use it like a weapon faster than a normal person.
He looked at the bone staff he'd taken from the shaman. It was still in his hand.
[BONE STAFF] (Quality: Uncommon)
Damage: 18 24
Durability: 45/50
Special: 5 INT when equipped.
Requirement: Level 4.
He was level four. He equipped it. His INT went up to 22. His MP went to 80. The staff felt right in his hands. Lighter than the pipe. Better balance. It hummed slightly. Maybe his imagination.
He looked at the other loot. The Shaman Totem was a quest item. He didn't have a quest for it yet. The Mysterious Pouch was a small leather bag. He opened it.
[MYSTERIOUS POUCH]
Contains: 25 Coins, 1 Gem, Random Skill Fragment (Common).
A gem. That was valuable. He didn't know what gems did yet, but the Shop accepted them. He'd save it.
The skill fragment was a small glowing shard. He touched it.
[SKILL FRAGMENT: DETECT WEAKNESS]
Common quality.
Effect: Highlights enemy weak points for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Requirement: INT 15.
Do you wish to learn this skill? (Y/N)
He pressed Y.
A flash of light. A new icon appeared in his skill list.
[DETECT WEAKNESS Lv.1]
Active skill.
Reveals enemy weak points for 3 seconds.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
MP cost: 10.
Perfect. He could have used that against the shaman. Next time.
"Hey." Sarah was tugging his sleeve. "Look at the barrier."
Kael turned. The shimmering wall that marked the safe zone had changed. It was flickering. Fading in and out like a bad lightbulb. And on the other side, more goblins were gathering. At least twenty of them. Maybe more. He couldn't count them all.
"They're waiting," Cruz said. "Like they know we can't stay in here forever."
"We can't," Kael agreed. "The safe zone is a rest stop, not a home. Eventually we have to leave."
"Leave to where?"
Kael pulled up his map. The safe zone marker was still there, but new markers had appeared. One to the north. One to the east. One far to the south.
[WORLD MAP]
Safe Zone Alpha (Current)
Safe Zone Bravo (5.2 km)
Safe Zone Charlie (8.7 km)
Dungeon: Sewer Mire (2.1 km) Level 5 10
Field Boss: The Collector (4.5 km) Level 15
A dungeon. A field boss. This really was a game. Like someone had taken every RPG he'd ever played and mashed them together into a nightmare.
"We need to get to another safe zone," Kael said. "This one won't last forever. The barrier is already flickering."
"How do you know?" someone asked from the crowd. A young woman with glasses and a torn blouse. Her lip was bleeding.
"Because that's how these things work," Kael said. "Safe zones are temporary. They give you a breather, then the system pushes you out."
Cruz checked his own map. "The nearest one is five kilometers. That's a long way with those things outside."
"Then we fight through them."
"With what? A pipe and a bone stick?"
Kael held up the staff. "This bone stick does 24 damage. And we have thirty people. Some of you must have decent stats. Good strength. High vitality. We need fighters."
A few people stepped forward. A construction worker named Marcus. STR 14, VIT 12. A woman who said she did kickboxing on weekends. AGI 11, STR 10. A teenager who had been in track. AGI 13. Not an army. But better than nothing.
Kael gathered them in a circle. "Here's how we're going to do this. I'll be point. I have the best INT and a skill that finds weak points. Marcus and Cruz, you're on the sides. Protect the group. Sarah, you're on support. Watch our backs. Everyone else stays in the middle. If a goblin gets past us, you run. Don't fight. Don't be a hero. Just run."
"And if we can't run?" Marcus asked.
"Then you die. I'm not going to lie to you. This is going to be ugly. But staying here is worse. When the barrier falls, those goblins will come in all at once. We'll be trapped."
He looked at his staff. At his status. At the twenty goblins waiting outside. His head hurt. His eye was swelling.
"I'm not going to promise we all make it. But I'm going to promise that I'll get as many of you to the next safe zone as I can. That's all I can do."
Cruz put a hand on his shoulder. "That's more than anyone else is doing."
Kael walked to the edge of the barrier. The goblins outside saw him. They hissed. They clawed at the air. But they couldn't enter.
Not yet.
He raised the bone staff. He could see the exit timer now. A countdown in the corner of his vision.
[SAFE ZONE SHUTDOWN: 14:32]
Fourteen minutes.
He turned back to the group. "Everyone ready?"
No one said yes. But no one said no either.
Kael faced the barrier. He gripped his staff tighter. His palms were sweaty.
The countdown kept ticking.