After they finished their coffee, Raven changed into a new outfit.
He slipped into black denim jeans and a plain white T-shirt. At least, it was supposed to be plain. Bold letters sprawled across the chest, glaring at anyone who looked too long:
(I am a lesbian, only into girls.)
The words couldn't have been more ironic if someone had planned it.
Raven's eyes narrowed like sharpened blades, glaring straight at Chris, who was leaning against the wall with a carefully neutral face. Chris coughed, turning away as if pretending he had nothing to do with it.
"Be grateful, bitch, I'm not letting you go naked," Chris muttered under his breath.
Raven caught the movement of his lips even if he didn't hear the exact words. His expression didn't shift. He only followed after Chris with a cold stare that promised he'd remember this insult for later. But truthfully, he didn't care all that much.
Beggars couldn't be choosers.
At least he had clothes.
Following Chris up the narrow stairwell to the rooftop, Raven wondered what could possibly make him act this cautious. If he looked this worried, then whatever they were about to see was not simple.
The humid air hit them as soon as the rooftop door creaked open. Chris walked straight to the edge of the building, his footsteps heavy against the cracked concrete. Raven followed silently, his eyes scanning the skyline.
And then he froze.
The sight before them was not something either of them had prepared for.
The streets, once crawling with the restless moans and dragging limbs of the undead, were empty. Too empty. Not a single undead staggered through the ruined asphalt. At first, Raven thought they had all simply vanished, burned away, destroyed, or perhaps finally decayed into nothing.
But that was not the truth.
The truth stood like a nightmare made real.
A monstrous skeleton towered over the broken city blocks, its height easily surpassing ten feet. Its form wasn't human anymore, limbs fused together, bones twisted at wrong angles, multiple skulls jutting from its ribcage as if screaming in unison. And this was not a single abomination. As Raven's eyes adjusted, he counted at least sixteen of them lumbering nearby, each more grotesque than the last, their rattling bones echoing like drums of war.
His stomach clenched at the sight.
Chris's voice was grim. "They were what made me scared. It's hard to tell exactly how big they are, but one thing is clear… they're above ten feet. And with what we have now, there's no way we can fight them."
Raven stayed silent, though his jaw tightened. He counted them again, sixteen within eyesight. How many more beyond that?
This was the true danger of the Red Zone. Not just stronger undead, but evolution. Synchronisation.
Dozens of corpses combining into one.
The thought alone chilled him.
'If even one of those things had attacked us earlier…'
He stopped the thought before it finished. The result was obvious. They wouldn't have even left bodies behind.
"We can't win against them," Raven finally said, his voice flat.
"Yeah. Not now," Chris replied. His gaze didn't waver from the skeletal giants. "So we need to do something different."
He turned to Raven then, eyes hard with determination.
"If we want to survive from here on out, we need to act like a team. Alone, we won't last. I won't run anymore, I'll face whatever comes. But I need you to do the same, and I need you to trust me. If not, we'll both be dead within twenty-four hours. If you agree to work with me, we can make plans. If you don't… then we..."
Chris didn't finish. He didn't need to. Raven understood.
Together, there was at least a thread of hope. Separately, there was none.
"I understand," Raven answered quietly.
Chris took it as agreement, his shoulders loosening just slightly. He thought Raven was ready to trust him now. But Raven knew better. Trust wasn't something he gave lightly. Maybe he never would.
"Good," Chris said. "Then let's start. I know you're not very familiar with the system, and I'm not an expert either, but I do know this much: there are ways to kill even monsters like that."
Raven raised an eyebrow. "And how?"
Chris's expression sharpened. "Stats. You've seen the numbers beside different attributes, right? The higher they go, the stronger we become. Skills matter too, but neither of us has anything good for battle yet. If we can raise our stats, we can eventually fight back, even against those giants."
"Do you know how to raise them?" Raven asked.
Chris hesitated. "Not for sure. But I think the fragments or the stars are the key. We won't know until we gather one. If they can boost our stats, we'll stand a chance."
Raven lowered his gaze, thinking.
'So that's their purpose? But why does it feel like there's more to them than just power-ups?'
He didn't voice the thought, only tucked it away.
'I already have sixty fragments. Just forty more to see the truth for myself.'
"But how can we even gather more?" he asked. "We can't kill those giants. We'll be crushed before we get close."
Chris exhaled through his nose, frustration flashing across his face. "True. Even if we attacked together, one hit would end us. This… this is what SSS difficulty means. Even in games, they were nightmares. Now it's real."
Raven nodded faintly. He remembered the words when the phase began, SSS Rank. Back then, it felt like a title. Now, it felt like a curse.
"There's something else," Raven said suddenly. His eyes flicked downward.
On the rooftop ledge, an insect-like creature crawled, its translucent wings quivering, its compound eyes locked on him. It hadn't moved since they arrived.
"We're being watched," Raven muttered.
Chris's gaze followed, narrowing as he spotted the same thing. "I've been feeling it too. If we both sense it, then it's true. We're being streamed. Beings from higher dimensions are observing us… maybe even enjoying this."
Raven's lips pressed into a thin line. "Do you think they're evil?"
Chris didn't answer immediately. He leaned on the ledge, staring at the skeletal horrors below. His voice, when it came, was heavy.
"I don't know. We don't even know what they are. They could be gods, demons, or something beyond both. But I'll say this, if countless people have died just for their entertainment, then there's no way I can call them good."
Raven's eyes darkened. For him, it didn't matter. Whether they were gods or monsters, good or evil, anyone who stood between him and survival was an enemy. And an enemy is an enemy, no matter if they are good or bad.
***
Thanks for reading.