The two-hour "safe zone" passed the way most bad dreams do — too quickly, leaving you even more exhausted than before.
When the countdown hit zero, the blue barrier at the edge of the terminal rippled, and the system's text burned into everyone's vision.
[Main Scenario #2: Culling Grounds]Objective: Reduce monster population in the designated zone.Time Limit: 1 hour.Failure Condition: More than 50% of monsters remain.
Ravi blinked at the words. "…Reduce monster population? What am I, pest control? Should've brought rat poison."
The players around him were buzzing with nervous chatter. Some tightened their grips on cheap weapons — bats, pipes, knives scavenged from station stalls. One man, looking far too confident for someone in torn jeans and flip-flops, was wielding a frying pan like it was Excalibur.
Ravi eyed him sideways. "Yeah, because nothing says survival horror like omelet energy."
The station exit dissolved.
And the city beyond looked like hell had taken a stroll through rush hour.
The asphalt was split with jagged cracks, the kind earthquakes leave behind. Cars were overturned and blackened by fire, their alarms long dead. Smoke curled from shattered windows, hanging heavy in the air. Somewhere far down the street, a chorus of monstrous roars rose and fell like thunderclouds arguing.
"Oh good," Ravi muttered. "Outdoor seating. Five stars."
A group of overeager players charged forward as if they were entering a paintball match. Bats waved. Knives gleamed. Frying Pan Guy marched at the front like a general of brunch.
The street answered them.
A piercing shriek split the air. Something small and fast darted from an alley, low to the ground — dog-sized, except for the teeth, which looked like someone had welded bear traps inside its jaw.
The man with the frying pan screamed and swung. The pan clanged against thin air. The creature latched onto his leg with a wet, tearing sound.
Ravi winced. "Yeah. Definitely not an omelet."
He stepped forward, swinging his bat in one smooth arc. Crack! The creature slammed into a car door with a metallic thunk, slid down, and twitched once before going still.
[Monster Defeated. +20 Coins.]
The others froze, staring at Ravi like he'd just performed sorcery.
He raised the bat. "What? It's called aiming. Try it sometime."
The shadows shifted. More shapes darted out — too many, their claws scratching across the cracked asphalt as they surged from every alley.
The street became chaos. Players screamed, swung wildly, and ran in every direction. A woman tripped over a corpse and barely rolled aside before another monster's jaws snapped where her head had been.
Ravi moved through it like he'd seen it before — because he had. In another timeline, in another death. He remembered the panic, the wasted movements, the way people collapsed not because the monsters were unbeatable, but because fear did half the killing for them.
This time, his strikes were precise. A sideways swing to crush a skull. A low jab to break a knee. He didn't waste breath yelling. Didn't waste energy chasing kills that weren't his.
The system's counter in the corner of his vision ticked slowly upward.
[Monster Population Reduced: 8%][Time Remaining: 54:32]
It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.
The street was too wide. Too many scattered groups. If half these idiots hid in buildings instead of fighting, the "failure condition" would hit before the timer ended.
Ravi clenched his jaw. The system didn't care how brave you were. It only cared about numbers.
Which meant someone had to thin the herd fast.
He cut through another alley, following the echo of roars. If this was like last time — and his gut told him it was — there'd be a cluster of beasts near the main intersection.
He wasn't wrong.
Turning the corner, he nearly ran into it: a pack of six creatures circling three players. The players were flailing desperately, holding kitchen knives like they'd never cut anything tougher than bread.
One of the monsters lunged.
The woman in the middle screamed.
And then the lunge stopped.
An arrow shaft jutted from the beast's skull, its momentum carrying it limp to the pavement.
Ravi's eyes snapped upward.
On the rooftop above the intersection, a figure in a hood stood with a bow, movements precise, unhurried. For a heartbeat, their gaze met his — calm, cold, utterly detached. Then, as if bored, the figure stepped back into the shadows and vanished.
Ravi's grip tightened on the bat. Same as the safe zone. The saluting phantom. The one who flickered.
"Shadow games again, huh?" he muttered.
The pack below roared, dragging his attention back. The players were screaming louder, one bleeding from a slash across the arm.
Ravi sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Fine. Guess I'm the exterminator after all."
He charged, bat whistling through the smoke.
The first swing crushed the nearest monster's skull, splattering the cracked asphalt with black ichor.
The others whirled toward him instantly.
Good. Attention was half the battle.
"Hey!" Ravi barked, his bat resting casually on his shoulder for a half-second. "Over here, discount hyenas."
They didn't understand the words, but the tone carried. They lunged.
The woman behind him gasped. "W–what are you doing?!"
"Trying not to die. You should try it too."
The bat swung again — faster, harder. A monster's jaw shattered like pottery, teeth scattering across the pavement. The system chimed.
[Monster Defeated. +20 Coins.]
He pivoted, boot lashing out to kick another beast square in the chest. It stumbled backward, slammed into an overturned taxi, and didn't get up.
The system chimed again.
[Monster Population Reduced: 12%][Time Remaining: 47:10]
The pack broke. Two darted back, circling warily now instead of rushing. The third hissed low in its throat and tried to flank.
Ravi smirked. "Smarter than you look. Still not smart enough."
He stepped forward, pretending to overcommit to the right. The flanker leapt for his exposed side.
He twisted. The bat came up, the wind itself howling around its arc.
Crack!
The beast slammed sideways into a shattered lamppost, the pole bending with the force of impact.
[Monster Defeated. +20 Coins.]
The two remaining didn't lunge. They slunk backward, snarling, before melting into the smoke.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
Ravi exhaled slowly, pulse steady. He lowered the bat, turning back toward the three players.
One was slumped against the curb, bleeding badly. The other two clutched each other like children lost in a market.
"You're welcome," he said flatly.
None of them answered.
[System Notice: Contribution recorded — Ravi Sharma 71%]
The text flickered in the corner of his vision. For a moment, the letters distorted, forming something else.
@Unknown_Origin: Keep going. Numbers matter.
Ravi's jaw tightened. "Yeah, thanks for the cheerleading. Real motivational."
He wiped black ichor off his sleeve and pushed deeper into the street.
The culling continued.
Every alley belched monsters. Every overturned bus hid more glowing eyes. The screams of other players carried through the smoke, some cut short, others fading into silence.
Ravi's arms ached, his shoulder burned, but he didn't stop. Each swing of the bat was precise — not wild like the others. He remembered how panic killed. He remembered the waste. And he remembered dying here before.
Not this time.
The system counter climbed.
[Monster Population Reduced: 37%][Time Remaining: 31:44]
He wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Still not enough. If too many players hid, the failure condition would trigger no matter how many he personally killed.
And then, as he rounded a corner, he saw it.
The intersection ahead was thick with creatures — at least a dozen, maybe more. They prowled around abandoned cars, claws scraping glass, eyes glowing like embers in the smoke.
Perfect.
Ravi hefted the bat, rolling his shoulders once more. His lungs burned, but the sight of that cluster made something click into place. This was the bottleneck. Thin them here, and the whole balance of the scenario shifted.
He took one step forward—
Thunk.
An arrow cut through the smoke and buried itself in a monster's skull before he even swung.
Thunk. Another. Clean, precise, effortless. Two beasts collapsed in silence.
Ravi's eyes snapped upward again.
The rooftop.
The hooded archer stood there — bowstring drawn, movements fluid, detached.
This time, they didn't vanish immediately.
For a heartbeat, their head tilted just slightly — like an acknowledgment. Or a warning.
Then they loosed another arrow, killing a beast mid-lunge, and stepped back into the haze, gone again.
Ravi's grip on the bat tightened until his knuckles ached.
"…Shadow games," he muttered.
But he charged anyway.
The monsters roared, claws flashing. The bat whistled. Sparks flew as metal met teeth, as bones cracked, as the ground slicked with ichor.
The counter ticked higher.
[Monster Population Reduced: 49%][Time Remaining: 12:08]
And then, with one last swing, silence fell over the intersection.
The system text burned bright across his vision.
[Main Scenario #2 Completed.][Calculating rewards…]
Players down the street began cheering. Some collapsed to the ground, others raised weapons in exhausted triumph.
Ravi just leaned on his bat, scanning the rooftops through the smoke.
No sign of the archer. Not even a flicker.
His jaw clenched. "Fine. Keep hiding. But I'll find you eventually."
The system chimed softly again, unnoticed by the others.
@Unknown_Origin: Good. Keep chasing shadows.
Ravi exhaled, the weight of the bat grounding him. The faint scent of smoke and iron filled his lungs.
Somewhere in the distance, beyond the veil of this broken city, someone — or something — was watching far too closely.