Running on adrenaline and sheer terror was a messy, inefficient form of travel. Every block presented a new nightmare. The purple, shimmering cracks, which Kai now understood to be the source of the monsters, were everywhere. They scarred buildings, split roads, and pulsed with a sickening, otherworldly light.
He saw things he would never be able to unsee. A man pulled into a crack by something with far too many tentacles. A car swarmed by a pack of creatures that looked like rats crossed with scorpions, their stingers injecting some kind of liquefying venom. He saw people trying to fight back, armed with kitchen knives and tire irons, only to be cut down in moments.
There was no pattern, no frontline. Just pockets of absolute chaos.
Kai learned quickly. He stuck to the shadows, moving from cover to cover. The swordsman's instincts, now a permanent part of his psyche, helped him gauge distances and spot danger before it was too late. He wasn't a warrior, but he was becoming a survivor.
His lungs burned and his legs felt like lead. He was only a few blocks from Elara's apartment building when he was forced to duck into a ransacked electronics store to avoid a patrol of three Scuttlers. He crouched behind a display of shattered televisions, trying to muffle the sound of his ragged breaths.
He wasn't alone.
Huddled in the corner behind the checkout counter was a young woman, no older than himself, clutching a tire iron. Her eyes were wide with terror, and she flinched when she saw him, raising the tool defensively. Kai held up a hand in a placating gesture, putting a finger to his lips.
Suddenly, the flimsy front door of the store was kicked in. It wasn't a Scuttler. This new thing was worse. It was tall and spindly, like a vaguely humanoid collection of bones and dried ligaments, covered in a thin, chitinous shell. Its head was a fleshless canine skull, and its long, multi-jointed arms ended in sickle-like claws.
A blue box appeared, stark and horrifying.
[Corpse Crawler - Level 3]
The woman behind the counter let out a choked sob. The sound was a death sentence. The Corpse Crawler's head snapped in her direction, and it moved with a speed that defied its skeletal frame. It blurred across the room, and one of its sickle-claws swung.
Kai didn't even have time to shout a warning. The woman was thrown against the wall, and the Corpse Crawler was on her, its claws a whirlwind of vicious strikes. It was over in seconds.
The creature raised its head, dripping with gore, and its empty eye sockets fixed on Kai. It let out a dry, rasping hiss and bounded over the counter toward him.
Kai scrambled back, his saber flashing out. The Crawler was unbelievably fast, its attacks coming in a flurry of slashes. He parried one, the impact jarring his entire arm. He dodged another, the claw scraping sparks off the tiled floor where he'd just been standing. This wasn't a brute like the Scuttlers; it was a predator.
He was being driven back, his Basic Swordsmanship barely enough to keep the claws from finding his throat. He stumbled over a fallen shelf, and the Crawler lunged, pinning his sword arm to the floor with one clawed foot and raising its other arm for a killing blow.
Desperate, Kai kicked out with his free leg, aiming for the creature's knee joint. His foot connected with a dry crack. The Crawler shrieked, its leg buckling. The pressure on his sword arm lessened for just an instant, but it was enough.
Kai ripped his arm free, rolled, and came up in a low crouch. The Crawler was momentarily crippled, its leg bent at an unnatural angle. It tried to lunge again, but it was slow, clumsy.
Seeing his only chance, Kai surged forward, pouring every ounce of his remaining strength and desperation into a single, powerful thrust. The rusted saber plunged deep into the creature's chest cavity, grating against bone and chitin.
The Corpse Crawler went rigid. A terrible, rattling sound came from its skull-like head, and then, like the others, it dissolved into a cloud of blue motes, leaving behind a slightly larger, darker core than the ones the Scuttlers had dropped.
The notifications that followed were the most beautiful things Kai had ever seen.
[You have slain a Level 3 Corpse Crawler.]
[XP Gained: 25]
[XP: 105/150. Level Up!]
[You have reached Level 3!]
[All stats +1. Health and Stamina fully restored.]
[You have 2 unspent attribute points.]
[Skill 'Basic Swordsmanship' has reached Level 2.]
A wave of warmth and energy surged through him, more potent than before. The burning in his lungs vanished, the exhaustion in his legs melted away, and the deep ache from where the Crawler had pinned his arm was gone. He felt... good. Better than good. He felt powerful.
He snatched the core, absorbing it immediately for another 15 XP, and quickly brought up his status screen.
[Name: Kaelen Vance]
[Level: 3 (20/150 XP)]
[Title: None]
[Strength: 9 (+1)]
[Agility: 8 (+1)]
[Endurance: 8 (+1)]
[Unspent Points: 2]
He didn't hesitate. He needed to be faster to get to Elara, and he needed to be able to keep going no matter what. He mentally pushed one point into Agility and the other into Endurance.
[Agility: 8 -> 10]
[Endurance: 8 -> 10]
He then checked his skill.
[Basic Swordsmanship (Passive) - Lvl. 2]
[Grants a fundamental understanding of how to wield a sword. Increases blade attack power by 5%.]
The bonus had doubled. It wasn't much, but it was an edge he hadn't had moments before.
Renewed and re-armed with a sliver of hope, Kai stepped out of the electronics store. He was on the final stretch. He rounded the last corner, his eyes locking onto the familiar red-brick facade of Elara's apartment building at the far end of the street.
He had made it.
But his heart sank. The entrance to the building was blocked. A creature easily twice the size of a Scuttler, with a thick, armored carapace and massive, pincer-like claws, stood guard. Around its thick legs, three regular Gutter Scuttlers skittered, acting like sentries. They were nesting. And they had chosen his sister's front door.