Silence filled the hallway. Only a few scattered screeches echoed through the space as some cockrupines mourned their dead. As far as they were concerned, the culprit had died, and not in a pleasant way. The cockrupines that had fired their quills had already regenerated new ones and were preparing for a second round of attacks.
"It's funny how these cockrupines lower their guards and think I'm dead," Reever thought. "If I had gadgets, I would've wiped them out already. Where did that system offer go? The one that said the more kills you get, the more gadgets you're awarded. I've got over a hundred kills already. I should've been given a nano-turret or something by now. This would be so much easier."
He cursed silently, annoyed at how the system never truly played by its own rules and conveniently ignored promises made to players.
He opened his storage unit, hoping—barely—that something useful might be inside.
[ Spector Edge – Weapon, Rare ]
[ Phase Mirage – Armor, Rare ]
That was it.
Aside from ammunition and a few healing potions—most of which had been burned through during his training match against an Elite-ranked player—he was practically broke. No gadgets. No bombs. No missiles. Nothing for area control.
"This sucks," he thought as he steadied his weapon and waited for the smoke and dust to settle. The quills the cockrupines had launched had formed a massive wall, unintentionally acting as cover and preventing them from sensing his exact position.
That cover didn't last long.
The towering wall of quills began to dissolve, fading away in a soft white light.
"Looks like I'll have to move soon," Reever thought. "But these things can sense direction. I'm not human—I don't emit heat like them. So how are they tracking me?"
The pile of quills was enormous, meaning it would take several minutes before it vanished completely. That gave him a little time to think.
Then he sensed something off.
Reever turned his gaze toward the path he had entered from and noticed faint, almost invisible threads forming along the wall, stretching from one side toward the other.
"That's it," he realized. "They mark their prey when they enter."
His eyes narrowed.
"These creatures are dumb, though. This kind of setup means there's probably a king here—something smarter, something with enough awareness to pull this off."
He scanned the sea of cockrupines blocking the passageways. Each one stood about two meters tall, but as he extended his vision to its limit—a perk of his aimbot-like precision—he spotted something larger in the distance.
A seven-meter-tall cockrupine.
Its body gleamed with a golden hue, but its head was just as hideous as the rest. The moment it sensed Reever's gaze, it turned and locked eyes with him. A twisted smirk formed on its face before it exposed his position.
"Raugh."
"Raugh."
"Raugh."
Three loud, terrifying roars echoed through the hall.
Thousands of eyes snapped toward where Reever was hiding. He wanted to use what little time he had to remove the markings left behind when he entered, but now that he'd been discovered, that wasn't an option anymore.
Still, that didn't stop him from doing something unexpected.
He removed his armor.
For the first time, his body was fully exposed. Beneath the armor, one might expect exposed metal or mechanical scraps, but instead he wore a simple beach shirt, a pair of beach shorts, and black socks. His body was still metallic, but refined—advanced, like a robot designed far into the future. Smooth, seamless, almost human.
The only real difference was his skin. It shimmered in a silver hue.
"Wish I had more time to admire myself," he thought, "but I need to survive long enough for my armor to auto-repair and re-equip."
He moved immediately.
Activating fast-output mode on his sniper rifle, he unleashed a relentless barrage. Bullets tore through the passage, ripping into the horde and dropping hundreds of cockrupines in seconds. The sudden counterattack gave him breathing room.
Using that opening, Reever retreated deeper into the area, putting distance between himself and his last position.
The cockrupines reacted violently.
Their bodies convulsed, and a chain reaction spread through the horde. The black quills embedded in their bodies shifted to gold, and their height increased from two meters to three.
"Oof," Reever muttered mentally. "Without my armor, I might actually die here."
He glanced at the timer.
Two hours and thirty minutes remaining.
Then he checked his armor recovery.
Thirty seconds remaining.
It wasn't much time, yet a lot could still go wrong. He couldn't afford to lose a life here. If he did, his veteran rank-up match would be over.