Location: Zone Z - Train Station Ruins]
[Time: 11:45 PM]
[Radiation Level: Critical]
The Phantom Express hissed as it came to a complete, screeching stop. Steam poured from underneath the carriage, freezing instantly into ice crystals as it hit the sub-zero air.
The doors slid open with a groan of rusted metal.
But nobody got off.
The Vampire in Seat 4A just pulled his coat tighter. The Ghouls playing poker stopped their game and looked out the window with fear. Even the monsters knew that this stop was a death sentence.
"End of the line," Ryan announced, standing up. "Let's go, Suicide Squad."
Ryan and his team stepped onto the platform.
The air tasted metallic, like licking a battery. The ground was covered in a thin layer of grey ash that looked like snow but smelled like burnt plastic.
[System Warning: Environmental Hazard Detected.]
[Zone: Necrotic Wasteland.]
[Radiation Level: High.]
[Effect: Living beings will lose 1% HP every minute.]
[Passive Skill 'Nerves of Steel' creates a minor resistance barrier.]
"Masks on," Ryan ordered immediately.
Violet opened her alchemy bag and handed everyone a gas mask. She had crafted them during the train ride using monster filters.
"These will filter the radiation for 24 hours," Violet said, her voice muffled behind the mask. "But don't touch anything bare-handed. And definitely don't lick the walls."
Grog put on a mask that was clearly too small for his Orcish face. It pinched his cheeks. "Grog looks like a Bane," he grunted, flexing.
They walked out of the station ruins.
And saw the city.
It was a graveyard of giants.
Skyscrapers pierced the sky like broken ribs, leaning against each other. Some buildings were sliced in half. Others were melted.
Cars clogged the streets, rusted into piles of orange metal.
Green fog, thick and heavy, swirled through the streets up to knee-height. It hid the ground, making every step a gamble.
"It's quiet," Felix whispered, his voice trembling. He gripped his wooden shield tightly. "Too quiet."
CRACK.
Felix stepped on something hidden in the fog.
He looked down. It wasn't a stick.
It was a human femur bone. Dry and brittle.
The sound echoed through the silent street like a gunshot.
Suddenly, a screech answered from a nearby building.
"SKREEEEE!"
Then another. And another.
From the shattered windows of the ruined skyscrapers, hundreds of pale heads popped out. They had no eyes, just gaping mouths filled with jagged teeth. Their skin was stretched tight over their skulls.
[Enemy: Feral Ghoul (Level 20)]
[Type: Sprinter / Mutated Zombie]
[Lore: Humans who died from radiation and rose again. They have infinite stamina.]
"Run?" Felix asked, taking a step back.
"No," Ryan pulled out his Soul Shatterer (Desert Eagle). He checked the safety. "We test the waters."
One Ghoul jumped from the 3rd floor.
It landed on a car roof on all fours—CRUNCH—and immediately sprinted towards them. It moved unnaturally fast, bounding over cars like a cheetah.
"Target acquired," Ryan muttered.
He activated [True Sight]. A red weak spot appeared on the Ghoul's forehead.
BANG!
Ryan fired. The blue spirit bullet trailed through the night air.
It hit the Ghoul in mid-air.
SPLAT.
Its head exploded like a watermelon. Black blood sprayed over the snow.
[Ding! Killed Feral Ghoul.]
[Fear Points: +50]
"Fifty points?" Ryan scoffed. "Cheap."
But the gunshot sound did something worse than killing one zombie. It acted as a dinner bell.
"SKREEEEE!"
"SKREEEEE!"
From every alley, every window, every sewer grate—they poured out.
Hundreds. Then thousands.
A tidal wave of pale bodies rushing towards them, climbing over each other in a frenzy of hunger.
"Okay," Ryan reloaded his gun calmly. "Now we run."
"Where?!" Grog shouted, panic rising in his voice. "Too many! Grog can't smash all!"
Ryan scanned the area.
To the left: Dead end.
To the right: More zombies.
Straight ahead: A massive building with reinforced glass doors. A Shopping Mall.
"Defensible position!" Ryan pointed. "The Mall! Move! Move! Move!"
They sprinted.
The snow and ash made the ground slippery. Felix slipped twice, but Grog grabbed him by the collar and dragged him.
The Ghouls were fast. They were gaining.
One Ghoul lunged at Violet's back, claws extended to rip her hazmat suit.
"Die!"
Annabelle leaped from Violet's shoulder. She stabbed the Ghoul in the eye with her poison dagger.
Slash.
The Ghoul screeched and fell back, foaming at the mouth. Annabelle backflipped and landed on Grog's shoulder.
They reached the Mall entrance. The glass doors were shattered, but the metal security gate was half-down.
"Slide under!" Ryan commanded.
They slid under the gate one by one.
"Grog! Block it!"
They rushed in. Grog grabbed a massive vending machine and slammed it against the gap in the gate.
THUD.
Outside, the horde slammed against the gate and the machine. They scratched and screamed, piling up on top of each other like ants trying to breach a fortress. The metal gate groaned under the pressure.
Ryan panted, leaning against a pillar. He checked his team.
Everyone was alive. Shaken, but alive.
"Welcome to the mall, everyone," Ryan quipped, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Sorry, the food court is closed."
He looked around.
The mall was dark, dusty, and eerie. Rotting mannequins stood in the shadows, still wearing clothes from 100 years ago. They looked too much like people.
Escalators stretched up into the darkness of the higher floors.
"We need to get to the roof," Ryan said, checking the map on his System. "From there, I can summon the Bone Dragon to fly us to the castle. The streets are suicide."
"Boss," Felix tugged Ryan's sleeve. His face was pale. "Look up."
Ryan followed Felix's finger.
In the center of the mall atrium, hanging from the glass ceiling... was a massive cocoon made of thick, white webs.
It was the size of a bus.
And inside the cocoon, something was glowing with a pulsating blue light.
[System Scan]
[Item Detected: High-Grade Mana Crystal (Unrefined)]
[Value: 500,000 Credits]
"Loot," Ryan's eyes lit up. "Jackpot."
But then, he looked at the floor beneath the cocoon.
It wasn't empty.
It was covered in bones. Fresh ones. Some were Ghoul bones. Some were Human.
[System Warning: You have entered a Nest.]
[Boss Detected: The Broodmother (Status: Sleeping).]
[Type: Giant Arachnid.]
Ryan sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Of course. It's never just a shopping trip. Why can't I ever find a normal dungeon?"
He looked at the barricaded door. The zombies were banging on it.
He looked at the ceiling. The Spider Queen was sleeping there.
"Change of plans," Ryan said, a dangerous glint appearing in his eyes.
"We aren't just surviving. We are exterminating."
He tapped his Pandora watch.
"Pandora... Form Change: Flamethrower."
CLICK-CLACK-HISS.
The black metal watch expanded, wrapping around his arm, forming a heavy fuel tank and a long nozzle. A pilot light flickered at the tip.
"I always wanted to do this," Ryan grinned.
He aimed at the webs covering the escalators leading up.
"Violet, mix me something flammable. Something that burns hot."
Violet grinned maniacally beneath her ga
s mask. She handed him a flask of [Concentrated Alchemist Fire].
Ryan poured it into the weapon's intake.
"Grog, get the marshmallows," Ryan said. "Let's roast some bugs."