**Chapter 4: The Infinite Loop**
The "Safe Zone" around the shop was a trap. Zayne knew this.
In the tutorial, the System loved to herd sheep together. It gave them a false sense of security—a glowing barrier, a shop, a charismatic administrator. But when the Second Wave started, the barrier wouldn't just vanish; it would invert. The scent of fear concentrated in one spot would act like a beacon for every beast within a five-mile radius.
Staying in the clearing was a death sentence.
Zayne moved toward the forest line, the tall, blackened trees twisting up into the violet sky like skeletal fingers.
"Where is he going?"
"Is he crazy? The barrier is here!"
He ignored the whispers. He checked his status.
[Mana: 40/40]
[Stamina: 100%]
[Skill: Shadow Step (Cost: 20 Mana)]
[Item: Ring of the Glutton (Passive: +1% Mana/Stamina on kill)]
It was a math problem.
*Shadow Step* cost 20 Mana.
To use it indefinitely, he needed to recover 20 Mana.
If the Ring restored 1% per kill, and he had 40 Mana total... that meant 0.4 Mana per kill.
"Too slow," Zayne muttered. "I need to kill fifty enemies to recharge one jump."
The efficiency was garbage. He couldn't spam teleportation yet. He had to use it as a finisher, not an opener.
*Awoooo!*
The howl cut through the air, sharp and chilling. It wasn't one wolf. It was a chorus.
The ground beneath the trees began to tremble.
[The Second Wave has commenced.]
[Enemy Type: Iron-Claw Wolf (Level 3)]
[Objective: Survive 20 Minutes.]
From the shadows, they emerged. They were sleek, black-furred nightmares with eyes like burning coals. Their claws scraped against the stone, sparking.
Three of them locked onto Zayne immediately.
They saw a lone human. Small. Unarmed save for a rusted dagger. Easy prey.
The middle wolf lunged first, a blur of muscle and teeth.
Zayne didn't blink. The violet light of *Void Sovereign* flooded his vision.
[Analysis.]
[Target: Iron-Claw Wolf.]
[Attack Pattern: Linear Lunge.]
[Velocity: 14 m/s.]
Time seemed to dilate. Zayne saw the trajectory line painted in the air before the wolf even left the ground.
He didn't use *Shadow Step*. He simply pivoted his left foot and twisted his torso.
*Whoosh.*
The wolf sailed past him, missing by inches.
As it passed, Zayne slashed. He didn't hack or chop; he held the dagger rigid, letting the wolf's own momentum drive its throat onto the blade.
*Rrrrrip.*
Blood sprayed. The wolf crashed into a tree behind him, dead before it hit the ground.
[Mana Recovered: 0.4]
"Two left," Zayne counted.
The other two wolves hesitated, their instincts screaming that something was wrong. But hunger won. They attacked together—one high, one low. A pincer maneuver.
This time, simple movement wouldn't work.
Zayne grinned. "Step."
*Vwoom.*
He vanished into a cloud of black mist.
The wolves collided in mid-air, snapping at empty space.
Zayne reappeared five meters above them, falling from the branch of a dead tree. Gravity was his weapon. He descended on the rear wolf, driving his knees into its spine.
*Crack.*
The spine snapped. Before the wolf could yelp, Zayne drove his dagger into the base of its skull.
[Mana Recovered: 0.4]
The last wolf scrambled back, tail between its legs. It tried to run.
Zayne picked up a stone from the forest floor and hurled it. It wasn't a killing blow, but it struck the wolf's hind leg, shattering the bone. The beast collapsed, whining.
Zayne walked over calmly and ended it.
[Mana Recovered: 0.4]
"Efficient," he noted, wiping the blade on the wolf's fur. "But slow."
The current pace yielded 3 kills per minute. At this rate, he would only reach Level 4 by the end of the wave. That wasn't enough to challenge the Floor Boss.
He needed density.
He needed to be overwhelmed.
Zayne looked deeper into the forest. Most survivors were huddled near the barrier, drawing the bulk of the pack. But the *Elite* spawns—the ones that gave real XP—would be prowling the perimeter, looking for flank routes.
He started running. Not away from the danger, but parallel to it.
He found it five minutes later. A narrow ravine, barely two meters wide, cutting through the rock. It was a natural funnel.
"Perfect."
Zayne stood in the middle of the ravine. He took a deep breath and did something suicidal.
He whistled. Loud and sharp.
He dragged his dagger against the stone wall, creating a high-pitched screech that echoed through the forest.
*Scritch-SCRREEEEE.*
The forest went silent. Then, the bushes rustled.
Pairs of red eyes appeared in the darkness. Ten. Twenty. Thirty.
A massive pack, led by a Dire Wolf, had been flanking the safe zone. Zayne had just rang the dinner bell.
[Warning: Excessive Aggro detected.]
[Recommended Action: Flee.]
Zayne stood his ground, the rusted dagger loose in his grip. The violet ring on his finger pulsed, as if sensing the feast to come.
"Come," Zayne whispered.
The pack surged. They flooded into the ravine, climbing over each other, a wall of fur and teeth.
Because of the narrow terrain, they could only attack two at a time.
Zayne's eyes glowed violet. The world turned into a grid of vectors and weak points.
He didn't dance anymore. He became a machine.
Slash. Step. Stab. Pivot.
A wolf lunged—Zayne sidestepped and severed its hamstring.
Another jumped—Zayne ducked and gutted it.
[Kill.] [Kill.] [Kill.]
[Mana +0.4] [Mana +0.4] [Mana +0.4]
The bodies began to pile up, creating a barricade that forced the wolves to climb over their dead kin, slowing them down further.
Zayne was bathed in blood, none of it his own. His stamina bar flickered—draining from the exertion, then refilling a sliver with every death.
Up and down. Up and down. The *Ring of the Glutton* was keeping him in a perfect equilibrium.
Suddenly, the Dire Wolf—the pack leader—roared and leaped over the pile of corpses. It was twice the size of the others, its jaws snapping for Zayne's head.
Zayne's dagger was stuck in the skull of the previous wolf. He was disarmed.
The Dire Wolf descended.
Zayne didn't panic. He extended his empty hand.
*Void Sovereign: Mana Manipulation.*
He didn't have a spell. He didn't have a skill. But he had the *Void*.
He pushed his raw mana out, not as a blast, but as a solid, heavy blanket.
*Crunch.*
The air pressure around the Dire Wolf increased tenfold for a split second. The wolf was slammed into the ground mid-air by an invisible hammer.
It wasn't a system skill. It was a brute-force application of physics using mana as weight.
The wolf whimpered, pinned to the floor by gravity itself.
Zayne ripped his dagger free from the corpse pile and walked over to the pinned Alpha.
"Experience," he said coldly, "is the only currency that matters."
He plunged the blade down.