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After the alert echoed through the loudspeakers in that impersonal robotic voice, the doors slammed shut with a heavy bang. At the same time, red warning lights began flashing across the sector, casting intermittent shadows along the metal walls.
I approached the exit door of the bone separation room. Strangely, Melissa and I seemed to be the only people there. That sector was almost entirely automated and rarely required staff, so maybe everyone else had already left.
Looking closer, the door was absurdly sturdy, a thick slab of industrial steel. Beside it was an electronic panel with a palm scanner.
Without thinking much, I pressed my hand against the reader.
The device let out a short beep and a red light turned on.
ACCESS DENIED
The message appeared on the small screen.
"So it's not opening… what do we do?"
I turned to Melissa after pulling my hand away. She looked completely calm while fiddling with her digital watch.
"Exactly what they told us to do, idiot. Absolutely nothing."
She said it as if explaining something painfully obvious.
"We wait while they fix the problem. It's probably just some system malfunction or a chemical leak in one of the sectors."
Maybe she was right. Trained staff should know how to deal with emergencies like this. Besides, there were less than ten minutes left before the tour ended. Most of the students were probably already near the main hall.
But something bothered me.
That strange feeling. Too many things had happened that I simply couldn't explain. That figure. The melody.
But what really bothered me was that message.
{The Path of the Sinner has been activated. The current scenario level has increased.}
It couldn't be a coincidence.
Plick… Plick…
Suddenly the lights in the room began flickering irregularly. Slowly at first, then faster and faster.
I raised my gaze toward the ceiling.
Fwoooosh.
The lamps flickered one last time before going completely dark. A faint electrical sigh seemed to ripple through the entire factory.
Everything shut down. Every machine, every system, every light. The environment was suddenly swallowed by a palpable silence and darkness.
"Great… exactly what we needed."
Melissa muttered with heavy sarcasm.
She opened her dimensional storage and pulled out a small tactical flashlight. With a sharp click, a white beam illuminated the area around us.
"I think the problem might be bigger than it looks."
I stepped toward the door again. With the power gone, the electronic locking system was dead. Now the only thing keeping the barrier closed was the sheer weight of the structure.
I slid my fingers into the narrow gap at the center, feeling the cold steel against my hands.
Taking a deep breath, I filled my lungs as my muscles tensed and I forced the door open.
Veins bulged beneath my skin.
Fwoooosh.
With raw effort, the door finally shifted a few centimeters before opening wide enough to squeeze through.
I exhaled with a quiet gasp.
On the other side was a factory corridor drowned in darkness.
The only illumination came from small red emergency lights near the floor. They were weak, barely enough to reveal the silhouettes of the surrounding industrial structures.
"We need to get back to the main hall. Things are getting way too strange."
Melissa said as she approached, sweeping the corridor with her flashlight.
"Here. Take this."
She pulled another flashlight from her dimensional storage and tossed it toward me.
I caught it easily.
"You're really prepared, huh."
"Anyone dumb enough not to carry basic supplies shouldn't even live in society."
Melissa replied without the slightest filter, as usual.
We started walking down the corridor.
The silence was heavy, broken only by the sound of our footsteps. The red emergency lights cast distorted shadows over iron and concrete structures. Everything about the place created a suffocating atmosphere.
Nothing about it was comforting.
"Wasn't the main hall this way?"
I stopped for a moment, scanning the walls for a sign, but had no luck. The complex was massive. I wasn't entirely sure we were heading in the right direction.
"Do you have the sense of direction of a rock? We came through here less than two hours ago."
"Maybe… but I still think we're far away. This place is huge."
"If you shut up and walk, we'll get there eventually."
She kept moving without looking back.
She seemed irritated, her steps stiff and heavy, her breathing slightly uneven. Thinking about it, though, I couldn't remember ever seeing Melissa in a good mood. So maybe she was just acting normally.
We continued through the dark corridor. At some point I ended up taking the lead.
Tac… Tac…
The echo of our footsteps was the only thing alive in that silence.
Until one of them sounded different.
Ploft.
My foot sank into something.
For a moment I thought it was water, maybe a leak. But when I lowered the flashlight to look, my eyes narrowed as I realized what was actually there.
A thick red liquid spread across the floor. The metallic smell rose immediately into my nose. A large dark pool occupied part of the corridor, dimly reflecting the flashlight's beam.
"A pool of blood…?"
I murmured as I crouched and touched the surface with two fingers. It was still warm. Disturbingly fresh.
"If it were just a pool, that would still be the good outcome."
Melissa's voice came from right behind me. She lifted her flashlight and illuminated the surroundings more carefully, revealing that this was far from a small accident.
Red stains splattered across the walls, some slowly dripping down the metal panels. The floor was marked by deep scratches, long irregular gouges that looked like they had been made by claws.
The scene was brutal. The metallic smell of blood mixed with the stale air and red emergency lighting made the atmosphere even more suffocating. A chill ran down my spine.
I raised the flashlight and aimed farther down the corridor.
It revealed what looked like a trail. A thick path of blood extended from the pool, leading deeper into the corridor before disappearing around a distant corner.
"Stay behind me."
I said as I stood up. I touched the ouroboros necklace and felt the faint glow of magic activating. In the next instant, the familiar weight of a sheathed sword appeared at my waist. I gripped the scabbard with one hand and held the flashlight with the other as I began moving forward.
"You don't give me orders, hero."
Melissa immediately complained. With a quick flick of her wrist, a silver spear appeared in her hand, reflecting the flashlight as she moved ahead.
"I'm more effective at close range. Stay in the rear."
I replied with a firmness that wasn't usual for me. Melissa shot me an irritated glance but stayed silent for a few seconds, evaluating.
"Tsk… whatever."
We began following the trail.
We moved slowly, careful steps, alert to any movement. The blood seemed to increase the farther we went. Small pools turned into larger stains, then scattered splashes along the walls.
Then the silence stopped being absolute.
At first it was almost imperceptible.
A distant sound.
Something… wet.
A chewing noise.
With each step it became clearer. Flesh tearing. Something being devoured. Between the sounds, small bestial grunts echoed through the corridor.
When we reached the corner, I followed the trail and carefully turned my body.
What I saw made my stomach churn.
A creature stood with its back to us, hunched over something on the ground. At first glance it looked like a large wolf, but something about its appearance was deeply wrong.
Its body was covered in grotesque tears and holes. Parts of the flesh were completely opened, exposing bone and muscle. Some areas looked rotten, as if the meat had already begun decomposing.
A thick green liquid seeped from the wounds.
That thing clearly shouldn't be alive.
And yet it was.
The creature's jaws were buried in the neck of a man who looked like one of the factory workers.
The white coat was almost entirely red with blood. The body was shredded by claw marks and deep bites. The face had been destroyed to the point of being unrecognizable, and the jugular hung open while the monster continued tearing chunks of flesh.
We watched the scene for several seconds.
The weight in my stomach grew heavier. I had never truly witnessed that level of brutality before. Maybe something vaguely close with the goblins, but even that didn't come close to this.
Melissa, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed. Her face remained serious, almost cold. Considering her background in medical studies, it wouldn't be surprising if she had seen worse.
The chewing continued for a few more seconds.
Then the creature stopped.
It slowly raised its head, becoming completely still. Its snout moved in the air as if sniffing something.
Slowly… very slowly… the creature turned its head toward us.
The flashlight beam revealed its face completely.
It was cadaverous.
Most of the skin had vanished from its face, leaving exposed muscle and visible bone. That same thick green liquid leaked from the empty eye sockets.
Then it looked straight at us.
"Grrrr… Ruff! Ruff!"
I exhaled slowly with a sigh.
Looks like this is going to be more trouble than I thought.
What a shitty situation.
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"You know… with you shaking like that it's a little hard to keep going."
Kevin commented while walking through the dark industrial corridor. The flashlight in his left hand illuminated only a few meters ahead, revealing iron beams, concrete structures, and cables lining the walls.
In his other hand he held a sword, the blade stained with an unpleasant mixture of dark blood and viscous green liquid.
Beside him, Emma walked hunched over. Her whole body trembled almost uncontrollably, and she seemed to jump even at the sound of her own footsteps echoing in the empty corridor.
"If you're scared, we can take a break."
Kevin said gently, never stopping his slow sweep of the flashlight through the darkness.
"I-I'm not scared! It's just cold… that's all… I'm freezing!"
Emma shot back quickly, grabbing the first excuse she could think of. Even so, it was obvious she didn't handle situations like this very well.
When everything started, Kevin and Emma had been exploring a sector in the northern wing of the factory. The problem was that area sat almost on the opposite end of the complex from the central hall, exactly where everyone had been heading when the alert began.
Kevin still wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but he strongly suspected the system was involved. After all, the moment the alarms began ringing, a new mission appeared before his eyes.
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[New Mission Received]
A Proto-Monster outbreak has been detected inside the factory. Eliminate as many creatures as possible and ensure that no student dies during the operation.
Objectives:
• Eliminate 30 Proto-Monsters (3/30)
• Do not allow any student to die
• Defeat 1 Elite Proto-Monster (0/1)
Rewards:
• Experience (XP)
• Monster Cores
• Bonus reward if all students survive
====================
As soon as the lights went out, Kevin didn't take long to encounter a few of these so called Proto-Monsters.
Two goblins and a gnoll.
But they looked… wrong.
Their bodies were in an advanced state of decay, covered in deep cuts that leaked that strange green liquid. Some parts looked rotten, as if the creatures had been dead for days, and yet they still moved.
It was like fighting zombies.
Even so, Kevin and Emma didn't have much trouble defeating them. The creatures seemed slower and slightly weaker than the original monsters, probably because of the deteriorated state of their bodies.
"We need to get to the central hall… fast…"
Emma said while nervously glancing in every direction, as if expecting something to leap out of the darkness at any moment.
"Yeah… but I think we're still pretty far."
Kevin replied while narrowing his eyes at the corridor ahead. Even with the flashlight, the darkness swallowed everything after only a few meters.
Tac. Tac.
For a while they continued walking. The steady rhythm of their footsteps was the only thing breaking the oppressive silence.
Until something changed.
GRRAURGHH!
An abrupt sound echoed ahead. It sounded like the roar of a creature locked in a struggle, immediately followed by a monstrous grunt of pain.
"W-what was that?!"
Emma practically jumped backward in shock.
"I'm not sure… but it definitely came from ahead. Let's check it out."
Kevin answered while quickening his pace toward the sound.
Emma remained a few steps behind in the dark corridor for a second.
"D-don't leave me here, idiot!"
She immediately ran after him.
Soon both of them were running down the corridor. Kevin kept the flashlight steady while the other hand hovered near the sword's hilt, ready to react to anything.
The sounds grew louder as they approached.
Metal clashing. Something cutting through flesh. Screams of pain that, strangely enough, didn't sound human.
When they finally reached the source of the noise, a figure appeared within the flashlight's beam.
A hooded silhouette.
The body was covered in stains of blood and that distinctive green proto-monster sludge. The figure stood calmly, almost imposing, holding two daggers while gripping a dead goblin by the neck.
Around them, the floor was covered with mutilated bodies.
Dozens of them.
Different creatures. Goblins, gnolls, and other grotesque forms, all torn apart by precise cuts.
Another body fell as the figure released the goblin it had been holding.
Then the figure slowly turned its head toward Kevin and Emma.
Both of them immediately raised their weapons into defensive positions, preparing for a possible confrontation.
But before either of them could speak, the figure lifted a hand to its hood and pulled it back.
"Oh… it's just you two."
The hood fell, revealing messy blond hair stained with blood and a pair of sharp green eyes.
An arrogant smile spread across his face.
"Looks like you guys showed up a little late to the party."
Jin looked exactly the same as always.
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