Safe Area
The creepy arms stretched like rubber and flew across the boss room, punching and slapping the players.
The players were terrified and tried to run away, but the creepy arms were too fast and caught them. Several players were pummeled until they had no health points left and thus died.
Adam smashed his shield at the incoming arm, blocking its fist, and then harpooned the arm with the pitchfork, impaling it down to the ground.
The arm tried to struggle free, like a snake trying to escape from a predator.
He raised his head and saw every player trying to cut the arms, but when they finally managed to do so, the arms multiplied like the hydra itself, and now they had another arm chasing after them.
They were completely overwhelmed and outnumbered.
Adam pulled the pitchfork from the arm, and it slowly tried to grab his leg, but he then lunged forward, dashing towards the crack in the floor where the arms were coming from.
He quickly jumped over several arms, narrowly avoiding the grasping hands and landing safely on the other side.
At that moment, several arms stretched towards him, but Adam quickly blocked them with the shield and used the pitchfork to injure the arms, but he didn't cut them like others did.
The closer he got to the hole where the beating heart was, the harder it was to move, and the shield began to show signs of wear as he had to try to block several arms at the same time.
Adam masterfully parried several fists with the pitchfork and used the shield to push away the arms in front of him.
However, one rogue arm managed to break through his defenses and land a blow on his waist.
"Ugh..." Adam let out a slight groan.
[-3 HP]
[Adam - HP: 47/50]
"Argh!" Adam sprang up in the air and deflected the arms that chased after him with the shield. He then landed beside the hole in the floor and looked towards the beating heart.
It looked so close, but also so far.
Every other player was too occupied to focus on him, as they were desperately trying to avoid the arms.
After Adam raised his pitchfork, and put his arm into a throwing stance, several arms flew out of the hole and tried to snatch his weapon.
Adam narrowed his eyes, and he jumped into the air, smashing his shield at the arms, sending them crashing down to the ground.
There was now one open path towards the heart.
However, the arms sensed that, and every single one of them rushed towards Adam, causing players to also see what was happening.
'He'll die!' Donald thought while standing, bruised and battered. He didn't expect anyone to survive that kind of onslaught.
However, at that moment, Adam screamed loudly, and his non-existent muscles bulged on his right arm. He then swung his arm around, sending the pitchfork flying towards the hole in the floor,
Adam quickly covered his body with the shield as well as he could, and then felt the onslaught of the arms as they smashed their fists at the shield.
He experienced intense pressure throughout his body, as if hammers were striking him. A few fists managed to dodge the shield and land a few hits on his body.
As his health started to slowly drop, the pitchfork flew through the hole and stabbed into the beating heart. The moment it did, all the arms stopped moving and fell lifelessly to the ground.
The beating heart released its final beat, and then withered like an old flower till nothing of it was left.
"Whoo, whoo..." Adam kneeled down on the ground and held his waist in pain, his forehead covered in sweat as he tried to catch his breath. 'I-I forgot just how horrible stamina level 0 had...'
Click—the door on top of the stairs clicked open. It wasn't locked anymore!
"God damn it!" Donald screamed, his blond hair disheveled as if he had just survived a storm. His attractive face had long since vanished, and in its place was an expression of utter rage.
"D-Donald..." Niko limped towards his friend, his clothes bloodied and dirty. "L-Luke, he died..."
"Hmph!" Donald scoffed and angrily gritted his teeth. "Everyone useless. What were you doing? Your job was to prevent anyone from attacking the heart!"
"I..." Niko held his aching waist and lowered his head, knowing that he had disappointed Donald.
Ramon and Hannibal looked at Parrish's corpse, slowly fading from existence. They drew a cross on his chest and then angrily glared at Adam.
Near a broken pillar, Seth revealed himself. He had been hiding ever since the arms came from the hole, and it was the only reason he managed to survive.
As he saw Adam deal the final blow, his eyes behind the glasses turned angry.
"I-It was my kill..."
Adam stood up from the ground and took out his backpack from the inventory. He placed it inside the inventory so it wouldn't hinder him during the fighting, but it also caused him to move slower because of the weight of the inventory.
He then slung the backpack over his shoulder and walked up the stairs at a slow pace.
"Watch your back!" Ramon shouted from near Parrish's corpse as it finally disappeared.
"Hmm..." Adam pushed open the door and stepped through.
As his eyes got used to the light, he saw the surroundings, and it would be a very unexpected sight for many, but Adam expected it.
It looked like he was standing at the entrance of a mall. He saw three floors, each filled with shops, restaurants, training rooms, and auditoriums for gathering.
At the place where often there would be elevators, there were stairs leading to the second floor of the shopping mall.
The third floor was specially created to house the players of the tutorial for those few weeks.
As Adam looked around the mall, he saw many curious faces looking from the second floor—they were also players from different time slots.
They entered the tutorial earlier and were part of a different group—they would also finish the tutorial much earlier, much more likely.
As the rest of the players stepped through the door to the mall, they looked with amazement, as this wasn't something they expected to see.
"Welcome to the Safe Area!" A familiar but unexpected voice came from the stairs.
Ron, with his wide-shouldered frame, walked down the stairs and approached the group of players with a small smirk.
"This is the Safe Area." Ron put his arms wide and gestured to the mall around him. "This is a place between floors. It is a separate dimension, created for players who are doing the tutorial.
"In here, you can sell your items, purchase things for your journey, eat in the restaurants, and sleep.
"Sleeping is important, as your mind will still feel fatigue, so you have to sleep at least once a day!"
"What is that?" A player pointed towards a white board near the stairs. It was right beside a store that sold weapons and the gym. It had notes attached to it.
"That is the mission board." Ron crossed his arms. "You'll learn about the life of a mercenary here—the mercenary's main job is to accept missions and complete them without failure. Those missions can range from just finding a missing kitten to killing some dangerous Chaosbeings."
"What are those Chaosbeings?" A player asked. "Are those the creatures we fought?"
"Everything will be explained in time." Ron said and then remembered something. "Ah right, the first lesson is about to start—follow me to the auditorium."
"A lesson?" Ramon scoffed loudly. "Are we some fucking kids? Lessons for what?"
"You brats have a lot to learn." Ron said that and smirked. "Today's lesson—weapons and skills."