25 Sídēros Hema

Team Shadow Liege slowly made their entrance into the new town. It hadn't been easy but after a total of five days, they had successfully found the town where Stage 2 was to be held.

Suddenly, just like before, they were all stopped by a feminine robotic voice.

"Good day, Team Shadow Liege! Congratulations on safely making it to the second town. The name of this town is Sídēros Hema from the origin of ancient Greek. Please take a moment to observe your surroundings before continuing!"

Everyone then did as the voice commanded. Carefully, they looked around to observe the aesthetics of the town. Unlike Aíma Malliá, the town wasn't dyed in red. Instead, it seemed quite normal. The only thing that seemed a little odd was the color of the buildings.

Every building before them only ranged from a variety of three colors including; green, yellow, and red. Given what had happened back in the first town, Shade could tell that these were hints for what the Second Stage held.

"Celia, what do you think?" Asked Shade.

"The name Sídēros Hema... If I have it correctly, I think that means Iron-Blood. It has to be some hint for the Second Stage."

"Iron-Blood, huh?"

Realizing that they had finished their observations, the robotic voice then continued.

"As you should all be aware of by now, Survival Zer0 grants special rewards to players who have made it to a newly discovered town within the top 100 players! I am pleased to inform you that you have all made it between the numbers of 95-100!"

"Wait, seriously?!" Exclaimed Rondo.

"I thought we wouldn't make it this time... It was so hard finding this town since we don't have a locator..." Added Arora in amazement.

"Nice! We barely made it but thanks to your stunning team leader, we're here!" Humored Celia.

"You were terrible at giving directions... Don't make such a cringy joke when you almost got us killed twice..." Murmured Shade.

The robotic voice then continued.

"Your rewards are 5 medical bandages for each player! Would you like to accept your rewards?"

"What the hell..? Why do we need medical bandages..?" Asked Maria.

"Sigh... No idea but we better take them just in case..." Replied Celia.

The options of 'YES' and 'NO' then appeared before them prompting them to accept or decline the rewards. A few seconds later, they all accepted before the items were delivered to their inventories.

"Congratulations! You have successfully claimed your rewards. Now, I have gone ahead and calculated the experience points that you have gathered on your journey. Please take your time to review the changes, if any, that have been made to your ranks!"

Once again, they all did as the voice instructed. Initially, everyone on the team apart from Shade was the rank of Novice. However, due to the experience points gathered, they had all advanced to the Expert rank.

Surprisingly, on the other hand, Shade's rank did not change. It remained at Expert, almost as if he had received no experience points.

"Hey Robo girl," called Shade to the voice. "No changes were made to my rank. Why is that?"

"Firstly, you may refer to me as Sky. On the other hand, no changes were made to your rank because you have not yet gained enough experience points to make it to the Advanced rank. A total of one million points are needed for the upgrade to the Advanced rank. Currently, you have a total of 916,115 points."

"I see..."

"Once again, congratulations on making it this far in the game! Your achievements will be made known very shortly!"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Sky did not respond to Shade's question. Instead, it simply allowed them to move ahead into the town without another word. This confused them considerably.

"What do you think it meant by making our achievements known?" Asked Arora.

"I don't know but we have more important things to consider for now. Once we get inside the town, we need to hurry and gather more items. Also, be careful. Unlike the First Stage, there will be a lot more players willing to pick fights or even kill you if they get the chance. Just keep a low profile and stick together."

Everyone then agreed. It was a known fact that the further they went in the game, the more dangerous it would become. Eventually, those who were willing to kill others to survive would become more prominent. Stage 2 only marked the beginning of these things.

A few minutes later, they all made a full entry into the town of Sídēros Hema. This was when something completely unexpected caught them off guard.

The second they entered the town, a massive announcement was made alongside their team name which appeared before them on a massive billboard.

"Team Shadow Liege has entered the town!!!" Exclaimed a voice over an intercom. "They are well within the top 5 teams to grace the game of Survival Zer0, ranking as the 3rd best team so far! Its members have already defeated two major field bosses inclusive of the dangerous White Claw! All their members are that of the Expert rank with one of which are close to progressing to the Advanced rank! If you think that wasn't enough, one of its most dangerous members is Shade Adler, aka The Head Reaper! They are a formidable team indeed!!"

Shade and the others were completely stunned. They couldn't believe their ears. The game had just advertised them to every other team present in the town. It was unbelievable.

Due to this, every other player present in the area now looked at them as if they were a serious threat.

"There's no way that just happened..." Muttered Rondo.

"Dang it... What do we do, Shade? Everyone's going to target us now!" Added Arora.

"It's fine. In a sense, this is beneficial to us. The more notorious we are, the less likely other teams will want to pick a fight with us," replied Shade calmly.

Suddenly, a voice then called out to them from behind. They then turned their heads to see an unfamiliar group of players standing behind them.

"Nice to meet you, Team Shadow Liege! We're the Slayers, aka the #1 Team!"