But Why???

Things started escalating once he started tackling the fifteenth stage.

It was the stage where whatever System was behind this whole setup that they had to pass, so it was definitely set to another level of difficulty compared to before.

Unlike the first ten stages that felt like they were child's play and hadn't deserved to have a [Hell] moniker attached to it; Alec keenly felt the difference once he stepped into [Stage 15].

The reason was, he was no longer in that original space where there was only stone flooring and a direct path to the next stage.

The method of 'testing' had already fundamentally changed. He was no longer at the original place with traps and monsters. Nothing so straightforward.

Instead, he'd been transported to what appeared to be another world the moment his foot stepped down into the [Stage 15] room.

There had been a swirl of runes before his vision darkened, and he understood that he was now trapped within an array. Or had he?

He found himself in a deserted looking world, where the buildings were torn and tattered.

It was originally a place where there were tall skyscrapers full of glass windows, but now the place looked desolate and barren. There were spots on the buildings that suggested someone had smashed onto it and died, leaving gory remains to run down the walls.

The damage that had occurred to the city should have been fairly recent, seeing as the dust had not yet settled in, and some of the buildings still looked relatively new.

There were overturned cars, and the buildings looked rundown and broken, as if everyone had hurriedly evacuated as soon as something bad happened, without being able to make the proper preparations.

Smashed windows, shattered glass. What appeared to be display windows had been shattered and looted from, leaving behind a chaotic mess.

There was a single sun hanging high in the sky, directly above his head.

It was noon.

The place looked like a popular city from the planet Earth, but there were no people around him.

The place smelled bad – as if there was rotten meat in the air, but no one could be found walking the streets of the place even though it was high noon.

It was a deserted city, devoid of life.

This seemed like one of the popular plots that had been used in many a story, and the setting wasn't anything special.

When Alec spread out his magic throughout the area, he found that it wasn't as deserted as he thought.

Rather than saying it was deserted, it would be better and quicker for you to understand if he said that the place was devoid of life.

Instead, in its place, there were various 'sleeping' undead in the area.

Alec frowned when he realized just how many there were in this place. However, it wasn't surprising seeing that this had previously been a populated city.

No doubt that this was a scenario of an apocalypse that was so popularly featured in movies in certain planets.

Having felt the number of zombies that were enough to make up a monster horde on their own, Alec quickly recalled his magic and hid it deep within himself.

But it wasn't enough, because the zombies that had previously been lethargic and sluggish woke up the moment they smelt the pure, delicious scent in the air.

They all turned towards Alec's direction at the same time, as if they had caught the scent of fresh, bloody meat. The mindless zombies left only with their instincts roared loudly as they stumbled in his direction as quickly as they could move, with their broken and tattered limbs.

The sound of the roars triggered even more zombies, who followed the crowd, stumbling along towards him.

Fresh meat!

Fresh meat!

Blood!

Delicious!

The zombies still retained a little thinking capability, but only in the capacity of looking for food.

They lived through their instincts, like eating was their only calling in life. They hungered over live, beating hearts that pumped blood, as if something inside of them was screaming for them to devour and consume so that they could grow stronger and evolve into something new. Something better.

Before long, almost all the zombies in the previously highly populated area had been attracted to Alec.

But Alec didn't panic.

While this might have been harder without magic, he did indeed still have his magic, and even if he didn't, his body was still Awakened, which gave him an advantage over the measly zombies in the area.

Alec wondered if the so-called [Hell] mode was based on his magic rank, or if it was a general standard for everyone who tried out the 'legacy hall'.

He studied the faint magical aura that the zombies gave off, copying it.

The zombies that had been charging at him immediately lost track of the scent of his magic, slowing down to a halt, confused.

There were a few confused roars before the surging zombie horde started dispersing slowly, but most of them remained in the area around Alec, going back to their dull and lethargic state.

It was only now that the mission perimeters for [Stage 15] popped up.

[Obliterate the source of the zombies or wipe out all the zombies.]

Alec's brows shot up, his eyes narrowing. The bubbling rage that had calmed lightly as he'd fought against monsters came back in full force.

The anger was like black, sticky tar that marked up the insides of his lungs, leaving him feeling like it was hard to breathe as he choked on the anger.

If it hadn't been clear before this, this place had already shown him the truth behind this.

It had to be another System; he was sure of it.

There was no one on Incantix who should have been able to create something like this unless they were transmigrators. However, the transmigrators usually didn't have this type of authority given to them.

More than that, the Mainframe would never allow this type of infringement into its perceived territory that would grant transmigrators administrative powers. You either became a System, or the Mainframe would do its best to get rid of you completely if you ever dared tread into its domain.

That just left the question of how they had managed to intrude into this place if Alec was the main System here.

Or was it because he had been removed from the Mainframe's scope that this had happened?

There were so many questions that he needed answered.

Regardless, this did not bode well for them depending on the System that was behind the creation of this 'legacy hall'.

However, seeing as the message on what this type of stage this was going to be only appeared a long time after he had first appeared here, he could tell that the personality of the System that managed this 'game show' was not anything good.

They were the type that enjoyed causing chaos using the authority of the Systems, making trouble for transmigrators instead of genuinely helping them out.

It was then that Alec heard the sounds of an engine running, followed by gunshots and cursing.

They immediately attracted the attention of the nearby zombies, making Alec feel like rolling his eyes.

Did those idiots have a death wish or something?

Why were they recklessly driving around and firing shots at low-ranked zombies?

Since they were using guns, it was clear to see that they didn't have much fighting capability, yet they were daring enough to drive recklessly in the middle of the city where there were the most zombies?

They were literally courting death!

Who would be stupid enough to do that? Did all of their common sense leave their brains, or what?

Alec almost felt like cursing them out for their stupidity and sheer gall of toeing the line between death and life.

Then, like a siren's call to the gunshot sounds, the [Main Character Radar] started going crazy.

Alec slowly put his hand on his face.