Chapter 3: The Virus / Labyrinth

The notification read out the tab that appeared before his eyes.

[A new quest has been received]

[Quest: Clear the first floor of the labyrinth]

Gray stood before the large dark doors with strange patterns scribbled all over them. Again, he felt they had meaning, but attempting to understand them would be pointless.

He pushed open the door in the hope that he might find something that would kill him inside. He could hear a loud creak as they barely budged. The hinges were so rusty that he had to use all of his strength to open them.

Then, he widened his eyes as something whizzed past his head, stopping at the bottom of the staircase behind him. Despite the fact that it had moved much faster than he could react, he could clearly see its outline and shape. It looked like an arrow.

However, it wasn't the only one.

*SWOOSH!*

In an instant, arrows were hurled at Gray who hadn't moved a muscle. He waited for his fate and closed his eyes without a change in his expression, when all of a sudden-

[Pause]

Sighing in the end, he slowly opened his eyes as if knowing what would happen. A pair of arrows had stopped right in front of his eyes as he stood in front of them. Counting them slowly, he totalled up to eight that paused around his body, inches from his flesh.

He recalled it reading on his status that at Level 1, his limit was one object at a time, so how was it that all of them had paused. Stretching out his hand however, he could feel himself touching an invisible wall-like structure, which was both soft and strong at the same time.

'I paused the air?' He questioned, realising what had happened.

"Unpause.". He said.

He found that instead of unpausing it, he simply became progressively more tired.

As he walked around them, he muttered, "Alright... Alright.".

[Unpause]

*Clang-Cla-Clan-Clang!*

As Gray ignored the arrows and walked inside, the sound of the falling arrows filled the quiet room. His face was unamused, and he couldn't help but wonder, why was this thing trying to keep him alive? Exactly what was it?

He had just given up at this point.

"Fine. Have it your way.". He said coldly.

Gray decided to analyze the room while he waited for another trap. As the only source of light in the room was the candles on the walls, it was quite dark. The room was quiet, but mostly empty. There wasn't any furniture, the walls were made of stone, and there didn't appear to be anything distinct about them.

Almost everything was cracked or on the verge of breaking.

Gray stepped deeper into the room, noticing scattered pieces of armor along the way. Having a confused look on his face, he couldn't help but wonder what this place was all about.

He knew very little about it other than its name. It's not clear why it made an appearance, what it was trying to achieve, or what sorts of damages it hoped to cause the outside world. Eventually, Gray brushed off all of these questions.

'Why does it even matter, I'm a dead man any-'

*SWOOSH!*

Gray was suddenly interrupted as a sword swung down and crashed on the ground beside him, cracking it as it went. Grey was startled by the sight and leapt away from it, catching a glimpse of its figure in the process.

Armour made of metal with a glowing core in the middle. Seeing its red eyes beneath its helmet sent chills down Gray's spine as he examined it. Just as he was thinking about what to do next, another sword swing came from behind him, coming to a halt just inches from his neck.

[Pause]

Gray, who had noticed this from the corner of his eye, leapt forward and watched the swing cut through the air, creating a swoosh sound as it sliced through the wind. The monster then regained its stance and began to walk towards Gray.

Gray was in awe as cold sweat poured down his face. There weren't just one or two of these monsters he had to deal with. As more and more pieces of armor began to approach him, he gave a quick glance around.

One…Two… Four… Ten… The numbers just kept rising.

Gray grinned as he murmured. "Well shit..."

Why didn't he at least try making it cool before he died, since he was going to die anyway?

Gray charged at the nearest armored pierce without much thought. As it swung vertically at Gray, it's glove held tightly to its sword.

It moved fast, but it was also predictable and direct. Gray glanced at the sword as it froze in place, stepping out of the way at the last second.

[Pause]

Despite trying to move the sword, the Armour piece was unable to do so as it was stuck in place. In that time, gray sent a kick straight towards the gap between its chest plates, where the creature's core rested.

*Wham!*

It turned its head and let go of the sword, stretching both arms towards Gray without even a flinch. Gray grinned at the sight.

"Unpause."

*SWOOSH!*

Gray grabbed the sword with all of his strength, nearly falling due to its weight before swinging it once again at the creature's core.

*Crack*

There was not enough power in his swing to completely cut through the core, but enough to cause a crack to form. The light from the core dimmed down as the pieces of armor fell to the ground, scattering across the floor as the crack spread.

[You have slain an armoured soldier]

[You have earned 5 XP]

'5? And I thought life was a bitch.'. He stated.

Gray, who was now out of breath, couldn't help but glance around. There were simply too many of them, no matter how slow they moved or how simple their movements were. Furthermore, he was drained of all energy by simply using his skills.

He snorted before charging at the very next one, dragging the blade against the ground due to his lack of strength and stamina.

Despite the danger, he charged forward with all he had.

————————————

21:49, December 3rd, 2022. United States Of America, the whitehouse.

An expression of seriousness could be seen on the face of a troubled man as he sat behind his desk in a dark and quiet room.

"What's the situation?" The man asked.

An expression of dignity could be seen on his troubled face.

The person who answered was a female secretary. Upon request, she was granted permission to speak.

"These holes... or, in this case, labyrinths, have shown no signs of disappearing. Our casualties exceed 100 billion dollars. New York, Washington and Las Vegas, these were the cities which were affected the most, each one had a labyrinth appear in them."

Having heard her explanation, his face grew even more serious.

"I take it the videos online of people awakening super powers being spread around are true?"

She readjusted her glasses before nodding.

More and more people have reported strange things happening to their bodies since the Labyrinths began appearing. Many of them have developed abilities that defy logical explanations.

Elemental abilities, such as earth manipulation or fire control to abilities which allowed them to change certain parts of their bodies.

As other nations all over the world were likely going through the same thing, the man knew he couldn't afford to miss out on this opportunity.

"Any progress on the research done on the labyrinths?" He asked.

"Unfortunately not... There seems to be some sort of signal interference down there, as if it were an entirely new dimension. Any drones or communications down there are lost immediately."

The man clicked his tongue.

"Set up a conference, prepare a broadcast, we're recruiting everyone who has awakened. I need the military to prepare the finest squads, we're America, we must act first."

"Understood."

The lady left the room, leaving the man on his own once more. He displayed an increasingly worried look.

"If the prophecy is true… Then this is only the beginning…" He muttered.

His palm was placed on his face as he got up.

"We're all fucked."

Just as he was about to close his eyes to get some rest, the alarm started to ring.

The light of the room, flashed over and over in red. The secretary came rushing in.

"Sir! There's an emergency!"

It was the first time she had called out to him without asking for permission. And the first time her face showed such worry.

"Situation?" He asked, quickly getting up.

"A virus, reports have started coming in of a mass-spread!"

"WHAT!?"