Ascending The Tower, part 2/2

With a resounding crash, a soldier in a crisp blue uniform was hurled against the wall, his firearm torn out of the grasp of his broken fingers.

Illuminated by the stark glow of emergency red lights, a young woman stood poised in the corridor. Her long platinum hair framed her face as her luminous eyes fixed on the struggling soldier gasping for air on the ground.

The sense of urgency permeated her; her time was quickly running out, yet she felt that finding the officer was impossible. 'Should I give up on it and simply rush for the roof?'

Gracefully, Tia crouched beside the incapacitated soldier, her alabaster fingers delicately lifting his chin. Yet her senses remained razor-sharp, poised to react instantly should he attempt any sudden movements.

"Tell me where I will find the Lieutenant Colonel, and I will let you live." Tia's lilac eyes bore into the soldier as her voice resonated with an icy undertone.

"I swear, I don't know! Please, believe me!" The soldier's voice trembled.

Tia leaned in, locking eyes with the terrified man. She saw his pupils widen with the palpable fear emanating from him and noted the beads of sweat trickling down his temple.

'Nothing more than a low-ranking grunt. What was I even thinking? I bet the high-ranking officers are already hiding in some bunker.'

With a nod, she rose gracefully to her feet, leaving the trembling soldier lying on the floor.

Walking away, Tia felt a wash of fatigue and frustration settle over her. There was no thrill in overpowering those who posed no challenge—only the monotonous grimness of an unbalanced slaughter.

'This world is truly a bad place,' she thought bitterly. She loathed the world's inherent cruelty, a world that had twisted her into something she never wanted to become.

'I have already become a monster, as there is no better path in this world.'

She continued her march down the seamlessly unending corridor, its walls bathed in the glow of flickering red lights. The sterile, concrete landscape seemed to amplify her disdain for the modern world. There was nothing here but barren walls—no art, no beauty, just soulless functionality.

Mid-stride, Tia suddenly halted. Her invisible tendrils of kinetic force sensed the distinct presence of a human concealed behind one of the adjacent doors.

'A storage?' Tia glanced at the label affixed to the door.

With a flick of her wrist, the doors burst open, revealing a cramped room lined with empty shelves. At the far end stood a tall young man, dressed in a blue uniform adorned with silver buttons and trims. Yet Tia could only sigh in disappointment. 'Only a lieutenant...'

His gun was aimed at her, but Tia merely scoffed at him. She saw the setting indicator on the weapon illuminated at its second-lowest level, insufficient to be a threat.

'What did I even expect? This place is so mismanaged.'

The lieutenant's voice trembled with outrage and fear as he yelled, "You're a traitor! You've betrayed your own country by aligning yourself with terrorists!" His finger hovered over the trigger, yet Tia's mind immobilized him, preventing him from firing.

The accusation struck a nerve, causing her to quiver with a volatile mixture of anger and disdain.

"Oh, have I betrayed my country?" Tia's voice dripped with biting irony. "You have treated me like an animal for years. Hahaha." She erupted into a fit of unhinged laughter, her scorn for the Federation affirmed yet again by the pitiful figure before her.

'He's just a kid who's never seen a frontline, and yet here he is an officer,' Tia mused.

"You're insane!" The lieutenant's voice quivered.

"Perhaps," Tia acknowledged, her laughter dying away to reveal a soft, unsettling smile. With a casual flick of her fingers, the young officer's neck twisted grotesquely, his eyes going vacant as life abandoned him.

Even though she didn't enjoy killing weaklings, something about liquidating some entitled brats brought a rush of joy into her life.

Not even looking back, she turned to leave.

Time was a luxury she couldn't afford; the allure of the system's rewards was too compelling to ignore.

'It has already been two minutes since the start of the quest.'

The moment she stepped out of the storage room, she froze.

A shiver rippled down her spine as she laid eyes on a towering figure standing in the dimly lit corridor. A man in a tattered tank top stood before her, his veins luminescent beneath his skin, glowing ominously in the corridor's red light, harmonizing with the golden undertone of his skin.

'Ah, one of those super pugilists—warriors who use energy to cultivate their flesh and body,' she deduced.

"Fight me!" The stranger's voice reverberated through the corridor, thunderous and laden with unspoken challenges.

"No!" Not wasting any time, Tia bent her knees and turned to run, knowing her mission rewards were more important.