Back in Ashland
"They are all dead!" a voice mixed with pain and sadness echoed in the bunker.
"What do you mean, they are all dead?" Alexa moved hastily towards the system.
"We have no survivors," the woman muttered. Her dark brown hair matted to the back, her brown eyes stared painfully at the screen.
"Choi, are you sure this information is accurate?" Alexa could not believe the fact that the faces she had seen this morning were no more.
"This is the worst we have gotten," Choi mumbled to herself.
"There must be something wrong, some of them were well trained," Alexa refused to believe that, not even a single person survived.
"Wait, I am getting a tab of what happened," Choi said, her eyes turning white, the computer screen moving swiftly as if decoding.
The apocalypse came with its own blessing. All survivors had a chance to gain supernatural powers through the system.
Choi's power is to see through the system.
A gasp escaped from her lips, her eyes returned to its normal shade.
"They had encountered a S level beast," her face frowned with confusion.
"That's impossible, an S level monster resides far in the woods, except…." Alexa brow furrowed in confusion and fear.
"They are advancing towards us," Choi completed her statement.
"This is bad," Alexa mumbled, worried etched on her face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile deep in the woods, dismembered bodies of monsters and humans scattered around the ground.
The morning rays came with reluctance. A golden ray of filtered light softly brushed over Olivia's face.
Her lashes fluttered, her green eyes opened to the horrifying view before her.
Her head throbbed with pain as if her skull is going to split in half. She looked around in confusion.
"I'm still alive?" She mumbles as she struggles to get out of the hole.
"Anna?" She called out.
She managed to get on her feet, which wobbled as she turned to search for her friend.
Memories from the night came crashing through her head.
She held her head as she groaned in pain.
"Noo!"
Anna was gone, she was never going to see her again.
Her heart felt as if it had been stabbed by a sizzling hot knife.
Her legs buckled as realisation dawned on her. " I am the only survivor," a bitter laugh erupted from her throat.
Why not take my life? What is the point of keeping me alive? God!" Her outburst echoed through the wood.
Being alive now, was nothing but delaying her death. She believed, she had no way out.
Slurp, slurp. The sound echoed through the woods.
Her heart sank, 'another monster?'
Cautiously, she turned around, only to find a small white snake, swallowing the core of the dead monsters.
She unknowingly let out a sigh of relief. Her tensed body relaxing a little.
Her lips parted, but only the sound of her sobs and helplessness escaped from her mouth.
She wiped away the tears from her eyes, before walking towards the white snake, who was still busy feasting on the monster's core.
She didn't know why, but she just felt drawn to it.
"How are you still alive?" She asked, her voice cracked with pain and curiosity. She wondered how it had survived in the monster domain.
The snake stopped eating and looked at her, as if it could understand what she was saying.
He later continued with his little feast, totally ignoring her. But then, something else caught her attention from the corner of her eyes.
The air suddenly grew thick with death, the hair on her body stood up on their end.
It was the Wormhole King!
Her heart almost jumped out of her throat. Her legs pushing back against the ground, her mind screaming at her to run.
However, its body was laid in an unsettling motionless position, black blood pooled beneath its body.
As if her leg had a mind of it own, she hesitantly walked towards it, her eyes cautiously assessing it motionless body.
"Is it dead?" She mumbled, stretching her neck to peek at it, but she instantly jumped back, almost missing her footing. When she saw it eyes opened, piercing at her very soul.
The monster tried to move, but it was unable to, due to the heavy damage it had suffered.
'It is still alive,' Olivia mind screamed, she turned, attempting to run for her life, but surprisingly, she halted midway.
'That monster killed my friend,' she thought, her mind burning with anger.
Without a second thought, she turned around, walking towards it, she grabbed a sword which was on the ground.
She would take revenge for what it had done to her friend, however her steps faltered. 'What if it is not weak as it seems? What if this is a trap?' Her little fit of bravado was slipping through her fingers like sand.
"Don't be a coward, remember how he took your friend's life." She swallowed. Her fingers shakily wrapped around the hilt of the sword.
Her heart burnt with anger, as all she could see was revenge. Then, she ran towards it, dragging her wounded body as if it didn't hurt.
Splash. Splash. Splash.
"Take this, you son of a b**ch!" her sword sliced through its belly a couple of times, venting her anger on it.
The Wormhole king wriggled in pain, it turned sluggishly, attempting to attack her, but luckily, she delivered the finishing blow on time.
The wormhole king whimpered, before its eyes became lifeless.
She continued cutting through him, her body drenched in its black blood.
Stopping midway with heaving breath, Olivia suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of dizziness.
[SYSTEM AWAKENED]
[Host has killed: S-level Wormhole king. Core: active]
[Level: 2]
[Core : Unknown]
[Ability : Unknown]
[Name : Olivia Donovan]
[System name :********]
[Soul core : Dormant]
[Rank: *******]
[Attributes: [fated] [marked by flames] [born in Chaos]
[Aspect : Flame bearer]
[Aspect Description: Flame bearer is nothing but a vessel for the sacred flame, mind you the sacred flame has ceased to exist, so it is useless]
"Useless?" She mumbled, a look of disbelief flickered through her eyes.
"What the f**k is this? I finally got one but it's useless?" She winced as she strained her wounded back.
"If it's useless, why the hell did I get it? Are you messing with me," her voice mixed with frustration and confusion.
Her eyes darted back to the white snake who hadn't stopped eating the monster's core.
"I guess I can eat one too, maybe I can level up quickly and get out of this godforsaken place," with that thought, she gutted the Wormhole king open.
It was not an easy job because of its steel-like body, but after several minutes she finally took out its red core out.
She stared at it hesitantly "Will this kill me? What if it mutates me? What if I lose my mind?"
'Consequences be damned.' It was either this or death.
She swallowed the core.
[CONGRATULATION: host has consumed an S level monster's core]
[Ability : steel- like armour]
[Level: 4]
[Core: 1 x 10]
Olivia felt a tingling sensation as a subtle shift in her skin occurred, it looked as if she was wearing steel like skin.
She nodded in satisfaction. She stood up, but her back screamed in protest.
She couldn't afford to stay for long, she needed to find her way back to safety.
She halted mid-way, she turned towards the white snake, her gaze softened, she couldn't just leave the poor animal alone in this dangerous place.
She turned around to pick the snake up, " You will be my pet now, and I will be your master," she patted his head.
The snake hissed at her, threatening to bite her " What a feisty little snake."
She began to walk towards the border. Her eyes shone with hope.
A screech suddenly echoed from behind her. It was a Craghoul.
"This only monsters again," her eyes glinted with fear.
Although she is at the same level as them now, she hasn't trained her powers yet.
She brought her gun, she ran, hiding behind a tree, her chest rose up and down.
"This is no time to panic," she encouraged herself.
She gently put the snake in her pocket "Be good."
She took her gun out, and began to shoot at the monsters, they dropped dead one after another.
Click.
"Sh*t" she has run out of bullets.
"I guess this is now or never," she took her twin blades out, which she had collected earlier, she charged towards the remaining Craghoul.
Splash. Splash.
Black blood spilled over her body.
Her blood ran cold. This wasn't just any Craghoul, these ones were different. They were stronger and smarter.