Chapter 15: Stage 1 : A gentle smile

Running at superhuman speeds was simply euphoric. Though the winds carried the brush of sand against her face, she did not mind it. Her hair danced along with the night creating a picturesque scene. Her lack of expression tainted the almost perfect picture.

The red dots on her map signified the zombies which were far and in between. She did not encounter a single one. The few on the map came from a faraway direction behind her former base; their destination was likely to be the said base. She could not see where exactly the zombies were coming from as the map had disallowed her to maneuver to that extent. She reasoned she would have to head closer before she could view it if at all possible.

She was rushed to the maze icon in the West. All the unoccupied icons shared a similarity, multiple red dots, and a relatively larger one gathered on those icons.

In a normal situation, Alex would surely be fatigued after fighting, however, that was where her weapons came into play. Every form of strain and wear dissipated due to her special weapons - the glowing green chakrams. The green became deeper with each zombie killed, causing Alex to be certain the strange item would sustain her till she reached her destination.

The groupmates Alex had left behind did not affect her psyche. To her, she had already done enough for them. She saw no benefit in abiding with them any further. If she had, for each of their battles she would find herself responsible for them, endangering herself for the sake of others- others she did not trust.

A group had many tactical advantages, an incompetent one, however, only brought drawbacks. She had assisted them greatly in her opinion, any more would be a loss for her.

In the distance, she observed the outline of a structure without an end or a beginning. The moonlight was potent to the extent she could see clearly. Her enhanced vision only helped matters. A few seconds later, she halted next to a massive cobblestone wall.

'Open interface'

She moderately zoomed in on her current location.

On her map were ninety-nine similarity-sized red dots littered around the enlarged maze icon, a green dot beside the maze icon, and a relatively giant red dot at the center of the maze icon.

The green hue on her weapon had only dimmed slightly and was still a vibrant hue. Her clothes were stained with the zombie's internal fluid and matter. Grains of sand intertwined with her short brown locks, causing her to vigorously shake her head to rid herself of the granular sand.

' It took me fifteen minutes to get here. So only about four hours left. Seems like enough time to sweep this place. Now where's the entrance? '

Similar to the underground nest, the firm wall next to a closed medieval gate had a plain black panel on it. She placed her wide palm on it and unlike the other one it did not turn green, rather, it flashed red.

Synchronous with the red light an exclamation mark appeared on the interface symbol at the bottom left corner of her vision.

'Open interface'

|Notice|

[ Challenger desires to occupy an already infested base, 'The labyrinth']

[ Requirement: Defeat all the enemies. ]

Unsurprisingly, Alex did not mind this, it aligned with her original idea.

However, she did not instantly try to realize this goal and instead burned the entire layout of the labyrinth and the unmoving red dots into her mind.

Once she was certain every detail was memorized, she stretched forth her right hand and tapped onto the [ Progress ] option resting above the rectangular map.

She had come to a conclusion about spirit shards after Evan and many others confirmed they were also assigned ten. She first wondered if they were her reward that she had pushed forward from her trial on Earth. Fortunately, their answers proved this theory wrong. This reward would serve her well when she got the opportunity to claim it. Thinking back, it would have been wiser to ask the strange voice what kind of reward it was. She could have received it without a hassle if it was something that would not threaten her life.

Her second theory was the most probable. The spirit shards were distributed as tokens for achieving certain feats or meeting the deity's standards.

They would have their use later on.

[ Progress ]

Spirit shards: 490

[ Stage 1 ]

Zombies killed: 24

' So twenty spirit shards for one zombie, the previous ten must have been for surviving the first meeting with the deity. '

Alex, who now had a few of her surplus questions answered, quickly closed her interface. Her hazel eyes landed on the space where the gate had once filled. The spikes that had once dug the gates into the ground hung overhead.

With her two vibrant chakrams, Alex languidly strolled into the labyrinth, eager to practice all her techniques while manipulating and adjusting her newly advanced physical prowess.

Once inside the labyrinth, there was no longer any moonlight. Rather than spaces for light, blue torches lit up the hallway Alex walked into. The pale flame dimly illuminated the long corridor, casting an eery light on the disfigured abominations that snarled at the new arrival. Alex smirked, taking note of the total number of enemies she would be facing at once.

" I suppose this will be training then."

Without the presence of human life, only the frenzied creatures of the night witnessed the crazed smile of an eighteen-year-old girl while slaughtering her enemies.