As Shaw made her way out of the classroom, she suddenly remembered something. She opened her interface and tapped a few keys to bring up the mission tab. Just as she expected, there was already a mandatory mission in the tab.

Mandatory Mission 1: Survive.

Description: Survive for 1 hour.

Reward: 3 Disposable Attribute Points.

From what she remembered, this mandatory mission should be automatically given to every player who had reached level 1 within the first hour of the Launch. It was more of a free reward, given that the only requirement was to survive. Shaw always thought of this as a perk given to players who were the bravest and struck first.

That being said, as she summoned her Silver Sword from her storage space and turned her attention to the other end of the tunnel from which screams were coming from, it became clear that surviving wasn’t going to be that easy. Yes, she did survive a long time in her last life, but she also mostly stuck with the others early on. She was weaker now, and one mistake could be all it would take to end her life.

The young woman sighed before slowly making her way down the hallway.

Within minutes, the school was transformed into a living hell. Some of the unluckier students were listening to their teachers one second and found themselves facing a giant spider or a goblin the next. Others were in the hallway when they found themselves charged at by deadly beings who wanted a piece of their flesh. The luckier ones were in rooms that were relatively safe, but all they could do was block the door and cower in fear as waves of screams and cries for help came from across the wall. Many of them called 911, all to no avail.

Even the police were having trouble saving themselves, and when the world was at siege, a random school was definitely not the most urgent location to reinforce. It was a cold truth, but a truth nonetheless.

“Please...please! Don’t do this!”

A young girl screamed as she tried to back up as much as possible. In front of her was a troll standing over 2.5 meters tall. It was waving a spiked club around intimidatingly, and it was clear it was taking its sweet time with its victim. The young girl begged and begged, but all that was on the troll’s ugly face was a dark, sadistic smile.

Shaw slowly made her way up from the other end of the hallway. She walked by three mauled corpses, all of whom died in messy ways, not that it fazed Shaw. She had seen herself and others with wounds ten times more gory, and at one point, she just became desensitized to this all.

Her eyes landed on the troll. Before she attacked, she examined the statistics of the troll, which, like the stats of all monsters, were public to all players.

Troll

Level 1

Experience Provided: 80

Strength: 30

Reflex: 8

Regeneration: 15

Psychic: 0

A dangerous foe, but far from impervious. Its size and strength meant if Shaw was hit by its club or its arms, she would likely be injured or dead. The upgrade she just got did make her stronger, but she still wasn’t capable of taking the troll on in terms of brute strength. At the same time, it was incredibly slow, a factor that she would gladly abuse.

As soon as she finished her quick analysis, Shaw didn't waste another second. She suddenly picked up her pace and triggered the Charge ability. It had been a while since she used this ability, but as the familiar power radiated through her body, she was able to quickly control this power and use it to put herself into motion.

“Just like riding a bike…” She whispered under her breath as her body dashed forward.

In front of her, the troll sensed something. It was slow and stupid, but it was hardly deaf. Unfortunately, even as it abandoned the defenseless prey in front of it and turned around, it was already a little too late. The Charge went down better than Shaw herself expected, and in barely a second, Shaw had run right into the giant beast.

The impact of the collision itself was far from impressive, and the tough skin and mountain of muscles on the troll deflected most of Shaw’s weight, but it was expected. Almost as soon as her Charge came to an end, Shaw raised her Silver Sword and dug it into the beast’s back.

As the default weapon of all Warriors, the Silver Sword, while far from impervious, was a durable weapon. Shaw easily pushed it into the troll’s back and opened a deep wound, one that was enough to cause black blood to ooze out like it was a fountain. The beast shrieked from the pain and moved even faster than before. Its club swung around and went for Shaw’s head.

The young Warrior frowned and took a step back, pulling the Silver Sword out of the troll and dodging the hit. She was aiming for the troll’s spine. If she could cut apart its spine, its size and strength would be meaningless. That first hit missed the mark, not that it bothered her too much. No...she had time.

The troll, on the other hand, didn't. The wound on its back was sizable, and even its superhuman regeneration couldn’t heal it instantly. If he had some time to work with, he would live, but Shaw had no intention of giving him this time. She was a Warrior, but honor was hardly her thing. She would gladly use tricks, backstabs, and deception if it meant victory.

For the next twenty seconds, Shaw danced around the troll, leaving a few bloody injuries across the beast’s body with every opportunity. The troll was driven into a frenzy by the ever-increasing pain. It screeched and thrashed, achieving absolutely nothing. In one case, after Shaw removed another piece of its flesh, the troll threw itself at the young woman, only for her to dodge to the side and for it to ram into a wall.

Finally, the troll began stumbling. Its strength was exhausted by the numerous wounds across its body. it had lost all its strength. With one final leap, Shaw plunged her sword through the neck of the troll. Black blood darted out of the wound.

As the sword went through the neck, the troll’s time was at an end. A strange sound escaped its throat, the sound of the beast choking on its own blood. Its giant club dropped harmlessly to the side. After a few seconds, the resilient beast finally gave in. It stumbled a few times forward with Shaw still holding onto its back before collapsing.

Another one bit the dust.

Unfortunately, the troll was too big, and there was little Shaw could do to prevent the troll from stumbling forward moments before its death. That was why before the girl on the ground could take a breath of relief from being saved, she suddenly had a terrible realization. She tried to move out of the way, but it was too late as the troll’s body collapsed onto her lower body.

The sheer weight of the troll was enough to crush the girl’s legs. Within seconds, her scream echoed through the hallway.

Shaw’s brows darkened as she hopped off the troll’s back. She was aware of the girl’s presence, but she subconsciously expected her to have gotten out of the way when she jumped the troll. Her current situation also didn't really allow her to take collateral damage into consideration. She would save innocent people if possible, but she would never risk herself while doing so. As terrible as it was to say this, her life meant a lot more in the grand scheme of things than a random girl who might be dead in a day anyway.

Still, as the troll lay dead and its threat was terminated, Shaw took the time to kneel down beside the girl and examine her injuries.

It wasn’t pretty.

The girl’s entire lower body was crushed under the gigantic troll. By all accounts, her bones felt like they were shattered. Shaw could remove the body of the troll, but the damage had already been done. An injury like this was crippling even with the best modern medical technologies available, and in a place where medical help was impossible to find and monsters were spawning everywhere? The girl was dead already.

In the future, the game would offer the players extremely effective medication in the form of loots that could regenerate entire limbs, and certain players of the Sorcerer, the Mythical, and the Mutant careers could heal the wounded, but it would be months, if not years, until then. The girl also didn't have enough points in the Regeneration attribute to heal herself.

“What’s your name?” Shaw asked quietly, turning and staring the girl in the eyes.

The girl had stopped screaming, for now, but her labored breaths and sweat-covered cheeks were enough to show how much pain she was in. Shaw’s words briefly caught her attention, and as she turned and looked at the young woman who took down the monster and saved her life, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Not just relief, but also safety and security. For a moment, her pain and fear felt a little more distant.

“Abigail.” She whispered. “That’s my name. Abigail. Walker.”

“Very well, Abigail.” Shaw gave the young girl a small yet reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, sister. Everything will be alright. I’ll get you out of this hell in just a minute.”

The poor girl nodded. She trusted Shaw despite having just met her a few minutes ago, and this trust was why when Shaw plunged her blade into the girl’s neck, it ended her life in a quick and relatively painless death.

Shaw sighed and stood back up, her comforting smile no longer on her face. What she did was undoubtedly far from ideal, but it was the best option she had. This wasn’t the first time she had to turn on her own kind, and she knew all too well this wouldn’t be her last.

Unfortunate, yet necessary.