Announcement:

After some deliberation, I have decided to post the remaining chapters for this week today, so there will be NO chapters until Monday. I reached Rising Stars far sooner than I anticipated, and while I appreciate all the support you've given me— the follows and the ratings and the favorites— I will have to alter my schedule for a bit.

Starting next Monday, I will be posting 5x a week on all sites: M-T-W-Th-F. At the same time, 12 PM to 1 PM PST.

At least, for November. Whether or not that will remain as my schedule is yet to be determined.

Now, onto the chapter :)

Killshot Apocalypse 6

LEVELTRACKER.COM

Region: United States of America

Category: Class

Sorted by: Levels

Galahad Gryphon – Lvl 18

2. Andrew Fraser – Lvl 17

3. Tyrone J. Allen – Lvl 17

4. Amber Young – Lvl 17

5. Hiro Tatsuki – Lvl 17

6. Lucia Gomez – Lvl 17

7. S. Arthur D. – Lvl. 16

8. Jason Li – Lvl 16

9. Gabriel R. – Lvl 16

10. The Cursed Witch Elenora – Lvl 16

“There’s no fucking way Galahad Gryphon is a real name.” Trace scrolled through leveltracker.com, scowling. “Neither is S. Arthur D. real. And The Cursed Witch Elenora? You just sound like a massive twat.”

Apparently, you could submit whatever name you wanted to the website, but the legitimacy of their levels at the top was verified since they were all public figures. Trace clicked on a link next to Galahad Gryphon’s name, showing an interview with the man just last night. He donned a knight’s helmet, its visor pulled down to mask his face.

“I believe the reason why I’ve levelled so quickly is that I’m just different,” he said in a tinny voice. He stood right outside a massive tower— a Dungeon of some sort— as a crowd of hundreds gathered behind him in awe.

“And what do you think makes you so special?” the reporter asked.

“Well, you see—”

“Galahad Gryphon!” A man leapt out from the crowd, drawing a pair of daggers from his waist. He sliced for Galahad’s neck, but the knight effortlessly parried the swing with his broadsword.

The reporter stumbled back as the two engaged in battle. “As you c-can see, Galahad Gryphon has just been attacked by a bystander. That’s… I believe that’s Hayden Marshall! The second highest-levelled man in America! They’re locked in incredible combat and—”

Galahad decapitated the other man. Blood splattered all over the reporter, and she screamed. The camera shook as Trace grimaced. She didn’t expect that, but it happened so quickly she barely even registered it. A figure walked into the frame and picked up the microphone.

“I have been playing video games all my life,” Galahad said. “They called me a loser. A stain on society. But now— the world has become my playground. Chan Lizhou! I know you’re watching this! I will surpass you!”

The video ended there as Trace massaged her forehead. Galahad was the fourth highest in the world, with the first and third being from China, and the second from Ethiopia. To her, however, they were all the same level of insane.

She continued browsing through the website when a thought crossed her mind. “Wait, where even is Adair? He’s not anywhere on the top ten ranking. He’s… number 17?”

[I believe his inactivity since the night before has dropped his placement on the list,] Ex said.

“Seriously? It’s only been— you know what? I’m not going to keep saying it.” But she thought it. Eight hours. That was all it took for Adair to drop ten spots in the United States alone. It was a race. Everyone in the global top 10 was at the same level. It simply ranked them by when they reached that level.

Trace raised her head, her curiosity piqued.

“I wonder what rank I’d be?” She never reported her rank to the website, but she could see the range of all those at level 6 who did. “Woah, I’m way above average.” Out of the hundred million reported users in America, more than half of them were at level 2, and a third of them were at level 1 or 3.

They were mostly children or the elderly. However, quite a significant portion of them were young adults her age too.

“Sixty million people aged 18-30 in the United States reported their levels to leveltracker.com or posted it on social media. Only a million of them are above level 5? And I’m somewhere around the two hundred thousand range at level 6?” She leaned back, whistling. “Woah, I didn’t know I was that awesome.”

[As your tutorial sequence’s difficulty was considered E rank, the levels you gained from it were substantially more significant compared to most individuals.]

Trace creased a brow. “Wait, what are you saying, Ex?”

[Your tutorial sequence was scaled to be more difficult—]

“Yeah, I got that part. But why the fuck did that happen?”

[It was due to your young age and athleticism.]

“Are you fucking serious?” While she did stay physically fit— and, of course, she was young— she didn’t think that’d be enough to throw her into the lion’s den. Or, in this case, the rat’s nest.

[Also, because you had a weapon present with you upon entering the tutorial, it was determined that a simple F- or F rank tutorial sequence would have been too simple for you.]

“Oh.” She was still slightly exasperated, but it made sense. “Fair.”

Trace continued browsing the internet for another half an hour as her digital clock beeped to twelve in the afternoon. She quickly checked her social media one last time, making sure that everyone she knew was safe. She didn’t have a wide social circle, but most of them seemed to be surviving.

Even her parents.

She was just about to shut her laptop when she saw a notification next to their names. With some apprehension, she clicked on the chat.

Mum:

- Your father and I have tried calling you so many times, but you won’t pick up

- And now none of our messages are going through

- Are you safe?

Dad:

- Mum’s very worried. Please respond.

That was all Trace saw. They likely sent her a million texts and called her a million more times since Neo Genesis, but she’d been too afraid to respond. She didn’t even know what to say. And now that her phone was gone, she couldn’t have replied to them if she wanted to.

Well, she could always respond now…

Shaking her head, Trace closed her laptop and headed down.

* * *

“Congrats!” Liz beamed as Trace exited the kitchen with a chicken sandwich.

“What are you congratulating me for?”

The black-haired woman held up her phone, showing a news article. “Our college has officially cancelled classes for the fall and shut down!”

“Are you—” Trace took a deep breath to stop herself from cursing. “Aren’t they at least going to give us a refund? I already paid for the first semester.”

“Nope.” Liz shrugged. “Not like it matters though. Money is quickly becoming worthless. I hear the price of gold is skyrocketing, at least. Maybe we should invest in some.” She glanced over at the television as a pair of news anchors talked about how the current economy was far worse than the Great Depression.

“Can you show another channel? I hate PNS.”

“No can do. Most of the other news stations are down.” She raised the remote and cycled through a bunch of dead channels before going back. “I know that the news at PNS can get longwinded at times. And PNS always disseminates thick information. So, I get that it’s hard listening to PNS. But it’s all that’s left.”

Trace narrowed her eyes. “You’re doing that on purpose.”

“No cap.” Grinning, Liz switched off the television.

“You didn’t even do it well.”

“What am I not doing well? PNS?”

“Oh, shut up.”

Trace pulled a chair out and set her plate down. She spoke between each bite, addressing her best friend.

“So, how’d you do in the Dire Pits yesterday? You were in there for over twelve hours.”

“Didn’t reach the boss room.” Liz sighed. “Got too tired. But I made some friends.”

“Friends?”

“Yep. Or I guess they’re party members? That’s what they were calling themselves. They invited me to go with them to the Dire Pits today. But only in the evening since Dungeons are less crowded at night.”

Trace halted mid-bite. “Are you sure that’s safe?” She recalled the video of Galahad she watched just earlier; everyone was trying to kill each other for whatever levels they could gain. “It may be a ruse to kill you.”

“If they wanted to kill me, they’d have done it yesterday.” Shrugging, Liz kicked her foot up onto the table. “Each of them was higher-levelled than me, and they outnumbered me.”

“That’s true…” Still, the redhead twisted her lips. “This could be a case of fattening a pig before eating it.”

“Hey, are you calling me fat?”

“Well, yes. But no.” Liz rolled her eyes, and Trace continued. “I just don’t know if you should trust these strangers you just met with your life, you know? You never know who’s a fucking psycho these days.”

“They didn’t seem like psychos to me.” Sitting up, Liz crossed her arms. “And they even gave me some of their credits too.”

“Credits?”

“It’s these things you get from monsters. You’ve gotta dig it out of them, apparently. I had no idea they were even a thing.” She set down what looked like small credit cards on the table. They were white with a thin slit of grey, and there were numbers inscribed on them.

“100 credits.” Trace raised an eyebrow. “And these are worth something?”

“I dunno. I hear that the Precursors of Peace want them. You need, like, a million credits or something to open one of those Gates.”

“So, they gave you things that are only valuable to psychos. And you’re telling me they’re not psychos?”

“Look,”— Liz scowled, standing up— “if you’re that worried about me, why not just come with me to the Dire Pits? t’s not like you’re any safer in here after what happened last night. And you’ve already fully recovered somehow. Plus, you really should be levelling more. From what you told me about last night, you got lucky that the guy attacking you was an idiot who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”

Trace hesitated. She had made herself clear that she wasn’t a big fan of the whole levels and killing monsters thing. Yet, the events of the previous night stuck with her. Not just with Adair, but the screaming and fighting she kept hearing whenever she stepped foot outside. It was as Veronica had said: you couldn’t rely on anyone but yourself anymore.

In a sense, this was the independence and freedom Trace wanted. Just terribly perverted. But she still could act.

“Fine,” she said.

“If you keep— wait, what?” Her best friend blinked. “I didn’t think you’d be convinced that easily.”

“I’m stubborn.” She let out a scoff. “Not stupid.”

“I’m pretty sure you got that wrong. It’s stubborn and stupid.”

Trace didn’t entertain that quip with a response. “I thought the world wouldn’t be as fucked as it is after the first day, but things are getting worse every minute. If this is just how things are now, I’ve got to look out for myself— and those I care about.”

“Trace…” Liz’s eyes widened. “That’s… aww, that’s so sweet. Wait, let me just post that on social media really quick—" She hurriedly typed on her phone, and the redhead snorted.

That was her best friend. Elizabeth Evergreen. Couldn’t ever take herself seriously. But deep down, past her carefree smile and relaxed brown eyes, there was a true friend.

Trace finished her sandwich and left her plate in the dishwasher. The kitchen sink was still broken— maybe she’d be able to fix it later with her Builder vocation. It was entirely contingent on whether any hardware stores were even open. Speaking of…

“Do you think I’d be able to get a replacement phone from the nearby Pear shop?”

Liz looked up, pretending to think. “Probably not.”

“Fuck.”

* * *

Before leaving with Liz that evening, Trace made sure she was fully prepared for the Dire Pits. She prepared a bag full of ammunition and food and drinks before equipping a full set of Kevlar. After adjusting her red scarf in the mirror, she slid a combat knife into its sheath and loaded her pistol.

“Watch Liz’s back, and don’t get yourself killed.” She couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t anxious. The videos and streams she saw of the Dungeons always made it look so dangerous. Well, they had to be dangerous, considering that thousands of people were dying from delving into them each day.

Would she even come out alive? She hoped so. But if she didn’t—

Trace caught sight of her laptop in the mirror. It was closed. Shut from this morning. And it called to her.

She didn’t want to touch it. She didn’t want to open it. Even still, she pulled up the screen and logged into her social media.

Typing two quick sentences, Trace closed her laptop once again and hurried down at Liz’s incessant calling. “I’m coming, I’m coming. Will you shut up already, Liz?”

Trace T to Mum and Dad:

- my phone is broken, but im fine

- please stay safe

Credits

Chapter 6 Proofread by Dominion Editorial

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