Terror Infinity Side B

Chapter 7 - 1, H.O.T.D

It felt oddly short (Filled with bullets and flamethrowers), but the day was coming to and end and night was upon us. It was only one hour before dusk and we needed a place to rest since it was unlikely that we would be able to cross the bridge today. It is especially dangerous at nights since both THEM and rioters could be hiding in the dark waiting to prey on us. It was then that Shizuka finally suggested that we all stay at her friend, Rika Minami's apartment and also the destination of our first objective of the Main Quest given to us by God.

After Aqua, Hikari, Misaki and I escort them there we will be half way, no, almost all the way done with the mission since the next objective is to simply survive till sunrise of the following day. Takahi and Shizuka went ahead to scout first in the original plot, but because we still had the minibus, bullet ridden as it was, we could all go check it out together. We then confirmed that it really was a decent place to stay for a while. The fence was sturdy and the apartments had a good view of the area. It was an ideal place to spend the night, with the exception of one thing.

It was THEM.

All the residents inside the complex had already been turned into THEM, so if we ever wanted to stay here we needed to quickly clear this place of the undead as soon as possible. It was already getting dark, so I would rather deal with the freaks in the light of day, then the darkness of the night. Some of us were hesitant, but we had no choice after coming this far. We will take this apartment complex from the undead and make it our own territory!

Shin: Today we don't run, but fight back against the undead... The was kinda cool!

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After closing the the front gate so that no reinforcements could come along, we began the capture operation immediately. Takashi, Rei, Hisashi, Saeko, and Kouta took the odd number floors and our group of Players took the even number floors. Saya and Shizuka who had little to no battle potential stood in the back of our groups for safety. Their group worked was as a team as Takashi, Rei, Saeko and Hisashi quickly made quick work of the undead that showed up. Kouta with a depressed expression was forced back to using his modified nail gun and handled the few who slipped by. Ever since Aqua took back her Auto 9 Sci-fi gun his normal high energy when holding a gun was half nonexistent (Please don't mess up and miss now).

On a side note. Before we split up, I noticed that Takashi has been doing more to appeal to Rei and taking action like a real MC. I don't think they have done anything yet since Rei is still technically Hisashi's woman, but Takashi, after gaining more confidence thanks to this apocalypse looked like he wasn't ready to give up Rei to his best friend, and said friend has yet to notice Takashi's intentions (I also swear that I saw Saeko checking him out with interest. DIE Protagonist!). Rei also took complicated looking glances at Takashi from time to time since he saved her at the gas station yesterday. How will this all end for the two of them and Hisashi... Is something that I really, really want to see, but unfortunately the mission ends sunrise tomorrow.

As for our group of players, it was pretty much a one side beat down delivered by Aqua.

- *BANG*!

Aqua began shooting with her Auto 9 Sci-fi gun. Her and the Auto 9 blew up the heads of THEM like a watermelon. A rotten one with all its disgusting contents inside now visible for all to see. It was my first time up close seeing Aqua shoot and the time at the school escape was chaotic, but now looking at her I found why the others were afraid of her when she held that gun. I looked at Aqua as she walked fearlessly straight into the horde of undead within the apartment complex. She waited for the zombies to approach then shot at them all at once without missing a beat, or headshot.

The very few undead that got near her were all shot in the head or if they were unlucky and ended up real close, shredded into post human flesh by her adamantium claws (God that is sexy no matter how many times I see it. Would she watch the new Marvel movies with me when this is over?). Aqua's strength, accuracy and speed were way higher than a normal persons by far and I suspected she was holding back her true power in case the main characters of H.O.T.D were watching. It all made my recent jump in stats look like nothing. Still, I felt like I could follow Aqua's movements about a quarter of the time, which was more than I can say for the others who were completely lost. From some MMA books that I read when I was bored, I learned that there were two types of visual acuity.

Distant Visual Acuity - Measured how far you could see.

Dynamic Visual Acuity - Defined by your eyes ability to discern fine detail in moving objects.

It seemed like dynamic visual acuity was related to the Reaction Speed stat. I could see Aqua’s movements clearly which meant the difference between our reaction speeds weren’t that big, or it meant that she just wasn't too serious yet, with the later being more likely then the former. The fact that I could somewhat keep up with her seems like those rewards really enhanced my abilities.

I thought as much when I was facing the rioters with my near perfect shooting, yet now I am certain that points could increase stats and make one stronger. Aqua was living proof of that! I kept looking at her and found that despite showing almost ten times the ability of a normal person, I felt deep down she was still holding much back. I was overjoyed as I followed behind Aqua and the others as we dealt with THEM.

Every room in the complex needed to be swept and cleared of undead, so even I got a turn to play a part. The gates were already closed, so we could all shoot to are hearts content and not worry about undead backup. Also, most of the undead should be drawn to the the commotion on the bridge. We could shoot to are hearts content, so I didn't hold back. My time with a gun couldn't be said to even be twenty-four hour, but I was getting the hang of it by copying what I saw from watching Aqua and Kouta.

I was shooting very fast thanks to my enhanced reaction speed and was avoiding the undead that came my way with my increased physical ability I was smart enough to only aim for zombies within 10-15 meters. Ten meters was effectively my 100% accuracy shooting distance. Hikari, Misaki and the other, beside Takashi and Rei who were with me earlier today, they didn’t know about this and just saw me getting head shots without aiming. Not even ten minutes since we entered the complex and all of THEM had been dealt with. Most of which was thanks to Aqua, but along the other main characters I showed that I had what it took to survive in this world.

Hikari: Were you always so used to shooting? That was unreal!

Misaki: Yeah. This couldn't have been your first time.

Shin: Well, lets just say that I am a man with a lifetime of worldly experience.

Misaki: Oh really? Experience my... You are about the same age as us. Stop showing off to look cool. Gross!

Shin: Middle school girls are the... Tch, never mind!

5-10 minutes of smashing, bashing, pricing, stabbing and shooting later, we had cleared up the apartment complex. Shizuka then lead us into the room of her friend. While the others were marveling at the great apartment that they weren't expecting, the Players of the group received a message from God.

Main Quest: 50% Completion!

Objective 1 Complete!

Objective 2. Survive till sunrise of the following day after reaching the apartment.

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Aqua: With this the first half is over. Now we just sit back and relax till tomorrow mourning.

Everyone was currently taking a break. A much need break from all of the horrors we had experienced in their own way. The men were looking around the place and should be about time they found the gun stash, and the women were about to take a bath to clean themselves off (VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO THE AFTERWARDS PART OF THIS!). As for us Players, Aqua decided to gather us together and explain to us more about God, his missions, and enhancements. But first....,

Shin: Hey, Aqua.

Aqua: What is it?

Shin: Can I get a light?

Aqua: Oh, you were still holding on to that cigarette from back then? I thought you didn't smoke?

Shin: I don't and don't plan to continue, but... I have been through a lot in the last two days. I am very willing to temporarily disregard my belief system for a variety of reasons. One of such is...

I rolled up the sleeve of my shirt all the way as proof. Hikari and Misaki gasped as they saw the scars of a bullet wound. Aqua just looked at it, then me and laughed while lighting my cigarette up.

Hikari: Shin, are you alright? Also, the wound looks healed. How?

Shin: The pain is manageable and why it healed so fast, who knows. Thanks for the concern.

Hikari: Who is concerned about you!?

Misaki: Aren't you though?

Aqua: Whatever the case, you really have been through a lot. Still, you and the others did very well for your first mission from God.

Hikari: How exactly?

Aqua: I mean, even if some of you are still holding on to your morals, you have all adjusted splendidly mentally to this outrageous situation and have surpressed your fears. I have seen newbies both think of this world as a video game believing that they were save points and that nonsense, and those who didn't believe a single word of warning that I offered like those few who died early on in this mission. Mentality is an important factor here in this world and some people are weaker then others... And that can be dangerous.

Shin: Is that why you don't look out for newbies?

Aqua: ....Yes, that's right. With real comrades I really do believe that it is possible to overcome any obstacle. In these horror filled worlds it would definitely increase the chances of survival to have skilled individuals with multiple skill sets and view points, but what normally happens when some people are brought here it is that they get scared, can't adjust well here and will drag you, your friends and themselves all down to hell. That is why I made my rule. Unless they show great promise, they at least need to survive one mission for me to even consider them comrades.

Misaki: Baptism by fire.

Aqua: That's a nice way of putting it. The first mission is always the biggest trial for new Players. You don't have increased stats or enhancements yet, so one can only rely on their luck. You guys are incredibly lucky and basically completed your first mission long as you don't do anything stupid in the remaining... eight hour or so left. Congratulations on staying alive your first go around in hell.

No one was in the mood to celebrate just for surviving so far. Maybe when this mission was truly over and done with, but not now. Now yet.

Hikari: By the way Aqua, I have a concern. How do we return to God's place? You know, the place you talked about where we go to do enhancements and get our own rooms. Does a light descend on you? Do we fade away? Or maybe a path appear before us that we have to walk to?

Aqua: Who knows. I really don't know exactly. My best bet is close to instant teleportation. The exact moment that the mission ends I always end up back to God's place, which I like to call the Terminal Lobby. You all don't have to worry about being not able to go back to the Terminal Lobby when the time comes. Long as you are alive and have your human conciseness then its all fine. Even if you are infected with a horrible virus from some world or you lost all of your arms and legs, it can all be fixed and healed up as good as new with a few points.

Hikari: You mentioned the mission. As in the Main Quest that is displayed on all of our watches. Sounds really like a video game.

Aqua: Well, this place isn't that easy. There are two types of Quest that God gives us to increase the difficulty from just entering a Mission World and just surviving.

Shin: The Main... And the Side Quest, right?

Aqua: Yeah. The Main Quest has to be completed no mater what for us to go back to the Terminal Lobby and I have never experienced a mission that said otherwise so far, but who knows. The Main will give out one or multiple objectives for us to complete for us to return. The Main Quest will always give out a 1000 point base reward for surviving any one mission. All missions from God are difficult to some degree and could kill us, but he won't give us a truly impossible Main Quest mission. Also, sometimes changing the plot greatly can lead to additional or erase preexisting objectives.

Misaki: And Side Quest?

Aqua: Side Quest are either optional or relate to one of the objectives of the Main Quest. Lets say we are given a mission to kill a boss character in a video game. If its clearly stated to defeat him in the Main Quest, we have to defeat the boss monster, but under Side Quest it would usually give us additional point rewards if God deems that doing so is hard. Either to the individual or team who completes it.

Hikari: What does that mean?

Aqua: It means if defeating the boss monster is easy or not. And what I mean by hard or not is if there is a clear cut way to beat him. Like a certain holy sword to slay or a book that can take immortality away. If there isn't such a clear path to victory and just following the story won't keep us alive, is what I mean by hard bosses to defeat, but in exchange god will offer up a lot of rewards.

I think I get what she means. A good example would Persona 3's Final boss Nyx. In Persona 3's story, everyone kept saying that it was impossible to defeat Nyx no matter how much they stood up to fight it. It turned out to be true because Nyx was part of the will of man, so she couldn't be killed long as man desired her to come. In the end, the protagonist had to seal her away by sacrificing his life. Just following the plot a team like ours could seal Nyx away, but what if it was possible to truly defeat Nyx? Then just how many points would you get? With a boss like Nyx I would imagine one would receive the highest level in points and rank rewards possible!

Aqua: An optional Side Quest would be that we could challenge the boss for extra points, yet we could avoid him and successful complete our mission, but God would make us more inclined to want to fight him.

Hikari: I would prefer to run away if all possible.

Aqua: Well, like I said, God won't make it too easy on us. It depends on the situation whether it is better to avoid or confront the boss monster. There are also easier Side Quest like killing weak opponents like undead and rioters, or other simple task like stealing an Quest Item from someone and keeping it till the end of the mission. There are also Hidden Side Quest as well.

Aqua looked at me when she mentioned that last part. She indeed suspected that I did at least one thing from constantly messing with the plot to end up with a Hidden Side Quest rewards.

Hikari: I get from the name that it is hidden and not stated on the watches, but how do you go about getting one?

Aqua: It is hard and not impossible, but I wouldn't try it unless you have the confidence to survive whatever God throws at you. Taking certain actions, or changing the plot to a huge degree can lead to a Hidden Side Quest, but it comes at the cost of upping the difficulty of the whole mission. Worse case scenario, an eight man difficulty mission like this may become equal to the highest degree of difficulty, a twenty man difficulty mission. Worse part is that God won't say or tell you by how much has the difficulty increase or what will change in the plot.

Hikari: For example?

Aqua: If I were to use a famous Mangas for example... For Dragon Ball it would be like Majin Buu awakening immediately before he has gained the required energy from the main characters. If I were to use Naruto, during the Land of Waves Mission, Naruto's Ninetail Fox's power goes out of control more than what it was supposed to and we now have to deal with him along with mission although hopefully there should be a suitable reward for subduing him.

Misaki: Sounds like it is far too dangerous to even try.

Aqua looked at me again just know to make a point. I get it already and I feel guilty already. Please stop with the deathly stare.

Aqua: You're right that it is dangerous, but you can't always be satisfied with 1000 points per mission, can you? I may, or may not try for it in a safe one like this where I have the ability to get lots of points and there are no bosses for me to defeat, but in an already difficult mission I might just go for broke and risk it.

Hikari: Please don't.

Aqua: I won't if I have comrade, but if I am alone in a mission with no experienced players, I will put my needs before newbies like you guys. Well, that is enough about the missions for now. Lets get into the good stuff.

Aqua began to go over what we could exchange from God with our points, but my thoughts were somewhere else. She was purposely vague about Side Quest and Hidden Side Quest. The only reason that I could think up was that she knew how many points one could get from them, but didn't want us to know that it was worth the risk.

Excluding points from the mysterious limit breaks, I already have more then two thousand points and together with the Main Quest I will have over 3000 points. That is more than three missions wroth of points! If you think of it like that then anyone would want to constantly go look for Hidden Side Quest no matter the risk they bring to themselves or others. What I think Aqua was trying to tell me was not to endanger her now that I know about to worth of Hidden Side Quest. What she would do to me..... I rather not think about.

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Authors Note:

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Proofread by Deltoren.

When I uploaded this chapter I decided to split it in half. What was originally the second half will be 7 - 2, and the original 7 - 2 will now be 7 - 3.

In the original Terror Infinity novel, the opponents in the second and third movies were less dangerous then the fourth movies opponent battle potential wise, but they have more points and rank rewards for winning. My reasoning is that it's because despite the fourth movies boss being the most powerful, the method to defeat him was clear from the beginning and just following the plot would insure victory.