Prologue

“Hwaaaah. I need to get some sleep. These late nights are killing me.”

He rubbed at his eyes, trying to keep himself from dozing off. He’d been swamped with work due to recent events. The world was currently going through a massive upheaval and he was but one of the many who were trying to stem the tide.

“If I knew this would happen, I’d have never taken this job.”

That was a straight up lie.

He was always going to take this post. Someone had to do it, and he had both the ability and the motivation. He had spent most of his life trying to improve the lives of others. This was just an extension of that.

“Hwaaaah! I should head to bed. There’s more paperwork for me tomorrow.”

Chris Walters, a director of the Allied Committee of International Defense, was probably the busiest man in the world.

“So we are decided?”

Five figures sat around a table. Each of them were shrouded in darkness. However, each of them knew the others intimately.

“Knowing of the consequences of mismanaging this crisis, I can not stand aside as our world dies. If we are to survive, then there is much we must do to prepare.”

The others nodded along to the leader’s speech. This was merely a formality. There was no way that they would disagree with him.

“And so our first step should be to find our missing comrades. They are lost and we must guide them back to shore. Then, we will find new allies. Those that share in our ideals. We will guide this world to salvation or damnation.”

“And so another world begins the descent to destruction.”

A strange figure stood on top of a skyscraper. How they got there was a complete mystery. Even more mysterious was the figure’s appearance. Not an inch of their body was visible, for it was completely covered by a long flowing robe. The hood was deep enough to obscure their features, making it impossible to even distinguish their gender.

“All shall crumble, all shall perish, for it is as the System wills it. Only the Decay shall remain.”

They spoke in a low pitch, too softly to make out their voice. There was no way anyone could hear them, but they spoke anyway. Maybe this was a monolog, meant only for them self.

“Ah! It is but my sacred duty to document this world. If I were to fail my Brothers and Sisters, why I would shame the very name of the Lore Seekers. And that is something I refuse to allow.”

Having completed its speech, the figure dropped off the roof, seemingly plunging to its death. However, nothing ever hit the ground.

“Captain! We’ve secured the site! What are your orders!?”

“There’s been no word from the recon squad for two weeks, correct?”

“Yes, sir! They entered the Dungeon and we haven’t had contact from them since.”

“Hmph! We don’t have the personal to spare on a second attempt. I’ll have to report this up the chain of command.”

Episode Three – Nations Stir as the World Rots

Part One

*Crack! Pshhh….ulp ulp, Ahhhh!*

“I knew it! There’s nothing like ice-cold soda! It’s the most delicious thing ever! Horrible for your health, but delicious none-the-less.”

“If you know it’s so bad for your health, then why are you drinking it?”

“Because I want to. We’ve finally returned to civilization and I’m going to live it up!”

Well she’s in high spirits. And why shouldn’t she be?

It turned out that the world had not in fact ended. Not completely at least.

“Well at least don’t go overboard. We do need to keep a low profile.”

The world at large was changed. Shattered might be a better word for it. The appearance of the World System and monsters had forever changed everything. Numerous problems had arisen because of the disaster.

Me and Alicia were relaxing in a motel room we’d booked, and Cameron was out getting groceries. Alicia was enjoying the room’s TV, while I was using a laptop I’d…… found. I was looking for info about what was going on. Scouring news sites for reactions to what had happened and looking for ways to make money.

We were almost completely broke. Alicia had been a high school student, so she didn’t have much in the way of savings. While I had some, it wouldn’t last very long. So we needed money.

“You should hold back on the drinks. We might need our supplies to last awhile.”

“And that’s what you’re for. Find us some work.”

That’s easier said than done. People just aren’t hiring right now. The economy is slowing down and the stock markets are starting to crash. Global supply chains have been completely disrupted. People are fleeing the areas nearby the disaster sites.

And this is only the beginning.

“I’m glad you’re optimistic. I’m pretty sure we’re fucked. I’m even surprised that this motel was still open. We’re not that far from Pennsylvania.”

The disaster had only spread as far as most of PA, leaving the rest of the country mercifully free of monsters. We’d spent close to three months wandering around, training and hunting. Eventually, we’d run into a division of the Army. They’d asked us to ‘evacuate’.

“We’re in Georgia! I think that’s far enough. You’re just being paranoid!”

“I don’t think a little paranoia kill us. Georgia is only three states away. Monsters could cover that distance in a matter of weeks. Nowhere is safe.”

It wasn’t just Pennsylvania. There were multiple other countries experiencing the same thing. Some had even been destroyed, with their populations decimated.

“Uuuuu…… You’re just upset that the army forced us out. If you had your way, we’d still be fighting!”

“No matter how much you whine about it, my methods show results. Both of you have gotten to D-Rank. Cameron even acquired a Skill. And both of us have further mastered ours. So long as a horde of C-Ranks don’t come after us, we’ll be able to fight off any enemy.”

“……. Whatever! I just need some time to rest and recover. If we fight all the time, I feel like I’ll break at some point. All of this is extremely stressful.”

“I’m very aware of that. That’s why I’m not complaining. Much.”

I went back to working on my laptop. I’d already looked through most of the news sites, so now I was looking for forums. I quickly found one that seemed to be focused on people who had actually survived the disaster. Some of the posts weren’t in English, which made reading everything difficult.

And the posts I could read, were mostly complaints or rants about what they’d gone through. A lot of wailing and bitching about losing their possessions or businesses. However, there was one.

This… this URL… I have no idea what it is. It’s just a long string of numbers and letters. There isn’t even anything else to tell what it’s about.

I clicked on the link. I figured that there were few disadvantages. Even if I got a virus, this wasn’t my laptop. The original owner was probably dead.

Hmm? It’s installing something? Malware? No… the original owner has, like, ten different malware programs on here. At least one should have caught it.

Whatever was downloaded finished installing. I ran a few tests and discovered that nothing seemed out of place. It didn’t even seem like anything was installed. No memory was taken, and I couldn’t even find it inside the directory. It had stumped me.

What kind of super hacker put this together? The post has only been up for two-. It’s gone! What the hell? What kind of spy bullshit did I just stumble into?

I was slightly worried, but since I only knew enough about computers to fix some common errors, I couldn’t do anything about it. Killing monsters was something I thought I knew, so that was what I wanted to focus on.

“It’s too bad we didn’t find more money. If we could’ve gotten more cash from scavenging, we wouldn’t have these problems.”

“It is what it is. Unlike some people I could mention, most don’t carry much cash with them. Paying with cards or with your phone has become more commonplace lately.”

“I know that!! But we can’t stea- scavenge digital funds. I’d prefer everyone carry cash, or at least store some in their homes.”

Looks like that’s the end of the conversation. She’s so repulsed by that last line, that she won’t look at me. But it is true. If more people had carried cash, then we wouldn’t have this problem.

“Kyaaaaaaaaa!”

Multiple screams could be heard from outside. While I wasn’t the type to rescue every person in danger, I did sometimes feel the need to help when I could. That and I found the screaming to be annoying. I pulled my helmet out of storage before running out the door.

Our room was located on the second floor, so I leaped over the railing. A drop of this degree was no problem for me. I landed in the parking lot and took off towards the screams.

“You know nothing! I’ve seen things, the world is fucked! We’re all fucked! This is the Apocalypse!”

Some crazy guy was ranting while waving a knife back and forth. He was menacing several other people, all of whom were backing away. It looked like a disagreement had spiraled out of control.

“You’re just burying your heads in the sand. You’ve never experienced the horror, the terror, the sense of utter despair! Don’t kid yourselves!” This was pathetic.

“Stop embarrassing yourself. You’re just making their case for them.”

Since I’d suddenly spoken to him from behind, he was startled and dropped his knife. Since it was no longer in his hand, I could use Analyze on it, revealing it to be a plain old knife. Disappointing, I was hoping for a new weapon.

“Who… who the hell are you? A-and what’s up with that mask?”

“Doesn’t matter. Shut the hell up. You’re disturbing everyone.”

“Fuck off! You can’t tell me what to do!”

He bent down to pick up his knife, so I smacked him on the back of the head. Seriously, that knocked you out? This is why you don’t look away from your enemy. Oh? You’re getting up?

“Get outta here. You can’t win.”

“Aaaaahh!”

He ran off, leaving the knife behind. I left as well, figuring the cops would show up soon. I took a bit of a circuitous route back to the room. I figured that as long as no one knew which room was ours, we could leave without any issues.

It hadn’t become an outright issue, but there was some prejudice against the survivors of World Decay. Most of it stemmed from the widespread panic of monster attacks. No one knew when another surge of monster could happen. This uncertainty only grew and eventually became an aversion to those who’d directly experienced it.

Hahaha. This is just disgusting. These kinds of fights are occurring everywhere. People are becoming increasingly paranoid as the days go by. The world is becoming a time-bomb. It’s only a matter of time before it explodes.

“Are you satisfied?” The second I returned, Alicia gave me snark about me running out there.

“It’s better than just doing nothing. That could’ve become a disaster. Anyone who’s gone through the System’s enhancement is too strong for ordinary people to fight.”

“Does that mean you have to help everyone in danger?”

“Not at all.” I took my helmet off. It was useful, but quite hot. “Sometimes you need to do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Life isn’t easy, especially these days.”

“Haaa, why does that make sense? Is it the logic of the insane, or do you actually think these things through?”

I threw the helmet on the bed, before grabbing a drink. “Maybe my logic is crazy, but so is the world. The common sense we had needs to be thrown away. It’ll just hold you back in dealing with our reality.”

“Fine. Fine, fine. We’ll do it your way. But by the way, your helmet looks horrible. Anyone who sees you wearing it is probably going to think you’re a monster.”

“What are you talking about? It’s perfectly fine.”

Demon's Third Eye

Rank: C

Equipment Skills: Mind’s Eye

Description: A hellmet that was crafted using parts from Lesser Demons. It’s tougher than most metals and has shock-absorbing properties.

What’s wrong with it?

It was a beautiful blood-red color. While the design was rather basic, it had a large eyeball set into the back, though I thought that was creepy. Overall, it reminded me of a helmet I saw in a video game. The skill it gave, however, was difficult to use.

Mind’s Eye allowed me to sense the space around me. It wasn’t on the level of having something like Foresight or something similar, but it would allow me to fight if my vision was impaired. But I could barely use it more than once a day. It just used too much mana. That was a pattern I’d noticed. Skills granted by equipment used more mana to activate. Sword Aura was very efficient in its use, and Alicia said that Stealth had become much easier to use as well.

“It’s disturbing to look at! And I don’t even understand how you got it! You fought that Minotaur, and after it died it just turned into that helmet. Do you do this stuff on purpose? Things designed to confuse me?”

No. That’s the System’s job, not mine.

During our adventures, we’d stumbled upon a… herd of minotaurs. Even though we’d prepared ourselves for a difficult fight, they hadn’t attacked us. Or at least not right away. Their leader had eventually challenged me to a duel. Which I’d of course won. After it had turned into my spoils, the rest had fled as fast as they could. Needless to say, the whole encounter had confused my companions.

“I don’t make these stupid settings, so don’t blame me if you don’t get it. I feel the same way, but I’ve given up. Why should I try to figure out what the hell’s up with this stupid thing? It feels like an exercise in futility.”

“Grrr, why do you always have a come-back? It’s unnatural!”

“It’s because you act like my sister. You’re both pedantic and highly emotional. So I already know how to deal with you.” Though she’s a lot more timid than you.

“Why you little-.”

She didn’t get to finish her insult, as the door had opened. Cameron had finally returned from his shopping trip, only to discover the two of us bickering like children. Though Alicia is barely an adult.

“If you two want to finish, I can come back later.”

Gaaah! How embarrassing!