"Hahh"

Once again he was smoking, and it was already his fifth one this morning alone. After getting back from that place, Alex wore his clothes and just stared at the city while pondering for more than an hour already.

His phone rang and a person name joseph was calling him. It probably related to a job interview but Alex paid it no heed.

"Sighs" After sighing for an unknown amount already, Alex decided to go to that place.

But this time, with clothes on, and for extra protection... Alex went beside his bed and looked underneath it where he found a small box. He took it and placed it on his bed as he opened it. Some clothes were inside it, but he removed them and underneath was.. a gun...

It was black and it was called Springfield or something. Alex doesn't know much about guns. He grabbed it and check the ammo...

"What the hell... why are there only 5 left?" This gun can hold 11 rounds in total. And as far as he could remember, this was given to him at full mag.

He tried to remember and as he caught a glimpse of the reason, he immediately discarded it and put the magazine back in the gun, and said...

"Cough.. there's no point remembering the past anyways" Making sure the safety was on, he tucked it in his belt and took a deep breath.

"Alright, let's do this" He lifted his right arm and as he thought about the mark.. it appeared once again, and then his surroundings distorted, and he found himself in the monitoring room.

Waiting for him, the octopus, swayed its tentacle and welcomed him.

Alex smiled wryly and waved at it. Then he stared at the monitor and decided to take a seat.

The octopus came near him and mentally asked if he had any questions. Naturally, Alex had a ton, but before he asked any question he fiddled with the 'computer' and found that it was pretty disappointing, other than the map, there was nothing... including the map, it was empty, Alex assumed it was because he hadn't ventured out of this place yet After that. Alex spent nearly half an hour, Alex asking questions to an octopus.

What he found out was.... despairing at least.

First of all, his location, although it was explained by that mysterious existence who didn't even bother asking for his permission if he wanted to do this, he was currently in the void connected to the broken world and earth. The abyss can't directly open and connect to the earth instead it uses a broken world as a proxy for invasion. Something like the lands between. And just so happen a broken world found earth and is planning to swallow it. if he wanted to venture out to the broken world he can open up a passage from here to there. As for what hell encounter there? From the images alone transmitted by the octopus, it was guaranteed he'd have nightmares tonight.

Second, He was given the power of authority but he was still a bit confused by what he can do, and just so happens the octopus only knows so little of it as well. But it was sure of things, it was related to territory.

Alex held his head in pain.

Obviously, he had no territory, and to gain one, it was simple, he only needs to venture out into the broken world and gather abyss fragments or shards, which the octopus transmitted an image to him, and this can be found in unique places and even... inside monsters.

In short, he needed to explore a place full of nightmares, all by himself, who, God knows what kind of abomination he could encounter, gather shards, consume it, and once that's done, he could have authority on the said area.

Once that happens, he becomes the lord of that area. And creatures will fear and maybe even obey him he will become the strongest in his territory! ...As if... Truth was, even the octopus barely knows what happens when I gain a territory, only that it's my hope for saving the world.

Another shard he needed to get is a black crystal found in newly formed monsters. The octopus said that it's very useful and could help me.

In short, aside from the ability to move out of this place and opened up a passage going into the broken world, he had no cheats...

Alex sighs thinking of this.

He also asked the octopus questions like who was the one who chose him, why the abyss is opening in the world, where these said gates are when doomsday will come, what are the creatures he could face, and many more.

Alex breathed deeply and calmed himself down. For a lot of his questions, the octopus couldn't answer, 'maybe its not that bad.' He tried to motivate himself.

"Oh by the way, what is this place? I mean what's inside here anyway?'"

The octopus stopped waving its tentacles and then it jolted as if remembering something.

"What is it? Did you remember something? Is it something good??" Alex asked with hopeful eyes but what the octopus answered gave him chills.

"You mean.... there's a monster right here right now?" The octopus transmitted to him an image of the monsters and what he saw made all the horror movies go to shame at its appearance. Its grotesque appeared, its body seemed like wrinkled flesh stitched together, with insect-like legs, and a human-like head, with circle eyes, no nose but sharp teeth. Frankly, he had no idea how to explain it, that thing is just so otherworldly it shouldn't exist.. but right now.. it's inside this supposedly safe place.

Immediately, he grabbed his gun and pointed it at the dark corridor where he came from. Sweat trickled down his face as he asked the octopus with a whisper...

"How did that thing get in here?? I thought this would be a safe place" Then he remembered shouting when he first came here and sweat trickled down his back.

But the octopus had no idea as it was already here when it got here.

"Shit" Staring at the dark corridor that seemed to want to swallow him. Alex thought about what to do. Then a thought came to him and he asked the octopus.

"Can I go back from here to back to my world with no hindrances?" Alex wanted to know if there was any restriction on going back on forth like, in the games when you can't teleport back home when you're in battle. Thankfully the octopus shook its head and said there was no problem.

But wanting to make sure, while still pointing the gun at the dark corridor, Alex thought about going back to his world. And it took a few seconds before he found himself in his room, then without moving he once again thought about going to that space, and this time it took a much shorter time.

Knowing he could easily get out of this place put relief in his heart.

He asked the octopus where the creature lay and it said... it mostly stays in the last corridor on the right. He tried to ask for more details but got nothing.

He pondered for a bit and finally decided to do something stupid... he was gonna try and kill it right now. He had 5 bullets and judging by the image shown by the octopus, the thing was a bit smaller than him. To stay in this place he needed to kill it anyway so what better time than now?

It was definitely not because he wanted to personally see it for himself. He was not that stupid. So steeling himself, Alex grabbed the octopus that was pretty squishy and put it on his shoulders as he steeled himself.