Chapter 2 : The First Hunt

The barricade exploded inward, sending wooden planks and glass shards flying. A monstrous limb—elongated, covered in pulsing veins—slammed into the floor, cracking the tiles beneath it.

Then came the screams.

The creatures surged forward, grotesque forms twisting as they lunged toward the players.

Ethan’s grip tightened on the Void Edge.

His instincts screamed at him to run, but deep inside, something shifted.

He wasn’t just a victim in this.

He had a weapon.

He had power.

And he was going to use it.

“Get ready!” the tactical guy shouted, raising his pistol.

The first monster pounced—a twisted humanoid with its jaw unhinged, dripping black ichor.

Bang!

A bullet ripped through its skull, but instead of falling, the creature twitched, its head snapping unnaturally before it kept moving.

“What the—?”

The realization hit all of them at once.

Headshots weren’t enough.

The monster shrieked and lunged again.

Ethan moved.

His Void Edge glowed, the black blade humming with a strange energy.

Slash.

A clean, precise cut.

The moment the edge made contact, the monster froze—its body distorting like static before vanishing entirely.

No corpse. No blood.

Just… erased.

Ethan stared at his blade, breath caught in his throat.

What the hell was this weapon?

A notification blinked before his eyes.

[First Kill Bonus: +1 Stat Point]

[Void Edge Special Effect: Annihilation Triggered.]

No time to process it.

More monsters poured in.

The players fought back—some wielding makeshift weapons, others using their newly acquired system-granted ones.

The girl in the hoodie—a dagger user—moved like lightning, weaving between creatures and slashing throats.

The tactical guy—now dual-wielding a pistol and a combat knife—covered their flanks, barking orders.

But despite their efforts, the monsters were relentless.

A player wielding a metal pipe screamed as a clawed hand tore into his abdomen, pulling out intestines like wet rope.

[Player #488 Eliminated.]

A woman swung an axe wildly, but a creature grabbed her wrist and twisted—the sickening crack of bone was drowned by her dying screams.

[Player #365 Eliminated.]

They were losing.

There were too many.

Ethan's mind raced.

There has to be a way to turn the tide.

His gaze darted toward the far end of the store. Beyond the shattered shelves and overturned mannequins, a stairwell sign flickered weakly.

“The second floor!” he shouted. “We can funnel them into a choke point!”

The tactical guy caught on immediately. “Everyone, move!”

The survivors sprinted for the stairs, Ethan covering their retreat.

The monsters gave chase, their howls echoing through the store.

As Ethan reached the stairwell, he turned for one last look—

—just as something massive crawled in through the entrance.

His blood ran cold.

This wasn’t like the others.

It was bigger, its form shifting like liquid shadow, multiple glowing eyes blinking across its amorphous face.

The system chimed.

[WARNING: MID-BOSS DETECTED – “HARBINGER OF GLUTTONY”]

The thing let out a gurgling hiss—then charged.

Ethan barely had time to leap up the stairs before the creature smashed through the lower level, sending debris flying.

“This just keeps getting worse,” the girl muttered.

The second floor wasn’t safe for long.

And now, they had a boss to deal with.

The Second Floor – Temporary Haven

Panting, Ethan stumbled onto the second floor, quickly scanning their surroundings.

They were in what used to be a clothing department—racks of torn, dust-covered outfits lay scattered across the space. The emergency exit sign flickered weakly in the dim lighting.

More importantly, there was only one way up—the stairwell they just came through.

“We can use this,” Ethan said, forcing himself to stay calm. “We hold this position. They have to come up the stairs. That bottleneck gives us a chance.”

The tactical guy nodded. “Agreed. We control the flow.”

The remaining survivors—barely six out of the original fifteen—regrouped.

One of them, a young man with glasses, was visibly shaking. “We—we can’t fight that thing! Did you see it?! It’s—”

A sharp smack interrupted him.

The dagger girl pulled her hand back, her expression cold. “Panic later. Fight now.”

Ethan had no time to comfort anyone.

The Harbinger of Gluttony was coming.

Boss Battle: Harbinger of Gluttony

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The stairwell trembled as the creature clawed its way up, its inky-black form twisting in unnatural ways.

It didn’t move like a solid being.

It was wrong—a mass of shifting flesh, eyes blinking across its surface, mouths forming and disappearing at random.