Cheat In Apocalypse

Six

There was still at least fifteen minutes before the system would descend on Earth. Once it arrived, portals would erupt across the planet, each one acting as an entry point to dungeons scattered throughout countless distant worlds. Creatures from those realms would slip through as soon as the portals formed. The system called them Abyss Gates.

There were only two types. Blue Abyss Gates offered a period of preparation before monsters spilled out. Red Abyss Gates provided no such mercy. The moment a red Abyss Gate formed, monsters surged forth without pause or warning.

On the day of the apocalypse, every Abyss Gate that appeared had been red. Humanity had been thrown into chaos before it even understood what was happening. Most people could not make sense of the strange prompts that flashed before them or grasp the danger behind them. The confusion, fear, and lack of preparation led to the deaths of three billion people in only a short time.

Ray stood quietly as he arrived at the same spot he remembered from before his regression. He let out a slow breath. “The population of 8.2 billion is about to fall to 5 billion. I cannot do anything about that. All I can do is stay alive,” he thought while rain continued to fall around him.

Everything matched his memories. In his past life, the rainfall had stopped just moments before the descent of the system. People would soon start stepping out of shops and buildings. Then the change would begin.

Ray glanced at the small burger shop beside the office building where he used to work. He remembered a particular couple who had walked out just before the rain broke apart.

“That couple should be coming out any time now,” he thought.

Almost as if someone had pressed a replay button on the universe, the couple stepped out of the burger shop the moment the rain ended. Ray’s eyes narrowed as old memories resurfaced. The boyfriend had not survived the metamorphosis. His body had failed to withstand the strain and collapsed. Soon after, he became a Vileborn.

A cold wind cut across the street, followed by a warmer breeze that moved through the narrow space between buildings. “He should be heading into a seizure right about now,” Ray murmured.

A second later, the boyfriend dropped to the ground and began convulsing violently. His girlfriend screamed, kneeling beside him as tears spilled down her cheeks.

People had never understood, not until far too late, that the metamorphosis began before the system officially descended. That was why some collapsed early. Their bodies were already being forced to change.

As Ray expected, a translucent prompt appeared before his eyes, followed by a rapid chain of messages.

[A solar system with a viable star and planets has been identified in the Milky Way galaxy in Sector Omega-8.]

[Locating lifeforms capable of awakening evolutionary traits...]

[Two planets housing lifeforms with evolutionary traits have been found.]

[Registering the solar system with its star, referred to as 'Sun' by the inhabitants, into the database.]

[Arousing the planets in this solar system to release otherworldly essences into the atmosphere simultaneously...]

Ray felt sweat slide down his cheek, though he barely noticed it. A grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “It is really happening. This is real. I have truly regressed.”

He had already accepted the possibility, yet some small trace of doubt had lingered. Now that doubt vanished.

As the final message faded, he noticed currents of strange energy rising from the earth and swirling upward. They gathered in the atmosphere like invisible tides converging into one sky.

Then a sensation struck him, sharp and unfamiliar. “What is this? I never felt anything like this before my regression,” he wondered.

He forced the distraction aside. He needed to prepare.

Ray pulled out the small ten-by-ten-inch cage containing the live rat. In his other hand, he held the axe he had purchased earlier. His breathing sped up despite his attempts to stay calm. He positioned himself behind the couple, watching the boyfriend’s condition worsen.

The ground trembled. A deeper quake followed, rolling through the city like a giant shifting beneath the surface.

“This is when the towers arrive,” Ray thought. His gaze remained locked on the man who was already sliding into the early stages of becoming a Vileborn.

The shaking stopped as abruptly as it had begun. A massive structure appeared at the center of the city. The Tower of Transcendance had manifested once again.

New system messages replaced the previous ones.

[The System has arrived on your habitable planet, known as 'Earth,' and has forced its inhabitants to undergo metamorphosis. You have gained the right to evolve.]

[In five seconds, monsters from countless realms will invade Earth.]

[Remaining Time: 5 seconds.]

[Kill monsters, and you might survive.]

[Remaining Time: 4 seconds.]

[You can now view your attributes, talents, abilities, and skills by simply thinking about them.]

Ray looked at the rat trapped inside the cage. Blood leaked from its mouth as its tiny body stretched and swelled. Its bones cracked and reformed. In seconds, the creature grew from a small rat into something the size of a cat.

He turned his attention to the flytrap sapling resting in the bottle he had bought. It, too, was reacting. The leaves thickened and unfolded. The stem expanded. Rows of sharp teeth formed along the edges of each leaf as the plant began pushing its way out of the bottle.

[Remaining Time: 3 seconds.]

“Come on. Just a little longer,” Ray whispered, tension coiling in his chest.

The time was not right yet. He needed the final message before he could kill anything. Only then would achievements and leveling activate. A single premature strike would cost him everything.

[Remaining Time: 2 seconds.]

His hands trembled in spite of himself. He knew better than anyone that he was the weakest person here. The man convulsing on the ground was moments away from a complete transformation. Once fully turned, the Vileborn would rip apart anything nearby. If Ray misjudged his timing for even an instant, he would die before he could lift the axe again.

He had to end it in one blow.

[Remaining Time: 1 second.]

“It is here,” Ray whispered as a red Abyss Gate began forming a short distance away, the air distorting like heated glass.

The rat’s transformation reached a grotesque peak. The cage strained as the creature grew larger, its face twisting into something feral and jagged. Two long fangs jutted past its lips. Spikes formed along its tail. Its eyes glowed a vicious shade of red.

The mutated flytrap burst free from the bottle entirely. Its roots pierced the asphalt and spread beneath the ground. The leaves loomed above the cracked plastic container, edged with razor-like teeth.

The man finished his transformation and rose. The creature he had become towered over the girl who knelt beside him. She backed away, shaking uncontrollably as she stared at what had once been her boyfriend.

[Remaining Time: 0 second.]

“Damn it,” Ray whispered as the final moment arrived and the world shifted into the beginning of its nightmare.