DEADLY GAME SYSTEM

Chapter four: The night of shadows

The infirmary around them shimmered, then reformed into something else.

The players stood in a wide, desolate clearing surrounded by twisted black trees. The ground was littered with sharp stones, and the air smelled faintly of iron and rot. Above them, the sky was pitch black, no stars, no moon—only an oppressive void.

A cold wind rattled through the branches.

Then the system voice echoed.

[Quest Two Initialized.]

Quest 2: Survive the Night of Shadows

Objective: Endure until dawn.

Reward: 500_1000 points (based on performance).

Failure: Death.

[Time Limit: 8 Hours.]

The words hung heavy.

Silence.

Then panic erupted.

“What does that mean?!” one girl shrieked her black hair bouncing as she panicked.

“Are we supposed to just… just sit here?” A blonde haired boy said 

Ethan looked at him, he was James from his dorm 

“No,” Lena said grimly. “The system never makes things that easy. Survive means something is coming for us.”

“Well I'm sleepy” Jamal said and laid on the ground 

Everyone looked at him, Ethan looked around and lay down on the floor too

 Everyone dropped down to the floor and rested 

As if on cue, a low howl echoed from the tree line. Something primal. Hungry.

The group tensed.

Sophia whimpered, clutching her arm. Marcus’s jaw tightened, his knuckles white around a jagged stone he refused to drop. 

Oliver, predictably, cursed and flailed. “This is insane! We can’t fight eight hours straight! We’re screwed!”

Ethan forced himself to focus, his mind racing. Eight hours. Predators. Shadows.

He scanned the clearing. The twisted trees cast long, jagged silhouettes across the rocky ground. The shadows shifted unnaturally, stretching and curling even though there was no light to move them.

It clicked.

“The shadows,” Ethan said, his voice cutting through the chaos. “That’s the key. Whatever’s hunting us… it moves through shadows. Look at the ground.”

Everyone’s eyes followed his pointing finger. Indeed, the darkness seemed alive, writhing like liquid.

Lena swore under her breath. “You’re saying the monsters use the dark itself to attack us?”

“Yes,” Ethan said. “Which means if we want to survive the night, we need light. As much as possible.”

Oliver scoffed. “Light? With what, genius? Did you pack a lantern in your pizza bag?”

Ethan ignored him and crouched near one of the trees. Its bark was rough and dry, splintering easily beneath his hand. “Wood,” he said. “We can make torches. Fires. Anything to keep them back.”

Marcus caught on quickly. He ripped down a branch with brute strength.

 “We split up, gather as much as we can, and pile it here.”

The group scattered, ripping at branches, grabbing anything that might burn. Soon, a crude pile of wood formed in the center of the clearing.

“Now how do we set up the fire genius?“ Marcus asked sarcastically 

A girl walked up to them

Her blonde short hair was frizzy and around her, she had a tattoo on her neck

She handed a lighter over to Ethan

“I smoke” she said and walked back 

Ethan have the lighter to Marcus 

And Marcus set the fire.

Warmth spread through the air. The shadows recoiled, shrinking back from the glow.

Ethan let out a shaky breath. “It works.”

But the relief was short-lived.

A guttural growl echoed from the tree line. Yellow eyes blinked in the darkness—dozens of them.

And then the predators emerged.

They were wolf-like in shape but wrong—too large, too thin, their limbs stretched and twisted. Their bodies were pure shadow, shifting like smoke, with fangs that gleamed white and solid. They prowled in a circle around the fire, snarling, waiting.

Sophia whimpered. “There’s too many…”

“They won’t cross the fire,” Ethan said firmly. “Stay in the light. Don’t break the circle.”

For the first hour, it worked. The creatures stalked but did not approach, their snarls vibrating through the night. Every now and then, one would lunge at the edge, only to recoil when the flames licked higher.

But the fire ate wood fast. Too fast.

By the second hour, the flames were shrinking.

“We don’t have enough fuel,” Lena hissed, eyes darting nervously.

Marcus cursed under his breath. “We’ll run out before dawn.”

Oliver exploded. “I told you this was hopeless! We’re going to die in here!”

“Shut up,” Ethan snapped. His mind raced. Fire kept them alive, but they couldn’t just sit there waiting for it to burn out. They needed strategy.

He studied the predators pacing just out of reach. Their movements weren’t random—they flinched harder at sparks, and their forms seemed thinner near the light’s edge.

“They hate direct contact with flame,” Ethan realized aloud. “Torches. If we split some wood into smaller pieces, we can arm ourselves. That way if they breach the fire, we can push them back.”

Marcus nodded immediately, ripping apart a branch to fashion a crude torch. Lena followed, her movements quick and efficient. Soon, several of them were holding flames in their hands.

When the first predator lunged, Marcus jabbed forward with the torch. The shadow-creature let out a screech and dissolved into smoke.

[Player 390: Marcus Hale – Kill Registered.]

[+200 Points.]

The system’s voice was cold, indifferent.

Marcus grinned savagely. “They’re not invincible.”

Hope flickered—just barely.

The next hours blurred into a nightmare of snarls, firelight, and screams. The predators came in waves, lunging and retreating, testing the humans’ circle. Torches flared, creatures screeched and dissolved, and sweat poured down Ethan’s face as he fought exhaustion.

Players fell. One boy’s torch went out, and the shadows swallowed him whole in seconds.

[Player Eliminated.]

Another girl panicked and bolted into the dark. Her scream lasted less than a heartbeat.

[Player Eliminated.]

By the fifth hour, the survivors were fewer, huddled tighter around the dwindling fire. Ethan’s arms ached, his throat raw from shouting, but his mind stayed sharp. He forced himself to think of patterns—timing, rotation, conserving energy.

“Take turns,” he ordered hoarsely. “Two fight, the others rest. Rotate every ten minutes.”

“Then how do we win points” The girl with tattoos said

“The points are for surviving the night, killing a monster is extra 200+points” Ethan said 

To his surprise, even Marcus followed his direction. Even Oliver—grumbling and pale—obeyed.

Ethan Cole. Pizza boy. The nobody they mocked. Now the one holding them together.

By the seventh hour, the predators grew frenzied, throwing themselves at the circle in desperation. Torches blazed, smoke choked the air, and the survivors screamed as they fought to keep the dark at bay.

Then, finally—

The void above began to pale. A faint gray shimmer spread across the sky.

The predators shrieked as if in pain, their bodies unraveling into smoke. One by one, they dissolved, until the clearing was silent again.

The fire smoldered. The survivors—bloodied, exhausted, shaking—looked at each other in disbelief.

They’d made it.

[Quest Two Completed.]

Player 382: Ethan Cole

Points Earned: 1000

Total: 1500

Life Saves: 1

Other players’ screens flickered with varying totals. Marcus had more kills, earning slightly higher points. Lena wasn’t far behind. Oliver… barely scraped through.

The system voice returned.

[Survivors: 120.]

[Proceed to the next chamber.]

A doorway of pale light opened at the edge of the clearing.

The survivors staggered toward it.

Ethan followed, every muscle screaming, but his mind sharper than ever.

The system wasn’t just killing them. It was testing them. Strength. Wits. Endurance. Each quest designed to strip away the weak until only the strongest—or smartest—remained.

And Ethan knew one thing for certain as he stepped through the door:

If he didn’t keep thinking ahead, he’d be next.