Dancing with the Deaths

Chapter 5 - The Wrong Class and Supermarket Power

The morning sky outside A-117 Supermarket was neither blue nor orange, but a dreary, static gray, as if the sky's resolution was being downgraded by a central server. Inside the store, however, the atmosphere was far more tense than the color of the sky.

Marsel stood atop checkout counter number 4, holding a barcode scanner that glowed like a scepter. Before him, Tyrex, Nana, and Mr. Budi were lined up neatly between the gum and alkaline battery racks.

"Alright, listen up," Marsel said, his voice echoing in the silent room. "Our fortress energy is zero. Big zero. The side door I upgraded last night is only holding up because its physical structure is now steel, but the energy shield is dead. If one more horde of rabid dogs comes through, we're canned food."

"Your servant is ready to be a meat shield, Your Majesty!" Tyrex roared, hitting his broad chest with a solid *thud*.

"I know, Rex. But a meat shield isn't enough," Marsel aimed his scanner at Tyrex. "The System says we got a 'Performance Review' from last night's fight. There's enough XP to assign specific Classes for you guys. So we're not just relying on sheer guts."

Tyrex's eyes sparkled. "Will I become the Paladin of the Holy Cart?"

"Close," Marsel pulled the scanner's trigger.

ZING!

A red laser beam scanned Tyrex's massive body. Blue light particles gathered around his muscles, forming a thin, blood-red aura. Holographic text appeared above his head, replacing the boring word 'Survivor'.

[CLASS CHANGE: FEARLESS GUARDIAN (Lv. 1)]

[Passive Skill: Pain Tolerance (Does not feel pain until HP < 10%)]

[Active Skill: Taunt (Shouts at enemies to attack the user)]

"Fearless Guardian?" Tyrex read the text with teary eyes. "It's beautiful... The name is so manly!"

"That means you're going to get beaten up the most, Rex," Nana said anxiously.

"That is an honor, Little Medic!" Tyrex laughed heartily, then suddenly yelled at an empty magazine rack across the aisle. "HOI, UGLY MAGAZINE RACK! COME AT ME IF YOU DARE!"

WUUUNG.

The red aura on his body pulsed. Marsel felt a strange urge to punch Tyrex, but quickly dismissed it.

"Effective," Marsel muttered. "Okay, Nana, you're next."

Nana stepped forward, wringing the edge of her nurse's uniform. "W-what do I get, Mas? Please don't let it be anything weird like Tyrex's."

"You're the most important, Na," Marsel said gently.

Click.

A soft green light enveloped Nana, spinning like a small whirlwind carrying the scent of mint and antiseptic.

[CLASS CHANGE: HEALING SPRING (Lv. 1)]

[Passive Skill: Sterile Aura (Prevents Ekorupt virus infection within a 2m radius)]

[Active Skill: Heal Pulse (Fires a short-range healing wave)]

"Wow," Nana stared at her hands, which now had a light tattoo shaped like a water droplet on the back. "It feels... cool. Nice."

"You're a walking AC unit and a doctor, Na. Keep your distance from Tyrex, spam heals if he starts acting stupid," Marsel instructed.

Then, it was Mr. Budi's turn.

The middle-aged man straightened the remnants of his tie, stepping forward with his chin raised. Although his work clothes were stained with warehouse dust, he still tried to project an air of authority.

"Finally," Mr. Budi said. "I suspected the System would recognize my leadership talents. It must be something like 'Grand Strategist' or 'Chief Logistics Commander'. Come on, Marsel, scan me. Don't take too long."

Marsel suppressed a smile. He had already seen the preview on his internal screen before pressing the button. "Ready, Sir. Hold your breath."

ZING!

The light enveloping Mr. Budi was neither red nor green, but a dull brown, like rain-soaked cardboard. The sound of a sad trombone—*wah-wah-wah-waaah*—faintly emanated from the scanner's audio system.

[CLASS CHANGE: BANKRUPT FINANCIAL MANAGER (Lv. 1)]

[Passive Skill: Panic Hoarding (Increases carrying capacity when frightened)]

[Active Skill: Slippery Blame (Increases the chance of enemies ignoring the user and attacking another target)]

Silence.

Tyrex held back a laugh until his face turned purple. Nana bit her lip, pretending to cough.

Mr. Budi stared at the text above his head with his mouth agape. His eyes bulged as if they might pop out.

"What... what is this?!" he shrieked, his voice high-pitched. "Bankrupt Financial Manager?! This is slander! I have never been bankrupt! The state-owned company I managed merely... merely underwent negative fiscal adjustment!"

"The System never lies, Sir," Marsel said casually, stepping down from the counter. "Besides, the skill is useful. 'Slippery Blame'. Monsters won't attack you easily. You become... unimportant in the eyes of the enemy."

"This is an insult to my integrity!" Mr. Budi pointed at Marsel. "I want to resubmit! Redo it! The scanner must be broken!"

"There's no undo button in the apocalypse, Sir," Marsel cut in sternly, his face turning serious. "Now listen. The core team is formed. We have a Tank, a Healer, and... um... Tactical Burden."

"Logistics! Call me Logistics!" Mr. Budi protested.

"Whatever," Marsel continued. He pointed toward the large double doors behind the bread racks, which were covered in chains and thick dust. "Our mission today is simple but dangerous. We have to clear out Back Warehouse Area 5."

"Warehouse 5?" Nana asked. "Isn't that the broken goods warehouse that was sealed last year?"

"Exactly," Marsel nodded. "In there is an industrial Walk-in Freezer that's twice the size of a regular cold storage unit. The System says if we can secure it, we can get the 'Infinite Item Storage' feature. We need that to store Ekorupt corpses, food, and weapons without them spoiling."

"But that place is really dirty, Mas," Nana said.

"And it definitely has occupants," Marsel added. "Prepare yourselves. Tyrex, you're in front. Nana in the middle. Mr. Budi... take this sack. Your job is to pick up dropped loot. Don't complain."

"I'm being told to be a scavenger now?" Mr. Budi snorted, but roughly snatched the system's burlap sack anyway. "Just watch, I will prove this class is wrong. I will... manage this refuse with excellence."

***

The door to Warehouse Area 5 opened with the heart-wrenching screech of rusted hinges.

A musty smell immediately assaulted their noses. Not the stench of corpses, but the smell of old dust, decaying paper, and something sweet... too sweet.

The warehouse floor was covered in a sticky white layer.

"Snow?" Tyrex asked, stepping on the layer. Squish. His boot stuck. "No. It's sticky, Your Majesty. Like giant chewing gum."

"Webs," Marsel whispered. He turned on the flashlight on his scanner.

The flashlight beam swept across the vast room, which was filled with tall, collapsed racks. In every corner, on the ceiling, between the gaps in the cardboard boxes, intricate, thick white webs stretched out. And hanging above those webs were cocoons the size of cats.

"Nana," Tyrex whispered. "It looks like we've entered Spiderman's house."

"Don't joke," Nana pressed close to Marsel's back. "Mas, I hate spiders. Seriously, I'd rather fight the undead than spiders."

"Relax," Marsel said, though his own heart was pounding. He felt underpowered. His friends had cool skills. Him? He just had a scanner and a brain. He needed a weapon. He needed firepower. "Stay close. Don't touch the webs."

CREAK... CREAK...

The sound came from all directions. The sound of many small legs scraping against cardboard.

"Above!" Mr. Budi shouted, pointing at the ceiling with a trembling hand.

Marsel's flashlight shone upward.

Dozens of small red eyes glowed in the darkness.

They were not ordinary spiders. They were [Ekorupt Spiders (Arachnid Drone) - Lv. 2]

Their bodies were the size of motorcycle helmets, with long legs made of mutated human bones. Their faces still retained inverted human features.

"Ugh, how ugly!" Tyrex spat.

"ATTACK!" Marsel yelled.

The spiders fell from the ceiling like a nightmare rain.

SNAP!

A spider landed right on Tyrex's shopping cart shield. Tyrex immediately slammed it against the wall. *SPLAT!* Green fluid splattered.

"COME AT ME, YOU OVERSIZED FLEAS!" Tyrex activated his *Taunt* skill.

"GRAAAH!" He roared. A red sound wave emanated from his mouth.

The effect was instant. Almost all the spiders crawling on the walls immediately turned around, ignoring Marsel and the others, and leaped simultaneously toward Tyrex.

"Haha! Feel the embrace of Tyrex!" The bodybuilder spun like a top, slamming every approaching monster with his dual shields. But their numbers were too great. They began crawling up Tyrex's legs, biting his calves.

"It's a wet, ticklish pain!" Tyrex yelled, his *Pain Tolerance* skill active.

"Nana! Heal Tyrex!" Marsel commanded while hitting a spider trying to approach him with the handle of his scanner. THWACK!

"Yes! *Heal Pulse*!" Nana fired a wave of green light toward Tyrex. The bite wounds on Tyrex's legs closed instantly.

In the middle of the chaos, Marsel saw something terrifying. A spider twice the size of the others—perhaps the broodmother—was silently creeping behind a tilted metal shelf, avoiding Tyrex's *Taunt*.

Its target wasn't Tyrex. Its target was Marsel.

"Damn it," Marsel cursed. He backed up, but his foot got caught in a web on the floor.

The mother spider hissed, baring fangs that dripped purple venom. It was only three meters away. Marsel aimed his scanner, but he knew it was useless. A scanner wasn't a gun.

"Tyrex! Help!" Marsel shouted.

"Busy, Your Majesty! I have ten on my head!" Tyrex was wrestling with a pile of monsters.

The mother spider leaped.

Marsel closed his eyes, reflexively raising his hands to protect his face.

CRASH! CLANG! THUD!

The sound of metal hitting metal was incredibly loud, followed by a sharp *SQUEAK!* from the monster.

Marsel opened his eyes. He wasn't dead.

In front of him, the Mother Spider lay on the floor, buried under a mountain of sardine cans, corned beef, and canned fruit. Hundreds of cans. The total weight was probably a hundred kilos. The monster struggled, its legs broken under the weight, but it was trapped.

Marsel looked to the side.

Mr. Budi stood there, frozen in an odd pose—like someone who had just tried to stop something from falling but failed completely. Behind him, a tall metal rack that had been full of expired canned food stock was now completely empty.

"I—I..." Mr. Budi stammered, his face pale. "I... I just wanted to hide behind that rack... and then... I bumped it slightly..."

Marsel looked at Mr. Budi, then at the buried monster.

"Bumped it?" Marsel asked.

"It was an accident!" Mr. Budi yelled defensively. "That rack isn't safe! The occupational safety standards are zero! Don't blame me if the goods fall!"

Marsel laughed. A short laugh full of disbelief. The skills *Slippery Blame* and *Panic Hoarding* (or maybe just pure clumsiness) had just saved his life. Mr. Budi had dropped a 'landslide' of cans precisely when the monster jumped.

"Sir," Marsel said, walking toward the pile of cans. The monster beneath was still weakly hissing. "You are a genius. That's called a Gravity-based Area of Effect Attack."

"Huh?" Mr. Budi blinked. "Y-yes! Of course! That was... that was my calculation! Logistical Collapse Strategy!"

Marsel ignored the boasting. He stood on the pile of cans, directly above the head of the trapped Mother Spider.

"Alright, Mommy Spider. Checkout time."

Marsel held his scanner upside down like a dagger. The pointed end of its handle was coated in the system's blue light. He plunged it downward.

SQUELCH!

Purple fluid sprayed out. The spider convulsed once, then went still. Its body dissolved into a massive amount of light dust, which was sucked into Marsel's scanner.

[MINOR BOSS DEFEATED: BROODMOTHER DRONE]

[XP Received: 150]

[Fortress Energy: +50%]

[Item Drop: Ekorupt Silk Webbing (Rare)]

On the other side of the room, the remaining small spiders, having lost their mother, began to panic and fled into the dark ventilation shafts. Tyrex slumped to the floor, breathing heavily, his entire body covered in green slime.

"Did we win?" Tyrex asked, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

"We won," Marsel replied, stepping down from the pile of cans. He patted the still-shocked Mr. Budi on the shoulder. "Good job, Sir. You dealt the most damage today. Seriously."

Mr. Budi straightened his back, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his dirty silk handkerchief. "Ahem. Yes, well. I observed that the angle of the rack was optimal for an ambush. Risk management, Son. You have much to learn."

Nana approached them, shaking her head with a faint smile. "He just used up a lifetime of luck."

Marsel walked toward the end of the warehouse. There, a giant three-meter-high steel door stood firm. The main Walk-in Freezer door. There was no rust there. The door looked modern, clean, and radiated a bone-chilling cold even from two meters away.

There was a digital control panel beside it. The panel glowed red.

[FORTRESS FACILITY DETECTED: DIMENSIONAL PRESERVATION WAREHOUSE]

[Status: Locked]

[Unlock Requirement: Fortress Manager Lv. 2 (Met)]

"This is it," Marsel whispered. "Our treasure."

"Is there meat inside?" Tyrex asked hopefully.

"More than meat," Marsel placed his hand on the panel.

BEEP. CLACK. PSSSSSHHHT.

The sound of hydraulics hissed long. The thick steel door slowly slid open. A thick white fog, much colder and denser than a regular freezer, rolled out, enveloping their feet. The floor around the door immediately froze, forming ice crystals.

Marsel turned on his scanner flashlight to pierce the fog.

Inside, stainless steel racks were neatly arranged, stretching far into the back. The room looked far larger than what should fit inside the supermarket building. This was spatial manipulation. Physical inventory.

But that wasn't what made Marsel hold his breath.

In the center of the room, resting on a frozen wooden pallet, sat something that shouldn't have been there.

A transparent ice coffin. And inside, the faint silhouette of someone—or something—holding a dim blue glowing sword was visible.

"Mas," Nana whispered, clutching Marsel's sleeve. "That... that's not beef stock, is it?"

Marsel took a step back. His System suddenly flashed a red warning he had never seen before.

[WARNING: HIGH-LEVEL OBJECT DETECTED]

[TYPE: RELIC OF A FAILED HERO]

[STATUS: DORMANT (SLEEPING)]

"Close the door," Marsel said quickly. "CLOSE THE DOOR NOW!"

But before the door could slide shut, the eyes of the figure in the ice opened.

They glowed bright blue.

*