Everyone Thinks I'm the Strongest

Chapter 2: Accidental Heroism

"It says I’m a thief, Marcus. And the door… the door just unlocked."

Rian didn't wait for a response. He shoved the door open, his sneakers slick with the black fluid still leaking from the creature’s ruined skull. The hallway was a claustrophobic nightmare of flickering emergency lights and the scent of singed wiring.

"Rian? Rian, talk to me! What did you steal? What are you talking about?" Marcus’s voice crackled through the wall, tinny and frantic.

"I don't know, Marcus! I just… I need to move. Everything is screaming at me to move."

"Don't go out there! The hallway is crawling with those things!"

"I’m already out, Marcus. I have to go."

Rian bolted. He didn't look back at his apartment, where the purple interface was still pulsing faintly in the air, a phantom limb he couldn't get rid of. He hit the main corridor and froze. Three of his neighbors—Mrs. Gable from 4B, a guy named Elias from the gym, and a sobbing girl clutching a backpack—were pinned against the elevator bank by a screeching, twitching mess of limbs that looked like a human turned inside out.

"Help!" the girl screamed. "Please, someone help us!"

"Don't look at it," Rian hissed, skidding to a halt. "Just keep your eyes on the floor."

"Are you insane?" Elias shouted, his hands glowing with a dull, failing amber light. "Run the other way, man! That thing just ate Dave!"

"I’m not running," Rian said, though his heart was hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs. "The service stairs. Are they clear?"

"The stairwell is blocked by rubble!" Mrs. Gable wailed, clutching a knitting bag like a shield. "We’re trapped! We’re all going to die!"

"Move," Rian commanded, his voice sounding sharper than he felt. "Get behind me."

"Why should we listen to you?" Elias spat, stepping forward. "You’re just the guy who complains about the trash chute being full."

"Do you want to argue, or do you want to live?" Rian countered, his eyes darting to the monster.

The creature whipped its head around, its jaw unhinging to reveal rows of needle-thin, serrated teeth. It hissed, the sound echoing like wet sandpaper.

"It sees us!" the girl shrieked.

"Run! Now!" Rian grabbed the girl’s arm, pulling her toward a narrow maintenance door near the trash compactor.

"That's a dead end, you idiot!" Elias yelled, but he scrambled after them anyway, his amber light sputtering out entirely.

They ducked into the service alcove. Rian didn't head for the main stairwell; he slammed his shoulder into the drywall behind the pipes. It felt hollow. He clawed at the paneling, the purple text in his vision blurring, then suddenly aligning into a jagged arrow pointing through the wall.

"This way," Rian muttered, kicking the panel. It gave way with a splintering groan, revealing a cramped, dusty shaft used for high-voltage cables.

"What is that? A crawlspace?" Mrs. Gable stared, horrified.

"It’s an exit," Rian said. "Get in. Now."

"How do you know it goes anywhere?" Elias demanded, hovering at the edge of the opening.

"I just know. Stop asking questions and get your ass in there before that thing decides we’re dessert."

They tumbled into the darkness of the shaft, the air thick with the smell of ozone and damp concrete. Above them, the creature slammed into the wall they had just vacated, the impact vibrating through the floorboards.

"You’re a scout, aren't you?" the girl whispered, shivering in the dark. "You’re like… a pathfinder or something?"

Rian paused, the purple text dancing before his eyes. ‘THIEF OF VOIDS: DETECTING PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE.’

"Sure," Rian lied, his voice steadying. "I’m a scout. Keep moving."

"I knew it," Elias muttered, his bravado returning. "I saw you take down that beast earlier. You didn't even flinch."

"I was terrified," Rian whispered, mostly to himself.

"Humble," Mrs. Gable breathed. "A true professional."

Rian didn't correct them. He navigated the cramped space, following the glowing purple trajectory his 'Thief' ability painted on the floor. It felt like walking through a map that only he could see, a thread of light cutting through the chaos of the building.

"Where are we even going?" Elias asked, his breath hitching.

"Outside," Rian said. "The system is trying to keep us contained. If we stay in the halls, we’re just XP for those things."

"How do you know that?"

"Because," Rian stopped, looking at the faint, shimmering wall of purple code at the end of the shaft. "Everything about this feels like a game rigged to kill us. So, we’re going to stop playing by the rules."

"Wait," the girl said, pointing forward. "Is that… light?"

They emerged into a small, sub-level storage room. The door ahead led straight to the alleyway behind the complex. But as Rian reached for the handle, his vision turned completely violet.

A notification block expanded, filling his entire field of view, obscuring the door, the walls, and the faces of the terrified people behind him.

‘WARNING: VOID BREACH DETECTED. AREA INTEGRITY: 0%.’

The floor beneath them didn't just vibrate; it dissolved. Rian looked down, and instead of concrete, there was only a swirling, bottomless abyss of static.

"Rian?" the girl’s voice sounded miles away. "Rian, the floor… where did the floor go?"

Rian grabbed the door handle, but it turned into smoke beneath his fingers. He turned back to the others, his stomach dropping into the void.

"Everyone," Rian shouted, his voice cracking. "Don't move! The world is literally deleting itself!"

"What do you mean deleting?" Elias shrieked, clutching the edge of a steel shelf as his boots began to fray into pixels.

"We’re in the wrong place!" Rian lunged for the girl, grabbing her hand just as the ground vanished entirely.

They plummeted into the darkness, but as they fell, Rian saw it—a massive, glowing red eye opening in the void beneath them, watching their descent with a hunger that wasn't digital. It was ancient.

‘CONGRATULATIONS,’ the system text flickered in Rian’s eyes, cold and clinical. ‘YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS A TEST SUBJECT FOR THE VOID LEVEL. SURVIVAL RATE: 0.0001%.’

"Hold onto me!" Rian roared, but his voice was swallowed by the hum of a thousand dying worlds.