2026-01-08 08:01:00The door to the emergency staircase creaked open with a deafening sound. Behind it, thick darkness greeted them, bringing with it the smell of dust, damp concrete, and something vaguely rotten. The air inside felt heavy and suffocating.
"I'll be in front. Cindy, you're right behind me. Abigail in the middle, and Andy, you close the line at the back," Satria instructed. His voice was low and echoed in the narrow space. "Keep your distance, but don't get separated. Use the wall for support. Don't make a sound."
No one argued. They entered the vertical black hole one by one. The door behind them closed with a final 'CLANG,' locking them away from the outside world and swallowing the remaining light. Now, the only illumination was a faint sliver of light filtering in from small windows on each stair landing.
First floor. Second. Third.
The only sounds were their muffled footsteps and their rapidly quickening breaths. Every floor felt identical: ten steps, a landing, then ten more steps. Monotonous and stifling.
On the fifth floor, Abigail began to fall behind. Her injured leg throbbed painfully. Every time she stepped up, a pain like being stabbed by hot needles shot through her calf.
"Wait..." she whimpered softly, gasping for air.
Satria stopped, looking down into the darkness. He couldn't see Abigail's face, only her trembling silhouette.
"I can't... keep going..."
Andy, who was right behind Abigail, remained silent. A small part of him felt satisfied seeing the girl in pain, because it meant Satria had to stop. Satria's "perfect" plan was hindered.
Satria descended a few steps. "Don't be a burden," he said, his tone flat, yet his words were sharp. "You'll get us all killed here."
Abigail flinched, hot tears welling up in her eyes, a mixture of pain and shame.
"Get on my back." Satria commanded.
Without waiting for consent, Satria crouched down, turning his back to Abigail. "Get on. Fast."
Abigail hesitated for a moment. Cindy gave her a gentle push. "Go on, just do what he says."
Awkwardly, Abigail climbed onto Satria's back. Satria stood up easily, as if Abigail's weight meant nothing. He started climbing the stairs again, his pace steady and not slowing down in the slightest.
[Warning: Stamina is draining 15% faster due to additional load]
Satria ignored the system notification. This was a simple calculation. Speed was key. Exhaustion could be recovered, but a sudden attack could not.
The sight burned Andy's eyes. Abigail, the girl he should have been protecting, was now being carried by the man he hated most. Her arms were wrapped around Satria's neck, her face resting on his sturdy shoulder. It was an intimate image—the image of a savior and the saved. And Andy? He was just a spectator in the back row, panting in the dark.
"He didn't even offer me help," Andy thought bitterly. "He just wants to show off. He wants to show Cindy and Abigail how strong he is and how useless I am."
The hatred became fuel. As his legs began to feel heavy on the tenth floor, Andy focused all his fatigue and frustration into a cold rage directed at the figure ahead.
THUD!
THUD!
BUMP! BUMP!
As they passed the twelfth floor, a sound made them all freeze. A loud, rhythmic thudding sound from behind the steel door on the landing. Something inside knew they were outside.
Satria signaled with his hand for total silence. He slowly lowered Abigail, pressing his ear against the cold steel door.
"Grrrroooaaarr..."
A low, wet growl came from the other side, followed by the sound of claws scraping metal.
"There are a few inside," Satria whispered. "They can't get out. The door is locked from our side."
"What should we do?" Cindy whispered, her voice barely audible.
"Keep climbing. But not a single sound."
It was the hardest test. They had to pass the door, mere inches from the starving monsters, holding their breath. One by one, they stepped on the edge of the stairs, trying not to cause the slightest creak.
Satria passed. Cindy succeeded. Abigail, enduring the pain, also managed to cross with Satria's help.
Now it was Andy's turn. As he passed, the hatred inside him surged. A cunning and malicious thought crossed his mind. *What if I 'accidentally' make a noise? Satria would surely step forward to deal with it. Maybe he'd get hurt. Maybe even...*
His feet stopped right in front of the door. He could feel the vibrations of the impact on the other side. It would only take one small kick. One "carelessness."
"Andy, hurry!" Cindy whispered from above.
Satria's gaze from the darkness felt sharp, piercing him. Andy flinched. He saw his own reflection in the dull steel door—the face of a coward. He didn't dare.
With a pounding heart, he quickened his pace, catching up with the others.
Fifteenth floor. Sixteenth. Seventeenth.
Their lungs felt like they were burning. Their legs were like jelly. The darkness, the silence, and the exhaustion became an overwhelming psychological torment.
Finally, on the twentieth floor, they saw it. No longer a gray steel door, but an ordinary wooden door with the words "ROOFTOP ACCESS." A thin sliver of light seeped from beneath the door.
Satria signaled for everyone to stand back. He didn't open it immediately. He pressed his ear against it, listening.
Silence. Only the sound of the wind.
He sniffed the air from the gap under the door. The smell of wood smoke. The smell of fresh air. No rotten odor.
Very slowly, Satria turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. He pushed it slightly. The bright afternoon sunlight immediately hit his face, making him squint.
He stepped out first, his crowbar ready to swing.
The rooftop was vast, filled with air conditioning units and water towers. In the center, there was a small, nearly extinguished bonfire, the source of the smoke they had seen.
And surrounding the fire stood two men. Both held makeshift weapons—spears made from iron pipes with kitchen knife tips tied on. They looked thin and tense. Their faces were shocked to see the rooftop door open.
"Stop right there!" shouted one of them, the skinnier man named Bima. He raised his spear, though his hand trembled slightly.
The other man, Rizal, stared straight at Satria. His eyes widened as he recognized the figure. The same figure he had seen through the binoculars. The figure who calmly walked through a hell of fire and the undead.
Cindy, Abigail, and Andy stepped out behind Satria, gasping for breath and confused by the welcome.
Rizal lowered his weapon slightly, his gaze fixed on Satria, filled with a strange mixture of fear and admiration.
"You..." he said, his voice hoarse. "You're the one. The one down there earlier."
He swallowed hard before uttering the nickname that had crossed his mind when he witnessed Satria's prowess from afar.
"You... the God of War."
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CHAPTER 119: CALL OF WAR
The afternoon sun hung low in the western sky, bathing the concrete walls of CitraLand in orange light resembling the color of rust. Outside the main gate, construction activity was at its peak. The sound of hammers, chainsaws, and foreman shouts filled the air.Alexander stood atop a pile of light bricks, holding a crumpled roll of blueprints. Beside him, Bima was wiping sweat with a dirty towel, while Hasan—now serving as tactical defense chief—was checking the trench slope angle with a serious face."The angle must be forty-five degrees," Hasan muttered, pointing at the excavation. "Too steep, the soil collapses. Too shallow, Roy's troops can climb it while smoking.""But we're short on cement for reinforcement, San," complained one foreman."Use bones," Alexander interrupted suddenly. He didn't look up from the blueprints, but his flat voice cut through the debate. "Tell my corpse arm
CHAPTER 118: FIRST FIRE AT THE BORDER
The sky above the border of East Java and Central Java was pitch gray, covered in thin volcanic ash carried by the wind from active volcanoes. In an old fishing village on the coast of Tuban long abandoned by humans, silence was usually the sole ruler.However, today, the sound of simultaneous, heavy marching footsteps shook the sandy ground of the village.Not the footsteps of terrified survivors, nor the shambling steps of the walking dead dragging their feet. This was the stomp of military boots marching in a terrifying rhythm.One battalion of scout troops from Roy's faction had arrived.They were zombies, but their appearance was a nightmarish parody of an armed force. Their rotting bodies were clad in the remnants of camouflage uniforms of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) modified with rusty iron plates and used tire rubber as armor. On their heads, cracked Kevlar helmets were fitted
CHAPTER 117: AUDIENCE IN THE HEART OF ALAS PURWO
(Flashback: Two Years Ago)The forest at the eastern tip of Java didn't just stay silent. The forest breathed.In the depths of Alas Purwo, Banyuwangi, giant banyan trees towered as high as skyscrapers, covering the sky with a canopy of leaves so dense that even the midday sun failed to penetrate it. The air here felt heavy, humid, and smelled of ancient earth mixed with the sweet scent of decaying chlorophyll.Elena walked slowly over a carpet of thick moss. Her wedding dress, once white, had turned dull gray, torn here and there by thorns. Her bluish-pale skin contrasted with the gloom of the forest. Beside her, little Sofia walked hugging her one-eyed teddy bear, her small footsteps making no sound.Behind them, thousands of zombies they brought from Surabaya stopped at the forest border. Their undead instincts screamed in fear. They knew, inside there, was something far older and hungrier than th
CHAPTER 116: DANCE OF DEATH ON THE OPEN SEA
Five hours had passed since The Redeemer left the river mouth and entered the open waters of the Java Sea. The silence of the night had now turned into a terrifying symphony. The previously clear, starry sky was now covered by thick black clouds. The wind blew harder, raising three-meter waves that slammed against the hull with loud thuds.In the wheelhouse, Rizal struggled to maintain the ship's course. His serious face was wet with seawater spraying through a cracked window. Beside him, Bayu the scout pressed his face against the ancient radar screen, trying to find a gap in the storm."The storm came faster than predicted, Boss!" Rizal shouted over the intercom. "Visibility is zero! The radar is starting to glitch too!"On the slippery, violently rocking main deck, Satria stood firm like a steel pillar. His feet planted on the deck, his body moving in rhythm with the fierce waves. Tri stood behind him, gripping the fl
CHAPTER 115: TWO FRONTS OF WAR
The silence following Satria’s slam on the table felt solid, as if time itself was holding its breath, waiting for the King’s decree. Every eye in the Command Room—whether filled with cold calculation or flooded with emotion—was locked on the single man standing at the head of the table."You can't do both, Satria," Alexander hissed, breaking the silence first. "That's bullshit. You’re not God.""I’m not God," Satria retorted, his gaze as sharp as a spear tip. "I am the God of War. And a War God never retreats from two fronts. He destroys them one by one."Satria walked around the table, his aura radiating an absolute conviction that made the doubt in the room begin to evaporate. He stopped in front of the map of East Java, picked up the piece representing himself, and placed it back in the center of CitraLand."Listen closely, because I’m only going to say t
CHAPTER 114: THE KING'S DECISION
The silence inside the main study felt heavier than the pressure at the bottom of the ocean. Outside, CitraLand slept in a false peace, unaware of the emotional storm battering the heart of their kingdom.Satria still stood frozen in front of the large glass wall, alone; his broad and sturdy back now seemed to bear the weight of the entire world. In the dark reflection of the glass, he could see the blurry shadow of Indri's letter lying on the table, a ghost from the past coming to collect on a promise.Satria's mind was in turmoil.Go. His heart as a father screamed. Your child is being hunted. Your flesh and blood is starving in a hellish jungle. What good is this throne if you can't protect your own heir?Stay. His cold logic as a King retorted. Roy is at the border. Hundreds of lives in this city depend on your strength. Leaving them now is the act of an irresponsible ruler. It is betrayal.<
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