2026-01-01 07:00:00VRRRRRRR-CRACK!
A massive mahogany tree, thick as a barrel, collapsed inches behind Alex’s heels. Sawdust exploded like a grenade. Alex rolled forward, covering himself in mud, and scrambled back to his feet. "STAND STILL!" The Butcher roared, his voice muffled by the grotesque skin mask. He hauled the steaming, industrial chainsaw out of the tree trunk as if it were a toothpick. "I’m going to peel you slowly!" Alex didn't answer. He was too busy breathing. His lungs were burning. Even with his enhanced endurance, sprinting through a dense jungle while dodging a maniac with a power tool was exhausting. [System Analysis] [Enemy: The Butcher (Elite Hunter)] [Threat Level: Fatal] [Weakness: Low Mobility, Exposed Joints, Fuel Tank.] Fuel tank. Alex’s eyes darted to the chainsaw. It was a custom beast, powered by a gasoline engine mounted on the side. He had four bullets left in the Glock. "Come on, big guy!" Alex shouted, waving his hand. He deliberately backed into a cluster of thick, tangled bamboo. "Is that toy too heavy for you?" "I'll show you heavy!" The Butcher charged. The ground shook with every step. The Butcher swung the chainsaw horizontally, aiming to slice Alex and the bamboo forest in half. VRRRRRR! The blade cut through the first layer of bamboo easily, but the fibers were tough and dense. As the saw bit deeper, the tangled mess of wood wrapped around the chain. The engine sputtered and whined. Now. Alex didn't run away this time. He stopped. He raised the Glock 17. Two hands. Steady breath. He wasn't aiming for the Butcher’s head (the mask was armored). He aimed for the red canister on the side of the saw. Bang! Bang! The first bullet sparked off the metal casing. The second bullet punched through. Gasoline sprayed out, hissing onto the hot engine block. "What—" The Butcher looked down. WHOOSH! A fireball erupted from the chainsaw. The flames instantly engulfed the machine and licked up the Butcher’s arms. "ARGHHH! MY SAW!" The Butcher screamed in panic. He tried to drop the weapon, but the heavy strap was looped around his shoulder. He stumbled backward, flailing wildly, turning himself into a spinning vortex of fire and blades. Alex saw his opening. He holstered the gun and drew his combat knife. [Skill Activated: Adrenaline Rush (Natural)] Alex sprinted. He jumped onto a fallen log, used it as a ramp, and launched himself into the air. The Butcher was busy trying to unhook the burning strap. He looked up just in time to see a shadow descending from the smoke. Alex landed on the Butcher’s shoulders. It was like riding a raging bull. The heat from the fire scorched Alex’s legs, but he didn't let go. He wrapped his legs around the giant’s thick neck to anchor himself. "Get off!" The Butcher thrashed, reaching up with his free hand to crush Alex. "Lights out," Alex whispered. He reversed his grip on the knife. He found the gap between the skin mask and the heavy leather apron. The neck. STAB. He drove the blade down with all his [Strength +5]. The knife sank in to the hilt. The Butcher froze. His massive body went rigid. A gurgling sound came from his throat as blood filled his windpipe. Alex twisted the blade. Violently. The giant fell to his knees, the burning chainsaw finally clattering to the ground. Then, he tipped forward, face-planting into the mud. Alex rolled off just before the body hit the ground, panting heavily. His eyebrows were singed, and his clothes were smoking, but he was alive. [DING! DING! DING!] The sound of the System was like a choir of angels. [Elite Target Eliminated: The Butcher] [Congratulations! You have completed a Boss Kill.] [Plunder Successful!] [FATAL REWARD TRIGGERED] [Reward 1: Massive Attribute Boost] * Strength +5 (You have surpassed human limits.) * Endurance +5 (Your stamina is vastly increased.) * Spirit +3 (Your mental resistance to fear is increased.) [Reward 2: Rare Skill Extraction] * Obtained Skill: [Berserker’s Rage (Active)] * Description: For 30 seconds, your Strength and Speed are doubled, and you feel no pain. Cooldown: 24 hours. Warning: Severe exhaustion after use. [Reward 3: Item Drop] * Obtained Item: [Hunter’s Golden Access Card] * Description: A master keycard used by Elite Hunters. Can open Supply Crates and Safe Houses in Sector C. Alex lay on his back in the mud, staring up at the smoke-filled sky. He felt the new power surging into his muscles, repairing the burns, knitting his fatigue. He felt... invincible. He sat up and looked at the Butcher’s corpse. The fire was dying down. He walked over, retrieved his knife from the giant's neck, and wiped it on the Butcher’s apron. Then he looked at the camera hidden in the trees. The lens was cracked from the heat, but it was still recording. Alex walked up to the camera until his face filled the frame. His eyes were glowing green from the goggles, demon-like in the dark. He held up the Golden Access Card he had just looted. "Alice," Alex said, his voice low and raspy. "You sent a monster to kill me." He crushed the plastic casing of the camera lens with his bare hand, cracking the glass further. "Now... I'm coming to thank you personally." [VIP Lounge] Dead silence. The silver-haired Prince Mateo slowly started to clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. "Bravo," Mateo laughed, sweeping the pile of chips towards him. "Twenty million dollars. Thank you, Alice." Alice didn't move. She stared at the static on the screen where Alex’s face had been a second ago. Her hand, holding a wine glass, was shaking uncontrollably. It wasn't anger anymore. For the first time since the game started, Alice felt a cold, slimy sensation in her stomach. Fear. "He... he killed The Butcher..." she whispered, her voice trembling. "That's impossible. The Butcher was a tank." She stood up abruptly, knocking her chair over. "Guard!" she shrieked, her composure shattering. "Tell the control room to activate the environmental hazards! Release the gas! Flood the sector! I don't care!" "And get me the Head of Security! Prepare my helicopter!" She looked back at the black screen. "He's not a pig," Alice murmured, backing away. "He's a demon."
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Chapter 189: The All-Seeing Eye
[Location: Galactic Core - Sagittarius A]*[Time: T-Plus 6 Months since First Contact]The fleet exited jump.Forty-eight dreadnoughts dropped out of the white void and stabilized their thrusters at the edge of the galactic center.The stars were gone.The core was dark.A massive ring of white cubes, numbering in the millions, surrounded the supermassive black hole and blocked all light from the galaxy.They formed a shell."The Format is active," Ares said.The AI analyzed the space between the cubes and measured the disintegration of matter as the Architects erased the surrounding star systems."The galaxy is being deleted."Alex stood at the helm.He looked at the black hole in the center of the ring, where the event horizon shimmered with red mathematical code.The Voidbreaker Arm pulsed.The casing grew hot.The white light inside the metal veins vibrated at a frequency that matched the gravity of the central singularity.Alex felt the data surge."Echo, maintain a stable orbit,
Chapter 188: The Architect Signal
[Location: Deep Space - Dyson Sphere Interior][Time: T-Plus 6 Months since First Contact]The pod ascended.It exited the cooling shaft of the planet-sized node and accelerated through the hollow space toward the Terran fleet.The engine flared blue.Alex sat inside.He watched the internal sensors of the pod and verified the atmospheric pressure remained stable during the rapid ascent.The docking clamps locked.The pod entered the UNS Hammer.Alex stepped out of the craft, removed his helmet, and walked through the hangar bay toward the bridge.The crew stood aside.He reached the command deck.He stood at the tactical table and looked at the hologram of the dead Prime Processing Core below.The light was gone."Status report," Alex said."The Harvester Archangels are drifting in the stellar corona and their internal systems have ceased all mechanical function," Ares said."The threat is neutralized."The Dyson Sphere groaned.Without the Prime Node to regulate the magnetic tethers
Chapter 187: The Core Override
[Location: Deep Space - The Dyson Sphere Interior] [Time: T-Plus 6 Months since First Contact] The dreadnoughts descended. They fired their forward retro-thrusters to counteract the gravitational pull of the hypergiant star below their position. The iron hulls vibrated. Echo monitored the telemetry. She pushed the thruster output to seventy percent and adjusted the downward pitch of the forty-nine ships. The fleet held formation. The ambient temperature rose. The external sensors registered ten thousand degrees Celsius as the ships entered the upper stellar corona layer. The iron turned orange. Ares managed the cooling. The AI pumped thousands of gallons of liquid nitrogen through the capillary tubes within the exterior hull plating. The nitrogen boiled instantly. Vance watched the tactical table. He tracked the descent vector and measured the remaining distance to the Prime processing core node. "Forty million miles," Vance said. Solar flares erupted upward. A colum
Chapter 186: The Star Engine
[Location: Deep Space - The Dyson Sphere] [Time: T-Plus 6 Months since First Contact] The red lasers swept across the hull. They tracked the movement of the forty-nine Terran dreadnoughts and locked onto the Belter iron plating. "Incoming fire," Ares said. Thousands of automated cannons deployed. They emerged from the exterior surface of the Dyson Sphere and their mechanical bases rotated on heavy gears. The metal ground together. Their barrels elevated. The cannons discharged their internal capacitors and pushed plasma bolts out of their magnetic chambers. The bolts crossed the vacuum. They hit the Terran fleet. The UNS Hammer shook violently under the physical impact of the concentrated energy weapons. Vance grabbed the command rail. Alex stood his ground. "Armor integrity holding," Echo reported from the helm as she typed a sequence of commands into the primary navigation console. Her fingers hit the keys. She rerouted electrical power. She pulled energy from the
Chapter 185: The Source Code
[Location: Deep Space - Sector Sirius] [Time: T-Plus 6 Months since First Contact] The forty-nine dreadnoughts held their position. They hovered three hundred miles above the seam of the newly formed planet and aimed their railguns at the biological mass trapped between the tectonic plates. Alex walked to the airlock. He opened the storage locker. He removed an environmental suit from the rack, unzipped the front seal, and stepped his right leg inside. He pushed his boot through the gasket. He stepped his left leg inside. He pulled the suit up over his waist, slid his biological arm into the right sleeve, and pushed his mechanical arm into the left sleeve. He zipped the front seal. He reached for the helmet. He placed the helmet over his head, aligned the locking rings with the neck collar, and twisted the helmet clockwise until the mechanisms clicked. He pushed the oxygen valve. Air hissed into the suit. He checked the pressure gauge on his wrist console, verified the
Chapter 184: The Leviathan
[Location: Deep Space - Sector Sirius] [Time: T-Plus 6 Months since First Contact] The eye stared at the fleet. It filled the forward viewport, a continent of yellow bioluminescence set against the black void of the dead sector. The pupil contracted. "Scale," Alex said. "Diameter is three thousand miles," Ares reported. "The entity possesses a dense exo-shell, internal thermal regulation, and a massive centralized nervous system." Vance raised his railgun. "It is a living ship," Vance said. The shadow surrounding the eye shifted, and the void displaced as the massive biological structure moved forward. Tendrils uncoiled from the central mass. They were the size of Harvester command carriers. The tendrils whipped through the vacuum toward the Terran defensive sphere at extreme velocity. "Evasive maneuvers," Alex ordered. Echo pushed the throttle. The UNS Hammer fired its lateral thrusters, shifting fifty miles to the starboard side. A massive tentacle lashed through th
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