The Last Timeline : Reborn for the spire

Chapter 2: The First Hunt

Lukas dove to the left as the shards of glass exploded inward like deadly rain. He slammed into the reception desk, his shoulder hitting the hard laminate edge. The creature landed exactly where he had been standing, its claws gouging deep furrows into the lobby floor. It stood on four twitching limbs, its body covered in grey, oily skin that pulsated with every breath.

The creature swiveled its head toward him. Its eyes were not eyes at all but glowing red pits of pure hatred. It let out a low, wet gurgle, the sound of fluid bubbling in a throat.

Lukas did not hesitate. He scrambled to his feet, gripping the kitchen knife with both hands. His knuckles were white. He recognized this thing. In his previous life, this was a Tier One Scavenger, a common nightmare of the first day. They were fast, they were hungry, and they were relentless.

"Come on then," Lukas breathed, his voice barely a tremor in the cold air.

The creature lunged. It moved in a blur of motion, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. Lukas braced himself and dropped into a low crouch, sliding across the polished floor. As the beast sailed over his head, he lashed out with the blade. The metal bit into the creature’s underbelly, drawing a spray of thick, black ichor that hissed as it hit the carpet.

The creature hit the wall with a sickening crunch, recovered instantly, and turned to face him again. It was faster than he remembered. His physical body was still weak, not yet conditioned by the trials of the apocalypse. His lungs burned, and his arms felt like lead.

"You are just the first," Lukas growled.

He backed toward the security office, keeping his eyes locked on the beast. He needed distance to force it into a predictable path. The creature hissed, arching its back. It prepared to leap again, its rear legs coiling like steel springs.

As it launched itself into the air, Lukas didn't back down. He stepped into the creature’s path, waiting for the split second of its arc where it was most vulnerable. He plunged the knife upward, driving it deep into the soft hollow beneath the creature's jaw. The blade sank in up to the hilt.

The beast collided with him, its weight pinning him to the ground. Lukas gasped as the air was forced from his lungs. He felt the cold, clammy weight of the creature pressing against his chest. It thrashed, its claws raking across his jacket, tearing through the fabric and grazing his skin.

He held on, his hands shaking as he kept the blade buried deep. The creature let out one final, long, rattling screech that seemed to echo through the entire lobby. Then, it went still. Its glowing red eyes flickered and died, dimming into dull, lifeless embers.

Lukas shoved the heavy carcass off his chest and rolled onto his side, gulping for air. His body ached. He looked down at his arm. There were three deep lacerations across his forearm, bleeding sluggishly. He didn't care about the pain. His attention was fixed on the air in front of him.

A translucent blue window suddenly flickered into existence, hovering in the dim light of the lobby.

[Target Eliminated]

[Experience Gained: 10/100]

[System Integration Initialized]

[Status Screen Unlocked]

Lukas stared at the text, his heart thumping in his chest. It was real. Everything he had suffered through, everything he had lost, it had all led to this. The System wasn't just a nightmare. It was a tool.

He blinked, and the interface expanded.

[Name: Lukas]

[Level: 1]

[Class: None]

[Strength: 8]

[Agility: 9]

[Vitality: 7]

[Intelligence: 10]

He looked at his stats. He was pathetic. In his past life, he hadn't even known how to read these numbers until weeks into the collapse. By then, he was already behind everyone else. Now, he had a head start.

He climbed to his feet, ignoring the throbbing in his arm. The lobby was quiet, but he could hear more sounds outside. Distant screams, the screeching of metal on metal, and the rhythmic, terrifying thuds of heavy footsteps on the pavement. He wasn't alone. There were more of these things, and they were hunting.

He turned toward the stairwell, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the wall to use as a makeshift shield. He had to keep moving. The basement was still his target. If he could reach the emergency supplies and wait out the initial wave, he might be able to secure a weapon better than a kitchen knife.

He stepped over the cooling corpse of the creature, his eyes scanning the lobby for threats. The front doors had been shattered, and the night air was rushing into the building, bringing with it the metallic stench of blood and burning ozone.

Suddenly, a notification pinged in his mind. The blue window shifted, replaced by a wall of red text.

[System Alert: Regional Rift Instability Detected]

[Event Trigger: The Vanguard Wave has begun]

[Objective: Survive the next sixty minutes]

[Reward: Stat Point Allocation x2]

"Sixty minutes," Lukas muttered, his grip tightening on the fire extinguisher.

He turned the corner into the hallway leading to the basement stairs, but he stopped cold. A shadow flickered against the wall. Someone was standing by the mailboxes, trembling violently. It was a woman, her clothes torn, clutching a heavy phone as if it were a holy relic. She was staring at a dark shape crawling down the ceiling above her.

She didn't see it. The creature was perched on the light fixture, its limbs hooked into the drywall, its red eyes fixed on the back of her neck.

Lukas’s mind raced. He had ten seconds before the creature dropped. If he moved now, he could save her. If he turned away, he could save himself. He looked at his own stats, then back at the girl. She was going to die if he did nothing.

"Hey!" Lukas shouted, lunging forward.

The girl spun around, her eyes widening in terror, just as the creature leaped. It missed her shoulder by an inch, hitting the floor and skidding toward the wall. Lukas didn't slow down. He sprinted, his boots thundering on the carpet, and slammed the heavy fire extinguisher into the creature’s head.

The sound was like a sledgehammer hitting a watermelon. The creature collapsed, twitching once before going limp.

Lukas stood over it, panting heavily. His vision swam for a second, a wave of exhaustion threatening to pull him under. He looked at the girl. She was backed against the wall, her face pale, her hands shaking so hard the phone rattled in her grip.

"What... what was that?" she whispered, her voice barely a breath.

Lukas ignored her question, his eyes darting to the ceiling. There were more. He could hear them skittering in the ventilation shafts above their heads. He reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her toward the stairwell door.

"Don't ask," Lukas snapped, his voice hard as iron. "Just run."

They burst through the heavy fire door, Lukas kicking it shut and locking it behind them. The sound of the lock clicking into place felt like a funeral bell. He leaned his back against the cold steel, staring at the stairwell floor.

He reached out and tapped the air, pulling up his status screen again. The numbers shifted as his heart rate began to steady.

[Experience Gained: 10/100]

[Level Progress: 20/100]

He felt a surge of energy, a warm, itching sensation spreading through his veins. His arm wasn't throbbing quite as much as before. He felt a sharp, sudden tingle at the base of his skull, a notification glowing brighter than the rest.

[System Update: New Combat Skill Available]

[Would you like to unlock: Basic Instinct?]

He didn't hesitate. He willed the system to confirm.

A sudden, sharp pain flared in his mind, followed by a rush of clarity. He looked at the girl standing in the dark stairwell. Her name was Serena. He remembered her from his past life. She was the one who had helped him reach the safehouse before the gang had taken over. She was supposed to have died in the lobby.

"You're alive," he whispered, mostly to himself.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Serena asked, her voice cracking. "Who are you? What is happening out there?"

Lukas ignored her, his eyes fixed on the door they had just locked. The metal was already beginning to dent inward. Something heavy was slamming into it from the other side.

"We need to move," Lukas said, pointing toward the basement door. "If we stay here, we're dead."

He turned to descend the stairs, but a notification box flashed red in the center of his vision. It wasn't a warning about the creatures. It was a System prompt he had never seen before.

[Warning: Unauthorized interference detected.]

[Difficulty level for this sector has been increased.]

Lukas froze. The air in the stairwell turned icy. The temperature dropped so rapidly that his breath began to frost in front of his face. He looked down at his own hands, and for a split second, he saw them fading into translucent static.

"No," he hissed, his jaw clenching. "Not now."

The door behind them groaned under the assault of the creatures. The hinges began to pop, one by one. Lukas looked at Serena, who was clutching her chest, gasping for air as the sudden cold took hold.

"Get down!" Lukas shouted, tackling her just as the fire door blew off its hinges and flew across the room, embedding itself into the concrete wall.

A massive, armored shadow stepped into the stairwell, blocking out the light. It wasn't a Tier One. It was something much, much worse. The creature stood seven feet tall, clad in rusted, blackened plate armor that looked fused to its rotting flesh. It carried a jagged greatsword that sparked with violet electricity.

It tilted its head, sniffing the air. It looked directly at Lukas, and a voice like grinding stones echoed in the small space.

"Reincarnate," the creature boomed. "The System wants your head."