Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

Flames burst out of Ragnar's greatsword's blade, blazing and erupting with hot orange fire. Mustering up as much strength as he could manage, he leaped upwards and cut straight into the tumor's core, carving out a bright white line with his flames.

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!" The tumor screamed in agony as it was burned apart, and began swinging its tentacles wildly and spasming from pain. Ragnar was thrown off and landed a few meters away, digging his greatsword into the fractured stone ground to keep himself from getting tossed away by force.

"Shit… it's goddamn tough," he muttered, breathing heavily. Due to getting so close to the virus-filled core, his HP had drastically gotten drained—against poison, the DEF stat was useless. "Even after that, it's still alive?"

"… Not for long."

The whisper of death came by his ear as Cyanide appeared out of seemingly nowhere beside him and cut through the core using the one-hundredth of a millisecond's opening before the tumor could use its shell to protect itself. It was a suicidal move at first glance, attempting to dive through the core itself which theoretically contained a dense amount of the virus and would drain the HP of anyone who attempted to go close to it, much less enter it directly.

Cyanide knew that, however, and that's why he used the Weapon Art, [Vampiric Blade]. The additional extra HP he gained with the kill based on the target's max health would serve to heal him up nearly back to full, allowing him to withstand the poison of the virus.

As the massive purple tumor's core slowly fractured into lines of white light, the cave shook more and more. Until finally, at last, it exploded into a mysterious purple liquid that stained the cave ceiling and floor all around.

Cyanide was revealed behind where it had once been floating, just in time to stow away his weapons calmly. Before him, several messages displayed:

[Obtained Heart of Corruption x1]

[Obtained Fury's Edge x1]

[Obtained Corruption Seed x5]

Then, slowly, he angled his head at Ragnar, and spoke.

"… Not bad, for a mindless brute."

At this, Ragnar gave a chuckle.

"Heh. You too, show-off."

"By the way… you want this?"

Cyanide pulled the weapon called [Fury's Edge] out from his inventory and swung it around a few times. It was made of stone just like Ragnar's old one, but this one was clearly far deadlier. Strangely, the blade was in fact not intact, and was instead made of several pieces of rock hovering near each other to form a sharp, blade-like shape. The sword pulsed purple stemming from the purple orb held within the weapon's crossguard, powering the blade and giving it the magnetism-like force it needed to string all the rock pieces together.

Cyanide inspected it up and down, and ultimately nodded.

"Take it. Too clunky for me."

"Oh? You're just gonna give this to me for free?" Ragnar laughed. "Didn't know you were this nice, assassin."

"Don't make me laugh," Cyanide snorted. "I don't do free favors. I'm giving this to you now, but in the future, I'm expecting you to give me something in return as well."

"Ha! Don't worry, I'm a man of my word, unlike you," Ragnar said boldly, taking the greatsword in his hand. "I don't want to owe my nemesis anything, so you can rest assured I'll pay you back. But for now… I owe you one."

*****

Outside, Luna, Dianna, Kirika, and Silverfang were struggling. They had already killed hordes and hordes of these mutant animals, but every time they killed one and turned to another, the ones they killed before rose back from the dead, brand-new, eager to kill, and even stronger.

"This isn't good…" Luna muttered, gritting her teeth. Even though she was an AI super-robot with a powerful physical body kitted with countless deadly weapons and insane mobility, even she did not have infinite energy.

Moreover, Dianna and Kirika were both struggling as well as the fight dragged on, and Silverfang, who already had countless injuries and scratches on his supposedly immune armor was breathing heavily.

And yet, none of them were giving up. The thought never once even crossed their minds, because they knew. They knew that if they were to give up here, Cyanide would have to be the one to take over their mess. And if there's one thing all four of them shared in common… it was the fact that all of them cared about Cyanide in their own way. As for Ragnar… well, they could care less.

Still, the four's conditions were not looking so good. All of them were running low on HP from wear and tear throughout the length of the fight, and Luna's ammunition on her artillery of weapons were all running low. She lacked a proper melee weapon even now, so she was forced to rely on ammunition, which recharged overtime on their own—but that time was extremely slow.

Needless to say, the battle was starting to shift in the mutant animals' favors.

"Hngh…" Kirika blocked a mutant bear's sharp and tough claws with her katana, doing her best to push it back, but from behind her, a mutant shake's fangs bared.

"Look out, Kirika!" Luna yelled, but it was too late. Dianna and her were too occupied to help, completely surrounded by enemies of their own.

"—!" Kirika's eyes widened as she saw the snake behind her, but there was no way out. She had already expended all of her Soulforce, and the rest of her skills that could be used to escape were all on cooldown.

Her HP was already low—without a doubt, if that snake sank its fangs into her ankle, she would die.

But… that's IF it got the chance.

BANG!

A bullet flew out of nowhere, past all the obstacles in the way. Just over Dianna's head, through the legs of a towering mutant ape, beside the ear of a mutant tiger, whizzing past everything else… and striking the serpent straight through its open mouth, taking its life instantly.

And unlike before… it did not get back up.

Luna's eyes widened beneath her blindfold, and she instantly could tell who it was.

"Cyanide!"

There was no time to respond, however, as there were still plenty more mutant animals to defeat. Cyanide and Ragnar immediately dove into the battle. Cyanide used [Lightning Chain] to stun all the mutant animals and unleash a devastating [Toxin Air] on the field, while Ragnar summoned his Pyromaniac form and went completely berserk on the mutants.

Within minutes, all the mutant animals on the field had been killed. They did not revive. Not anymore, now that their source of energy had been destroyed.

"… Whew, that was a workout," Dianna said, punching Cyanide in the shoulder. "I worked really hard today… better give me a reward when we get back, mkay~?"

Cyanide nodded so that she would be happy, but his focus was more directed at the level-up message he received, telling him that he'd reached Level 32.

As for Ragnar… he leveled up as well, saving the need for any healing (when one leveled-up, their HP was restored to full), and was now sitting in a corner away from everyone, reading about Weapon Enhancement and Refinement.