Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

"What the hell is that…?" Cyanide muttered under his breath.

The mutants were loading the boxes onto a conveyor belt. One that led directly into an enormous machine of some sort. It had large, chomping metal triangles that looked suspiciously like teeth, striking down on the boxes of kitchenware it was being fed and tearing them apart in the blink of an eye.

There were two circles that looked like traffic lights placed side by side from one another above the automated mouth, but they were off. For now, anyway.

Unfortunately, Cyanide had been so busy observing the machine that he didn't even realize a mutant below him, staring straight up. It had been trying to get one of the boxes, on the upper levels of the rack, when it spotted Cyanide.

It didn't make any noise, nor show any hostility.

After all, it didn't need to.

The two traffic-light circles on the devouring machine suddenly lit up red, deadly and hungry. And then, to Cyanide's horror, the massive automaton rose from the ground, growing appendages like some kind of evil Transf*rmer. It was made of pure metal, courtesy of what it was being fed, and absolutely gigantic.

As the huge mutant rose to all its glory, it tore through the metal roof of the warehouse as if it was made of plastic, then crumpled it into a ball before stuffing it into his own mouth, made of several layers of chomping teeth. It was taunting Cyanide, letting him get a glimpse of its insurmountable power.

"… Ah, shit."

"RAGHHH!" The machine roared, and in an instant, all the Stage One worker mutants it controlled turned hostile, spinning to Cyanide all at once and charging at him as if they'd been suddenly hit by some kind of stimulating drug.

"Tch-!" The cart Cyanide had been on was toppled over as the mutants piled onto it, hoping to climb up, and the professional assassin quickly used [Dodge], instantly gaining his Invisibility back and using it without any delay.

It was just 5 seconds, but he completely vanished from the creatures' sights and was able to make it all the way back to the entrance.

Or so he thought.

"HRRRNGH!" The massive machine cried once again, picking up one of the tall storage racks with ease and launching it towards the entrance.

"…!" Cyanide noticed this and quickly rolled to his left, just barely avoiding becoming smashed to pulp by all those crates. From one of them, a knife spilled out, and Cyanide quickly grabbed it.

The smaller mutants were closing in fast, the entrance was now completely sealed off by the demolished metal rack. The enormous mutant, one arm with three metal fingers and the other with an enormous sawblade, lumbered slowly towards him as well. With every step it took, the entire earth trembled in fear.

"Cyanide — the roof!" Luna called out, and Cyanide looked up at the roof that had been torn open by other than the mutant itself.

"Heh… for your size, you aren't all that smart."

With a low chuckle, he scaled the metal rack right in front of him then leaped up as high as he could. He wasn't quite there, but he had a weapon in his hands.

Using the hook of the crowbar, he latched onto the edge of the warehouse, then kicked off the wall for momentum to do a frontflip and escape the building, using the crowbar as a focal point.

Once out, he ran as fast as he could, taking down any mutants who got in his way without a care for stealth.

*****

"Hah… hah… hah…" Cyanide panted, and slid down against the wall of a building to rest on the concrete ground. He was back in the alleyway he had been in before. "Luna… did we lose that thing?"

"Yes, thankfully," Luna replied with a sigh. "It's not chasing anymore. The loud footsteps have disappeared."

Luckily, all the mutants roaming these streets weren't high level at all. Cyanide could easily straight up walk towards one and still be able to kill it, hence why he wasn't hindered on his escape path. He was also able to hit Level 8 from that, gaining 10 CP and 1 SP.

"Still… what was that thing? I couldn't even run Inspect on it, since I had to run."

"That was definitely a mutant," Luna replied. "Just not a humanoid one."

"So that's what the whole 'class' thing means on the Inspect screen."

"Correct," Luna said. "I'm not certain what class that mutant was, since you haven't ran Inspect on it yet, but it is definitely not a foe you can take on anytime soon."

"Once I get strong enough… I'll be going back there. That thing is bound to have good loot."

Luna's figure nodded. "The location should be marked on your map now, so you'll be able to go back there whenever you wish."

Saying this, she opened up the map screen for Cyanide, where a map of the entire city was displayed. Beyond it was all covered by clouds with a locked symbol over them, signaling that they had yet to be discovered.

"The city we're in right now is called Lumina, as seen from the text," Luna explained. "If you zoom in a little, you'll be able to see the map in more detail."

Cyanide did as told, using his fingers to zoom the map in. Once that was done, he saw several labels on various buildings in the city.

First, his current location was described by a blue arrow. Next, the building he had first spawned on top of was marked not too far away from here, with the label of 'Aterra Headquarters'. Then, there were also various glowing yellow exclamation points on several buildings throughout the city, which Cyanide wanted to learn more about. Aterra Headquarters also had this icon.

"Those exclamation marks… what are they?" Cyanide asked.

"Those are Points of Interest," Luna explained. "Inside, you'll find useful information regarding the apocalypse and what happened in the past. Most are research laboratories of sorts, just like Aterra."

"I see… what about these hazy purple areas?" He pointed towards a circular section on the city map that had a purple taint to it.

"Those are called Mutated Zones. The mutants in those sectors are particularly strong, and there is a virus lingering in the air. Going in there without proper equipment is suicide."

"I'm assuming it provides great loot though, right?"

"Yes, naturally. The harder something is, the better rewards it will give."

"… Hm."

Cyanide made a mental note to go there once he was ready, then panned around the map some more. And there it was — on top of a large rectangle on the map — the warehouse — there lay a glowing red icon. It looked like an abstract triangle with two horns, giving it somewhat of a demon-like look.

After pressing on it, a panel of information appeared beside the icon.

[BLOOD BARON: Scowling Sawblade]

[Difficulty: Insane]

[Recommended Level: 50]

[Rewards: Legendary Armor, Legendary Weapon, Blood Shard]

"Blood Shard…?" Cyanide murmured.

"Blood Shards are invaluable, Cyanide," Luna explained. "According to my knowledge… they grant you another life."