Void Reaper: The Essence Apocalypse

Adam froze at the window. Just moments ago, he had been watching the gray boxes floating above the dead zombies. Five of them. He was sure. He remembered exactly where they hovered. And now...

There were none.

He stood motionless, hand still resting on the windowsill, staring into empty space. Only stiff corpses lay unmoving on the concrete.

"No... impossible," he muttered.

Behind him, a soft step echoed. Valeria stepped closer, emerging from behind an overturned shelf where she'd been resting against a cabinet. With her usual calm, she adjusted her hair and silently stood next to him. She glanced at his face, then out the window at the empty space before the building, and raised an eyebrow.

"Something wrong?" she asked innocently.

Adam slowly turned his head. His face was deadpan. Emotionless.

"The boxes are gone. All of them."

Valeria frowned—and then her lips twitched. She tried to hold it back but failed. A laugh burst out of her, soft at first, then louder. In seconds, she was clutching her stomach, laughing like a girl who'd just heard an outrageously dirty joke. Her body shook with laughter, her chest bouncing gently under the fabric of her top with each spasm. It was indecently sensual, though clearly unintentional.

Adam didn't move for a moment. Then he narrowed his eyes.

"What… what's so funny?" he asked slowly.

Valeria simply pointed to the alley to the left, where the building's wall ended. Adam approached the broken window, leaned out cautiously, and looked through the frame, his fingers tightening on the ledge.

And then he saw her.

A short figure darted between parked cars. She had long, distinctly blue hair flowing down to her thighs and moved with the lightness of a thief who knew every shadow. She skipped almost like a child, but her movements were bold, brazen. And in her hands... she was carrying something that looked an awful lot like those familiar gray boxes.

Adam felt fury rising within him.

He clenched his fists, fury bubbling under his skin. He'd fought, planned, risked everything for those kills—and now some stranger had swept in and taken it all like it meant nothing.

How did she even see them? Was she watching me the whole time? The thought made his blood boil. This wasn't just theft—it was humiliation.

"No..."

Valeria laughed again.

"She robbed you. Literally. While you were lounging like a cat in the sun, she just... took everything."

Adam shot her a furious look.

"You knew!"

Valeria raised her hands.

"I'll admit, I suspected something. But watching someone steal your loot right under your nose... it was beautiful. Maybe even more than it should've been."

As she spoke, she struggled to suppress another laugh. Her shoulders were already shaking, and her lips curled in a grimace of restrained amusement. When she looked at Adam's face—flushed with anger and determination—she began to tremble. One quiet giggle slipped through her lips, then another. She clasped her hands on her hips, trying to contain herself, but it was no use.

Adam turned away in irritation and grabbed his backpack, jaw clenched. His movements were sharp, determined, and filled with frustration barely held back. He had no patience for Valeria's comments anymore—only one thing mattered now: getting his loot back.

"I'm going after her. Laugh all you want, but I'm catching that little thief."

Valeria smiled wider, though this time with a warmer tone.

"Alright. But before you walk into another trap, check your stats. You'll need mana. Lots of it."

Adam eyed her suspiciously.

"How do you know what's waiting for me?"

"I don't. Just a hunch." She turned and started stretching her arms. "But you can ignore my advice, of course."

Adam hesitated but didn't open his status window yet.

Instead, he ran quickly down the stairs, sprinting from the first floor toward the building's exit. He moved through the hallways with determination, ready to chase down the mysterious blue-haired figure.

Suddenly, a massive bang erupted from the left. Part of the wall exploded in a cloud of dust and rubble. Adam didn't even have time to react—a powerful force slammed into him from the side and hurled him through the air like a rag doll. He flew across the corridor and smashed into the opposite wall. The air was knocked from his lungs as if he'd taken a hit to the diaphragm. He collapsed to the floor, coughing and struggling for breath, pain rippling through the left side of his body. It felt like his ribs were about to crack.

He only managed to push himself up on his elbows, coughing and gasping for air. From the settling dust, a shape emerged...

It was massive. Nearly two and a half meters tall, with skin gray-blue and cracked like ancient stone. Its four arms moved restlessly, each ending in long, curved claws. The upper pair was long and muscular, made for crushing and tearing. The lower ones were shorter, bulkier, meant for climbing or bracing against colossal force.

Its head was a twisted caricature of a human face: no nose, a mouth stretched almost to the ears, filled with two rows of dagger-sharp teeth. Its eyes glowed with a pale, dead light.

The monster howled, and its roar tore through the air like a shockwave. The echo bounced off the walls, kicking up dust from the floor. Adam shot to his feet—but then the monster vanished from sight.

Looking up, he froze.

The creature was already airborne—and a heartbeat later, it crashed down where Adam had just been lying. Its four arms gouged the floor, leaving behind a deep crater. Cracks spread from the impact, and dust exploded into the air.

Adam felt a chill run down his spine.

"One hit from that thing and I'm dead..."

He locked eyes on the monster, trying to grasp what he was up against. Only then did the familiar, cold system message appear:

[Name: Mutated Zombie]

[Level: LVL 9]

Adam hissed.

"Of course it's level nine... I was wondering why this whole school was completely empty. Looking at you, everything makes sense now."

He reached for his belt and pulled out the new dagger from the drop—Bloodshadow Dagger, its blade black as night, absorbing the light around it.

The Mutated Zombie, frenzied after its failed strike, lunged at him. Its limbs struck the ground with such force that the entire corridor trembled.

Seeing the charging zombie, Adam sprinted toward the stairs, his mind looping around one thought:

"Veynessa... of course she knew. And once again, she didn't warn me. She just watches and smiles... Probably still out there somewhere, watching from a rooftop or a broken window, laughing her ass off while I nearly get turned into mush."

Before he could take another step, a deafening boom erupted—as if something had shattered the fabric of reality. The wall to his left exploded in a shower of bricks, dust, and debris. The Mutated Zombie launched itself with a feral roar, its four arms stretched like blades through the air. It crashed down with brutal force where Adam had stood just seconds before.

Four fists tore into the wall and floor, flinging debris in all directions. The corridor shook, and plaster rained from the ceiling. The roar echoed in Adam's skull. Heat surged down his spine, and his body broke into a cold sweat.

"If I hadn't moved... I'd be paste."

Adam furrowed his brow. The monster had been far behind him, and yet it had reached him in a blink. That wasn't just speed. No—it was something else.

"How...? That wasn't a sprint. He... teleported? No. It was too sudden."

A thought struck him like ice.

"It must be some kind of ability..."

He dove forward, rolling across the floor.

Adam ran again as the monster rose from the rubble of another failed attack that shattered a piece of the wall. From the corner of his eye, he tracked its movements.

"Thankfully, it's not very agile. Maneuverability's not its strength either. It just has that weird skill and insane power..."

His thoughts sped up. His body moved on instinct. He leapt over a fallen desk and slid sideways down a cracked, crumbling hallway tile, leaving a trail of dust and the imprint of his boot behind.

"The question is—how tough are you? I'll have to test it."

"System! Allocate all free points to mana! Now!"

[Stats Updated]

[Mana: +120]

Adam felt a wave of energy surge through his body. His mind cleared, and a familiar tension built in his chest—the signal of flowing mana.

"Let's dance..."