“See?” Sliding back into the shotgun seat, Noah shot him a confident grin. “Told you it was going to be easy.”

  Victor remained silent, his gaze fixed on the colossal arachnid Noah had just killed. The creature’s broken form lay in a heap just a few feet in front of their pickup truck. Mana seeped from numerous bullet holes in its body, dissipating into the air. Victor’s heart still pounded in his chest. While Noah had managed to kill the arachnid before it reached them, it had been a close call. It had already been poised to leap onto their truck, potentially crushing it and killing them both in the process.

  It had all been Noah’s idea. The two of them had recently left their base and were driving around the city for a while, Victor behind the wheel, Noah in the passenger seat, and at one point, they spotted a massive arachnid, its carapace glistening like obsidian under the bright sunlight. In an instant, they knew it was one of Jake’s creations.

  Sure enough, it wasn’t the first time they had encountered these spider-like horrors. Encounters with those spider-like beasts had become almost routine over the preceding days. Now, with Los Demonios gone, the streets were once again open to ordinary survivors, and their paths had crossed with the arachnids increasingly more often, a growing presence lurking amid the ruined streets.

  Those huge spider-like creatures minded their own business, paying no attention to humans at all. Victor was well aware that the arachnids were collecting mutants, turning them into some kind of resource for their master to use in developing his lairs and breeding more monsters. The arachnids always focused solely on mutants, completely ignoring humans. At first, survivors watched the creatures with dread, but over time, fear gave way to wary acceptance as it became clear that the towering arachnids posed no threat to humans.

  At some point, word reached Victor that certain survivors had taken to hunting the creatures. Rumor claimed the System granted generous amounts of XP for slaying the arachnids. Noah must have heard the same rumors, because earlier today, when they encountered their first arachnid of the day, he suggested they kill it for XP.

  Victor didn’t like this idea at all. He tried to reason with Noah, telling him that if their master, Jake, found out about them killing his creature, he might become furious, and his wrath could be swift and severe. Noah, however, dismissed the concern, pointing out that survivors had been killing Jake’s creatures for a while now, and Jake had never retaliated, either because he wasn’t aware or simply didn’t care.

  In the end, Noah made Victor chase the arachnid. Noah could be very persuasive, and Victor often found himself unable to resist him. As Victor sped after the skittering creature, Noah slipped through the vehicle’s interior and into the truck bed, gripping the handles of the mounted heavy-caliber machine gun. The weapon roared to life, spraying bullets toward the monster. The moment it understood it was under assault, the arachnid surged forward in an attempt to escape. It never even tried to fight back.

  Victor kept chasing the fleeing arachnid, and eventually Noah managed to kill it. He then checked his PDA and discovered that he had indeed been rewarded with a hefty chunk of XP, confirming the rumors about huge experience rewards for defeating arachnids. Noah offered Victor a change of roles: he would drive, searching for another arachnid to defeat, while Victor would man the machine gun in the back of the car. This way, by taking turns, they could both earn equal amounts of XP. Victor, however, declined. The thought of tracking down, let alone killing, another arachnid held no appeal for him.

  Their argument was cut short when another arachnid skittered across the street ahead. Noah, catching sight of it, wasted no time before scrambling back into the bed of the truck. As for Victor, he noticed something was different about this arachnid and quickly realized what it was: the arachnid’s tentacles were wrapped tightly around a mutant, its limp form bound to the creature’s back like a grim trophy. He started shouting for Noah to leave the beast alone, but his voice was swallowed by the deafening roar of the machine gun.

  The instant the first bullet struck, the creature whipped around to face the vehicle. Unlike the previous one they had slain, it didn’t flee. Instead, it charged straight at him. Victor suspected it was driven by a desperate instinct to shield the burden it carried.

  “Stop firing! Leave it alone!” Victor shouted over the roar of gunfire.

  Noah yelled something in response, but whatever it was was swallowed by the relentless thunder of the machine gun.

  And now, the corpse of the arachnid lay a few feet ahead of them, its many limbs curled in lifeless angles. Victor’s heart was still racing, though. He had been certain the huge spider would overpower them before Noah could deal the killing blow. Yet, against all odds, they managed to survive.

  “Hey, I just leveled up,” Noah announced, glancing at his PDA with a grin. “Let me allocate my skill points, and then we can hunt down more of those ugly spiders. You can level up by killing them so quickly!”

  Victor took a deep breath, bracing himself for another argument with his companion. He didn’t want to go looking for more arachnids, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy to reason with Noah.

  To his delight, however, after distributing his skill points, Noah checked the time and exclaimed, “Whoa, it’s already past fourteen hundred! We were supposed to pick up Tessa and Kevin by now! Let’s go get them.”

  Victor was more than happy to do just that instead of trudging into an arachnid hunt.

  In no time, they arrived at the meeting point, collecting Tessa and Kevin, who stood waiting patiently. With his passengers aboard, he steered toward Base Samantha, which was their shared home.

  Yet, before they could arrive, Noah’s gaze snapped toward a looming ten?story building up ahead. He jabbed a finger in its direction, shouting in excitement, “Vic, pull over next to that building!”

  “What for?” Victor asked, already becoming suspicious of Noah’s intentions.

  “Just do as I say, Vic. I wanna check something real quick.”

  Victor exhaled in resignation and eased the car over to the curb before the building Noah had pointed out. The four of them gazed at the looming structure on their right, yet only Noah’s eyes lit with recognition.

  “This is it,” he murmured, his voice tinged with awe.

  “What are you talking about?” Victor asked.

  Tessa and Kevin, seated in the back, were staring at the building as well. From her spot directly behind the driver’s seat, Tessa leaned in, angling herself to catch a clearer glimpse of the imposing structure. She shifted in her seat and leaned to her right, edging closer toward Kevin. She tilted her head and peered past him, narrowing her eyes as she looked through the passenger-side window to catch a better view of the house. She then gasped as a realization hit her.

  “Hold on,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “This is the building where Jake keeps his lair, isn’t it?”

  “Bingo,” Noah answered with a sly smile.

  Victor’s nervousness instantly skyrocketed, his stomach tightening. “Why did you make me stop here?”

  “To give us a little peek inside,” Noah said, his grin widening.

  “No way,” Victor said, shaking his head as if to rid himself of the idea.

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  “Oh, come on,” Noah coaxed. “Don’t chicken out on me now.”

  “Have you lost your mind, boy?” Kevin’s booming voice erupted from the back seat. Victor, Noah, and Tessa were still in their mid-twenties, full of youthful energy, while Kevin, in his early fifties, carried himself with the weight of experience and age.

  “Guys, it’s no big deal,” Noah said.

  “What are you babbling about, you idiot?” Kevin’s voice thundered from behind once more. “Have you already forgotten what we were told? Jake isn’t someone you cross, and his lairs are strictly off-limits. Leave him and his creatures alone, and he’ll do the same for us. Think back to what happened to Los Demonios, and remember the fate that befell those bandits. They crossed paths with him, and now they no longer exist. He single-handedly dealt with them all.”

  “Some survivors have been killing his arachnids for the past several days, and nothing has ever happened to them,” Noah said.

  “Those people are idiots,” Kevin shot back. “Don’t be like them.”

  “Actually, Victor and I already killed two of his arachnids earlier today,” Noah said, deadpan.

  “You what?!” Tessa burst out from the back seat, leaning forward through the gap to glare at him.

  “And, as you can see, we’re perfectly fine,” Noah added with a casual shrug.

  Tessa’s gaze shifted to Victor, prompting him to blurt, “It was all his idea. I never agreed to any of it.”

  Kevin said to Noah, incredulous. “And now you expect us to step into Jake’s twisted maze of horrors? You’re out of your mind if you think we’ll follow you in there.”

  Still leaning between the two front seats, Tessa fixed Victor with a firm look. “Vic, let’s go. Take us home.”

  Victor nodded as a wave of relief washed over him. Having Tessa and Kevin at his side gave him the strength to stand up to Noah. Alone, he knew he wouldn’t have managed it.

  However, before he could get the car moving, Noah’s hand clamped firmly onto his forearm as he said, “Stop! I’m going inside, Vic. And you’re coming with me.”

  “The hell he is,” Tessa cut in sharply, shooting Noah a glare before Victor could voice his protest.

  “Leave him out of this,” Kevin said, his tone hard. “If you’re crazy enough to enter that maze of horrors, you’re going alone. Victor stays here.”

  “Vic, I’ve already leveled up after taking down just two arachnids,” Noah said, his gaze fixed solely on Victor, deliberately ignoring Tessa and Kevin. “Think about it. If we stir up a little trouble in there, we could rack up levels real fast. I’m not talking about completely wrecking Jake’s place. After all, we don’t want to get on his bad side, do we? But if we take out a few of the creatures he’s been cultivating, we could rise several levels, and I bet he wouldn’t even notice a thing.”

  “Noah, you’ve lost it,” Kevin snapped. “This is the final run I’ll ever take with you. I’m done teaming up with a psycho like you.”

  “Same here,” Tessa added coldly. “Unlike you, Noah, I don’t have a death wish.”

  “Vic, get us out of here,” Kevin said.

  Noah leaned in, his voice quick and insistent. “You realize Tessa will never see you the same way again, right? If you chicken out now, Vic, she’ll think less of you, even though she’d never admit it to your face.”

  Tessa’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  “What?” she burst out, stunned that Noah would dare to suggest such a thing. Turning toward Victor, she said firmly, “Don’t listen to him, Vic. He’s talking out of his ass. I wouldn’t think less of you, of course. In fact, it’s Noah who will look like an idiot in my eyes if he enters that awful place. He’s just trying to manipulate you.”

  “Whether you’re with me or not, I’m heading in, leveling up a few times, and coming back,” Noah said, speaking only to Victor and ignoring the other two. “Just imagine what the other girls in our base will think of you when they find out you let me go alone into that ‘maze of horrors,’ as you call it, simply because you were too scared to stand by my side.”

  Kevin rested a firm hand on Noah’s shoulder, his voice a low growl, “Shut up. Right now. If another word comes out of your mouth, I’ll fucking knock you out.”

  Noah stayed silent, refusing to so much as glance at Kevin sitting behind him. His eyes stayed locked on Victor for several long seconds before he reached out, pressed the door release, and swung the door open.

  “Where are you going?” Tessa asked.

  Noah stepped out of the car without another word, the slam of the door echoing behind him. His eyes climbed the fa?ade of the building looming overhead. Every window was sealed from within by a suffocating black mass, yet the front door was conspicuously absent, a gaping mouth offering the only way in.

  Noah couldn’t help but wonder why the morphus hadn’t sealed it. Maybe it needed an open path to slip in and out of its lair, unable to construct anything resembling a proper barrier. Or perhaps the yawning gap was deliberate, a trap meant to tempt reckless humans inside. A faint edge of unease crept into Noah’s chest, no matter how much he tried to suppress it.

  Suddenly, doubt crept in. The plan to enter the morphus’ lair and level up a few times no longer seemed so brilliant. In fact, the thought of retreating to the safety of the car became oddly comforting. He knew Tessa, Kevin, and especially Victor wouldn’t ridicule him for abandoning the idea. They were better people than that. If anything, they might commend him for having the sense to step away from something so reckless.

  However, he then heard the sound of a door opening and closing behind him. Noah glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Victor stride around to the front of the car and come to a halt at his side. With deliberate effort, Noah steeled his expression. He’d made too much fuss about being fearless to let even a hint of fear show now.

  “So, you’ve decided to join me after all?” Noah asked, his grin masking what he truly felt.

  Victor gave a silent nod, his eyes locked on the looming building ahead.

  “Atta boy,” Noah said with a firm pat to Victor’s shoulder. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down. You and I, we’ve got balls, unlike those two.”

  “Tessa’s a girl,” Victor pointed out.

  “What? Oh, right. Well, you get what I mean.”

  A door creaked open behind them and shut with a soft thud. Noah glanced over his shoulder to see Kevin circling the car. His grin widened. “So, you’ve changed your mind too?”

  “Keep dreaming, boy.” He stepped to the driver’s side, pulled the door open, but didn’t get in. Turning to Victor, he said, “You don’t have to go through with this, Vic. No one’s going to think less of you.”

  Victor’s tone was steady. “I want to, Kevin. It’s my decision. I’ve already told you. You can’t stop me.”

  Kevin seemed ready to argue further with Victor but stopped himself. After a brief silence, he said, “I’ll be in the driver’s seat. When you boys come running scared out of that place, I’ll be ready to hit the gas the moment you’re in the car.”

  Noah pulled a mocking face. “Us? Scared? Not a chance, old man.”

  Kevin just shook his head, climbed behind the steering wheel, and slammed the door with a sharp thud.

  Victor and Noah cast one last, sorrowful glance at the car before trudging toward the building. Their pace was deliberate, almost reluctant, each silently wishing to turn back, yet unwilling to admit it. At the entrance, they hesitated, lingering at the threshold to stare into the void ahead. The interior was nothing but shadow, an abyss that seemed to breathe. Wordlessly, they nodded to one another, then crossed inside, vanishing as the darkness closed in around them.

  Kevin and Tessa sat in the car, watching the seconds crawl by. The first minute felt endless. Then another crept past… and another. Before they knew it, an hour had passed. They remained there, hoping, but Victor and Noah never emerged, never came back. The worst part was that Kevin and Tessa didn’t even know what had happened to them.

  There had been no panicked screaming, no bellowing from mutants, no gunshots, no nothing. Not a single sound came from within the morphus’ lair. It was as if the moment Victor and Noah entered the building, they had simply ceased to exist. Whatever had happened to them, Kevin and Tessa had a feeling they would never find out. The thought alone was enough to send a chill down their spines.

  Kevin and Tessa waited a little longer, still hoping Victor and Noah would return, even though the chances of that were nonexistent by that point. They already knew the wait was pointless. Their friends weren’t coming back.

  Only when darkness began to fall did Kevin and Tessa decide to head home. It was dangerous outside at night, as powerful mutants prowled the streets after nightfall. With one last glance at the morphus’ lair, Kevin shifted the car into gear and pulled away from the curb, heading toward the safety of Base Samantha.

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