As they climbed the stairs, the stench hit them as soon as they reached the fifth floor. Kade clenched her jaw against the bile rising in her throat, forcing herself to focus. The hallway ahead was unnervingly clean compared to the ruin below. In contrast to the lower floors, riddled with shattered furniture, crumbling walls, and debris, this floor was almost pristine.

  No holes in the plaster, no broken glass crunching underfoot. Just eerie silence and faint scratch marks marring the otherwise well-preserved surfaces. A framed evacuation map still hung straight on the wall, untouched by the cataclysm. Dusted with a fine white powder, like something that didn’t care about fingerprints had cleaned it.

  "There's a large situation room at the end of the hall. Everything else on this floor is side offices and storage rooms," Olsen said, cresting the top of the stairs.

  The air felt wrong. The smell of rot clashed with the unmarred furniture, the intact walls, and the clean lines of the doors. This place was a contradiction, and Kade didn’t trust it for a second.

  Overwhelming Stench afflicts you! The revolting odor of rot and decay saturates the air, seeping into your senses and clouding your focus. You will suffer a 10% penalty for ranged attacks and a 5% penalty for melee attacks. The debuff is persistent until clear of the smell's area of influence.

  "Clear so far, but lord, that smell," Lawson said. His voice was steady, but Kade caught the edge of unease in his tone.

  They moved cautiously, weapons at the ready. Ahead, at the far end of the hallway, the double doors of the secure file room loomed, sturdy and foreboding. Faint growling sounds seeped through the thick wood, along with the occasional scrape of claws against metal. Whatever was in there, it wasn’t just another group of rodentia.

  Myers stopped beside a different door halfway down the hall, his nose wrinkling.

  "The smell seems to be coming from in here. What is it?" he whispered, his hand reaching for the handle.

  "Myers, don’t…" Kade started, but it was too late.

  The door creaked open, revealing the source of the odor. Inside, carcasses hung from hooks along the ceiling, swaying gently in the stale air. The shapes were a grotesque mix of animal and human, all butchered. The floor was slick with congealed blood, and flies buzzed lazily over the remains.

  Lawson stumbled back, gagging before dropping to a knee and vomiting onto the floor. Even Briggs hesitated, his eyes narrowing as he stepped closer to push the door shut. His face betrayed no emotion, but Kade saw the tension in his shoulders. Tanner turned away with his hand over his mouth and nose to hold back the vomit, but he was unsuccessful and joined Lawson moments later.

  "Seen worse," Briggs replied. "Mass grave in Helmand. It has the same smell and the same weight. Let’s move. There's nothing we can do for these people anymore."

  The door clicked shut, and Briggs turned to the others, his expression like stone.

  "Eyes forward. Whatever’s in that room isn't our fault. We can't change what happened to them, but we can damn well make sure that what did this doesn't have time to do it again."

  Kade swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat and blinked the bodies from her mind, though the horror lingered at the edge of her thoughts. She took a steadying breath, her determination hardening. The world had gone to hell, but her people were going to make it through this. They had to.

  "Briggs, you ok?" Kade said quietly so that only Briggs could hear.

  "No, no, I'm not." Briggs responded. "Maybe I'll tell you about it someday, but not today. Eyes on the prize, Lieutenant," before moving back to the head of the group.

  It was clear there was some past trauma that had been drug back to the surface, but his reaction also made it clear to Kade that this wasn't the time or place to press the issue. He was right, of course. The middle of a mission was not the time to play dime-store therapist.

  As they approached the double doors of the secure file room, the sounds inside grew louder. Low rumbling growls mixed with the skittering of claws and the occasional snarl. Kade’s gut twisted. This would not be like the other fights. Whatever was in there was bigger, meaner, and better prepared.

  Lawson turned to the team, having composed himself. "Positions. Briggs, take point. Myers, you’re on his left. Tanner and Olsen, stay back until we’re clear. The rest of you know your place. Now stack up! Ma'am, middle of the pile for this breach, please."

  The Marines nodded, their movements automatic as they fell into formation. Kade stood in the middle of the stack of Marines. She would be the eighth person in the room. She held her cutlass in hand. Taking a moment, she mentally composed herself before tapping the Marine in front of her, indicating that she was ready.

  For a moment, there was silence. Then the growls from behind the doors deepened, as though whatever was inside had caught their scent.

  "Ready?" Lawson asked.

  Briggs glanced at him, his expression unreadable but confident. "Ready."

  "Then we go on three. Whatever is in there knows we're out here. Ready, steady, go!"

  The door to the file room crashed open under Briggs’s shoulder, the heavy wood splintering with a loud crack. The team surged inside, weapons at the ready, but the sight that greeted them froze Kade in place for a split second.

  The room was vast, larger than any space they’d encountered in the building so far. A heavy wooden table dominated the center, its surface littered with scraps of paper, crude maps, and jagged tools. Someone had unceremoniously shoved file cabinets into a haphazard pile in the far corner, showcasing the rodentia’s disdain for order. Suspicious devices dotted the room, with glinting wires, crude contraptions, and nothing placed by accident.

  "Traps, maybe," Myers said. "They don’t leave things lying around for no reason."

  But it wasn’t the room that held Kade’s attention. It was the figure sitting at the table.

  [Analyze] Skornik the Tyrant | Level: 7 Boss | Status: Hostile | Class: Special

  He was enormous, even seated, his hunched shoulders rising above the back of his chair. His fur was patchy, revealing deep scars that crisscrossed his flesh like a twisted roadmap of violence. A belt of skulls hung low on his hips, each one polished to a dull sheen. Propped against his chair was a massive two-handed sword, its blade nicked and worn but no less threatening. The faint, sickly gleam of dried blood clung to its edge.

  Skornik’s hood cast his face in shadow, but his snout twitched as he sniffed the air, his red eyes glowing faintly from beneath the fabric. The effect was otherworldly and unnerving. Kade’s muscles tightened as she took him in, her mind already playing out the coming battle. Her gaze lingered on his tail for a moment, catching the faint shimmer of the ring coiled there. The magical aura shown to her by her eyepatch's ability to detect magic lit up in her vision like a warning flare.

  Her fingers tightened around the hilt of Tempest’s Edge. Well, the ring on its tail is magical, though it remained to be seen what it did, she thought, filing the detail away for later. There were more significant concerns right now.

  Around the room, his elite guard moved into position, each one larger and more heavily armed than the Rodentia they’d faced so far. Their armor was crude but reinforced, and their weapons gleamed with an edge that promised precision. One wore a chest plate reinforced with scavenged police riot gear. Another wielded twin blades that appeared to drip acid. They weren’t just here for show. They were killers, disciplined and deliberate.

  [Analyze] Rodentia Honor Guard | Level: 6 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Rodentia Honor Guard | Level: 6 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Rodentia Honor Guard | Level: 6 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Rodentia Honor Guard | Level: 6 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Rodentia Honor Guard | Level: 7 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  [Analyze] Rodentia Honor Guard | Level: 7 Elite | Status: Hostile | Class: Fighter

  Skornik rose slowly, his chair scraping across the floor with a grating screech. He didn’t reach for his sword. Not yet. Instead, he stood motionless for a moment, his glowing eyes fixed on the team. His snout twitched again, his breath coming in low, guttural huffs. The room seemed to shrink under his gaze, the oppressive silence broken only by the faint scrape of claws against the table.

  "Well," Kade said, more to herself than anyone else, "this is going to be fun."

  The guards shifted, their weapons raised, their stances low and ready. Skornik’s hand moved to the hilt of his sword, his claws curling around the worn leather grip. His posture was relaxed but brimming with restrained violence, like a coiled spring waiting to snap.

  Kade stepped forward. She could feel the tension in her team beside her, the subtle shifts as they prepared to strike. The moment hung suspended, every breath charged with the inevitability of violence.

  And then Skornik growled, a low, rumbling sound that filled the room like thunder. His elites moved in unison, closing ranks around him, their eyes locked on the intruders.

  "Attack!" Lawson called out. "No quarter!"

  The roar of battle consumed the room as the Marines clashed with Skornik’s elite guard, their movements sharp and disciplined. Kade barely registered the chaos behind her as she and her strike team, composed of herself, Lawson, Briggs, and a handful of Marines, closed in on the Tyrant himself. The rest of the team, including Myers, Olsen, and Tanner, broke up into smaller groups to confront the guards. Skornik loomed over them, his glowing red eyes glinting beneath his hood, the two-handed sword in his claws rising high.

  The first swing came without warning. The blade arced downward with crushing force, splitting the air with a deep hum before slamming into the floor. Kade barely sidestepped in time, the impact sending a shockwave through the room that rattled her teeth. Splinters of wood flew in every direction as the floor buckled under the weight.

  "Keep moving!" Lawson barked.

  Lawson quickly darted to Skornik’s flank with his axe ready. Myers lunged from the opposite side, his smaller blade seeking the gaps in the Tyrant’s patchwork armor.

  Skornik growled, twisting with surprising speed. His tail whipped out in a wide arc, catching Myers mid-stride and sweeping his feet out from under him. Myers hit the ground hard, his blade skittering out of reach. Before Skornik could press the advantage, Briggs closed in, his pike pole striking the Tyrant’s arm with a resounding crack.

  The blow staggered Skornik, but only for a moment. His eyes flashed, and he swung the massive sword horizontally, forcing Briggs and Lawson to dive backward. Kade seized the opening, darting in low. She drove her boot into the side of Skornik’s knee with all her weight, the joint bending unnaturally under the force.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The Tyrant roared again, stumbling as his leg buckled. Kade slashed upward with Tempest’s Edge, the enchanted blade leaving a faint blood trail as it struck his side. Skornik snarled, spinning with a backhanded swing of his sword. Kade ducked just in time, the blade whistling past her head.

  Then came the traps.

  With a guttural shout, Skornik raised his sword high and slammed it into the ground. The floor beneath them vibrated violently as a set of metal spikes shot up from hidden panels near Briggs’s position. He leapt aside, the spikes narrowly missing his leg, their sharp edges gleaming in the dim light.

  "Watch the floor!" Kade shouted.

  A hiss filled the air as a vent near the back wall expelled a cloud of greenish gas. The caustic stench hit Kade’s nostrils immediately, burning her lungs and forcing her to retreat a few steps. Lawson yanked one Marine away from the spreading cloud, coughing as he dragged them to safety.

  The various fights with guards happening around the room took a momentary break as both the guards and the Marines fighting them had to evade the traps as well.

  Skornik grinned beneath his hood, his sword already rising for another swing.

  "The traps look like they are resetting," Myers called out, regaining his footing. "There’s a pattern. We just need to keep him moving!"

  Kade nodded, rushing back into the fray as Skornik targeted Briggs. The Tyrant brought his sword down in a savage overhead swing, but Briggs stepped to the side, forcing the blade to crash into the table instead. Splinters flew, and the table groaned as it collapsed under the weight.

  Kade darted around the debris, her cutlass striking at Skornik’s exposed flank. The blow landed, but the Tyrant shrugged it off with a snarl, twisting to swipe at her with his tail again. She leapt back, keeping her distance as Briggs and Lawson pressed forward.

  The room’s hazards triggered again as Skornik slammed his sword into the ground once more. A section of the ceiling groaned, then collapsed in a rain of heavy debris. Olsen cried out as a wooden beam struck his shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Another narrowly avoided a falling chunk of metal, scrambling to safety with a bleeding gash on his arm.

  "Hold your ground and give them hell!" Lawson shouted.

  The elite guards were fewer now, their numbers dwindling under the Marines’ relentless assault, but the team was paying for every inch of ground with blood.

  Skornik roared again, his movements growing wilder as he swung his sword in wide arcs. Briggs blocked one strike with his pike pole, but the sheer force of the blow sent him staggering back, his boots skidding across the splintered floor.

  "He’s slowing!" Kade said.

  Her cutlass sliced across Skornik’s arm as she darted in again. The Tyrant snarled, blood dripping from the fresh wound, but he held his ground. With a final roar, Skornik raised his sword high, his glowing red eyes narrowing as he stared down at the team. It looked like Skornik was getting a second wind and was getting serious.

  "It's a boss fight! Get ready for another phase with different tactics," Myers said.

  Skornik let out a yet another guttural roar, the sound reverberating through the room like a war drum. His massive form shifted, the glowing red eyes under his hood narrowing as he gripped his two-handed sword tighter. Kade’s heart pounded as she saw the subtle shift in his stance. Playtime was over.

  "Don’t let him pin us! Make him fight for every step!" Kade shouted.

  She darted left, her cutlass striking out at an elite guard as she passed to force it back, but her eyes stayed on Skornik. His movements were faster now, more deliberate, the wild brute from moments ago replaced by a predator.

  The first trap triggered with a deafening clang.

  A section of the floor buckled near one Marine fighting a guard on the outside edge of the room, a sharp spike shooting upward. The Marine cried out as the blade drove through the arch of his boot, pinning him in place. Blood spattered the floor as he struggled, his weapon falling from his hands.

  "Hold still!" Lawson bellowed.

  Olsen rushed to drag the Marine back before another spike could trigger. The elite guard he had been fighting lunged at the distraction, its blade slicing through the air. Lawson twisted, his axe catching the blow just in time. The sheer force sent sparks flying, but he held his ground.

  Skornik struck next.

  Kade barely had time to register his leap. One moment he was towering near the center of the room, and the next he was airborne, his massive sword raised high. A different Marine across the battlefield, locked in combat with an elite, never even saw it coming. Skornik’s blade came down with devastating force, cleaving through the Marine’s back. The sickening crunch of armor and bone made Kade’s stomach lurch.

  The body hit the ground in two pieces, lifeless, before it could even cry out.

  Kade’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t falter. "Focus!" she barked, her voice cutting through the haze of shock. "Keep the pressure on him! Move, now!"

  Skornik roared again, leaping back to his original position as if taunting them. His glowing eyes seemed to burn brighter, his sword dripping with fresh blood.

  Another cry rang out. Tanner this time. Kade turned just in time to see one of the elite guards plunge its blade through his chest. Tanner’s mouth opened, but no sound came out as the blade twisted, and then he crumpled to the ground, lifeless. The elite pulled its weapon free, already turning to find its next target.

  Kade’s chest burned. She'd told Tanner that the Marines would do the fighting. That had proved to be a wrong assumption and now the man was dead, but she forced the grief down. She didn't know the man well, but they wouldn't have made it this far without his knowledge of the building.

  This was a fight for survival. There was no time to mourn.

  Skornik’s sword crashed into the ground again, triggering an additional hazard. A panel in the ceiling above Briggs groaned before releasing a cascade of jagged debris. Briggs dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the falling shards of metal, his pike pole swinging out to knock an elite guard off balance as he rose.

  "Eyes up!" Kade shouted.

  Her voice was hoarse as she slashed at another elite trying to close in on her. Her blade met resistance as Tempest’s Edge struck true, the faint hum of its magic reverberating through her arm. The guard staggered, a deep wound on its side, but refused to fall.

  The traps came faster now, as if the room itself was Skornik’s ally. Another poison vent hissed open near the far wall, releasing a plume of green gas that forced one Marine to retreat, coughing violently. The elite guards seized the moment, pushing their advantage with coordinated strikes.

  Kade’s cutlass met Skornik’s sword in a furious clash. The sheer weight of his weapon sent vibrations up her arm, and she gritted her teeth, digging her heels into the floor to hold her ground. She quickly twisted her sword to deflect his follow-up swing.

  "Come on, you bastard," she growled.

  Behind her, Lawson was holding his own against two elites that had intercepted him, pulling him away from the boss fight, his axe flashing as he kept them at bay. Myers darted in and out of the various frays, his smaller blade finding weak points in armor as he moved by.

  Skornik let out another roar, his bloodied figure still towering despite the wounds the crew of the Horizon Talon had inflicted. He stepped back, his breathing heavier now, but the defiance in his eyes burned hotter than ever.

  "He’s bleeding, but so are we. Don’t stop now!" Briggs called out, driving his pike into an elite guard that had stumbled too close and sent it sprawling. "Stay on him!"

  Kade nodded, her focus narrowing on Skornik. The losses were mounting, and the traps were relentless, but they couldn’t falter now. She adjusted her grip on Tempest’s Edge, the cutlass humming with renewed energy.

  The air in the room was thick with the new stench of blood and sweat. The Marines pushed hard against the remaining elite guards, their movements unrelenting. Olsen moved from place to place trying to pull any wounded Marines to a safer location. Kade caught a glimpse of Lawson driving his axe into the chest of an elite, the creature’s body crumpling before it could react. Despite being battered and bloodied, the Marines fought like demons.

  Her attention snapped back to Skornik.

  The Tyrant roared, his voice reverberating through the room as he bared his jagged teeth. His glowing red eyes locked on Briggs, and his snout twitched in a way that sent a chill through Kade.

  "Watch him, Briggs!" Kade called out, but Briggs was already moving.

  Skornik reared back, a sickly green glow building in his throat. He spat a glob of bile that sailed through the air, sizzling as it went. Briggs sidestepped at the last moment, the bile splashing against the floor where he’d stood. Smoke rose from the spot, the stench of melted metal and decay filling the room.

  "Too slow," Briggs taunted.

  The Tyrant snarled, gripping his massive sword and shifting his weight. Kade saw it in his stance. The tension building, the subtle gathering of strength. Her eyes widened.

  "He’s going to leap!" she shouted.

  Skornik sprang into the air, his hulking form arcing across the room with terrifying speed. As he aimed for a Marine locked in combat with an elite guard, his massive blade gleamed in the dim light. The Marine turned at Kade’s warning, diving to the side just as the sword came down.

  The blade didn’t stop.

  Skornik’s strike cleaved clean through his own elite guard, splitting the creature in two. The pieces hit the floor with a wet thud, and Skornik let out a frustrated roar. His red eyes burned brighter as he turned back toward the center of the room.

  Kade was already moving.

  She sprinted through the chaos, her cutlass humming faintly in her grip. Skornik leapt again, landing heavily in the middle of the room, but this time Kade was ready. She ducked under the swing of his sword, the force of the blade whooshing past her ear, and drove Tempest’s Edge upward with every ounce of strength she had.

  The blade pierced his gut, sinking deep into the thick muscle. Skornik’s roar turned into a guttural wheeze, his massive frame jerking as he tried to pull back. Kade twisted the blade to the side, channeling every bit of rage and anguish she felt for the men and women that had died in the building into the motion, gutting the beast. A sickening crunch accompanied the motion and yanked it free.

  Skornik staggered, his glowing eyes dimming as blood poured from the wound. His sword fell from his claws with a heavy clang, and he dropped to his knees. For a moment, his hooded face turned toward Kade, the red fading into dull embers. Then he collapsed forward, lifeless.

  Kade pulled her cutlass free and stepped back, her chest heaving as she scanned the room. With their leader dead, the Marines soon stood among the bodies of the elite guards, battered but victorious. Blood streaked their armor, their weapons dull with gore, but their eyes burned with the fire of hard-won triumph.

  "Hell of a fight," Briggs muttered, his voice gravelly as he planted the butt of his pike against the ground.

  Kade nodded, her grip tightening on Tempest’s Edge. "We came out on top. That’s what matters."

  The weight of the losses hung heavy in her chest, but she pushed it down. This was their mission, their survival, and today they had won.

  "Let’s secure the room," she said. "And make sure he stays dead."

  The room was eerily quiet now, the chaos of battle replaced by the faint groans of the injured and the rustle of movement. The Marines spread out, weapons still in hand as they combed through the wreckage, their boots crunching against the blood-soaked debris.

  Kade stood near the center of the room, wiping the gore from her cutlass with a steady hand. Her body ached, every muscle protesting after the relentless combat, but she forced herself to stay upright. Victory or not, there was work to be done.

  Behind her, the medic knelt over a wounded Marine, his hands quick and efficient as he wrapped a bandage around the soldier’s arm. The Marine winced but didn’t complain, his jaw tight as the medic tightened the knot. Nearby, Briggs barked quiet orders, directing the Marines to secure the exits and check the corpses of the elite guards for anything useful.

  "Ma’am," Olsen said. "You’re going to want to see this."

  He stood at the edge of the table, a hand resting on a stack of weathered folders. Kade could see the man's eyes intentionally avoiding the area of the room where Tanner's lifeless corpse lay.

  Kade crossed the room, her boots sticking slightly to the blood-slick floor. Olsen gestured to the table, where several files lay open among the scattered maps and tools. A thick folder, its cover stamped with bold red letters reading PROJECT CATALYST, lay there.

  Beside it was another folder, thinner but no less significant. Kade flipped it open, her heart skipping a beat as she scanned the contents. Charts and navigational notes spilled across the pages, precise and methodical. Her fingers traced the handwritten coordinates scrawled in the margins.

  "Station Block Island," she said. "It's the final fallback order. It’s all here. Coordinates, approach routes… whatever they were trying to protect, this is where it leads."

  Kade closed the folder, tucking it under her arm as she turned back to the team. The medic rose, his patient patched and ready to move, while the Marines continued their search.

  "All right," she called out, her voice carrying across the room. "Secure anything else that looks important. We’re done here in five."

  "We have a chest over here. Myers, check it for traps. Briggs, grab everything in the chest once Myers has it open, and we'll sort it out on the Talon," Lawson ordered. "The rest of you grab whatever weapons look usable. Same deal. We'll sort out who gets what back on the ship."

  Shadows Rage of the Administration

  Quest Completion (Barely)! Congratulations, Team Subtlety! You have successfully turned a stealth mission into a symphony of destruction. You killed Skornik the Tyrant, and thoroughly acquainted his elite guards with the business end of your arsenal. While quiet infiltration may not be your strong suit, you achieved the ultimate goal.

  Rewards: Experience Points, 50 Gold, Tidebreaker Armor Chest Piece, One Box of Crayons

  There was one benefit to this Simulation, Kade thought to herself. With these questions, it was easy to know when you actually had the information that you needed. Still, the damn thing hadn't needed to be rude about it. Marines don't do stealth,

  "Ok, now, if we can just avoid any distractions on the way back," Kade said, instantly regretting uttering the words.

  Then she heard it. A faint, high-pitched whistle that froze her in place.

  Her breath caught. The sound was unmistakable, sharp, and ominous, growing louder with every heartbeat. Her eyes widened, and she spun toward the others.

  "Incoming!" she shouted. "Hit the deck!"

  The ground shuddered violently as the first explosion hit, the shockwave ripping through the room. Dust and debris rained from the ceiling, and the walls groaned under the force. Kade barely had time to throw herself to the floor before the second impact shook the entire building.

  And then everything went dark.

  you may also want to check out The Grand Crusade. It is set in the same Surviving the Simulation universe but follows a very different cast. The one sentence pitch is simple. What does a paladin become when they get super pissed off with righteous fury?

  Finally, if you want to read ahead or dive deeper into the lore, consider joining us on Patreon. Both Tides of Ruin and The Grand Crusade have advanced chapters available there, along with exclusive background lore that does not appear in the books. Your support helps keep these stories alive and growing.