Uruvi took a look at the new contestant. He was pretty tall, but his face was hidden under the shadow of the hood of his jacket. “Who… who are you?” she shouted.

  He pulled out his bow and drew an arrow, aiming in the direction Uruvi was standing. “Hold on.” In a quick succession, he fired three arrows that cut through the air.

  She ducked down on instinct, but the arrows travelled well above her and struck a group of Pisacha that were running towards her. She turned back and saw the man leap over from the sky bridge and onto the bus, before dropping onto the ground before her.

  He took off the hood, revealing the face of a young man with short jet-black hair and a clean shave. He wore a soft, pleasant smile and said, “my name is Rana. And you are?”

  She felt unsure about him. “Uruvi.” She noticed the screen open before him, but the contents of it were obscured. ‘Interesting.’ She remembered seeing the content on Raghu’s screen.

  His eyes drifted towards her screen too. “You are a contestant too?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I am.” Her voice was devoid of any emotion, and he seemed to have picked up on it.

  “Oh. Don’t worry. I have no intention of creating any trouble. I am just surviving, like you are.”

  She eased up a little. “Sorry, but… I just fought a monster and…”

  “No need to explain yourself. I can see that you are having a rough time.”

  She shifted uneasily. “Really?”

  “Yeah… I mean. You look really beat up. What happened?”

  She looked down at her clothes, and they did look pretty worn out. This was in contrast to Rana, who sported a neat combo of olive-green denim jacket, t-shirt, and casual trousers. Not only did he look far better prepared, but his clothes barely had any scratches. “You know, fighting monsters…?” she said.

  “Whoa. Must have had it worse than I did,” he commented.

  She felt her throat dry, crying for some water. “Why don’t we continue this conversation over there?” She asked, pointing in the direction of the truck. “I am really thirsty, and there is a truck full of water.”

  “Yeah… Yeah. Sorry.”

  The truck appeared to have smashed into an oncoming car. Crates of packaged drinking water and fizzing drinks littered the street around it. Uruvi immediately grabbed onto the crate that sat closest to the edge, ripping open one of the bottles, and took a sip, which she swallowed with disgust. “Ew! It is warm!”

  “Oh. It must have been in the sun.” Rana reached deeper into the truck and pulled out a crate. He passed one bottle to her. “Try this.”

  She drowned the entire bottle in one go, heaving a sigh of relief once completed. “Oh yeah. That felt good.”

  Rana simply smiled and took a small sip before dropping the small bottle into his pocket.

  “Man, you look so prepared,” she said.

  He looked down at his clothes and replied, “I do?”

  “Well, better than me, at least.”

  “That is true. But what happened? You look like you took a beating,” he asked.

  “I mean, same thing that probably happened to you. Fought a lot of monsters and barely made it out alive. How are you so… clean? It cannot be the bow and arrow. You must have got that after level 5.”

  “You are right about that. But the enemies weren’t too hard. They were walking punching bags. Grabbed a sledgehammer and started pummeling them.”

  “A sledgehammer? No way I would have been able to swing that around when I started.”

  “What weapon did you use?”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “A hockey stick.”

  “Ah. I see. Still… For your scrawny appearance, you pack a punch,” he said.

  She felt elated hearing someone praise her strength. “Why, thank you. You are really good with the bow, though. I would have never considered picking it. My aim is horrible!”

  “Well, I did do lots of archery. The system must have known. It suggested me the weapon.” He looked at the axe that rested on the hood of the car. “But that axe is something else.”

  She picked up the axe and held it before him. “It really is.”

  He passed her his weapon while carefully taking hers. They marveled at each other’s weapons, adoring the look and feel of them.

  “You said you wouldn’t be able to swing a hammer. This thing weighs a ton!” he said.

  “Now, yeah. I pumped up my strength attribute to 16.”

  “That makes sense.”

  She grabbed the bow and aimed it at the sky. Pulling the string back, she tried to take aim at a billboard and let go of the string, pretending to shoot. “Hey, Arya. Can you tell me how good a shot this would have been?”

  “Affirmative. Possible accuracy of hitting the billboard, thirty percent.”

  “Thirty? Are you serious?” she asked. She knew she was bad, but the billboard was huge, and she had more strength than before.

  “Suggestion. Raise Dexterity and Adept to improve accuracy.”

  She passed the bow back to Rana, who was trying his best to contain his giggle. “Yeah. Maybe in the future.”

  The two fell silent, using the moment of peace to rest. The place was quiet and serene, drenched in the orange hue of the setting sun. Devoid of the usual human hustle and bustle, it was melancholic, but still beautiful.

  “I so wish I could experience this at a better time. But it at least helps me not think of the carnage that happened yesterday,” said Rana.

  “Me too. But… I guess I am lucky there. I was knocked out the entire night. I missed most of the gut-churning part.”

  He looked surprised by her statement. “You mean… You know, right?”

  “That the Pisacha were humans? Yeah. I do. They also ate a lot of humans who didn’t turn.”

  He nodded. “You are lucky. Still, walking out alone… must have taken a toll.”

  “I mean, others chose to stay back. And I think it was for the best,”

  He turned to face her and asked, “wait. People survived in your office?”

  She fell silent, but he could tell from her expression.

  “Fuck…” he said, wearing a somber smile on his face. “Whatever. I can’t weep over it. I need to keep moving.”

  She nodded and said, “we do. Let’s carve a path to the end of the street, shall we?”

  He picked up his bow and said, “with pleasure. In another half a mile, the traffic clears up. We should be able to grab a vehicle and hit the road.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  They drew their weapons and charged through the sea of vehicles. Rana hopped over from vehicle to vehicle, gaining any higher ground that he could, while Uruvi found it easier just to stick closer to the ground.

  She spotted a couple of Pisacha heading towards them. Just as she prepared to strike, a couple of arrows struck them in the face, killing them instantly. “Hey! Stop stealing my XP.”

  “Don’t know what you are talking about. I am just creating a path for you,” he retorted.

  She let out a low growl before dashing ahead. A few paces down the street, she spotted a level 4 Manv-Pisacha hiding between two trucks. She broke into a sly grin as she picked up the pace. The monster appeared to have caught a glimpse of her. It turned towards her, letting out a roar, ready to charge. Suddenly, an arrow slipped between the two trucks and struck it in the head. The monster staggered backwards just as she reached. In one swing, she hacked off its legs, causing it to collapse onto the road, before twirling around and slicing through its neck.

  Rana appeared on top of the truck, looking down at the monster turning to dust. “Look who is stealing now?”

  She saw her XP almost reach the end. “A few more. Just a few more.” She dashed away, looking for her next prey.

  Rana followed suit. He hopped onto the trailer of the truck and peered as far as he could. He could see her heading towards a few more Pisacha. Raising his bow, he lined his arrow with the monsters, ready to fire.

  Her eyes locked onto the level 4 Pisacha ahead of her. ‘That bastard must have a clear shot… but so do I.’ She slowed down her pace and brought her axe up. With all her might, she threw the axe at it. The blade let out a dull whine as it cut through the air before burying itself in the monster’s face, and throwing it back onto the asphalt. She saw its HP drop into the red. ‘Not dead!’

  Arrows whiz past her and struck two other Pisacha. Red aura formed around her as she blitzed towards her prey. Using a stalled car’s hood as her leverage, she leapt over the monster before slamming her fist onto the back of the axe. The monster’s head split open, and its flailing body came to a rest.

  She hunched over the axe and watched the monster turn to dust. Her XP bar filled up, and the number above the bar turned from five to six before resetting.

  “New Level attained. 5 Attribute points, 1 skill point, 1 spell point gained.”

  She fell back onto her bottom and said, “thanks Arya.”

  Rana stood atop the car next to her, looking down at her with a wide grin. “Not bad.”

  “Oh… Fuck you.” Every muscle in her body ached as she got back on her feet. “I think I overdid it.”

  “Here,” he tossed her the bottle of water he had stowed away.

  She caught the bottle and asked, “thanks, but won’t you need it?”

  “We should find more at the end of this street. The place is lined with eateries.”

  “Good.” She drowned the bottle before crushing and tossing it aside.

  Something white moved behind the car on which Rana stood. She peered in its direction and saw a short, scrawny, and pale white figure walking towards them. It had pearls for eyes and long black hair obscuring its face.

  Her heart froze at the sight of it. It didn’t look as intimidating as the one before, but something felt off about it. “Watch out… that is a Pisachi…,” she said in a hushed tone.

  He turned back to see the ghastly monster creeping towards them.

  “Warning. Elite enemy detected,” said Arya.