Chapter 76: Lowest Floor

With the security captain defeated, the alarm ceased right away just like before. It would seem that defeating mutants during an alarm would eventually lower the security until a certain point at which the alarm would cease, and how much the security lowered upon each kill was dependent on how strong the mutant was.

That was an interesting system, but the question was who implemented this, and why?

Following the pattern seen thus far, whoever was managing this place clearly wanted to keep intruders out. If that was the case, then why make it so that security would be lowered upon defeating powerful mutants? If anything, shouldn't that call for more reinforcements?

Regardless, Cyanide and Kirika made quick work of all the remaining white lab coat mutants on the floor after Luna disabled the alarm-triggering tiles. Cyanide leveled up to Level 29, while Kirika reached Level 28. The former leveled up his STR and AGI by 10 each using the CP he got, and the latter dumped all of her available CP into INT, since she was loving the new Weapon Arts she acquired and both INT and STR (mainly the former) determined how powerful they were. Just like with before, they conserved the SP—Cyanide now had 4 to spend, and Kirika 3.

Now with a Level Three Security Pass, the two could access the final floor below two. According to Kirika, there weren't any aura signals coming from down below. Because Cyanide had used [Radar] when clearing out the floor, it was on cooldown now.

Heading into the elevator, Cyanide tapped on the button for the lowest floor as the doors rolled shut. The screen that usually displayed the floor number glitched a bit, then switched to an authentication screen that read:

[Tap Security Pass on screen]

Cyanide did as told, tapping the security pass Kirika handed him on the display like one would tap their credit card on a card reader machine. After several seconds, he moved his hand away, and a loading screen with a translucent blue spinning circle appeared.

[Authorizing…]

[…]

[…]

[… Authorized.]

With a 'Ding!' noise, the elevator began moving downwards, heading for the bottommost floor of this mysterious lab. It went faster than usual, but despite that, the journey seemed to take longer than usual as well.

'It's quite deep underground, huh…?' Cyanide thought. Perhaps that was why Kirika couldn't sense anything underneath them. It was best to keep their guard up.

Soon, the elevator doors rolled open once more, and Cyanide and Kirika stepped out of it. All around them, the aesthetic was clearly very different from before. They were still in a futuristic, clean laboratory, yes, but the lights down here were far dimmer than the upper floors. There was also no eight corridors—just one, leading directly into a room ahead.

From where Cyanide and Kirika were, they could see an object being stored in a capsule of some sort within said room. They were still too far to see exactly what it was, but it seemed like a small ball of some kind.

Cautiously, they entered the tight corridor and walked closer to the room. There was no light here at all, only at the elevator and in the room ahead. Keeping an eye on the darkness all around them, they continued. Closer and closer, until…

Until… in front of them, a purple wraith suddenly rose from the floor.

"PLAYERS… THIS AREA… IS OFF… LIMITS…"

Immediately, Cyanide and Kirika drew their weapons and prepared for battle. However, neither made the first move, hesitating because they didn't know what their opponent was capable of yet.

"… Players?" Kirika arched an eyebrow. "That's the first time I've been called that by a mutant."

"Be careful, Cyanide," Luna warned, appearing in a hologram beside him. "This one… is not normal."

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"Yeah… no kidding." Cyanide narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The first thing he had done upon seeing this mysterious entity was try to [Inspect] it like with everything else he encountered, but the results were…

[Name: G̢͘͡͝ú̸̢͘͠à̢͟r̶̴d̀͜í̛͡a̵͘ń̴͢ ́͜o̢͡f͏̸̷ ͏͢͟L̕͟͝͞҉u͘s̵͏̛͠͡t̶]

[Level: 9̴̛̕̕͡9̸̶̕͟͢9̸̴͠ ]

[HP: 9̶̛͝9̛͘͜͡9̶̢̀͘͘9́͢͝9̴͝͝͞9̨͘͟͡/̷̵́͡9̸͘9̨̡̢̕͝9̡̕͘9̕҉̶9͘͜͞͝͞9҉̢]

[Category: T̴͡҉̢͏h̀҉̵̨͞ę̷̡̀̀ ̶̢͜͡͞G̨̀̀̕r̸̷ą̡͜͜v̶͏̡҉͏e͏҉̡̛m̶̸̡̕į̸̨͠ń̢͜͡d͝͏͏̵̢'̸̀͟͞s͝͝ ̴̸͜Ś̡͢p̛͞a̵̵̴͝w̡͡ņ̴̨̢͜]

… Not helpful, to say the least. It would seem whatever this entity was, it was even glitching out the system itself. It would seem Cyanide and Kirika had truly stepped beyond the game's boundaries, and arrived at a truth that should not have been revealed.

But if it shouldn't have been revealed… then why was this underground laboratory marked as a POI on the map?

Were there two different powers fighting against each other in the simulation of Endzone, one that wants to reveal the truth, and one that wants to keep it hidden?

Either way… now was not the time. Cyanide turned off the safety on his gun, and aimed it at the creature's forehead.

"… What are you?"

"PLAYERS… TURN BACK… THIS… IS NOT… FOR YOUR EYES…" It groaned, voice deep, echoing, and distorted. Its body flailed around like a tentacle, and its body was made up of some weird organic purple matter. Its face took the shape of a vortex, just like all the other mutants of this place. It had no feet, but instead stood on a pile of purple goo that was part of its body. Like some sort of humanoid octopus, it wobbled from side to side.

"And if I insist on keep going?" Cyanide challenged.

"THEN YOU MUST… BE ERASED."

The vile squirming purple entity spasmed, and from its body, several new appendages shot out. Each held a weapon—rockets, miniguns, flamethrowers, and more.

"… Kiri, distract it."

"H-Huh?! You want me to distract this thing?! What are you going to do, run?"

"Remember when I told you I might need a bait today? Now's the time."

"I-I thought that was a joke!"

"It wasn't."

"Tch… dammit, fine!" Kirika yelled, slicing the air with her blade. "But you're not just going to leave me here, are you?!"

"Just do as I say, and don't ask questions."

"ANYONE… WHO DARES TRY BREAKING THE RULES OF THE GAME… SHALL BE PUNISHED."

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