Silas finally was able to be brought back up; and the System kept taunting him, with the timer being permanently engraved into his eyes. He loved the constant reminder that the entire world weighed down on him, relied on him, to escape this facility.
And after all that, he’d be the strongest person in this world. Not even the strongest anomaly when shit like 343 exists. He knew in his bones he’d only survive away from the foundation for a few minutes at most.
But he had to get out. That Infection shit sounded serious. He let Tanner grip onto his arm as he almost fell down, still being held up thankfully. “Would you believe me if I said I need to get out of here?”
“Of course man, you’ve clearly shown yourself to be…” Tanner paused for a second, clearly trying to find the proper wording. As Tanner worked, Silas felt his innate trait activate for a moment, and his head snapped to the hallway door.
The dust behind the metal door shifted a bit as it opened, and he took his gun and pulled the trigger. The person who was standing there fell in a singular moment, and Tanner jumped back and drew his own weapon.
[+1 Experience Gained]
He wasn’t pointing it at Silas, but rather the poor scientist hit in the head cleanly with the bullet hole. 22:35:30 or so the timer said. The time pressing on his neck was terrifying to feel. He had to get to the Heavy Containment Zone as fast as plausible…
“Why the fuck is this site designed to be a pain in the ass for us to escape but easy as shit for the worst of the worst to escape??” Silas asked as he panted watching the blood pool beneath the poor scientist, and Tanner just looked at him.
“...Fuck if I know.” He avoided Silas’s eye contact, and it… It hurt a little bit. Not enough to cause damage in the system’s eyes. He stepped forward to make his way past, kicking aside the corpse.
Tanner flinched at how easily Silas kicked the body aside. “Have you been working out?” Silas had no idea how to respond to such a question… The answer layed in his stats gaining an on average 66% increase with the level…
Which led to a 66% increase in strength. Power as the System called it. “No. Just the hell I’m stuck in forced it upon me.” He lied through his teeth a little bit. Tanner followed Silas through the hallways, as Silas watched the dust with his eyes given to him by the system.
He saw how it ended with a dead end, one that had nothing but an elevator. “Where does this go?” He asked Tanner, who still refused to make eye contact after Silas just ended that scientist.
They had to die for the good of this world, but who’d believe Silas? “It leads to the Storage chamber that-- Shit. 939’s down there.” Silas almost responded first, but the system forced his hand. Silas was going to evade it. Was going to not go down there.
[Quest Created; Kill One Instance of 939]
[Time Limit: Half an Hour]
[Reward: 1 Level, 1 Dungeon Reward!]
[Punishment for Failure: Heavy Containment Lockdown extended by an hour. Nine Tailed Fox arrives half an hour earlier, Gate B stays permanently locked down.]
Silas lets out a single swear as he looks at the reward, then looks at how many bullets are left in his gun. At least the system makes some shit easier. “Fucking hell, now I gotta kill a specimen of 939?”
[Ammunition: 10/24]
He could’ve sworn he heard a snicker, but Tanner looked confused as always. “Dude, why do you ‘have to’? You say you need to do this, you need to do that, but you never say a damn thing about it.”
Silas was about to respond, but the new timer seemed just as insistent as the other. 22:34:29 for the main one, and 29:28 for the newest. “I’ll tell you when my escape isn’t half an hour away from being made nigh impossible.”
Tanner paused for a second, but nodded as Silas entered the elevator. He entered alongside it, but he looked apprehensive as to what he was doing. He knew he could get in trouble, and the elevator was going to take a minute.
“Why are you helping me?” Silas asked Tanner as he checked the weight of the longsword. He’d need to use it soon, he could tell. It fit in his hands well, so he couldn’t quite complain.
“Because…” Tanner paused for a moment, like he always does when given a dilemma. That’s something that could get him killed in Heavy Containment Zone, and he knew it too. It was clear with how heavy the sweat was beading beneath the yellow visor. “Because your my friend.”
Silas nodded, and the door to the elevator finally opened. 22:33:24 ; 28:23 were the times remaining, so he moved swiftly. He heard a voice, one that sounded like a previous guard he knew before.
“Who goes there?” The voice sounded, it was the voice of Barney, his old friend. Tanner froze as he heard the voice. Silas lowered his gun by instinct, another friendly face probably standing on the other side of these crates. Hopefully.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[SCP-939]
[A doggy! It copies the voice of its victims though, so be careful and trust no one.]
Tanner was about to speak, Silas could tell, but he covered Tanner’s mouth. “Shut the fuck up. These things copy the voice of whatever its victims were.” Silas whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible, but then…
A few heavy steps down the aisles of the crates. What was making them, Silas had to take a peak, and when he saw the skinless dogs, he almost threw up. He swallowed down the bile, but he took a step thinking the heavy footsteps would mute the noise.
He didn’t see any eyes, but it didn’t help when the heavy footsteps stopped. And then they sped up in their direction, and something slammed into the storage container he was right besides, and he dove out of the way.
Tanner wasn’t so lucky and was pinned beneath it, and was struggling to push it as the red beast charged into the aisle the two people were in. Silas had to act quick, taking a quick shot in the direction of this monster.
[Natural Shot 1/2]
He managed to land a shot right in the head despite not actually aiming down the sights, and while the thing flinched he drew his longsword and stabbed into it. The beast yelped in Barney’s voice.
Silas had to keep his mind clear from this threat as Tanner finally freed himself to light this beast up with his P-90. Silas dashed back as Tanner lit this thing up, leaving the storage container behind it full of holes, alongside it.
He didn’t have to check it was dead when he saw his second timer turn a brilliant green. 22:27:04 ; 23:03 . The second timer froze right where it was, and the system seemed to commemorate it as Silas worked to free his friend.
[+3 Experience]
[System Message: Bonus reward for clearing within 10 minutes! Another Dungeon Reward!]
[Quest Cleared!]
[+1 Level]
[Dungeon Reward: Common]
[Common Equipment Acquired; Simple Hunting Bow]
[Dungeon Reward: Uncommon]
[Uncommon Equipment Acquired; Steel Gauntlet]
[Level 2]
[+8 Stats]
Silas kept working at saving his friend as his inventory filled with more junk. He saw his stat options however, and went for the options that made the most sense.
Power: 5 [+]
Agility: 5 [+]
Constitution: 5 [+]
Magic: 5 [+]
He completely ignored the idea of constitution and magic. Why would he need to be able to survive shit when he needed to be fast? He needed to be faster than fast even, and he needed to be strong.
Power: 9
Agility: 9
Constitution: 5
Magic: 5
He ignored the items as he pushed the storage container almost easily compared to before, the grinding of the metal beneath the container screeching out like a bird. And with the bird, comes the predators with their impossibly heavy footsteps.
He equipped the steel gauntlet, and it landed on his hand with a weight that was hard to ignore. But it also left his skin feeling a bit more… resistant, harder to cut. The large dogs however didn’t cut nearly as much as they bit with their obscenely sharp teeth.
“Run!” He yelled out the command to Tanner, and was aiming the gun down the aisle of containers, but when Tanner gripped onto the back of his janitorial jumpsuit, he coughed with how he was being a little choked by his guard friend.
[-1 Health]
Of course, when they were both in the elevator, he hit the button to bring the two back up to the light containment zone. A singular skinless red beast ran forward, one of the notable things about it being the lack of eyes, and when it slammed into the door, the elevator shook as it rose.
Silas coughed a few times, glaring at Tanner, but he kept his eyes on the door, with his gun raised. Tanner was clearly terrified, and so Silas didn’t question it. Silas looked at the door as well, with his longsword raised. He only had 8 bullets left in his pistol.
And his timer kept on ticking, it was a terrible feeling to see it everconstantly in his vision, but it also served as a stark reminder how much time he had left. He never saw any infection of the system, but when the system stepped around something, it was probably terrible.
Likely to be something akin to a murder or similar. And that made Silas shudder. He took a good look at the time left as the elevator door opened, and he stood up tall. 22:21:44. He couldn’t quite help but glare upon the timer as he walked out of the elevator, accepting that this is a dead end.
Tanner leaned against the wall that marked it as a dead end, and let out a breath of relief. “Holy shit, my arm…” Tanner clutched his left shoulder as he slid down the wall, and Silas simply looked upon him as Tanner showed the pain of the pinning.
“Shit man, I may abandon you quicker… Could you just leave me at an evacuation shelter?” Tanner’s request didn’t quite catch Silas off guard as much as it likely should’ve. Silas wasn’t a doctor, but he’s seen people break their bones with less.
“Y-yeah… Sure man.” Silas held out his hand for Tanner to grab on, and Tanner gripped on with a strength that felt weak to Silas now with his Power of 9… He was 3x stronger than when he started this journey, and he felt it.
He laid in the nook of average strength at that stat being 3. He wasn’t just yet superhuman… But he was getting close. And that would be very very helpful when the timer got lower.
And finally, after a few twists and turns, they found themselves in front of an evacuation shelter. And the system seemed to not like it too well. The hallways were all the same, and the two hadn’t got into any meaningful conversations. 22:01:44.
[Quest Created; Betrayal]
[Clear Condition: Kill Tanner.]
[Time Limit: 10 Minutes]
[Reward: 5 Levels, 3 Dungeon Reward, Confirmed Arrows]
[Punishment for Failure: None.]
[Name: Silas]
[Class: Ranger]
[Level: 2]
[Experience: 4/12]
[Stats:
POWER: 9
AGILITY: 9
CONSTITUTION: 5
MAGIC: 5]
[Health: 49/50
Mana: 500/500
Movement Speed: 10
Evasion: 18 (+1)
Reaction Speed: 1]
Skills:
[Unarmed Strike]
[Dash]
[Sweeping Strike] 10/10
Traits:
[Human]
[Cleaner]
[Natural Shot] 1/2
Inventory:
[Pistol]
[Steel Longsword] 29/30
[Steel Gauntlet] 30/30
