Tess didn't hesitate. The moment Berk landed.. barely a breath after the platform she had stood on was erased from existence, Tess was already in motion.
Her steps echoing down the hollow maze corridors. Without a word, she reached forward and grabbed Berk's hand, yanking her forward. Lizz caught up from behind, her blood-crimson eyes dancing with amusement even as she ran.
"Don't stop," Tess muttered. Her breath was steady, her muscles tensed. "Just keep moving."
The three of them broke into a sprint, legs thudding against the floor, weaving through the dim-lit corridors of the maze as virtual dust spiraled behind them. The maze walls began to become impossibly high.. the walls began to pop up veins of glowing blue like blood vessels. They hummed softly, as if alive.
This was no longer just a test.
It was a hunt.
Tess's eyes remained focused, her mind sharper than ever. As they turned a corner, her grip tightened around Berk's wrist. She felt the slight tremble in Berk's arm.. just a fraction, just for a second, but she didn't comment on it.
This is what it means to delay killing a Maze Crawler, huh? she thought.
A small smile crept up the side of her lips.. tight, cynical.
When the Maze Crawler had begun to transform, shifting into something half human, Tess had known instantly. It wasn't real. The illusion was too clean. The Maze Crawler never evolved or adapts slowly.... its changes were violent, sudden, instant...
This… this humanlike transformation, it was a distraction.
And it had almost worked.
Almost.
The real purpose had been to lure them into a false rhythm, to make them focus on the evolution so they'd forget about Berk's position up top. By the time Tess realized it, it was nearly too late.
But now?
Now they were running.
Because right now, every weapon they had was useless.
Close combat?
Dangerous.
Far-range?
Also dangerous.
Mid-range?
Deadlier still.
No angle of attack offered hope unless they changed the entire strategy and rearmed themselves.
So they ran.
Tess led them through twisting turns, neon archways, and across narrow illusion bridges of floating platforms. The maze pulsed around them, like a living organism shifting its insides to mislead them. But Tess remembered the path. She had mapped it in her mind during the earlier run.
"If we can reach the Safe Zone…" she muttered, turning her head just enough for her voice to carry, "...then we survive. For now."
Lizz, who ran beside her with a lopsided grin and her hands swinging playfully as if they weren't being hunted, nodded. "Let's hope it still spawns…"
Berk didn't say anything. Her face remained blank, almost serene, but her eyes scanned constantly.. corners, shadows, the faint shifts in the walls.
Ding.
The first notification rang, like a bell tolling for the dead.
[RECRUIT_#2#][DIED]
[RECRUIT_###][DIED]
[RECRUIT_###][DIED]
[RECRUIT_0##][DIED]
[RECRUIT_###][DIED]
Each chime that followed felt heavier.
The sound wasn't loud, but it pressed against their minds, like something whispering "you're next" just beneath the volume.
Tess frowned as she turned another corner and ducked under a hanging neon glitching arch that looked ready to collapse.
"They're all dead," she muttered. "That was everyone. We're the last ones left in this round."
Lizz's playful smirk returned. "Yay~ Final girls, huh?"
Tess didn't respond. Her brows remained furrowed.
We're the last prey now.
"Berk," she said, her voice sharp.
Berk looked at her.
"Give me all your grenades."
For just a second, the sniper girl hesitated. But only a second. Then, wordlessly, she reached down while running and began unclipping the metal capsules from her belt. Her movements were smooth, mechanical. She passed them one at a time.... click, click, click.
Tess grabbed them, her hands moving quickly as she held the explosives tight..
But at that moment...
Ding!
This one sounded different.
A deeper note. Heavier.
Their feet slowed. The air shifted.
The ground beneath them flickered, like a screen glitching.
And then the maze... the entire virtual construct began to fade.
Piece by piece.
The maze walls dissolved into shimmering particles, peeling off like digital skin flaking away. The glowing veins faded first. Then the walls themselves. Then the sky above them.
Another... Ding!
Then another.
And another.
Like an endless rhythm of bells in a funeral procession.
Lizz froze mid-step. "Wha…"
Their feet landed on solid black ground.... pitch black, like obsidian without reflection. Around them, there was nothing. No more walls. No more lights.
Just silence.
And darkness.
"...Reality Manipulation," Berk whispered.
Her dull green eyes shifted upward, wide but calm.
Tess glanced sideways at her, lips parting... wanting to ask, but the words never came.
Because just then…
A voice.
Smooth. Deep. Calm.
Sinister.
"Where do you think you're going?"