The footsteps grew louder—uneven, erratic, desperate.
Everyone tensed.
Then, around the corner, a group of students stumbled into view. Bloodied. Torn uniforms. Faces pale with terror. One girl limped heavily, supported by a boy whose arm hung broken and twisted at an unnatural angle.
Riko stepped forward, frowning. "What the hell happened to you guys—?"
"Are you dumb?" Aeron cut in sharply, his voice low but biting. "We're in a Zone. What do you think happened?"
Riko's mouth shut with a click. His eyes narrowed, but he didn't argue.
Aeron stepped closer, scanning the injured group. "Which class are you from?"
"Robotics," one of the kids answered, breathless.
Aeron's eyes widened. "Robotics? That's held on the uppermost floor."
He glanced at Riko, tension knotting his stomach. Unlike them—Zone Majors—Robotics students barely had basic training.
"How did you even get down here?" he asked, his tone sharper now.
A trembling boy with a blood-splattered collar spoke. "We were attacked. It—it looked like a spider. Crawled on walls. We tried to run toward the exit, but it kept chasing. We just kept running down, floor after floor. It kept killing people... we started as two hundred. There's less than twenty of us now."
A heavy silence fell.
Aeron ran a hand through his hair, heart beating fast. "Damn it..."
Still, he took a deep breath and motioned them forward. "We're heading to the ground floor. Stick close."
Relief washed over the Robotics students as they joined the group, but Aeron stayed tense. They were a much bigger target now. The more people, the more noise, the more chaos—the higher the risk.
They kept walking. The hall got darker. The air grew colder. Then—
Growls echoed from the corridor.
A horde of dog-like monsters burst from the darkness.
[Image]
"Get behind me!" Aeron shouted, stepping in front instinctively. Panic erupted as the group scattered in confusion.
But before the monsters could leap—
They vanished.
Everyone froze.
Aeron exhaled in relief. The others stared around, stunned and silent.
They looked at Aeron with a look of confusion, waiting for him to say something.
"Like I said before, the Zone isn't stable yet," Aeron explained, his voice echoing in the hallway. "Once it stabilizes, the creatures and terrain become permanent—until a Guild clears it."
Murmurs of relief spread through the group. Someone even said, "Thank God."
Aeron just nodded, pushing forward. Downward. The stairwell seemed endless, the darkness heavier the lower they went.
Then, a scream rang out from the back.
"Something touched my ass!"
It was just another student. Aeron cracked a short laugh. "Don't do dumb shit like that. Stay on guard."
The tension broke, just a little, and that got Aeron calm enough to think again. Maybe… maybe this wouldn't end horribly. Maybe he'd actually make it out alive. He'd get to see his parents again. Apologize for that last fight. He didn't want that to be the last thing between them.
He felt lighter. Almost hopeful.
By the time they reached the ground floor, Aeron had let his guard down a bit. As they entered the ground floor, it had already been 20 minutes. Now they just had to wait for Guild members to come.
"Close the doors and wait here," he told them calmly. "We're safer here than out there with the monsters."
Everyone nodded and got to work. Chairs, desks, anything they could find was pushed against the doors. The tension hadn't left the room, but for a moment, there was order.
But Riko wasn't done.
"We made it to the ground floor without a single casualty," he said, stepping away from the group. "So what's stopping us from just walking out of here?"
No one responded. Most were too tired, too scared, or too smart to agree.
Aeron walked up beside him. "Riko, listen. The Zone isn't stable yet. Even Guilds avoid it during the first thirty minutes—"
Riko shoved him aside. "I'm not gonna sit around waiting to be rescued like some helpless NPC. I'll survive on my own. Make it out. Make headlines. You'll see."
Before Aeron could stop him, Riko flung the main doors open.
Purple light bathed the hallway.
The sky outside shimmered like oil on water—deep lavender and blue, swirling with lines of color. The air was unnaturally sweet, thick, like breathing in sugar and smoke.
[Image]
Riko stepped outside.
Closed his eyes.
Took a breath.
And then—a mountain spawned directly above him.
It didn't crash down with cinematic delay. It was just there—a sudden, impossible weight slamming into the earth with a gut-wrenching crunch. Stone and dust exploded outward. There was no time to scream.
"Riko!" Aeron yelled, but it was too late.
Everyone stared, frozen in horror. Dust settled where a person used to stand.
"So… that's what an unstable Zone looks like," a kid whispered from the back, voice barely audible.
Aeron stared at the mountain infront of him, shaking.
With a pause, he turned to the others. "Reinforce the doors. Stack anything heavy you can find. We're not opening those again."
The students obeyed without question.
One of them—a kid with scuffed glasses—came to his side. "If the Zone's unstable… couldn't a mountain spawn inside here? Or a pack of monsters? We could just die."
Aeron rubbed his temple. "Yeah. That could totally happen. But let's hope it doesn't."
"Then why do all this?" the kid asked, pointing at the makeshift barricades.
"Because it increases our chances. And that's all we've got right now."
He walked back to the main door and cracked it open just a little. Not enough to step through—just enough to see.
The mountain had disappeared.
The view outside was breathtaking.
Twisted forests floated midair. Waterfalls poured upward. Some buildings around them were reshaped—elongated, melted, bent into spirals. Trees pulsed with veins of glowing blue.
[Image]
Aeron smiled faintly.
"Wow… it looks even more beautiful than I imagined."
But beauty could still kill. He shut the door quietly and turned back.
"Alright. Everyone, sit. Rest. Don't burn out your stamina."
They gathered, forming small groups. Someone found a few protein bars and started sharing. Another cracked a dumb joke that actually made people laugh.
They started talking—about the press, the interviews, the stories they'd tell. Some exaggerated their bravery already.
Aeron watched it all with a smile. Not because it was over. But because they were still here. Still fighting. Still alive.
He sat down against the wall and stretched his legs, exhausted. For a moment, the chaos quieted.
He checked his watch. It had been 28 minutes already. He felt a sense of pride taking over.
Surviving this long while leading a group of college kids in an unstable Zone was a remarkable achievement, but even he knew that he had gotten a bit lucky.
But he wasn't complaining. Just a few more minutes, and he'd be walking back home like nothing happened.
2 minutes until the Zone stabilizes.
17 minutes until Guild arrival.
They just had to survive a little longer.