CHAPTER 57: STADIUM

I tightened my coat as cold wind passed me

by, the heavy snow it came with only spoke to the weather’s confusion. It was

neither a blizzard, nor was it stable, the conditions continuously changed erratically

at the simulation’s whims.

We marched along a wide, and for once

completely empty, road. At the end of it lay the massive ruins of a stadium.

I caught Lily’s panicked voice over the wind.

"I- I think we’re the last ones, guys!"

’What? Did I hear her right? Last ones? But

that’s impossible.’

In the novel, Rowan reached the central

district. It was only then that the predator finally caught up with him.

’But that’s just in the novel.’

A lot of things had already changed. Group

members had been switched, for all I knew the starting positions might’ve

changed as well. No, they likely had.

’Shit!’

If that was the case, it wasn’t impossible

for Rowan to have fallen.

Still, I had to be sure of it. Pulling up

my interface, I ignored all the backlog of notifications I’d been suppressing.

Just focusing on the latest message.

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining

cadets: 5.]

Those last five were us, there was nothing

left to distract the predator. Hiding from it was completely useless as well,

unless there was an active blizzard. While the current weather was terrible, it

certainly wasn’t a blizzard.

The monster’s heat tracking would work just

fine.

However, there was a silver lining in all

this. It was still only the afternoon of the 5th day, the predator only

descended on the central district on the sixth.

While it had hunted all the cadets in the middle

ring, the monster couldn’t be sure of that. After all, it had no access to the

notifications. The beast typically spent a day searching for any more prey

before descending further.

It was what it had done for the outskirts,

the outer ring, and was what it would do for the middle ring too. That fact was

the only thing saving us now.

By midnight, that Beast would descend on

the final district. There would be nowhere to run from it anymore.

I sighed before shouting back to Lily.

"Don’t worry about it! Just focus on our

plan for now!"

We were coming up on the stadium now. It was

only now I was able to appreciate how large the entire thing was.

Even partially collapsed, the entire thing

dwarfed us completely. Two desolate parking lots lay at its sides,

completely devoid of any wreckage.

’Open terrain.’

It was one of the only counters against the

predator’s agility. At least we’d be able to see the damned thing coming.

More

so, the road leading to it happened to be connected directly to the middle

ring’s main road. There was nothing to hide behind, making it a perfect funnel

for the Beast.

Of course, it would all be for naught if we

couldn’t trap the creature.

Maki and Racheal, both taking point, stopped

before the wide concrete tunnel leading into the stadium. Song and Lily stopped

right behind them, while I halted a bit further back.

Perhaps it was due to the weather, but we’d

barely encountered any wandering monsters on the way here. Regardless, there

were bound to at least be a few hiding in the complex.

Which was why it was a good thing, we

didn’t need to go deep into it. The concrete tunnel was all we needed.

Racheal glanced back, scanning the group

members behind her, before nodding her head. She sent a message.

[Get ready.]

As she did so, the girl rolled up her

sleeve, then pulled her right-hand glove to reveal a freshly burned hand.

Multiple unhealed burn wounds marred the limb, yet she didn’t seem the least

bit bothered by it.

Instead, she raised it up, distorting the

space around it a bit, before a plain-looking longsword finally appeared in

it.

’Her artifact.’

As soon as she held it, a black-and-white

flame ignited on her hand, before quickly climbing onto the blade. The girl

shook and flinched a bit at that, but quickly brought herself back under

control.

By the time she looked back at us again,

her gaze was as impassive as usual, perhaps even more so. Those dark eyes of

hers felt completely hollow.

Yet she began marching towards the tunnel. Maki

and Lily stiffly followed, while Song couldn’t give much of a damn and still

walked at her usual pace.

I raised my crossbow as well, trying to

ignore the faint smell of burning flesh that still reached me over the wind.

’What a terrible burden.’

I said that, knowing fully well that it was

I who’d written it that way.

---

The moment Racheal stepped in, a dark

figure lunged at her from the tunnel’s ceiling. My crossbow was already primed

for it, with [Error sense] buzzing in my head.

The moment I caught even the slightest

hint of a limb, I pulled the trigger, sending the figure tumbling.

It didn’t get very far before multiple

metal strings coiled around it, restraining its movements. Racheal wasted no

time utilizing the opportunity Maki gave her, closing the distance with the

monster before plunging her blade into the creature’s head.

The flames on it hungrily spread to the

rest of the creature’s body, as though the thing was made of firewood.

[Noble hunter, you have assisted in the

slaying of a Matured Whelp: Dark Crawler.]

[Bounty points: 23]

It

died without a scream.

By the time Racheal extracted her blade

from its body, the corpse could only be described as a darkened, smoldering

mess.

The girl shot the tunnel one last look,

knocking her blade on its walls. Nothing came out.

I sent Lily a message.

[Any movement?]

The girl paused, before turning back to

face me. She shook her head.

[Nothing.]

I lowered my crossbow.

"It’s safe!"

The wind had heavily reduced in the tunnel,

so my voice had no problem reaching Racheal. She nodded before extinguishing

her flames. The hand they’d originated from carried new burn marks.

She didn’t even spare it a glance,

dismissing her sword before slipping her glove back on.

Maki and Lily lowered their guards as well,

while Song just wearily collapsed on one side of the tunnel wall.

I shot her a confused look.

[Haven’t you taken your shot?]

[I’m saving it.]

[For what? The predator will be arriving by

midnight. You’ve still got two, just use one now. We need you at top condition

before then.]

I’d already applied the last of my heat

patches, even taking a dose of my remaining medications, just to ensure I remained

in relatively stable condition until then.

Song didn’t reply to me, but she began

fiddling with her bag, eventually pulling out a metallic syringe. Holding it in

one hand, she rolled up the sleeve of the other as high as she could.

Taking a deep breath, the girl steadied her

hand, before gently stabbing the needle into a wrist vein. She injected it in

one go.

"Haaa..."

Her eyes shot open instantly, the weary

haze surrounding them almost completely gone. I couldn’t help sharing my astute

observations.

"You look like a junkie."

She rolled her eyes, before tossing the

syringe to the side.

"Well, aren’t you a funny peasant?"

’She even handles needles like one.’

Maki’s voice brought me back to the situation

at hand. She was tapping the concrete walls of the tunnel.

"Do you really think this will be able to

withstand the Predator?"

I could only shrug in response.

"It’s what the prophecy said."

"Right... the prophecy."

In all honesty, this probably wasn’t the

best place to deal with the beast. The subway or sewer tunnels would’ve been

better choices.

At least those were guaranteed to be

more heavily reinforced, plus the beast wouldn’t be able to pull his favorite trick

of bursting through walls.

However, I wasn’t mad enough to try it.

Those areas were completely different hellscapes in their own rights, ones I

had no clue about either. After all, no cadet ever ventured into them in the

novel.

I’d written about this stadium though. It

was the final place Maki and Rowan escaped to in the novel, and where the

predator eventually hunted them down.

The concrete tunnel protected them once

during that encounter, though even it finally collapsed under repeated blows.

I looked to Maki again, before pointing

toward Racheal.

"How long do you reckon your threads can

last under her flames?"

She considered it a bit.

"If I fully reinforce it, then probably

ten. With the threads actively restraining something, I’d have to knock that down to

five."

I scratched my chin while nodding,

’That could work,’

"You already know your role, so there isn’t

much else to say. But..."

I turned toward Lily. The girl stood

staring distantly at the snow outside.

"Are you sure you’re fine with this?"

She firmly nodded.

Interestingly enough, she’d offered to be

the bait. While the plan technically didn’t need one, having one improved its

chances of success.

"Alright then."

I certainly wasn’t going to dissuade her

from doing so.

Stepping out of the tunnel, I looked

toward the ruins of a high-rise apartment, not too far from here.

"We still have a good amount of daylight

left, let’s go clear the other building."

I needed a good perch to snipe the beast

from.