CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 60: DREAMLAND

A/N: There was a mistake in the previous Chapter. It was supposed to be 15 exp per kill, not 150. It has been rectified. My apologies for any inconvenience.

[Quest completed.]

[Player will be teleported back to their origin location in 30 seconds.]

Zaen panted crazily. He had been running all over the place, throwing mines and killing those who came from the front.

At times, he felt like he was done, but he kept pushing through, and seeing the rewards before him made it all worth it.

[Total BM-221 Graveborn Infected Killed: 1143]

[Shop Coins remaining: 21,402]

[Exp: 20,645/1600]

[You have leveled up!]

[Current level: 25]

[Current EXP: 145/2,600]

"...that’s it?" Zaen mumbled.

Since it was a promotion quest, should he receive a better class or a special reward? He just leveled up and got some coins to spend, and that was it? Not believing that to be the case, he opened the status page.

—x—

Name: Zaen Aurelia

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Level: 25

EXP: 145/26,000

Stats:

HP: 9,200/9,300

Strength: 8.5 (↑)

Agility: 7.2 (↑)

Stamina: 7.7 (↑)

Presence: 2.35 (↑)

Perception: 1.45

Sanity: 150/150

Fortitude: 2.7

Constitution: 7.9

—x—

Twenty-six thousand...?

Zaen’s mouth fell open when he saw the next level up exp limit. Even after killing so many zombies, he had barely hit twenty thousand exp, and the system wanted him to gather more than that to level up again?

The entire purpose of his taking the promotion quest was to keep leveling up during the fight with the F.O.R.C.E.. Safe to say, that plan was in the gutter.

"This piece of shit system," Zaen clicked his tongue and headed towards the portal. "At least I can level up now. My HP also jumped quite high. I guess that’s all I can gain from here."

As the timer hit zero, he prepared himself to face the entire facility alone. He was hoping his coins and spin points would be enough to get him out of any trouble.

As he was teleported back to the origin location, Zaen raised his weapons, ready to fight the anomalies. Instead, a different scene appeared before him.

"Mom... Dad...?" Zaen mumbled.

Not only could he see again, but he was no longer in the basement of the facility.

He was home...

His dad was engrossed in the newspaper as usual, and his mom was cooking his favorite mac and cheese. Aeron was on the ground, looking younger than before and was busy playing with his toys.

The scene outside the window was pitch-black, just like the day his parents disappeared. Rain was hitting the window while the wind howled on the other side. There was even a faint sound of thunder.

This isn’t real. It can’t be real... Zaen, snap out of it!

He pinched himself, hit himself, did everything one would do to break a lucid dream, but nothing worked.

"Zaen, you’re back?" his mom asked, smiling at him.

For a moment, nothing mattered to Zaen. That smile... it was enough to flip his world.

"Why are you so dirty?" his father commented without looking away from the newspaper. "Go take a bath before joining us for dinner."

"Oh dear, what’s all that stuff covering you? Here, let me clean you up."

With that, his mother took a cloth and gently wiped his arms and then his face. Zaen stood there, letting her do as she pleased. But then he noticed something.

The cloth his mother used was covered in blood.

No... he was covered in the blood of the zombies he had killed before. But why was the blood there? Was this scene from before his parents disappeared? No... something wasn’t right.

He clutched his head, and as he did that, his vision slowly faded away, replaced by simple line-arts and static-filled silhouettes.

"MOM! DAD!" Zaen yelled, trying to grasp their fleeting forms.

"You’re grown up now..." his mother said, waving at him. "You don’t need us anymore."

"I do! I DO!"

"Stop throwing a tantrum, son," his father chuckled, wrapping his arm around his wife. "Besides... we’re always with you, ready to clean up your messes. Just like we did now."

Zaen shook his head. He wanted to cry, but no tears were coming out of his ’eyes’ because well, he didn’t have them any longer. As everything was being erased before him, he noticed his father smile and mumble something.

"Oh, and... try not to curse me too much. I designed that shop at the last minute."

***

At the same time, in the basement...

"He reappeared only to fall straight into the trap," Karloff smiled. "Just as we expected."

Zaen was lying on the ground with a dozen worms wriggling under him, trying to find a way into his mind. A man had his hands pressed against his temples while murmuring something.

He was unconscious... kind of. It was more appropriate to say he was in a trance because of the man’s words.

[Dreamland] was one of the low-ranking operative’s ability. It could trap a target in a random memory, completely immobilizing them. The only reason it was considered a low-rank ability was because it only worked against humans, not anomalies.

"What about the other woman?" Zoey asked, sheathing her spear. "This door wouldn’t budge under my attack."

"No need," Johann said. "We can frame them for being ’anomalies’. The people from HQ would take care of these two while they infected the entire network. We’ll be unstoppable."

The broodling laughed together, all of them sounding the same. It had always been their plan to lure the HQ there. While Ann losing control was unexpected, the Brood Mother used it to their advantage to stage a show.

They had no intention of stopping them from initiating the restriction protocol. In fact, the colony wanted them to do so, so that they could infect the entire organization and not just one branch.

The only problem was... the broodlings were having trouble infecting Zaen. It was as if a barrier was preventing them from infecting him through usual means.

Thanks to [Dreamland], they had enough time to figure out a way.

Or so they thought.

Johann had just finished speaking when Zaen’s hand shot above, grabbing the head of the [Dreamland] user and... crushed it in an instant.