A few moments after Julien escaped.

Outer bunker area.

"Hieeeeek"

Screams echoed within the outer area of the bunker. Taking steps away from Evelyn, who was screaming at the top of her lungs, Kiera cursed under her breath.

"Not this shit again..."

"Hieeeeek"

Although she was somewhat resistant to this type of stuff, Kiera felt the hair at the back of her neck raise.

It was creepy.

Fucking creepy.

Looking around, she could see over a dozen figures staring in a certain direction with white eyes. She could recognize a few of the people that were like that. In fact, one of the people screaming was Josephine.

...For some reason, it felt oddly satisfying to see her like that.

'I must be crazy for thinking this.;

Kiera slapped the side of her cheeks.

"Hieeeeek"

Their screams pierced through the surroundings, and the protest quieted down for a few seconds.

Thump! Thump!

That was until the bodies started to fall on the ground.

Kiera stared at the scene with pursed lips. Turning her head, she caught a glimpse of Evelyn's body falling in her direction.

Just like the others, she was going to fall to the ground.

It would certainly hurt if she got hurt.

Hurt a lot.

"....."

Kiera licked her lips.

....She then took a step to the side and allowed her to fall face-first.

Thump!

Evelyn fell face-first against the ground.

Kiera winched slightly, but at the same time, found the situation to be hilarious.

'Damn it, if only I could record this.'

Clearly, this was not the time for her to do such a thing, but her impulses got the better of her.

"Let us out!"

"Get out of the way!"

"I'm going to use force! I don't care! Let us out!"

Her thoughts were broken by the shouts coming from the people within the outer area. They all appeared to be rushing towards the door that led to the inner area, swarming the guards who looked totally hopeless.

"Wait...! Please calm down! We can't allow you to get in! We're still trying to find out more about the situation! Please calm down!"

Despite the guard's best attempt at trying to calm the situation down, it only added fuel to the fire as some of the people tried to force their way in.

"Get out of the way!"

".....I don't care about your explanation! You've been telling us the same thing for hours! I'm done waiting here! There's something wrong, and we're all going to turn into them if we stay here any longer!"

"That's right! Let us out!"

"I'd rather be hit by the Crimson Shade than this!"

"There's an exit right outside! Let us out!"

Listening from the side, Kiera frowned. It was true that the Mirror Dimension's exit was right outside the supply station.

In hindsight, having everyone evacuate would've been the best option.

'Well, not like anyone could've predicted for something like this to happen.'

The bunker was supposed to be safe, and everyone should've been able to go back to the supply station right after the Crimson Shade ended.

No one would've been able to predict the current circumstances.

And it wasn't just that.

...The exit attracted a lot of monsters. With a lot of them wanting to go out into the main world, without proper security, the monsters were bound to jump out into the main world.

Going outside to the exit was probably not the best option since the guards stationed at the entrance had probably already left and were defending the hordes of monsters from the other side.

That pretty much sealed that option.

'So what now....?'

Kiera tried to rack her brain over the matter. The more she thought about it, the more desperate the situation seemed.

Cr Crack...!

And it was in the midst of her thoughts that she heard a faint cracking sound.

Raising her head, she looked around.

"Let us out!"

"I'm going to use force...!"

Everyone still seemed to be busy trying to force their way out of the bunker. It seemed like she was the only one who noticed.

No, there was someone else.

Looking in the distance, she noticed a few figures staring towards the windows that displayed the world outside.

Squinting her eyes, Kiera walked forward and headed for the windows.

"I'm not going crazy, am I?"

For some reason, walking towards the windows, Kiera felt a pit in her stomach.

Her body grew tense by the second, and the noise around her started to fade in the background.

Arriving by the windows, she placed her hands on them and peeked outside.

Cr Crack...!

The sound emerged yet again.

It appeared to be coming from the city walls.

Squinting her eyes, she looked ahead.

"Ah."

That was when she saw it.

Cracks.

Cracks had started to form around the walls that surrounded the city. Her mind started to blank, and by the time it took for her to blink, a hand appeared from behind the walls, solidly grasping it.

A tingling dread crept through her body at that moment.

"T-that..."

Stuttering, she took a step back.

From the windows, she could see her own reflection. Her face was pale, and her body was trembling all over.

Without hesitation, she turned around to head for where the crowd still was.

And then,

Hieeeeeeeeek

A wail echoed in the distance.

***

The situation wasn't any calmer within the inner area of the bunker.

News of Julien's escape reached the post-leaders.

"What? How is this possible? Are you telling me that a cadet who isn't even stronger than any one of you has managed to escape? Not only that but he's also managed to kill so many of you. How does this make sense?"

The most angered by the news was the post-leader of the Black-Hound Guild who started to berate the guards at the exit.

"Incompetent! Damn it! If only that little girl didn't stop me...!"

His anger was visible for all those to see.

The other post-leaders stood behind him without saying a word. They quite frankly didn't care about him. While they were all working together, it didn't mean that they all liked each other.

They were, after all, in competing Guilds.

"Tell me what happened."

Lennon's deep voice reached one of the guards.

Looking up at Lennon's tall frame, the guard swallowed her saliva before answering.

"Sir, I'm not entirely sure. From what I've heard, the cadet appears to have strange thread-like powers, and..."

She stopped, frowning.

Lennon also frowned.

"Go on."

"That..."

Swallowing her saliva, she mustered up her courage to say,

"It also seems like he knew everything about the inner area. From the general layout to where he needed to go."

She didn't say anything from there.

However, her words were clear.

'There's likely a traitor.'

Picking up her message, Lennon's frown deepened.

'....A traitor?'

Who would that even be? And if that was the case, were they also responsible for the situation? It was becoming increasingly clear to Lennon that Julien was involved with the entire situation.

He didn't seem like the culprit before, but now...?

'He's in cahoots with someone. They're most likely the mastermind.'

But who...? Who could be the mastermind?

Unfortunately, he never had time to dwell on the matter. All of a sudden, a guard rushed in with a pale face.

It was starting to become a familiar scene.

"Emergency!"

The guard shouted, gathering the attention of all the post-

leaders.

"The walls have been breached!"

***

"Huek...! Huek!"

The veins at the side of my neck pulsed as I struggled to breathe. Holding onto the railing to keep myself from falling, I managed to help myself all the way up to the fourth floor.

.....That was where the storage unit was located.

A large door greeted me the moment I entered the fourth floor. I didn't hesitate to insert the keys that I received from reception and opened the door.

Clank

I was immediately greeted by a large white room with over a dozen shelves and another door.

That door led to the inner supply area and was where most of the important treasures were located.

Unfortuantely, I didn't have the key to such a place.

It was something that only the post-leader had. But it didn't matter. The outer area had all the things that I needed.

Crash!

Stumbling over the shelves, I tossed all the useless junk and frantically looked for anything that could help recover my mana.

At the same time, I also drank another bottle of water to replenish my thirst which seemed to return every couple of minutes.

Crash...!

I stumbled yet again, falling on the floor this time.

"Huep."

Taking a deep breath, my vision was blurry. I could feel my thoughts fading away.

"Huep."

Strangely, however, I was still able to keep myself from giving up.

The sensation...

It was somewhat familiar.

I had experienced it before. Where exactly?

Ah.

That was when it clicked.

'The mental examination.'

Indeed, this wasn't the first time I had experienced something like this. Thinking about how I had managed to get past that, all of a sudden, the situation didn't seem as desperate as it looked.

"Huep."

Taking another deep breath, I tried to get my focus back.

Lying on the ground, I looked around my surroundings and eventually laid my eyes on a certain section.

"....There."

Several dozen glass bottles appeared on one of the shelves.

Within them, I could see pills inside. I didn't know which one was which, but I knew that one of them was going to help me.

"Uk...!"

My legs faltered the moment I tried to stand up, forcing me back down.

'No, not yet.'

Gritting my teeth, I crawled towards the shelves. It took every little bit of my energy to get there, and as I tried to help myself up with the aid of the shelf, I once again found myself falling on the ground.

.....I no longer had any energy.

"Huep. Huep."

I didn't give up.

I was so close.

I couldn't give up.

Turning my body around, I kicked the shelf with my leg.

Bang

The shelf shook.

Bang

I kicked it again.

The shelf shook once more.

Bang

I continue.

Bang, Bang, Bang

With each kick, the shelf shook more and more. So did the bottles that rested up above it.

"Kh."

I felt my consciousness fading with each one of my kicks.

The heat was starting to get to me.

.....As I started to lose consciousness, I felt a weird tingling sensation around my cheeks. My chest felt suffocated, and I felt the corner of my eyes getting pulled.

Crash!

What awoke me from that feeling was a loud crashing noise.

"...."

Turning my head, several pills were scattered around the area I was in.

Opening my mouth, I brought my head closer to the nearest one, and I swallowed it.

A warm current passed through my body.

And,

EXP + 1.3%

A notification flashed across my vision.