Chapter 9

**Warning: This content contains graphic violence. Please proceed with caution.**

"Captain!!!"

Seeing the captain collapse in front of me, I couldn't help but scream. The discomfort in my head had returned to its original itchy sensation.

"Damn it, where did they come from!?"

"Whistling sound... Some kind of reflection... Hurry, we need to get out of here! It's probably a sniper! The direction is probably 11 o'clock!"

"Where are we supposed to go!?"

"I can see the shadow of a building at 3 o'clock! Let's head there first!"

"Damn it! I won't forgive them!"

I started running in the direction of the building's shadow, following my teammates' guidance. Then, the discomfort hit me again.

"Wha... What is it...?"

Before I could finish my sentence, the situation had already been decided: Alpha 4 was knocked down in the swamp and pierced through the chest by a giant insect. The discomfort in my head didn't stop.

"Damn it!"

Alpha 5 aimed his gun at the giant insect and tried to fire. But at that moment, wolves were already biting into Alpha 5's body, clearly fatal wounds.

"Alpha 2, Alpha 3, run!"

"Understood!"

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"

So, all I could do was run to escape the discomfort in my head.

---

How long had we been running? I think we had been running for at least 10 minutes.

Alpha 6 and I had taken refuge in a house we found by chance. Alpha 2 had gotten separated from us during the escape.

"Haah, haah, what the hell is this place!"

"Keep quiet... If they notice us, what will we do..."

I quickly looked around at the sound of his voice, but there was nothing. I didn't feel the discomfort... or rather, the presence of the enemies.

"What do we do now..."

"Do you think we can win in a fair fight against them...?"

"No way... Even I can see that much."

"Then, we have no choice but to run to the entrance without being noticed..."

"Even though we don't know the distance or direction...?"

"No, if the house's location hasn't changed, we can figure out the general direction from its address."

"That's good to hear."

I felt a glimmer of hope. We still had no plan to deal with the enemies, but if we could reach the entrance, we might be able to make it. My breathing had calmed down, and our equipment was sufficient.

"Then let's go, Alpha 6. The early bird catches the worm."

"Yeah, Alpha 3. But I don't think that saying fits this situation."

Alpha 6 and I stood up and found a document with the house's address. We determined the direction we needed to go and realized we were already over 1 km away from the entrance.

"Then, it's just a matter of time."

"Even with that time, we'll probably reach the entrance by then."

"Then..."

"Yeah... The start of a two-man retreat."

Alpha 6 and I dashed out of the house, ready to run in the direction of our goal... But the next moment, I saw Alpha 6 being dropped into a black, distinctly colored swamp by many small, child-like creatures, and he quickly turned into a dried-up corpse. The discomfort hit me again.

It seemed these creatures had only targeted Alpha 6 at first, and I wasn't on their radar, which is why I didn't feel the discomfort.

"Ha ha ha ha. What the hell is this..."

The creatures approached, laughing, their appearance reminding me of children gleefully squashing ants. I ran as fast as I could, losing all sense of direction.

---

I had no idea where I was. The only certainty was that the entire Alpha team, except for me, was dead, and I could easily become a corpse at any moment.

I ran, trying to escape the discomfort.

Before I knew it, I had wandered into a forest of eerie trees made of concrete and plants, a concrete mangrove forest, if you will.

"Where the hell am I..."

I muttered as I moved through the mangrove forest. Just before I was about to exit the forest, I saw the faint outline of the airlock-like entrance door.

I was filled with joy and was about to run towards the entrance to escape the maze as quickly as possible. But at that moment, I felt an even stronger discomfort in my back and turned around.

"Ants... How could it be..."

I felt a violent impact and saw glowing red eyes in the cave, a wooden arm piercing through my body, and Alpha 2 impaled at the top of the tree, like a swift offering.

---

"Game over, I guess. For a first try, that's not bad."

I was in my private room within the maze, which would be the boss room for the intruders. I was watching the final moments of the Alpha team on the screen.

"One down, the rest taken out by surprise. Impressive."

"But, the benefits of my stats are huge. I can easily lift a person and impale them into a tree."

Actually, this time, I had joined the battle as a test run, leaving the boss room. The result was the fate of the man called Alpha 2, whose attacks were completely ineffective against me. After all, I have a mist-like body.

"Well, let's get the cleanup done."

I started the cleanup process.

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