"Broken families. Dead loved ones. No light at the end of the tunnel… All of those things are just synonyms for the Outbreak. Survivors always want to hold onto the hope that everyohey care about is alive and well. Still, deep down, everyone knows it's impossible. Some are lucky to have their whole family survive, while others fall into despair wheruth finally settles in their hearts. After all, loss is iable. This is the truth, the only stant truth about the Void."

  ~ Loraveler, 32nd Outbreak

  Maybe aen seds passed. The screeches of the Voidlings became a whisper, barely carried that far by the wind, while the growls of the Runner sent chills through Leo's spine.

  A quick peek over his shoulder firmed that Leo's burst of speed didn't do much apart from draining even more energy from him and leaving the horde in the dust. The Runner was still faster, easily matg and pushing past Leo's speed. As its name suggested, the monster was made for this situation.

  Leo had already accepted that, using the fast few seds of pursuit to find anything to make this fight quid painless. There was only one such thing in Leo's arsenal. Reinfort was a skill that had previously refused to form, but now, with even more points in Mind, it just might work.

  Please.

  With only a tiny part of Leo's sciousness focused on running, he again touched his small Essence reserves. The response was much more weling than in the past. The energy didn't try to escape Leo's grasp and instead only poked his phantom hand as if cheg if it was safe to follow.

  Thanks to this newfound trol, Leo grabbed his Essend mimicked what he felt during his fight against Edward's husk.

  At a snail's pace, Essence followed Leo's and, spreading through his body aering every possible muscle, bone, an it could find. Oside, his body lit up like a Christmas tree, power spreading through his veins.

  And then, just when the Reinfort almost settled down, the glow disappeared. The Essence escaped Leo's grasp as he tumbled to the ground, the Runner flying above him.

  Shit. Almost. Leo groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and instantly had to blo ining swipe of sharp fingernails. The monster didn't even waste a sed after its initial attad jumped forward, saliva flying from its lipless mouth.

  Metal and inhuman nails met in a struggle without a winner. Leo tried to push the monster away, but the Runner held firm, never giving up. Evenly matched in strength. Noted.

  They kept pushing, both attached to the shovel's shaft, her wanting to give the other any ground at the beginning of this battle. Although Leo mostly did that to try and activate Reinfort once again. Currently, he didn't have to trate too mu fighting.

  The Voidling growled, as if sensing a trap, and released the shovel. Leo cursed, almost barreling forward as he used his on to stay upright and jerk away from a cwed foot that flew towards his exposed side.

  Okay, so you're smarter than your friends and know how to throw a kick. Just great.

  The Runner opped its offensive and attacked with everything it had. Hands. Cwed feet. Hell, the Voidling even tried to bite Leo's hand when it got particurly close.

  After every attack, Leo tried to throw a ter ain some advantage, but the monster just wouldn't let him. Even the silvery glow that erupted on the monster's torso when Leo drew his first blood couldn't give him an advantage in this battle.

  The creature's strength might have been at Leo's level, but even with all the points he had in Grace, the Voidling was still a bit faster. Always rec a sed quicker. Always jumping away when Leo's shovel got a bit too close for its fort.

  And so Leo blocked or dodged, watg as with every strike, the metal on the shovel's shaft was chipped aiece by piece. The tool served Leo well, but he k couldn't endure much more abuse.

  Then another kick came, and even though Leo could dodge it, he blocked, the shovel snapping in half. The Runner srying to follow with another swipe. Leo quickly reacted and threw the shovel's ha the monster's face.

  Sweat running down his brow, Leo smirked as he heard the monster hiss and jump away just in time to avoid the projectile. With the sliver of time bought, Leo pushed the remaining part of the shovel into the ground and dug out a handful of wheat ected to a block of dirt.

  The Runner howled and jumped at Leo. Perfect, he grinned wider and threw the shovel with all its tents at the mohe block spread in the air, creating a broad wave of dirt and wheat that flew straight at the Voidling.

  Take that.

  The monster iook it straight in the face. The Runner howled, g tears of blood as it began to cw at the eyes that ed a handful of dirt. Not as bright as I thought. Leo smirked as the broken dagger slipped into his fingers.

  The Voidling didn't try to dodge or attack as Leo neared. It just tio thrash around in the same pce, almost colpsing to the ground. Leo took the first opening in minutes without question, ready to end the fight.

  His cws sank into the monster's neck while the dagger es brain through the back of its skull. The Voidling stilled, and Leo yanked his hands back, the dead body dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  Cursed Runner (LVL: 3) sin | Experience awarded | 2 Ether gained

  The doubled amount of Ether just firms that this isn't your normal Voidling. Good to know for the future. Leo scowled as he sat down on a bed of cut wheat a few feet away from the body. His back burned with renewed iy, and his breathing had bee bored halfway through the run. Given that the horde was nowhere in sight, some downtime couldn't hurt.

  Leo threw his backpack to the side and removed his blood-drenched shirt. Even with the wounds on Leo's back, the piece of clothing didn't have any spot that wasn't wet, be it from blood or sweat.

  "I really have enough of this shit," Leo mumbled, the shirt sailing through the air as he took a brief look over his shoulder.

  The bandage c the upper half of his body didn't have any white surface left. For a moment, Leo sidered ging it for a new one, only to instantly discard the idea, knowing that it was just a waste.

  Taking a few calming breaths, Leo slowly id down, the remains of wheat softening the ground just enough to stop his back from ag even more. He needed a moment to slow down after the fight and his adventure on the road.

  "Everything was going so well, until…." Leo sighed, the image of the dead girl curled irunk again ing to the forefront of his mind. Probably even a worse way to die than being killed by Voidlings.

  The girl most likely hid there as soon as she awoke after the Outbreak. Or maybe she had been there even before that. Leo didn't know which option was worse.

  Don't think about it. Nothing good will e out of that.

  Leo nodded. He really had to get used to sights like this one or suffer the sequences, both mental and physical. After all, he almost died today because he couldn't handle seeing a dead child.

  As I shouldn't. Nobody should.

  Leo shook his head. So many things to adapt to if he even wanted a tiny ce at survival. Killing, blood, fighting, death, and so much more. With every minute, Leo felt less and less lucky to survive the Outbreak. And it was just the beginning.

  Whatever. Leo thought, trying to force his—

  "Fuck!" Leo hissed as pain spread from his right forearm.

  Ag on instinct, Leo's cws stabbed the grouo his arm, a high-pitched shriek following soon after. A notification fshed ien front of Leo, and his eyes widened, seeking to uand what the hell he had just killed.

  Sger (LVL: 1) sin | Experience awarded | her gained

  A mouse, or rather a mohat resembled an oversized mouse, hung from Leo's cws. It had almost no fur, only smooth gray skin without cracks lowing parts. The remaining fur looked like it was repced by a hedgehog's spihin and sharp. The rest of the Sger's body wasn't much different from a mouse, though Leo could bet that its teeth were sharper than they should be.

  "Bloody rodent," Leo grumbled, gng at the small k of skin missing from his forearm. "Another oo the colle."

  Switg his gre to the new Voidling, Leo ed its Essen seds, not even batting an eye wheimer only added a few minutes. No reason to be even more ahan he already was.

  Leo shuffled over to the Runner's corpse and muttered, "I guess that's a clue that I should move if even something so weak felt it could eat me."

  Like always, Leo's cws ehe dead body, transferring the Essence he o survive. Uh any other corpse, Leo stood there for more than a minute as he watched the body colpse into dust. Leo's brow furrowed whe portions of its chest colpsed, a gentle glow emanating from within the dust.

  Again? But the body didn't give out any light after death.

  Leo reached into the pile of dust and removed a familiar ruby crystal. Even if the shape was a bit different, Identify told him that just like the crystal in his pocket, this one was also an Unattuned Crystalized Essence.

  I guess on is on. Leed, putting the crystal in another pocket. If it tinued, he would soon need a better method of carrying his things.

  Sighing, Leo reached for his bag and quickly looked around to find the correct path and check if anything was trying to follow him.

  Only seas of cut wheat surrounded him, and from what Leo noticed, he still had a few hours of sunlight left to find another shelter.

  Just please, no more surprises today.

  There were no new surprises for aen or so minutes. At least there wasn't if Leo didn't t the appearance of a Voidling that probably evolved from a deer. It was too far to Identify, and the thing ran away as soon as it noticed Leo. Still, he at least mao get a look at its antlers, which had evolved into a lovely tree of very sharp bony bdes.

  After that short enter, nothing spectacur happened as Leo trekked up a slight slope. Sometimes an occasional squeak traveled through the wheat, but Leo never even caught a glimpse of another Sger.

  But now, as Leo finally reached the end of the slope and looked at the remaining farmnds, he had to rub his eyes just to ensure his vision was w correctly.

  It is just ohing after another. Leo sighed, sing the rge structure, maybe a hundred meters away.

  To put it simply, it was a square gate made out of bck material that Leo had never seen before. Leo could take a trud drive through the gate with plenty of space left as it had no doors. Hell, even the wheat and ground around the structure weren't spared. Instead, they were turned into the same bck material, creating a perfect circur ptform with the gate in the ter.

  Just check what it is, and thehe hell away from here. Leo nodded and covered himself ih. Feeling the imperfes in the skill, Leo vowed to work on them after he iigated the gate.

  He walked for another few minutes, only to stop a few steps away from the gate's ptform. Now closer than ever, Leo could tell that the material wasn't purely bck.

  Hundreds of dark violet lines had formed throughout the ptform and the gate, pulsing with an almost unnoticeable glow. The lines crossed over each other in several pces, resulting in images that were tough to prehend.

  "What the hell are you?" Leo muttered and used the one ability that could give him an answer.

  Pary Gateway of the Void:Or simply called a Void Gate by the popution of the Void and the survivors. Pary Gateways are used to travel between the ps of the same Universe. In trast, Dimensional Gateways be used to journey into one of the almost infinite dimensions ihe Void. During every Outbreak, thousands of Gateways grow on every p. Made out of living material from the Void, it ot be destroyed by anything weaker than an A-ranked User. Uporu, a Gateway will attempt to grow ba another pce.Current Status:This Gateway is still charging and won't activate for another: 27 days, 12 hours, and 37 minutes.

  Leo just stood there frozen as he read the description again and again. With every reading, more and more questions appeared inside his mind.

  The popution of the Void? We are talking about Voidlings, right? And you travel to the Void? What the fuck is going on!? Leo screamed internally, his heart rate pig up.

  The e always talked about the entire Universe, not only Leo's p. And now, the final proof of the e's words stht in front of him.

  No, no, no. That's not even that important, you khat already. Focus Leo! Those things bring even more Voidlings here. Fuck, what if they transport things that are worse than Voidlings?!

  Leo took a few deep breaths as the st thought repeated in his mind. No matter how eous it sounded, he had to calm down and try to accept the information for what it was.

  Another motivation and a warning. Voidlings might be dangerous, but now, Leo would also o fight against time.

  I have to go.