A young man wearing a white lab coat can be seen looking through a transparent box made of glass. Within the glass box, one could see a single plant with an unusual appearance. The young man was so focused on his observation that he didn't notice a person standing right behind him.
"Laurence, have you been looking at this plant again?"
The young man, Laurence, showed a hint of surprise at the sudden voice beside him. Turning around to see a familiar figure, his brow scrunched up together forming a frown. "Faye, you keep doing that and see if I didn't accidentally deck you in the face one day," Laurence said. Though he had a face of displeasure, Faye didn't seem to take it to heart.
"Alright, alright. Forgive me for making you jump," Faye replied with a small chuckles.
"I did not jump," came Laurence's reply in a form of a grumble. Then, Laurence turned his attention back to the glass box on his table. Other people cannot fathom Laurence's fascination on the plant, but Faye could.
Faye has been with Laurence since they were a child. He was originally an orphan but by some luck, he was taken in into the Ehrenberg household to be Laurence's playmate. Since then, he grew up with Laurence and had never left his side. It was only because of this that Faye knew Laurence's little obsession with plants and herbs.
"You know, staring at it all the time won't make it magically grow. I know you like this plant because you think it has a medicinal properties but as you already know, its an endangered plant. There's only about ten batches left in the whole world and our research center was fortunately chosen to do research on how to preserve them. We were only given two of those batches. You can't use them as an experiment," Faye told Laurence.
"I know, I know… But… if they were to allow me to bring them home, I could've produced more of this plant. This plant needed a certain method to cultivate it. I only need a week to make it grow then we can proceed to try—"
"Impossible!" another voice joined in their conversation. "Laurence! Just because you are the son of Hannes Ehrenberg, doesn't mean that you can do anything you want! The plant cannot leave the research institution. Professor Mathias had already said this!"
"Bah! That old man has always been up on my case ever since that incident on him plagiarising my research paper!" Laurence snapped out in anger. He stood up and pointed his finger at the newcomer. "And then he destroyed the herbs that I have been cultivating for 2 years trying to prove that the research was his! What he says is bullshit and you, Tom, just like to eat his shit!"
"You—!"
"Alright, enough," Faye stood in between Laurence and the newcomer. "It's all in the past. And Professor Mathias has already compensate you for it. You also promised your father that you won't bother Professor Mathias for that anymore, remember?" Faye said to Laurence who only scoffed before going back to his seat. "As for you, Tom. You know how Laurence is. Don't bring up the professor's name anymore or you're going to be beaten. Don't underestimate Laurence just because of his outward appearance. He could knock you out with a single punch," Faye addressed Tom.
Tom, of course knew that. Despite looking delicate, Laurence was actually very tough. Though Tom still looked dissatisfied, he still left the area, afraid that Laurence would put him on the hospital bed.
The incident that Laurence mentioned earlier was a dark history. It happened when Laurence was still an intern. At that time, Laurence was researching a herbs that had just been found recently. It was something that was never seen before and everyone was curious. Researchers from all over the world had tried to figure out what kind of plant it was. All that they know is that it is highly toxic. They were just about to give up and classify it as one of the most dangerous plant when Laurence came up with a research paper that highlights the plant's medicinal use.
If it was a simple medicinal use, Professor Mathias wouldn't even give it a glance but, it could actually be used to destroy a cancer cell. This is why he decided to risk his career. He thought that since Laurence was just an intern, he wouldn't dare to speak out about it. Plus, he didn't know that Laurence was actually the second young master of Ehrenberg family. So when the situation blows up, he was driven to a corner. It was only fortunate that his contribution to society throughout his life was huge that he only received what Laurence said a gentle slap on the wrist.
"Laurence? Are you still mad?" Faye asked.
"Mn," Laurence hummed in response. "Just hearing his name was enough to make my blood boil. I don't care about him stealing the research. He can have it all he wants but why does he have to use my herbs to prove his point?!"
"But he did find you a replacement for the herbs that he destroyed, right?"
"That broken herbs of his? Tsk! They're not even healthy. In fact, they were so bad that they were dying."
Hearing his friend rant, Faye could only let out a helpless laugh. "In any case, it's in the past now. Just treat him as air and you'll be fine."
"Right. Anyway, what actually brings you here? You can't be coming here just to stare at me staring at this plant," Laurence finally asked.
"Oh, yeah. I came over to invite you for lunch. I bet you didn't even realize the time as you've been so into your world staring at this plant."
"Lunch? Now that you mention it, I am a bit starved. Where are we eating today?"
"There is a new steak house just opened a few blocks away. It's thirty minutes away but if we take a short cut, it'll only take about ten minute walk, want to try go there?"
"Sure. Let me just pack this back in the back room and then we can go," Laurence said as he picked up the small glass box containing the plant.
***
Once they were ready, they left the research institute to go to the new steak house that Faye mentioned. From a usual route, it would be far but both Faye and Laurence decided to cut through the streets by going through the alley ways. Though the alley was secluded, they didn't have any worry since they were both men. Plus, Laurence is indeed strong. Everyone has heard how he had once almost been kidnapped only for the kidnapping to fail because they couldn't beat Laurence. At that time, Laurence was merely sixteen years old and he had beaten a group of kidnappers twice his age.
Ten minutes passed, and they finally could see the steak house.
"There it is!" Faye exclaimed in an excited tone. But when he looked at the steak house, he noticed that something was off. "It looks somewhat deserted… are we at the right place?"
"I don't know. How about we go in first?" Laurence suggested as he took a step forward.
Just then, a magical formation appeared underneath both of them, emmiting a bright purplish light. The two of them suddenly found themselves unable to move and Laurence, being a person who had transmigrated twice, had a bad feeling about this.
"Faye, be careful! I don't think—"
"Laurence! Behind you!"
Laurence had just wanted to warn Faye when Faye suddenly yelled at him. Taking a quick glance behind him, he could see a giant figure, thrice his size, looking down at him. He could sense the bloodlust from the giant, and Laurence could only return the gaze.
"La-Laurence, that thing… it just appeared from that portal thing behind him…" Faye said, his voice trembling as he couldn't control his fear. "Say… this is not some kind of hidden camera prank, is it? I don't remember seeing that the steak house is having this kind of event…"
"I wish it was a hidden prank, Faye… but this thing seems real. And right now… it wants to kill us."
"Why?!"
"How would I know? But for some reason, he didn't start yet which is good for now. We just need to figure out a way to break this spell and run…"
[Hehehe… well, aren't you a calm one.]
A high pitched, slightly robotic voice was heard from above them. By reflex, both Faye and Laurence looked up only to see a round spherical light ball floating around in excitement. [This is actually good. Save me the effort of casting a silence spell on you as I explain.]
ROAR!!
The giant suddenly let out a loud roar towards the ball of light.
[Tsk! You should just shut up!]
After the ball of light said this, a magic circle appeared around the giant's neck and suddenly, the giant's voice could no longer be heard. Seemingly satisfied with the silence, the ball of light flew towards Laurence only to stop a small distance away.
[Laurence Ehrenberg and Faye Reed. Congratulations on being chosen as a contender. This is a once in a lifetime chance! After all, there are only two outcomes. Either you pass this trial and became a champion, or you fail and forfeit your life. Your trial is a simple one. You just need to kill this giant before you!]
As the light say the last sentence, it circled around the giant several times.
"Kill it? We can't even move!" Faye cried out.
[Don't worry. Once the trial starts, the constriction will be released and you can move. The trials won't end until either the giant is dead or both of you are dead. So don't even think of just running and hide~]
[Oh, don't bother trying to find help either. The two of you have already entered an isolated realm. Other than us, there is no one else within this entire realm. You can use anything that you can find, any objects can be used. If you can find a gun, you can even use a gun to kill the giant but a fair warning… this giant has a tough skin so you might need something stronger than a handgun.]
"… We are only human. How do you expect us to kill something that even a handgun can't kill?" Laurence asked.
[The giant is already at a disadvantage with this 2 versus 1 trial. Plus… just because your friend doesn't know, doesn't mean We don't know your identity, Kieran of Yllaris Tribe.]
Hearing his past life identity, Laurence's eyes widened in shock. He had not hear anyone call his name for over a thousand years. Now to hear the light say it with smugness in its tone, Laurence wished he could grab it and pound on it, asking it what else he knew.
[Well, time is precious so I will soon remove the constrictions. Good luck! I do wish the two of you the best of luck! After all, the survival rate of human from your world who was chosen as contender was less than 1%. Of course, with Laurence, it shouldn't be much of a problem… Ah, yes. Laurence, since I like how calm you are… I'll give you a big hint. Though you have been reborn, your soul are still the same. I shall now take my leave. Adieu!]
The ball of light disappeared and not long after, the magic formation under their feet also disappeared. Following that, was the roar of the giant. It was as if the roar was a sign that their trial has started.
***
It has been over two decades since Laurence had lived in peace now that he was suddenly in life-threatening danger, his over a millenium survival instinct kicked in. He took a big leap towards Faye and not long after, a loud crash was heard behind him. The giant had dealt a heavy blow to the place where he once stood and webs of crack formed on the concrete ground.
"Damn it! How are we supposed to beat him?!"
"First, we have to find a weapon. Faye, you go into that steak house and find anything you can use as a weapon. A knife or anything sharp! I will distract this giant."
"What? No way! I am not leaving you to this monster!"
"Just trust me and go! Don't worry. I won't let myself get killed," Laurence said before he suddenly pushed Faye away. He then took several step away and not long after, something blurred past their sight followed by another loud crashing sound. The giant had dealt another punch, this time he hit the building right across him.
Seeing the damage, Faye's face paled and he could barely keep himself up. "Faye! Hurry up! The faster we kill this thing, the earlier we can end this trial!"
Laurence's voice was loud enough but Faye still remain rooted. Seeing this, Laurence knew that he needed to bring the giant away so that Faye could be saved. So, he quickly rushed towards the giant and did his best to give a hard kick between its legs.
Upon impact, Laurence winced slightly in pain. 'Damn! When that light ball said they have tough skin… I didn't expect it to be this tough! It's like hitting a tree!'
Unfortunately, Laurence didn't have much time to lament as the giant let out a roar of anger. It seemed that Laurence's action provoked him and now, the giant is looking at Laurence as if he wants to ground Laurence into a meat pound.
"You mad? Then come at me you big idiot!" Laurence said as he starts to run away.
The giant lets out another roar before running after Laurence, not even giving Faye a single glance. Once he realized that he was left alone, Faye's legs finally gave way. His clothes were wet from all his sweat and his heart was still pounding against his rib cage. He clenched his fist and grits his teeth. He felt hopeless when he was faced with death earlier. "No… I can't be like this… Laurence is risking his life. I need to help him…" Faye mumbled to himself.
He mustered all his strength to stand up then looked at the steak house. "Laurence said… to find a weapon. A steak house should have a lot of knives…" Faye told himself. Making up his mind, he rushed towards the steak house as fast as he could to find a weapon for him and Laurence.
Meanwhile, Laurence who was running away from the giant is making his way to the forest mountain just behind their research institute. His thinking was simple, the giant is so big so in a forest, his movement would be limited. At the same time, Laurence has a lifetime experience of fighting within a forest. As long as he keep his advantage, a chance would appear.
He continued to lead the giant deep into the forest and sure enough, as the tree gets more dense, the giant was forced to slow down. Though it has a superhuman strength, he could only handle ramming into few trees before he felt pain. Knowing that the giant had slowed down, Laurence picked up his pace and before long, he was able to lose the giant.
When he finally exits the forest, he could hear the giant roaring furiously as it tries to find him. "Stupid idiot. Stay there while I try to figure out how to end you," Laurence muttered to himself.
Now that he as some peace time, he needed to plan quickly. His first action was to find Faye. Running back to the steak house, he saw that Faye was still inside, trying to hoard all the knives and any sharp objects that he could find. It was borderline dangerous, so Laurence didn't say anything fearing that he would scare his friend and accidentally injure him. Only once the knives were off on the table did Laurence call out to him.
"Faye, bro… are you trying to open a knife shop or something?" he asked in a joking manner.
"Laurence! You-… what about that giant? Is it dead?" Faye rushed over to Laurence before he turned Laurence around to inspect for some injuries.
"Not yet. It's just currently lost in a forest. Don't worry, I'm not injured. Why are you getting all these knives?" Laurence asked as he glanced at the myriad of knives on the table.
"Well… That giant's skin is tough, right? So I thought the more knives the better. What if one knife can't penetrate the giant's skin? What if it bends out or become dull after a while? At least we have more, right?"
Laurence understood Faye's thinking but he also know that its useless to grab all the knives. He went to the table where the knives are and looked around. "I only need two at most. If we are to attack the giant's body, we indeed cannot penetrate the skin. So there is only one way we can kill him," Laurence said as he picked up one knife which has a blade that is 20cm long. "Stab him in the eye and penetrate through his brain."
"But… he's so tall! How are we supposed to reach his eyes? We can't simply jump on him, right?"
"Don't worry, Faye. I have a way. You just stay here and wait for me. I'll finish him off."
"No! This time, I'll accompany you. It's so dangerous to go alone. I… I want to fight along side you," Faye said in an adamant tone.
Laurence looked at Faye and he could see the determination from his friend. But unfortunately, he has to disagree. Shaking his head, he decided to tell Faye the hard truth. "Faye, if you come with me, you'll only serve as a burden. I'm sorry but just stay here. When all this are over, I'll treat you to a sumptuous lunch."
"But…"
"No buts! You can't even move when faced with the giant earlier. What can I do if you do that again during battle? Keep saving you? Then when can we kill the giant and escape this trial? Or should we just both die?"
"No! Well, if the giant is aiming at me, I can act as distraction! And you don't have to save me. I don't mind being sacrifi—"
"Out of question! You stay here and that's final."
"But Laurence…"
"I'm not listening. Stay here and it'll be over before you know it," Laurence said before he left Faye in the steak house.
"You're not listening to me then why should I listen to you?! Laurence you bastard!" Faye yelled out before he picked up random knife and run out of the steak house. But when he got past the exit, he could no longer see Laurence. "You've always been fast on your feet. But that doesn't mean I can't catch up to you," Faye said out loud. "You said the giant is in the forest? There's only one big forest here and that's the one in the mountain behind our research institute. Just you wait… I'll show you that I am not a burden. That I'm someone worthy to stand by your side!"
But when Faye finally reached where the giant was, it was already dead. There was a knife jutting out of its left eyes and Laurence were standing on top of its dead body. There were blood on his clothes but other than that, he didn't seem to be injured.
"Laurence…? You… actually killed it?"
Laurence turned to Faye with a grin on his face. "I told you it'll be over before you knew it. The giant isn't that dangerous once you limit his movement. And they're stupid so you can predict its next move. Just a few distraction here and there, and he left himself wide open," Laurence told Faye. Just as they finally felt relieved, the annoying voice of the light ball sounded.
[Ding-Dong! Congratulations to Faye Reed and Laurence Ehrenberg for passing the trial! Now that you have become a full fledged champion, we welcome you to participate in the War of the Ancient! Fortunately, there is still one instance that has yet to be cleared so… you two will be teleported there in three… two… one!]
***
As soon as the voice ended, a bright light covered both Laurence and Faye, forcing them to close their eyes. Then, they both felt a strange pull and before long, their nostril were attacked by a very foul smell. Laurence was familiar with the smell of rotten flesh but Faye wasn't. As soon as he smelt it, he immediately gagged and vomited the content inside his stomach.
"Are you okay?" Laurence asked Faye who was struggling to get used to the smell.
"…No… Fuck, that stupid ball of light lied! He said as long as the trial is over, we could live!" Faye said feeling as if he had been cheated.
"Well, we are still alive. Except… now we seemed to have been transported to another realm," Laurence explained as he looked around them. They are currently in a small room. The place looked trashed and there are dead bodies strewn across the floor. From the look of the corpse, it looked like they were left here to rot. Some of the body lacked an arms, some… didn't even look human anymore. In fact, it looked as if they were eaten. One thing the corpse has in common though, that they have injuries on their head.
[Laurence Ehrenberg and Faye Reed has successfully joined the instance! All survivors are to work together to survive the instance. You still have three more days to survive before you are sent back to your world.]
"Where is that ball of light?! I'm going to beat it to pulp!" Faye yelled in anger. Just as he said that, one of the door to the room was suddenly busted open. The force was so strong that it simply broke off the hinges. When they looked at the direction of the door, Faye could feel the bile rising up his throat again. "What the heck?! Is that a fucking zombie?!"
[Correcto-mundo! Hey, your brain is actually pretty good! Welcome to world number 3453. It's an apocalypse type of instance. Survive this and you will be returned to your world! If you did well, maybe some higher ranked champions will take you in as their disciple! Well, good luck!]
ROAR!!!
The zombie roared when it smelled the fresh human. Wanting to eat human flesh, the Zombie ran towards both Laurence and Faye which shocked the latter too much.
"What the hell?! Zombies shouldn't be able to run!" Faye said in a panicked tone. Meanwhile, Laurence simply gave the zombie a kick to its chest, forcing it to fall backward.
"Faye, your knife!" Laurence said as he held out his hand, asking for Faye's knife.
"Huh? Oh, right. Here," Faye said as he obediently handed the knife to Laurence. "Zombies' weakness should be its head!" he added.
"I know," Laurence replied as he rushed over to stab the zombie in the head before it could even recover. The zombie twitched once, before remaining motionless.
"Oh, wow. Didn't expect the newcomer to be so calm and ruthless," a voice sounded followed by several hand claps. "You must be Faye Reed and Laurence Ehrenberg that the system announced earlier."
The voice had came from the direction of where the zombie was earlier. Through the door frame, both of them could see a guy in a soldier uniform standing with an assault rifle in his hand.
"And you are?" Laurence asked, feeling suspicious.
"I'm called Wayne. I'm a survivor like you, a low ranked champion," the man replied.
"What is this place?" Laurence asked again.
"Huh? Didn't the system tell you? This is instance world 3453 and…" Wayne paused as he stared at both Laurence and Faye. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes. "Hold on… how many instances have you cleared?"
Laurence raised an eyebrow at his inquiry. Before he could reply, Faye beat him to it.
"You mean there is more?! Shouldn't it end after the trial!?"
As soon as Faye said this, understanding dawned on Wayne and his attitude seemed to have changed from being amicable to being rude. "You're saying this is your first instance? Damn it. I thought the newcomer would be someone with more experience since this instance was hard. I didn't expect for them to send a total newbie!"
"Well, we are a newbie… can you explain to us the situation?" Faye asked in a careful tone. He noticed the change of tone so he didn't dare to offend Wayne. Especially since Wayne has an assault rifle on him.
"Huh? I'm not going to baby sit you! Since you're just new, you're going to be nothing but a burden. If you could survive, then go to subway station 3. Old man James would be kind enough to explain the situation to you newbie. I'm just going to go and find more foods to survive the last three days," Wayne said before he turned around to leave.
"Tsk… he's so rude…" Faye grumbled. "Well, he said that we can go to subway station 3… should we go there, Laurence?" he asked as he looked at Laurence. But what he saw almost made him scream out in fear. Laurence who had just finished cutting open the zombie head was rummaging through its brain, making a disgusting sloshing sound. "Laurence, bro… what the hell are you doing?"
"Well, didn't all those zombie novel say there's some kind of nucleus inside the zombie brain? I thought I'd check it out if its true," Laurence replied in a serious tone.
Faye was still in shock and couldn't believe his ear. "Laurence, I don't think… this world is the same as those written in books…"
"Hmm… guess you're right," Laurence said as he then stood up and wiped the blood off his hand with his shirt. "There's nothing in this zombie's brain. Let's just go and leave here."
"Right. Subway station 3?"
"There's no other information other than that. So let's just try our luck there. Maybe we can know more about what is going on with our current situation."
"You're right. Let's go. At least we can try and find out. Its better than going around blindly," Faye agreed. And with that, the duo finally left the room from where they were transported to.
After they left, a light ball suddenly appeared in the room. [Hehehehe… that Laurence boy sure is interesting. As expected as someone who had experienced three lifetime. Once he reached the end, his soul would be the most delicious to consume…]