It had been a while since their last battle, giving Helen plenty of time to recover. She appreciated how her hands stopped trembling from swinging her weapon. With each battle, it was harder to land a decisive blow. Gripping the pommel, Helen wondered if the edge was becoming dull, especially with how often she'd strike a bone or rib.

Sighing, Helen hoped another weapon she could use would drop soon. Thinking about the stress being placed on it. The snapping of the blade in the next battle came to mind.

"I'm glad I still have the original in my bag. I could only imagine what would have happened." A chuckle bubbled up, though the idea terrified her.

Michelle approached her, bow and arrow at the ready in her hands, "You doing okay?"

"Just thinking about when a new weapon is going to drop..." Helen trailed off. Shaking her head, trying to get rid of the negative thoughts. Grinning, "Your skills with that thing are improving."

Instead of being happy about the compliment, Michelle frowned.

Furrowing her brows, "What wrong?" Helen didn't understand her friend's mood.

"Does it feel like your movements are not your own?" Michelle looked at Helen.

"I don't understand...," Helen stopped, feeling something flicker in her mind.

Slowing shaking her head, "I... I don't know how to explain it. Ever since we came here..." Michelle looked around the stone hallway. "Ever since we encountered those different monsters..."

"Why did you guys stop?" Robert and Sheila approached the two.

Helen glanced at the two, noticing that behind them Abigail and the others had realized something was up.

Holding up a hand to both Robert and Sheila, Helen waited for Michelle to finish her thoughts. Her eyes were slowly opening wide as she stared at her hands. It was as if she had never seen them before. They shook, as the hands holding the arrow on the bow clattered in time.

"It's okay...," Helen tried to make her voice reassuring, attempting to hide her growing worries. Slowly starting to piece together what Michelle was hinting at.

Shaking her head with conviction, "No. It's not okay!" Raising her head so her eyes stared straight at Helen. "Each time those things died, I felt like something was correcting my movement. I l-l-lied..." Her voice shook.

"Lied?" Helen probed. "What did you lie about?" She stopped her hand from raising towards Helen, a desire to shake the girl growing.

"It was that shot, right?" Bella's voice shattered the moment. "You meant to shoot the thing in the eye."

As though caught of a crime, Michelle trembled as she turned towards Bella. Fear evident in her eyes. Jerkily, her head nodded, in affirmation, but as though she was fighting it. Her body betraying her inner thoughts.

Bella sighed. Running a hand through her hair. "I figured that was the case."

"What're you talking about?" Liam interrupted, crashing into the conversation when he caught up, back in the rear with the other Special Operation team.

Glancing sideways, "You want to explain?" Bella didn't look happy about the situation, as though it was an additional secret she had to expose.

"Dumping the dirty work on me, huh?" Katya rolled her eyes. Ignoring Liam, she looked directly at Michelle. "What you experienced is normal, at least based on what I've deduced." Pointing a thumb at Bella, "After the first couple of battles, she started to notice small changes. Just like you." Her eyes twitched at Helen before returning to look at Michelle. "This place, wherever we are..., seems to have its own rules. Considering the meat and other supplies being dropped, it feels closer to playing a game." A corner of her lips twitched upwards, though her eyes didn't share the sentiment.

"Game?" Robert lifted his hammer, looking at it as if a realization struck him.

Sneering, "Like those board games made popular by some of those small toy companies, where you get together with your friends and roll dices." Katya sniffed condescendingly, as though the idea was abhorrent. "This place doesn't feel natural, considering how long we've explored this place. It almost feels artificial as though designed for a purpose."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Seeing the confused looks from Helen and her friends, "Did you think you guys were naturally talented, using weapons you're unfamiliar with?" She snorted. "Even I had to spend years training with cold weapons to be effective, even longer to be considered deadly. Children are truly naive in their thinking," Katya looked up at the ceiling and shaking her head slowly in disbelief.

"We don't have time to just stand here," Bella looked tired of the spy's mind games.

"If you want to step in...," Katya left the words hanging as she looked at the Squad Leader.

Bella stared directly at Katya, not wavering in her position.

Sighing, "Each time we fight those things, some rule is slowly maneuvering us to be more proficient. It's more slight with us, the Squad Leader, her team, and I, but it's still there." Pointing her finger at Michelle, "You barely have any survival skills developed, aside from the bare minimum required to survive in the previous world. This means you're seeing rapid results."

"Let's keep going." Bella began walking. "You can walk as you explain more." Directing for her team to fan out, "While she's talking, I want all of you to split between the front and the rear. The kids need to process this."

Catharina, Sin, and the others nodded their heads. Catharina took several of her teammates to the front, while Sin headed to the back with the rest.

"Is there anything else that's going to happen to us?" Liam's face screamed out his nervousness, as though unwilling to see how things played out.

Shrugging her shoulder, "I know as much as you. For all we know, this place could grant us abilities outside of the norm."

"Abilities?" Robert chimed in.

"Like being able to conjure the elements with just your thoughts. I don't know." Katya looked annoyed by the question.

Sheila looked sharply ahead of them.

Not missing a beat, Bella asked, "What is it?"

Waiting to answer, Sheila looked to be concentrating. "It feels like we're getting close to something. I don't get how I knew that though..." Eyes wide, looking at Katya, suspecting the woman.

"Fuck. I was purely throwing something out there." Katya stared at Sheila.

As Helen split her attention at the front and what Katya was doing, she noticed that Katya was shaken. "She's just as scared as we are." The idea sounded foreign in her mind. Spending time with the woman, Helen had started to develop the idea about Katya being beyond normal human responses. Helen just thought the training the spy went through had stripped her of such mundane emotions.

Her eyes wandered and noticed Abigail who was looking back at her. Abigail's eyes briefly looked at Katya and sent a message of "I noticed the same thing."

Not feeling like the moment was appropriate, Helen nodded her head, slightly. Redirecting her attention to the front, she tried to understand what Sheila was sensing and whether this was a power that Katya had talked about.

Lost in thought, Helen tried to sense any differences inside her own body. All she could feel was a warm sensation pulsating inside of her. The deeper she tried to concentrate on it, the more she felt like it was something that should be ignored. "It's probably nothing," She shook her head, deciding that vigilance was more of a concern at the moment.

As their group kept walking, passing empty rooms and diverging hallways, there was a growing feeling of anticipation. Even Sheila's steps slowly increased in pace, as though she was becoming more confident about the feeling.

Winding through the hallway, something could be seen off in the distance, slightly glowing. Footsteps echoed off the walls as all of them moved with purpose.

Timothy was the first to break the silence, "Are those stairs?"