It was Thursday at 12:13 pm, at a restaurant, a man that was nearly 190cm tall and had glasses was talking with someone.

"I don't know, he seems busy these days, I even got him an interview for a job but he didn't show up"

A woman across from him with short hair and a business suit said.

"Really? I remember last week he had a total of 4 job interviews, why'd he suddenly stop?"

"I don't know but you know him, his father is rich, I heard a new branch of the Food Sanctuary is about to open downtown. I bet he's celebrating right now hahaha" the man said.

__________________

Hugh!

Alex was panting, he had no idea how long he was running already, but finally, he got rid of that abomination.

Slowing a bit while looking for a place to hide, He found a rock reformation he could hide in.

He quietly caught his breath. As he reloaded the scorpion Evo's final magazine.

As to where he was... He had no fucking idea. About half an hour ago.

He was still sticking to the walls and killing whatever he could kill but that's when he saw a rock wall, covering the boundary wall, to proceed forward he needed to detour around it, away from his escape passage.

He contemplated for a bit before deciding to detour. He thought things couldn't get worse. That's when he heard a thud from the back and he saw a three-meter tall abomination, black white skull and huge black upper. It looked like one of those monsters in an anime.

His bullets barely had any effect on it because of its mass. And because it block the way to the boundary wall he could only run forward. That thing chased him for a while, he even threw a Molotov at it but it had only little effect. He found out last night that not all monsters are affected by the fire.

Just as it couldn't get any worse, more than a dozen creepy crawlers appeared intending to eat him. Having no choice he threw his last Molotov at them pushing them away.

At present, that creature finally left him alone. But now he had no idea where he was. He was running so hard that he might be few kilometers away from where he came from.

"Shit" he cursed.

Alex contemplated whether to go back or to proceed forward. On one hand, going back he might encounter that abomination again, on the other hand, if he goes forward, he might encounter something far worse and who knows when he could see the boundary walls again.

He weighs his options but that's when his hand throbbed a bit. Alert for anything, He immediately noticed this,

"What's going on??" The throbbed immediately disappeared then, a thought flashed by him.

He was close... he was close to a fragment! According to Iris description, this fragment should be the same as an abyss crystal except it was white in color quite contrary to what you'd expect from the abyss. Nevertheless if he managed to get a hold of it, there's no doubt he will have his own territory!

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

As for why he called it Fragment, it was because he was too lazy to think of a better name.

'Finally some result'

Determination flashed in his eyes, there was only one way to go. Forward!

After resting for a couple of minutes, Alex proceeded forward. The place was still noisy with the screams of the monsters.

Thankfully it seemed luck was on him this time, for ten minutes he didn't encounter anything.

He came to an area where the soil was a bit loose, nevertheless, he proceeded forward watching for any enemy.

At that moment, an abomination appeared in front of him, it was thin with a human-like body and quite tall, it was like a real-life slender man, But unperturbed. Alex simply pulled the trigger.

Bang bang bang!

It only took 4 bullets to bring it down but that's when...

Bog! Something came out of the ground, Too late to react, it wrapped around his right leg!

"ARG!" pain washed over him as he didn't hesitate and pointed his gun at the thing eating his leg!

Bang Bang Bang Bang.

The creature let loose after a couple of shots.

Bog Bog bog! But the nightmare wasn't over. Several creatures shut out of the ground.

"Fuck!" He immediately ran while limping, he search his jacket pocket and grabbed one of the healing crystals, not even bothering to crack it, he slap it on his wounded leg, cracking it and turning it into liquid.

He felt his leg being healed.

Bog! Bog!

More and more creatures shut out of the ground!

Alex got faster as his leg heal.

He ran, and ran, along the way he had encountered a couple of monsters but he shot the them down, and continued forward. At the same time, his right hand was throbbing once again.

He was close to a fragment but he was running out of bullets. As he was running he noticed he was now in an open space, the rock wall on his right has disappeared, and when he turned his head, he saw the boundary walls.

"YES!" He said through gritted teeth. He immediately headed towards it.

100 meters..... 50 meters... when he was only at 20 meters and thought about finally getting out of here.

A crawler, hiding in a rock pounced at his side and latched on all its legs to his stomach.

Shocked! a piercing pain came to him and he screamed...

"ARGG!!" Through shock and sheer will, he didn't stop running and tried to shoot it with his scorpion but no bullets came out, Pain intensified as he could feel something penetrating his side and eating it... The pain was soo much he couldn't think at all, his body move on its own as he grabbed his pistol, and whether he get shot or not he used all its bullets on the crawler.

Bang! Bang!

Finally, when all the bullies were used up the thing stopped moving but it still clung to him.

"Ha.."

He was losing consciousness. But not before he entered the passageway, and closing it, he moved his feet through sheer will, forward.. when he was back in the monitoring area, he slumped down and lost consciousness.

________________________________________

"Ugh.."

Alex slowly opened his eyes as he stared at the ceiling, it took him a couple of seconds to realize what happened.

"Shit..!" He tried to stand up but the pain from his stomach made him grunt.

Meanwhile, Iris was happy he woke up and asked if he was feeling okay.

"I'm okay.." He answered. He stared at the side of his stomach, he was healed but he could still feel some pain. It was probably his internal organs.

"Thank you Iris.. if it weren't for you I would be dead" he sat up as he said that. He already guessed what happened. as soon as he came back here, Iris, prepared with healing crystal immediately used it on him.

The octopus didn't mind it and instead made sure he was okay. As for the body of the crawler, it was gone, Iris likely threw it away to the wall of darkness.

"Haha.." Just as he was about to say something, lethargy and nausea attacked him.

The octopus panicked and immediately handed him some crystals.

"...thank you" He grabbed one and even though he had no idea if it'll work he swallowed it.

At the same time, hunger came to him. He said goodbye to the octopus and thank him again as he teleported back to his room holding a couple of healing crystals.

When he got back to his room, he found out it was nighttime.

'So I slept through the afternoon?" The pain in his stomach has lessened so he took a shower and put his clothes in the washing machine.

He checked his phone for the time and see if there was anything he could order... but when he looked at the time.

9:21 pm, the time was okay but underneath it says...

Friday.....

'Wasnt it Thursday this morning?' He thought.

"Shit! so I slept for more than a day??"

Which means tomorrow... he had to meet his loathsome father...