James stepped out of his house, now fully armored. Although his face still held traces of sleepiness, he looked ready.

"You should know, we ain't coming back until it's night."

"Yeah, yeah," James muttered, adjusting his arm guards.

Her mood shifted abruptly as a sharp pain stabbed into her back, radiating out like a beacon. She winced, instinctively placing a hand against the spot.

The sensation wasn’t new, but it was no less jarring. It pointed her body slightly toward the east, something out there was calling her.

"Jennifer?" James asked, noticing the change in her expression. He stepped closer, concern etched across his face. "You okay?"

"Change of plans," she said, her voice tight. "It’s the same thing as yesterday."

His brows furrowed. "What? What are you—"

"Pain. Direction. Can’t talk." She spoke the words quickly, her tone clipped as she focused on the signal in her back.

Realization dawned on James’s face, and he nodded. "Got it. Let’s move."

---

The two of them arrived at another fire twister, its flaming vortex twisting violently. Jennifer barely hesitated as she grabbed James by the arm, pulling him forward.

"Gonna be honest, I'm kinda nervous—"

The fire twister roared to life, cutting him off. A smaller twister split off from the main one, engulfing them in a blaze.

Jennifer felt her feet leave the ground, her body spinning wildly before everything went black for a fraction of a second.

When they landed, the world around them was entirely different.

The air was calm, and they stood in a field of tall grass that swayed gently in a breeze. Wooden houses were scattered around the area, their weathered structures standing silent against the backdrop of the pale blue sky.

At first glance, it looked peaceful. But a closer look revealed cracks in the picture—windows boarded up, some doors hanging loosely on hinges.

"This place feels... dead," James said.

Jennifer didn’t respond. The world around her froze suddenly, and everything seemed to go still. The breeze stopped, James’s movements halted mid-step.

Flaming letters burned into the ground before her.

This mission is more complex than the first one.

The words scrawled themselves slowly, the fire hissing with each new line.

You must locate the mother electric spider monster in this area, bounded by the rivers, and kill it before it can spawn a new set of monsters. You may leave once this mission is accomplished.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Jennifer stared at the writing.

Monsters are not your only enemies. Be careful of those that work with them.

This message could not be relayed without freezing time. Assistants are allowed basic mission details but not essential information about the Great Key of Everything.

The fiery letters on the ground burned away, leaving scorched marks on the grass beneath her boots. Time resumed its natural flow as the air shifted back into motion.

James turned to her, oblivious to what had just occurred. "So, where are the obvious monsters?"

"There aren’t any. This one’s... more complicated. We’re looking for a monster mother—an electric spider. It spawns more monsters, so we have to take it out before it can release anything new."

"A mother... ?" James repeated, raising a brow. "Since when do monsters have mothers?"

"I didn't know that too. It’s supposed to be somewhere between the rivers around here. We just have to find it."

"Do they also have fathers?"

"Probably, or its some asexual reproduction."

"What's that again?"

"I think it's when certain animals kinda fuck themselves to get pregnant?"

"Sounds kinda cool."

"Hell yeah."

The two of them started moving through the field, their footsteps crunching softly against the dry grass. The abandoned houses loomed like sentinels around them. The place felt utterly devoid of life.

"Looks like this place has been dead for a while," James muttered.

"Yeah," Jennifer agreed.

As she said it, her eyes caught movement. In the distance, a figure stood inside one of the houses, peering out through the glass panel of the door. The moment they made eye contact, the figure pulled back, retreating deeper into the shadows of the home.

"Oh, I just saw someone. But they’re scared," Jennifer said quietly.

James pointed ahead, his expression darkening. "I think I see why this area’s so dreaded."

Jennifer followed his gaze, her stomach twisting at the sight. A hoard of figures was walking around down the slope. Their skin was pallid and torn, their movements jerky and erratic. Fortunately they didn't notice the duo

Jennifer’s hand went to her sword. "Monsters come in human shapes now?"

James frowned, his own weapon at the ready. "They’re wearing clothes. These were people. Maybe there’s a monster here that turns them into this."

"Or," Jennifer said grimly, "there’s a zombie outbreak going on. Has Earth ever really dealt with a zombie problem? Like, through history? I only read about it in novels when I was younger."

"About 200 years ago, in the Thalassari Coalition," he said, his tone neutral. "Big outbreak. Lost a lot of people before they managed to shut it down."

"So, is there like, a special way to kill them? Other than just... bombing them?"

"Wish I could tell you." He snapped his fingers, and a series of metal disks appeared, floating around him in an orbit. "Let's hope they ain’t fast."

Jennifer stepped forward, her feet making the grass shift as a metallic sheen spread across her skin, coating it like armor. She jumped up and down, testing the weight. "I’ll lure them away from you while you attack. Shouldn’t be too hard."

James looked skeptical. "What if they bite your eye? Or got super strong teeth? That virus could go straight through you."

She glanced at the horde again, making a quick assessment of their numbers. Then, she stepped back and started moving toward a slight incline where the hill began to dip.

"They’ll have to get through a lot of goo first," she said.

James nodded. "You know, my range isn’t that great. You’ll need to bring them closer—*a lot* closer, for me to make a real impact. So you can't lure them away from me by too much."

"Hmm..." Her metallic coat shimmered for a moment before disappearing. "Okay, let’s see how many of them there are first," she said. "Looks like about 60 or so, but there could be more. Maybe over 500, just waiting at the edge. I mean, a zombie cry—could easily trigger all of them from a distance."

James frowned as he examined the horizon, nodding in agreement. "Wouldn’t it be better if we stuck to stealth and moved quietly? Do the mission without triggering a massive horde?"

"How are we supposed to kill a monster in a stealthy way? If it can spawn monsters, it's definitely stronger than the normal ones we kill. And once it starts thrashing around we’ll be fighting both a mother monster *and* the zombies at the same time."