The survival quest had begun and chaos ensued.
Hundreds of Skydarts rained down upon the city and began attacking those within sight.
Most people ran while some stood their ground, using the basic abilities their spaces spaces offered.
Some used elementals, others used forces or magic related skills.
"Kyaaaa! Somebody help!" a young lady screamed not too far from where they were. The spawn had pounced on her and bit her.
Fear gripped most of them. They could barely think of anything.
But before they could worry about someone else, about three landed in their midst. One on the truck, and two others on the roadside.
The one on the truck viciously pounced on Reya who was nearest.
She screamed as she wrestled with it at first. Then the other two attacked two of the people with them.
Knowing they weren't capable of much, Icard moved promptly.
[First Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activation: Ice Shard]
A shard of ice formed within Icard's grasps. Then, with clean precision, he threw it at one of the skydarts, impaling its head and killing it instantly, saving Matt, who struggled with it as it snapped its fangs at him.
Next was Alia, another member of his team. But before Icard could prepare another shard, Reya rushed in, pummeling the Skydart and killing it in one hit.
She was already done with hers and rushed in to save Alia. It was this quick adaptation of hers and her display of strength that naturally made her their leader in his past life.
It was what saved them that time as she alone defended them while they were getting used to their systems.
"Are you okay?" she asked Alia who had nearly been bitten. She nodded, clearly shaken.
But then, that was no time to be concerned for another.
More skydarts were coming at them.
"You all have an ability bestowed on you by your Keepers--use them!" Reya instructed as she got ready for another round.
"Ability? You mean--I can do what you did now?" Alia asked, bewildered by Reya's inhuman strength.
"I don't think so. Your keeper's different from mine so they must have given you a different ability!"
"Everyone, try using those powers you were given in your spaces!" she yelled.
Alia did as Reya instructed. She focused for a moment and there, a green aura enveloped her hands.
"What--"
A skydart leaped at her, giving her no room to ask more questions but then, instinctively, she waved her hands toward it.
The green aura enveloped her target as well and she then, tossed it aside, crushing it completely into the earth.
Icard watched, a wave of nostalgia hitting him.
'Just like my first turn. Reya said she asked a lot of questions after her trials and her keeper gave her answers for most of them' Icard thought.
'That was part of the integration in their spaces - they can easily use their abilities'
Eric followed then.
Flames enveloped both his arms this time and in a rush, he went at a group of skydarts coming at him.
He threw his hands forward at them and there, fire poured out from his hands, burning the spawns who came at him.
Icard nodded approvingly, knowing Eric only got stronger from here.
Next was an older man around Reya's age. His name was Jack, mostly quiet at this time of the apocalypse.
"Sweep" he muttered, and a blast of wind shot from him at the skydarts attacking him, flinging them quite far from him.
These were their members for now as they were yet to meet the others yet.
And of course, Icard had his to deal with. About three of them attacked.
Icard smiled.
Unlike the others, Erient had designed his Frost Tower space quite uniquely.
In his first turn, Icard kept seeing notification panels others couldn't see, like some kind of game as he leveled up quite differently from the rest.
This made his progress contrast well with the rest, as Erient's system had very useful advantages.
At this point back then, the only skill available to him then was ice shard. But now, he had a host to choose from.
He could show off if he wanted to but, that wouldn't be advisable.
[Second Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activated: Blue Shard]
An ice blue shard formed in his hands again. But this one was really long.
Icard lunged and landed the shard on the first spawn. The shard broke into fine frosty particles but Icard still swung it in an arc, and completely froze all three mid-air.
In his first turn, he couldn't even handle the ones who attacked him and Eric had to help. For a while then, Eric was quite strong amongst their group members.
Having dealt with that wave of spawns, they gained momentum and confidence began brewing up within their spirits.
"Come on, we can kill them all! Haha!" Matt yelled. "Outer Reach! Hell yeah!"
His ability allowed him to inflict multiple tear wounds on his targets without touching them.
He had a good level of confidence in this skill. They all had and it was good. For a moment, their newfound powers thrilled them.
But soon enough, they would realize just why the Quest was to 'survive'.
They kept fighting and killing all the spawns that came at them. However, they just kept coming.
They weren't the only ones doing well though. There were other groups who killed even more spawns than they did but yet, the city remained infested.
'Skydarts are F threat levels' Icard thought to himself. 'But Plague is the highest of the Quest levels'.
But they wouldn't know as this was one thing Erient's system did for him - equip him with information like this.
This means, their ranks didn't matter. Sometimes, the quest level did.
And if it were a plague, one had to deal with numbers, up to thousands, making it quite tiring even for powerful incarnations.
"Why are they so many?!" Eric said, already sounding like he was wearing out.
"Damn it. They're easy but I can't do with this number! I'm gonna die" Matt yelled tiredly next.
'Just as I thought, they're already using up all their mana' Icard said in his mind.
'At this rate, they'll burn up everything and pass out'
Such was meant to be their fate. But then--they definitely survived in his first life?
'Damn it. I can't remember how we got out of this' Icard said in his thoughts.
'I'm sure we didn't keep fighting, not with Skydarts still pouring down. It's impossible for those at this level'
Their pace had greatly reduced and more skydarts got to them.
Like her life depended on it, Reya stepped in and defended the team as much as she could. But it was only for so long.
Icard was already preparing himself to use an high level skill.
---
Meanwhile, all over the city, more and more people fell to the skydarts, having their flesh gnawed at by the vicious predators.
They yelled and cried as more skydarts poured in.
Soon enough, their numbers became so much, that the city was nearly overrun completely.
'There're too many. It can't possibly go unnoticed in a Maire's territory...' Icard thought, thinking hard and there, he remembered.
'The Maire!' He exclaimed in his mind.
And a few seconds later, a very powerful presence flooded the entire city. A fearful one at that, that made everyone shudder, including Icard.
"Heh. That idiot is just waking up" Icard muttered, smiling tensely.
He forgot just what it felt like standing before a Maire, even though he thought himself to be on a high level already.
Humans could feel it as a powerful, rumbling presence. One that they could only cower in. But it wasn't the same for the spawns.
First they screeched in what seemed like fear.
And next, they froze completely, inflated and then exploded into bits, fading into the air - every one of them.
Even Icard was exhausted but his teammates were even more exhausted, collapsing to the ground as they realized their immediate threats were suddenly disappearing.
In place of them however, the pressure from a stranger and far more terrifying entity remained, filling them--with fear.