A light breeze was going down the street. Nervously, Alice looked at the old brick walls of the buildings to their left and right. Not long ago, these five-story buildings had been nothing but ordinary office or apartment buildings. Now, they seemed to be looming over them.

Each one of them could potentially hold a veritable army of monsters, just waiting for them to pass by and attack. Something about this place made Alice nervous, more so than the rest of the monster-infested city. A shiver ran down her spine.

"Can you feel that?" Alice asked.

"Feel what?" Max, their healer, asked back.

"Hmm... I don't know. Probably just imagined it..."

I'm probably just nervous. I'm probably just waiting for the other shoe to drop, now that we are almost at the shopping center. It went far too easily until now.

"Nope! We are not doing this!" Ava complained immediately, "There is magic now. You can feel goddamn souls. If you say you feel something, we will assume that there is something until it's proven otherwise. What did you feel?"

"I... can't really explain. Just something. Like this place is somehow different. More dangerous, maybe? I'm probably just getting nervous."

"How far is the shopping center?" Ava asked in the round as she stopped her bike.

"T-two streets further down," their scout answered nervously. He had never stopped being nervous since Alice met him the first time in the meeting room.

"Okay, how about we go back a street, and Simon scouts from there? It's going to take a bit longer, but at least we won't run straight into the danger zone."

"Sounds sensible. And I think I can feel it too, maybe. I think I understand what you mean," Uncle James agreed, the last bit directed at Alice. He was already in the process of turning his scooter around.

"Okay, fine," Alice conceded as they all began to move back. If she had been the only one to feel it, that would have been one thing, but if she wasn't alone, that changed the situation. Especially if the other person was uncle James, a person who was used to danger and wouldn't just get nervous for no reason.

"I can still feel it," Alice noted after they had moved a street back.

"Then let's go back even further," Ava immediately answered.

"I don't like it. The further away we are, the longer it's going to take Simon to scout the location. I don't want to be stuck in a single location for too long," Alice argued.

"D-don't worry about me. I can always find my way back to my body. If it gets dangerous, just take my body to safety."

"I don't think that's a good idea. If what Alice said is right, then you are literally splitting your soul from your body. I don’t know what could happen, but I can’t imagine that staying like that for too long is in any way good for you. At least that's my opinion as the healer," Max joined the conversation as well.

Now that Alice began paying more attention, she noticed a few things she had missed until now. Like everywhere else, corpses were lying around in the street or hanging halfway out of crashed cars. However, there weren't enough.

"How about this? We stay here as long as possible. It's not like we can't protect ourselves after all. But if it gets too dangerous, we retreat and return a while later to pick up Simon," the Veteran proposed a compromise.

"Fine, let's do it like that," Ava gave her consent.

It wasn't like they hadn't seen it several times before. Signs of corpses having been dragged away, both human and monster, to be eaten by Trenton's new inhabitants. However, they were close to the city center. Even with monsters collecting food, there should still be a lot more corpses.

It could have been because a herd of Raptors passed through the area. But from what they had seen before, those left behind a far bigger mess.

"Come over here and sit in the back. That way, we can get away faster if we need to," Uncle James said as he moved forward in his seat. His vehicle wasn't exactly made for it, but if they squeezed it a little, Simon could fit in the back, albeit pretty snuggly.

"Then, I will get going," Simon said before his soul left his body, which then slumped down, his chin resting on uncle James' shoulder.

"I don't like this. I haven't seen a single monster in quite a while now that I think about it. Let's go over there and get a little more cover. Staying out in the open like this makes me uncomfortable," their most experienced member said, leading them around a corner away from the main street.

They found themselves in a small side alley with just a single lane, one that was surprisingly free of cars. They quickly set up, putting their bikes away so that they could get them back quickly but could also still move freely. After all, as fast and efficient as a bicycle was, it wasn't the best at dodging sudden attacks.

For a few tense minutes, they kept watch, Alice at the entrance to the main street, uncle James in the other direction. Meanwhile, Max was watching the windows and roofs while Ava was going back and forth between the three of them.

"Seven meters down, on the right side around the corner," Alice whispered in the radio, "Can you get behind it, Ava?"

Alice was almost relieved when the monster finally revealed itself. Just from its soul, she couldn't tell what kind of monster it was, just that it was a kind they hadn't encountered before. Slowly but surely, it was creeping closer to the corner.

"Sure, tell me when I'm behind it." Somewhere behind her, Ava phased through the wall to the interior of the building and began walking along the inside, with nothing but the wall between her and the monster.

"Now," Alice prompted. If she went right through the wall, Ava would appear around two meters behind the creature. Luckily, the sun stood still low enough that the buildings were throwing sufficient shadows for her to move through.

Again, Ava moved through the wall, this time to the outside. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Alice watched the two souls in trepidation.

"There is nothing here," Ava's voice suddenly came from the radio.

"Low to the ground, it's coming right at you!" Alice shouted, not bothering with the radio this time. Already, she was running towards the corner.

Ava jumped to the side, just barely evading the monster, just as Alice rounded the corner.

She looked around, trying to locate the creature, but something was strange. No matter how much she looked, she couldn't find it, despite clearly feeling its soul.

It was then that Ava brought up her gun and shot into the empty air. The shots didn't make a single sound, and if it weren't for the holes suddenly appearing in midair, and the strange distortions that surrounded them a moment later, Alice would have thought Ava didn't shoot at all.

Alice put her own gun to her shoulder, aimed, and shot from the right barrel, the one where she had loaded a slug. Her shotgun barked, making her ears ring.

The slug hit the distortion dead center, exploding silently a split second later, ripping a bloody hole in the middle of the air, splattering white flesh and chitin all over. The distortion disappeared, revealing half the body of a dead spider, a spider the size of a dog.

"Report!" the soldier's voice came out of the radio.

"Giant spiders, they're invisible!" Ava beat her to the punch.

"Oh for fu…" the old soldier's voice got cut off by the sound of his own gun.

At first, his shots sounded like they hit nothing but asphalt.

Alice and Ava were running back, the distance that had been so short before, suddenly feeling like it took an eternity to cross.

An otherworldly screech sounded out, unmistakably the sound of a creature in pain.

As they rounded the corner, Alice brought up her gun again, unloading her birdshot into the sky roughly parallel to the building's facade. Countless, tiny metal balls shot out of her weapon, spreading out before impacting the wall. Every single one exploded on impact, ripping small holes into the brick while creating a sound not dissimilar to firecrackers.

More screeches of pain. This time, they came from above.

"Above! They are on the walls!"

Two loud thumps sounded out as, one after another, spiders impacted the street, their corpses only becoming visible after their deaths. The explosions would have been small, but Alice could imagine that any kind of exploding projectile would be painful enough to cause one to lose their footing.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Level Up!

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She didn't even have to think about it. In the current situation, there was only one sensible choice, if she wanted to get out alive.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Reward: Skill point

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Soul sense Lv 2

Sense souls within a 20m radius.

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Immediately, her sensory range doubled, revealing a host of souls where she couldn't see any kind of enemy. Maybe it was luck, maybe they had somehow known, but the spider monsters had all stayed right outside of Alice's range. It didn't matter anymore. Now they had been unveiled to her.

She broke open her shotgun, causing the old shells to get flung out. Fumbling, she managed to get two new birdshot into the chambers. The Slugs were powerful but not the right tool to bring down large numbers.

She folded the gun back, causing it to click shut, and leveled it at the wall on the other side of the street. She quickly located the largest group and pulled the first trigger. She could barely hear the shot, with how much her ears were ringing. Shooting without ear protection sucked.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Level Up!

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Most of the spiders she had managed to hit were raining down, looking more like suddenly appearing, exploding corpses since they were still invisible on their way down.

Her headset was making some kind of sound, but Alice couldn't understand it. Running by one of the dead spiders, she quickly collected its soul, reminding her of the Skill she had forgotten about in the chaos. Right after going up, her Soul energy went down again. However, her hearing returned at the same moment.

"What did you say?"

"We have to get out of here!" It was Uncle James' voice. "Can you see them?"

"Yes!"

"Then lead, we will follow you!"

He didn't have to say that twice. She had already turned her bike towards the bigger street and was pushing off the ground. It was a gamble. There were a lot of those things on the main street, but at least she knew where they were already, and there was a lot of space. If she went in the other direction, there might be fewer enemies, or there might be more. But most importantly, there was less space to get around them.

As quickly as she could, she drove out of the alley and onto the main street. At first, she had thought of taking the sidewalks, but too many cars had crashed into the sides of buildings, making them just as hard to navigate as the rest of the street. In addition, they would be closer to the spiders still hanging on the walls. For all they knew, they would just jump onto their heads, not dying in the process if they weren't shot down by exploding shrapnel.

"Uncle James, on your right!"

Not a second later, gunfire sounded out behind her, accompanied by the sounds of bullets punching through glass and metal as they hit cars. After what felt like an eternity, the monster screeched in pain as the old man managed to hit it.

Alice was in the front, then Ava, Max, and uncle James was bringing up the rear. However, that meant he was relatively close to the edge of her perception, making it hard for Alice to warn the man in time.

The choice wasn't hard to make.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Reward: Skill point

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Soul sense Lv 3

Sense souls within a 30m radius.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Again, her perception range expanded, warning her just a little earlier about what she couldn't see before. There was a group right in front of them, blocking their path completely.

Alice pulled out the shotgun and unloaded the last birdshot at the monsters, almost falling when the recoil caused her to lose balance. She dropped the gun, needing both hands to stabilize herself and not having the time to put it away. She hoped she wouldn't need it anymore.

Several of the creatures had been injured. Two even died, the invisibility disappearing from their bodies. The rest fell in panic, scuttling out of their way and allowing the group to pass through, albeit barely.

Suddenly, another group of souls appeared inside her perception, Alice noticing them just a moment too late. She had thrown away her gun, and even if she didn't, there was no time to reload.

"That way!" Alice pointed high into the air, not even ten meters in front of them. They must have made some kind of invisible net between the top of the buildings. "They are above us!"

Again, the now-familiar sound of the AK-47 rang through the street, ending just a second later as the magazine clicked empty. Not even a second passed before uncle James had loaded a new magazine and continued shooting. Another three seconds before he was out of bullets again. Alice wasn't sure how much he actually managed to hit.

Alice swerved to the right, evading a car just as its roof dented with a bang.

"Be careful. They are dropping down!"

Another landed to her right, allowing her to pass just barely between it and the car. Ava had also noticed it, passing by it on the right side instead.

A crash made Alice turn around, just in time for her to see Max flying over his handlebar. What could only be a ripped-off spider-leg was stuck in his front wheel. He rolled across the floor until finally, he crashed into a car. For a moment, he lay there without moving. Then, a shudder went through his body and he jumped up, sprinting like he never did before.

By now, Spiders were raining down all around them, changing the field too quickly for Alice to guide them through even remotely safe. Before she could warn someone about a spider, more were already coming down in three different locations.

Max was falling behind slowly, but it wasn't yet a problem.

Another crash, uncle James's scooter was spinning around wildly before falling over.

"Go on without me! You need to warn people about these shits!" the old soldier's voice came through the radio, followed by another salvo of gunshots. If Alice remembered correctly, it was his last magazine.

Max came to a full stop, turning around to help.

"Go, you fucking moron! Now!"

"But Simon..."

For a moment, the radio went silent.

"It's too late for him," the answer came a moment later. "Now, run!"

"FUCK!" Alice screamed, only slowing down for a moment after they got out of the spiders' territory so Max could ride on the back of Ava's bike.

"Fuck! This is complete bullshit!" Alice screamed again when they came to a stop several minutes later.

She was angry, at the monsters, at how unfair those spiders were, but most of all at herself. She was angry at how weak and helpless she was. She wanted to turn around right away and kill every single of those spiders, to fight them head-on. It was an emotion she didn't even know she could have. And emotion she never would have had if the world hadn’t ended.

However, she knew that she couldn't. There was no way she would survive, even if their invisibility didn't work on her. Sure, by collecting and absorbing souls, she would be able to stay at full capacity. But that was far from enough. She wasn't a trained fighter. Guns would run out of ammunition, and just a little bit of bad luck could have her lose her ax. At all times, she would be just a single mistake away from instant death.

And even if she didn't make a mistake, there were just too many of them. There was no way for her to get out alive if the spiders just piled all on top of her.

"We should return and warn the others, like uncle James told us," Ava's voice was cold, devoid of its usual cheer. The redhead was angry, Alice could feel the same rage radiating from her soul she was feeling herself. She could feel the same from Max's soul, but a lot weaker and tinged with more sadness, regret, and helpless acceptance.

She could only feel it because her Soul sense was now at a higher level. She smiled wryly. The levels were the only good thing about the whole shitshow, and it wasn't a tradeoff she ever wanted to repeat.

"Yeah, let's go back."

Maybe it was due to the rage Ava was radiating, but thankfully, not a single monster approached them on their way back.