My Scumbag System - Chapter 259

Chapter 259: This Paired Simulation Was Designed By a Sadist
When the brightness faded, I found myself standing in what appeared to be a ruined pre-Rupture subway station. Water dripped steadily from cracks in the ceiling and created rippling puddles on the cracked tile floor.

The lights flickered erratically while casting dancing shadows across the walls covered in faded advertisements for products that hadn’t existed since before the Gates appeared.

The air was thick with the scent of mildew and stagnant water mixed with undertones of rust and decay. A distant hollow moaning echoed through the tunnels, maybe wind or maybe something worse.

It was cold and damp and perfectly atmospheric, like someone had designed it specifically to star in a horror movie.

Of course Carmen would choose this. The woman was a sadist.

Skylar materialized a few feet away from me while looking around with what seemed like genuine interest. Her combat gear had materialized with her, a sleek black outfit that hugged her curves like a second skin with numerous knife sheaths strapped to her thighs and forearms. In this gloomy setting her pale skin seemed to glow, which made her look like some kind of gothic apparition or a vampire who’d gotten really into the aesthetic.

“Objective: Retrieve the data core from the lead subway car,” an AI voice echoed through the station while sounding tinny and distorted through ancient speakers. The words bounced off the tiled walls and created an unsettling echo. “Hostiles are composed of shadow-based entities. Warning: Hostiles are intangible and immune to conventional physical attacks. Simulation difficulty: C-Rank.”

Great. Just great. Intangible enemies in a horror movie set.

I turned to Skylar, who was leaning against a rusted pillar while looking completely at home in the gloomy environment. For the first time since I’d met her, a slow genuine smile touched her lips. Not her usual smirk or condescending half-smile, but something that reached her eyes and transformed her face into something almost beautiful.

“Shadow monsters?” she said while her eyes gleamed with something that looked suspiciously like excitement. Her fingers tapped a rhythm against her thigh in a way that betrayed her anticipation. “How fitting. Almost like the simulation was custom-designed for us.”

Immune to physical attacks. That meant my SEVER ability would be useless against incorporeal enemies, which was just fantastic considering that was my primary offensive tool. My mind raced through potential strategies while cataloging and discarding options at rapid speed. But EMBER could work since fire creates light and light dispels shadows. Basic folklore, but often the obvious solution was the correct one.

“They’re intangible,” I said while thinking out loud and watching Skylar’s face for reactions. “But they cast shadows themselves. Your Phantasm Smoke can create illusions and diversions. We can use that to confuse them and make them attack the wrong targets.”

“And your fire can create light, which is probably the only thing that can actually hurt them.” She pushed off from the pillar while twirling one of her combat knives between her fingers with that practiced ease that comes from thousands of hours of training. The blade caught the dim flickering light. “Looks like we’re stuck with each other, Stray Dog. Try not to get us killed with your hero complex.”

I had to admit the scenario was perfectly tailored to force us to rely on each other’s unique Aspects. Almost like Carmen had planned it, which she absolutely had because the woman was playing chess while the rest of us were still figuring out checkers.

“Shall we?” I gestured toward the dark tunnel ahead where the blackness seemed to shift and writhe in a way that darkness shouldn’t. “Ladies first. I insist.”

Skylar smirked and moved forward with her boots making almost no sound on the broken tiles. “Try to keep up. I’d hate to have to tell everyone the Number One prospect got lost in the dark.”

“That would require you to talk to people, which would be a miracle in itself.”

“I talk to people.”

“Insulting them doesn’t count.”

“Then you and I have very different definitions of conversation.”

We made our way deeper into the station while the darkness grew thicker around us until it felt almost solid. It seemed to have weight and substance as it pressed against us like a living thing. I kept a small flame dancing on my palm to provide just enough light to see by, and the shadows seemed to retreat from it while pooling in corners and behind pillars like sentient oil.

I could hear things moving in the darkness beyond our small circle of light. Subtle shifts, the whisper of movement against tile, the occasional soft scrape. Nothing overtly threatening yet, but enough to keep my nerves humming with tension.

“So,” I said while trying to fill the oppressive silence, “you come here often? The whole creepy abandoned subway aesthetic really suits you.”

“Careful, Stray Dog. That almost sounded like a compliment.”

“Trust me, it wasn’t.”

“Good. I’d hate to think you were going soft on me.”

The attack came without warning.

A patch of darkness on the wall suddenly flowed like spilled ink while stretching and forming into a vaguely humanoid shape with too-long limbs and fingers that tapered into razor points.

Its face was a blank void, but somehow communicated malevolence in its very emptiness. It lunged silently while moving faster than seemed possible and reached for Skylar with those impossible fingers.

I unleashed a blast of EMBER and sent a jet of fire directly at the creature. The flames illuminated the area in a harsh orange glow that revealed more shadow-things lurking just beyond our vision, at least a dozen of them waiting in the darkness like predators.

The fire roared past Skylar’s shoulder and missed her by inches, but the shadow creature was too fast. It flowed around the flames like water around a stone with its body splitting and reforming with liquid grace.

It darted forward, and before I could redirect my attack its claws passed right through my chest.

There was no pain, just a bone-deep coldness that spread from the point of contact. A sensation like having liquid nitrogen injected directly into my veins while someone turned the thermostat in my soul down to absolute zero. I could feel my stamina draining and my movements becoming sluggish as if the shadows were feeding on my very essence. My flame wavered and threatened to extinguish.

More shadow creatures were forming now while peeling themselves from the walls and ceiling and flowing across the ground like living patches of ink. They surrounded us in a closing circle of darkness that cut off our retreat.

I counted at least seven distinct forms, each more nightmarish than the last. Some had too many limbs, others had gaping toothless mouths that seemed to swallow light itself.

“You’re too slow,” Skylar said while her voice stayed calm despite the situation. She dodged a shadow’s lunge with the kind of grace that made it look easy, her body bending at angles that shouldn’t be possible. “You’re trying to aim at them. Don’t.”

“Then what am I supposed to aim at?” I growled while sending another blast of fire that passed harmlessly through a creature composed of nothing but elongated fingers and grasping hands. “The walls? The ceiling? Give me something to work with here, Bubblegum.”

Her eyes locked with mine, those purple irises intense in the firelight. They held a fierce intelligence that cut through her usual bored facade.

“Me.”