Zarek felt Priya go limp on his back. He was certain that she had fallen asleep, and that was probably a good thing. Using her Talent so continuously not even an hour into an apocalypse would definitely take a huge toll.
It would unfortunately make things tougher on him. But if he couldn't deal with at least this much, then he didn't have the right to fight for the future he wanted.
'This Godsfall Tear, though…'
He had already fought several battles, but the problem was that none of them were normal. This world had an oddly skewed difficulty for a reward that would be useless in the hands of most.
But that was only natural in the Godsfall Apocalypse. There were some treasures you could get your hands on that would shock you because the ease would be too great… then you could risk your life as an S+ warrior just to end up with an F- reward in the end.
There was no "fairness" in this world. Though, that was less due to the annoying system, thankfully, and more due to the nature of the Godsfall.
This Godsfall Tear was clearly one of those peculiarities.
He was in a forest, or so it seemed. But every time the moonlight from above caught just the right angle, it would become clear that he was actually in a maze of mirrors.
The darkness played with the silvery light and made it difficult to detect enemies, and even when you did detect enemies, it was hard to tell if you were looking at illusion or reality.
He had been forced to stay in the same location for a while until Priya healed herself, so he wasn't sure if the oddity was just the current location or not but… even the enemies weren't normal.
His first encounter had been against one blood wolf, a common beast in the apocalypse. In fact, blood creatures were the most common threat in general outside of the "Turned." Or, in more layman's terms, zombies.
But what he thought would be a straightforward battle became odd when illusions and mirror images got involved. He ended up feeling like he was fighting against three, four, sometimes even five blood wolves at the same time.
Facing off against such odds, he was even more sure in his choice. There was no way he could allow Priya to face such a thing on her own.
Zarek's footsteps came to a stop. He raised a hand and pressed it forward, only for it to stop seemingly in thin air.
'Another mirror…'
He was behind. For a Godsfall Tear like this one where everyone was separated and then thrown into a maze, it was definitely time-based.
Now, he had lost over 40 minutes and understood too little about this world.
Still, he was calm. Almost scarily so.
Just standing there, his heart rate was the same, his eyes were clear, and it was as though the success of his final life wasn't riding on this first successful step.
His girlfriend's soft breathing warmed his ear, her heartbeat vibrated his back. As the wind swayed in the night, he felt peace and focus.
In that moment, he touched upon a familiar door hidden deep within him. Fleeting and untouchable as it was, it recentered him.
His ear twitched, the sound of something approaching him catching his attention. However, he still didn't move, standing there as though he hadn't sensed anything at all.
It came closer and closer. The only thing that gave away the fact Zarek was even aware were the slight twitches to his ears.
'There really is just one. But…'
Zarek suddenly took a step back as a claw swiped to his side. His amber eyes left almost golden streaks in the air with his fast head movement.
He kicked out, feeling the sickening crunch of bone deforming beneath his foot.
His Strength had already progressed to F+ in this time because he was circulating Godsfall Essence. The blood creatures, or in this case, this blood wolf, only had F Endurance at best. With such a perfectly timed kick, it was instantly incapacitated.
The blood wolf collided against the mirror wall, and it was like its body had split into two forms, its real body and its mirror image.
'As expected. It really is related to this.'
The creatures weren't multiplying beneath their own strength and power. Rather, they were communing with this Godsfall Tear, borrowing power from it, and displaying new abilities as a result.
'If only the real reward was so powerful.'
Zarek shook his head.
He stomped down, splattering the head of the blood wolf.
The mirror image continued to lunge out at him, now seemingly just as real as the original, but Zarek seemed to have a predictive model in his head, swaying to one side and crushing it with a swift counterattack.
The moment the danger was gone, he started gasping for breath again. He seemed able to ignore fatigue in the heat of battle. Others might think that it was just willpower, but only he knew that it was something deeper than that.
'I understand now. The mirror images are real enough to attack and cause damage, but they'll only appear in droves if I lag behind too much…'
It seemed like a simple enough conclusion. Kill them fast; don't let them multiply. Easy.
The issue was that things were never that simple.
The multiplication wasn't time-based, but rather forced by the interaction of the beasts with the invisible mirror-walls of this maze.
While he was stuck following them and couldn't cross the mirrors, these blood beasts weren't hindered by the mirror-walls at all. And, every time they passed through them, they would multiply.
Although these mirror images were weaker than the original by a margin, if this happened enough times, he would end up suffering for it.
He wasn't the old Zarek right now. He didn't even have a weapon.
Now he had to manage to kill these creatures quickly, while also trying to keep them from touching the walls in an already confined space. Yet, unlike the wolves, he couldn't pass through these mirrors at all and had to follow their winding, maze-like patterns.
'We've faced worse. Let's go.'