Darren watched the others disappear into the fog-filled room before releasing a heavy sigh.

"I believe you when you say there’s danger," he finally said. "But simply saying ’danger’ isn’t enough to convince everyone to stay back. Besides, we’ve survived countless dangerous missions together as a team. To them, hearing the word danger is practically normal."

"Damn it..." Ivy muttered, running a hand through her hair.

"I really wish they understood what I’m trying to say."

She looked toward the entrance of the core room, her expression growing serious.

"I’m not afraid of danger either," she continued. "But before you choose to face danger, shouldn’t you at least know what kind of danger you’re dealing with?"

Darren remained silent.

"You know what?" Ivy suddenly said, turning toward him. "Take the illusion dogs and bring them back to the vehicle downstairs along with the supplies."

Darren blinked.

"What?"

"I’m serious," Ivy replied firmly. "I’m certain they won’t be able to handle whatever is hiding in there once it reveals itself."

Her voice became more urgent.

"Go now."

Darren frowned.

"What about the monsters on the way?"

"You won’t encounter any venomous monsters on your route back," Ivy assured him.

Then her expression softened slightly.

"And if anything happens to even one of those illusion dogs, Sunny will end up suffering for it back home too."

Darren glanced toward the entrance once more before nodding.

"Are you sure about this, Boss?"

"Trust me."

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

Finally, Darren nodded again.

"Alright then."

Without wasting any more time, he turned around and headed toward the stairs.

The illusion dogs immediately followed after him, carrying supplies in their mouths and on their backs.

Within moments, Ivy was left standing alone outside the core room.

A feeling of uneasiness settled heavily inside her chest.

---

Meanwhile, deep inside the core room...

Erick, Nathan, Albert, Josh, and the rest of the team stood in complete uncertainty.

A thick gray fog covered every corner of the room, making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.

The atmosphere felt strangely cold.

Unnaturally cold.

"Fuck..." Albert grumbled. "What exactly are we supposed to do now? I can’t even tell what I’m standing on."

As if fate had decided to answer him immediately, his foot suddenly slipped.

"Shit!"

He crashed face-first onto the floor.

SLAP!

His face struck something hard.

Almost instantly, he felt a wet liquid spread across his cheeks and clothing.

"What the hell...?"

Albert pushed himself upward and touched the substance.

His fingers came away soaked.

"Is this water?"

The moment he brought his hand closer, a metallic scent assaulted his nose.

His pupils shrank.

Blood.

The realization struck him immediately.

And then another smell followed.

Rotting flesh.

A disgusting odor of decay suddenly filled the room.

The smell that none of them had noticed before now became overwhelmingly thick, as though something had been suppressing it until this very moment.

Albert’s face turned pale.

"Guys..." he said quietly.

But before he could finish speaking....

A deafening alarm erupted throughout the core area.

The sudden sound was so loud that everyone instinctively covered their ears.

Even Ivy, who was standing outside the room, winced in pain.

At the same moment, the core room lights exploded into life.

The alarm continued blaring for several agonizing seconds before abruptly cutting off.

Silence followed.

Slowly...

Very slowly...

Everyone raised their heads.

And then they saw it.

The entire room froze.

Corpses.

Thousands of them.

Human corpses.

Monster corpses.

Fresh corpses.

Decayed corpses.

Bodies with missing limbs.

Bodies sliced completely in half.

Severed arms.

Detached heads.

Exposed bones.

Organs scattered everywhere.

Countless flies buzzed through the air while maggots crawled through piles of rotting flesh.

The smell of blood mixed with the stench of death, creating an atmosphere so horrifying that several team members nearly vomited on the spot.

"F-Fuck..." Albert whispered.

His voice trembled.

Even Ivy, standing outside and looking through the reinforced glass walls, felt her stomach churn violently.

"Fuck..." she cursed under her breath.

Then her eyes widened.

Her gaze locked onto dozens of glowing red eyes scattered throughout every corner of the room.

The team members noticed them as well.

An uneasy silence filled the room.

Then....

GROOOOOOWL!!!

The growls echoed from every direction.

The sound alone was enough to send chills down everyone’s spine.

Suddenly, the creatures stepped forward.

Snake-like monsters emerged from the piles of corpses.

Their bodies resembled giant serpents, but every inch of their scales looked like sharpened blades.

Their tails were even worse.

Each tail ended in razor-like edges capable of slicing through flesh, bone, and steel with terrifying ease.

Judging from the countless dismembered corpses littering the floor, it wasn’t hard to guess what had caused such horrifying carnage.

The monsters stared at the intruders with murderous intent.

Then they attacked.

BOOOOM!!!

The creatures launched themselves forward.

Their razor-sharp tails whipped through the air.

The team immediately opened fire.

Gunshots exploded throughout the room.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Outside the room, Ivy’s eyes narrowed.

Her psychic ability automatically analyzed the creatures.

Level 50.

Every single one of them.

Her heart sank.

"This is bad..." she thought.

"This is far worse than I expected."

Then another realization struck her.

Her expression instantly changed.

Wait...

Isn’t this....

The memory surfaced immediately.

The Total Annihilation Mission.

The same mission Darren had spoken about from his previous life.

The mission where an entire team had been wiped out without leaving behind a single survivor.

A cold chill ran down Ivy’s spine.

As the sounds of gunfire and monstrous growls echoed through the facility, she swallowed hard.

"This really is that mission..."