Game-To-Death: Utopia

2.18am. It has been more than two hours since the Apocalypse Game started. Although it was no longer stormy outside, the night was still cold and chilly. However, four distinct silhouettes can be seen moving cautiously on the fire escape stairways, heading towards the rooftop of their apartment building. They only need to climb up a maximum of five flight of stairs as their apartments are only two floors beneath the rooftop.

Ally was leading the way with H20 half a step in front of her, followed by Marie, and then Kent who was entrusted to watch their backs. Along the way, they encountered two battles which had ended as swiftly as it started. The first was against a strayed zombie stuck on the fire escape stairways just one floor below them. Ally spotted it right after climbing onto the stairways, and after warning her party members, casted 'Bind' with her staff in record time. She was itching to use it ever since she learned the skill and her eyes grew bright when brownish-green vines grew from her staff and lashed out towards the zombie before restraining its movement completely. Her action stunned the zombie as it m.o.a.n.e.d and tried to get back up but failed. Kent then directly jumped down towards the enemy and struck its head with both wooden swords in his hands. He wanted to vent his anger as he was unable to protect his wife from the zombie from before and so, the miserable zombie was eliminated in less than a minute. However, instead of dropping loot, the disappearing zombie corpse turned into minute light flecks and entered the trio's body.

Ally felt disappointed at first but thinking of the dungeon ahead and other rewards that might come with the quest, she felt better. They continued on their way in a single file but probably due to the loud ruckus their first battle created, their next battle came shortly after. It was against a solo Mutated Bat creature. This time, Ally was alerted by H20's aggressive stance while making hissing, spitting noises. The Mutated Bat had a wing span of 2.2 metres and was almost undetectable as it swoops towards them from a higher altitude in the cover of the night. Ally felt a ringing in her ears as the bat approached, possibly an echo sound attack to confuse them. However, that proved not to be an issue with Ally around as she waved her staff and casted 'Bind' twice, first to completely seal the bat's mouth, then to seal its movement, causing it to drop from the air to the ground with aloud thud. Honestly, her 'Bind' skill is perfect to counter flying-type creatures as the creatures lose advantage of their superior aerial abilities after being restrained. Ally could feel herself being mentally drained after casting Bind three times in a short interval. Kent was tempted to finish the creature off but thought better of it when he noticed Ally's condition. They had also almost reached the rooftop by then.

Ally drank a tube of the nutrition serum given by Marie to rejuvenate herself and urged them to move forward instead. The Mutated Bat did not post much threat to the trio after losing its ability to move or screech. Nevertheless, the trio swiftly climbed up the last flight of the fire escape stairways and finally stood in front of the side entrance leading to the rooftop. The side entrance was made from a wooden door with manual operations instead of a glass one which was AI-controlled.

"Are you ready?" Ally looked at Marie and Kent, and they nodded their heads in affirmation. The backpacks seemed to weigh a little heavier on their backs and their hands gripped tighter against the weapons they held. Ally took a deep breath and used her free hand to unlatch the door before sliding it open.

The three of them gasped at the same time at the unexpected view that greeted them behind the door. The whole area was filled with bright light and torches hanging in the air as if welcoming their arrival. Just as they stepped through the threshold of the door, a new system notification arrived.

Congratulations! You have discovered the existence of the Dungeon: Rooftop Garden.

Detecting lifeform… Three Identified Players and One Unregistered Lifeform. Initiating Protocol…

Warning! Unregistered Lifeforms are prohibited from challenging the dungeons. Please choose the following options:

A: Complete Registration Test

B: Remove Target from Dungeon

Please make the decision within 2 minutes.

120…119…118…

"What do you think? Should we leave H20 outside? But what if the Mutated Bat comes back?" Marie frowned in frustration.

"Ally, what do you want to do? There's about 100 seconds left," Kent probed when he saw Ally's lack of response.

Ally slowly unclench her fists and let out a long sigh while staring at the listless cat by her side. "Take the test. I'm sorry, it might be troublesome and cause some delay to our quest, but I'm not going to abandon H20."

Kent and Marie shared a look and gave her their support. "Let's hope for the best," Marie added and squeezed her husband's arm.

Ally nodded and selected the first option right before the 2 minutes were up. Following that, a golden cage appeared out of thin air and trapped H20 within in. Arcs of electricity are formed around the cage causing the agitated H20 to hiss and spit in terror.