“Is this meaningful?” Zayla sat nearby, sharpening the edge of her broken blade. Her ears were tilted back, occasionally twitching at the wind. “Werewolves won't care if the grout lines are straight.”
“It's called craftsmanship standards.” I didn't look back; my focus was on the consistency of the mortar. “Structural integrity starts with the details. If the joints are weak, the whole assembly is a liability.”
Just then, a strange sound drifted down from the high altitude. Refracted by the valley walls, it sounded less like magic and more like... a megaphone-amplified tantrum.
“...hanging up on me... You nerd... I’m gonna...!”
The trowel in my hand froze. That voice was too familiar. Familiar enough to make me think my brain was finally melting under the pressure. I stiffly raised my head toward the suspended island. Even across three hundred meters of vertical distance, I saw a flock of birds startled from the edge of the ruins.
Immediately after, a scream loud enough to shatter the valley's silence fell from the sky, growing louder as it was accompanied by the crashing sound of collapsing masonry.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH——Holy Shiiiiiiiit——!!!”
BOOM!
A corner of the floating island disintegrated. A massive black figure, accompanied by a shower of debris, fell like an out-of-control meteorite. Instead of taking our winding mountain path, he had chosen the most gravitationally efficient route—a straight line to the valley floor.
“Move!!”
I shoved the dumbfounded Zayla aside and rolled awkwardly into the dirt.
BAM—SPLAT!!!
The massive impact didn't hit the ground; he slammed straight into my freshly mixed mortar pit.
A geyser of grey sludge erupted five meters into the air. The non-Newtonian fluid dynamics of the thickening cement, combined with a flickering golden light around his skin, turned a fatal impact into the world's most expensive mud bath. The shockwave actually cracked the L-shaped wall I was so proud of.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch...”
In the mud pit, a man built like a Kodiak bear struggled to stand.
Brad Miller.
At this moment, the starting linebacker, who had clearly been exploring the ruins with his excessive weight, had completed a perfect high-altitude base jump without a parachute.
Honestly, if this were Earth, he’d be a meat pancake. But in Valsaria's 0.8G environment, his terminal velocity was significantly lower. The physics of this world just saved his life—along with a very deep mud pit.
He spat out a mouthful of mud, followed by a violent bout of dry heaving. He clawed at his chest, frantically trying to suck air back into his paralyzed lungs.
"Ahhh... God..." He dragged himself out of the pit, trembling uncontrollably as he rubbed his neck. "The floor... the basement floor just vanished... I was falling... I thought I was dead."
I took off my cement-splattered glasses and stared at the shattered floating island ruins three hundred meters above us.
Click. The analytical gears in my brain finally snapped into place.
So that's how it works, I realized, a chill running down my spine. The rift I saw snap shut in the cave on the first night was just a localized visual glitch. On Earth, the spatial anomaly at 'The Zenith' construction site hasn't closed at all—it's a permanent, invisible gravity sinkhole. Its coordinates perfectly overlap with this entire floating macro-structure. Brad was looking for me, stepped into the same invisible trap, and dropped straight from the apex of the ruins.
Stolen story; please report.
I let out a heavy sigh, tossing the bone trowel aside.
"Brad."
Brad froze. He wiped his face with a large, muddy hand, finally seeing me. Then, he looked up at the shattered, floating islands and the sickly purple sky.
The blood drained completely from his face. "Alex?!" He scrambled toward me, his voice cracking with pure panic. "Thank God! But... where the hell are we? What is that sky?! I was just looking for you in the excavation pit and... Alex, what is going on?!"
Zayla narrowed her eyes, her broken blade instantly drawn and aimed at Brad’s chest. “Another human? Is this giant your summon, Builder? Or an enemy?”
“Stand down, Zayla. He’s my best friend,” I said, stepping between them, my voice dead serious. “And if we want to survive this week, he is the heavy infantry we desperately need.”
Brad stared at the silver-haired girl with cat ears and vertical golden pupils, his brain completely short-circuiting. He grabbed my arm. “Alex... did that girl with a tail just speak? Are we in a coma? ”
Suddenly, Zayla crouched low. Her ears swiveled like radar dishes. Her tail puffed into a massive bottlebrush. “Careful! Killing intent!”
SWISH—!
A grey-white bone spear shot out from the darkness with a shrill whistle. Its target: Brad's broad back. It was a Wolf-kin skirmisher, lurking for an opportunity.
“Brad, dodge!”
But Brad was an NCAA Division I linebacker. In a linebacker's dictionary, there is no “dodge,” only “intercept.” He instinctively lowered his center of gravity, turned, and dropped his shoulder. It was a textbook tackle preparation stance.
CLANG!
The bone spear, capable of piercing rock, made a crisp metallic sound the moment it hit Brad's shoulder. A faint, golden, hexagonal light shield flickered into existence on his skin, like reactive armor. The spear bounced off harmlessly.
“Ouch!” Brad clutched his shoulder. “Who threw a rock at me?”
“What the hell is talking in my brain?!” Brad clutched his skull as if it were a failing pressure vessel, his eyes wide with terror. “Alex, I’m hearing a mechanical voice! My arm is glowing! Am I having a stroke?!”
“It's the System, Brad! Forget it for a second!” I hauled him behind the L-shaped concrete barrier. “We are surrounded by Wolf-kin. Real biological predators, Brad.”
Three hulking shapes detached from the obsidian shadows. Under the sickly purple moonlight, Brad finally processed the two-meter-tall apex predators. His breath hitched, and he instinctively took a half-step back, staring at the drool and jagged iron weapons. But then, he looked at me—exhausted, bruised, and unarmed.
The panic in Brad's eyes violently shifted into a desperate, protective adrenaline. He didn't have a weapon, but he positioned his massive frame entirely in front of me, acting as a human shield. "I don't know what kind of nightmare we dropped into, bro," Brad gritted his teeth, a guttural, terrified but defiant growl vibrating in his chest. "But these ugly bastards are not getting past me."
“Left side!” I shouted. Another Wolf warrior tried to flank. I didn't have a weapon, but I had data. I stared at the wolf's sprinting leg, locking onto the high-stress point of the patella.
CRACK!
There was no bullet, only the sound of bone spontaneously snapping under its own load. The werewolf's knee buckled backward at a sickening angle. It screamed, losing balance.
"Same thing to me!" Brad roared.
He burst from cover. On Earth, his 260-pound frame was a heavy tank; here, in the low gravity, he felt weightless, like a sports car with a tank's engine. Every step propelled him twice as far as he expected.
"I feel so light!" Brad laughed maniacally, accelerating to a speed impossible for a human. "Alex, you do the math! I'll handle the—SACK!"
BOOM!
Brad, utilizing the raw Kinetic Energy of his mass and the Impact Brace on his forearm, met a 300-pound Wolf warrior head-on. With a sickening, wet crunch of a shattering sternum, the werewolf was launched through the air like a projectile with a severed guidance system.
“Left flank!” I shouted, my eyes tracking the heat signatures.
Another Wolf warrior attempted a pincer maneuver.
Before it could recover, Brad had already pivoted. He leaped, hands clasped into a massive hammer, and brought his full weight down. CRUNCH. The werewolf's cranium was driven into the frozen dirt like a foundation pile.
Ten seconds. Two elites neutralized. The last scout attempted to retreat into the fog, but Zayla materialized from the gloom. Her broken blade drew a silver arc, shearing through the carotid artery with surgical efficiency.
Battle over.
Brad stood amidst the carcasses, steam rising from his overheated skin in the cold air. His massive hands were shaking violently as the adrenaline left his system.
“God...” He turned to me, his pupils dilated, staring at his own blood-stained fists in absolute disbelief. “I just... I just punched a hole through a monster. Alex, my strength... I hit him like a freight train. Am I crazy?”
“You're not crazy, you're just Awakened. Although the System says your Logic stat is a flat 4, which explains why you always failed Calculus.”
“Screw you.” Brad punched my shoulder—a blow heavy enough to leave a bruise through my jacket.
He looked at our three-meter L-shaped wall, then scanned the wide canyon entrance where hundreds of Wolf-kin campfires flickered like malevolent stars. His blood cooled. “Hey, bro. This wall is tough. In a 1v1, we’re invincible. But look at them. There are hundreds. Our defensive line is full of Gaps. If they rush us with a full Blitz, we can't maintain the Structural Integrity of this position.”
I fell silent. He was right. We were trying to solve a Saturation Attack with Point Defense.
“We don't need more manpower,” I said, a cold, analytical smile forming on my lips. “Brad, you played defense. You know the best way to stop a Blitz isn't to block it.”
“It's to make them run into a trap,” Brad grinned, baring his teeth.
“Exactly.” I stared into the dark canyon.
Player 2 has entered the game!
Brad brings the muscle (and the Logic stat of a potato). Every party needs a Tank who can take a hit... or ten.
Question of the Day: What is the best duo combo in an apocalypse?
(Click your loadout)
?? A) Brains + Brawn.
Result: The Alex & Brad Protocol. Alex calculates the structural weak point; Brad hits it really hard. Effective, provided Brad doesn't hit the wrong pillar.
?? B) Magic + Tech.
Result: The Isekai Special. Why cast a fireball when you can automate it? High damage, high risk of explosion. Science has gone too far.
?? C) Pizza + Beer.
Result: The Winner. Forget the monsters. If you have pepperoni and a cold brew in the wasteland, you have already won at life. Morale +1000%.
Follow and Rate to see the Meat Grinder in action!