When I opened my eyes, I was met by the dimness of the living room and that muffled roar coming from outside. An hour of sleep hadn't fully cured my exhaustion, but it had cleared my mind at least a little.

  I sat up. Elara was awake too, sitting on the sofa with her knees pulled to her chest, staring into space.

  "Let's go," I said, breaking the silence. "Time is running out."

  She didn't object. It was as if she had accepted the situation during that hour of sleep.

  We organized quickly. We raided the kitchen cabinets. We placed Elara's school bag and an old, unused camping bag from the top of the cupboard on the floor. We filled them with as many water bottles, canned food, biscuits, and pieces of gauze and disinfectant as we could carry. They couldn't be too heavy; mobility was more important than anything.

  The bags were ready, but I needed one more preparation. I took a metal-handled mop from the cleaning closet. I crushed and snapped the plastic part at the end with my foot. Then, I took the longest and sturdiest chef's knife from the kitchen counter.

  "What are you doing?" Elara asked as she packed cans into her bag.

  "Reach," I said shortly.

  I fitted the knife's handle to the end of the mop pole and wrapped it tightly with duct tape, going over it multiple times. The result was a primitive but effective spear. I weighed the weapon in my hand, swinging it once or twice through the air. The balance wasn't bad.

  "I don't know much about using a spear," I muttered to myself. "But it's safer than a knife for keeping fast things like that rabbit at a distance or piercing the hard shells of those insects."

  Then I took two more, shorter knives from the drawer. I placed these in the side pockets of my bag so I could pull them out the moment I reached for them. I took one more sharp, fruit-knife-sized blade and handed it to Elara.

  "Take this."

  Elara looked at the knife as if it were a venomous snake. When her trembling hands gripped the hilt, she flinched as if the coldness of the metal had reflected onto her face.

  "I... I don't know if I can use this," she said, her voice shaking. "I've never cut anything before other than peeling an apple."

  "You'd better get used to it," I said, keeping my voice stern yet reassuring. "I'll do my best so that you don't have to use it. But if I fall or if something attacks from behind, this will be your only chance. You're going to need it, Elara."

  Elara swallowed, gripped the knife tightly, and nodded. Then she tucked it into her jacket pocket.

  We shouldered the bags. We were ready. We came to the door. Before I put my hand on the handle, I stopped and turned to Elara.

  "We're ready," I said. Then the seriousness in my eyes deepened. "But there's one last thing."

  Elara looked at me in surprise. "One last thing? What is it?"

  I pulled out one of the knives in my pocket. Without hesitation, I pressed it into my left palm and made a quick slash.

  "Ah!" Elara screamed and recoiled. Blood began to drip from my palm onto the floor. "What are you doing!? Are you crazy?"

  I gritted my teeth. Fuck... that hurts, I thought. Even though I already had minor wounds, cutting your own flesh was a completely different sensation. I held my bleeding hand out to her.

  "We have to test your skill," I said, my face contorting with pain. "We don't have the luxury of trying to see if it works while we're on the edge of death out there. Now, immediately. Think about using your active skill and try to heal my wound. Focus!"

  Elara's eyes darted between my bleeding hand and my face. She was panicking.

  "I... I don't know how to do it! What if I can't?"

  "You can!" I shouted. "The System gave you that skill. Just want it! Want to heal me!"

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  Elara took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and frowned. Her trembling hands moved over my bloody palm, but she didn't touch it.

  A second passed. Two seconds.

  Then, a soft, emerald-green glow began to seep from Elara's palms. The light grew stronger, painting the room in a dim green.

  "There it is," I whispered.

  When Elara held the light over my wound, the pain ceased instantly. It was replaced by a cool, tingling sensation. Before my eyes, the cut pieces of skin joined as if being sewn together, the bleeding stopped, and within seconds the wound was completely closed. Only a faint, pink mark remained.

  I opened and closed my hand. There was no pain at all.

  "Incredible," I thought. "I don't know if it heals major wounds, broken bones, or fully regenerates a severed limb, and I don't have the courage to test that right now. But even this... even this is a massive advantage."

  I looked up at Elara. "That is truly amazing."

  Elara was looking at her own hands. The light had faded, but her shock hadn't.

  "How... how did I do that?" she asked, her voice filled with wonder. "I can't believe it. I felt like I always knew how to use my skill, how to direct that energy. The information just appeared in my mind, like a reflex."

  "Yes," I said, wiping away the blood. "The same thing happened to me. I think it's a feature of the System. It gives us power and teaches us how to use it."

  Then I stepped closer. "Also, did you notice? You're calmer now. The panic you had earlier is gone. Your mind is steadier."

  Elara paused, checking herself. "Yes... you're right. My heart is still beating fast but my mind... it isn't clouded. I feel more focused."

  "Maybe it's an effect of your passive skill, 'Protection of Light'," I said. "You said it provides mental resistance. That might be what's keeping us from going insane in this chaos."

  Elara smiled slightly. "I guess even you don't fully know how these things work; you're just guessing."

  I shrugged. "Yeah, to be honest, it's my first time experiencing the end of the world. So, I'm not exactly an expert. I'm just improvising."

  At this, a short, nervous but relieved chuckle escaped Elara's lips. This had melted the ice between us a bit more.

  Then I wiped the smile from my face and adopted a serious tone. It was time to plan.

  "Alright, listen to me carefully. Here is the plan..." I gripped my spear firmly. "We aren't going to barge in headfirst. We need to move through the streets and alleys secretly and find monsters that look weak or isolated. We can't be fooled by appearances, I could be caught off guard in an instant like with that rabbit. So first we watch, we analyze."

  Elara was listening intently.

  "You will always stay back," I continued. "I'll be in front, drawing their attention. When I'm wounded, I'll come to you and you'll heal me immediately. That way, we won't need to hide to rest; we'll be able to hunt faster and continuously."

  I looked into her eyes.

  "And the most important part: I'll leave the final blows to you so you can level up. I'll weaken the monsters, make them unable to move, but you will strike the killing blow with that knife."

  "Me?" Elara flinched. "But can I do it..."

  "You have to," I said firmly. "Leaving monsters half-dead will be a headache for me; they are hard to hold down. But you need to gain EXP to complete that quest. So, first, we'll make sure you reach Level 5. Is everything understood?"

  Elara took a deep breath. The fear hadn't entirely left her eyes, but there was a determination behind it now. She nodded. "Understood. I can do it."

  "Good," I said, unlocking the door. I held my spear forward and eased the door open. The cold, sooty air hit our faces.

  "Then," I said without looking back. "We go."

  And with confident steps, we left our safe haven and stepped into the middle of the apocalypse.

  I opened the door as quietly as possible. Praying for the hinges not to creak, we slipped out inch by inch. When the evening chill hit my face, I felt us tearing away from that safe, warm air inside and stepping back into the cold reality of hell.

  The first thing I noticed when we got onto the street was the silence.

  Until a few hours ago, this street—where looters smashed glass, alarms blared, and people fled—was now like an abandoned graveyard. From far away, from the other side of the city, there were still occasional monster growls and screams, but these sounds had grown sparse. This silence was far more terrifying than the noise.

  "Why is it so quiet?" Elara whispered, standing right behind me, almost glued to my shadow.

  "Because the hunt is over," I said, hiding my voice in the howling of the wind. "The decrease in screams isn't a good sign, Elara. It doesn't mean people are saved. It means there aren't many people left to scream. Most are already dead or in hiding."

  I turned my eyes toward the corner of the street, where the technology store was. There was no sign of that massive, mountain-like creature. Only deep, crater-like footprints remained on the asphalt, as if it had pressed cars flat. I didn't want to see the "wetness" left of those three looters in front of the store.

  "It's gone," I said with relief. "As long as we don't encounter that thing, we have a chance. It probably went to more crowded streets, places where it could find more 'food'."

  I turned my head and looked back at the house, at that locked door one last time. This was our sanctuary. If things went wrong outside, if I got wounded or we had to flee, we had a Plan B to return to. That thought made me grip my makeshift spear tighter. Knowing there was a wall I could put my back against reduced the feeling of vulnerability in this open space at least a little.

  I turned to Elara. Her bag was on her back, she had the knife I gave her in one hand, and she was tightly gripping the strap of her bag with the other. She was pale, her eyes were scanning the surroundings frantically, but she was standing there. She wasn't running.

  Our eyes met. I tried to give her confidence.

  "Let's go," I said, gesturing with my head toward the darker, shadowed side of the street. "Move."

  Elara took a deep breath, nodded, and we took our first step. We had returned to the world of hunters and prey, this time not just as victims, but as players ready to show their teeth.