I genuinely couldn’t believe our luck. I knew better than to think that way and jinx it, but we’d somehow traveled over ten miles through the tunnel network without encountering a single horde. We’d crossed small stations, we’d crossed large stations, and the whole time, it was like we had the place to ourselves. It was honestly mind-boggling.

  Sure, there had been the occasional straggler, but I figured the complexity and depth of the stations acted like natural barriers for the mindless zombies.

  They had no reason to come down here without a target to chase, and it wasn’t like they had any shred of curiosity in those empty heads of theirs. The few we did find were likely just the unlucky ones who’d shambled down the stairs and gotten stuck—too stupid to find their way out.

  Which worked out great for us. It meant I could stop at almost every station to check the maps and make sure we were still on the right track—literally.

  That part was trickier than it sounded, though. People usually only thought of the stations themselves, but in reality, there were usually several junctions between each one. Switches that could redirect trains from one track to another. All of it computer-controlled by an omniscient system. Which was why there wasn’t a single sign showing which tunnel led where.

  Combined with the fact that there were no windows and no landmarks to reference for orientation, we were flying blind. More than once, we had to backtrack to a previous junction after realizing we’d arrived at the wrong station.

  Not terrible in theory, but with multiple junctions between stops, the permutations multiplied fast. It became an incredibly time-consuming ordeal trying to figure out which path led where, and I learned several lessons in tunnel navigation that day. Lessons I never dreamed I’d need.

  Our speed was what saved us, though it wasn’t without its own risks. The tunnels were lit with only the barest lighting, and it was more often than not nearly pitch-black. There was always the chance of us ramming headlong into a horde… but we had little choice.

  If we’d been moving at a normal running pace, it would’ve taken days. And even though my speed wasn’t close to what the trains could do, I wasn’t exactly slow in my Grace suit either. With mostly tracks and no zombies in sight, I sustained twenty miles per hour carrying Aerion in my arms. She’d insisted on staying out to observe the surroundings and to be ready to act on a moment’s notice.

  Also, despite her denials, I could guess being trapped in a space where you couldn’t move a muscle wasn’t the most pleasant experience, though I appreciated the company. Especially with the poor lighting.

  It made me wonder whether I’d have been better served increasing my Cunning to boost my awareness. Though, that would have left us as slow as our base stats allowed.

  Thanks to my Grace suit, what would have taken days normally ended up being just an extra hour or two wasted, though the 130 points of Grace I’d gained since entering the Dungeon had a thing or two to say about that.

  Luck, however, had a way of running out, no matter how strong.

  We started encountering more zombies as we got closer to the heart of the city. They were shambling around in enough numbers that we were forced to slow down and take them out. That was with the barriers keeping most of the zombies off the tracks. I didn’t even want to think what it would’ve looked like without those.

  Because of that, I was able to take out the zombies we did come across, though as I soon discovered, they weren’t the easiest things to kill.

  Definitely harder than just knocking them off a radio tower, but I didn’t want to risk leaving stragglers behind. Just in case they somehow recovered and came after us. Aerion and I made sure to decapitate every last one. It took more time, especially when we started killing dozens between the stations, but with my stats and ability levels increasing at a solid pace, I couldn’t exactly complain.

  Still, the writing was on the wall as the zombies got more and more numerous, and our luck finally ran dry when we finally reached one of the biggest stations in Tokyo—the famous Shibuya Station—where a massive throng idled ahead of us.

  “I think this is about as far as we go,” I said, staring grimly at the scene ahead. There had to be over a hundred zombies on the tracks, blocking the way forward.

  The reason why was obvious. One of the barriers that kept people off the tracks had opened—possibly when the power failed—allowing the undead to spill onto the rails. This was probably the source of most of the zombies we’d encountered until now.

  The good news was that there were fewer of them on the raised walkways to either side, the tracks forming a natural pit for them to fall into and get stuck in.

  The bad news? There was no way through this platform. Not if we didn’t want the whole horde following us further in, and who knew how many awaited in the tunnels ahead?

  “Then we fight,” Aerion said.

  I nodded, letting her down. I still held off on releasing Galia, though—no doubt she’d emerge disoriented, and the last thing I wanted was her lighting up the place and drawing every zombie in the station to us.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  As it was, they still hadn’t noticed us. I decided to keep it that way for now.

  I considered changing suits but opted against. While being able to change builds on the fly was amazing, damn if it wasn't becoming a hassle. Thirty seconds was nothing in normal life, but down here? It felt like a lifetime. More and more, I realized that the inability to swap mid-combat could be a serious liability. You couldn’t plan for everything. People got surprised. Mistakes happened. My Soulwoven weapons would alleviate some of that, at least. I’d have to really lean into that in the future.

  “You ready?” I muttered, readying my weapons. My flying blades were always active, so there was nothing to do there.

  “Ready,” Aerion said, her eyes fixed on the mob ahead.

  I raised a Siege Bolt, firing it remotely in a long arc down the platform. [Remote Launch] gave me a lot of flexibility with the explosives, keeping me safe from the blast while letting me choose where and when it detonated. The deafening explosion that followed shook the tunnels, and, as expected, all hell broke loose.

  Funny enough, my gaming knowledge had actually worked here. The old “throw a rock to distract the guards” trick had always seemed ridiculous in games. But when your enemies were brain-dead zombies, it worked surprisingly well.

  The ones that hadn’t been blown apart staggered toward the noise, leaving us an opening.

  “Now!” Aerion and I darted out into the station proper, jumping over the railings to land on the platform. I rushed forward, pummeling any zombies in the way with my tower shield, clearing a path for Aerion, who sliced and diced the rest behind me. She stayed out of [Reave] for now, just in case we needed that strength later.

  Our goal wasn’t to win, it was to escape.

  As such, I didn’t bother finishing them off or making sure they couldn’t follow us—that was inevitable. Hiding from these things wasn’t an option either. Our best bet now was to escape the station or lure the ones chasing us into a kill zone, wipe them out, and move on.

  Fighting our way to the end of the platform, we reached a flight of stairs, blitzing up it and cutting down a few hulking zombies along the way. Their numbers were thinner up here. It seemed likely that the ones that went down couldn’t get back up. That was a good sign. Maybe things would ease up as we got higher.

  We pushed on, blurring past an entire underground mall full of watch and jewelry shops, grocery stores, and eateries. I followed the clear and helpful signage toward the exits.

  To my surprise, the escalators were functioning. They were also packed with zombies. But that was fine. Stations this big always had multiple escalators, and we used that to our advantage—jumping between them when one path got too crowded.

  With their limited movement during the day—though I still wasn’t sure why daytime mattered underground—they struggled to follow. By the time they managed to climb halfway up, we were long gone.

  “How big is this place?” Aerion asked, looking around wide-eyed at the seemingly endless maze of escalators, shops, platforms, and everything else.

  “As I said, they’re practically mini cities. I think this station alone is over a mile long, and who knows how many levels deep?”

  We made good progress until we heard something deafening and distinctly familiar.

  Aerion looked at me. “Firearms?”

  “Likely,” I said, frowning. This was the first time we’d heard a gun being fired in here. “We’d better check this out. With as loud as it is, it can’t be far.”

  Guns were shockingly loud, and triply so indoors. The sound could carry for miles outside, but in here, I doubted we were very far from the source.

  The gun’s continued firing had all the zombies going the same way we were, which made it easy to sprint up the next escalator. That was handy because this was an extra-long one that must have ascended more than three floors.

  We turned a corner to find a horde of zombies stuck behind a turnstile that refused to let them through.

  Grabbing Aerion, I vaulted over them all and kept running, using my ears to guide me.

  They eventually took us to another stairwell, but when I got to the top, I stopped in my tracks, only a few inches from ramming into the backs of a wall of zombies.

  That was the only way to describe it. Instead of an open hallway, we were faced with a packed, writhing mass of undead men and women who’d undoubtedly once been Tokyo residents. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder with absolutely no space between them. Not even a malnourished kid could squeeze through.

  They didn’t even bother to turn, their attention entirely focused on the successive bangs that nearly split our ears. I was tempted to change into my Vigor armor, but stuck with Grace in case we needed to make a quick getaway.

  “We need to break through,” I said, glancing at Aerion.

  I prepped [Remote Launch] and got ready to fire a Siege Bolt core.

  I didn’t really care where, so long as it was far enough from us. The shooter was likely another skeleton brigade or some remnant of their forces… but then I paused.

  Something didn’t sound right about that.

  I froze just seconds before activating the ability.

  “What is it?” Aerion asked.

  “That rifle fire,” I said with a frown. “Doesn’t it strike you as a bit too controlled?”

  The skeletons we’d encountered were pretty trigger-happy, firing on full auto without any regard to conserving their ammo. Even their commanders had been no different. “If these guys really are skeletons, how the hell did they make it this far down? Even if we’re close to the surface, there’s no way they’d survive this many zombies, right?”

  Aerion nodded. “It does seem odd. But still…”

  “I know.”

  The fact that we were hearing gunfire and not the sound of someone getting torn apart meant they were holding their ground.

  “Whoever they are, they’re strong,” I said, descending back down the stairs and summoning up my Vigor suit. “Stronger than any skeleton we’ve seen.”

  Something definitely didn’t add up, and I was already changing into my Vigor suit before I’d finished speaking.

  Rather risky considering how close our enemies were, but I couldn’t risk approaching this any other way.

  Once I had changed, we returned up the stairs, and this time, I shortened the remote detonation range before firing the Siege Bolt. Just in case.

  The explosion ripped through the horde like a popped balloon, and all that was left were bits of gore and limbs. Not much blood, thankfully, on account of them being shriveled husks.

  Aerion and I charged in, cutting down the stragglers that managed to stay standing, as my flying blades spun rapidly around the room, decapitating zombies like a buzzsaw.

  When the last body hit the floor, we finally saw what lay beyond.

  A food court.

  And in the middle of it, standing his ground, was a man. Not an army, or even a squad.

  Just one guy sporting long black dreads, decked in full tactical Kevlar body armor, advanced night vision goggles that probably had IR and thermal imaging, and wielding an automatic rifle with such calm, practiced precision that I immediately guessed this guy was special forces.

  Not to mention the arsenal of grenades and rifle magazines he carried.

  He stopped firing to look our way and grin.

  “Aerion. And Greg, right? You’re right on time.”