The first things through were the Hounds.

They came like water bursting through a broken dam, their pale and hairless bodies spilling into the bridge entrance at once. Their jaws snapped open and shut as they flooded Deon and Hana in a single wave.

Hana gasped from behind him.

Deon expected his body to freeze. But surprisingly, he felt even better than before. The world felt like it was...slowed down somehow.

Their movements, which used to be nothing but pale blurs within the supermarket, now suddenly had shape. He could see the bend of their shoulders as they jumped, the twitch of their jaws before they snapped.

"Is this what Levi meant...?"

The first Hound launched itself at his throat, but Deon simply moved aside. It went right past him by a hand’s width just as he turned and thrust his katana into its body.

[You have defeated a Ruined Hound.]

[+3 Points Awarded.]

It made a small whimper noise as he pulled the blade back out, already turning onto the next.

Another came from his left. Deon lowered his shoulder, letting it sail over him before slicing its head clean from the body. A third tried to bite his leg, only for him to drive his blade into its skull before its jaws could fully close.

[+3 Points Awarded.]

[+3 Points Awarded.]

The panels appeared one after another, but Deon barely had time to read them.

The Hounds kept coming. And yet, for the first time since he had arrived in this ruined city, they didn’t feel like predators anymore. They felt more like...a badly animated enemy with obvious windups.

Deon stepped directly into the wave, letting another crash past his back while his blade carved through the other’s neck. The survivor tried to turn around, but by then his blade had already pierced its skull.

Behind him, Hana stared, both cards clutched tight in her hands. "Deon..."

"Don’t get distracted!" he shouted.

"R-Right!"

She snapped back to herself just as a Hound slipped around the side of a fallen car, using the others as cover. Deon saw it, but he couldn’t get there in time as another launched at him.

"Hana! Look out!"

But before he could do anything, she had already pulled out the Card. It shone a bright green, a small particle coming out of it and wrapping around her body.

[Physical Boost (Minor)]

She threw herself sideways just as the Hound’s jaws snapped through the place where her arm had been a moment earlier.

Deon ripped his blade free and managed a glance back. "Good dodge!"

He raised the gray card between two fingers.

[Trip]

The creature’s front leg slipped out from under it. It wasn’t like the surface underneath turned slippery or anything.

It was more like...a small invisible hand had grabbed its leg and pulled on it at that exact moment.

Hana looked around, managing to find a rusted piece of scrap metal before plunging it into the Hound’s head.

"Nice!" Deon shoved another Hound away before cutting through its neck. "Keep it up!"

The first wave thinned as the bodies around him dissolved into ash, gray flakes scattering across the bridge in the wind. Deon breathed out slowly, but he wasn’t gasping and his arms weren’t shaking.

Levi was right, huh? Wouldn’t these Levels and Cards put us in the realm of superhumans?

Deon glanced toward the ash drifting around his feet, then toward the monsters still gathering beyond the bridge.

Hmm...if so, I can kind of see how it’d be interesting to watch. Minus all the dying part, obviously.

But before Deon could dwell on that thought any longer, something else managed to catch his attention.

The group of Infantry finally arrived. Compared to the Hounds, their movements were much slower. He could see their heavy, but telegraphed wind-up as it tried to slash at him with its massive claw.

Deon ducked beneath the attack, feeling the pressure pass over his head. He stepped in at once, katana angled forward as his eyes locked onto its split-open head, red core pulsing inside.

Deon twisted his grip and thrust straight into it. The katana pierced through flesh, bone, and core all at once.

[You have defeated a Ruined Infantry.]

[+10 Points Awarded.]

"Nice—"

But the word barely managed to come out before the dying Infantry’s arm moved with a final attack.

Deon’s eyes widened, trying to pull back. He barely managed to dodge it, but not fast enough as a sharp pain burned across his cheek. The monster’s claw grazed his face as blood immediately ran down his jaw.

"Deon!" Hana cried from behind him.

The Infantry collapsed completely a moment later, its huge body crumbling into ash before it even hit the ground.

Deon stumbled back half a step, pressing his fingers against his cheek. When he pulled them away, they were red.

"...Tch, I got careless."

Just because he could see them now didn’t mean they couldn’t kill him. Just because the system had handed him Levels didn’t mean his head wouldn’t come off just as easily.

Hana rushed closer, raising the green card immediately. "Basic Heal!"

Soft green light wrapped around his face. The sting faded quickly and blood slowed as the shallow wound sealed itself under her magic.

But they couldn’t take another breather, as more Infantry were pushing forward, forcing the remaining Hounds aside as they crowded the bridge entrance.

Tch...there’re too many. I need to isolate them somehow...or get them all together.

His eyes scanned the bridge entrance, landing on a rusted sedan half-tilted over a raised slab of concrete. Its front tires had melted into the pavement, but the back half was lifted just enough that it looked unstable.

Normally, it’d be too heavy to move, but Deon knew exactly what to do with it.

He glanced at the gray card between his fingers.

At first, he thought the card just made someone fall. But the way he saw the Hound’s leg get pulled told him everything he needed to know.

It didn’t make things trip, but was instead applied a small push or pull at the weak point where balance mattered most.

And if his thoughts were correct...It wasn’t limited to just living things.

The next Infantry charged, each stomp shaking the bridge just slightly. One Hound rushed ahead of it, jaws open but Deon cut it down without looking away from the car.

Hana noticed his gaze. "Deon?"

"Stay behind me."

"That’s never reassuring!"

Twenty steps...

Fifteen.

Ten.

Deon waited until the entire wave had committed to the charge, until they were packed together with no room to stop. Then he raised the card.

"Trip."

The sedan succumbed to gravity, losing the tiny bit of balance that had been keeping it in place. At first, it only moved a few inches...but it kept moving until momentum took over and it became an avalanche of steel.

It caught onto one of the nearby metal support beams, causing the entire car to spin out of control. The first Infantry was prepared to hold it off, planting its feet firmly on the road. But Deon wasn’t going to let that slide so easily.

[Trip]

Instantly, its legs gave out. Then—

CRASH!

The entire sedan slammed into the group of Infantries, pushing the whole front line off the concrete road, past the broken metal railings of the bridge—

And into the waiting waters below.