Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse

Chapter 94 - 94: Explosive Escape / System's Synchronisation.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!*

Fiery flames instantaneously burst towards them with intense force. The surrounding walls collapsed, as the horned one exploded.

The young girl barely knew what hit her, she didn't have any time at all to react. Instead, she took a step back and reflexively closed her eyes upon doing so.

The face of her mother flashed through her mind as her tear evaporated.

But just as that happened, she suddenly felt herself move. Rather, she was moving at high speeds.

It wasn't her doing the moving, it felt strangely similar to being carried.

Opening her eyes, they dilated as she looked around.

She could see nothing but dark flames around them. Rather than burning them it seemed to be protecting them.

Delta's arms were wrapped around here, holding them as they travelled at fast speeds. Delta held on tightly as the flames propelled her forward.

They were being emitted out of her feet like jets. Upon a closer inspection, she noticed that they were quite literally flying.

Around them, she could slightly see other flames.

They were intense and glowed a bright orange.

They were most likely the flames from the explosion and had already passed them.

Delta's flames which were consuming the intense bright orange flames were what was stopping them from being scorched alive.

Despite that the entire infrastructure was collapsing. Pieces of debris was falling down ahead of them as the cracks progressed at a faster rate.

A large piece of rock from the celling suddenly collapsed ahead of their path.

Delta avoided it by stretching her leg out to the left, propelling her to the sides in the process.

*Swoosh*

Her eyes widened, as another large piece appeared before them.

Delta stretched her leg out to the other side, avoiding it by a hairsbreadth.

After dodging it, all that laid ahead of them was a staircase which they were supposed to ascend.

They were nearly there.

But it was then that it happened.

Everything collapsed.

Countless chunks of stone from the ceiling began to collapse ahead of them.

"Hold on tight." Said Delta with a nervous smile.

The young girl closed her eyes and squeezed her tightly.

The dark flames which were propelling Delta, grew more intense and condensed. Their velocity suddenly leaped by bounds as it burst out.

[Dark Flame… Jet Cannon!]

Their figure almost seemed to vanish as they leaped in velocity.

*CRASH!* *CRASH!*

Gray sat quietly in the darkness.

For the last few hours, he hadn't said a word or moved a muscle.

He just sat there, thinking.

[…]

The system's orb on the other hand, seemed to be busy with something.

It wasn't moving either, but the sequence of numbers around it would constantly change as it levitated in the air.

Gray could feel that it was up to something.

"…What are you doing…?" Gray asked.

The orb suddenly turned to him, and replied again it's feminine robotic voice.

[Analysing…]

"With what…?" Gray asked.

[The Chronicles of The Chronos]

[By analysing, information over it will be updated.]

Growing tired of his position, Gray stooped to his back before letting out a sigh.

"There's nothing to analyse. It's blank." He said.

[Not entirely.]

[The book has a defence mechanism where only those who meets the requirement are able to get past.]

[A normal person would not be able to read the book, making it worthless to them. However for the User this holds great value]

'Explains why it was stored in the Labyrinth's Library… Or maybe it was there because it was a treasure?'

[Theoretically, this is indeed a great treasure.]

[It contains information on a lost race.]

[After it's synchronised, the user will have access to all types of information. Many mysterious and questions the User may have regarding the race may be solved.]

[And… Perhaps… The user may acquire an unexpected breakthrough in strength.]

Gray walked towards the orb before asking.

"How far have you gotten?"

[The synchronisation process is at 49%]

"Just 49? How long have we been in here for?"

[2 Hours 21 Minutes and 49… 50 seconds.]

"Why is it taking so long?"

[For the synchronisation to be completed, the book must be deciphered.]

[At my current level, this is as fast as I can decipher it, but as the User grows stronger, the speed will increase.]

It was slow but Gray didn't mind. He'd rather not have to read through a book as thick as that one during the apocalypse in search of information in potentially a language which he wouldn't understand.

Thinking about that made him wonder just how was it that the horned ones could communicate so clearly with them.

And naturally the system replied.

[I am unsure of this, however I theorize that the horned ones have an innate talent which allows them to talk with other races.]

[Humanity was quite fortunate that it was the horned ones that invaded first. They can communicate and resemble them at least.]

Gray raised his brow.

"Invaded first? Are you telling me there are other races from other worlds that can invade us?"

[That is correct, they've most likely not noticed it by now, but I suspect once they do, things will get out of hand.]

Gray placed his palm on his face as he hung his head. It was starting to become a habit.

"So what are our odds of survival? The world was thrown into chaos with the virus and the war with the horned ones. What'll happen if another race comes?"

[It will become a fight between the three races. Destruction will follow. Humanity will possibly go extinct… I theorise.]

Gray clenched his hand which was curled up into a fist.

He grit his teeth before asking.

"Is there anything we… No… I can do…?" Gray asked.

[…]

For a moment there was silence.

[Answer Formulated]

[Train, grow stronger. Strong enough to protect those dear to you, as the User has mentioned.]

"If that's the case, shouldn't I be training right now?! Instead, I'm stuck here wasting time… Doing fuck knows what…!"

[Does the User desire to train?]

Gray tilted his head to the right in confusion. "Obviously?".

[Confirmed.]