Will of Vienna

The new wave did not just hit the line; it threatened to bury it. Heavy, boar-like variants crashed straight into the heavy rows of wooden university desks that the students used for cover. The massive wood groaned under the raw force of the battering rams, while agile, panther-like predators leaped over the benches from the broken walls, trying to shred the formation from above. The Audimax itself was already a ruin. Torn seats and shredded lecture notes littered the floor, soaked black with old blood, and the projector screen hung in strips from the ceiling where something had clawed through it hours ago.

Michael stood at the absolute center of the storm. His perception was running nonstop, turning the chaotic noise of the Audimax into something cold and slow, every threat laid bare in his mind.

He moved together with his squad for the first thirty seconds. When a panther-variant lunged over a lecture bench at Rashid’s flank, Michael’s spear was already there, driving straight through the beast’s shoulder to throw off its leap. A moment later, he pivoted, using the momentum to sweep the legs out from under a charging boar that was pressing too hard against Maximilian’s position behind the shattered rows.

Every step was calculated, every thrust as efficient as he could achieve for now. With every strike and with every kill he was getting stronger, not only through EXP but also from gaining battle awareness. Others fought for survival but he fought to grow. He combined his high perception with his moves and forced his body to keep up with his mental speed and react as fast as possible. Or at least, he tried to.

But the sheer number of monsters began to overwhelm the stage.

A sudden, massive surge of three overlapping boar-variants forced the left flank to bend, splintering the heavy wooden desks into kindling. To prevent them from breaking the line of spears, Michael stepped deep into the gap. He drove his iron-tipped spear into the eye socket of the lead beast. The tip punched through bone and out the back of its skull, hot, dark blood spraying across his forearms as the animal’s legs buckled beneath it. But the sheer weight of the dying monster’s forward momentum pushed him back. Before he could reset his stance, two panther-variants cut lines through the rising dust, separating him from Rashid and the others.

In the blinding rush of the battle, Michael didn’t fall back. He pressed on, deeper towards the stage and the portal.

Suddenly, the cold, perfect overview of his perception felt heavy. The distance between him and his allies grew too wide for him to track their positions. He was on his own, buried in a sea of claws and teeth.

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A panther-variant blurred from his blind spot. Michael twisted his torso, but the narrow gap between the rows of seats limited his movement. A set of razor-sharp claws ripped across his left shoulder, tearing through his jacket and slicing deep into his flesh, opening three parallel gashes down to the muscle. Warm blood instantly soaked his sleeve, running hot down his arm and dripping from his fingers.

“Arghhh, fuck!” Michael roared, the sudden, burning agony shattering his usual calm and forcing a raw, unfiltered curse from his throat.

Instead of retreating from the pain, he let the adrenaline push him forward. As the panther landed beside him, he slammed his elbow violently backward into the side of its sensitive snout, stunning the creature and forcing its jaw wide open. Taking advantage of its momentary disorientation, he spun on his heels, driving his spear downward through the creature’s neck and pinning it to the floor. Its legs kicked twice against the concrete before it went still, blood pooling black beneath its throat.

He didn’t even have time to breathe before the heavy thud of a boar-variant echoed right behind him. The massive beast charged towards the narrow aisle between the rows at full speed, the floor shaking under its weight. With no room to step aside, Michael waited until the very last second. He planted the blunt end of his spear firmly against a cracked support pillar at the end of the row, angling the iron tip straight at the oncoming monster’s chest.

The boar ran straight into the improvised spike. The impact was deafening, bone cracking as the point drove through its ribs and out the other side in a spray of blood and shredded muscle. The spear held, but the violent vibration traveled up the shaft, bruising Michael’s palms and tearing open the skin between his thumb and forefinger. The beast’s massive jaw snapped inches from his face, spraying hot, foul breath and black blood over his eyes.

Blinded for a split second, Michael relied entirely on raw instinct. He abandoned the trapped spear, dropping low as another predator leaped over the dying boar toward him. He rolled hard to the right across the blood-slicked floor, feeling the wind of sharp claws grazing his neck.

Without a weapon in his hands, he had to use the environment. As he popped up on one knee, his hand gripped a heavy, jagged piece of shattered concrete from the broken pillar. The panther-variant lunged straight for his throat. Michael didn’t dodge. He drove his body forward under the beast’s extended paws, slamming the sharp edge of the concrete block with all his weight directly into the monster’s exposed eye socket, forcing it deep into the skull as they crashed to the floor.

He stood up, breathing heavily, his left shoulder bleeding freely and his hands slick with a mix of his own blood and the monsters’ filth. Three corpses lay around him among the shattered seats: the first panther, pinned through the neck by his own spear; the boar, folded around the broken pillar with its chest caved in; and the second panther, its skull crushed by the concrete block still lodged in the wound. He looked back down toward the stage. The sounds of his squad fighting reached him only as distant echoes, swallowed by the empty rows between him and the stage.

He was alone now, deep in the Audimax, with no one to help him. What made it even worse was that he had no idea how many more were still coming.

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