"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Oliver's heart raced as he stared at the two Orks advang down the rubble-strewn street. He had seen the mangled remains of their kind before, but wo of them alive and so close. Survivors of suters were rare, and he wasn't keen oing those odds.

  Sirens wailed throughout the city, signaling a partial evacuation. Panicked voices filled the air as civilians scrambled for shelter. Reinforts were at least tens of minutes away—a lifetime uhese circumstances. Oliver knew just enough about this brutal new world to grasp what two Orks could unleash upoy in the meantime.

  "They've never made it past the barrier alive. It has to be my luck," he muttered bitterly, cursing whatever fate had pced him here.

  The two soldiers beside him exged nervous gnces but moved with determined urgency. One dashed into the truck, rummaging through a partment before emerging with two steel badges.

  "Hold on, it's better to be prepared; they don't look like the ordinary ones," the sed soldier said, tossing one of the badges to his rade.

  "Activate Ranger!" Both soldiers shouted.

  A metallic liquid erupted from the badges, slithering over their bodies like living mercury. It expanded and tracted, molding itself into suits of sleek armor within seds.

  Oliver had seen Rangers before—heroes pstered across holographic ads throughout the city—but witnessing the transformation firsthand was something else entirely. Despite his fear, his eyes lit up with a childlike wonder, a flicker of excitement pierg through the dread.

  The reality, however, was less gmorous than the videos. The armor cked the vibrant colors and emblems he'd imagined, appearing more utilitarian aallic. Yet it was undeniably impressive.

  Armed and armored, the soldiers tried to project fidence, but Oliver noticed the subtle tremor in one soldier's leg and the twit the other's hands.

  ‘They don't seem that fident,’ Oliver thought, unease knotting his stomach.

  "When they get within 100 meters, I want you to fire everything you've got at them. Don't let them get too close. Orks be extremely fast," the sed soldier instructed tersely. The first soldier nodded, his jaw ched.

  Realizing that lingering oreet made him an easy target, Oliver retreated into the truck, pressing himself against the interior wall. He watched the se unfold through a narro, his breath shallow and rapid.

  Time seemed to slow as adrenaline flooded his system. Every detail sharpehe heat radiating from the asphalt, the distant hum of evacuating vehicles, the metallic st of fear in the air.

  Just over a hundred meters away, the Orks advanced methodically. mismatched armor painted ihy browns and stark whites, adorned with jagged bones and rusted steel spikes, they exuded a savage ferocity. It was a brutal trast to the advaeology that had brought them here.

  "Fire! Fire it all!" The sed soldier anded.

  Light sparks came out of both soldiers' hands and quickly began to create a shape. After the blink of awo pistols had appeared. Without wasting time, they promptly started firing energy beams. Each shot seemed to slow the Orks down but wasn’t enough to cause damage.

  "Don't stop shooting!" the sed soldier shouted, his voice tinged with desperation.

  Suddenly, one of the Orks lunged forward with astonishing speed. Before the first soldier could react, a massive fist collided with his midse. The impact lifted him off his feet, sending him hurtling backward. He crashed through the truck's rear door, the metal crumpling like foil as he nded among the recruits inside. Oliver was thrown against the truck's side, pain jolting through his shoulder.

  The sed soldier didn’t o look to know the result. Things seemed too grim for him. But there was no way to run with two Orks so close. His best option was to create some space between them and keep shooting. He didn’t waste time, fog on the Ork before him and resuming to fire as he backed away.

  "Jiak'll ek naj-ri. Koga katu," the rowled in guttural tones, its meaning lost but the menace clear. Without hesitation, it charged.

  Ihe truck, chaned. Oliver winced as he looked at the unscious soldier, his armor dissipating into i fragments. One of the recruits—a boy bound and gagged—stared at him with wide, pleading eyes. The girl who had been sleeping before the Orks nded was now fully awake, her face pale with fusion and fear.

  They had no time to process, no time to pn. The Ork's heavy footsteps reverberated through the vehicle, eae closer tha.

  “k”

  A sharp metallic sound drew Oliver's attention. There, on the floor amidst the debris, y the fallen badge—the key to the Ranger armor.

  His hands trembled as he realized this might be their only ce. Hesitation battled with terror. He'd never wielded such power, never been trained. But the alternative was certaih.

  With a surge of resolve, he lunged forward, snatg the badge from the floor. Pressing it tightly, he willed it to respond.

  A voice echoed in his mind

  [Artificial Ranger - Prototype 1833][First use, registering new user][User: Oliver][Processing …][User registered][Would you like to activate the Artifical Armor?]

  Words materialized at the edge of his vision. Oliver had never experienced such immersive teology—he had only glimpsed it in passing advertisements, a luxury far beyond his means.

  ‘Yes, activate… quickly.’ Oliver thought urgently.

  Gng up, he saw the Ork's massive silhouette at the truck's entras gray-skinned arm gripped the rear door, muscles rippling grotesquely.

  With a wreng tear, the door was ripped away, the truck lurg from the force.

  [Armor activated] [Training mode activated][Stats loading …][Boons loading …][Glitch loading …][Skills loading …]

  [No means of defense found.] [Would you like to activate yer on?][Yes / No]

  The prompts fshed rapidly as adrenaline surged through him.

  ‘Yes! Fast! Please!’ Oliver's thoughts raced.

  Strands of gray energy spiraled outward from his hands, weaving themselves into a tangible form. In moments, a on materialized—a pistol akin to those the soldiers had wielded but with a more intense glow pulsing from its energy chamber.

  [Ranger on loaded]

  Oliver marveled at the weight in his hands, the reality of it cutting through the surreal haze. Doubt flickered. He'd never fired a gun before, let alone faced an Ork. The boy questioned whether this had been his best idea. He had never used a gun in his life, and now he would have to proteot only his own life but possibly others as well.

  ‘It ’t be that hard. I just o squeeze the trigger, right?’ The boy reassured himself.

  A flood of information streamed into his sciousness as he focused on the on. Oliver didn’t uand what had happened, but he suddenly remembered perfectly how to use it and ks characteristics, as if he had studied the on ih for days.

  | Ranger on (Css: Pawn) | Description: The Ranger os user's energy to charge it. | Mode of use: Aim and shoot.

  Instinctively, Oliver raised the pistol and squeezed the trigger—a sphere of electrifying blue energy formed at the barrel before ng out toward the Ork.

  In the fined space, there was no room for error. The bst struck the creature square in the chest, causing it to stagger for a moment. Surprise fshed in its eyes—a brief widening that hi uimating its oppo.

  The Ork even raised peared to be one of his eyebrows in a questioning look.

  Seizing the moment, Oliver fired again and again. Each shot drained him, a palpable fatigue weighing down his limbs. His arms trembled uhe strain, but he refused to relent.

  "Lat're vadokan!" the Ork bellowed, its frustration evident even if the words were unknown.

  "Stupid Ork! No one here uands you!" Oliver shouted back, a mix of fear and defiance fueling his words.

  But the Ork was relentless. It pressed forward, abs the hits with a grim determination. Within moments, it on him. The creature struck Oliver's face with the back of his hand, sending him crashing against the side of the truck.

  Seeing the boy on the ground, the monster seized his legs and dragged him out of the truck. Oliver tried to hold on and g to the vehicle, but the Ork's strength was far superior to his, and he was quickly pulled out.

  As soon as the Ork took his first step outside, he swiftly swung his arm, throwing Oliver against the ground.

  The impact drove the air from his lungs, the asphalt crag beh him. Agony seared through every nerve. Gasping, eyes blurred with tears, he struggled to move. His on y out of reach, scattered in the fall.

  But deep within, a spark refused to extinguish. His will to survive fred, pushing back against the approag darkness.

  But it wasn’t over yet…