Even though I was running up the steps, and carrying an unconscious girl in my arms, I could really run at full speed. So very quickly made it to the exit as I was met by an invisible wall.

 

“Fucking fuck!”

 

Practically smashing my forehead, I had sparks from my eyes, from such a strong and sudden blow, I swore loudly.

 

I cursed, and if I hadn't regained my balance, Chris and I would have tumbled backwards, all the way to the station, right into the tentacles of the monsters.

 

That thought made me feel cold inside....

 

But even now, the prospects were not very bright, because the exit from the escalator closed something like Chris's barrier, but completely transparent.

 

To the touch it was a strictly vertical, invisible wall that stood a couple of meters away from the edge of the escalator, blocking any possibility of escape.

 

‘I've backed myself into a corner’ - came the sad thought.

 

Meanwhile, the goddamn jellyfish had probably already overrun the entire station.

 

‘But why the fuck is there a barrier, is this place impossible to leave?’

 

"Arena" came a belated guess....

 

‘That's right, so there's no choice but to kill them all?’

 

So I once again had to think hard, going over my meager options:

 

First of all, I have to take into account that these things even knocked out the girl with enhanced defense, so I, who was only enhanced for attacking, would probably just be chopped to a salad.

 

Therefore, my only strategy is to keep the creatures away for as long as possible with ranged combat. But the problem is that sooner or later they will come at point-blank range, and in close combat I can't deal with more than a couple of monsters at a time.

 

Is there any way to improve the "air gun" move?

 

It's a must, or I won't be able to do it for long, but what can I do with it?

 

I delved into my memories, hoping to find the answer there, back in the days when I was still into the sciences:

 

My only trick is manipulating air, which is essentially a mixture of gases, mostly nitrogen and oxygen.

 

And there's a lot more nitrogen in the atmosphere.

 

‘Eh, if I could cool it down and make it liquid... wait, can't I?’

 

I quickly tried assembling an air bomb, only this time imagining that I was assembling nitrogen exclusively, and tried to mentally cool it, but it didn't work.

 

“It's just not going to work, is it? Okay, let's try something else”

 

Using the already created bomb as a base, I tried to build a shell of compacted air around it, and then quickly released all the compressed volume.

 

Immediately, a stream of cold air hit my face.

 

“Haha, who said science wasn't magic?”

 

Excitement began to brew within me, once again. I might have even gotten carried away if I hadn't already heard the slapping and rustling of hundreds of tentacles.

 

“This is certainly very interesting, but I should hurry”

 

Putting aside all unnecessary thoughts, I scattered the old bomb and began to assemble a new one, bigger, much bigger!

 

While continuing to squeeze it harder and harder. At the same time cooling, slowly condensing and rapidly expanding the surrounding air as I had done earlier.

 

And so, time after time, until the oxygen content in the air noticeably increased and the temperature around it dropped to negative.

 

Since the monsters were coming, I concentrated as much as possible and acted as fast as I could.

 

It even made me dizzy, as it seemed to take quite a lot of energy to do such a technique.

 

I was also terribly cold, I couldn't feel my hands at all, even my fingers had turned white. My surroundings were covered with frost, and my breath was turning into vapor.

 

But instead, a meter away from my stiffened hands, right in front of me in the air hung a light blue ball, about half a meter in diameter, and inside slightly glowing, shimmering shades of blue and white, smetnosnosny liquid.

 

"He-he, g-got it-t” — I bared my teeth like I was typing morse code.

 

Tiredly looking down the stairs, I saw the monster jellyfish were almost up and were only halfway to us. Which means it's time to use my "ice bomb".

 

Without waiting for any signal, I launched it at the creatures, and I slowly settled down on the escalator steps from exhaustion.

 

Everything further happened as if in slow motion:

 

The bomb flew downward without hurry. The jellyfish, also unhurriedly, was rising.

 

The two unstoppable forces met, and the bomb burst, barely touching the body of the jellyfish in front of us, covering the surrounding space with a white, rapidly expanding frost cloud, which quickly filled the entire lower floor and began to rise to Chris and me.

 

But I had seen it coming, so by then I was already sitting in the arms of the unconscious girl, so as not to freeze myself, and not to let her freeze.

 

Before the cloud covered us, both smartphones beeped at the same time.

 

‘Has the mission been accomplished?’  - I thought, and then I passed out, finally exhausted from the cold and mental fatigue.

 

After an indeterminate amount of time, consciousness began to return to me little by little, but at first there were no thoughts or sensations.

 

Gradually, however, the sensations returned, and with them came the realization that I was lying in a very uncomfortable position, on something hard and angular, but clutching something warm and soft, and I was also terribly cold.

 

And although I'm not comfortable, I can't even open my eyes, let alone move.

 

A couple of minutes later I hear some sounds, no, more like voices, but muffled, as if my ears were stuffed with absorbent cotton.

 

Not immediately, but I begin to discern the meaning of the words:

 

“Do you know what happened at the station?” -  Someone asked.

 

“I'm not sure, but they say something exploded there," someone else answered.

 

“It wasn't an explosion! It just got very cold all of a sudden," said a third person.

 

“I was there myself, everything was covered with frost in a second!”

 

“There was an explosion too! Even before the cold! There was even a wind," another voice challenged the speaker.

 

“Okay, then why are these lying here?” - That was the first voice.

 

“Maybe we should call an ambulance, they don't look well...”

 

“They appeared here when everyone had already left the subway,” - the third voice again.

 

“They were probably the last ones to leave, so they got hypothermic. And the ambulance has already been called, here it is, by the way!”

 

I listened to these voices, but I could hardly understand what they were talking about. They sounded like they were talking about me, but what exactly happened?

 

I strained my memory a little, and the events that flashed through my mind gave me a cold sweat....

 

Monsters?!

 

Magic?!

 

My transformation?!

 

I was suddenly so scared that I almost lost my temper, but then I remembered Chris.

 

‘Shit, is she even okay?!’

 

After quite an effort, I finally cracked my eyes open and examined the girl that I had been hugging tightly until now.

 

She looked pretty much the same as she had in the arena, only now she was wearing glasses and rather ordinary girl's clothes. Though it was impossible to get a proper look at her in this position. But Chris was breathing, which meant she was okay.

 

After I was sure that she was all right, I calmed down a bit and finally realized that all my clothes were literally wet through and through, which made it impossible to warm up, and I had been shivering for some time..

 

“Oh, the guy's awake!” - exclaimed one of those who had recently spoken, "Where's the doctor?

 

About a minute later, a man in white ran up to us, still lying on the steps of the inoperative escalator.

 

After snapping his fingers in front of my face to make me focus on him, the doctor began asking questions:

 

“How are you feeling? Does it hurt anywhere?” - he spoke in a surprisingly soft tone, despite his rather rough voice.

 

“...o,” - it turned out that my mouth was very dry, and my tongue seemed to be dried up like a mummy, so I could only wheeze:

 

“..I'm..all-ight”

 

“Hmm, can you move your arms? I need to examine the girl”

 

That's right, I'm holding her like she's my most precious possession, but since we're no longer in danger, we can get out of "protection mode".

 

Unclasping my hands, which took an unexpected amount of effort, I released Chris.

 

“Relative?” - The doctor asked.

 

I nodded faster than I realized, but that way there would be fewer questions anyway.

 

I decided to ask the doctor for water, because the dryness in my throat had become unbearable.

 

“..ink,” - I wheezed awkwardly and gestured as if I were drinking.

 

“Got it. Somebody, give some water!” - A bottle of mineral water was immediately handed out from the crowd.

 

Before I could begin to quench my thirst, the doctor advised me to drink in small sips and not too much, which I prudently followed. In the meantime he was examining the girl, and I was able to get a better look at her:

 

Age, as I had guessed, was in the neighborhood of fourteen. Big steel-rimmed glasses, freckles around her nose, and slightly lighter brown hair than she had in the arena.

 

Her face was pretty much the same as when she looked like a game-avatar's, so I couldn't understand what she was so surprised about then. The girl was dressed in a simple, long dress of blue and a gray blouse with buttons on top, but unbuttoned. On her feet were high sandals made of many thin straps.

 

When the doctor was done with Chris, it was my turn.

 

But in the end, a preliminary examination showed that we were generally fine. But just in case, the man offered to come to the crew for a more detailed check, and at the same time to bring the girl to her senses.

 

Like water at the sight of a prophet, the crowd parted, and we walked freely to the ambulance, but the doctor was carrying Chris, for I could hardly stand on my own feet.

 

Already on the threshold of the ambulance, when the doctor gave her some ammonia, the girl wrinkled amusedly, and then reluctantly opened her eyes.

 

At first, her gaze was cloudy, but after a couple of seconds it became conscious, and Chris began to look around quickly. Then she looked at me and the doctor in surprise, and began to pepper us with questions:

 

“W-Where am I!?” - she looked around once more. “Where's Vasya? Where are the jellyfish? What happened?”

 

Chris was getting more and more worried and I had to ask the doctor to step back so I could calm her down, he agreed, he said his brother would do a better job.

 

"And what's with the jellyfish?" - he muttered to himself, leaving us alone.

 

When the doctor was far enough away, I turned to the girl.

 

“Calm down, everything is all right, and with Vasya too,” - I said as convincingly as possible.

 

“Y-you know Vasya? What about mon…” - she faltered, apparently finally realizing that monsters are not the best thing to talk about with just anyone.

 

“I'm telling you, everything's fine, and don't worry about the monsters, they're not there anymore”

 

“Where did you" - Christine looked at me, mouth open in surprise, and wanted to add something, but I stopped her with a gesture.

 

“You see, I am Vasya”

 

“Huh?” - The girl's glasses moved to one side.

 

“Here, it will be easier,” - I handed her my phone, on which the game was still running. “Look, here's my character”

 

On the screen, in all its glory, stood my avatar, and her luxurious long hair fluttered in the virtual wind.

 

 “But how?” - was perplexed by the interlocutor.

 

“I wish I knew, but you also changed your appearance, right?” - I started to explain.

 

“Yes, but ... “- and then I had to interrupt her, because the doctor was already returning.

 

“Look, I'm your brother, okay?” - I said with the most serious face I could muster. “Otherwise a lot of questions will arise, just agree and don't say anything else”

 

The doctor came up and asked how she was feeling. Chris looked at me, and I nodded, saying she was fine, so she answered:

 

“Uh-huh, I'm fine...”

 

After that, there was another, a little more thorough examination. which showed that I had a slight frostbite on my fingers.

 

‘I can see why I couldn't feel them’

 

 And the girl had a long bruise across her stomach.

 

Of course, a mark like that on a teenager's body would have raised questions, but preempting them I said, "She probably bumped herself in the commotion," which Chris confirmed as she continued to play her part:

 

“As we were getting out of the station, I fell...”

 

In the end, in the panic and with poor visibility, we got off easy.

 

The doctor figured it out himself, having found our arguments convincing enough, and didn't bother any more, only treated our wounds.

 

In the end, we were sitting in the ambulance warming ourselves under woolen plaids, when a thought came to me:

 

‘Did people call the ambulance but not the police?’

 

As if in answer to my thoughts, the siren of a patrol car sounded in the distance.

 

Holy shit! I had introduced myself as a brother, and if the EMT didn't ask, the cops would certainly ask for ID.

 

‘So what do we do?’

 

I looked around, the doctor had gone somewhere else, maybe to the other 'victims', someone could have gotten sick too, I guess.

 

"But if we run away, won't they look for us?"

 

I hope not, anyway, nobody got hurt, did they? Apart from the two of us, of course. Okay, it's decided, we have to leave, I never liked dealing with the police...

 

“Chris, let's get out of here while they're not paying attention to us, you don't want to deal with the police either, do you?” - I'm tempting her to the dark side, but there's no sense in running away alone.

 

After a second's hesitation, she agreed, saying:

 

“Well, I don't think I can explain anything to them,” - unexpectedly judicious on the part of the teenager, and I had already decided that the girl is completely uninitiated.

 

Quietly, while not a single person looked in our direction, we hid in the nearest alley, and only two cooling plaids were left lying in the ambulance...

 

For several blocks I led her holding her hand with my own, bandaged palm.

 

When we finally stopped, we were in a small park. Trees and benches, and it was almost deserted, with only a jogger in the distance.

 

We were a little tired, so we sat down on the nearest bench to catch our breath.

 

It was just the beginning of the day, but the sun was already gently warming us, it wasn't summer yet, but it was quite warm.

 

I was all pensive, and the girl was frowning her eyebrows from her heavy thoughts.

 

‘Heh’ - I chuckled to myself at the thought.

 

It was probably a good time to talk about our situation, so I tried to start a conversation, though it came out a little awkward.

 

“Phew, ahem...” - I exhaled deeply, “um, do you want to talk about everything that happened?”

 

Chris nodded.

 

“But first, let me introduce myself again, Vanya," - I said, grinning crookedly, and held out my hand for a handshake, "You can call me that”

 

“Christina, though you already know...” - she had a somewhat sad expression on her face, but shaking my hand in return, the girl seemed to cheer up a little.

 

“It's all so weird, I'm so confused”

 

“It's okay, I don't understand anything either," - I said, and at the same time waved my hands.

 

After pausing for a moment to think, I continued with my thoughts.

 

“I propose to gather everything we know in a pile,” - the girl agreed, I also nodded.

 

And I began to recount all the events that Kristya could not be aware of. And the same on her part.

 

 ...

 

After a short conversation, it became clear ... nothing but a couple things:

 

First, the game is apparently a key to the clue, we should look for info on it on the net later.

 

Second, after switching to the "arena", we become our avatars, well, or vice versa, and the environment is "cleared" of people, but still interacts with the "real" world, although, perhaps, and not in full force, but it remains to be tested.

 

Thirdly, the "arena" is sort of a "world beyond the barrier" just like in all sorts of fantasy stories.

 

That was all I realized, but it was just guesswork. But from Chris I learned a little about the game itself.

 

It's structured like this:

 

Creating a character, it is somehow determined by personal information, the process is completely automatic.

 

Then there is pumping, it is simply the acquisition of skills and items, permanent and consumable, for points.

 

Points are earned in the game arena, through the fulfillment of different missions and tasks, only before all this was just a game, now everything is already somewhat different....

 

One more aspect seemed strange to me. As it turns out, only girls play this game, at least Chris doesn't know any guys, except me of course.

 

While I was digesting everything I had found out, my phone suddenly rang:

 

“Hello?” - It turned out to be from work.

 

The boss yelled at me for not showing up, why I didn't answer the phone and so on, and also swore at me with bad words.

 

But when I wanted to say something in my defense, his speech was suddenly interrupted by a familiar melody.

 

A cold sweat broke out on my back, and I looked nervously at Chris, who was also "on the phone," and her face reflected extreme concern.

 

“Calm down, remember, it is possible not to agree to the challenge," - I tried to calm her, and myself at the same time ...

 

 

But when I looked at the screen, it said the following:

 

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

 

EMERGENCY EVENT:

 

AREA DERATIZATION.

 

PARTICIPATION IS MANDATORY FOR EVERYONE

 

IN THE SPECIFIED AREA.

 

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

 

The alert was followed by a map that showed Chris and I in the center of a large circle, and there were about ten other marks like us scattered throughout the area.

 

“Looks like we have no choice...”

 

I had a wry, idiotic smile on my face, and Chris was pale....