Jin-woo stared at the gaseous barrier before him. Fog danced in a deep silver color, its ethereal surface rippling like static on an old monitor. It made it impossible to see into the room it blocked. He had just left a second safe room behind him as he temporarily used the sanctuary recovering from an endless slog of battle and injuries. His reflection in the misty wall revealed a face he still struggled to recognize, even with the new face he had.
Now made more alien by the acid scars that carved a path from his left cheek to jaw. The poison rat's legacy, written in flesh. He allowed his status page to pop up.
[STATUS:]
[LEVEL 2: 1200/2000]
[STRENGTH: 16]
[AGILITY: 12]
[VITALITY: 15]
[INTELLIGENCE: 25 (+15)]
[SPIRIT: 12 (+2)]
[MANA: 1432/1600]
[AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: ]
[SKILLS TAB: SELECT TO EXPAND]
[ADDITIONAL STAT TYPES UNAVAILABLE CURRENTLY]
How many rats had he killed by this point? Was there any point in trying to calculate all the battles and endless wading through blood and filth? Probably not.
"This has to be it." his hands tightened around his warped and bent spears. Both no longer had their straight forms, but bent left and right like a tree branch. "This had to be the boss room.” Salvation. Getting out of this place alive was just a single battle away. All he had to do was walk in and kill whatever monstrosity called that place home.
Jin-woo didn’t really care about the game mechanics. The fog was just an afterthought to the ability to finally get out of this meat grinder of a place.
The scars on his body ached in agreement. Cuts, chemical burns, bites, and a ton of other types of damage that his enhanced healing and vitality could not heal entirely. He guessed that the majority of them were fatal and would have led to his imminent demise had he not placed points into his vitality. Each mark was a story and lesson learned through battle.
Plus my spears look like abstract art by this point. He laughed. The mechanical mind had blocked out all the trauma that should have consumed him. All he needed was a long and deep sleep to seemingly fully recover mentally.
The mist before him stirred with a wind he did not feel. His system interface flickered with warning notifications.
[ANOMALOUS ENERGY DETECTED]
[BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURES EXCEED KNOWN PARAMETERS]
[CAUTION: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]
“That… is ominous.”
Jin-woo knew that didn’t matter. Where the fog ripped him to shreds or he passed through it without any problems didn’t really matter. What did was moving forward to the possibility of escaping this bastard of a dungeon.
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Stepping through the barrier felt like passing through a freezing cloud that parted at his presence. He shivered as his senses expanded into a sprawling alcove. His steps echoing loudly announcing his arrival. Any plans for stealth were thrown out the window in an instant. The chamber bore witness to horrors, his analytical mind cataloged them all with mechanical precision. Each one worse than the other.
Walls scarred by massive claws that pulsed with bioluminescence.
Broken medical equipment scattered like discarded toys among dark stains his system refused to analyze fully. Chemicals still hissed around their spillage.
Chains hung from the ceiling with some still bearing grisly trophies that had died a long time ago.
Parts of the floor were crushed and sticking out in massive blocks of stone and concrete.
Operating tables lay twisted like crushed aluminum cans. Crushed by whatever unholy strength had caused the massive gashes in the walls.
Cages littered the room equally destroyed. And more debris that could have hidden a plethora of monsters. It was difficult to get a good sight on anything in the area.
Surgical curtains danced in a slight breeze that carried a nasty mixture of scents. The stark smell of sterile antiseptics and the coppery tang of old blood and filth. It could have been a hospital's worst nightmare, and from the looks of it, it was.
He could hear the skittering of claws moving towards him. But it was different. And different always meant great danger. He knew that first hand, every time something strange happened that he was unprepared for, he would receive massive injuries that would activate his ‘Crimson Madness’ ability. That tended to mean he was a foot in the grave if not for the fail safe Demina had created for him. Too many times he had almost died because of some idiotic carelessness on his part.
That would not happen again.
BasicAnalysis hummed to life as he activated automatically. It had become ingrained in him to do it before he attempted anything at all. Get a general idea of what was around him.
[EXTREME BIOLOGICAL ANOMALIES DETECTED]
[WARNING: STRUCTURAL DAMAGE EXCEEDS GIANT RAT PARAMETERS]
[CHEMICAL HAZARD ANALYSIS: INCONCLUSIVE BUT EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS]
[RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE TACTICAL WITHDRAWAL]
The system constantly recommended he withdraw. Every group of enemies were supposedly too strong for his level and strength. And yet here he was, inside the boss room after killing everything in his path. Had he listened to its constant pleas for retreat, he may still be in one piece, but still dead from starvation and dehydration. But that was the limitation to robots, they could only provide recommendations using the parameters laid out explicitly before them. His strength and level compared to what surrounded him.
Jin-woo caught the first sign of movement. Shadows that didn't quite match the chamber's natural darkness. They moved back and forth, the chittering almost sounded like they were communicating with each other. Three Giant Rats emerged with a fluidity that triggered his instincts. Their movements lacked the rabid aggression he'd come to expect, replaced by something far more concerning: coordination. Even those that followed the poison rats were mostly mindless and launched themselves at him with fury once the battle had begun.
But these were again, different.
"New behavioral patterns," he muttered, watching them intently. He took on a cautious approach and stance, slowly stepping towards them to activate whatever attack function drove them.
The first rat lunged head first. Jin-woo swung his longer spear, but hit nothing but air. It pulled a feint, only to pull back the moment Jin-woo shifted his stance. The other two used that distraction to circle wide. Claws suddenly silent on the debris-strewn floor. The first maintained distance, eyes tracking his every movement with unsettling intelligence. They did not growl or sniff loudly, again they were eerily silent.
He tested them by activating Quick Strike. It's now familiar feeling sending him forward and draining an expected amount of mana as time seemed to slow. Jin-woo targeted the closest rat, expecting it to dodge in every way a rat should.
Instead, it rolled sideways like a game character. A move that left him stunned as he dodged backwards. He'd never seen a move like that from these creatures. His spear caught only air. The missed strike cost precious mana. He made sure to dodge backwards and then sideways as the other two attempted a counter attack. Another lesson he had learned the hard way with a face full of acid. Always dodge after attempting to strike in unpredictable patterns.
"Since when do rats know combat rolls?" he wondered aloud.