Chapter 2 - The Standoff
My leg twisted and slipped. I felt a sharp pain in my ankle but didn’t let it stop me. C’mon Richard, you can do it! Go, you have to live!
My second foot landed on the ledge. I could see from the corner of my eye how my veins bulged. My muscles seemed to flex and expand almost half their size as they pushed my 180 pounds of muscle. “Push!”
I put every ounce of power I could into this one single leap. My body detached from the ledge just as the first mutated animals reached me. I felt the nails of some giant cat scrape against my heels.
Time seemed to slow down as I watched and anticipated my arrival. I’ll make it! My heart leapt back into my chest. I felt as if a giant blanket was lifted off of me. I felt as light as a feather as I soared to the other side. But everything nice always has an end.
I saw the door leading to my rooftop expand from multiple hits and explode outwards. Several small critters scuttled outwards. And then… A giant snake surged out of the darkness, devouring the insects in a single bite.
Well, I’m pretty much fucked. But I didn’t give up yet. I landed in a roll. Somehow, my left hand grasped onto the bat. It was nearly ripped out of its socket from the sudden jerk, but I squeezed my hand and beared with the pain. The painful roll somewhat slowed my momentum. As I came back up, I pushed off the ground with my workable leg and flew once more.
“Eat this!” The snake turned to face me.
Sekke The Unforgivable Lv. 5 - Area Raid Boss
HP: 200/200
MP: 40/40
Sekke was about to reel back and dodge, but it was too late. The bat powered by my momentum and our combined weight rammed into its opened maw.
Teeth went flying everywhere. Green, acidic blood splattered all over me. The snake flew out of the doorway, fully exposing its body. It was very long. I would probably fit inside of it three times over even before it became full.
A wild hysteria of fear overcame me after I witnessed its size. The snake stopped sliding and began contorting, curling in on itself as if trying to protect its face. Wait, it’s trying to protect itself. I was sure that if I let this monstrosity go, there was no way it would ever forgive me. I gripped my weapon with both shaking hands. “I’m sorry about this.” And began hammering it.
I had hit every possible part of the beast. It looked battered, its majestic large dark green body disfigured and ruined by countless splashes of blood and bruises. I hammered it hysterically, knowing full well that if I stopped for even a moment, it would uncurl and commence to turn me into minced meat.
My mind was blank by the time I had finished. I felt like I was on the verge of a breakdown. Tears streamed down my face. My pants were wet. I sat there, leaning against the body of my defeated foe. The only thing that I could hear was myself, repeating the words “Survive” and “Kill.”
After a while, I could hear the sound of more critters coming up from the stairwell. The heat of the fire had already reached this building’s fifth floor. It was only a matter of time before the burning flames reached their target.
I stood, turning to the corpse. Only now did I notice how majestic of an animal this was, and how ugly I had made it. I was usually a pacifist, friendly to animals and forgave many people's mistakes. I fell on one knee and faced the dead foe. “Sekke, please forgive me. If I had not attacked you relentlessly, you would have killed me without a second thought. Please forgive me. You were a wonderful, majestic animal and I ended your life so early. I’m sure you could have grown, leveled up, and had many little baby snakes. And yet, here I was simply killing you without a second thought. I’m sorry.”
I looked into its eyes. Its pupils portrayed no emotion. It was dead. “I’m sorry.” Something in its eyes finally glinted. A ghostly figure rose out of its corpse and floated in front of me. You are strong, human. You can reach great heights with your power and honesty. Please answer my one question. Are you really sorry? A quiet but powerful voice echoed in my head. I smiled at the creature. “I… Am sorry.” The floating ghost stayed quiet for a few moments. Then I forgive you.
I felt as if something heavy was lifted off my shoulders. I stood back up. Something inside of me urged me to stop and touch the corpse. I lifted my hand and stroked Sekke’s large, scaly head.
Do you wish to loot this creature?
Y/N
I paused for a moment, debating on whether or not I should. But he forgave me, right? It’s not like I should let all this loot go to waste… My inner greedy snake wrapped itself around the loot that I imagined would drop from it. It was a raid boss, so I was absolutely sure that there would be something worthwhile inside.
“Yes.”
You have found:
* Snake Liver x1
* Snake Brain x1
* Snake Meat x10 Kg
* Snake Teeth x2
* Soul Stone of Sekke The Forgiving
* Technique Book of Viper Strike
The Snake’s body only became a bit smaller. It seemed I would need to cut it apart to loot it, but I didn’t have the time. Nor did I have the inventory space.
I smiled. The joy of survival was overflowing me. I remembered how I first Inspected the raid boss, his name was “Sekke The Unforgiving”. Now however it has changed to “Sekke The Forgiving”. “It seems that he really has forgiven me.”
You have leveled up the following skills:
Running Lv. 1 - Running Lv. 3 (+100 XP)
Blunt Weapons Lv. 1 - Blunt Weapons Lv. 5 (+200 XP)
Inspect lv. 1 - Inspect Lv. 3 (+150 XP)
You have learned the Leaping skill
Current Level: 1
Effect:
+5% increased jump height
(+50 XP)
You have leveled up to level 7!
You receive 20 distributable Status Points
You receive 4 distributable Skill point
You have gained the title:
Menace Of The Strong
Effect:
+10% damage to creatures stronger than you
The level ups completely restored my health mana and stamina. A wave of pleasure so intense came over me that I didn’t move a muscle. I simply lay there, so still that I didn’t even feel like breathing, afraid that this feeling would end.
The feeling ended moments later. I stood up. I’ve decided. I’m not going to run anymore. I’ll make my stand here.
I placed 10 points into Dexterity, 3 into Strength and Constitution, and the last 4 into Intelligence. I gripped my bat harder. I heard it utter a creak and noticed that the handle was bent. The bat’s durability was at 15/20. Before the mutated monsters came up the stairwell to me, I went into my status window and deactivated my new title. I didn’t want to forget about it and then have people question its origins later.
I took out the Technique Book. A prompt greeted me, asking whether or not I wished to absorb the knowledge of this single-use item. I agreed.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The scenery changed. Above me, two bright, giant, unearthly suns crossed paths. I looked down. I was standing in a large grass steppe. I looked at my hands. They didn’t exist. I was a spectral body, floating amongst the grass.
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I looked forwards. My body floated ahead, uncovering a small hill. A man which looked more like a giant stood in a fighting stance, facing a great old oak tree. It was a giant magnificent tree, one could tell how old it was simple by its size.
A single hollow hole shone itself from the trunk. The man stood there, as if listening to something. Suddenly, his posture shifted. It felt as if he switched from a relaxed manner to stiff but flexible, he rained a series of blows on the tree’s trunk. Each hit left a small hole behind the size of his fists. The man’s palm was covered in mana, glowing a dull blue in the sunlight.
The tree’s trunk shifted. A face morphed out from under the hollow hole, creating two eyes and two lips. The tree creaked as it spoke words that I could understand. “You are still weak, human. You need to grow stronger.” Suddenly, a snake so giant the one I had fought previously paled in comparison appeared. “You are ssstill young, my sssssssstudent… Grow sssstronger.” Days turned to night, nights turned to weeks, weeks turned into months. I experienced a whole year of torturous training as I was sucked into the body of the man.
At some point, I lost track of time. Day in and day out I was hunting or standing next to the trunk, Hammering it with blows that regrew almost instantly.
After what felt like an eternity, I walked up to the trunk once more. “Student.” The tree looked at me thoroughly. “You have come far since you came here. You have trained your mind, body, and soul enough to completely grasp this technique. This will be your final test. COME!” Then, the tree did something it had never done before.
Hundreds of branches moved at once. Each branch came from a different direction, whipping, slashing, crushing, or piercing me. But every one of my attacks shattered dozens of branches. The remaining hundreds of branches combined into one, forming a giant wooden spear. The spear flew forwards. In a flash, it was in front of me, so fast that it broke the sound barrier several times over. My stance shifted, my left hand flew forwards. “PIERCE!” My palm was like an adamant blade, cutting through everything in its path.
The two attacks collided. The soundwaves of two attacks breaking through the sound barrier exploded, traveling through the whole steppe. The last of the tree’s branches withered and died. Now, all that remained was the trunk, the hollow hole, and the snake that resided inside.
“You have done well, my ssstudent. Now go out into the big world. Conquer, rule, and live to your heart'sss content. This technique is the last of its kind, almossst all of its usssersss have perished to the treachery of time. I hope this technique will be of usssse to you.” Just as I turned around, the snake uttered its last words before leaving into its home to hibernate. “And you too, friendly ssssoul.” My body stopped, leaving the man I had possessed. Somehow, I knew the last sentence referred to me. I bowed. “Thank you for teaching me, sensei.” The snake bowed back in response. The scenery changed, and I was back in my body.
It felt as if I had arisen from a long dream. The bat that I held had dropped. My head throbbed, likely from the year of training I had just experienced crammed into a matter of a few seconds. However, I already noticed the changes.
My body moved differently from before. I used to walk loudly, landing heavy footsteps. Now my feet were light, I could feel that I could nimbly dodge aside the second I sensed danger. I couldn’t have done that before. Everything about the way I moved had changed. Now I walked in a slight crouch, my muscle memory changed, even the way I held my weapon was different.
The first notification that popped up was this:
Congratulations! You have successfully learned the Viper Strike technique!
Viper Strike Lv. 1:
Cost: 5 Stamina, 3 Mana
+5% Increased defense penetration
Deals 150% Increased attack damage
(Skill Level can only be increased with Skill Points)
I immediately added three points to this skill. It turned out like this:
Viper Strike Lv. 4
Cost: 8 Stamina, 4 Mana
+20% Increased defense penetration
Deals 180% Increased attack damage
(Skill Level can only be increased with Skill Points)
I smiled. This technique looked a lot more useful now than it had before. The sound of scuttling and screeching grew impossibly loud. At any moment now they would arrive. I had nowhere to go, the building I had arrived from was now crumbling down with all the monsters that hadn’t been able to fly away. Very little had flown since their large numbers battered their bodies and injured their wings in the narrow hallways.
I took a deep breath and took a batter’s stance. Dozens of tiny warped screeches filled my ears as the onpour finally found an exit. With a roar, I leapt into the fray. My bat didn’t stop swinging even for a moment. Dozens of bites and pokes rained down from everywhere, but with every attack one or two critters lay to rest. Some overgrown cat suddenly leaped at me when I was reloading for another swing. Its elongated claw was inches away from my throat. I let go of the rat I was holding with my right hand, and opened my palm. Even without consciously thinking about it, I already knew what I was doing. The extensive training I had gone through in another body created new reflexes. My hand dove forwards, connecting with its armpit. Bone and marrow easily split under my 14 points of Strength and 20 Dexterity. My activated Viper Strike ignored 20% of the defense. It felt as if I was molding stiff clay. My attack continued, breaking the cat's backbone. I gripped the monster from inside as I thrust its body into another large creature rushing me. My HP had lowered by half even though barely ten seconds had passed.
By my calculations, I had mowed down half of the creatures. I could tell because the number of attacks raining down onto me had lessened considerably.
Something spit into my face. The corrosive liquid spread as a wild pain encompassed my whole consciousness. It was horrible. Every single fiber of my being screamed in pain as I lost my eyesight. Something bit into my leg and it fell numb, I couldn’t feel it at all. Something else gave a satisfied chirp and the attacks intensified. I couldn’t block the attacks anymore. My muscles were being torn apart, I lost over 10% of my HP every second.
Some beastly instinct awoke inside of me. Something long and ancient, last seen by my ancestors who waged wars and experienced the rush of death. All my instincts flared to life, blaring with the alarms of impending death. I could not die.
A guttural roar escaped me. For a second, I didn’t recognize my own voice. It sounded warped, harsh… Terrifying; promising pain to whoever opposed me.
My palm gripped the bat so tight I could feel it bend beneath my strength. The next attack came from in front. My arm swept sideways even before the attack landed. Several bodies literally flew to pieces as I expended all my available bodily resources to kill my enemies. Each of my attacks killed at least one mutated beast.
I heard a large creature leap at me from behind. My body instinctively crouched, I felt the air millimeters above my head ripped apart by claws. My arm shot upwards. I fastened my grip on the hairy creature’s neck and snapped it in two. The head and the body separated, I grabbed the head and slammed it into the next enemy.
Suddenly, everything went still. All of my senses sharpened instantly, but I heard nothing aside from the fire which was practically licking at my heels. Wait… From the stairwell.
Great, lumbering steps as if belonging to a giant slowly made their way up the steps. It seemed as if the brittle cement would fall apart at any moment from a simple stomp of the enemy.
Some cockroach I was standing on gave its final screech as death laid claim on its victim.
You have leveled up to level 8!
You receive 5 distributable Status Points
You receive 1 distributable Skill Point
My acid-dissolved eyes healed and my vision returned. My whole body repaired at once, coupled with the ecstasy. it was stronger than any feeling I had experienced before. But I threw aside all positive feelings. The battle for survival had not ended yet.
A black, tarred and charred giant slowly lumbered out of the fire that had basically consumed the whole building. Its body towered over me as it smashed through the doorway. It opened its blood crusted eyes. It stared at me, evaluating its chances of survival. My bat was now a hunk of scrap metal in my hands. I tossed it aside.
Oogway The Battle Master Lv. 8 - Area Raid Boss
HP: 456/500
MP: 30/30
I could tell, I would not survive this battle. The only reason I had lived to defeat Sekke was my surprise attack. And here… This boss had 500 HP. On top of that, it was a tortoise. A giant, humongous tortoise. I entered my Status page and placed 4 points towards Strength and 1 to Constitution. My muscles erupted in size. Once more, I took a fighting stance, ready to fend off death and bring it to my enemy.
My heart started hammering in my chest. A rush of adrenaline hit me, and without a delay my legs rushed off on their own. My superhuman speed turned me into a blur. In an instant, I appeared next to the turtle, my fist streaked towards its face. Somehow, it tilted its shell, my fist rebounded over its hard covering. From the corner of my eyes, I saw several spears of earth forming out of thin air. My heart skipped a beat. My brain took a moment to process the new information but by that moment they were practically inches from impaling me.
My body twisted and contorted in unimaginable angles as the spears flew past, leaving scrapes on my already tattered chest. My hand shot out, grabbing one of the missiles. It stopped mid-air, remaining firm in my grip. I landed and disappeared off in a flash. A moment ago the area where I was standing was empty but was now impaled full of spears.
I appeared next to the turtle’s foot. It immediately shot out. If the kick connected, I would be pushed off the building.
Time slowed as I bobbed the attack. My hand squeezed the stone spear so hard that my skin peeled off with the slightest movement. “Eat this!” I placed all of my body weight into thrusting the spear at the incoming appendage. “Viper Strike!” My weapon was imbued with new, pale energy at the attack shot forwards double the speed.
It rended the flesh and shattered the bone into splinters. The whole jagged stone entered the foot up to the ‘hilt’ I was clasping.
“Kyaoooaaa!” The roar that the tortoise bellowed sounded terrifying. Countless spears suddenly materialized midair. I looked back at Oogway. His mana bar was completely empty. The jagged spears numbered in dozens. They blacked out the sun, creating a shadow that loomed over us like death itself. I was sure that if they flew at us, none of us would survive. Both of us somehow retreated to the edge of the building. The tortoise took a deep inhale, about to release the countless attacks he had generated. And then… *Rumble* We both looked down in surprise. The section we were standing on collapsed.
“Kyaaaaooaaa!” The momentarily motionless spears streaked forwards at monstrous speeds. The tortoise fell down. Something resembling a smirk crossed its face. It was falling faster than me, thus would not end up in the radius of its attack.
I glanced back. The spears were mere meters away from me. I curled, turning into a cannonball. Every single spear missed and shattered against the falling debris. The smirk that had formed on Oogway’s face a moment ago morphed into a face of terror. We were both approaching the ground at tremendous speed. It might survive, if barely. I would die, however. In every case, the tortoise should be happy. Except for one factor that it just realized.
My elbow glowed intensely in a pale light. I poured all of my mana and stamina into this one Viper Strike.
Oogway met the ground first. It landed heavily, creating a crater and completely erasing 75% of its HP. It was imprinted into the ground shell deep. It couldn’t turn away however much it struggled. Perfect.
“RKO, Bitchhh!” My elbow connected with its softer undershell. And then everything went black.
A moment later, my body reformed. What had once been a bloodstain splattered across the pavement now sucked back together to form me.
You have leveled up to level 11!
You receive 15 distributable Status Points
You receive 3 distributable Skill Points
The rest of the building crumbled behind me. Hastily, I reached forwards and placed my hand inside my own personal crater that I had created inside the turtle.
Do you wish to loot this creature?
Y/N
“Yes, goddammit!”
You have received ...
I didn’t get to read the rest as the whole building collapsed on top of us. Everything. Went. Black.