*Crackle* *Crackle*
The whole room is burning. The termite that came in and the ants that followed along. Even some mosquitoes that tried to come through the front door are burning like crazy.
Aditya tried to look at them but he couldn’t see it clearly. His eyes are tearing up because of the smoke. He still held the gas welding torch in his hands as he aimed it at the window blocking all the mosquitoes that are trying to get in from there.
With the window grill and the torch, there is not much of a problem from that side.
But from the front the problem didn’t go away. Most of the insects are burning away, but there are still some that are trying to get to him even while burning down.
The large termite in front of him is the real problem for him now. As it was burning from below, it started crashing into things to get rid of the flames and in process the flames are dying down. Since the petrol that he used to set the fire is limited, there is not much he could do in the situation.
He looked at the window which is the only entry point for the air and then looked at the large termite and the ants that are following it, he still didn’t find the large ant that has a danger level 2, he is sure that it is not too far away.
He thought of ways to get out of this situation and the only thing he could think is the objective of the round. To kill at least one Level 2 creature.
He looked at the health bar over the Level 2 termite. Most of it was gone and only a small portion is remaining. He really hoped that it would die like that soon.
But at this moment, the termite suddenly charged at him despite the burning flames and the ants followed it while stepping on the dead and burnt carcasses of the other ants.
Aditya instinctually reacted and aimed the gas-welding torch at the incoming termite as he dodged to the side.
But at this moment, the mosquitoes at the window grill got the chance to stick their trunks into it. One of them stung his arm.
“ARRRRGGHHH..”
Aditya screamed as he looked at his arm that was stung. His arm started reducing in size. All the blood seemed to have been drained along with the flesh. The arm reduced its size down to the bone.
He aimed the torch at the mosquito trunk that stung his arm. He did manage to burn it down, but the large termite got a chance to crash him into him.
*CRASH*
Aditya crashed into the corner of the room and unluckily the termite’s sharp legs cut the hose of the gas pipes connecting the acetylene and oxygen cylinders to the torch which made his flaming torch unusable.
This also means another problem though. The two gas cylinders fell and they are leaking inside a burning room.
But Aditya couldn’t see it all as he was in the corner looking at the large termite that was coming towards him.
He took the metal limb as he aimed the pointy end with his one intact hand, at the termite.
The other hand became unusable because of the mosquito sting.
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As the termite jumped on to him and tried to bite him on the shoulder, Aditya gritted his teeth while enduring the pain as he stabbed the termite in the head.
He looked at the health bar of the termite which went down instantly and grip on his shoulder was finally released.
Aditya heaved a sigh of relief, but at this moment…
*BOOM*
A massive explosion occurred in the room because of the exposed gas cylinders to the flames.
The explosive flames blasted through the window grill and the open entrance as it fried the mosquitoes and ants alike.
Aditya who is behind the large termite, felt the brunt as he crashed against the wall. His legs were burned and he didn’t even have any strength to even scream.
He could clearly feel his shoulder bone being broken, his ribs being crushed and even some excruciating pain in his spine.
He spat out blood as he slowly lost consciousness.
But right before he completely closed his eyes, a holographic screen appeared in front of him and before he could clearly see what was on it, his eyes were closed.
…..
“HAAAAAH.”
Aditya opened his eyes as he looked at the entrance of the carpentry workshop. He took a deep breath to try and calm down.
He bit his right hand to keep himself from screaming in pain.
He is currently covered with sweat, it is almost like he was drenched in rain. He tried to calm himself down and walked slowly to the nearby washroom.
He sat on the toilet commode and finally let himself go.
But this time, he didn’t try to scream in pain. He looked at his arms and legs which are still hurting like crazy. The burning sensation from the fire and the broken bones due to the explosion. He couldn’t help but check whether he really suffered those injuries.
Ram appeared in front of him and spoke.
[You almost died there.]
“Oh really, I thought I was being tucked into the bed.”
[Of course, you would. What could you possibly think of with your mud brain? Really, setting fire inside a closed room like that and trapping yourself. On top of that, the gas cylinder. You are really dumb you know that?]
“What do you want me to do? I am not really experienced in killing the insects that are thousand times their size. Sorry, if I am not an expert in it.”
The argument died down as Ram looked at Aditya’s face.
There are tears welling up in his eyes as he tried to suppress his urge to weep there.
“I really didn’t want to get into this. I really don’t. I would have just half-assed my way through the college like I did with everything else. Get a mediocre job, find a life partner and die of old age while trying to live most of the life in debts which I made to buy things that I couldn’t afford.
But one fucking day, I am dragged into this shitty game and all of this because of my stupid aversion to those abominations.
Why the fuck am I being played like this? What did I do? Is my sin of killing so many insects finally catching up to me?”
He just went on a rant. Ram didn’t speak and just let him finish his venting.
After a few minutes of silence, he finally opened his mouth.
[I am sorry. I know you don’t want anything to do with this. But now you have no choice. You could only just see through this. And I will help you through this in any way I can.]
“I am sorry.”
Aditya replied as he wiped his eyes.
[Now, let us change the mood a bit. Even though it was reckless, you actually managed to do something great this time. You cleared the round with flying colors.]
“Really?”
[Yes. Even though I still feel like it is a bit stupid, your plan has its merits. A clever method and the rest of the insects that followed you here were killed by the accidental explosion. Even though it was unplanned, it worked. But if they weren’t dead or even died a second later, you would have died. It seems like fortune favors the stupid.]
After he was done, Ram opened the interface. It was the round finishing report.
[ROUND FINISHED
KILLS: 48
OBTAINED FIFTY-FOUR POINTS
YOUR CURRENT RANK: 32
THE COUNT DOWN FOR NEXT ROUND : 2:23:53:10
CHECK THE REWARDS SECTION FOR THE CLEAR REWARDS.
HIDDEN OBJECTIVES HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED CHECK THE REWARDS SECOND TO GET THE CLEAR REWARDS.
SPECIAL CONDITIONS WERE OBSERVED TRIGGERING THE SPECIAL REWARD, CHECK THE REWARDS SECTION TO GET THE REWARDS.]
“That is a vast increase in rank.”
[It is. If you had done well in the first round, you would have had a higher rank. Most of the people that are ahead of you in the ranking didn’t clear all the enemies. They only got higher rank because of the higher number of kills in the first round. By the way, you might want to check the special rankings. You have a special reward there.]
“Open it then.”
He looked at the ranking list and was surprised to find his name third.
This one is based on the time taken to clear the round and apparently, he did great. His time is only off by a few seconds compared to the first and second ranked members.