There I was, lying on the ground with who knew how many broken bones, bored out of my mind. I had no idea how many times I’d collapsed like this, just waiting to recover. Not that I hadn’t tried to keep count, but the constant pain and long periods of doing nothing made it impossible to keep track. It was way more than twenty, but was it closer to fifty or a hundred?
Maybe god knew, but that prick was of absolutely no help.
“You know, if I had some pants, I’d be better at kicking. I could get a massive power up right now, old man! All for the low-low price of some boxer briefs.”
There was little else to do but complain to the skybox. I could try to look at my stats, but the light being directly above me made it really unpleasant to do so. Besides, all I’d see would be numbers going up.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like it when numbers go up, but even I have my limits. Fortunately, those were quickly being surpassed as I improved at an unbelievable pace. Probably.
Who knows, maybe having stats around a hundred was a pretty low bar after all. Maybe I would emerge from this hell hole and still be perfectly average despite all my effort. That was a risk I was willing to take.
“I’m tired of sitting around and waiting or just doing sprints or squats or whatever! I was promised violence, damn it! So I’m gonna get violent!”
I got back up, ignoring the slight pain in one of my legs as I set my sights once more on the watercolor background. It just sat there, taunting me with its mockery of life. Piece of shit painting, I’ll show it a happy accident.
My fists flew with newfound technique, bestowed upon me by the incredible power of relentless aggression. More accurately, my Unarmed Combat skill seemed to guide my attacks, ensuring that my form and distribution of power were all that they could be.
This combined with my constantly rising Resilience allowed me to swing multiple times before cracking bones forced me to quit. Still, I’d rather be fighting a literal wall than spending anymore hours on strength training. Don’t even get me started on sprints either! Last time I tried, my increased speed and strength brought me face first into a wall before I could turn around or even hit max velocity. If it was going to be like that, I might as well just keep assaulting the wall until something interesting happened.
After a couple more assaults, I got my wish. My fist collided with the invisible wall and the painting caved in on itself, sending a ripple across the entire structure. I pulled my hand back to peer inside, hoping to find a director’s chair with a bearded old man ready to be throttled. Instead, I was greeted with an unending void of darkness and a generally bad feeling. After just a couple of seconds, I got a handy message popping up in front of me.
Fatal error! A bug has been encountered. Forced shut down in 60 seconds.
“That’s not good.”
Once the pop up went away, I saw the void shift, slowly working its way out of the darkness beyond and into my little slice of hell.
“That’s definitely not good.”
I stepped away, making room for the apparently colossal being as shadows and the absence of light gradually coalesced into a familiar shape that stretched ten meters into the air.
“You’ve got to be fucking with me.”
An enormous stink bug constructed out of nothingness stepped into my clearing as a countdown ticked away towards the impending destruction of my world.
“God! Your stupid game has a serious bug problem!”
The insect moved first, covering ground faster than I had previously thought was possible. To my pleasant surprise I was even faster, dashing out of the way as a large leg crashed down on my earlier location. I sprinted behind the creature and landed the strongest kick of my life on one of its legs, causing a cracking noise to echo throughout the clearing.
Annoyingly, it didn’t cry out or give any real indication of damage, and it still had plenty of other legs. Suddenly, it was no longer on the ground at all and just started floating above me, wings flickering in the air and blotting out the sun.
Right. Bugs can fly. Why was I targeting the legs?
It landed quickly, attempting to squash me no doubt to avenge some long lost relative. I sprinted out of the way just in time to whirl around and deliver my patented roundhouse to its backside, gouging out dark flesh that turned to smoke soon after leaving the body.
Forced shut down in 45 seconds.
Well then, I really needed to pick up the pace here. It took to the air again, but this time I followed. My muscles propelled me into the sky, allowing my jumps to mock the coveted flying skills of birds and bugs everywhere. With one fist pumped forward and my family jewels fluttering uncomfortably in the breeze, I collided into the insect with all the power of a discount superhero. Smoke filled the air around me as my arm bit into the creature, but I didn’t stop there.
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With every ounce of strength that I had, I clawed and pulled my way upwards, digging deeper into my first opponent as it zigzagged through the air, desperate to throw me off. I was relentless, using my legs to plant myself firmly in the creature as I unleashed a barrage of punches into its insides which slowly dissolved away into smoke. In moments, it crashed into the ground, either unable to stay airborne or in an attempt to toss me. Either way, I gave it no reprieve.
I jumped out of my previous position, sprinting up to the creature’s head while leaving behind another pop up window. There was still time. I could do this.
A well placed flying kick to the face was my start, dodging whatever horrible fate would await me if I was caught in its bite. I had to stick to the sides of its head if I didn’t want to be swallowed whole.
Distantly, I was aware that I should have been horrified, scared beyond belief at the prospect that some bug from the abyss would devour me and probably consume my soul. Maybe it would catch up with me later, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I delivered kick after kick into the creature. By the time it collapsed, I was surrounded by so much wispy smoke that I almost thought I was in a hookah bar.
“Take that! I fixed your shitty bug, god. Surely that’s at least worth a pair of shorts.”
I waited for a reply I knew wasn’t coming and almost got excited when the pop up came back.
Forced shut down in 10 seconds.
“Fuck!”
I had assumed I could stop the shutdown by squashing the bug, but apparently not. Maybe I'd survive the server restart. Maybe I’d have to start all over again and grind my stats back up.
That was a risk I couldn’t take.
I looked around, quickly finding the gap I’d created in the invisible wall and sprinted towards it. The hole was small, but I could still fit through if I dove. I could imagine the Olympic judges giving their ratings as I submerged myself into the void.
Forced shut down in 5 seconds.
There was no time to waste. I landed in the darkness unable to see anything ahead or around me, but I knew I was still in danger. The text box was readily legible with my black surroundings and gave me no reprieve.
With all the strength I could muster, I sprinted forward at full speed. I had no idea how far I made it, but the air quickly turned thick around me like I had gone from running to swimming. I pushed through regardless, punching and kicking my way forward as the viscosity increased beyond what my body could take.
Something was resisting me, stopping me from moving forward. I couldn’t let it. If I didn’t make it out of here then all of my hard work would have been for nothing. All those hours, potentially days or weeks spent doing nothing but training out of my mind, thrown away because I failed here.
My attacks reached a complexity that they never had before, my body becoming one seamless weapon against the void. My feet cut like a knife and my hands parted the nothingness before me. Time slowed down as I felt the membrane holding me back tear, and I gripped onto it greedily, pulling myself with every ounce of strength I had.
There was no telling where it would lead me, but I couldn’t stay here. With a final burst of strength, I left the void behind me and continued to tear greedily ahead.
----------------------------------------
The skittering creatures just kept pouring in no matter how many we put down. At first, it had been easy enough with them all coming from the same direction, but as soon as we entered this larger room with fleshy walls and high ceilings, they just appeared all around us at a relentless pace. If this kept going, we’d all die. Unfortunately, even our path of retreat had been cut off.
“They’re pouring down the walls! Shit, we need to cut a path backwards and get out of here! Viv, spray flames above the tunnel out; we’ll clear out the ground!”
Lorie gave the orders now that Dave was dead, probably being chewed on by those disgusting bugs somewhere in the sea of pulsing bodies. If I didn’t get it together and make a path out, then we’d be joining him.
I closed my eyes to focus, drawing in the abundance of mana flowing through the air to power my spells beyond what I normally could. With a few hand gestures to direct and the spoken incantation to give form, the spell burst into life.
“Flame breath.”
Despite its name, the fire spewed from the air and not my mouth, covering the wall above the tunnel with hot flames and cooking the creatures in the way. Lorie and Fedig were slicing a pathway there on the ground as I prepared a second bombardment. Just as the first spell petered out, the next rose to take its place.
“Flame breath.”
I had to move forward as I did the incantation, conscious of the bugs creeping in behind me now that we’d been surrounded and lost our front line. With careful movements, I managed to avoid being caught while sticking behind the last two people in my party. Sadly, it wasn’t enough.
“Fuck! Uwagh!” Fedig, the swordsman we’d just picked up earlier this week, got his ankle bitten by a skittering bug. It wasn’t enough to drop him, but his drop in speed proved fatal. In moments, he army of bugs were able to close in on him and bring him down, one leg at a time. Tearing and ripping sounds filled the air as the monsters were distracted with consuming our recently fallen party member.
Looking back towards the tunnel, I realized it didn’t matter. I had no idea where it came from, perhaps moving through the fleshy walls of the dungeon itself, but a massive bug stood directly in our path of retreat. There was no longer any way out.
It just stood there, making some horrible chittering noise as its children greedily consumed one of our own.
“Danger Level 2, my ass.”
Lorie spoke quietly under her breath as she stood in front of me, eyeing the monster.
“Maybe if we kill the boss the others will scatter and give us a chance to escape,” she said, but I could hear the desperation in her voice.
It was a long shot, one I very much doubted would work, but I knew Lorie wasn’t about to give up without a fight. Neither was I. The first word of my incantation barely made it out of my throat before the ripping sounds became deafening, splitting through the air like an ax through wood.
The bug queen screamed as the flesh wall above it tore open, blood pouring out and washing away the nearby critters. Slowly, two hands worked their way through the opening before the tunnel tore even further, allowing the body to fall through along with another torrent of dark red liquid.
The approaching hoard was washed away as the two of us struggled to stay on our feet. The boots we’d brought with us were ruined, but it was a small price to pay for such a reprieve. Assuming the new figure was friendly. If it wasn’t, then we’d just be something else’s dinner instead.
It rose from the ground slowly, looking around as it began to cackle wildly. My heart sank as I looked at the humanoid, covered in blood and laughing maniacally. Lorie put her arm out in front of me instinctively before the creature screamed at the top of its lungs.
“I AM RELEASED!”
It turned to face us before frowning at the insect queen, also frozen still by fear. A manic grind split its bloody face when it saw the creature.
“Well look what we have here. Another bug.”