[ The next wave is in 12 minutes. ]
Sam felt strangely better. He was still horrified and found himself scratching at his wounds as they were healing. At this exact moment, he didn’t like being a Player. For several reasons. The Player constitution healed him, and closed his wounds, though not at a massive speed it was still enough to start fixing his body.
But nothing came out of the closing wounds.
That was the part that had his stomach twisted and scrunch up, he wanted to expel everything but... it didn’t help. His stomach was empty, and sadly his body was not. The time was running out for the next wave, for the next monstrosity, the next abomination of creation sent to fuck with him. He didn’t want to do this anymore.
Considering what to do, he instinctively decided to drink one of the potions, parts of him felt better seeing his higher health, and other parts of him cursed his survival instinct. He wanted this to stop, and seeing his wounds close up entirely not knowing if any of those things were still in there... No... they had to be... Which just made it worse. He felt sick and disgusting, the vomit and blood on his clothes weren’t even a problem compared to that.
[ The next wave is in 2 minutes. ]
Should he extend? Should he just take his chances and see what happened? It wouldn’t be entirely bad if it all just ended now, right?
In his spiral of thought he let the timer run out, triggering the next wave.
[ Wave 51 ]
As the window informed him about the next wave, the number 5 seemed to glitch for a brief moment and disappear.
[ Wave 51 ]
[ Wave %1 ]
[ Wave #Ӥ1 ]
[ Wave 1 ]
It went through a few combinations of numbers before it disappeared altogether, now it just listed Wave 1 instead.
This gave Sam something to focus on, something else to consider for the briefest of moments, and his mind desperately latched onto it. What did this mean? Why did this happen? Was some horrible thing going to come out now as well or...
Before he could properly finish his thought process, everything around him disintegrated into glowing particles before leaving him alone for a second, after which a single Goblin spawned in.
[ Goblin - E
Level 1
STR: 1
DEX: 2
VIT: 1
SPT: 0
HP: 5/5
Damage: Claw 2, Bite 3
Defence: 0 ]
Was this some kind of joke? Sam got to his feet and blamed everything in existence on this single Goblin, it became the target of all his anger, confusion... fear... This System had to be fucking with him, the Entities had to be fucking with him. This didn’t seem right at all, there had to be some bullshit, as soon as he hit the Goblin it’d be made of insects, or perhaps it was part of a larger monster that’d come in from the side and spear him.
In an overcompensating fear, Sam sent everything he had to the Goblin. His entire swarm of blades impacted the small body, pulling itself together with [ Clustered Strike ] active. As the swarm of blades connected it triggered [ Static Charge ], pulsing out with electrical energy.
The Goblin was torn apart, the sheer amount of damage alone killed it 70 times over, and in the following explosion, another 12, as its body was first cut to shreds before pulsing outwards like a water balloon filled with chunky blood. The result was a large area around where it once stood now being covered in blood, charred bits and a singed rusty dagger.
“What?!” Sam exclaimed in disbelief. He still felt this was nothing short of bullshit. There had to be something, something extra coming. The System wouldn’t just have him go through 49 normal waves to then have... that... thing... fight him and then reset back? What did this mean? Would it all happen again? Was he going to fight normal creatures for another 48 rounds and then the... thing... again?
Dreading to even think of it, his skin itched when he did, he could feel things moving in his body sending shivers down his spine and a general ick across his body. Parts of his mind knew he didn’t feel anything, nothing was moving, and everything was... fine... But like feeling the vibrations of your phone in your pocket even while looking at your phone on the table in front of you, he felt things wiggling inside his body.
[ Wave 1 complete, choose reward:
Random Box
Sustenance
Time extension until the next wave.
The next wave is in 1 minute. ]
Sam stared out the window in disbelief, it was true... it was just a single Goblin... the same one he did at the start.
“No... It just... doesn’t make sense... why...?” Sam didn’t get it, why was this happening? Because he was an Ascendant? He hadn’t even abused his supposed abilities... at least not yet.
“Fine, if that’s how it’s going to be.” Sam was pissed, still scared but his anger was taking over. If they were going to send him through solo dungeons like this and fuck with him, he was going to fuck with them back. He had no idea if this was going to keep looping, continue to Wave 51 and onwards, or whatever. But, since he didn’t have any proper danger until near the 50th wave, he now had time to test and fuck around, the first 20 waves were harmless even with critical hits.
He was going to drag this on, take it easy and... hope to fuck that the 50th wave was going easier next time, at least now he knew the tactic, he could just trigger Static Charge once to get the bugs spread out, then keep triggering Static Shock on everything around to abuse the AOE damage, that should handle it easily. The power of knowledge was indeed amazing.
Sitting down he started focusing, if the Entities were going to fuck with him through the system, he was going to try and fuck with the System in return.
He had no idea where to start, what to do with it or even what he should focus on, but bringing up his complete information sheet, he focused on it, trying to change numbers, letters, values... anything and everything. To give himself time he had started the reverse-blender move he used in the Tower Break, just having his blades spin around him like a spinning-bladed cactus, he was safe from being attacked by the shit-tier mobs that spawned the first waves. If they tried their luck in getting close, first of all, they were ‘blended apart’, if they made it through, it wasn’t like they could damage him.
This went on for a while, waves 2, 4, 6 15. He had no idea what he was looking for, but he was sitting there for quite a time, focusing on numbers, changing things up, changing ranks on skills, adding skills or... just anything. Starting awake and was fine, he had grown tired a while ago. He had used a few rewards to get sustenance, food and water, but he was incredibly tired. The swarm took a lot out of him and time was becoming a problem.
As wave 16 was about to start, he decided it was about time for him to get some rest, he was already struggling to keep awake, so it was a good idea to use the lower-level waves to test out resting if he overslept or had problems waking up, the creatures that would spawn couldn’t properly hurt him so he would wake up from their attempts.
“Extend time, 8 hours.” Sam commented. He probably didn’t need to speak it out loud, but it felt better in his mind to do it, it felt more definite.
The countdown went from the remaining 48 seconds to 8 hours and 48 seconds. He set an alarm on his phone for 7 hours and 30 minutes and went back into the hallway he landed in, sitting in the corner at the end of the hallway, next to the pile of Aether crystals he got from the Random boxes, trying to sleep. Wanting to test something at the same time he held a dagger upright in the air with a Psyhand and mentally tried to imagine holding it while he slept.
Waking up with a shock at the sound of the phone alarm and its vibration, Sam scrambled to pick up his weapons and attack anything around, but he was glad to see that there was nothing there. It was just him in a weirdly illuminated hallway. The dagger he had been holding as he fell asleep was no longer in his Psyhand, in fact; the Psyhand was not even manifested. So, though they were subconscious for the most part he needed to be conscious for them to exist. Perhaps that was something he could train later but for now...
Using one of the reward windows, he got some food and water, it was surprisingly bland but it was still a normal, simple meal. The countdown was currently on 29 minutes and 36 seconds, he hadn’t been awake that long yet so it all matched out properly. And with his score of Arcane crystals, as long as he didn’t break his phone he should be fine for alarms and dumb entertainment. He hadn’t exactly preloaded any movies or games for just such an event, but he had some recordings or things he could browse through.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The last half hour before the 16th wave was gone before he knew it, deciding to test out to see what would happen if he remained in the hallway, he sat there silently, waiting. As the timer hit zero he had another idea.
[ Activating [ Chamelion ] ]
He hadn’t used it yet, but his armour had an active ability, activating it made his body go transparent, almost glass-like. It wasn’t perfect, but the light in here was shit, so perhaps that worked out.
Holding his weapons against the ceiling of the little hallway, just to keep them out of the way, partly to have them ready but also just so they didn’t give him away. It didn’t take too long before a large goblin came walking into the hallway, hesitantly looking around. It didn’t seem like it could see Sam, something that made him surprisingly happy, but his glee was short-lived as the goblin smelled the air and walked around. Much like a dog sniffing out a treat, he found Sam faster than he’d like it to have happened, though confused it successfully identified Sam’s location and attacked.
Sam took the hit and returned the favour, the goblin didn’t have a chance and was shredded before it knew what was going on. Getting up he sighed, that could have been a neat way to get some free rest but alas, he didn’t account for him smelling like shit right now, and if the Golins had an animal-level sense of smell, that wouldn’t matter.
Walking out of the hallway he found the other spawnees noticing him and charging.
The 16th wave was done a second later.
He got another reward window that he added to the pile. Having a minute before the 17th wave happened he wondered if he should use any of them before things happened later. He was stupidly lucky with the skill crystal, the odds of that were super low but not zero. Though he could get another one, potions or other stuff like gear, he felt that he was good on gear for now, he needed to get out of here but... he might need more time.
Picking more time 10 times from the default windows, he ended up with 12 hours available again, it would have to do for now and it could give him a solid rest or several smaller ones if he needed to. He didn’t have a backpack so anything he got he would need to carry or just shove in the pile of crystals in the hallway.
Sitting back down, he returned to trying to mess with the numbers on his status page, increasing... anything. Focusing on numbers, values, and letter grades, but it wasn’t like he even knew what he was looking for.
The 17th wave came and went, nothing was problematic yet and he was using the Static Charge skill with brutal efficiency. Also having over 30 weapons helped a lot here, though he couldn’t trigger Static Charge on one target more than once, for an undetermined amount of time, he could multi-trigger on multiple targets, creating chaos.
He wanted to test the duration between triggers, but nothing lived long enough and was safe enough to test with, so that would have to become a thing later.
As the monsters from the 17th wave disintegrated before the 18th wave landed, he was still annoyed at the XP not moving at all, not a single point had been given in here, so either it was hidden, or would be given to him once... if he leaves this place, or he just didn’t get any... In any case, it was annoying.
Abusing the survival instinct of even these Dungeon-level intelligent creatures, the reverse-blender move kept him relatively safe and kept them at bay enough for him to have time to test and focus, though he didn’t let it go the full hour to get multiple waves at once, it could at least let him postpone things longer.
The waves came and went, the Bats and Golems started rolling in, and as the number neared 50, Sam wanted to postpone more and more, his skin started itching and he was feeling unwell.
47. 48, 49.
He spent long enough with the 49th wave that it almost hit the countdown for the 50th wave, he was strongly considering using some of his time to postpone it more but... he wouldn’t get much rest during that time anyway, and having eaten and ‘rested’ during the fights, he was as good as he could be physically, mentally was a different question.
But in the end, he couldn’t win over time, eventually, he would have to face the creature again, at least he was somewhat ready with a working tactic and experience this time.
[ Wave 50, boss wave ]
Like before, it first displayed the normal window before it glitched out.
[ Wave 50; #)”!=&£ ]
Sam got the briefest of moments to realize that the corrupted text was different than last time, he didn’t remember exactly but didn’t it start with a percentage?
The white light deposited a different shape in the room. The creature resembled a writhing mass of fleshy tendrils covered in spiked, fanged mouths that constantly opened and closed in an uncomfortable rhythm. In the centre was a bulbous core which pulsated irregularly, wriggling now and then as a viscous fluid seeped out, covering it in a puss-like substance.
“Oh... fuck no...” Sam didn’t like this at all. Not only was it a new abomination of existence, but it wasn’t the horrifying thing he fought earlier but some new hellspawn. He was so ready to fight the bugs, to get them out of the way immediately, but instead, there was something new, something unknown and disgusting.
[ Mawed Devourer
STR: 35
DEX: 20
VIT: 50
SPT: 0
HP: 1040 / 1040
Defence: 0
Damage: Tentacles: 80, Bite: 30, Digest: 20
Abilities: Regenerating Limbs, Absorption Core. ]
[ Regenerating Limbs: Tentacles and Tendrils regenerate almost immediately. ]
[ Absorption Core: The core produces a viscous digestive fluid. ]
At least this thing had stats he could see, which was good. There was no level but it didn’t matter. Everything else about it was just... bad. Having taken a second to settle after it manifested in the room, the core sank into a rough oval shape, supported by tendrils along its underside as the tentacles stretched out like it was flexing and getting ready.
The thick substance dripped off the central core, splatting onto the glossy floor with a disgusting flopping splat, almost keeping some of its shapes until it settled on the floor and gooped out. The air coming from this creature smelled like rotten garbage mixed with vomit. It alone was almost enough for Sam to lose his last meal but he couldn’t wait, he needed to take the next second to act.
Sending his entire swarm of blades towards it, he aimed for the core, it seemed the most likely thing to go for, especially given the regeneration of the tentacles.
The blades flew forward, but it seemed aware of this, blocking the incoming strikes with its tentacles, the weapons cut through several of them but ended up stopping eventually, well before they hit the core.
However, these strikes counted towards Static Charge, triggering once as they passed through the writhing flesh, pulsing out and slamming past the core.
[ Mawed Devourer HP: 968 / 1040 █████████░ ]
“Oh...” Sam let out a realization, as he considered this the recently cut tentacles grew back out, finding themselves back to full within a second. The only damage it took from that was the pulse from Static Charge, the blades didn’t do anything.
He needed to hit the core.
Before he could properly react he had to do his best to dodge the incoming tentacles. The creature had started moving, the tendrils along its bottom side dragging it along the glossy floor with a sickening slick squelching sound as it flailed its many, many tentacles in his way. He managed to stay just out of range for the moment, cutting tentacles to avoid getting hit by them, only to have them regenerate at the end of their swing for another attack.
Reaching the wall, though curved, it was hard to decide on a way to run. The mass of glossy tentacles was so wide that either way was just as bad as any other, choosing to go to the left he did his best to dodge the incoming attempt to grab him.
Running at first, he waited for the incoming attack to dodge it, successfully jumping to the side he realised that something had landed on his leg. Before he got a chance to react to the tentacle around his ankle, another landed and coiled around. Pulling his blades in to cut himself free he felt a sharp tug towards the bulbous core. He lost his balance and fell over, which allowed several other tentacles to grab around him.
Pulling in some of his blades, he started cutting the ones that held him, but as fast as he could cut them, new ones came to take their place. Feeling stings all around his body like someone was dragging tiny sawblades across his skin, he realised that all the tentacles were covered in small, toothy mouths. This was followed by the stinging sensation of something foreign entering the wounds.
[ HP: 155 / 200 ████████░░ ]
[ HP: 125 / 200 ███████░░░ ]
[ HP: 95 / 200 █████░░░░░ ]