Ark had leveled up thrice killing all the monsters in the first three days. The first monsters were naturally the Zoogs. The difficulty of the monsters continued to escalate from there. The monsters that came in hordes on the second day were not that difficult too. It was only that, people who were faint of the heart would not be able to handle them.
In a post-apocalyptic world, it was fine to kill monsters that looked like actual monsters. The human mind slowly got de-sensitized to it. What would happen then, when humans came face to face with something which was almost human-like? Unfortunately, this was the case for the second horde of monsters. They were a bubbling pool of green and brown goo which shifted constantly to form a vaguely human shape. It was laughable, to say the least.
They tried to do their best impression of a human scream as their vacant hollow eyes would stare at something just behind Ark. Ark really didn’t pay much attention to them. He had repeatedly asked Adam to not let people come near the train tracks. It was the best for all of them if they did not see stuff like that. Ark planned to carry the people all the way to the third scenario from which their lives would get significantly easier. Ark was pretty sure that the Tower itself would not design such a horrendous scenario.
He wanted to stab those who did design them though. People would suffer through years of PTSD after they got to the first tower. Many flinched at the sight of a single sword. Sometimes they screamed too when they passed by a smithy and heard the sound of clanking hammers beating dull metal. The goo-shaped monsters which had no name were almost impervious to physical attacks. Ark’s only thought on that matter was sending out constant bursts of sword aura from the blades brought from the System Shop. Ark had a surplus of coins and he did not hesitate to use them.
It took just a little longer for Ark to deal with the second horde than the Zoogs but they were eradicated completely. All that remained in their place were tiny globs of mucous. That too had disappeared mysteriously when Ark awoke the next day. There was one thing that continued to annoy Ark though. His clothes continued to get dirtier b the day. The System shop provided no help in that particular regard. Ark would have to make do with what he had.
It was the third scenario that Ark faced the littlest of difficulties which were indicative of things to come. Ark was still using the two techniques that were written in the Arkana manipulation guide. He still had no use for the third technique just yet. Seeing the difficulty of the third horde of monsters, Ark was pretty sure that he would have to use the third technique almost continuously from the next day. The third horde of monsters was something grotesque to look at.
Ark had seen enough terrible stuff in his time in the Tower which would last him a long time and yet still, when he looked at the monsters of the third horde, he felt a deep sense of unease. It was not for his sake though. If by any chance, someone were to come here, they would get the scare of their life time. The monsters had come straight out of a goosebumps book.
The monsters were human-like creatures with a single distinct feature to them. Fungi-like molds grew out of their faces and hands. Black pustules covered the shambling corpses as they let out baleful moans, breathing out clouds of black spores themselves. One of their hands seemed to always hang limp by their side as they moved slowly. They wore ragged clothes which were torn and stitched in some places. Pustules seemed to grow out of any and all exposed places. The mold zombies walked slowly in hordes and all they did was let out slow breaths here and there.
It was the first time, Ark really felt alarmed. If it was not for his ridiculously high stats, Ark was almost sure he would not be able to defeat them. It really emphasized the theme of the scenario. Safe rooms. Just like the previous scenario, they were not meant to fight the monsters. They had only one job, it was to survive. It was only because of Ark’s stats in Arkana which continued to increase that he was able to have a chance of winning.
Ark almost dreaded the next horde of monsters. Yet, Ark had not even used all the tricks up his sleeves. Being a veteran in the game meant that Ark had certain knowledge that ordinary folks were not privy to. By himself and using only two Arkana manipulation techniques, Ark would probably be able to defeat all the monsters. But that would leave him beyond exhausted and Ark was sure that the moment he was out of commission, trouble would stir up. Adam seemed to already have a lot on his plate.
Adam would always try to manage his own business. Ark would try to do the same. Surprisingly, the shop that was connected to the tower and Earth sold condiments as well. This was also one of the reasons, people did not lack any food. They could directly buy food from the System shop. Most people did not believe in this method though. They bought the ingredients themselves and cooked for the whole crew. It was delicious and let them save on coins too.
The Tower also sold salt. That was the bread and butter of Ark’s plan. How long could he keep using bursts of sword aura for? Certainly not for long enough. The zombies he hunted down would be dead for the count and yet more zombies would catch up to him. It was also imperative for Ark to not come in contact with the black vapor the Zombies were breathing out. He could probably cure the disease that came with it but the steps required to make the antidote required the help of an alchemist who at the very least had an epic card up their sleeve.
Ark was pretty sure that it was not possible for him to make the antidote. There was a simple solution. Simply don’t come in contact with the sickly breath. Ark climbed up the trains. It was not to be safe in his own little green square, instead, it was because the height of the trains gave Ark reach. From the System shop, Ark immediately brought 1000 coins worth of salt and began to dump them all on the ground as he ran from one side of the train to another.
There was a saying that if rubbed salt on a wound, it would be all the more painful. The zombies were un-dead and the pustules growing out of them was the proof. By the same logic, salt seemed to be the bane of their existence. Ark noticed carefully what happened when a single grain of salt fell onto a zombie’s body. The salt that was pristine white no longer was white, instead as soon as it came in contact with the flesh of a zombie, it turned black, corrupted beyond belief. That was not the only thing it did. Something like a chain reaction seemed to occur and as quickly as the zombies had made their entrance, they exited out of the stage. All that was left behind were the charred corpses and tonnes of black salt. Ark slept peacefully that night.
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The next morning Ark had a talk with Adam about what he expected from the fourth horde of monsters. Based on what he had seen earlier, if Ark used the third technique of Arkana manipulation, he would be able to defeat them all. There was no guarantee that he would be able to kill all of them on time though. The previous night Ark had leveled up a total of four times and his stats had increased. Still, Ark did not feel confident.
To be better safe than sorry, Ark informed Adam about his plan. Adam would ask all the women and children to go to a distant part of the subway station where they would not be able to see the monsters. The group which was responsible for fighting would stay behind. Adam had notified them all that perhaps, that this was the first time they were going to see a monster of the horde. Ark had extensively told them to be prepared. Something in his gut told him that the monsters were not going to be easy.
When night fell, Ark’s predictions came true. He would never have believed that a monster which was originally found on the seventh floor of the Tower would be present there. Ark was sure that he would have to use the third technique. He was also sure that Adam would have to use his special ability. These monsters were not something one could take as a joke.
Like all days, Ark stood between the train tracks, there seemed to be something different. A thick fog permeated through the dark space. From the fog, a monstrous frog emerged. Its initial resemblance to an upright toad was quickly dispersed, as it reached out with a mass of long writhing tentacles. In the dark of the subway station, six eyes glowed balefully above its massive fissure of a mouth.
These monsters were typically found in the swampy regions of the seventh floor of the Tower. In popular culture, they were always called the tadpoles of Cthulhu. Partly because of its tentacles and partly because these monsters induced madness. Madness was a de-buff that slowly made the victim lose his sanity. Unfortunately for the tadpoles of the eldritch God, mental effects like Madness had little to no effect on Ark.
He would rather not remember the final fight with one of the Erased but when Ark compared that sensation with the current one, it almost felt like the tiniest pinprick of a syringe. Ark’s mind was broken over and over that day. He had still not recovered from that. He was sane enough now but someday very soon, he would probably snap. Now was not the time for that though. Being immune to the madness-inducing effect was only a solution to half of the problem.
The other problems came mainly from the long tentacles with razor-sharp edges and the jumping ability of the frogs. The jump of tadpole was so high that it could probably fly over the massive train in one single leap. Ark would have to be cautious all the time. There was a single thing that was good though. The number of monsters at an approximation seemed less than five hundred. Ark would deal with them.
To do that, he would have to get his hands dirty. Ark generally did not fight without a sword. For good reason too, he was terrible in hand-to-hand combat. But how could he be worse than a tadpole in hand-to-hand combat when the latter had no arms at all? The Third technique of Arkana, just like its predecessors required intense focus. Luckily for Ark, all he could do in the current moment was focus.
The essence of the third technique of the Arkana manipulation was causing blunt force damage to the insides. This was particularly useful for these monsters who had a tough exterior shells. Ark let go of his sword and increased the strength of his magic body strengthening to the max. Arkana flowed through his hands in a floral pattern now. Something he had learned from a Chinese grand master. He was the monk who fought mostly bare-handed. People he fought with were almost always incapacitated after they coughed up enough blood.
Ark ran in the middle of the group of monsters and began to do his work. With the rate he was going, he could probably finish it within twenty minutes or so. It was only when the monsters did not fight back but as with the ruthless scenarios, they did fight back. Unfortunately for them, the edges of the tentacles which lacerated his flesh did not feel much to Ark. He had already gone through trials much worse than that. His magic body strengthening negated most of the damage.
The tadpoles had no such damage resistance though and they quickly succumbed to Ark’s furious punches and thrusts to their bodies. Most of them did not even realize they were dead. Only their glowing eyes would look at Ark, some with contempt and some with confusion. The horde of monsters was going to be defeated soon. Something happened and one of the toads out of the five which were left jumped up. Ark could not reach it in time and it leapt up crossing over to the other side of the train.
Ark had prepared for this exact scenario though and strengthening his voice with Arkana, Ark shouted out to Adam to activate his special skill. Ark would have to be done with the four remaining sooner than he would have expected. He was pretty sure that the group of people who had stayed there to fight would only distract it. They had no chance of even hurting it with their blunt weapons.
Ark finished off the remaining four in what seemed like no time and rushed over to the opposite side of the train to see what was happening. Adam had a golden aura surrounding him and all the people who were inside the radius seemed to be completely invulnerable to the attacks of the tadpole of Cthulhu. It continuously lashed out with its tentacles in all possible directions but it seemed to have no effect.
Ark almost wanted to scream out that if no attacks seemed to work on them, the monster would probably change its direction. That seemed to be the exact thing that happened. What happened next shocked Ark. Adam’s invulnerable aura of protection seemed to waver for a split second. The monster who had seen it jumped with joy and began to attack the golden aura once again. This time too, with no effect at all. Ark had finally realized what was happening.
The group was constantly being protected and they were trying to divert all the aggro to themselves by clever use of Adam’s aura. Whoever had come up with that idea was a genius. Ark was pleasantly surprised but it was not the time for that. Ark quickly rushed over and after only a few punches and thrusts to the tadpoles' vital areas, the monster lay dead on the ground.
The golden aura that surrounded the people dissipated slowly. Adam smiled at Ark with all the energy he could muster up
“We fucking did it!” Someone cheered from the crowd of people. Ark did not have the energy to reciprocate the feeling. He was beyond exhausted. He smiled faintly at their response and turned back to go and sleep. As Ark lay down on the ground, blissful sleep overtook him. He knew he was safe when Adam was nearby. As Ark fell into a deep sleep, he realized and dreaded what the fifth horde of monsters was going to be.