[Your story is being enriched]
It was the last notification that really made Ark happy. The stories were important aspects of life in the tower. It was the stories themselves which determined how powerful someone was in the Tower. As Ark thought about the notification, another rang out almost immediately.
[You have leveled up 6 times]
It was another worthless notification. Ark still couldn't access his status page, so telling him that he had leveled up was akin to someone handing him a flower to fight a bunch of monsters. Ark thought that maybe it was the very same reason the notification was the last in line. The other thing Ark was excited about other than his enriched story was the number of coins. The first scenario was really a place to earn obscene amounts of money easily.
Ark looked back, away from the scene of his slaughter to the road where the Dustbroods were slowly starting to converge. The Dustbroods were perpetually confused but the people might have been amazed by his performance. Ark’s slaughter of the fiends was the only reason there was not a single casualty in the last ten minutes. But now, the respite that Ark had brought the people was lost. They had to survive themselves without relying on others.
Ark went ahead to kill a few more of the Dustbroods but that was when another universal notification pinged everyone. This was going to complicate things. For the first scenario, Ark had planned everything out. What he was going to and how he was going to do it. This notification threw a wrench into his plans.
[Someone has killed 500 Monsters within ten minutes]
[Difficulty of the scenario is being adjusted accordingly]
Ark looked back at the converging Dustbroods in horror. Their speeds seemed to have increased slightly. The fact that their speed had increased was not a course of concern for Ark himself. Even with their current speed, they would still be slaughtered. But that was only for Ark himself, what would happen to the rest of the people who were fighting for their lives?
Ark had achieved a legendary feat. The difficulty of the scenario had been adjusted to match that. Even if their speed increased slightly, their momentum would slightly increase but there was something that was concerning. Was the number of Dustbroods increasing? Something sinister was underway. Ark already knew that Dustbroods were mindless entities, created only to act as fodder. The keyword being created…perhaps a dungeon of Dustbrood had spawned somewhere…is that why the number of Dustbroods was increasing one by one?
If Ark didn’t clear the dungeon in time, this area would be swarming with Dustbroods. It would not even take them three minutes to wipe out every single human in the area. Ark could probably last for the entire first scenario but he would be seriously wounded. The main question was where the dungeon really was.
Ark focused inwards. There should be some clue at least. Dustbroods themselves were non magical entities which meant they did not have a single speck of Arkana inside them. Earth herself was devoid of any Arkana. It was a good thing too as Ark could pinpoint exactly where the Dungeon was by focusing on the Arkana. It was easy enough for Ark who had lived inside the tower for over a century to find the traces of Arkana.
There was something concerning though…Four traces of Arkana came from four different directions. Any one of the traces could probably be the dungeon. Ark looked at the people who were being attacked by the Dustbroods and thought about his choices. He had to make a decision. He could go help them or he could go and defeat the Dungeon boss. The dungeon would probably kill all of the humans here anyway if he didn’t clear it in time. The question was, what would he decide? Ark looked at the person who got killed by a Dustbrood and made a decision. Ark ran and he could only hope that he did not regret it.
[You have made a choice]
[Your story has completed its beginning]
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The man in the blue robes had cleared one of the roads by himself. That gave the people confidence. They had seen a single man slaughter almost a hundred of those beasts by himself. They all thought of the same thing, the hell they were in was beatable.
There was strength in numbers and the people gathered here would surely be able to fend off the monsters and survive for twenty minutes. The system itself had given them a weapon to protect themselves but they knew that they could do better. One of the men, the owner of the hardware store had graciously supplied them with knives and hammers. Everybody had the same thought, what use was money when the apocalypse itself had come to take away your life?
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They grouped together backs pressed against each other covering every single direction. The women and children were already safe and barricaded in many of the abandoned buildings. It was a relief that those monsters could not fly. Some of them had also occupied Timmy’s Bar as a safe point where no monster could enter. The System had given them a task and they would try their damned best to fight them off and survive.
It was now time for the men to attack. They had little doubt that the monsters would be able to do anything to them. They had seen a single man slaughter them after all. One brave man rushed forward swinging his cleaver in a wide crescent arc but the knife never connected. Instead, the Dustbrood had jumped up at the exact moment, its long arms propelling itself and landing on the face of the man.
The man fell backwards down on the ground and screamed faced with a monster for the first time in his life. The Dustbrood provided the man no respite as it bit his face off. The man lay dead on the ground under a pool of blood as the group of Dustbrood looked at the others. The same fate was met by an unknown man who had drifted too far away from the group in a moment of panic. As soon as a weak spot was found, the Dustbrood jumped at the chance.
The bald man screamed as his harrowing voice resonated through the silent street. Those sadistic Dustbroods were not content with just that. One of their long arms extended in a jerking motion as it tore away the man’s tongue straight out of his throat. As if fascinated by its own discovery of human flesh, the Dustbrood stared at the tongue for a very long time. The bald man was still not dead. He could only hope that the Dustbroods would kill him. The blood loss was a factor in itself but could anyone ever bear through this excruciating amount of pain?
The Dustbrood that was sitting on the man’s chest smiled as its jaw unhinged in an unnatural manner. It was almost like it could feel the pain. It was rejoicing in it. No one dared get close to the man lest they got hurt too. It pained them, it was certain but the fear of death far outweighed their moment of humanity.
The man finally met his end as jagged teeth dug into his brain and the Dustbrood let out a shrill scream. This was probably what laughter was like in their own twisted language. It looked at the rest of the people and smiled, blood and viscera still sticking out of its hundred or so teeth. The mission for survival was probably going to be a failure.
There is bravery beyond belief and then there is foolishness. It was the hardware store owner who went ahead, away from the group to avenge his son, tears blinking away from sadness and loss. He was cautious in his step and nimble on his feet. The Dustbrood jumped again in joy, eagerly awaiting its new prey but this time the man was prepared. Just as the Dustbrood leaped up into the air, the man dodged at the last instant. Gravity did its job and now the Dustbrood lay on the ground.
The man would take his revenge. The sledge hammer that resided in his hands looked menacing to the little monsters. Just as it had no mercy in killing its human prey, the father too had decided to avenge his fallen son. The man continued to pound, over and over again until all that was left of the Dustbrood were dust and ashes. The man had exacted vengeance and now he could die peacefully. He welcomed the horde of Dustbrood which leapt at him buying precious time for the group to escape.
The people of the city still had to endure this hellscape. This was when even more terrible news struck. The one they had thought their messiah, the man with the blue robes was their demise. He had killed so many of those beasts in such a short amount of time that the difficulty was being adjusted. The men had lost any hope of surviving. It was futile after all. A grown man could not deal with a single Dustbrood. What hope did they have?
“Guys! Are the monsters increasing in number?” And sure enough, the statement turned out to be true. The speeds of the monsters had increased and now they were increasing in number too. The Dustbrood continued to pile up and one of the brave ones leapt at one of the guys closest to the vanguard position. It was going to be an immediate death. It was that man’s only consolation.
Instead, what happened was beyond their understanding. The head of the Dustbrood lay on the ground separated from the main body. The man looked about and sure enough, most of the Dustbroods had met the same fate. The man with the blue robes had come to their rescue.
Many Dustbroods were spawning in front of them but the ones who were immediately in front of them had all died. All except one. Separated from its brethren the monster looked dumb and remained motionless. The man who had cleared every monster slowly went up towards it and brought it back to them.
“Please observe…” The man muttered and everyone peered closer. Perhaps this was going to be a secret that was going to help them. The shiny sword that was in the man’s head, slowly and carefully cut out the head of the Dustbrood. The people in the group finally realized how the man had been able to pull off such an impossible feat. It was nothing but technique. Suddenly a hundred knives in pristine condition lay on the ground.
“I shall demonstrate once more. Please use these knives from now on” The man’s voice was still soft and yet it contained an aura of command. They were mesmerized by it hooked onto every action he did. He had come to save them after all. More Dustbroods were killed slowly and more Dustbroods appeared in their place but this time the men in the group were not helpless as before. They had each killed one of the monsters by now, following the man’s technique as best as they could. They were confident about their chances.
With a final farewell to the men in the group, Ark left to find the hidden dungeon from which all the monsters were spawning. Hopefully, the men would be able to survive till then.