Atlas faced off against the boar, fists held out in front of himself. The boar snorted, shaking its twin tusks at him. “Come at me bub.” Atlas huffed at it, deciding to fully commit to this fight to the death.

They started to circle each other, like something straight out of a movie. The boar was definitely more intelligent than the boars back on earth, that was for sure. It was waiting for Atlas to make the first move.

So he did.

Atlas lunged forward with a Weakening Punch, but the boar sidestepped, and the punch missed. Atlas was caught off guard, and he tried to pull back.

The boar was ready for him, however, and it swung its tusks, lashing out at Atlas and leaving a gash on his side. Atlas screamed in pain, clutching his side as blood seeped out.

Grunting in pain, he slammed his fist into the Boar, and the boar shrieked in pain as it was hit with the skill that coated Atlas’s hand.

Grinning, Atlas lashed out again, scoring another gray wound on the boar side. The boar roared, swinging its head and slamming the side of its tusk into Atlas’s abdomen.

Atlas coughed, more blood spilling from the wound in his side. This was not going well for him. Atlas covered both of his fists with his skill, and started to release a flurry of blows on the boar’s skull.

It shrieked in pain as each punch left a deeper mark than the last, and it tossed its head, sending Atlas flying.

His arms pinwheeled, trying to slow himself down, but it was all in vain. Atlas felt a *snap!* and he hit a tree. He wasn’t sure if it was a tree branch or his ribs, but his chest throbbed in pain, so it was probably the latter.

Atlas collapsed on the ground, writhing in pain. As he struggled to pick himself up, he heard the sound of feet? hooves? thudding against the forest floor.

Scrambling up, Atlas came face to face with the boar, only to be run through a second later. The tusk ripped through his stomach, going through his body and out his back, before slamming into the tree behind him.

Atlas tried to scream in pain, but found that he couldn’t. Not having anything else to do, he started to punch at the boar's eyes, too blinded by pain to use his skill, let alone even think.

The boar squealed as Atlas’s fist slammed into its eye, popping it with a sound akin to popping a grape. It tried to pull out from the tree but Atlas’s other fist slammed into its other eye, rendering it incapable of sight for the rest of its (hopefully short) life.

It writhed feebly, struggling to free itself from the tree's grasp. It struggled in vain, and Atlas continued to rain blows on its skull. Trying to hit the places where his skill had already started to decay the flesh, making his punches much more powerful.

After a few more moments of bloody beatdown, the boar collapsed with a final squeal.

Atlas let out a ragged breath, feeling blood poor from all of his wounds. If this fight had been before he got all of his stats, he would have been a goner way sooner. The only reason he was still alive was because of his high constitution, but Atlas vowed to put more points into that stat from now on, it would pay off.

He grabbed the boar, heaving it both off and out of him. As he did, fresh blood poured out of his stomach and Atlas’s vision started to waver. He was losing a lot of blood, and even his newly raised stats weren’t helping all that much.

That was when he was hit with a ton of notifications.

LEVEL UP!!! X6

You can now choose your subclass!

You are now the highest level player from your world! +1 to all stats.

Atlas glanced impassively at the screen, feeling a violent tingling sensation as white light covered him once again. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the pain to fade. The bigger the jump in stats, the more painful it was. It didn’t help that he was also bleeding to death as well.

It wasn’t all that surprising that he was the highest leveled, the only people who could really compete with him were in Hell and Nightmare difficulties.

He felt a little better after he was cleansed in the white light, but ultimately, he was still going to bleed to death. Even after dumping all of his extra stats into constitution, he still felt light headed.

That was when he noticed the subclass option in his status. This might be his only chance at survival. Something with healing, please. Atlas prayed to whatever entity was listening.

Clicking on it, he hoped for the best. He felt a whirling sensation and he appeared in the void once more. It was starting to get exhausting how much he visited this place, he hoped that this wouldn’t be a trend.

Champion: You are a master of a chosen discipline. This can be anything; from a weapon, to a skill. This is for someone who doesn't want to think too hard and just be perfect at one, singular 'thing'. Make sure it's something that'll keep you alive! +1 STR or + 1 CON per level.

Glass Cannon: Look at you, choosing the objectively best class. The best defense is a good offense, personified. Can't be hurt if your enemies are wiped from existence! +2 STR, -1 CON per level.

Destroyer: You are the 'edgelord' who wants to be a dark, brooding figure that ruins all they touch. This is certainly for a specific type of personality...I wouldn't choose it, but you do you. +1 STR or +1 DEX per level.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Life Stealer: Most people have life, and that includes you. You are just a jerk who likes to steal their life. How rude, don’t you know that they worked hard for that life? +1 INT or WIS per level.

In case you were wondering, yes, most of these are the same class options as when you were getting your main class. I can be lazy, I’m a god like figure, deal with it. Also, USUALLY whenever you enter the void, all of your wounds are healed, but because you are in impossible, that won’t be happening. Bye bye now!

Atlas sighed, there was only one real option here, even if he would much rather have the Destroyer subclass. So with regret in his heart, he chose Life Stealer.

Skill gained! Weak Lifesteal: B grade. Whenever you defeat an opponent, you can take up to 2% of their life force. This adds onto your own lifeforce.

Atlas released a shaky breath, with this, he might be able to survive. In a blur of motion, he was sitting against the now bloody tree.

He stood up slowly, making sure not to lose too much blood in the process. Grabbing the tree so as to not fall over, he glanced around, spotting the giant final boss in the distance.

He held onto his stomach and side, trying to keep his insides inside of him, where they were supposed to be. They weren’t getting the memo it seemed, as blood continued to spurt out of his wounds.

Gritting his teeth, he reached down, grabbing the boar and using his new power. His hand turned a bright green and the boar seemed to flicker for a moment, before disappearing in a flash of green and white light.

Green light climbed up Atlas’s arm, going into his stomach and side, sealing them closed. Atlas felt as though he could finally breathe. He took a deep breath before coughing, wet blood splattering on the ground.

It looked like taking the boar's life force hadn’t completely restored him, only his outer wounds. Now Atlas was worried about internal bleeding.

He grit his teeth, before slumping and lying on the ground. This was stupid, why was it so hard to stay alive? In the modern world, it was easy, just have a decent job and viola! You can live (somewhat) easily.

Snorting, Atlas wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, warm blood coming away. He vowed he would survive this mess, but those chances were slowly getting dimmer as time went on.

He still wouldn’t give up yet though, he had so much more to live for, and so much of this world to explore. Grabbing the tree he raised himself up, wincing slightly as he felt something in his stomach pinch, sending pain throughout his entire body.

Glancing at the sky, he noticed that the sun was starting to droop, he would need to get someplace to sleep before long, might as well start now. He started to shuffle away, looking for any place that he could call home for the next who knows how long.

***

Atlas wandered for hours, coming across a couple more boars but avoiding them. He wasn’t ready to face another one of those demons just yet. Or anything for that matter.

After hours of searching, he had come across a frightening sight.

He had been walking through the trees, having just escaped another boar, when he had the urge to look down. As he did, he froze terrified out of his mind.

The trees simply… ended. So did everything else. There was nothing but empty space as far as the eye could see. It was then that Atlas realized that he was on a floating island. There was no way out except by killing the final boss.

As Atlas looked closer he also realized that the island was slowly vanishing. It was not to a large degree, but it was almost like a battle royal. The island was slowly closing into the middle of the island, and he would be forced to battle the final boss or fall off.

He turned and ran. Whatever happened, he did not want to be close to what was effectively the edge of the world.

After a couple minutes of running, Atlas was forced to stop. His side was killing him. His internal wounds weren’t getting any better. In fact, they seemed to be slowly getting worse.

He sat on the forest floor, feeling defeated. No matter what he did, his condition was only growing worse, it wouldn’t be long before he was back to square one, bleeding out under the warm embrace of a tree.

He had to take action. He would have to hunt another of those wild beasts. This time however, he would run into the fight not knowing what to expect. His last fight had been a brutal beatdown, he didn’t know if he could survive another one of those. So he would have to fight smarter, not harder.

… That felt so cliche when he thought about it. Oh well, it was still true.

Glancing at the sky again, he only had about an hour or so before dark. And who knew what would happen if he was out in the dark with all of the shenanigans that had been going on.

He set to work.

***

After almost an hour of work, Atlas was ready for anything. Well, almost anything. He would stand no chance against the final boss, but it was the effort that mattered.

Right?

He was in a tree overlooking a small clearing in the middle of the woods. There was a suspicious amount of leaves and branches on the ground, but Atlas hoped that the boars wouldn’t pay too much attention to small details like that.

Stilling his beating heart with a steady breath, Atlas yelled at the top of his lungs, he had waited for the Final boss to go further away before starting his plan, otherwise it would be him getting eaten, not a boar.

Atlas waited with bated breath, hoping for a boar to come so that he wouldn’t have to expose himself. After a few long minutes of waiting, Atlas steeled himself for another shout.

Just as he was about to yell again however, he heard something moving. Holding himself very still, he watched as a large form entered the clearing, raising its head and sniffing loudly.

It was starting to get dark, but even so, Atlas could tell that wasn’t the boar he had wanted to catch.

Reading its tag, Atlas’s blood ran cold.

Dread Boar Lord: Skar

Lvl: 50

You have encountered a Mini Boss of Impossible difficulty! When you kill it, you will unlock another one of your skills, and get other rewards. Be wary though, as a Mini Boss is no weakling, it is a foe that you might struggle to face with your current powers. Consider leveling up a bit before fighting it.

“Oh no.” Atlas whispered, so quiet that he practically mouthed it.