Tilting his head to the side, so the sharp blades of an arachnid would cut through the air and not his head, Robert simultaneously thrusted with a conjured rapier. The endpoint penetrated the eye of the ugly creature, before growing from the inside with multiple spikes. The shrilling scream of the wounded demon was enough to replace a loud alarm for a small town, but not to shake Rob’s mind. All his focus was concentrated on the steel, or, precisely speaking, on its collapsing further turning into a devasting ball of energy.
It barely took a fraction of a second, when the first part was done, creating an empty gap inside the arachnid’s skull. However, the next part went astray. The tiny dot of a potential black hole flicked for a moment before simply disappearing. It still led to the energy outburst, exploding a part of the demon’s brain and killing it instantly, but it wasn’t even near to the needed effect.
Damn it!
Inwardly swearing, Robert gripped the disgusting remnants of the creature and pulled himself upwards in a single motion. Multiple sharp needles that covered the skin of the demon tried to pierce his palm only to fail miserably against steel plates. Raising into the air, Rob stepped on the back of the corpse before making another jump. The moment later the well-known ostrich landed right on the dead arachnid, crushing the ally in one go. The mixture of torn spider limbs, guts, and flame swept through the place, adding an impulse to Robert’s flying body.
Almost copying the move of the enemy, he ended his short air travel on the back of the last demon. The conjured spear with forcefully increased weight created a devastating strike, cracking the armor shell of the opponent. Unfortunately, only cracked as the creature with the appearance of a turtle had real thick protection over its huge body. Being no less aggressive than its animal’s variant, it had a toothy maw on the lizard’s head and six octopus-like limbs. Large and strong, they could easily carry the body of the heavy demon, while creating a real barrier with fast strikes when the turtle laid on the stomach. That was the reason why Rob tried to attack it from above. However, it was still not an easy solution to deal with such an enemy.
Despite the cracks, the shell withstood the heavy blow. Still, the force was enough to push the demon to the ground with a loud bang. Only because of his trained body acting on its own Rob wasn’t thrown from the demon’s back after the sudden movement of his “floor” right after the aftershock from the strike against a tough surface. Wildly swinging his arms, he created a few pillars to hold him on top. But such a mishap cost him precious time that was used by his enemy. Stopping the support of its heavy shell, the turtle raised all its flexible limbs into the air. In the next moment, Rob had to duck down to avoid his face being grabbed by a disgusting tentacle.
The barrage of chaotic and blind attacks didn’t stop on that. Timely deflecting several more hits with a small round shield, Robert managed to sever two limbs before the ostrich once again entered the scene. This time it wasn’t with a jump, but with a peck. Luckily, he saw an approaching figure within the periphery of his sight and slid from the shell before the lightning-fast strike would hit him. Dropping on the ground, Rob quickly hacked to the side, slashing the third tentacle with a giant curved sword. Trying to turn around, he felt another flexible limb wrapped around his belt, attempting to pierce his skin with multiple sharp claws.
The grinding sound showed that the bone failed against the steel, while the strength of the tentacle wasn’t enough to overpower the constantly repairing cuirass. Only Rob’s mental effort was keeping this protective gear in shape, preventing it from being crumpled under the demonic hug. Apparently, the creature understood it too, searching for another way to kill him and finding it immediately. Robert felt as if his body was raised high into the air. Creating a blade, he only tried to swing it, but the turtle appeared to be faster, copying the same move but with Rob in the role of a blade. Piercing the air with an unwitting scream, he made a few circles above the demon before being sent into flight… right onto the ostrich’s opened maw.
This time Rob didn’t hold back. Turning himself into a formless blob of heavy metal at the last moment, he simply smashed the enemy’s head into meat paste under the enormous weight. The sudden increase in the latter didn’t last long before the impact, taking less than a fraction of a second, so all the gained speed was there, creating a really devastating strike. Therefore, rolling through the beheaded remnants of the ostrich, Rob hastily stood up and turned around. Summoning a steel gun into his arm, he stretched his arm and aimed at the approaching turtle. After the loss of half of the limbs, the demonic creature could only crawl, giving enough time for Robert to use the skill.
Again, focus and just do it!
Concentrating on the metal, Rob physically felt his steel. It was always strange for him not only to sense the summoned constructs but also to be their source of creation. He simultaneously kept the image in his mind, while feeling the object like it was part of his own body. Therefore, the fact of the self-destruction of the conjured steel felt unsurprisingly disturbing. As if he was damaging himself to produce the needed effect. It took some time to notice it, to take it from the background of his mind just to deal with this self-restraint. Maybe it was the reason why the first phase of the process started to go smoothly without any failures. The problem was with the second part.
Robert knew that he wasn’t the one who did all the work. It was the same as with conjuring the steel – something that was deeply engraved in him akin to a basic instinct did the thing, while he only directed the flow. Both the Wepwakor and the System gave him new abilities, but it was his job to control them. And that he tried to do, focusing all his attention on the energy inside the tiny dot that was forming after the collapse of the matter. His mind gripped the “black hole” in a tight grasp, squeezing it further while attempting not to make any leaks in the process. The moment he felt he was nearing the boundaries of control; Rob released the energy. Instantly the dot started to grow in size. Turning into a white ball, the projectile was finishing its form.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Yes, yes… Oh, fuck, no!
Robert could swear the ball was almost ready when something went wrong. He even felt the sudden change before it was too late, helping to conjure a steel plate right between him and the disintegrated gun. In the next moment, the powerful explosion threw him backward, destroying his protective layer at once. Still, it took most of the damage, saving his life. The same couldn’t be said about the wounded demonic turtle, who took the bigger part of the unfocused blast. The shell managed to hold the attack, sacrificing its thickness and melting under devastating energy, but keeping the body underneath this natural defense uninjured. However, the head didn’t have the same level of protection. Moreover, the turtle was attempting to bite Robert, putting its own flesh right under the failed skill.
Therefore, when Rob stood up, lost in thoughts about what went wrong, the battle was already finished. Not that it meant anything to him as the similar confrontation was going to take place quite soon. Precisely speaking, in 28 minutes. The rate of the demon’s spawning wasn’t hard to deduct, having an indirect watch in the form of his experience points. Each half an hour another group of hellish creatures appeared in front of him, no matter how Robert was moving or staying in the same spot the whole time. Yes, the group, as a single enemy was replaced by a pair after ten battles. The same happened after another ten, again increasing the number by one.
And such a pattern scared Robert. It wasn’t a problem to fight with several opponents, but with such scaling, it would be just a matter of time before he would be overwhelmed by constantly growing numbers of enemies. Taking into account that each of them had the same 50 CP, the road to needed Combat Power was quite far from him. That was the reason why he used all available opportunities to learn “Energy Blast” by himself before the mistake or mishap would have life-threatening consequences.
But this time I was close. Really close. Soon I will do it.
Raising on his legs, Robert continued his exploration. Or better to say – aimless walking. Focused on training, he just moved in a random direction in an attempt to find anything. His reasoning was simple – the System was too greedy to spend so many resources solely on Rob. So, this had to be another floor for the challengers with a specific objective. The thick haze and timed attacks hinted that the goal had to be to find something or someone. At least it was how Robert perceived the situation. But it could be a survival test with ease, for all he knew.
He just hoped to find anything and to wander amid eternal demonic mist for ages without any food or water. The absence of a need for nutrition didn’t mean he was okay with it. On the contrary, after experiencing the life in past several worlds, Robert craved the boring food from the bunker. Part of him even wanted to meet the challengers, despite knowing the result of such a meeting and the cost of their deaths. Just anything to change the same scenery. It took another hour before the System answered his plead… with a new demon.
This one looked like a flying mosquito. Dog-sized mosquito. And with an ability to dive from the sky at an insane speed, aiming with a sharp and tough lance instead of the proboscis that was able to pierce even the steel. And obviously, the demon could conjure firebombs, dropping them from above. Everything fit the ugly appearance of a hellish insect that could cause multiple sleepless nights for any sane person. Luckily for Robert, he wasn’t the one.
As always, the fight didn’t last long. Rob didn’t try to experiment with his skill until finding out the whole arsenal of supernatural abilities of the new opponent. The System wasn’t very creative, clearly copying common versions of animals, creatures, or magic attacks before mixing it for own usage. However, that didn’t mean that her creations were not strong. Especially when they had a numerical advantage and had no restraints on suicidal attacks, no fear, no self-preservation. Their sole exitance was meant for killing.
Unfortunately, with each wave, Robert started to feel the same about his own purpose. Like he was the very same mindless monster. His life once again was a constant and endless struggle for survival in a non-changing environment. And once again his salvation appeared in concentrating on his training, be it an ability to use skill without shouting an activation command like an idiot from an anime, or increase in attributes, or a more straightforward raise in combat prowess through the experience.
With such dedication to the progress, the growth wasn’t strange. Rob didn’t have a mirror, but he knew his appearance didn’t change. Even his armor set only added the thickness to return the reason for its own existence. On the other hand, he was becoming stronger. Especially, when he started to invest in his Stats. Raising his Reaction to 50, he balanced it with 25 points of Coordination, finding no need to go further. The next and most obvious choice was Intelligence and Perception. The huge jump from 32 to 50 in the formed eased the control over his “Energy Blast”, finally giving him what he needed. On the other hand, the latter was stopped at 30 points, when he felt both his mind and senses were working in perfect synchronization.
A single point in Wisdom didn’t show any difference. Even an attempt to balance his Speed aka explosive strength with Strength itself didn’t give him noticeable power up. Therefore, it left him with what he thought was the best choice for the long run – Toughness. Not only it could help to neglect the aftermath damage from the big versions of “Energy Blast”, but also the key point of his survival. With more enemies coming for his life, it took more time to kill them all, shortening the pauses between the battles. Robert was sure that at some point it would turn into an endless fight with no ability to recover. So he had to be resilient enough to withstand wounds.
It almost copied his cycle in the chamber where he fought and trained without long pauses. However, by the point when Rob had to meet with six foes simultaneously, another change occurred. He was in the process of smashing the last demon with a giant pickaxe. The enemy, the very same turtle, had already lost all its limbs. Its futile tries to stretch its neck in an attempt to bite him were ignored as Robert was going to make another test to evaluate the destructive potential of his skill. However, before he managed to strike the hellish creature, his eyes caught a strange glimpse of blue light.
Rob almost disregarded it as if it wasn’t real when his mind finally processed the picture. Turning his head to the source, he confirmed that it wasn’t just a play of his imagination. Hastily ending the demon’s suffering, Robert jumped down and sprinted only to stop several seconds later when the haze in front of his suddenly disappeared, opening an odd view.
An altar? Here? Oh, so this might be the reason for the floor’s existence.