Watching how the group of challengers had run into the haze with scared yells, Robert switched his attention to the newly appeared creature. The demon looked like a bull with multiple spiked tails and a sick love of training under steroids. The muscles of the hellish animal were so huge and defined that it seemed that its dark red skin was paper thin. The toothy maw of the demonic cow, on the other hand, was anything special, being like a default setting for the habitants of this artificial realm.
And it wasn’t the first time Rob met this enemy, so he didn’t need to observe anything. On the contrary, he simply stood in the place, waiting to meet the creature head-on. The conjured shield in front of him under the increase of the weight created a real wall. The wall, shook a moment later when the bull’s body smashed into it. The creature roared with anger, unable to move the obstacle, and pushed once more. Rob only added even more steel to counter it, focusing on his senses. The instant the push decreased its intensity as if the enemy was preparing for the next strike, Robert acted.
Quickly dispersing the steel, he gripped the horny head of the bull before twisting it to the side. Summoning the construct to power his move with the strength of gravity, he dropped the giant demon to the ground before planting the knee right into the neck of the creature. The conjured spike was already there, ready to penetrate the weak spot of the enemy. And the moment it entered the flesh of the bull, it vanished, being replaced by a devastating blast of energy. The second later, after the final convulsion, the demon froze forever.
Standing up and looking in the direction where the challengers disappeared, Rob recalled the face of the girl he saw. She wasn’t mouth-opening beautiful. More like cute, despite being dressed in full plate armor with multiple scratches and dents. Not some kind of fantasy one with an armored bra, but a real breastplate that hid any signs of the gender, leaving only the face visible. Young, it was covered with sweat and had no make-up, boasting only with youth. Still, it was enough for him to push his imagination in an odd direction, taking into account where he currently was.
Yep, forceful celibacy is awful. And even you can’t ruin this sudden boner.
Turning to the dome, filled with ugly demonic creatures, Robert sincerely sighed. The inappropriate reaction to just meeting a pretty girl was quite shocking, literally shouting that something was going bad in his life. That only intensified the desire to get out of the Tower and to travel to the normal realm with the possibility of having an everyday shower, a proper bed, and maybe even a chance to meet a girl. Or two. Rob wasn’t going for any serious relationship after Beth, but if the girl didn’t mind having just sex without any obligations, it would be perfect for him. No matter how broken or murderous he had become, the agreement from the other side was a must.
So, let’s quicken it then. I think there is no place left for newcomers. Yes, let’s do it now!
Deciding that it was time, Rob hastily repeated his process of climbing, using a ladder. Reaching the top, he grabbed an invisible edge and made a few hooks to keep him there without the need to use his hands. Doing it, his mind was occupied by going through his plan and checking if everything was ready. Despite having spare experience points, Robert used them only on Toughness. To his utter disappointment, the System had a hidden limit in attribute – exactly 100 points – after which it just refused to improve it. Such stat allocation still raised his CP to the 175 but nowhere near the aimed number. However, this fact was going to change soon.
Glancing at the tightly fitted horde of demons that were constantly roaring, growling, and hissing, Robert only smiled. Adjusting his position for better holding, he started to conjure. His weapon of choice looked like a replica of a huge anti-tank missile launcher. Made from steel, it carried only a remote resemblance to the real military gear. Not that it mattered much as there was no difference in what form to turn into an energy strike. However, Rob only started to get the feeling of control over the raging mana, so such pointy constructs helped him to aim properly. And this type had enough volume to create a really big ball.
The moment later he felt a backlash washing over his body as if each of his pain receptors were triggered simultaneously. The uncomfortable sensation disappeared in a second, but at this point, Robert was quite acquainted with it. Instead, all his attention was focused on the projectile. The latter was already flying forward, almost immediately hiding between the bodies of the demons. Or better to say – inside the bodies. The glowing white ball pierced their flesh, bone, and meat as a hot knife through butter, not noticing any resistance. It felt like there was no difference between air and the demons.
Traveling through the whole area, the projectile reached the other side of the invisible shield only to bounce back without any loss of energy. Reflecting under the angle, it changed its trajectory and penetrated several more enemies before finally using all charge and vanishing from existence together with the corpses of already dead demons. However, the new one was already repeating the process, this time choosing a slightly different route. As if understanding an unavoidable outcome, the hellish horde produced a blood-curdling scream. It was so loud and deafening that Rob had to create earplugs just to endure it… before proceeding to shoot more projectiles.
Now this is what I call farming!
The aftermath of the multiple-skill usage started to accumulate, but Robert never stopped, watching how the number of demons was quickly decreasing. Not every ball managed to kill its target. Still, the wounded were not safe inside such an environment as in an attempt to protect themselves from the barrage of the attacks, demons started to use their own magical skills, producing even more chaos. The ostrich’s jumps, the mosquito’s firebombs, the wild swing of the turtle – everything only added more casualties, making Rob’s smile wider.
The scene reminded him of his own experience of using the machine gun inside the trench. Not the whole situation, when the beastfolks started to return fire, but the first seconds where he could literally send a rain of bullets against the enemies without any worries. Almost, as the constant damage to his body started to take its toll, making him prolong the pauses between the shoots. Still, the anxiety waiting of for the System’s answer to his cheating made Robert endure the pain, conjuring the energy attacks one after another.
He didn’t know how long it lasted as the concept of time had completely vanished from his mind, leaving only the concentration on the collapsing matter that had to be turned into a sphere of devastating energy before flying into the nearest demon. There was a stream of blood coming from his nostrils in the background, but his tunneled vision barely registered anything. He even ignored the hundreds of notifications with experience gained, not wishing to be distracted and to lose his best shot to get the needed number. Something deep inside him knew that there would be a problem. A mishap. A true confirmation of his surname – Flop – would ruin everything, so he had to use the moment to fullness. And Robert was right about it but was mistaken about the source. It wasn’t the System, but him.
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As more shots were made, the densely packed horde of the demons started to drop their level inside an improvised jar, so Rob had to lower the aim. One of the sent projectiles bounced back on an unexpected angle, heading directly to the center of the area where the altar was located. Precisely speaking, it went slightly above it, meeting with the floating ball of bluish light in the process. The following explosion was instantaneous, evaporating everything inside the transparent dome.
For Robert, it happened so suddenly that his mind failed to register it properly. One moment he was concentrating on the creation, while in the next the blinding light enveloped the surroundings. It was so intense that the sensation of his own flight caught up with him after a noticeable delay. The impact almost sent him into the darkness when his unprepared body crashed into the surface. The sand partly decreased the force of the hit, but not to the level that he could simply shrug it off. In fact, it took a whole five minutes to gather his thoughts through the overwhelming pain that was spread across his beaten-up body.
What the fuck had just happened?
A single glance towards the area with the previously located altar was enough to understand the situation. The deep crater instead of the magic place was quite self-explanatory. Another was a blinking notification that tried to hammer inside his mind with bloody red letters. However, Rob was neither in the mood nor in the state to read attentively. Spending a fraction of a second to catch such words as a “guardian of the portal”, “final challenge” and “punishment from Hell”, he dismissed the text before dropping down to the ground.
Surprisingly, the tough surface felt like a perfect bed. Maybe it was because his body made an anatomic deepening, comfortably hugging his back, not even missing a single spot. Or maybe it was because he felt like after the first marathon in life with no prior experience in running that was immediately celebrated by a party with barrels of alcohol, so now he had to endure both hangovers with a sore body. Rob didn’t have any broken bones or opened wounds. Instead, backlash and shockwave seemed to turn his viscera into pulp. Of course, it was only a sensation and not a real thing. In another case, he would be already dead.
Still, I feel like a shit. And not an ordinary shit but from diarrhea… From boner to this – what a wonderful day.
The popping-up notification reminded him about the timer until the final battle, but Rob simply lay there. Focusing on his mana, he tried to push it, attempting to create a flow inside his body, so it would heal further. It wasn’t going well, but still eased the feeling of pain. Five minutes before the end of the countdown he finally remembered about the experience points. The short checkup told him that he had a lot. Really a lot.
Unfortunately, having another fight in mere minutes, Robert wasn’t going to risk. Therefore, spending another second on looking at his easy way to a pretty appearance, he crossed out it with a mental sigh. The same went with Wisdom, as unknown properties were not something he wanted to bet on in current circumstances. Then he started his allocation. Not having enough time to find a perfect balance, Rob just maxed Intelligence and Reaction, adjusted Coordination and Perception, while dumping the rest into Strength.
Robert Flop (Mysterious Uprising Demon)
Combat Power: 250
Experience: unavailable
Mana: -/- [+5 mana per second]
Title: The Transcendent Tower’s Guardian
Class: Transcendent
Might - 65 [STR 99, SPD 96, END -]
Agility - 52 [CRD 50, FLXB 6, RCT 100]
Body – 50 [VIT -, TOU 100]
Mind – 55 [PRC 52, INT 100, WIS 13]
Magic - 0 [PWR -, SPRT -]
Personality - 8 [CHA 7, CUNN 9]
Skills (2/2):
1. Master of Steel [Rank 1 MAX]
2. Energy Burst [Rank 1 MAX]
This time Robert felt a surge in power. It was almost like an electric shock that shook him from the inside, connecting him to the pipe with flowing energy that started to fuel every single cell. For a moment he was lost in this hurricane, completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of everything that was coming into him. As if there were more oxygen in the air, more mana from Aether, more information from the surroundings, and more blood inside his veins. This sensation almost flooded his mind, halting all processes until he could grasp the control again. Moreover, there was another bonus of it.
Healing from level-up! Oh yeah! Finally a cheat! So, where is my achievement for surviving with 1% of my life? Okay, okay it wasn’t really a 1 %, but without a health bar how do you know?
The warm wave that washed over his body felt like a gentle breeze, giving a sensation of comfort, calmness, and happiness, instantly raised his mood. The moment later Rob followed an example, jumping on his feet and heading towards the apocalyptic consequences of his shooting from the cheating spot. Smiling and whistling, he was curious to see everything in detail. However, an attempt to dive into the crater was stopped by the invisible wall. Having no visible marks from the destructive explosion, it gave a small understanding of how strong it was if Rob, even after all his improvements, couldn’t deal with just a part of the shockwave.
Knocking on the surface of the force shield and feeling the same repulsion, Robert smiled wryly, inwardly thanking his dumb luck. Checking his surroundings, he leaned on the protective layer, patiently waiting for the fight. When the countdown decreased to one minute, Rob felt the tremble. Constantly growing in power, it soon turned into a real earthquake, with the epicenter inside the transparent dome. Soon he knew why.
An enormous, clawed palm ripped the surface from beneath, creating a torrent of flame. The second followed in a few breaths, before the owner started to unbury himself, slowly showing its own giant body. Sending dust and pieces of sand into the air, it managed to cover itself from the curious look of Rob. And when the natural veil only started to fall, the invisible shield suddenly disappeared with a loud pop. An air burst pushed Robert backward, clearly trying to throw him into flight, but he was faster, conjuring a heavy shield to stay in his place. That obstructed his sight, so the creature managed to rise to full height.
The tall figure with three suns behind created a formless silhouette with no details. Squinting his eyes, Rob tried to see the details, but apart from the humanoid-like figure he couldn’t tell much. Not that it bothered him at all. Widely grinning in anticipation after checking the name of the enemy that sounded like a “Primordial Demonic Behemoth” and its one thousand points in Combat Power, Robert had a simple thought.
That would be a real challenge. Nice! So, Rob against a giant fucker. Round 1… Wait, wait, wait, it’s 2. Does the giant lizard count towards this number or not? Technically, it was also a giant fucker… Wait, nope. It could be female, so it’s sexism to call it a fucker. However, the lizard is not a human… For the fuck’s sake, go!