Liam felt the heat coming off him as he walked down the corridor. That last room really made him mad.
“God damn stupid ass room,” Liam muttered. “I swear if I ever find the one who made that room, I will punch them so hard they’ll regret doing that.”
Liam stopped and took a deep breath in. He knew it was pointless getting upset. There’s no way he’d find the one responsible if it was even made by a person.
Once when he calmed down, he proceeded to the next room.
As he entered the room, he noticed the length of it looked to be about fifty yards, but Liam couldn’t tell.
There were three line running down the floor of the room, separating it into four evened sections. Sitting at the end of the room closest to Liam were four brown bags. Each bag had a number from one to four, in front of them on the floor and from left to right. At the other end was a closed door. Yooperlite stones gave the room enough lighting but not a lot.
“Hm,” Liam said as he approached the first bag close to him. “What’s going on here?”
He opened it to see small daggers resting inside.
He went to the next bag and saw the same thing.
The third and fourth bags also had small daggers in them.
“What am I supposed to do with these?” Liam asked with a puzzling expression.
As he pondered on what to do, something caught the corner of his eyes. As he turned to see what it was, Liam’s brows furrowed.
Four black portals appeared within each of the four sections on the other side of the room.
As Liam squinted to get a better look, something emerged from the portal within the second section.
It was a greenish-grey hand. As the arm started to come out, Liam noticed some of the flesh was missing. As the rest of the body came out, Liam knew what it was.
It was a fucking zombie.
Liam assessed the creature as it slowly walked down the second lane towards him.
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“Rotted Zombie. 25/25 HP. 0/0 MP.”
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Liam’s right brow rose as he stared at it. “Are you serious?”
Liam walked to the bag resting in the second row. He grabbed a dagger from the bag and looked at the zombie who was now twenty yards away.
He aimed for the zombie and tossed the dagger. He watched as the dagger flew towards it and sunk into its chest.
A notification appeared after hitting the creature.
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“Dagger hit Rotted Zombie for 10 damage.”
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“It’s been a while since I’ve seen this,” Liam stated. “Ten damage huh?”
He grabbed another dagger and threw it at the zombie.
As the second dagger hit the zombie in the chest again, the creature let out a pained groan before falling to the ground.
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“You have hit Rotted Zombie for 15 damage.”
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The Rotted Zombie suddenly disappeared as the two daggers he threw laid on the ground.
Still confused with what was going on, Liam watched the other side of the room and waited.
He didn’t have to wait for long as two more Rotted Zombies appeared. One in the first lane and the other in the fourth.
Liam walked over to the bag in the first row and grabbed a dagger. He aimed for it and tossed the dagger.
The dagger flew and sunk into the arm of the Zombie.
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“Dagger hit Rotted Zombie for 5 damage.”
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“What!” Liam protested. “Only five damage?”
As Liam grabbed another dagger from the bag and aimed at the creature he thought to himself, If I had to guess, each body part that is struck receives different amounts of damage. If that’s the case, then how much does the head receive?
Liam locked in on the Zombie’s head, lowered his stance, pulled his arm back, and then released as hard as he could.
The dagger soared swiftly at the Zombie and plunged right into its head.
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“Dagger hit Rotted Zombie for 25 damage.”
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“Bingo,” Liam smiled before looking at the other zombie.
The Zombie in the fourth lane had just reached the twenty yard area, making Liam jog over there.
He grabbed a dagger from the bag, aimed, and threw as hard as he could.
The dagger swiftly sunk into the Zombie’s head, making it fall to the ground.
“Hell yeah!” Liam shouted.
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“Dagger hit Zombie for 27 damage.”
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“Twenty seven damage huh?” Liam said as he looked at the portals.
Three more Zombies emerged. One in the second, third and fourth lanes.
Since Liam was already in front of the fourth lane, he decided to go for that zombie.
Feeling good about how it was going, Liam grabbed the dagger from the bag and threw it without aiming properly.
The dagger flew, but missed the zombie as it went too far to the right and slammed against the wall.
Liam stared at it.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Liam muttered as he grabbed another dagger, “No one saw that.”
Liam took his time aiming properly as he threw each dagger at the Zombies.
After the last zombie fell, Liam got a feel for what this trial was challenging. It felt like it was challenging his power and fine motor sub-stats.
He was having fun taking down Zombies from one end of the room by throwing daggers at them. However, a thought occurred as he waited for the next set of Zombies.
Doing this reminds me of a certain mobile game I used to play. Liam thought. The thought nagged at him for a brief moment before he shouted, “Am I seriously the plant against these zombies in this trail!”
As he shouted this a new notification appeared.
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“First wave completed. Second wave starts in ten seconds. Caution: More Zombies will appear faster.”
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“I am, aren’t I!” Liam complained as he watched the daggers suddenly disappear and reappear in the bags.
“Well at least they replenish each wave,” Liam grumbled. “Do I at least get some cool things to use besides daggers?”
Before Liam could say anything else, four zombies entered the room from each portal.
“Oh, come on! How is that fair?!” Liam shouted.
As Liam pulled out a dagger from the number two bag, something shone up on the ceiling.
Liam took a look at it and saw a red stone hanging from a thin rope. It was positioned above the third lane and a bit farther up from the zombies.
Coming up with a theory and wanting to test it out, Liam aimed while waiting for the Zombies to get into range under the stone. Once when they lined up and were right under it, Liam tossed the dagger, but missed the rope.
“Damn it,” Liam whispered as he got another dagger, aimed and threw it once more.
This time the dagger cut through the rope and dropped the stone right behind the Zombie.
The stone shattered, revealing it was a fragile crystal instead of a stone and shot a jet of fire across all four lanes, catching the zombies on fire.
After two seconds had passed, all four zombies dropped to the ground, leaving a small bit of fire where they died.
“Ok, I won’t complain anymore,” Liam grinned. “That was cool.”
Before he could say anything else, two Zombies appeared from the second lane and fourth lane portals.
Liam moved over to the fourth lane and threw a dagger right between the eyes of the zombie.
As he made it to the second lane, three more zombies appeared from the first, second, and fourth portal.
“Jesus, it wasn’t kidding when it said they would come faster,” Liam stated as he threw a dagger hitting the shoulder of the zombie in the second lane.
Liam clicked his tongue as he finished the zombie off with a dagger to the head. After that zombie had dropped he focused on the one that appeared behind it. He then made his way to the first lane and went to finish off that zombie.
As Liam killed the zombie from the first lane, three more zombies arrived in the first, third, and fourth lanes.
“Damn it,” Liam cursed as he tried to figure a plan out.
The fire that had dropped earlier already disappeared, revealing that the flames were on a timer.
An icy blue crystal suddenly appeared hanging above the line between the third and fourth lane.
Liam threw a dagger at it and watched as it exploded sending a wave of ice, freezing the zombies in the third and fourth lane.
“Nice!” Liam shouted as he focused on the zombie in the first lane.
After he killed that zombie, Liam three a dagger at the first zombie in the third lane and watched it shatter not only that one, but the one behind it.
“Double kill!” Liam shouted with a chuckle.
He made it to the fourth lane and went to throw a dagger at the creature, but the ice freezing it thawed as the dagger hit the shoulder of the zombie.
“Damn it, wasn’t quick enough,” Liam chastised. Without waiting, Liam threw another and finished it off.
Liam breathed a bit heavily as he waited for the next zombie to appear, but instead a notification popped up.
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“Second wave completed. Third wave starts in ten seconds. Caution: More Zombies will appear faster as well as a new type of zombie.”
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Liam stared at the notification and questioned, “What does it mean a new type of Zombie?”
Liam drank a stamina potion to replenish his Stamina bar and waited for the next wave.
After the timer ticked down, a weird looking zombie stepped out of the portal in the second lane.
This zombie crouched down and looked around the room. The color of its skin was greyer than green and had no eyes nor a bottom jaw. Its arms were lankier while its legs were shorter. Its fingers were longer than normal as well with the nail-like claws.
Liam assessed the creature.
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“Shredding Zombie. 35/35 Hp. 0/0 MP.”
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“Shredding Zombie?” Liam questioned. “Let’s see what you got.”
Liam aimed for the Zombie. When he got a lock on the creature’s head, he threw the dagger.
Before the dagger could collide against the creature’s head, it backhanded the dagger away.
“What the hell?” Liam said as the zombie let out a screech.
After it screamed it started to make its way down the lane on all fours.
Liam didn’t wait as he threw another dagger.
Once more the Zombie swiped at it, parrying the dagger away.
“What the hell!” Liam yelled feeling frustrated. “How am I supposed to kill this thing?”
As he complained a second one appeared in the fourth lane.
“Oh, come on!” Liam shouted.
Feeling his annoyance build up, Liam grabbed a dagger and threw it at the zombie who appeared in the fourth lane.
He watched as the dagger soared from the second lane to the back end of the fourth.
To Liam’s surprise, the Shredding Zombie didn’t react to it as the dagger sank into its skull, killing it.
Dumbfounded, Liam looked at the one making its way to him.
“Hm, I wonder,” Liam muttered as he made his way to the fourth lane.
He grabbed a dagger from the bag, aimed for the shredding zombie in the second lane, and then threw it.
Like the one he killed before, the dagger collided into the creature’s skull, killing it.
“So, I have to throw from a different lane in order to kill you,” Liam said with a smile. “I guess checks and balances are back on the table.”
As Liam said this, four zombies appeared from each portal.
A Rotted Zombie in the second and fourth lane and a Shredding Zombie in the first and third.
“Game on,” Liam muttered to himself.
Liam prioritized the Shredding Zombies first. As he threw a dagger at the one from the first lane from the fourth, Liam frowned. He watched as the dagger collided into the Rotted Zombie who had walked right into it.
“Damn it,” Liam started as he grabbed another dagger. “I didn’t take into consideration that the other zombies would get in the way.”
Liam threw it and saw the dagger hit the creature in the chest.
After the dagger landed, the creature let out a screech, making the other do the same.
“Shit! They’re on the move!” Liam shouted as he aimed and threw the dagger hitting the Shredding Zombie from the first lane in the head, killing it.
Liam swiftly aimed for the Shredding zombie in the third lane and threw the dagger.
He thought the dagger was going to miss until the zombie stepped right into the dagger’s path.
“Head shot,” Liam muttered feeling victorious. He then focused on the last Rotted Zombie.
Four more zombies appeared as he went to kill the zombie from the third lane. This time they were all Rotted Zombies.
As all four zombies started walking, four more appeared behind them. Again, they were all Rotted Zombies.
As this next set of zombies emerged, two blue crystals appeared as well. One in between the first and second lane in the back, the second between the third and fourth lane in the back.
Without hesitation Liam threw a dagger at each of the crystals and watched as they filled the back four lanes with water.
Confused, Liam stared at the water.
“What was the purpose of that?” Liam frowned as he restarted throwing daggers at the zombies in front of him.
Try as he might, he aimed for the heads of each Zombie. He had some that plunged into an arm, a leg, the stomach, or completely out of the way. However, he started to notice that aiming and throwing started to become easier for him.
Liam felt that he didn’t need to take his time aiming before throwing like he did when this trial started. He knew it was thanks to all the practice he was getting, but he felt like he could move a little more without having to stand completely still before throwing.
He took down four zombies, but as he did four more appeared at the back.
Once more it was Rotted Zombies.
“This is starting to get a bit hectic,” Liam said as he tried to pick up the pace.
As he tried to throw the daggers a bit faster, he noticed his accuracy started to fall.
I can’t rush this. Liam thought as he calmed down a bit.
Two more blue crystals appeared near the front in between the first and second lanes and the third and fourth.
Feeling like something could happen this time, Liam threw daggers and watched as they flood the front area of the lanes. Now all four lanes had water within them that the zombies were walking through.
Before Liam could try and think about why this was a thing, four new zombies stepped out of the portals.
This time they were all Shredding Zombies.
“Shit!” Liam cursed.
The entire back row of each lane was full of Shredding Zombies, while a couple of the lanes still had Rotted Zombies.
Liam stared at the room. All four lanes had Zombies either in the front, middle, or back.
What the hell am I going to do? Liam thought as panic started to creep up within him.
As he thought this a purplish-yellow crystal appeared, hanging up in the middle of the room.
As Liam saw it, the realization popped into his mind.
“You clever girl,” Liam muttered with a grin.
Liam tossed a dagger at one of the Shredding Zombies to get their attention and have them start to move on to the water filled floor.
Once when they moved, Liam threw a dagger at the crystal hanging.
After the dagger shattered it, a lightning bolt formed and then shot straight to the ground.
All the zombies froze as electricity tensed their bodies freezing them in place.
A slew of notifications appeared in front of Liam showing that each of the zombies had taken critical damage, ending their lives.
“Hell yeah!” Liam shouted, panting a bit.
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“Third wave completed. The final wave starts in ten seconds. Caution: More Zombies will appear faster as well as a new type of zombie.”
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“Final wave huh?” Liam muttered as he stared at the lanes. “If this last push was any indication of how hard it grows, then maybe this next one will be even tougher.”
Liam grew another smile.
“Let’s see if I can throw my daggers faster and land them more during this next round.”