BANG*
I crashed into the wall and started coughing up blood. The Boss had a nasty grin on his face as if he liked his enemies being in pain. I didn’t take him for a sadist. Fucking goblins.
The monster was a really tough one to fight against. His strikes were powerful and he would block my own attacks with his shield. However that didn’t mean I’m an easy target either. I managed to poke some holes in his armor and make him wary of me. Otherwise he would have rushed at me the moment I crashed into the wall.
“System, how much time do I have left?”
[18 minutes left]
I don’t have much time.
Grabbing a knife from my pouch I started walking slowly to the Boss. I thought I could kill him with just Demon’s Edge but he was a shit ton stronger than I thought he would be. The most troubling thing was that he had brains in his damn head. He wouldn’t get cocky or relax his guard.
I threw the knife at him and rushed in.
The hobgoblin blocked the knife with his shield but it gave me enough time to get close.
He swung his axe at me but I sidestepped to the left and thrusted my blade.
The monster managed to dodge however I grazed his arm.
In anger he struck out with his axe again. Grabbing a knife from my pouch I parried his strike with my blade.
CLANG*
My arm felt numb from the force. I don’t understand how a goblin could have so much fucking strength.
With my left hand I tried to stab his arm but he pushed my body away. Then he rushed at me with his shield.
Not this time you bastard.
I rolled to the side and threw the knife.
Not expecting me to dodge, the hobgoblin wasn’t able to block the knife. It sunk into his side where his armor was weak.
“KEKROAR!”
“Angry now aren’t we.”
I took another knife from my pouch. I filled my pouch with knives because I wasn’t able to find anything else useful.
Our fight continued on just like that. I would keep dodging and blocking while trying to stab him with my knives. After around 15 more trades the hobgoblin was covered in cuts and blood.
The Boss stared but didn’t charge at me. Instead he stood there and started roaring. He threw away his shield and his skin started turning from green to a light shade of red.
Then I saw a blur in front of my eyes. I barely managed to raise my blade before getting knocked into the wall.
“Ugh.”
My right arm was dislocated and many of the blood vessels popped. It was completely stained in red and the pain was intense.
Was this supposed to be a monster that explorers on the third floor could beat? Don’t give me this bullshit!
The hobgoblin appeared in front of me and swung its axe. I tried to move but the strike was too fast.
“GAAAah!”
My right arm was cut off. Again. Fucking. Again.
“FUCK!”
The monster laughed and grabbed my severed arm. He started eating it.
“DIE!”
I threw my knife. It didn’t do much. He blocked it and chopped off my hand.
“KEKEKE!”
Laughing while eating, parts of my flesh got spit onto my face.
I was angry, really angry. Rage was burning inside of me even more when Dave beat the shit out of me. But what could I do? I had no right arm or a left hand. They were both being eaten by the fucking monster standing in front of me.
Then I remembered.
“Hehe..hehe”
My laughter brought silence to the hobgoblin. He looked at me with curious eyes as if wondering whether I went crazy.
I slowly raised my left arm pointing at the head of the monster. Activating pain limiter and closing my eyes, I said one word.
“Fireball.”
BOOM!
I didn’t feel any pain but I could feel the dryness of my skin due to being burnt. I could smell the burnt skin and could even see smoke rising from my body when opening my eyes. The hobgoblin was on the ground a couple meters away from me but he had no head.
Dead.
[Tremendous achievement! Single handedly killed the enhanced third floor boss monster ‘Elite Hobgoblin Warrior’! +100 achievement points]
[You have passed a test given by the King of the Battlefield.]
I didn’t have any strength left to read the messages. Using fireball completely exhausted everything that I had in me. In addition the damage caused by the close impact made most of my body burnt. I wished I could drink a health potion but sadly I didn’t have any hands…
After a while, pain limiter was unactivated and the pain came rushing in. My body started spasming due to the sudden pain and I was barely able to tolerate it due to pain resistance. At this point, the only one who could help me was Chris. Ugh, where was that bastard.
“System, how much time do I have left?”
“[7 minutes left]
Fuck only 7 minutes. If he didn’t come soon then I would really die. Or am I already dying? Ha luckily my bleeding managed to stop due to the fire cauterizing the wounds.
“Shit Ed. Are you ok?”
“Health pot in my pouch.”
Chris came with injuries probably from Kelly. Judging from how long it took him, she must have been pretty strong. He opened the health potion and poured it down my mouth.
Ahh. The effects from the health potion are really damn soothing when your whole body is fucked up.
“Chris, help me get up. We only have 7 minutes left.”
“Damn. I don’t feel like touching you covered in burnt skin. What the hell even happened to you?”
“Fuck man. I’ll tell you later. Now hurry up and help me up.”
Chris put my remaining arm around his shoulders and got up. The burn started hurting even more when I moved but all I could do was ignore it as best as I could.
“Let’s go, the door should be further ahead.”
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“Kinda unfair how we don’t get anything from killing monsters don’t you think?”
“It is a shame. I almost died fighting this hobgoblin bastard.”
I didn’t tell him that the boss monster was enhanced because of the King of the Battlefield or whatever. I felt that it was something I should keep to myself.
“You killed Kelly right?”
“If I didn’t I wouldn’t be here.”
“How strong was she?”
“Very strong, of course not as strong as you. Even with some broken ribs and a dislocated right shoulder she still almost killed me. I probably would have died if I didn’t get used to using my left hand at the village. I’m sure she was the strongest out of all of us here before you killed Rick.”
“That’s good. You must have gotten a decent power up.”
“I did...but why did you want to kill her? We could have worked together and you wouldn’t have gotten this injured.”
“Because I can’t trust her. She ditched us right away and tried to pass the floor after we risked our lives fighting. Besides, killing her made you a lot stronger. I don’t want someone I can trust to die.”
“That makes me feel warm inside but..you trust me?”
“More or less. Otherwise you would have killed me by now.”
“Good point however don’t forget I’m straight.”
“Haha, bastard.”
Soon we reached the door and the thing I feared the most didn’t happen. There wasn’t a limit to how many people could pass.
“We’re finally here.”
“Ed, let’s meet up at M*c D*n*lds after this.”
“Alright, after school.”
Looking at each other, we passed through the door that would end the third floor.
And like always, I passed out right away.
[Third floor successfully passed!]
[‘Self-healing’ gained due to performance evaluation]
[+5 Vitality gained due to ‘Self-healing’]
[Will now be sent to the resting room]
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“Sigh. I just want to go home.”
I woke up expecting to see my room but instead everything I could see was white, pure white. Where even the fuck am I?
“Interesting guy. Usually people say ‘Where am I?’ not ‘I want to go home.’”
“Yea well if it makes you feel better, I said it in my mind.”
I looked to the direction of the voice and saw a man in a suit with slicked back hair. He looked to be a caucasian man in his early thirties and was devilishly handsome.
“You don’t seem to be in a good mood. Is it that time of the month again?”
“I just lost the arm I painstakingly recovered with a hand as a bonus. My body was completely burned and all I wanted was to wake up in my bed a couple hours before school to just relax...which brings me to the question, why am I not in my room and who are you?”
“I’ll be very happy to answer your questions. I am...”
The man did a spin and bowed with his left hand out and his right arm on his stomach.
“I am the system. The one who gives announcements and the rpg like blue panels. You can call me Fred.”
The system? Is the system supposed to be self-conscious and make period jokes? And what is up with that horrible naming sense?
“As for your second question, you are currently at the resting room which, as you can see, is this white space filled with nothing! You were sent here because you passed the testing stage which basically eliminates all the weak and useless humans who were sent to the dungeons. You will be sent here every time you clear a floor from now on. As a qualified explorer you can now have access to the shop and can buy what you like with points as currency. Your restricted abilities are also released when you’re not in the dungeon but if you tell other humans who aren’t explorers about the dungeons then..”
The system or Fred looked at me with serious eyes and I could feel an intense amount of killing intent radiate from him.
“You. Will. Die. But other than that do whatever you want. Just try not to show too much of your abilities because it’s troublesome to keep news under control.”
My back was covered in sweat when the killing intent was on me. Scary. Fortunately the killing intent dissolved after saying what he had to say.
“Whew, ok. Hey can you like regenerate my arm, hand, and skin?”
“Glad you understand but can’t do anything about your injuries. If you want to heal your body then you can buy stuff that can fully heal you at the shop.”
“The shop huh. You’re making it seem like I can get anything from the shop.”
“Well not everything but most of the things you need should be in the shop. Just say ‘Shop’ if you want to access it.”
“Shop.”
[Explorer Ed has accessed the shop]
[Calculating….]
[Explorer Ed has gained 800 store points]
[Items]
[Skills]
[Enhancements]
[Information]
[Current store points balance: 800]
[Current achievement points balance: 190]
“Hey how did I get 800 store points and what’s the difference between store and achievement points?”
“You get store points from killing monsters and achievement points can be used to buy the special stuff at the shop. You really are interesting. Usually people only start with around 100 due to clearing floors but you actually have 800 store and 190 achievement points. Some explorers don’t even get achievement points until the fifth floor.”
So you do get something from killing monsters. Hmm. I already have plenty of skills and Demon’s edge should be enough for items. Maybe I can get a good knife but I need to heal my body. Let’s go see the enhancements.
“Enhancements.”
[Enhancements: Includes stat packages, bloodlines, genetic mutations, and technological innovations]
I was completely mind blown from the sheer number of enhancements there were. Dragon bloodlines, vampire bloodlines, wolf mutation, cyborg augmentations, stat packages that gave a bunch of stat points, and a shit ton more. Some of these enhancements seemed too broken.
[High Dragon’s bloodline (S): Gives explorer the blood of a high class dragon. 80% chance of gaining dragon magic. Costs 5000 achievement points]
[Stat Package (S): Raises all stats by 100. Costs 5000 achievement points]
[Werewolf mutation (B): Raises physical stats by 30 and gives the explorer the ability to turn into a wolf. During beast form, intelligence and magic power decreases by 10 percent however all physical abilities rise by 20 percent. Costs 2000 store points points]
However similarly the prices were tremendous. I doubt I would ever get the chance to buy any of those.
“Hey Fred, what kind of enhancements would heal my body?’
“Enhancements? Well other than stat packages any enhancements would heal your injuries since it’s physically altering your body. Just find anything you can buy.”
“Then what kind of enhancement should I get that’s the best for me?”
“That’s for you to decide. I’m only here to answer basic questions and inform you of rules and stuff. Unless you buy information I’m not telling you anything else.”
After searching for a while I found two enhancements that were affordable and had good effects.
[Basic ghoul mutation ( C ): Gives increased regeneration and the ability to grow stronger the more flesh is consumed. Costs 150 achievement points]
[Lowest demon mutation (D): Gives the power of a lowest ranked demon. Allows explorer to use demonic energy. Costs 600 store points.]
Both were enhancements that would change my body. In choosing any one of these I was essentially forsaking my humanity. But in surviving in this dungeon, wasn’t I already becoming something different? I’m already killing people every night, I was already different from the rest of humanity. If I was going to change then there was no difference between changing now or later.
“I’ve decided.”
“Ah finally! Took you so long. So, what did yo-”
“Give me basic ghoul mutation and lowest demon mutation.”
“What?”
Since I was going to change, why not start big?
“Fuck man! If you choose two enhancements there’s a chance of the mutations conflicting with each other!”
Hm? WHAT??
Black gas surrounded my whole figure and I lost all control of myself. I could feel myself changing and at first it felt soothing but suddenly a searing pain appeared in every corner and inch of my body.”
“GRRAAHH! FUCK! YOU! FRED!”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know you would choose two? You didn’t even ask! Just try to stay conscious for now. If you fall unconscious then you really will die.”
“UGHH! AHHHH!”
It hurt. It was the first time it hurt this much. Even when getting beat up, mutilated, or burned it didn’t hurt this much.
I tried to stay awake. The fear of death kept me awake. But slowly, I started losing conscious. My mind was blank and Fred’s voice just became low mumblings in the background. However no matter how much I struggled and resisted, my mind could no longer withstand the ever increasing pain.
To die like this...really laughable…..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………....
“What a shame. He was an interesting one too.”
Fred said with a sigh. He really did like this human. Not only did he obtain a lot more points than the average explorer, his personality was unique and amusing to watch. Unfortunately, the human named Ed died in such a dumb and naive way.
“Well what can you do. Not my fault this happened.”
“It is your fault you dumbass.”
Fred was just about leave and let the Erasers to their work when a sudden voice made him stop in his tracks.
“Ahh. It’s you Mr. King.”
Yes. The man who spoke was one of the Eight Highlords, the King of the Battlefield. Someone a C ranked system admin like Fred could never afford to offend. Just hearing his voice made Fred sweat buckets.
“You clearly knew that this human was someone I had my eyes on yet you let such an accident happen?”
Mr. King spoke with anger. The whole whitespace started trembling and cracks formed everywhere.
“It..it wasn’t my fa-”
“Shut up! It was your fault! Now you better fix this otherwise you will regret it.”
“But what am I supposed to do? His enhancements are already clashing against each other.”
“Use the orb of purity and raise his demon mutation to C ranked.”
“Orb of purity? But that co-”
“Shut up and just buy it and use it.”
“I..I understand. But why would this human make sir have so much interest in him?”
“You think someone of your level has the right to ask me questions?”
“I dare not. It’s just that using so much resources to save a single human seems odd.”
Mr. King stared at Fred and caused him to get goosebumps all over his body. It was true that someone of his level shouldn’t ask questions however it was also true that it was weird for a Highlord to have so much interest on a beginner explorer.
“Hmph. Times are changing, you should know that. Fred was it? If you act with caution but also ambition, there’s a chance of you reaching ranks you would have never thought possible. Remember this and think of it as a reward that I told you this much.”
“I thank sir.”
Fred bowed as the King of the Battlefield disappeared. The resting space stabilized and the cracks disappeared.
“Sigh. What’s the point of me knowing this anyways. I’m still going to be losing 500 system points.”
Fred said in a very depressed manner. For a C ranked admin like him, 500 system points were hard earned. Soon an orb emitting a calming sensation appeared in Fred’s hand. All kinds of colors swirled inside the orb and anyone who saw it would be immediately attracted to it. However when Fred saw it killing intent radiated from every part of his body, especially from his mouth.
Holding the orb in his hand, Fred threw it at the gas surrounding Ed’s body. The moment it made contact, rainbow colors exploded and mixed with the black gas.
Seeing this, Fred made a chair out of thin air and sat on it. With a frown on his face he glared at the now gray gas. If stares could kill, Fred would have probably killed tens of people.
Time passed and the gas started dissipating until a body could be seen.
The body wasn’t completely naked but the hard sculpted abs were clearly visable. The face wasn’t extremely handsome but could still be counted as an eight out of ten if scaled.
Fred went to the body and kicked it, causing it to fly away until finally smashing onto a wall somewhere in the blank space.
“Fucker if you don’t wake up from that then I’m going to keep kicking you until you do.”
Ed opened his eyes and started getting up. Shock could be seen on his face as he wondered how he was alive.
“I’m alive?”
“Yes you are now get the fuck out of here.”
“Wha-”
Before he could finish he fell unconscious again. When Ed finally disappeared, Fred was the only one left in the white space.
“My 500 system points...my 500 system points….”
With tears flowing down his eyes Fred sat on his self-made chair.
He truly did look lonely in the desolate white space.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Empire of Alarista
“My lord, the 8 dungeons from the legends have reappeared.”
“So the time has come. Those old bastards are probably getting ready too. Send word to the princes to prepare.”
“What about the princess?”
“Sigh. Let her do as she please as long as it doesn’t affect anything important.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
In an elegant chamber stood a middle aged man. He had many wrinkles on his face due to worry and stress. Looking out the window to see the numerous stars in the black sky the man said in a tired voice.
“Will this world be able to survive the calamity ahead?”