Sam clenched his fist to see what the System was talking about and almost fell over again as the sheer force of the movement rocked his bones on their foundations. His entire body was now covered in bulging muscle, which must have been what had formed during his period of liquefaction. Checking his stat sheet, Sam saw that there were no changes to his actual stat, but his stamina had increased by a lot, which was very welcome. He remembered reading about how butterflies went through a similar process during metamorphosis, but he doubted that it would be so painful for them.

“Damn, either the System is a sadist, or it's trying to create a generation of masochists. Either way, it's pretty messed up.” Sam wasn’t even joking when he said this, fully convinced that the System simply liked to torture people. Unaware of the true reason, which was that growing more powerful naturally came at a high cost in pain, he gained another chip on his shoulder against the System. Soon, he would have a full bag, ready to be fed to the fires of his vengeance. Now that he had defeated the centipede, he remembered what the troglodytes had said. The others would be coming back and they would definitely be angry that he had killed their mother. He sprinted for the exit, just as he heard the first noise from behind him. The cave tapered off into a small shute that went upwards at a steep angle. Small handholds could be seen inside it, but they were too small for proper leverage. Now that Sam was a lot stronger however, it wouldn't be that much of a job.

Grabbing onto the nubs of rock inside the chute, he clenched his fist, indenting it into the stone. That created a very effective handhold and he lifted himself up effortlessly, surprised at how light he felt. Sam would have guessed that he was about 10 times stronger than he had been before the System had arrived and it was showing. A screech of rage erupted from below him, and Sam started to pull himself up a lot more quickly.

The chute started to grow even steeper as time went on, eventually becoming like a ladder. Even with his prodigious strength, Sam was starting to grow tired. His stamina bar was steadily dropping down and by the amount of time that it had taken him to fall into the cavern before the mysterious force had caught him, he had a lot more climbing to do.

After a while, Sam wedged himself into the chute and took a quick break to regenerate his stamina. Faint scratching noises began to grow louder below him and Sam took a peek down. He instantly regretted it. A writhing mass of centipedes were scurrying up the chute, heading straight for him. Shivering in disgust, Sam began to climb up again, propelling himself at incredible speeds. He was climbing vertically faster than a normal human could run and soon the faint glow of the sun was visible above. The centipedes were starting to catch up however, and at this rate he wasn't going to make it. In a normal battle, Sam could probably have taken them on, but in this situation, he could not free any of his limbs to fight back. The centipedes on the other hand had hundreds of legs to hold on to the rock with.

A noise drifted up from far below, and Sam could hear the voice of one of the troglodytes saying something that sounded like “Fire in the hole!” A whump of compressed air sounded out and a shockwave of heat and light raced up the tunnel, atomizing the densely packed centipedes and blasting Sam up like a cork out of a bottle. He soared through the air and landed on a pure white colored roof, wheezing as the air was forced out of his lungs. It had been a harrowing experience, but he was still alive.

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Sam felt the barrel of a gun press itself to his forehead and he looked up. Three ridiculously bulky robots stood over him, each of them with the holographic face of Berrigious superimposed over their heads.

“You will surrender yourself to our custody at once,” the robot with its gun to Sam’s head said. Then it made a strange clicking noise, and the voice of Berrigious came out of it.

"Ah, Sam! I missed you. Pray tell, why were you sneaking around the hallways? I lost track of where you were until that explosion just a minute ago. The only way to get down there from within the arena complex is through the janitor closet traps. Why were you in one of those, hmm?” Berrigious’ face took on a shifty look and the robot leaned in.

“Don't tell me that you were there for this?” The robot lifted its clawed hand and showed Sam the key that he had picked up in the closets. He reached for it, but the robot snatched it out of the way.

“Naughty, naughty. Bad boys don't get to escape.” The alien’s voice took on a ridiculous baby-like cadence as he pouted at Sam. He wanted nothing more than to punch that detestable pink face until it was a bloody smear, but the man was not actually here. But…

Sam flashed his hand up and batted away the gun before it could fire, causing the beam of energy that it discharged to carve a hole through the window of a shop. Somebody inside let out a shrill shriek but Sam assumed that meant that they were still alive. His other fist came up and struck the robot full in the face with all of his force. It was like punching a piece of stone, but one that was especially soft. One of his knuckle bones broke, but the robot’s entire head broke with it. A small shower of debris blasted its way out of the back of the robot’s head and covered the others with a layer of pulverized circuitry. They froze for a moment, allowing Sam to get up close and personal with them. His mace was too long to use properly now and it would take too long for him to unstrap it from his back, but why switch from something that was working?

His fists both shot out at the same time, this time aiming for the robots’ necks. With a metallic crunch, the robots both lost their heads at the same time. Sam grabbed the fallen key and jumped off of the roof, making his way towards the arena. At the front doors, Berrigious waited for him, surrounded by ten guards. The man smiled at Sam and motioned for him to stop. Reluctantly, Sam did.

“Very impressive, but it all stops now. Unless you surrender immediately, I shall be forced to destroy you,” Berrigious said with a snarl.

“No.”

“What the hell do you mean “no”?” Berrigious replied, a bit confused.

‘I mean no. You might think you’re clever, but I know that that isn't really you there. The actual you might be able to kill me instantly, but this is just some sort of hologram, isn't it?”

Berrigious shook his head violently.

“No, this is the real me. Prepare to die!” The man placed both of his hands together and a small blast of what looked to be a cloud popped out, streaking towards Sam. Well, it streaked in its dreams. The thing moved like an actual cloud, so slowly that Sam was able to do a full circuit of it before it reached his position. Rather, he would have been, but he wasn't that disrespectful. There was still some room for the salt in the wounds however.

“You were saying?” Sam said with a raised eyebrow, laying it on thick for maximum humiliation. Berrigious screamed in impotent rage and rushed Sam, but he passed through him like a ghost. Even worse, Sam started to explain what exactly the man had done wrong.

“What tipped me off first was the fact that I never once felt your aura. If you really were strong enough to do the stuff that you did with a real body, then I should have been able to detect it. Instead, it was like you weren't even there. Also, why would you come out here with so many of the guards if you were strong enough to kill me?”