I find myself in a white room with a door in front of me.
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You are in a safe zone. Please exit in the next ten minutes.
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I open the door and look through it to see a large, dark room. Rocks fall behind me causing me to turn around. I notice the back of the room crumbling apart slowly.
I secure my bag, summon my glaive and create a water shield. Stepping out of the room, I assume the first form of the glaive, ‘The Bastion’. I saunter throughout the dark room and don’t find anything. Where are all the Beasts?
As if thinking that triggered it, I feel something scratch my shoulder. Looking up, I find dozens of eyes staring at me. Bats.
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Bat - Level 27- E rank
Bat - Level 26 - E rank
Bat - Level 29 - E rank
Bat - Level 25 - E rank
…
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They screech and swarm me. I flinch backwards. So much fun. /s (Note: /s will be used to describe sarcastic comments)
I put my shield up and tried to create spikes using the water construct but failed. Swinging my glaive, I slice them apart but I end up more damaged than I can give out.
One grabs one to my shoulder and I feel a chunk of my flesh leave when it flies off—Frickin hell. I grunted and activated ‘Sub-Zero’ to channel Ice Mana. The ice mana naturally flows out into Icicles and before I know it I have tens of Sharp weapons spinning around me.
I let them fly up onto the roof and hear multiple rings go off in my head followed by loud thumps as the bodies of the stupid bats fall to the floor. I conjure up another fleet of icicles and shoot them up to the roof for good measure before turning off the ability.
Ice Mana is so much easier to use than that idiotic water-construct skill. I lay back with a wince and tried to get my breath under control.
After a couple of minutes, I sit up, apply bandages on my shoulder and move to cut open the bats. I fish out all the essence stones from the bats and store them in my duffel bag.
I open the door at the end of the room and pass through it to the next room. Reactivating my ‘Sub-Zero’ Ability, I create another fleet of Icicles and scan the roof. I grimace when I don’t find any bats and check the time left on my ability.
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2:34
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I release the fleet of icicles and hear a shriek. A single large bat glides down at me and scratches my chest with its wings and claws. I grunt at the burning sensation that fills my chest and swing my glaive to counter it while releasing more and more Ice Mana into the atmosphere in the form of hail. I scan the beast.
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Venomwing Bat - Level 40
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Well, that explains the burning. I freeze my chest to stop the flow of the poison and release the hailstorm toward the Bat. It tries to dodge but I continually create more hail and sling it at the ugly bastard. It screechs even louder, but I couldn’t care less and send hail, icicles and large ice balls at the beast. I get the kill notification so I unsummon my glaive and turn off my ‘Sub-zero’ Ability.
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0:47
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All the ice I conjured turns onto water once the influence of the skill has left it and I glance at my chest to see the damage. I take off my mask, attach it to my pants and wipe the tears that form in my eyes. Fricking hell. How am I— How am I supposed to cure this?
I get up and walk to the large bat to cut it open, hoping to find some cure. I find an E-grade essence stone but nothing else. I throw it away in anger and summon my glaive again. I turn toward the door leading to the next room and rush through it.
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My memories rush back, to the dead fox. I twitch my head. The mountain. Of me and Raven. We travelled farther than we were supposed to. I twitch my head again. Not venom. It wasn’t my fault.
“IT WASN’T MY FUCKING FAULT,” I swallow my spit and shake my head to clear everything and make everything disappear.
I feel something latch on to a different part of me and yell out in rage. My eyes clear and I see bats all around me.
I turn on my ‘Sub-Zero’ ability and start conjuring Icicles once again. I release as much mana as I can and ice, bodies and blood surround me when I’m done. I feel my chest pain become more intense and my hands start to shake.
I ignore the notifications and run through the door leading to the next room.
I release a storm of Ice Mana into the room, not bothering to aim or look for the beast. Something hits me from the back and rips my duffel bag away from me. I stagger to the floor, gasping and wheezing for air. I force myself to sit up and look around. I see the bat wrestling with my bag and I don’t hesitate to shoot a large Icicle at it to kill it.
I hear the ding in my head and fall back to lie down. I don’t want to die. Please, please, please. My throat constricts and I feel my air cut off. I stare in silent agony at the ceiling of the roof. My tears fall freely and I wait for my death. I guess this is how it ends.
I do the only thing possibly left and pull up my notifications and status screen. It doesn’t pull up. What. Confused, I try again and it still doesn’t pull up. What the hell is going on? I try to pull it up again and it finally appears.
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You have killed 36 bats from level 25 - to level 39
You have been injected with Venom by Venomwing Bat
You have been placed under hallucination by Psyclaw Bat
Venom debuff has been cured by *****
You have killed Venomwing Bat - Level 40
You have killed 64 bats 40 - 59
You have killed Venomwing Bat - Level 60
You have leveled up x1
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That is not what I was expecting. I’m under a hallucination. But how? Everything feels so real. I grasp the sand and rocks under me, which feels extremely real. The pain in my chest and body feels real. What the hell?
How am I supposed to know what’s real and what’s fake? I notice that the notifications from the system seem to be real and use it as a reference point. I touch my neck and realize I still can’t breathe, but if I truly wasn’t able to breathe, I’d be dead by now. Not knowing what to do, I force myself to push through the real pain and burning sensation in my veins and move to the bat I just killed.
I only find an essence stone after cutting it open and I store it in my bag with trembling hands. My ice-conjuring ability is on cooldown for god knows how long and my body feels battered. I hear crumbling and see my duffel bag fall through the floor.
“No,” I scream as I try to leap toward my bag.
You’ve got to be joking with me. This day can’t get any worse. I let out a deep and pain-filled groan as I got up.
I sit up against the door wishing I didn’t enter this stupid dungeon. After a couple of minutes, the crumbling of the floor and walls becomes severe, making me stagger upward, and summon my glaive and water shield. I enter the door leading to the next room.
I enter the next room and spot a ton of large bats hanging from the ceiling. I try to scan one and don’t get anything back. I slowly move in and continue to scan them. Finally, one hit and I get a result followed by a loud screech.
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Psyclaw Bat - Level 75
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Got you. All the bats disperse but I ignore them, making sure I keep my eyes on the real one. Once I get close, I jump off the wall and score a scratch on it. That was not worth it. I cough up blood and hold my chest from pain. Note to self, no jumping off the damn walls. The bat moves away and I lose sight of it.
How am I supposed to kill this thing? It’s not attacking me and trying to kill it a scratch at a time isn’t feasible. I rub my face causing me to remember my mask. I look around and find stuck to my pants. Thank god I didn’t lose this as well. I sit against the wall after putting it on and activate its Minor Sustanance Rune. My hunger and thirst recede.
I get up and go after the beast, looking for a different way to kill it.