Raine backpedaled, dodging the monstrous golem’s swing by the slimmest margin. Wind rushed across his skin from the passing fist, causing a smile to split his face as the thrill of an intense fight sent tingles through his limbs.
The golem turned from the momentum of its missed attack, bringing its other arm around. A fist the size of Raine's chest flew in a backhand swing. Raine pivoted on his back foot, leaning slightly to allow the blow to sail past him. He took three quick steps forward, brushing past the monster’s leg and getting behind it. The beast turned slowly, trying to face him again but he circled it, giving himself a moment to think.
I have to make each hit count or I'll blow through all my equipment long before the fight ends. Losing a point of durability from the golem’s Hard Body passive was bad luck since its activation is only a twenty percent chance. I should've accounted for it in advance. I'm too used to fighting with good gear. Wait, this thing has more than one passive! If I can trigger the other one, then that will create a huge opportunity.
Raine's emotions stilled to nothingness as his focus intensified. He stuck to the golem’s backside. A thick leg reared up before it hurtled toward him in a surprisingly nimble back kick. Raine spun around its planted leg, the kick missing him entirely.
With the monster momentarily overextended, Raine spent a point of Discipline to boost a leap that brought him level with its head. His staff, fueled with Strike, buried into the golem's eye—its only weak point. [Critical hit! -27]
When farming golems for Superiority, it was best to avoid striking their weak spot. The reason became clear the next moment as the monster snapped its eyes closed and bent its stumpy legs. Raine ran for everything he was worth.
With a furious roar reminiscent of an avalanche bearing down a mountain side, the golem jumped straight into the air. Its body glowed as it reached the zenith of its leap. Without warning, it blasted downward at terminal velocity and crashed into the ground. Upon colliding with the soil, a powerful blast of conjured rocks was released in every direction: Bodyslam.
The circular blast swept out like an island dropped in the middle of an ocean—too high to leap over and too fast to outrun, even with full use of Discipline. When Raine reached the fence surrounding the garden he used a point of Discipline to reach its highest rung, then another to bound high into the air. He back-flipped, narrowly passing over the wave of destructive rock that swept beneath him at the peak of his maneuver.
Upside down in midair, he watched as the wave passed over the fence, not damaging it in the slightest.
Yes! The buildings are still invulnerable! That feature was already patched out when I started last time.
The golem suffered from its own skill. It staggered back to its feet and a moment later, was rushing at him again, now sporting a razor-thin crack that ran diagonally across its chest. Raine slid past another punch, positioning himself behind the golem.
With his current attributes, Raine needed thirty seconds to regenerate each point of Discipline in combat—triple the usual rate—and he was already down to five. For three minutes, he dodged the golem’s attacks perfectly before landing another crit and using the fence to dodge the resulting Bodyslam.
The crack turned to a fissure wide enough he could stick his finger into. Over the next several minutes, he repeated the cycle once again. Before the third Bodyslam, he ate one of the Stremph Berries, increasing his Attack Power and gaining temporary points to his current and maximum Discipline. When the golem crashed for the third time, its rocky torso split completely, revealing a soft, muddy interior around its core.
Raine was there as the beast sat stunned on the ground. He unleashed twelve Strikes in quick succession, interspersed with regular attacks, bottoming out his Discipline but dealing full, unmitigated critical damage with each hit. [Critical hit! -72]
The golem’s weakened state only lasted fifteen seconds, and Raine took full advantage of each one. The lumbering beast shot to its feet after the weakened state ended and its chest rapidly reformed by pulling in conjured stones from the surroundings. [+500]
It roared with renewed fury, releasing a flurry of blows in his direction at double its previous speed. Raine scrambled on his heels, backpedaling while frantically weaving between blows that would have meant instant death if even a single connected. Its berserk state ended after ten seconds, the short barrage leaving Raine coated in sweat.
As the golem returned to its fairly predictable attacks, Raine examined the fight so far. He had dealt well over one thousand damage. Unfortunately, repairing its chest also healed it a considerable amount. He hoped it would only heal for two fifty. Seeing the full five hundred confirmed this wasn’t an ordinary rock golem, but a sub-elite variant, which he would have known already if he purchased Identify. Raine clicked his tongue after running through the math.
I did around seven hundred damage in twenty-five minutes. With over five thousand HP, this is going to take at least three hours and there’s zero room for error. Perfectly dodging every attack of a sub-elite for three straight hours... Have I ever pulled off something like that?
Raine’s focus became the edge of a blade. He shut down his thoughts and took in every detail of the elite’s movements, cataloging each twitch of rock and every gravely sound it released. By the time he brought it back to a weakened state, the golem’s attack patterns became his entire existence. After the third rotation, not only his avatar, but his real body was soaked with sweat.
The needs of his physical body sapped more and more of his focus with every passing minute. His shallow breaths and wavering mental capacity were masked by the absolute need to focus. He had miraculously been granted a second chance at life, and he would rather die of a heart attack than let it slip through his fingers.
After the sixth rotation, a soft chime sounded, and a yellow blinking exclamation point appeared in the corner of his vision. The warning let him know he had stressed his brain beyond the normal safety margins and the game would log him out as soon as the fight concluded. If he pushed much further, the warning would turn red and he would be forcibly logged out within ten seconds, regardless of whether he was fighting or not.
I need to relax, breathe. I still have three more rotations before it dies. I can’t lose after all this effort because of the stupid protection algorithms!
Raine no longer focused entirely on the sub-elite. He breathed out with each dodge and in with each resetting of his stance. He relaxed into each action, letting his body flow with the gusts of wind from each narrowly dodged attack. His senses dulled as his focus turned inward. He barely saw the golem anymore, so used to its patterns that he experienced them as fluttering movements within his mind’s eye. His own steps churned like fluid as he danced with the specter of failure.
When the golem died, Raine dodged five more times to attacks that never came before his bleary consciousness took note of the system messages springing up before his eyes.
Oh… I guess it's over. I really lost myself there at the end.
[!CAUTION!]
[Safe brain function levels exceeded. Forced logout in ten, nine, eight…]
[Obtained 2,250 Superiority (800% bonus for defeating a monster 8 levels above you)]
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
[Obtained 18% Attunement (800% bonus for defeating a monster 8 levels above you)]
[Unique Chain Quest: Fall of the Tyrants completed. Obtained 5,000 Superiority. See quest NPC for additional rewards]
A total of 7,250 Superiority flowed into Raine and his vision was clouded by shining golden sparks that surrounded him in intricate rings. A thrilling trumpet’s melody assaulted his aching skull.
[Level up! +1 to all attributes]
[Level up! +1 to all attributes]
[Level up! +1 to all attributes]
Blinking through the pain, Raine quickly skimmed the follow-up barrage of notifications, simultaneously snatching the eighteen copper coins and the single white item that dropped.
[Achievement for first to reach level 1: Momentous Acceleration Token dropped]
[Achievement for soloing a sub-elite rock golem 5 levels above you: Acquired Title - Rock Crusher]
[Regional System announcement: Congratulations Alaric for being the first to defeat a sub-elite enemy!]
[Regional System announcement: Congratulations Alaric for being the first to reach level 1]
Raine gingerly removed the headset from his sweaty, aching head. A clammy hand covered his eyes while massaging his temples as he released a pained groan.
So that's the difficulty of a unique chain quest… What the crap, was that designed for a grandmaster? No, a grandmaster could fight for a week straight without making a single mistake, peak class five martial master is more like it.
Either way, it wasn't meant for someone like me. At my best I was only peak class three and this untrained body can’t handle so much pressure. There’s no time to rest. I need to get my head straight and get back in there. This is only the beginning and the best players are pushing ahead at triple dilation right now.
Raine rolled out of bed and padded toward the shower. A piercing, mechanical beeping came from the corner of his motel room and he instinctively jerked away. The offending noise continued to repeat, each time feeling like it was piercing straight to the center of his gray matter.
After the horrible noise ended, a perfectly polite, too-loud voice drilled razor-sharp screws into his ears, “You appear to be suffering from significant levels of distress after your nap, Master. Did you experience a nightmare? Do not be concerned if your cheeseburger escaped, it was only a dream.”
“Thanks, tin can, I’m fine,” Raine growled through grit teeth, “Adjust volume to zero.”
The lights in Morty's eyes lit up as they always did when he spoke, but only blissful silence filled the room. Raine managed a small smile as he imagined Morty's indignant retort; the AI had a penchant for revenge so there was no doubt Raine would get to hear it later.
A cold shower helped ease his aching skull. After a quick breakfast and a few light calisthenics to increase blood flow, Raine was feeling much better. With only a gentle throbbing behind his eyes, he donned the headset once more. His vision fell down a tunnel of spinning lights before he found himself back in the witch's garden.
As always, the first thing he did was spin around to make sure nothing was going to attack him while he checked his rewards.
[Momentous Acceleration Token: Activate to double Attunement gains for 24 hours]
Hell yes! I've used regular acceleration tokens before but never a momentous one. 200% is going to massively boost my attributes once I get to a good grind spot.
Three levels is crazy. That took me over a week last time! The average player will be lucky to get level one today. It doesn’t get any easier after that, either. Each level is a minimal boost while the monsters get much harder to deal with.
[Title - Rock Crusher: +25% damage against monsters composed of rock (Upgradable)]
Very nice. It's already on its third evolution, only two more to cap it at 100% bonus damage. Though, I probably won't run into anything that can upgrade it for a while.
Raine took a few seconds to hop in place and flex his arms. The increase of three in each attribute was nearly a doubling of his overall combat potential. For anyone else, the sudden boost in strength and speed would have been disorienting. Raine however, eased into the changes with a grin, no longer feeling like he was piloting his forklift with chopsticks, but now directly holding the controls.
Total Discipline was a combination of Connection and Physique, so he now had an additional six points which would be a huge boon.
As he turned to leave, the witch appeared before him from a puff of black smoke, “Well done, Traveler. I’m impressed.” A long bony finger reached out and ran down his chest in a suggestive caress, “Very impressed.”
Raine clenched his teeth, refusing to react in any way that might upset the powerful Vaaterran, “Thank you, ma’am.”
She tsked at his lack of reaction, withdrawing her finger and tapping it on her pursed lips, “Well, you’re no fun. Such is the pity. It would appear I owe you a reward for passing my little test. There are a few options available. I could take that cursed ring, or offer you a weapon, a skill, or… And this last option is truly the most valuable, you could become my minion. What say you?” She licked her lips hungrily, awaiting his decision.
No way I’m going to tie myself to such an unusual Vaaterran. Definitely not giving up this ring, either. The downside of using a roulette weapon isn’t that big a deal yet. Though I’ll eventually have to overcome the lack of specialization. I can always get rid of it later. For now, the bonus damage is going to make leveling a breeze. That leaves the weapon and skill which I couldn’t possibly decide on without more information.
“Can you give me more details regarding the weapon and skill?”
The witch narrowed her eyes and answered with a warning tone, “The weapon would be a cleansed piece from those useless fools lazing about in my front yard. The skill is something unique that I no longer have a use for. No more questions, make your choice!”
Well, that decides it. I don’t plan to be a caster so I’m pretty sure the skill would be something unsuited for me. Besides, she said it’s unique and each player can only receive two unique skills, which are usually tied to their class. Having one chosen for me randomly is a terrible idea.
“I’ll take the weapon.”
“Very well,” she snapped her fingers and a blue dagger zipped through the air to land in her palm. The old witch looked deep into his eyes with a toothy grin displaying crooked, gapped teeth, “Devour Curse!”
What?! That’s a level one hundred and twenty skill! This witch is far more dangerous than I thought.
Black and orange viscous smoke pulled away from the dagger and was sucked into the witch’s mouth. Her skin glowed faintly and she smiled again. She was missing fewer teeth than before and the ones that were crooked had become straighter and less stained.
That's not how that skill works! Nothing she’s doing is even remotely normal.
“Here you are, my adorable little bird,” she tossed the dagger which he swiftly caught. “I’m looking forward to our next meeting. Oh! I almost forgot,” quicker than a snake, she whipped out her finger and jammed it into his forehead causing a blinding flash of pain. By the time he realized what she had done, she was already vanishing in another flash of black smoke. A faint cackling rang through the air as if she were everywhere at once.
“What the hell was that?” Raine rubbed his forehead, surprised to see no blood on his hand. He was sure she had pushed her finger well inside his skull. His eyes flew open as he realized she might have cursed him after all. “Status!”
NAME: Alaric
CLASS: none
TITLE: Rock Crusher
ASPECT: Greater Aspect of the Werewolf
LEVEL: 0 > 3
SUPERIORITY: 1,330/4,000
HP: 50 > 80
ATTACK POWER: 12 > 17
DEFENSE: 11 > 16
RESISTANCE: 5 > 12
CRITICAL RATE: 3%
DISCIPLINE: 10 > 16
ATTACK SPEED: 1.5 > 1.7
MOVE SPEED: 2 > 2.7
ATTRIBUTES:
POTENCY: 5 > 8
FINESSE: 5 > 9
ACUITY: 5 > 8
PHYSIQUE: 5 > 8
CONNECTION: 5 > 8
Due to not having a weapon equipped outside of combat, a few of the numbers had been adjusted down but that was hardly worthy of catching Raine’s eyes. His focus hovered over the area where a status curse would be, finding it empty, then gravitated to his new aspect.
Greater Aspect of the Werewolf?! And this dagger… no way!