The Last Experience Point

Chapter 39: Zachys Calador: UNLEASHED

Even amid the flurry of emotions that all competed to be front-most on his brain, somehow, it was a sense of anger that managed to edge out fear as Zach burst through the metal door leading into the stairwell and then dashed down so fast that he was lucky he didn’t slip and begin rolling his way into the next floor. He swore again and again, the curses coming out like automatic fire from a machine gun. His heavy footsteps echoed as he rushed to achieve the impossible. This shouldn’t have happened. Why the hell couldn’t they have just listened to him? Why couldn’t they see what was so obvious? What was he going to do if he failed and they died? How would he live with that?

“Just had to poke the NPC, didn’t you?” he growled, smashing open the metal door labeled B6, which led out into a stretch of rocky terrain that seemed to go on for miles. It was sort of like B1, only there were no crooks, crevices, entrances, or pathways to choose between: it was just one large, fairly wide expanse of gravel- and rock-covered ground with somewhat circular stone walls that curved up and over his head about fifty feet above him. Actually, as he got a better look at his surroundings, it looked kind of like a gigantic tunnel, but one that stretched on for so long that Zach couldn’t see the end of it. Noting the distance, it took a great deal of effort for him not to whimper in fear and frustration.

Don’t think. Don’t let yourself think!

Zach knew it was dangerous to allow himself to form any kind of detailed thoughts right now—and why? Because it was so blatantly obvious just how stacked the odds were against him. Forget the fact for a moment that he was now all alone, on his own, and that he had to somehow defeat a Gods-damned boss by himself. Forget all that! Even worse was the fact that just getting there in three hours seemed impossible. This place was so unpredictable that a fucking stairway could take half a day to climb down if he was unlucky. How was he supposed to get there on time?

And there I go thinking about it!

The emotions swirling around inside of him were so numerous that it threatened to overwhelm him. He was both frightened and determined, enraged and saddened, pensive and panicked—he was a mess. And all because Rian and Lienne had to go start some shit that he totally saw coming.

I don’t want them to die. Gods, please help me. I don’t know if I can…no, no, I have to do this!

There were mobs everywhere in front of him. Just so Gods-damned many of them. Some of them, he recognized—others he did not. He saw Eeps, Skelly Grunts, and Skelly Archers, but there were quite a few others here he hadn’t seen before, such as the one closest to him, which looked sort of like a Skelly Grunt but with a broadsword instead of a scimitar, and an orange bandana instead of a red one—which Zach himself was wearing. It also had a shield almost as large as Rian’s.

[??/??]

Skelly Defender

Level 8

Holding his blade in a single-handed grip, Zach rubbed the left side of his face and paused for a moment in nervous agitation even as he knew the seconds were counting down. He didn’t know what to do here. This floor alone could take him days to complete all on his own. In fact, of all the floors thus far in the Catacombs of Yorna, a single glance was enough for him to see that B6 was, by far, the most straightforward of all—both literally and figuratively.

Many of the mobs were in groups, but many were also on their own, yet all seemed to be positioned almost at random. There were some hugging the left side of the tunnel-like walls, some directly in the middle, and other to the right. Some were only a few feet behind others, and it seemed like, in places, there could be a good bit of empty space with no mobs at all. Then there looked like there were places far ahead where there were so many that it was practically cluttered.

“How?” he asked aloud, his voice beginning to break as the grim reality of things threatened to smash through his fragile wall of confidence. “How can I do this?”

Even if he avoided every mob he could—which would really depend more on their aggro radius than his ability to sneak by them—he would still end up having to fight so many of these things. Either that, or he could risk an all-out sprint and try to barrel through them, but that would almost certainly mean death. Not to mention the Eeps respawned so quickly—what was it again, like twenty seconds? Oh, and just great! Things got even worse, because as he darted his eyes around, he realized there were very dark objects slithering across the ceiling that must surely have been the Screeching Spiders the NPC had been going on about. They did not yet have names which, if past was precedent, meant they were supposed to be some kind of trap. They’d likely fall down on unsuspecting adventurers, and only then would their names and levels become visible.

As Zach stood there unmoving like an idiot and tried desperately to think, his head became cloudier and cloudier as the pressure of the time-limit only seemed to paralyze him further. Every second he wasn’t moving was a second he lost. Yet just knowing that seemed to make him more indecisive. Reflexively, he began to bounce up and down on his tiptoes. He was only 17. He wasn’t a soldier. He wasn’t experienced. The fate of two lives shouldn’t be in his hands. This wasn’t supposed to be something he had to deal with. But he did have to deal with it. He couldn’t let them die. So he had to do the impossible. But how?

What if he could get help? Maybe if he found another entrance to Angelica’s, he could convince some adventurers to help him. It wasn’t a horrible idea, but it required him to, at the very least, get through this floor, which just from a casual glance, looked like a multi-day project at the minimum—assuming he was even strong enough, stat-wise, to do it. Another idea was to become stronger, but that also ran into the issue of time. If only he had more time, he could conceivably grind levels and hope some of them weren’t blank.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and selected the tracking app. This, he did even while his brain screamed at him not to look. That there was no reason for him to waste more time on checking the…well, time. In fact, all he would do was make himself more anxious and make it harder to pull himself together.

And here I go doing it anyway.

This was because, on the flipside, the other, evil half of his brain told him the opposite. It said, “Zach, you need to know how much time you have left. You can’t do this. You’re a loser. Your friends are as good as dead. Just look at the time!” As it turned out, eight precious minutes had already passed from the moment he’d last checked, and now the quest timer stood at 2:52:01.

I need to move. I need to save them. I need to!

But how, dammit? As things stood, he was a level 7 with the stats of like a level 4, if that. How close was he to his next level, anyway? He’d been so distracted chatting with Kalana that he hadn’t even bothered keeping track of things last floor. Though, in fairness, the experience gains had been so pathetically small it almost wasn’t worth bothering.

The last time he’d looked, he’d been at 450/600 and he hadn’t checked since. Despite not wanting to waste any more valuable, priceless seconds, he nevertheless brought out his stats if for no other reason than to take stock of his current situation before proceeding onwards. Tapping his shoulder four times, he quickly read the words that appeared in the air before him.

Zachys Calador: Level 7

(598/600xp)

Armor Bonus: 13

6 strength

4 dexterity

5 constitution

1 intelligence

3 speed

2 luck

Dismissing it almost as soon as it appeared, Zach took note of the only two pieces of information that actually mattered to him: that he was 2xp away from reaching level 8, and that Lienne’s armor buff was still active on him, raising his armor bonus from 8 to 13, likely for, at the most, another twenty minutes. It was almost funny how it all kept coming back to time. Everything was time!

Staring at this “Skelly Defender” only twenty or so feet in front of him and away from the metal door, he slowed his breathing in an attempt to control his overall unsteadiness. Each moment was now a desperate struggle to push aside feelings of hopelessness as the list of things going against him seemed so vast and insurmountable that it almost crushed him into further inaction.

It wasn’t just about the sheer number of mobs in here and the question of whether or not he was strong enough to kill them. Having a natural affinity for swordsmanship, Zach genuinely felt that there was a real chance he could kill some or most of these mobs, even if he didn’t yet know their strength. The problem rather was what would happen afterwards. He wasn’t a Gods-damned machine! Like any human being, there came a time when he would need to rest and catch his breath. And thus far, the two types of skeletons he’d come across both seemed to have five-minute respawn timers. The Eeps, on the other hand, had a mere twenty or so seconds before they came back, and then there were all these other mobs he knew nothing about. For him to make it through just this one floor—let alone get all the way down to B10 in three hours’ time—he’d need to kill, move, and keep killing with no chance to pause or rest. And he’d have to do this for an indeterminate amount of time, as he couldn’t even see the end of this giant, mouth-shaped tunnel.

Oh, and he had no healer now, too. So now, on top of everything else, getting injured equaled death or failure. This was just such bullshit. Every time it seemed like his life had begun moving in a more positive direction, there was just something else that had to go wrong. He found a spawn? His dad got murdered. The girl he loved wanted to be with him? She got taken to an island and developed a God complex. It just didn’t FUCKING stop. The hits. They just kept coming!

Once again compulsively checking his phone, he saw that he’d wasted another two minutes, as he now had just 2:49:55 left before his two new and dear friends were killed as a result of his cowardice and inaction.

With an audible whimper that sounded horrible even to his own ears, he realized that there really was no plan he could come up with. There was nothing. He had only two choices to him: push forward and almost certainly either die or arrive too late, or, he could abandon his friends, which would still require him to push forward through this floor or face death by inevitable starvation and dehydration.

Just stop thinking about it. Just move and don’t stop moving!

Even picking a bad option was better than doing nothing at all. He would just have to try. That was all he could do now. Try.

No more thinking. No more plotting. Just move your ass. Now. Do it now!

Determined but still shaken with terror and doubt, Zach decided to waste not a single additional second. It was time to fight!

First up: this “Skelly Defender.” Without even considering the uncountable number of challenges waiting for him in this mob-filled zoo of a tunnel, everything that came next would begin with him killing the sword-and-shield-bearing, level-8 skeleton before him.

If I get too close, I’ll definitely aggro those Eeps and maybe even the archer. Their aggro range is gigantic.

At times like now, he really wished he had an ability like Rian’s Axe Throw. The only ranged power he could call upon was his Wave Slash, and given that he had about two hours fifty minutes—probably less now—to get down to B10, exhausting himself on the first enemy probably wasn’t a great idea. So, did this mean he’d have no choice but to body-pull the Gods-damned thing?

No, what am I even saying? I’m an idiot!

Feeling ashamed of his own stupidity, Zach remembered that he was literally surrounded in almost every conceivable direction by rocks. Bending down, he scooped up a nice large one that was just small enough to wrap his fingers around, and then he straightened his back and stared at the Skelly Defender.

“All right, you son of a bitch. Let’s do this.”

Spitting on the floor, Zach then bent his knees, drew his arm back, and sent it again forward with all his strength, hurtling the rock through the air at the Skelly Defender. Zach watched in trepidation as it approached with great speed, closing the thirty feet of distance in less than three seconds, and then, with a snap, it bounced off the creature’s head, dealing 5 damage.

“Frrruughhh!” the Skelly Defender yelled at him. “Frrruughhh!”

“Fruuuuhhk you too!” Zach yelled right back at it as it took wide, lunging steps in his direction.

Raising his blade defensively and bending his knees, Zach nodded his head up and down and shook his shoulders to both loosen his muscles and psychologically pump himself up. It was time to fight. He could do this. He had to do this. If he didn’t, his friends were going to die, and so probably would he.

Zach was ready to spring into action the moment the creature came to him. “Frrruughhh!” it again yelled as it wasted no time lifting its imposing-looking broadsword and then slicing down at him. Zach raised his blade, deflected the blow, and then, narrowing his eyes, he returned with a strike of his own. Unfortunately, the Skelly Defender’s shield wasn’t just for mere show, and it was able to absorb the attack with a loud, echoing thud before retaliating with a horizontal slice aimed at Zach’s neck. This, he simply leaned backwards and away from.

Though it had only been a brief exchange, Zach was thus far unimpressed with the creature’s swordsmanship. His only real concern was the fact that, for the very first time, he was fighting a mob that had the ability to defend itself against attacks, which meant that valuable time would be drained as Zach now poked at the thing, trying to find a hole in its guard.

For nearly half a minute, he kept himself light on his feet, dodging and deflecting the occasional strike before returning with a rather weak one of his own. His attacks, at least so far, were not designed to inflict damage but to probe. This, he chose to do as a result of drawing upon his experience from his brief duel with Rian. That had been the first time he’d ever fought against something with a shield, and his mistake back then had been to exert too much force against the shield rather than try to find an opening.

“Frrruughhh!” the Skelly Defender roared defiantly. Its attack patterns were actually quite varied, and even amid the storm of emotions in Zach’s heart, he still found room to be amazed at how deftly he was able to guard against, parry, or dodge the monster’s attacks. There was just something about bodily movements he understood on an intrinsic level. His coordination and reflexes seemed almost uniquely attuned to feeling out something’s movement in a way that let him predict where it would end up, such as right now, as the skeleton shifted its weight onto its back leg. It was going to attempt a thrusting attack, wasn’t it?

Zach pivoted on his heels and twisted his hip, easily moving out of the way. Then, finally catching the Skelly Defender off guard, he at last put some power behind his attacks, and he swung at full strength in a crescent arc. There was a loud crunch as his blade ripped across the Skelly Defender’s throat bones, dealing 38 damage and causing an entire piece of the column connecting its head to its torso to fly off to its right side. The strike also chipped off a big chunk of its jaw. Now, its head drooped down as though it were staring at the ground, and Zach realized it was stuck in that position. Nevertheless, it didn’t seem to alter how the creature fought, as the follow-up strike that Zach hoped to land was again blocked by its shield.

How much HP does it have left? he wondered. I’ve hit it for…I think 43 so far.

As he and the creature continued to tussle, Zach became increasingly more annoyed and anxious. Mechanically, he was doing everything right. He was positive that his current method of dealing with this “Skelly Defender” was emphatically the correct one—or at least it would be if he could actually afford the cost in time!

Had he come to this dungeon on his own or if Rian and Lienne hadn’t been so stupid, he would be beyond pleased with himself for how he was handling this mob. Unfortunately, the clock was ticking, he’d already been in combat with this thing for over a minute, and at the rate things were going, he could very well end up wasting five, if not ten more on trying to topple it.

And so, acting in a way that he knew was reckless, instead of continuing to search for an opening, Zach began to hammer away at the mob using all of his strength. He struck so hard that he actually grunted each time he whirled his blade around. The skeleton frustratingly managed to block each and every attempted blow with its shield.

“Gods-damn you!” Zach hissed as he raised his arms high above his head and then brought the sword crashing down towards the top-middle portion of the creature’s skull. The Skelly Defender raised its shield-bearing arm up just in time to block the strike, so Zach, with as much speed as he could muster, took a half step back and then quickly swung a horizontal slash at its midsection. The skeleton began to lower its shield down to guard, but it would be too slow. Zach’s blade connected, dealing 27 damage and causing a rib bone to break free and make a clattering sound as it skipped several times along the ground.

Having used so much energy on his previous volley of strikes, Zach had begun to pant. The fact that he was already at the point of breathing heavily was a very, very bad sign. This was just the first damn mob on a floor of a size he could not begin to guess, and already, he was starting to show the first signs of fatigue. Deep down, he knew this would be the case. He knew that what he was attempting was probably well beyond the realm of possibility, but how could he not at least try? How could he ever look himself in the mirror again if he just decided Rian and Lienne were lost causes and so fuck ‘em?

As more and more time ticked away, and Zach once again struggled to find an opening, his patience diminished, his level of panic steadily grew, and his attacks became increasingly more reckless—which in turn led to mistakes. Despite fighting against something that was clearly inferior to him in terms of skill with a blade, he came so close to losing his head that a few strands of his hair were chopped off. Had he been even a tenth of a second slower to duck, he would have been decapitated.

What was he realistically supposed to do here? In practical terms, he needed to slow down. But because of time constraints, he also needed to speed up. These two were not both possible at the same time. In any other situation, he’d be chiding himself for his impatience, but this was literally life or death for Rian and Lienne.

“Just die, you piece of—”

Zach again almost lost his head, and this time, dodging put him off balance. He stumbled backwards and then bumped into the metal door leading to this floor. The moment his back hit the wall, the Skelly Defender took a shot at his head. He ducked, and with a high-pitched scratching, the Skelly Defender carved a thin line into the dark blue metal frame of the door. Zach threw his foot forward and delivered a kick into the creature’s bony torso, pushing it back just a few steps and hitting for a paltry 3. Then he ran forward and swung his blade so fast that the steel made a whoosh as it moved through the air. Somehow, he actually managed to connect, slicing into the skeleton’s right shoulder bones for 20 damage. He tried to get lucky a second time, taking another lightning-quick slice at the skeleton’s opposite side, but the shield was there an instant before his blade, and so with another thud, his attack had been successfully blocked.

Zach only had a few feet now between him and the door behind him, and he unfortunately had to use all of it, once again putting his back to it as the Skelly Defender charged forward and delivered a series of five fast, powerful slashes, all from different directions. This was normally the type of attack that Zach would be better off dodging or running from. Yet surprising even his own self, he moved his sword with an even greater speed, blocking each and every one and resulting in five consecutive clangs, the last of which was accompanied by a few sparks.

Now breathing even more heavily, Zach went in for a counter attack—but he stopped, realizing that he wasn’t getting anywhere this way. He needed to learn from what did work and what didn’t. Thus far, he had successfully struck the monster three times, with the first being his most significant in terms of damage. It had been achieved as a result of Zach sliding out of the way of a thrusting attack. The second hit he’d pulled off due to launching a heavy—and blocked—downwards slice on the Skelly Defender’s Skull, and then a somewhat weaker but faster follow-up on its midsection. His third successful attack was pure circumstance. It was those first two he needed to focus on.

Even knowing it would cost him more valuable time that he couldn’t afford, Zach held off from attacking and instead focused on simply making small body movements to dodge the creature’s rather unimpressive assortment of strikes. He forced himself to remain patient as every second that ticked by made the situation more stressful and less tolerable. Even still, he continued to dance around whatever the Skelly Defender sent his way while getting his breathing under control.

And then came the opportunity.

The Skelly Defender shifted its weight to its back foot, and Zach felt a rush of energy and alertness as he sensed his opportunity had come once again. He dodged well before the creature thrust forward at him, and the extra time provided by his preemptive body movement allowed him to really wind up good. Using so much strength he actually screamed with the exertion of it, he smashed his blade across the Skelly Defender’s face so Gods-damned hard it knocked off the rest of its jaw, the nose bone, and a decent piece of its forehead for 55 damage. The creature stumbled backwards several steps and looked as though it would fall over. In truth, Zach expected this to be the moment it crumpled to pieces. But somehow, through some means, it still wasn’t dead.

“This is bullshit!” he growled. “How much HP does this fucking thing have?”

He ran forward, then stopped, remembering that no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t going to break through its guard by attacking blindly. So instead, he methodically repeated his other successful attack. Using his precious stamina, he raised his sword high and brought it down to bear on top of the skeleton’s skull, and like before, the blade was blocked. Then, repeating the same movement as before, he followed up with a light, quick attack on the midsection. This time, it only hit for 15. But Gods be blessed, it finally did the trick!

With a final, pained-sounding “Frrruughhh!” the Skelly Defender crumpled into a pile of bones and then disappeared, as Zach panted and tried to regain his breath.

+150xp

As Zach saw the number, he lifted his head in surprise and then wiped his eyes with his free hand. That was a tremendous, massive amount for a level-8 mob. The scarecrows only even gave 100xp. But wait. That was in a group of three. By himself, this actually sort of made sense. It appeared that fighting solo was not without its benefits.

Zach was so taken aback by the massive experience gain that he had forgotten all about what would come next. His eyes widened as he saw the words that he’d gone from loving to dreading. They floated in the air before him, and even with everything else that was going on, he was able, for a brief moment, to forget his current troubles and divert all of his attention to the words before him.

Level Up!

+1 str (7)

+1 spd (4)

+1 lck (3)

Okay then. All right. Yeah. Zach nodded to himself. This wasn’t the best thing that anyone had ever gotten, but it certainly removed the fear in his heart that he was worthless and had nothing left inside of him. Also, he’d seen firsthand through Rian what just a few points could do. And wait, were his eyes deceiving him, or had he just gotten a drop?

I did…

As Zach bent down to pick up whatever the Skelly Defender had left for him, he wondered why all this good shit was happening at a time when there was zero chance of him enjoying any of it. In the last ten seconds, he’d defeated a new mob, found a source of tremendous experience points, reassured his self-doubts, and gotten a drop—and none of it made him happy because his friends were going to die.

“Let’s see what we got here,” he said, moving as fast as he could.

It was a definitely a piece of gear: Zach knew because it came wrapped in that same kind of plastic that every other piece of gear he’d found had been wrapped in. Only, holding it in his hands, he wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at. It looked like just a bundle of cloth with no distinct shape. Knowing that he was risking his friends’ lives with every wasted second, he stopped wondering and started acting. Pulling up his inventory, he took a look to see what he had.

Decaying Hand Wraps of the Undying: discovered by Zachys Calador

Armor + 1

+1 str

+1 dex

“Oh, right,” he said aloud. “I forgot. This is part of that set I’m wearing.”

Zach had never worn hand wraps before, but they appeared simple enough to put on. They were literally just maroon-colored rolls of soft, quite comfortable fabric that he wrapped around each of his hands and wrists covering all but his fingers. Each roll ended in an adhesive fastener, securing it in place.

“With two more strength and another point in dex, I might actually be able to do this.”

His sudden rush of enthusiasm was soon dashed as he removed his phone from his pocket and checked his time. He was now down to 2:44:21. Swearing loudly, he ignored his fatigue and then took exactly three steps towards the next mob before coming to an abrupt halt. Suddenly, a twisted, disgusting, horrible, no-good, absolutely ludicrous idea popped into his head.

“No,” he said to himself, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot. You can’t do that. No. Stop thinking about it. Just stop!”

But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It wasn’t that he wanted to attempt something so obviously risky—at least in a time sense—but it was more that he knew he wasn’t going to make it in time the way he was going. He wasn’t strong enough. He needed more power, and he needed it faster. Put simply, there was no way he could make it through this floor in under a day, let alone two hours. And that was just a fact. He might not have liked it, but that was just the way things stood.

On the other hand, this new, far riskier idea that had come to him—there was basically no chance of this working either. But…but it might. Again, the odds were so ridiculously against him that it seemed almost pointless to even try. Only his adamant refusal to accept that it was truly too late and that his friends were really going to die—only this kept him from giving up in despair.

As five seconds of thinking turned into ten, Zach realized that, despite this being such a monumentally consequential decision, he actually didn’t even have the time needed to make sure he made the correct one. Time was now a resource that he couldn’t waste. This, as he obsessively glanced down to see that only 2:43:01 remained before Rian and Lienne were put to death.

“What do I do?” he asked himself. He could hear the desperation in his own voice. Very briefly, making sure he spared only a handful of seconds, he snuck another peek at his stats.

Zachys Calador: Level 8

(148/800xp)

Armor Bonus: 14

8 strength

5 dexterity

5 constitution

1 intelligence

4 speed

3 luck

It was those two new points in strength. If not for those, this idea wouldn’t even be rummaging around his brain. When Lienne had gotten just two points more of intelligence, her spells had hit way harder. Every point made a big difference—or at least at their level it did.

“I don’t have time for this,” he moaned. “I’m just going to do it. To hell with it!”

Zach spun around and flung himself towards the exit door with a speed even greater now than what he was capable of only a moment ago. He knew that, no matter how this turned out, he couldn’t be faulted for anything bad that happened. He had no time to make a good decision. He just wanted his friends to live, and he had to act. That was all he could do now. And so, as his body crashed into the door that led to B5, and he started bolting up the few sets of stairs, he promised himself—swore to himself that he would not allow himself to second guess anything from this point on. Only snap decisions from here on out. Those very same kinds of decisions that he’d always gotten wrong in the past—at least according to Kal.

I wish she was here. Gods, I wish she was here with me.

One of the things Zach had discovered about this dungeon was that the exit doors only disappeared when being transported off or returning to Galterra. That was why he was unsurprised to see the door to B5 right where it was meant to be as he slammed it open and tore across the banquet hall.

“Oh, hello, adventurer,” Moldark said to him. “I am so happy today, because it is my wedding day. But alas! My bride seems to have—”

“No one gives a shit!” Zach screamed at him as he ran for all he was worth over and across the shiny, white-tiled flooring of what he took to be a dance floor. Pumping his arms as he ran, he looked over his shoulder and shouted, “No offense!”

Then, extending his left arm all the way out in front of him while holding his blade in his right, he tackled the blue metal exit door without losing an ounce of speed. He didn’t even hear it bang against the wall to his right until he’d already climbed halfway up the first flight of stairs. Huffing, he ignored the muscle pain in his quadriceps, thighs, and calves and the intensifying pounding in his chest as he flew up another five flights; reaching the top, he once more extended his arm and bashed open the exit door—and then immediately switched back to a two-handed grip, jumped up into the air, viciously slashed his blade downwards, and decapitated a Skelly Grunt that never even turned to face in his direction.

+25xp

“Guess who’s back?” he shouted, laughing giddily as his emotional turmoil had put him into something of an adrenaline-fueled, feverish rage. He began to laugh so hard and so crazily he scared even himself. But he didn’t care. He was throwing everything on the line now. There was no going back. It was all for the sake of his two new—and currently best—friends. No wonder this quest was called “The Value of Friendship.”

Fifteen feet in front of him were six skelly grunts spread out in a sort of semicircle as the width between the wall and the chasm was only about ten feet. Zach, squeezing his blade so tightly that his knuckles turned white, launched himself forward. Once he’d crossed to within ten or so feet, all six turned and faced him. But he didn’t aggro them. No, it was the other way around: they aggroed him. Zach didn’t even care whether or not that was possible, because it was what happened.

“Frrruughhh!” Zach yelled at the Skelly Grunts as he charged straight at them. “Frrruughhh”

“Frrruughhh!” they all yelled back at him, moving in his direction and raising their scimitars. “Frrruughhh!’

The moment Zach got within their range, he lifted his foot and kicked the one nearest to the ledge with enough force that it stumbled backwards and fell off. Then, seething with anger and laughing giddily all at the same exact time, he unloaded on the other five of them.

First, he crashed his sword into the midsection of the one to his immediate left, dealing 52 damage; then, he swung his arms around in the opposite direction, delivering a cut to the top of the spinal cord of the one to his right, hitting for 61 and cutting its head clean off. Quickly, he raised his blade and blocked the scimitar of the one directly in front of him, the clash of their two blades resulting in small shower of sparks; right after, he retaliated with a downwards slice that ended it for good. Now, the two remaining Skelly Grunts both moved in on him, one to each side, and so Zach extended his arms with his blade pointed forward. Spinning around in a full circle, he cut them both, hitting each for exactly 59 damage.

+25xp

+25xp

+25xp

+25xp

+25xp

+25xp

According to Rian and Lienne, there were only two things that resulted in an experience penalty. The first was the number of people in your party—anything over two—and the second was the number of people in your party two levels—or more—higher than the thing you were fighting. But if flying solo, Lienne had explained, then there was no such penalty regardless of level. That last bit was going to be a really, really big problem for the unfortunate, poor Skelly Grunts who were about to bear the responsibility for everything that had ever gone wrong in Zach’s life.

If part of his stamina really was based in willpower, then right now, he needed to draw on every last ounce of it, as Zach knew he was about to enter into the most cardio-intensive, angry, and grueling act of mass slaughter that any Skelly Grunt had ever had the misfortune of being part of. They were about to pay a severe price for Zach’s misery. He was about to kill these things so ruthlessly that they’d beg the mob Gods not to make them respawn. It was a good thing that the skeletons did not bleed when cut, because if they did, Zach would be moments from dyeing his entire outfit red.

Yelling out a battle cry, he dashed forward and struck down two more Skelly Grunts before they even had a chance to turn in his direction. Then he continued onwards and dispatched a third. Ahead of him was one of the two traps on this floor where he recalled five of the Skelly Grunts jumping down from a ledge up near the ceiling. Zach was ready for them. As soon as he moved within range, all five Skelly Grunts leapt down at the same time, and then they moved to surround him.

Sparks flew as he raised his blade to defend against the first grunt to attack—the unfortunate mob who’d basically just volunteered itself to be his first victim. Ducking beneath a second strike, Zach thrust his blade forward, piercing it cleanly for 51 damage and ending the thing in one hit. Then he pulled back his weapon, spun around, and chopped off the head of one of the bastards that’d slipped behind him. It was at this moment that a sharp, throbbing pain erupted in his shoulder.

For a second or two, Zach was confused, but then he remembered the Skelly Archers far across the chasm, of which one must’ve fired an arrow at him; with a quick, cursory glance at his right shoulder blade, he saw that an arrow had indeed penetrated his flesh and was jutting out of his shoulder, but it had not gone nearly deep enough for Zach to worry about thanks in part to Lienne’s armor buff. In fact, he didn’t even bother dealing with it. He simply dealt a killing blow to two more of the Skelly Grunts and then jumped backwards to avoid the downwards slice of a scimitar from the last. Pushing forwards, he delivered such a vicious counter slash to the torso of the Skelly Grunt who’d attacked him that it cleaved the creature into two pieces, dealing 69 damage. Then Zach laughed at the sex number and continued his charge, stopping only briefly to duck down and avoid another arrow. Hurrying back upright, he proceeded onwards.

He was now halfway across the expanse that would lead to the left tunnel, which was on his right this time around. Zach wondered what would’ve happened if they’d gone through the opposite route. Would the metal door at the end of that particular stairwell also lead to the same B5? Or would it have presented them with a different floor entirely? One that, in an alternate universe, Rian and Lienne did not get themselves locked in some kind of death quest. If only he had the time to find out.

Up ahead, four Skelly Grunts cried out at him as he approached. Not a single one of them managed to lift their blades. Zach furiously swung his weapon, whipping it around for one strike after the next, ripping the creatures apart even as he now began to really feel the physical, exhaustive effects of his prolonged assault. His breathing was now far heavier than it’d been before, and sweat was pouring down his face, back, between his legs, his arms—everywhere. But still, he continued on—or almost did. First, he dropped down into a squat as two arrows fired back-to-back crashed into the rocky wall to his right with the first arriving one second before the second. Then, standing back up, he groaned as a third he didn’t see coming slammed into his chest.

“Gods damn it,” he said. Switching his blade to a single-handed grip, he used his free hand and tore the arrow out of his body, then also plucked out the one in his shoulder. Though he was bleeding, it was not too bad. Actually, if not for his adventures with Rian and Lienne, he might have actually panicked at the amount of blood oozing out of him. Once upon a time, he would’ve thought it was a lot. But as he’d come to learn, it was often the case that what looked like a lot of blood and what was a lot of blood were two different things entirely. This here? This was nothing. And so he didn’t even bother to try stopping the bleeding as he dashed forward. Behind him, he heard a thwump, thwump, thwump as three arrows struck the wall where he’d just been standing, penetrating the rock.

Once more gripping his sword in both hands, he raced forward, struck down another two grunts, then again ducked to avoid even more arrows that had been fired from across the chasm. Something white and shining caught his eye. Then, with a disappointed grunt, Zach kicked the headband off the ledge and watched as it fell for Gods knew how many feet into the abyss. He supposed he could’ve stored it, but he definitely did not have time to read up on how that ability worked.

Continuing on, Zach moved at a jog rather than a run. It was something he soon corrected, as he refused to allow himself to become sluggish. He didn’t have the luxury of resting. He didn’t have the privilege of taking a break. To give himself the strength and willpower needed to eat through the exhaustion and press on, he intentionally, deliberately pictured Rian and Lienne in his head as they were brutally murdered. It tortured him. It made him yell in anguish. But it fueled him. It gave him the rush of anger and impatience he needed to obliterate another pack of five Skelly Grunts three-quarters of the way to the tunnel.

Now, he was just about to enter the second of the two “ambushes.” On this one, he couldn’t remember if there’d been three, four, five, or six Skelly Grunts, because at the time, he had been texting with Kalana about her cat. Ultimately, it didn’t matter if there were a hundred. In fact, better so if there were! He was going to destroy all of them—but first, he needed to watch out for those damn arrows!

Zach ducked below one, dashed backwards to avoid the next, and then slashed at the air, cutting the third in half before it struck him. He again ducked thereafter, as two more struck the rocky wall across from the ledge. Once he was sure that all the archers had fired their current volley, he moved into range of the trap, then glanced up to see four skeletons dropping down on him.

This time around, Zach decided to save a few seconds by gripping his blade tighter, bending his knees, and then snapping back up to his feet while powerfully swinging his blade up and above him, splitting a Skelly Grunt in two before it even landed. No sooner had it vanished into a puff of smoke than the other three attacked him all at once.

Zach twisted his body to avoid a thrusting attack from the one to his right while simultaneously raising his blade to deflect the one to his left. Unfortunately, the one in front of him managed to get him—and it really, really hurt. The scimitar cut him right above his left breastbone, and though it was also a relatively shallow slice, it was just deep enough that it might be something he’d need to keep an eye on later. For now, however, he was content to behead the bastard for hurting him, then make quick work of its two friends.

Now, there were just two more left before reaching the tunnel. But before he even considered going after them, he once again had to wait for the next round of archer fire so that he didn’t have to worry about it while he dealt with the two Skelly Grunts. He was grateful there was such a long delay between shots, as this would be almost impossible if they were rapid-firing at him. Also…was that a drop he spotted on the ground near his right foot?

Even as Zach danced around to avoid the arrows that were now numerous enough to pose a grave threat, he tried to discern whether or not this was something he had already, but it was difficult while hopping around. The moment he evaded the final arrow, he dropped down, scooped up the item, and then almost cheered at the sight of two reddish-brown sandals that would complete his armor set. Knowing that he’d found the fifth and final piece of equipment was so wonderful that it had brought him to within a hair’s breadth of smiling. Sadly, the Rian and Lienne situation weighed too heavily on him.

Rather than a shoebox, the sandals came wrapped in the same kind of plastic that the clothing did. Zach tucked them protectively under his left armpit and held his blade in his right hand. He then drew the aggro of the final two Skelly Grunts. The first, he ended immediately with a single slash to its bony face. The second, however, only took 43 damage from his one-handed strike, and Zach had to kick it in its nonexistent nuts to finish it off. It crumpled, vanished, and then, almost as though it were destiny, it turned out that these last two mobs were enough to grant him his next level up. And boy, was this a weird one.

As Zach read the words that appeared in the air before him—even as he was forced to shuffle around a bit to dodge another volley of arrow fire from the Gods-cursed Skelly Archers—he found himself baffled and mystified by what he saw. If anything, it reinforced the idea that there was something screwy going on with him, because he was fairly certain that this was not a normal kind of level up. At least, that was his best guess, anyway. In all fairness, he still didn’t really know how all of this worked. But even then, something about this just didn’t seem right.

Level Up!

+1 str (9)

+1 con (6)

+47 int (48)

Really, it was that last one that threw him off if he was being honest. Actually, “threw him off" wasn’t really a strong enough term to describe the immense confusion he felt at the sight of his intelligence gain. He didn’t use spells. He didn’t have a single ability or weapon that scaled off it. So why in the name of the Gods did he just receive forty-seven points of it? He was so shocked to see this that he couldn’t even bring himself to feel an emotional reaction. Whether that was because of Rian and Lienne’s current situation or because he felt like everything was just running off the rails, he didn’t know. The only thing he did know was that if he didn’t hurry, his two friends were going to die in…how long was it now? He took out his phone and checked.

Zach gasped, immediately losing interest in his intelligence stat as he realized he’d used up fifteen minutes of his time already. The tracker app now showed that he had just 2:27:54 left. So, basically, he had just two-and-a-half hours to get down to B10, and he had thus far not made a single inch of progress in terms of physical distance. Hell, technically, he’d actually put himself farther away.

Even still, he now had to make another very difficult decision, and like before, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot of time for him to make up his mind. The question at this point was simple: should he stay here for another level or two or was he now strong enough to try bashing his way through B6 again?

Hurrying into the tunnel as the archers released another round of fire, he took a seat on the ground, kicked off his old sneakers, and then placed the much-more comfortable brown sandals he’d just found on each of his feet. They didn’t seem to have any laces, nor did they feel like they particularly needed them, either; they were a perfect, exact fit. Zach inspected the sandals in his inventory even as he put them on his feet.

Decaying Footwear of the Undying: discovered by Zachys Calador

Armor + 1

+1 spd

The item itself wasn’t so great from a stats perspective, but it was really comfortable, easy to move around in, and most importantly, it completed his set. Now, he should have had his stats raised even further, no? Still looking at his inventory, he tapped the pants he was wearing.

Decaying Leggings of the Undying: discovered by Zachys Calador

Armor + 2

+1 str

+1 con

Decaying Set (5/5)

Set Bonus:

Armor + 2

+1 str

+1 con

+1 dex

+1 spd

+1 lck

(300 seconds) User fires a small bolt of dread magic at target enemy, dealing 0-25 magic damage. Does not affect undead enemies or apparitions.

150 range

Okay, so according to this, he now had a ranged ability—that didn’t scale off intelligence, sadly—that he could use to pull mobs or really for any number of other practical applications. It wouldn’t be useful against skeletons, though. But putting the ability aside, even better was that his stats had now gotten another bump. But would it be enough? Was he strong enough now? He sort of thought he could feel a bit more powerful if he rotated his shoulders and stretched his neck. Come to think of it, now that his constitution was two points higher, he realized that his arrow wounds had become more like scrapes, and the deeper cut above his breastbone was now more like the arrow wounds had been.

If he took these boots off, would the wounds get worse? It wasn’t something he had the time to experiment with, and in all honesty, if the answer was “yes,” he doubted he wanted to find out. In order to avoid wasting any more time, Zach tapped the air in front of him to switch from his inventory back to his stats.

Zachys Calador: Level 9

(23/1200xp)

Armor Bonus: 12

10 strength

6 dexterity

7 constitution

49 intelligence

6 speed

4 luck

As soon as Zach saw that “1200” number appear, he knew that he would have to move on. He simply could not afford the cost in time to grind twelve-hundred experience points which, in a way, really served well to highlight just how dire things were; this was because, given that Skelly Grunts respawned every 5 minutes, gaining the 1200xp needed for his next level would probably only take around two respawns’ worth of time since he’d gotten over 600xp on the way to the tunnel. So, the fact he couldn’t spare a mere 10 minutes to gain a massive 1200xp was a really good example of how deep the shit was that he was in. As things stood, the best he could do was rest for another four minutes—and even that was pushing it—and then try to kill them twice as fast on his way back.

As Zach remained seated, he could hear thumps from just outside the tunnel as the archers continued to fire on him despite having no actual chance of reaching him. He tried not to move a single muscle. He needed to soak up every last second of this rest he was giving himself: a rest he wasn’t sure he was even able to afford.

As the time passed, he continued to stare at his stats. It seemed that the armor buff had expired, which left him with a total of 12. It was only a loss of two, and his gain of two constitution almost certainly more than made up for it. But really, what caught most of his attention was the stat that served him least, and how it was now, by a great deal, his highest. He just couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe that he actually now had 49 points into intelligence. This was so bizarre. He needed to talk to someone about this. Maybe Mr. Oren or Kesten or someone who knew something about all this, because it didn’t seem sensible. Why would something like that even happen? Wasn’t he supposed to be a “bruiser” or whatever? Either way, these were yet more questions he’d have to put off until later. Rest time was over, and he needed to get back at it. There were only two hours, twenty-three minutes, and thirty-one seconds remaining until Rian and Lienne were killed. The stats he’d gained coming up here would have to be enough, because he was out of time.

With a renewed sense of urgency, Zach got to his feet and soared his way back through the semi-narrow path that led across the expanse. He was now able to kill the Skelly Grunts with much less effort. He used this to advantage, striking much faster and using less exertion as he powered his way through to the exit in just under 3 minutes, all while earning a massive 675xp.

Despite having exhausted himself once already, he again did not hold back as he raced down the steps and exploded into the metal door labeled B5, which let out into the fancy-looking banquet hall where he had last seen Rian and Lienne, hopefully not also for the last time.

“Oh, hello, adventurer!” Moldark called to him as he approached. “I am so happy today, because it is my wedding day. But alas! My bride seems to have misplaced her wedding dress. If only I had…”

Zach ignored him as he zipped his way towards the exit door labeled B5->B6. He did stop for just a brief moment, however. He knew he needed energy. He knew it would do Rian and Lienne no good if he collapsed dead or unconscious before he ever got to them. And so, with a sense of gratitude that no one other than a non-sentient NPC was around to see him do this, Zach outright grabbed two fistfuls of wedding cake with both of his bare hands, then just stuffed it inside his mouth like an animal. It was fucking delicious, too.

Even as he chewed, he aggressively bashed his way through the door to the stairwell and flew down the few flights of stairs until once more appearing at the door to B6. He was now noticeably faster, with 6 points into speed. It gave him the slightest hope that maybe, just maybe he could actually pull this off.

The moment he stepped into B6, he reached down, grabbed a rock, and knowing he had no time to spare, threw it at the Skelly Defender. Even without having used his full strength, it hit for 10 damage, which meant that, already, he could see a sign of his recent gains, as it had only hit for 5 earlier despite him throwing it with a great deal more effort.

[140/150]

Skelly Defender

Level 8

“Frrruughhh!” it roared as it ran over to him. “Frrruughhh!”

Zach nodded to himself. He could do this. He needed to believe in himself. Raising his blade, he prepared to engage his foe. Only, unlike before, he wasn’t going to do this the slow and steady way. After all, the entire reason he’d just wasted so much precious time up on B4 was so that he could brute force his way through B6. He had to be so fast that it defied logic and reason. That was how little time he could spare on his way down. For this reason, when the mob came within striking distance, Zach gave it his all.

He did not hold back. He did not “conserve” his energy. He struck out with every single last bit of strength that he could force his body to provide. With reckless abandon, he shouted with the strain of exertion as he absolutely hammered away at the Skelly Defender’s shield, each strike making a crack so loud it sounded like a gunshot.

The first time his sword collided with the skeleton’s shield, it worried him slightly, as it did not visibly inflict any damage, nor did it cause the mob to loosen its grip on the shield. The second time, however, he began to feel more confident, as the shield seemed to wobble somewhat. Zach now became certain: the Skelly Grunt would drop it on the next hit.

Interestingly enough, that wasn’t quite what ended up happening. Digging deep within himself, channeling his rage and fear, and picturing Lienne and Rian in his mind, Zach struck out with even more power as dark, murderous intent flooded his emotions. When his sword met the Skelly Defender’s shield, rather than drop it, the shield simply detonated. It just detonated. With a satisfying crack, at least fifty pieces of it scattered in every single direction. It was like Zach had struck something made out of clay.

“Now you’re really going to get it,” he told the creature.

“Frrruughhh!” it replied.

With every second mattering more than the one before it, Zach burst into action, and once more, using his maximum strength, he finally got to see with his own eyes and feel with his own hands the difference that four points into strength made. Slicing the skeleton across its chest, he delivered 61 points of damage and caused the creature to stumble backwards. Zach pursued. In one fluid, swift, and blazingly quick motion, he raised his arms, flicked up his wrists, and then lowered his arms and flicked down his wrists. The result was a two-hit combination that saw his sword slash up the skeleton’s jaw and forehead and then right back down the way it’d come, dishing out another 72.

[7/150]

Skelly Defender

Level 8

Zach twirled around and avoided a return thrust from the broadsword, then practically tapped the skeleton over its head—just bopping it with the end of his sword for 9. An instant later, it crumpled into a pile of bones, which then vanished as though they’d never existed at all.

That took too much energy. How am I supposed to do this?

Though he was now undeniably stronger, Zach was once again feeling a creeping doubt as he again took in just how much there was standing between him and an eventual exit to this floor. What if it was ten miles? What if it was fifty? There was just no way of knowing.

Fighting to keep the negativity out of his mind, he walked over and beyond the spot where the Skelly Defender had originally spawned. With a quick glance at it, he reminded himself that he needed to be fast, as getting caught by respawns would be one easy way of guaranteeing he didn’t make any progress. Thus, he took several quick steps forward, then paused as three mobs aggroed him at once.

[25/25]

Eep A

Level 3

[25/25]

Eep B

Level 3

[??/??]

Screeching Spider

Level 6

The Eeps were going to be a problem. Those pricks respawned so fast it was almost pointless to kill them. Even still, Zach easily dispatched both of them with an almost effortless flick of his blade. They weren’t quite as threatening as they used to be. Unlike his previous encounter with these creatures, he could now move fast enough to keep up with their in-air, evasive abilities. With great ease, Zach cut both of them out of the air, and to his pleasant surprise, as a solo adventurer, they were now worth 10xp each instead of the 3xp they'd been worth back on Earth.

A good ten or so seconds passed before the spider came at him. It was large, black, and very furry—but in a disgusting way—and it was the size of a goat. Unsure of what to expect, Zach jumped to the side as the creature made a dull hissing noise and shot what looked to be some kind of adhesive at him. Zach then darted forward—only to dash back as the Screeching Spider “screeched” at him, jumping forward and attempting to impale him with its pincers. Cautiously, Zach risked taking another step forward—only to be pushed back a second time for the same reason.

I can NOT retreat, Zach realized. I’m being pushed back. I need to move forward!

Refusing to retreat so much as another inch, Zach raised his blade high above him and stepped into, rather than away from, the spider’s next leaping attack; at the same time, he brutally chopped his sword downwards with all his might. The result was that he not only ripped apart most of the creature’s face, causing a disgusting green goo to spray all over his new sandals, but he actually reversed its momentum midair and knocked it away from him, dealing 88 damage. The spider landed on its back and began to hiss, wiggling back and forth as though trying to flip itself over. Zach approached, and with a scowl, he again lifted his sword up, but this time with the blade pointed downward. With that, he executed the creature, piercing it through its stomach for 71 damage and killing it. He was rewarded with 100xp. But he wasn’t done just yet; the moment it died, he spun himself around, raised his arms, and swung his blade twice at the air, killing the two Eeps that had already respawned.

Pressing onwards, he only managed to take about fifteen steps before aggroing another Skelly Defender and what looked like two Skelly Archers a bit in the distance beyond. Floating above the Skelly Archers were about 6 Eeps, and on the ceiling above them were another four spiders. This meant, in order to kill the archers, who would now begin shooting at him, he’d have no choice but to aggro all of that other bullshit. This, as the two Eeps from before respawned. He could hear them from behind as they flew towards him.

As the Skelly Defender took a swipe at his face, Zach ducked, spun his body around, and dealt first with the two Eeps. Then he ducked under an arrow from the first archer, and twisted his body out of the way of the second. Only then did he find the time to exhaustingly hammer away and kill the Skelly Defender, but the effort required left him panting. He was actually so exhausted that two of the arrows struck him dead center in the chest, as the Eeps, having come back yet again, each bit at his face.

Zach killed them as fast as he could. But damn, he needed a rest. This was quickly looking like it wasn’t going to be possible. It took everything he had within himself to avoid giving into despair. But then he cried out in pain as two more arrows bit into his flesh. None of them punctured deeply, but they hurt badly, and he was too exhausted to dodge. He was now genuinely afraid that, if he did attempt to charge after those two archers, he wouldn’t have the energy left in him to actually fight the multiple Eeps, spiders, and archers all at once. As yet another two arrows caused an incredible stabbing sensation to form in his gut and in his right hip, his despair turned to outright terror.

Shamefully, his survival instinct kicked in, and he decided to pull back instead of press forward. Faced with a very real possibility of death, he did the only thing he could: he retreated. Turning around, he half-limped, half-stumbled his way towards the direction of the dark blue metal door. He wasn’t giving up, though. Oh, Gods no! He was just resetting. That was all this was. A reset. He just needed a reset. He wasn't running away. He’d never give up on his friends. He’d never abandon—

" Frrruughhh! "

Zach moaned in misery and terror as the Skelly Defender closest to the entrance spawned at the absolute worst possible time. How was he supposed to defend himself? He was badly exhausted, he had arrows sticking out of him all over the place, and his body was in pain. He needed a few minutes to recover, Gods-dammit!

Somehow, Zach found the strength to raise his sword and block a downward slash that would’ve split open his face between the eyes. But it was a small victory, as he was gasping for air in his attempt to backpedal away from the mob. He needed to breathe. He needed just a few Gods-fucking-damn seconds to recover. But he didn’t even get that. He was forced to duck beneath another strike, and then raise his blade to block a third.

The fourth, however—that one became the one that almost killed him. As Zach continued to back away, he had now become too winded to be aware of the mob shifting its weight to its back foot. Therefore, he did not see the broadsword thrust forward until it was too late. Although he did manage to avoid it, he did it by throwing himself off to his side and landing on the hard, gravel- and rock-covered ground. It was at this point, as he scrambled to get back up to his feet, that the broadsword got him.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw the Skelly Defender as it swung its blade down on top of him. But slow to move, he could only twist his body and partially get out of the way. The result was a very serious slice on his left shoulder that ripped into his flesh and caused a spray of blood to stain some of the rocks to his left while more of it began to leak out at an alarming rate. Then came the intense, unbearable, burning sensations.

Zach howled in agony as he crawled along the ground towards the exit door. He clutched his shoulder wound with his left hand and held his blade with his right as he slithered on his belly towards safety. Through some miracle, he managed to twist his body, lift his right arm, and block another of the mob’s strikes with a loud clang while his left hand remained pressed against his wound.

I’m not even going to make it to the door. Shit! I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. Gods, give me a break here, please.

“Frrruughhh!” the Skelly Defender roared at him. Mercilessly, it lifted its blade as though it were going to thrust down and execute Zach the way that Zach had executed the spider. “Frrruughhh!”

“Fuck you! You’re not killing me!”

Zach rolled over onto his back, gripped his blade in both hands, sat up, and then at the top of his lungs, screamed, “Wave Slash!” and swung his blade downwards. Thanks to his increase in speed, the semi-transparent green energy formed into its metallic, double-edged disc far faster than it ever had before, and as if realizing that Zach’s attack would land well before its own, the Skelly Defender extended its shield as if to block.

Even without having the chance to pick up much speed, and even at point blank, which in this case would likely mean minimum damage, the Wave Slash managed to explode through the shield and take the Skelly Defender’s head clean off its shoulders, dealing 762 damage and causing the mob to crumple into a pile of bones.

And then came the exhaustion.

Zach dropped his blade and collapsed once more onto his back. Right away, he knew he was going to slip into Exertion Debt. Having felt it once before, he thought he could sort of tell the difference now between coming close to it and definitively crossing the line. He fought against it, of course, but his vision was becoming blurry and his head light. The world felt like it was spinning. He himself felt like he was running a marathon and couldn’t stop.

And so there he lay, on his back on the rough, rocky ground, staring at the ceiling as more and more blood leaked out of his left shoulder in quantities that might actually be sufficient to cause death. And yet, even as he began to drift into an unconsciousness from which it was possible he might never awake, he couldn’t help but divert nearly all of his attention to the words that appeared up above him and halfway to the ceiling.

Level Up!

+1 str (11)

+1 con (8)

(LEGENDARY) Unleashed Phase Acquired!

Phase Blink Acquired!

Phase Shield Acquired!

Phase Rescue Acquired!

Phase Slash Acquired!

Phase Reset Acquired!

“Fuck,” Zach said. He laughed of all things, as his eyes grew heavy and he slipped into E-debt. He actually laughed. “Now I get this shit. Unbelievable.”

He knew he was likely to die. If he slipped into E-debt, he would continue to bleed. Even if he woke up before the end, he’d then be too weak from blood loss to actually do anything about it. And even if by some miracle he could, he was still within the Skelly Defender’s aggro range. Most likely, even before the wound killed him, the damn mob would respawn and hack him to pieces in his sleep.

I don’t want to die. Gods dammit!

He fought hard. He fought harder than he’d ever fought before. The willpower part of stamina—he relied on that to keep from entering into his final sleep. But it was becoming more difficult. He was going into E-debt no matter what. Was there something he could do to stop this? Anything at all? Not with Wave Slash or Boundless, anyway. Not with the ability from completing his equipment set, either. Lifting a shaking hand that felt heavier by the moment, he performed the sequence of shoulder taps and pauses that brought forth his list of abilities. And then, using the last of his strength, he tapped one of the numerous new ones that he’d unlocked. The moment he touched it, it became too much to keep his arm lifted, and so he let it fall back down to the ground. His eyes continued to go in and out of focus as he struggled to read the words that appeared above him. It was…a lot. This was the worst time to have to read this many words. Still, he tried his best because, if nothing else, he at least wanted to know what it did before he died.

(Inner Hybrid Ability) Unleashed Phase (UNIQUE LEGENDARY)

The exertion cost of this ability is not paid until after it is no longer active.

(86,400 seconds / 24 hours): For the next fifteen minutes, Unleashed Phase Immediately grants its user the following effects:

Armor + 35

+20 str

+20 dex

+20 con

+20 int

+20 spd

+20 lck

Helm Sight Level: UNLEASHED (boss quality)

For the duration of Unleashed Phase, all exertion abilities other than Unleashed Phase are paid for with time rather than exertion. This time is then subtracted from the remaining duration of Unleashed Phase. The amount of time deducted is proportional to the user’s stamina, which is refilled upon use. Existing debt and missing stamina are paid for with time. Cannot be used with hybrid exertion abilities other than Phase Shield.

For the duration of Unleashed Phase, Zachys Calador may use Phase Abilities. These abilities may not be used while Unleashed Phase is not active.

Exertion Level: High

“Holy…shit…” Zach whispered weakly, no longer strong enough to wiggle his toes or fingers.

There was a lot of that he didn’t understand. He was no longer capable of focusing. In fact, he barely even read most of it. He focused only on two specific parts: the constitution + 20, and the high exertion level that was paid for only after its use. Right now, any thoughts of saving Lienne and Rian had faded from his mind. He was now in pure, utter survival mode. He was desperate to live. He would cling to life for all he was worth if it meant he could see Kalana again.

Therefore, the only thing he could still attempt was to use this new ability and hope the increase in constitution was enough to heal him. Then, when it ran out, he could find a safe spot to pass out in. Whether he slept for two minutes, two hours, or two days, he’d probably survive. This was his best…best what? What was he thinking?

Kalana?

He loved Kalana.

Was he dreaming? Heh. Wow, who knew he could…huh? Was he supposed to be doing something? Wasn’t he supposed to be doing something? Who was he again? Oh, right. He was Zach. And he was sleeping because he had a test tomorrow. He smiled. He was so tired. He felt like he hadn’t slept in a long time.

No, no! Think! You’re dying!

Was he?

Right. Right. He was.

He was supposed to use his ability. This uhm…what was it again? Unleashed Phase or something? Okay, he’d use it and then he’d take a nice long sleep. Activating his ability, Zach closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to drift off. He felt his troubles slip away as he entered into a deep, perhaps infinite slumber. He thought he could hear the sounds of birds chirping. Was he going to join the Gods in the heavenly realms? Maybe. He felt like he was finally at peace. He felt like he was finally able to—

As though a bolt of lightning had been set off in his chest while ten gallons of coffee was pumped through his veins all as a thousand screeching sirens blared in his ear, Zach's eyes popped open so widely it caused his eyelids to rise. “HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” he screamed, launching himself up so fast that he somehow found himself airborne: literally. There was a thud, a crack, and then a feeling of something hard as, for some reason, he had just bumped headfirst into the ceiling.

Then he fell back down, and he landed on his feet.

“Oh Gods, oh, Gods, oh Gods!” he yelled. He was so overflowing with energy he couldn’t even contain himself. He felt like he’d just been shocked by a billion-volts of electricity. In fact, maybe he had been. Was he…was he smoking? Had someone set him on fire?

Zach looked down at himself, then began to pat his chest and stomach as if trying to find the source of what looked like a strange type of impossibly black smoke. Then he realized that there were actually four sources: his hands and his feet. Both his feet—even from inside the sandals—and his wrap-covered hands were releasing a smoke that was darker than the night itself—pitch black. This smoke would then rise up into the air before disappearing a few feet above his head. Even more strangely, all of his skin—or at least all of it that he could see—now seemed to be slowly pulsing with a soft, ambient light.

And he felt strong.

So, so, so strong.

Hesitantly, he placed his right hand cautiously on his left shoulder and waited to feel the sting of his dire injury—and there was none. Craning his neck down and to the left, he could just see what looked like scar tissue where there had previously been a nonstop stream of blood oozing out of him.

“It worked,” he whispered aloud.

Realizing his list of abilities was still out in front of him, he now more carefully read over the description of this new power, trying to understand just what in the name of the Gods he had called upon. Was this real? How was this possible? Once again, Zach glanced down at his hands, and he clenched and unclenched them. A smoke the color of the darkest black he’d ever seen continued to emit from his palms and between his fingers, and he shook his head in disbelief, trying to understand how any of this could be. Also, what were all these things he was seeing? In all four corners of his vision, there seemed to be tiny, almost imperceptible words that would enlarge and come into focus if he either tried to stare directly at them or merely willed them to do so. Yet before he could further explore the meaning of any of this, he was interrupted.

“Frrruughhh!”

The sound of a Skelly Defender reminded him of his own carelessness, as with a second “Frrruughhh!” Zach now remembered that he was still standing directly in the range of aggro of the very same Gods-damned Skelly Defender that had almost just killed him! And worse, having only just gotten back to his feet, the thing was on him before he even had a chance to react.

“My sword!” Zach cried, looking around him. “Where is it? Where the hell is it?”

The Skelly Defender took a swing at his face, and Zach, with a sound that was a cross between a yelp and a shriek, bent his knees and ducked down—instantly. As in, like, faster than he even intended to. His body had somehow moved so ridiculously quickly that he almost stood back up before the sword had even made it halfway to his face.

“Frrruughhh!” the creature cried again, trying again to cut him open.

Frustrated, Zach backed away and again avoided being struck. Even as the creature approached, he spun around in a full circle as he tried to find his Gods-be-damned sword. While searching, he had to crouch down twice in a row to evade two separate strikes. Then, he had leap out of the way from several thrusting attacks. And this, all while he darted his head around looking for his sword. Eventually, his constant need to duck, dodge, and move led him to enter a state of great frustration, which in turn made him become angry, impatient, and vengeful. It wasn't long before he lost control of his temper after being forced to avoid yet another attack.

Balling his right hand into a fist, he screamed, “Fuck off!” and then out of sheer reflex alone, he threw a right hook directly at the Skelly Defender’s face, even knowing how useless it would be. It was simply an act of pure desperate fury. Nevertheless, the skeleton defender was still such a chickenshit that it actually raised its shield to defend. Zach winced in advance of the pain he knew he was going to feel when his bare hand collided with the skeleton’s shield. Too late to stop now, though. Nope, he had no choice but to follow through with the strike.

Less than an instant went by, and his fist met the skeleton’s shield. Then there was bullet-like crack, and Zach coughed out a gasp of surprise as he punched straight through it, shattering it the way his sword had done only a few minutes earlier. For a moment, he remained perfectly still with his hand still outstretched as he stared in absolute astonishment at the shield fragments that began falling down to the rocky surface. He was so stunned by his own display of power that it actually took him a few seconds before he could even move.

Then, pulling himself together, he balled his opposite hand into a fist, and now he struck out with that one. This time, he bashed the skeleton so hard in its skull that he cracked it open upon impact, doing a total of…

WHAT?

Doing 865 damage with his fist and killing it instantly.

“How…how can I actually…? I’m so confused.”

Backing away, Zach nearly stumbled over his own sword, which at least he’d finally found. Bending down to pick it up, he spun around and made his way back to the safety of the exit door while he tried to reassess the situation and figure out what was going on. Before he did a single other thing, however, he first checked the tracking app on his phone. Then he hissed in vexation as he realized he had used up way more time than he’d realized.

1:49:44

He forced himself to calm down. He knew that he didn’t have a lot of time on his side right now, but he also knew that impulsively leaping back into combat wouldn’t solve anything, either. And so, calmly and efficiently, he tried gathering information about his current situation. First, he began by looking at his stats. And as his eyes took in the words that appeared before him, he actually shivered as, once more, he struggled to comprehend not only how this was possible, but how it was possible for him of all people on this planet. For not only were his stats indeed inflated by as much as this absurd ability suggested, but everything just looked different to him now.

Name Zachys Calador

Level 10

EXP 185/1500

Armor Bonus 47

Strength 31

Dexterity 26

Constitution 28

Intelligence 69

Speed 26

Luck 24

As he dismissed his stats, he realized that, rather than simply vanish, it shrank and moved to the bottom-left corner of his vision which, like the information all around his peripheral vision, came into focus before him whenever he willed it or focused on it. Right now, however, the most important info of all was the one and only thing that seemed to stay above and center to him at all times and never seemed to leave. It appeared to be the ability's timer, and it said the following: Unleashed Phase Duration: 12:11 Remaining.

Zach had so many questions, and he had the means to answer a great many of them simply by conjuring forth what he now thought of as sort of “status displays” in every corner of the world around him. What he didn’t have was the time to quench his thirst for answers. Rian and Lienne were going to die in…how long was it now? He'd only just looked, but he wanted to make sure he kept on top of it. Yet as he reached into his pocket to remove his phone, he paused as he noticed that, if he looked down and to the right, he could view his quest timer at any time without having to fumble around on his cell.

1:48:33

As Zach began putting together the various bits and pieces in his head, he became at once filled with an extreme feeling of heartbreak, as it looked like he really wasn’t going to be able to save Rian and Lienne after all. Because while, clearly, he was now strong enough to fight his way through this floor, it wouldn’t ultimately matter, because in about twelve minutes, he was going to go into some serious E-debt, and there was every possibility he wouldn’t wake up until well after his friends were already dead if he even woke up at all.

No, I refuse! he screamed inside his head. I can figure something out. I have to!

So, what did he have access to? On the bottom-right corner of his vision, he could see his quest tracker. On the bottom left, his stats. In the upper-right corner, it appeared he could bring forth information about his inventory and equipment, and in the top left, he could see his buffs, and…and something else. Something substantial.

As Zach “called” upon the information, he watched as the words floated across the world until they moved to the center of his vision. Now, he was simply overwhelmed with data. He could now see every single ability he had as well as how much time it would subtract from what was now eleven-minutes and fifty seconds remaining on this “Unleashed” ability that he’d used. There was no way he could read all—or even some of this. It was simply too much. So instead, he skimmed over it looking to see if there was anything in here that could help him solve his current dilemma. He didn’t think there would be, but then again, he didn’t think he’d have any way of saving his own life earlier, either. And so, not willing to spend any more than twenty valuable seconds, he hurriedly scanned his eyes over his new abilities, comprehending almost none of it as he was only looking for certain keywords applicable to his current situation.

(UNLEASHED Ability) Phase Blink (UNIQUE) User dashes forward at the speed of sound. Cannot be used to travel through non-transparent walls. If used with a target enemy, Phase Blink transports the user behind target enemy. User is invincible while blinking through harmful attacks, effects, hazardous materials, dangerous substances, magic, curses, and extreme temperatures. 800 range. Usage Cost: 0:20

(UNLEASHED Hybrid Ability) Phase Shield (UNIQUE) (25 seconds): User summons a large golden shield for 1.2 seconds that overwhelmingly reduces the damage of incoming attacks blocked with Phase Shield. Usage Cost: 0:45

(UNLEASHED Ability) Phase Rescue (UNIQUE) User teleports target party member, raid member, or allied sentient to his side. 250 range. Usage Cost: 0:35 / 2:15 (if used with Boundless. Does not include cost of Boundless.)

(UNLEASHED Ability) Phase Slash (UNIQUE) Requires Sword. User slashes the air and sends an energy wave at target enemy dealing between 1 and 999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999,999 damage depending on an equal combination of all primary stats. Usage Cost: 1:10 / 6:10 (if used with ??)

(UNLEASHED Ability) Phase Reset (UNIQUE)

Resets the cooldown of Unleashed Phase and increases Phase Level by 1. The Phase Level determines the following properties when using Unleashed Phase. Usage Cost: 0:00

(Phase Level decreases by 1 every twenty-four hours.)

Phase Level 0 (default) Exertion Level: High

Phase Level 1 Exertion Level: High. Additional +5 to all basic stats and additional Armor + 5

Phase Level 2 Exertion Level: Very High. Additional + 30 to all basic stats and additional Armor + 30

Phase Level 3 Exertion Level: Very High. Additional + 50 to all basic stats and additional Armor + 50

Phase Level 4 Exertion Level: Extreme. Additional + 100 to all basic stats an additional armor + 100

Phase Level 5 Exertion Level: EXTREME+ Additional + 1000 to all basic stats and armor + 1000

Phase Level 6

Exertion Level: Terminal. In exchange for the life of the user, additional + 10,000 to all basic stats, and armor +10,000. User has access to every ability and every spell. User can move faster than light. User can summon up to 5 dragons. Cannot summon Elder Dragons.

Zach swore, loudly. None of this was going to save Lienne and Rian, and he simply didn’t have the time to read it all to be sure. The only thing he gleamed from any of this was that, if he absolutely had to, he could reset everything at the cost of another use of a high-exertion. But if he did that, then he’d have to pay off two exertion debts, both from using something with high exertion. Since no one was around who could tell him whether or not that would kill him, he was strongly averse to taking that course of action.

There had been a very brief moment where he thought he’d come up with something. He wondered if he could use Phase Rescue together with Boundless to simply bring them both here by his side. But then he realized that they weren’t in a party, and even if they were, he couldn’t “target” them without actually seeing them and knowing where they were—at least based on his understanding of how “target” was used in the context of abilities.

As though it were becoming an obsessive compulsion, Zach checked both timers at once. He now had 11:02 remaining on Unleashed Phase whereas Rian and Lienne had 1:47:22 remaining on…well, you know, how long they had left to…live.

Running his free hand through his hair, Zach groaned as he failed to come up with any good ideas. No matter how strong he might be right now, there was no chance he could clear this floor before his Unleashed Phase ran out. Yet every second he spent doing nothing was one second that was just wasted—gone. Wasting his time in combat, no matter how awesome it would be, was just not an option right now. Though he did make a mental promise to himself to come back here if he managed to somehow get through all of this. Gods only knew how many levels he could gain in the fifteen minutes he had with this ability.

As more seconds ticked by and more time was wasted, Zach decided that he would force himself to choose a course of action within the next ten seconds no matter what. No exceptions! This turned out to be the right thing to do, as it forced him to actually mentally list what possible actions were even available to him; in truth, it wasn't much. So, he could either A: give up on Rian and Lienne, level up a few times while he was strong, and then sleep off his E-debt somewhere safe. He could B: try to fight his way through the dungeon as fast as possible. Or C: he could just make a run for it since none of these mobs were likely going to be able to hurt him right now anyway.

C might not be the worst idea, he thought.

It was of great personal danger to himself, of course. Since he didn’t know where he’d be if and when this “Unleashed” thing wore off. But maybe, just maybe, he could through some miracle wake up before Rian and Lienne’s time expired. Then he could activate Unleashed again and try to make it in time. It seemed like, as long as he used Phase Reset before his Unleashed expired, there was no time-limit on when he had to use Unleashed again. But it also seemed like Phase Refresh had to be used while he had the Unleashed buff active. So then, in that case, just to be safe, Zach figured he might as well activate it right now—and he did. Just like that, he'd refreshed his cooldown and increased his "Phase Level" to 1 or something. It was still too new and weird for him to fully understand how this worked. When he had more time, he planned to read the abilities much more carefully. For now, he needed to commit to a decision and get going.

It's got to be option C, Zach thought, suddenly becoming morbidly sad. I guess I’m making a run for it then.

He knew this was barely a plan. This was so farfetched it was lottery-level odds. Honestly, he wasn’t going to run from B6 to B10 in fucking like, what, ten-and-a-half minutes? It was patently absurd. But then, what else was there? He wanted Rian and Lienne to live so Gods-damned badly that he’d try anything no matter how insane if it meant they had at least some chance. So, that was what he was going to do: he was going to make a run for it. And if any mobs attacked him, he’d just ignore them. He would just keep going—one final act of desperation to save his friends, even if he knew deep down that they were…that it was basically over.

But I still have to try, damn it!

Even knowing how dangerous this was, Zach made up his mind. And so, knowing that every second was now worth more to him than every gold coin in Galterra combined, Zach took a deep breath and prepared to take off at a run. It was time to make a crazy, desperate, insane mad dash to B10, even if it was just so that Zach could rest his head at night knowing he’d tried. That he’d truly tried to save them. With that final thought in mind, Zach commanded his feet to move.

And all at once, everything changed. Everything.

Zach screamed at the top of his lungs in surprise and terror as he blasted forward so absurdly, chaotically, and unfathomably fast that in less than half a second’s worth of movement, he lost all control over his limbs and his body as a wind rushed into him with such intensity that he felt like he was running into a Gods-damned tornado.

“Holy shit!” he cried, trying his best to come to a stop. He planted his feet, but it only caused him to throw himself forward. He then somehow shifted forward, and for nearly ten seconds, he flew. He actually flew. He came to a stop only after crashing headfirst into a Skelly Defender, striking it for 100 unintentional damage, breaking its shield, and sending it soaring several feet away until it landed on its back. At the same time, his sword flew out of his hand, and it, still being propelled forward by the movement, spun several times in the air until slashing off the head of something called a Skelly Captain, hitting for 1,249 damage and giving him an insane 400xp. Actually, now that Zach realized it, the information above the heads of mobs was far more detailed than it had ever been before, as he could now see how much HP a mob had even if he’d never fought it before. This, he realized just before this so-called “Skelly Captain” disappeared.

HP 700/700

Name Skelly Captain

Level 12

Zach rushed over to grab his sword as he aggroed a variety of mobs he hadn’t encountered yet. He was actually sort of disappointed he wouldn’t get a chance to learn more about them. At any rate, he was just glad—and amazed—that he wasn’t hurt after sending himself flying like that. If anything, his mood had actually brightened considerably. No, not just considerably. Immensely. Because if he could move that fucking fast, then…

Then maybe there was still a real chance after all. This was the thought that renewed his vigor and filled him with hope as he once again took off at a speed that should not have been humanly possible.