ATTENTION
A significant signature has been detected. The dungeon hasn’t been cleared. Difficulty has exponentially raised up. Better rewards granted.
I think I would stand there and stare at the empty door frame for at least a few moments if not for the sound of steel scraping against a stone coming from behind me.
There is a part of the room on the left side of the entrance doors, which was for the whole time in dark, the light of torches not reaching there.
The whole time, I thought there’s nothing more in there, making the teleportation door the only way out… how dumb I was.
It’s not just a badly lit another half of the room… there's a whole fucking room triple the size of I thought it was!
That space just slowly lit up, the torches began to light up and surprisingly, most of them are of normal colour, instead of the terrific purple.
And the scraping of some weapon against the ground continues, sending a shiver down my spine.
When the torches light up enough, a rough silhouette starts appearing in the middle, walking towards me.
Raging cloak torn apart, its body made from darkness and drags a scythe along the ground.
Reapshade - lvl ?
I’m actually kind of glad now, for not eating for a few days… otherwise a brown catastrophe might have happened in my pants.
Still I wouldn’t call myself scared; Totally fucked up? Yes, but not scared.
Actually… Why am I walking towards it?
It’s quite ironic - I don’t wanna be here, yet I feel a weird sensation running through my whole body, but…
…Do I really don’t wanna be there?
Isn’t this something I’ve been craving my whole life? A challenge where I have to put out everything I have, break every restriction I put on myself through the years of life and push way above my limits.
And that’s now standing in front of me.
…
How the hell could I not be excited about it?!
If I dive deep into my feelings and long-buried needs, this is exactly something that makes me feel truly alive.
The corners of my mouth lifting into a mad happy grin as I walk further, readying myself; unleashing all the restrictions I gave myself in the old world.
Here and now, no one cares how crazy I am, no one will judge me anymore for enjoying danger and adrenalin, and potentially facing death.
I might die here, but for sure I’m not gonna go down easily, I’m gonna give this fucker the hardest time in his lifetime.
That’s when I fully grin like an absolute lunatick, all happy. Something inside me, long chained, has broken free and it feels fucking awesome… It's like finding a long lost brother, but better.
Like to find myself.
Unique personal trait unlocked:
Lunatic’s Exaltation (Unique)
The battlelust of the exalted knows no bounds, and neither does his strength. The deeper he throws himself into the fray, the more his body surpasses its limits, fueled by sheer will, joy and exhilaration. Lunatic becomes one with his inner demon, exalting himself into higher highs. The pain that would cripple others only sharpens Lunatic’s instincts, and exhaustion serves as nothing more than a whisper in the back of his mind.
May his laughter echo through the battlefield, and his strength know no bounds.
“Hih”
Yeeeahhh… I might have lost it in some sense, but I’m happy and only that counts.
I finally feel alive.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
As the torches fully light up, everything becomes clear. I am in the main hall of what I suppose is a castle, and at the end that was in the dark until now, sits a big throne carved in stone.
Also (I would almost forget), in the middle of the hall, walking… hmm, rather than walking, flying towards me, is the Reapshade.
He’s as big as one and half colossan and his scythe is equivalent to his size. His face hidden deep in the darkness of his hood. Well, that’s if I suppose he does have one.
As we come closer to each other, I’m able to finally recognize the half see through thing he's been playing with on the way. It’s the necro, or at least what I suppose is his soul.
He decomposes the souls form into just a pure see through mass with no shape and with it, polishes the blade of his scythe, making it glow slightly purple.
With no rush, he drew back his weapon, ready to strike indifferent to the distance that separates us.
And there’s no doubt in my mind, he’s capable enough to hit me even from there.
What will it be? High speed? Projectile type? Teleportation?
I don’t care which, just bring it on, or my body will burst out with the sensation.
I breathe out.
He attack.
Seemingly slashing into the empty space, but the scythe leaves behind its blade a purple trail - a slash like projectile.
It’s fast, but not that much. I infuse my sword, rushing forward, my blade ascending towards the spell from below.
For a short moment, I distrust my new nullifying power against this much stronger monster, only to find myself absurdly heretic as the sword dispel the center of the slash with ease.
I close the distance, sword poised above my left shoulder. Surge forward, aiming my strike straight for his head. He intercepts with the scythe’s handle, but I twist with the momentum, spinning in the opposite direction, slashing backward toward his wrist.
I gave the hit, but immediately got one back with the end of the handle, sending me into the ground with brutal force, leaving a reminiscent of a small crater.
Bit of blood spitted out, yet I rebound backwards, landing on one knee and having to unleash a swing with my full force just to block the incoming scythe. My sword bounce back, only redirecting the scythe a bit, but it’s enough to make me see another moment, missing my head by millimeters and pushing me sliding backwards.
I brace my legs and forge ahead. He follows the momentum of his scythe, spinning it in his hands and going for a descending skull, in my case whole body, crushing blow. I jump sideways to dodge it, saving some energy for a future need of surges.
Only to surge right after, aiming this time not for the head but instead for his armpit. Nearly cutting in, but mid swing I notice him striking from below with the end of the handle again, so I must redirect my sword to block it. It sends me flying again, this time only to end in a ceiling.
I may have blacked out for a second and now as I’m falling to the ground, there’s a scythe aiming for my head. I can’t do anything with it mid air. Can’t block it, can’t dodge it, can’t redire-
I surge forward.
Yes, right into the ground.
But hey, I dodged the blow, which harmlessly flew over me.
Normally, I would be done just from this fall, but I just jump back on my feets right away. Am I functional because of the levels, or am I too deep in my joy, having the best time of my life?
No more time to think for me, as he raises his hand and the area around me starts glowing.
I surge away, leaving an implosion and subsequent explosion behind me.
His scythe is mid swing again. I duck low, the scythe misses by nanometers and I shoot forward, before he has time to retreat his weapon.
As I’m in the air, surged towards his arm, I instinctively infuse my sword with null and cut his arm under elbow.
I barely get back to ground, when unreal scream fills not only my ears, but my soul too.
I’m suspicious that it should be paralysing, leaving me stunned, yet the only thing it does is make me bleed from all kinds of things - my nose starts bleeding, my ears are penetrated and are bleeding and even my eyes are red, blood dripping from them too.
The only thing it did was to fuel my drive.
He may be hissing and screaming how he wants, but it won’t stop me.
I charge at him while he’s still distracted. He notices and with one hand spin his scythe into an attack.
This time I didn't dodge, in the end, he may have the power of momentum behind his scythe, yet he is holding it in only one hand. I’m gonna parry.
I do as I say, leaving his scythe bounced in the air, momentarily fumble from the clash, but immediately getting the ground back and surging.
Aiming for his torso, I’m quite surprised when I swing through a dense black mist instead of the dark matter he’s made from.
It leaves me vulnerable, incapable to quickly turn around as he reappears behind me. Still I try to use the momentum I carry from the previous swing to turn myself around and capture the incoming blow into the sword.
I can’t make it.
The scythe would dive in my heart but I manage to twist myself a bit, so it just cut off my left arm above the elbow…
…We’re even now.
But this ability of his is trouble, especially if he can use it as often as the necro could body swa-
He can.
His body disappearing into the mist. I react instinctively, releasing a swing, letting myself be carried by it into a spin on my heel and clashing with the scythe aiming for my neck.
Our weapons bounce back.
We both control our weapons with one hand, yet I still manage to keep up with his strength.
There’s a moment of silence.
Then he gets control and attacks again.
Then I catch the ground under my feets.
Too late to block, as my weapon is still uncontrolled in the air.
I
I might maybe let myself be carried away by the weight of my sword and further help it with some foot movement, but I still wouldn’t manage to dodge it completely.
Simple things are always best.
I jump straight upwards, my feet barely not touching the blade that goes under me; then they touch the blade, and I bounce myself off it, surging at his, under the hood, hidden head and cutting through it with my sword wrapped in the weird null thing.
This way, as he is mid swing, there was no time for him to react and disappear… although I might have preferred it if he did.
The scream of his pain torturing my ears that much, they stop working and I can feel the blood stains on my cheeks running from them. Yet the destroyed ears don't save me from the scream reaching my soul.
From the beautiful hole I made in his face is leaking a lot of dark mist, which together with the unbearable scream in my mind clearly indicates that I may have caused some real damage. Based on that, one could think, his fighting capabilities could lessen, right? Wrong!
He goes berserk instead.
