Capítulo 78: The Game
The girl's adorable green eyes seemed to shimmer and ripple with small golden stars in her irises. Frost fell from her hair like dripping water freezing the ground below. An aura radiated from her of the deepest winter I'd ever felt. This strange sensation wasn't what I expected from such a seemingly young girl.
I had a job to do but maybe I'd find Victor along the way. "Sure, what kind of games do you like to play?" The girl's face lit up in a thousand-watt smile. Teeth white and predatorily edge stretched along her jaw double rowed. It was the mouth of a jaws rather than a little girl.
She spun around and thrust her tiny fist in the air and giggled. Her long white hair looped around spilling frost in the air.
I heard a rotary sound and turned to see a metal sheet barricading the ghostly secretary's window. The ghost girl zoomed to the side of the room and closed a door. She turned around and winked. I heard a rumbling and then she opened it.
The light vanished from the room and a creature began to crawl into the reception hall. Human hands dragged a scaled creature into the room. Misshapen dragon wings adorned its body along with a splotchy black cloak. Long scythe like arms stuck out of its shoulder swiping at the empty air. A head shaped out of a human skull a dragon's snout and with the horns of a goat screeched upon seeing me.
A childish giggle alerted me to the ghost girl. She scribbled notes while watched the creature crawl towards me.
Anti-Winter Unit 002 Amalga lvl40 Prototype Winter Collector
Rank: Mad Knight
Job: Test Subject lvl80
My mind whirled at the data I was able to glean from the creature. After pouring over it with my aura sense I determined some of its nature. There was a central aura that parasitically grafted itself to multiple winter auras. While most of its aura was wintry its central aura was black.
The creature began to shriek, and black tendrils shot out from it scales after the ghost girl. She giggled and slipped through the wall.
"The game is called field test. Whoever survives the longest against 002 wins." The door to the outside shut behind me.
The creature shrieked and beat against the seemingly impervious wall. After a moment of scanning, I determined it might give me some XP. Determining how to fight it was the problem. Killing it with a UDW might damage the walls. With the doors shut getting out might be difficult if the building collapsed.
My overall goal was to find Victor and then get out. The ghost girl was hopefully going to be a convenient tour guide. Killing this thing might require some white spells to finish it for good. I lacked a lot of knowledge so throwing my weight around would be stupid. This thing was subject 002 which could mean there were several other subjects each more advanced than it.
I settled on hit and run tactics after a moment of deliberation. Aura Rush erupted around me and it delivered and upward vertical slash. The creature shrieked as dragon scales split open, but the wound was shallow. I threw myself to the side as sphincters opened across the creature's sides and squirted out a clear white liquid.
Even across the room I felt and icy chill reach for me. Furniture froze solid before shattering as the creature slipped and fell on it. Black tendrils poured from the creature's wound and stitched the scales back together. I pointed a finger and the creature quickly moved the wound behind itself. "Purge," a white beam of light blasted from the tip of my finger and smashed into the creature's scales. Tiny light reflected off the creature and blasted the walls around it.
002 opened its mouth and I dove out of the way as a beam of liquid cut into the floor. Ice shards erupted to the sealing limiting my maneuverability. Four large grasshopper like legs erupted from the creature and found purchase on the ground. It slowly began to rise.
I changed tactics at that moment. Clearly cutting and purging had been tried before that weakness was obvious. Well then, what if I took away it mirror scales?
Black aura gathered around me as I focused on the right spell for the job. A putrid scent wafted through the air as a black ball appeared in my hand. I fired it then clenched my fist. "Grease," I called and let black tar splash across the creature. Tentacles erupted across the creature struggling to clean the tar off its scales.
"Haste, Charge, Volcanic Volatility," several spells afflicted the creature at the same time. It became more frantic as red aura forced its way inside 002.
"Its important to learn how to manipulate multiple types of aura and to have counter spells against dangerous curses." Red lines of aura covered the creature. It didn't have enough brains to simply push the red aura out of its system. With its body plumb with red aura, it looked a little like an active volcano.
I pointed at the creature. "Blaze," like all volcanoes eventually the pressure becomes too much, and something had to give. I made sure my barrier was extra thick.
The room erupted into flames shattering the ice and setting all the furniture on fire. Glass shattered behind me and the metal slat caved inward. Paintings on the wall caught fire and the flames stretched up to burn the ceiling.
Ping!
Level Up
Level Up
Jacob lvl12
HP and AP restored
+160 to HP
+16 to all stats
HP: 33,648
AP: 75,840
Cultivation: Refinery stage 5
Attributes
Constitution 227
Endurance 268
Strength 187
Dexterity 177
Agility 218
Intelligence 520
Perception 384
Luck 129
"Awe, I thought he'd last longer. I guess the 002s are a failure in every way. Go through the door and you'll find some goodies. Get ready because the next one is going to be harder." The ghost girl said and stuck out her tongue before floating back through the wall.
Diabla appeared beside me with her arms crossed. "Why didn't you use any of my powers?"
I shook my head. "I'd rather be underestimated for now. If you haven't noticed I've only used a small percentage of Aura Rush and I haven't used much Armageddon's Chainsaw. If a knight is considered a failure here, then we might end up facing a Duke. I'd rather keep my strength hidden until then.
The next room was covered in frost. On a desk were dozens of pill bottles. After inspecting them I added a few to my ring. Two were blood replenishing pills, one bone strengthening, and final one was called Winter's Breath. Piles of notebooks filled the room along with a pill cauldron and the body of a man preserved in ice. A clipboard was chained to the side of a wall near him.
Pill Master Meng Fang inventor of the Winter's Breath pill formula. After testing a prototype of his own creation, he was locked in a cell for observation. In that cell he cultivated his winter's breath until his foundry froze and the backlash killed him.
The pill bottle in my hand and the one described in the notes were different. Suddenly, I heard a gasp from behind me. My sword was at the zombie's neck before he could finish his gasp.
The blue-eyed zombie glared at me with undisguised hatred. "Return that to me its mine." Meng Fang groaned.
"This pill bottle doesn't have the same serial number as the one on the clipboard. Why is that old man?" I asked.
"Have you no respect for your elders? I am a revolutionary in the ways of pill making. That bottle in your hand holds the secrets of my life's work. What I started in life I completed in death." I nodded my head. With a sigh I tossed the pill bottle to him.
He caught it and looked down at the bottle in surprise. Slowly, I pulled Diabla from his throat.
"What was that thing I fought the 002 Amalgamation?" I asked him.
"Since you returned my life's work, I'll help you. The 002 is a parasite designed to make use of winter-based lifeforms. They gather multiple lifeforms to themselves and use their abilities. Only members of staff are immune to them. If you're here, then you were able to kill it." Meng Fang said.
"It had human arms." I said.
"Not every human who was changed by winter was a member of staff. Most of our test subjects either died and came back or became monsters." Meng Fang said.
I tapped against a wall watching the wards come to life with every tap. "Why the shut down?"
"Our research created something we weren't able to control. Its still here. You can forget about leaving this place while its still alive."
So, the humans here made a monster they couldn't control. Another was born in a lab to fulfill a purpose. Were they what I would have become if I wasn't flushed? Was there a way to the world below from here?
"Lets say I'm interested in gaining winter aura, how would I go about that without losing my cultivation?" I asked him.
"That's what I've worked on for centuries. The closest thing to human I've managed is to give it to are vampires. Pure humans and winter are mostly incompatible." Meng Fang said.
So more than likely I'd be ok. "That's why it taken me centuries to find a work around. I found a virus that alters cells allowing humans to wield winter. Unfortunately, there isn't a way out of here. I screwed open my pill bottle and tossed two pills of my medication down. That would buy me another day.
"I need winter aura." I said.
"Then will you help me get to the subterranean lab. Daniel Nyx put me here as part of her game. I'm afraid my lab isn't until much farther in the game. The next floor will be more dangerous." Meng Fang said.
I heard a coughing noise. "Hey no spoilers. You'll ruin the fun. If you're done discussing your side quest its time to go to the next room. By the way what setting do you want to play on." Daniel asked.
She floated out of the wall and twirled around. "After the first mob you must have a feel for the enemies you'll face here. We have three settings Easy for the lame people who just want some story and not conclusion. Though if you want to level up some first, I'd recommend it. Medium is for the more experience who want to rough it. For them you'll find more of the story and mystery. Still no exit for you. Expect more powerful monsters and a more powerful final boss. Hard is where most enemies are as strong as easy mode bosses, the treasures are everywhere, and you'll get closer to the mysteries of this place than ever before. Finally, we have nightmare mode. You'll fight everything and anything this place has to throw at you. There are treasures galore, you'll fight the true final boss, and get a chance to leave this place with a mountain of treasures. Now, its time to choose which setting do you want?" Daniel asked.
I watched her bob up and down in excitement waiting for my choice. The answer was obvious. I didn't have time to waste on just leveling and I wanted the most information possible. "Nightmare what else would I pick."
Daniel clapped her hands and cartwheeled in the air. "Yes, I knew I liked you. Nightmare it is you punishment glutton. Get ready for impossible odds, heaps of treasure, and piles of lore." She cackled before glowing with a pale green and blue aura. The walls lit up with various wards before the entire dimensions seemed to rumble. A large black door appeared with big letters saying nightmare.
I opened the door and stabbed through the abdomen of a giant spider creature radiating ice. Flipping Diabla to the side, I slashed through several insectoid creatures before charging forward into the darkness. The eyes of hundreds of monsters stared back at me. Not a one was below knight rank.
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder