There were no more encounters for the rest of the night and Gwen ended up making it home long before I got there with the subway. She had managed to crawl in through the window I'd left open without any issues and just lay down until I got back with our backpacks, allowing her to change clothes and head home.
We agreed that before she would go out again, she would at least spend some time joining me in the Chikara Dojo to learn some fighting. Not that it would be hard for her, she already has some basic skills built up from her father and doing years of gymnastics, not to mention her enhanced body and reflexes thanks to the spider bite.
We would also make the completed suit for her, which would look less like a cheap Halloween costume, and I also have plans to make my own one at the same time. I haven't exactly sketched anything out, but I do have a clear image in my head of what it should look like.
But now it's time for what I've been looking forward to. Seeing Gwen had made me want to grow stronger, too.
"Get up from that pillow, Gali, it's time to pull an all-nighter and finish off the 5th floor." I start putting on my combat gear as Gali gets up from the pillow she was just about to curl to sleep on.
[Oh, we're gonna finish it? I guess I should prepare the gift I promised you then.]
"Oh right, I completely forgot about that gift. What is it anyway?" I question Gali who quickly flew over and settled on my shoulder.
[You will just have to wait until you receive it. As a small hint, it has something to do with the feature The Living Tribunal demanded be included if he was to permanently give up part of his power to help create the system.]
"Oh yeah, there is that too. I'm both scared and a little excited." I admit. Doesn't that guy like love balance in the universe or something like that? What would he have demanded of the system and the others.
[Don't worry. The rest of us negotiated with him, and in the end what he wanted will end up benefitting you more than he probably hoped for. You will see.]
Did he hope it wouldn't benefit me? That's not what I wanted to hear. Oh well, as I have said before, not much I can do about it, so carry on.
Not wasting any time, I have Gali open up a portal and jump into the 5th floor of the dungeon. A medieval town where a creepy cult turned all the inhabitants into mindless puppets for some ritual.
The puppets aren't too much of an issue, they are slow, weak and mindless, easy to kite and take on one by one. The cultists are a bit more difficult, but in the end they are nothing more than a normal adult human in terms of strength and have very little combat ability, but they think the world of themselves, so their egos are large enough that they run in solo a lot of the time, thinking they will be the one to take me down.
Having already made great progress in this floor last time I visited, it only took me a few hours to make my way to the boss room.
I had meticulously cleared out the whole town starting from the outer walls and slowly moving inwards toward the town center where the cult leader would be held up, doing some sort of ritual. Now it was just one last pathway between me and the boss.
I had already cleared the other paths leading to the town center and could have fought the boss earlier, but I figured that clearing all the enemies would be more beneficial to make more progress towards stat increases, so I ended up wiping out everyone.
Three cultists stood at the far end of the street, flanked by a pair of their puppet husks, turned from the townspeople they had abducted. One of the cultists held a flaming censer, waving it through the air as he chanted in some language I couldn't understand. The others raised their curved daggers and charged in alongside their puppets.
I spun my twin-blade (that I really need to name) in my hands, before advancing.
The first puppet lunged at me, slow and sloppy. A lean back to avoid its telegraphed attack and a wide arc of the blade was enough to split it in half at the waist as blood and wood from its wooden armor flew through the air. The second followed right behind the first but I simply used the other end of my weapon as a spear to pierce it right in the throat. Once pulled out, the creature just collapsed on the ground.
The cultists finally reacted, but too late. I was already dashing forward, closing the distance in an instant. The blade on my left caught one of them across the ribs, sending him spinning to the ground with a fatal wound. The other tried to parry the right side of my weapon with his dagger but my now E- level Might was too much for him and with the momentum I carried I simply pushed away his weapon and left a deep wound right in his neck. The bleeding would kill them both in no time if they weren't already dead.
The last cultist backed away in fear, with trembling hands, as he dropped his censer.
Without saying a word, I stepped in and swung low, catching his leg and wounding him enough to force him to kneel. As it looked at me with trembling eyes, I end its life with a downward thrust.
"These guys really need to rethink their recruitment strategy." Gali nods at my words.
With this last straggling group gone, the only thing left was the boss, the cult leader in the center of the town. While a force field covered him, turning the town center into a boss arena I'd be locked into upon entry, I could still see inside. He has a bunch of the townspeople tied up and thrown into a pile in the middle, with strange symbols drawn in blood all around.
"Think I'm ready?"
[Oh yeah, for sure. During that fight, your Spirit just barely advanced to E grade as well. Together with your Might and Finesse that both reached E- an hour ago, you have managed to increase all 3 stats in the course of a single day. You should be at the very least on the same level as the boss, if not above him.]
Ooh, my Spirit increased too? Wonder what new that opens up for me in terms of the 'Inventor' skill.
******************************
Name: Reo Hill
Might: E-
Finesse: E-
Spirit: E
Skills: [Visit the Skills Panel to view all skills.]
Current Dungeon Floor: 5
******************************
Alright, not bad, time to finish off this boss and go to bed. I place my hand against the force field of the boss arena and get sucked in a second later.
The air inside stank of blood, a smell which I had gotten far too used to by now. Unknown runes and formations drawn out of said blood were scribbled all across the cobblestone pathing around the dozen or so half dead citizens tied up in the very center of the arena. These were the few who'd escaped the fate of being turned into mindless puppets earlier. On the edge of the blood formations stood the leader of the cultists in some very gaudy and fancy robes.
[Oh god, he's doing a monologue.] Gali groaned from my shoulder. [Are we watching a cutscene?]
"My Brothers in arms!" The cult leader shouted throughout the square. "Tonight our blood shall unseal the pact long forgotten by our foolish brethren. Tonight, the fires of Kor'goth Azrallan shall burn bright and cleanse this land of sin. Our pain and devotion is the key to freeing our ancestor of his chains!"
"I don't think this guy realizes he is the last one. I killed all his friends." I mumble, looking around. The sigils on the ground glowed faintly, and were slowly spreading toward the townspeople tied up.
The cultist kept waffling. "From the howling abyss he shall crawl! The Devourer! The Lord of Ash! I shall be your voice, guiding you to our wor- ugh!"
"Nope." I said, not being a big fan of cutscenes. In one smooth stab, my blade penetrated through his stomach and came out the other side.
The cultist gasped, and gurgled blood as he looked down at the blade protruding from his abdomen with wide eyes, completely dumbfounded at what was happening.
"Should have cut to the good part." I said, pulling my blade out of him and letting his frail body collapse on the ground.
[You know his blood is probably going to-]
Gali did not get to finish her words before the blood from the cultist leader was drained out of his body, turning it into a husk. At a much faster rate than before, the entire summoning sigil around the townsfolk suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, and before I could even process what to do the people themselves shot ablaze and were engulfed in the flames. Screams could be heard for several seconds before they too died out and the crowd of people in the center were replaced by a singular being.
Well shit, should have expected that to happen I guess.
[Congratulations on summoning your first demon, Reo.] Gali said sarcastically, slowly clapping from upon my shoulder. [It's a lesser demon so nothing too scary but you should still be careful.]
The flames died out, revealing a dark red figure with cracked skin and horns, just a head taller than me. Below its skin, orange veins were bulging like molten lava.
"Kor'goth Azrallan lives once more." It growled out, flexing its long clawed wingers.
"Yeah, cool story." I mutter, spinning my twin-blade, as it has become a habit for me. "Better get a stopwatch to see how long that lasts for."
Angered by my words, the demon roars and charges forward like an angry bull seeing red. Despite its tanky build, it moves at a speed faster than it has any right to be. With a sidestep, I dodge the rush and whip the right end of my blade around, cutting a deep gash in its arm that drips blood onto the floor.
It stumbled and attempts to backhand me with a snarl, but I narrowly duck under just in time. I attempt to skewer its hand with my spear but miss.
The demon reared back and hurled a small fireball, roughly the size of a tennis ball, at me. I jump out of the way to dodge but before I know it another one is flying at me, and another, and another… this repeated several times as it kept hurling flaming balls at me.
It's not long before I grow tired of the same old song and dance and instead of dodging a fireball, wind up my weapon and cut the projectile clean in half, taking advantage of the situation to charge forward at the demon.
I hold my weapon over my shoulder and wind up for a throw like I have seen javelin throwers do in the Olympics before.
"Eat shit." With a running start, I throw the spear. And though the demon tries to dodge, it is too slow, being in the middle of casting another fireball. The spear hits it straight in the dome, embedding itself deep into his forehead.
Just in case it wouldn't die from that, I follow up the direct hit by jumping on the demon and pushing him to the ground before pulling the spear out of his head with a twist to cause extra pain. It is never able to recover before it finds the spear yet again thrust down into its heart.
The glowing veins stop pulsating a few seconds later as the demon lays there, unmoving.
"Easy clap." I pull out the blade and swing it in the air to clean it of blood. "That should be the fifth floor cleared, right, Gali?"
[That's right, and your gift has already been delivered to your apartment. I teleported it over. Before going to that, though, you should try to enter the sixth floor.]
"Damn, that was quick." I marvel at her efficiency. "Sure, let's go then, to the sixth floor!"
[System Notification: Minimum amount of entrants needed for 6th floor: 2]
[System Notification: Host is currently alone, access denied.]
"Okay, so…what the fuck." I curse. Is this what The Living Tribunal wanted? For me to make friends before I can go further?
[Yeah, so this is what The Tribunal demanded be added as a limitation. The member requirement to enter will be increased by one every five levels in the dungeon. So to enter level 11 you need 3 members, level 16 needs 4 and so on until level 51 requires 11 members, after that it changes again but you will have to wait to learn more.] Gali explains.
"That's a lot of people. What is the point of this?"
[As you already know, dozens of cosmic beings like The One for All, The Phoenix Force, Death and The Living Tribunal have given up parts of their power to create this system and as thus, permanently weakened themselves. The system can easily let you grow more powerful than all of them, and having all that power in the hands of one individual is kind of a risk. To mitigate this we are making you train up a bunch of people so if you ever go rogue or become evil and try to destroy the world there would be others who are strong enough to kill you and continue as the main host of the system.] Gali explained, bringing out her teacher glasses and pointer from somewhere.
[However, there are also benefits in it for you. You are still the main host, and only you get to decide who joins your party and when they get to join the system. You are also in control of who gets dungeon drops and skill books. The others also grow slower than you in terms of their stats. Everyone has to choose one stat which increases at 1.5x the normal speed and the other two will increase at half speed compared to normal. Also, if you ever kick anyone out of the party, they will lose all power they gained through it, going back to the level they were at before joining and also have their memories of it wiped.]
[And finally, you get to copy one skill from each party member.] Gali finishes off her long-winded explanation. [Basically, if you have Gwen join the party, you could copy her spider-sense or healing factor.]
I think for a minute before nodding. That's not all that bad for me. I will basically be making my own Avengers, except at a much grander scale. I guess I should start keeping my eye out for potential members from now on that could be trustworthy?
"Alright, I'm convinced." I say. "Having help wouldn't be the worst if the dungeons keep getting harder, I suppose."
[No kidding. I've seen what some of the higher floors offer and let's just say even The One Above All at his peak would get absolutely bodied with no chance to resist in them. You're gonna want a well put together team if you want to clear them.]
Wait that? That sounds fucking terrifying. Isn't he by definition supposed to be like… you know… the one above all?
Whatever, it's not like I'm getting there any time soon. A future problem for future me.
"Let's go see about that gift now and after that I will get started thinking about my first party member, even though I really only have one option right now." I say with a sigh, with the fighting done, exhaustion has hit me and I wanna get to bed.
[Oh, you won't have to worry about that for long, let's go.] Gali says excitedly, grinning like a sly goblin. What is she up to?
A portal back to my apartment opens and I step through it. On the other side, awaiting me is a giant gift wrapped box with a bow on top.
I step close to it and gently lift the lid on top… is that a shark with legs?
(Image)
[Congrats on getting your first party member, Reo. Take care of my herald.]
***
Author note: This is the end of what I would consider the first arc. I'm not sure how I will split them up exactly, but mostly by party members I think? New party member > new arc
Possibly no chapter tomorrow since I have things to do, and I'm not sure if I have time to write one. Also, wanna look over what I have planned for the next arc again before I start writing it. If I have time, though, I'll update.
Also new cover image, new one every arc.
Oh yeah, and I think I promised a picture of the MC, so here.
(Image)