Marcus stood there. His body was shaking due to exhaustion or fear. He had a hard time defeating those below the boss. His clothes were torn. When he fought against the semi-boss. He was beaten hard. One of his eyes was swollen, and he felt like he had some broken ribs. His dagger? It has become useless with a cracked blade. But like him, his blade was still fighting, and so he would too.
He heard loud footsteps. Every mushy sound the boss made made his heart beat louder than he ever had.
Across him loomed the newly arrived Gravewrecker. He was approximately around 8 feet tall, with rotted flesh stretched over his bones. His jaw was unhinged like a python's, and his eyes were burning with fire.
System Warning
[Boss Presence Detected]
Recommended Party: 5 (level 20 up)
[Your level: 15]
Marcus was alone. And he knew he'll fucked up.
Marcus thought if he chose to run, he knew he'd die. If he fights, he'll probably die slower.
The boss laughed. A deep, guttural sound that rattles the walls.
"You smell nice. I can see some fresh flesh in you. Soft and chewy. You will make a nice decoration in my chamber," he said and charged.
The ground cracked beneath the boss's steps. Marcus barely dodged his attack, rolling to the side as claws ripped through stone where his head had been. Marcus' lungs screamed, and his legs almost gave up. But he moved, and he had to otherwise, he'd die here, unable to go back to his world, back to his grandpa.
He slashed his dagger twice, barely slicing the boss' hide. It was thick, and the boss didn't even flinch.
"Is that it? I was excited that finally someone had defeated my right hand, and then here you are. Nothing interesting. No mana. No power. No magic. Just pure luck."
Marcus made an attacking instance.
"I don't need those. I just need to make you bleed," he said.
Marcus sprinted towards him. He drove the dagger up as red dots became visible on the boss' weak spot. Marcus stabbed him into his armpit, the one unarmored spot.
The boss screamed. He then tossed Marcus like a rag doll into the wall. The impact was too much. Marcus felt hell. The pain was unbearable. His vision became white, clouded before going completely black.
His agonizing grunt made Tacma pull all the strings to null the pain or ease a little bit. Marcus couldn't move. He couldn't even breathe. With his blurry vision, he saw his dagger skid to the floor. He knew at that moment that he was done.
The boss walked toward him slowly and grinning.
"You'll make fine food for my pets as well," he said and was about to lunge for a final fatal blow. Marcus' memories flashed before his eyes.
His grandfather, the smile on his face, loved him. The old man who never saw him as a curse.
Damn it. I think this time, I'll die for good, he thought.
System Error! Warning!
Anomaly Detected!
Tactical Manager Subsystem shut down.
The dungeon light started to flicker. The boss stopped his fist mid-air. He felt something shift in the dungeon, a thing that was new for the boss.
Marcus started to feel a weird sensation inside him, like something was stirring, something was moving. His hunger he tried to ignore for almost three days, became apparent. He didn't know in his last few moments, he was hungry.
He watched the boss fist above him, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to his head. Marcus lay broken, pained. His thoughts spiraled.
Why am I still trying? I wasn't born special. No skill. No power. No magic. Just…weak
His tears mixed with his blood. His fingers were trembling.
And then, a sound inside his mind spoke up. It was not Tacman. It was not a voice. It was like a glitch, a disoriented sound, but Marcus understood what sound it made.
"Then stop being a human…"
"Huh? What does it mean?
SYSTEM ERROR! GLITCH DETECTED. EMERGENCY FORCE ACTIVATING SUBSYSTEM TACTICAL MANAGEMENT
"Unknown code has been detected. Wwwweerrrr…..cccccoodddddeeee zzzzeeerrrrooooo Emmmeerrrgennccyy dddee-"
Marcus noticed the glitch from Tacman. Screen menus appeared at once, glitching and becoming red and black. The letters were unreadable.
Another screen appeared. It wasn't like the systems, it was something else. It was black with white letters. It didn't flicker.
Unknown Protocol Detected]
[Anomaly Entity: Unknown]
[Warning: Human Host Unstable]
[Override? Y/N]
In his desperate situation and refusing to die, Marcus pressed the Y.
The Black Screen and white flickering letters appeared again.
[System Interface]
[Critical Failure Detected]
[User Status: Terminal]
[Recommendation: Initiate Final Log]
Marcus lay there, bleeding and all. He didn't know what was happening to his system and his Subsystem.
So this is how I die? He asked himself.
[Query Detected: User Dispute Termination?]
[Unidentified Entity Interference Detected]
[Temporary Access Granted To: Mister Anomaly, Finally being Free]
[System Resisting Glitch-screen Flicker Red and Black]
!!Warning!!
ANOMALY PRESENCE HAD DETECTED THE SYSTEM CORE
REWRITING CLASS PROTOCOL….
REWRITING STATS…
REWRITING USER LIMITS…
[OVERLOAD- Tactical Manager Core Meltdown]
[INITIATING SYSTEM RESET]
Marcus started to undergo spasms. He screamed, not for the pain but from the thing inside trying to force itself into sync. Marcus' eyes flicker. The left eye was red and the other was black.
A new system screen popped out.
[SYSTEM RESET INTERFACE]
WELCOME, NEW HOST
CLASS: UNREGISTERED
TITLE: ANOMALY
STATUS: 2% SYNC
MAIN TRAIT UNLOCKED: DEVOUR
SUPPORT TRAIT UNLOCKED: TACTICAL INSTINCT
WARNING: HUMAN LIMITS EXCEED REBUILDING SYSTEM UNDER CUSTOM PARAMETERS…
The dungeon started to feel something unusual. Dungeons were alive. It's like a gigantic monster that houses different monsters. These monsters often nourish their bodies when they die.
It should have its normal feeding day, waiting for an unlucky human to die inside its body, but today, it was something else. Instead of feeding, it shuddered. Even the final boss felt it too. It felt a presence that shouldn't be there. The boss snarled and then whimpered. The monsters living inside scurry away, hiding themselves away from it.
And then out of nowhere, a message suddenly appeared not for Marcus but for the dungeon itself.
Message:
[Notice: Bow before the great Devourer]
[Command: Submit or be Erased]
The dungeon didn't hesitate to submit. The catastrophe itself made its presence clear…
Fang, the dagger spoke up, and Marcus heard it.
"Well, well, you finally made the choice to let me in.
"I said you have to wait, didn't I?" the voice said.
Marcus frowned in his dying state. Two voices speaking in his head. He must have been hallucinating.
"Shut up. The host is listening. You're not even downloaded completely in the new system."
"W-what are you, two?" Finally, Marcus was able to talk in his mind.
"Oh, we're your new best friends," Fang replied.
The new screen popped up. The one Marcus didn't see glitching.
Closing System Reset
[Reconstruction Complete]
Welcome, Anomaly
LET US BEGIN CONSUMPTION
With that, Marcus suddenly stood up. Someone lent him strength. He used it despite his body being cracked, bathing with his own blood. He still looked like him, the weak Marcus. He picked up his dagger, which whistled in excitement.
Marcus' body charged at the boss who seemed to be scared. His moves were fast. He stabbed and cut the boss multiple times and let the dagger feed. The boss didn't even notice he was attacked. And when he finally felt something was off, it was over…
The dungeon rumbled after the final boss was defeated.
[Boss Defeated]
[Time remaining: 30 minutes]
[Level Up]
[New skill Acquired: Devour (Tier 1)]
Marcus fell to his knees after the one controlling his body gave him back full control to him. His heart was pounding, his hands and knees shaking. He just won, and someone helped him.
Marcus thought he survived.
"No, buddy. This is just the appetizer of what is coming," Fang replied.