by Konrad Ryan
A sudden realization hit Tad. Bunta must have the weakness debuff. Tad could almost tell just by how Bunta looked. Just like Tad, Bunta’s body was skinny, yet fat. And he didn’t take part in the fighting until the boss. The man didn’t want to drain his health until they reached the boss!
Like a hawk Tad watched his debuff category as he put points into strength, At five strength Tad physically felt the debuff weakness fall off him like a shroud torn off in the wind. With each strength allocated, muscles twisted and bulged. His chubby and awkward frame filled out as defined muscles developed below his skin. Fat that clumped together, making him look chubby, spread smoothly atop the muscles. It almost felt like Tad was messing with a slide during character generation with the balance of stat points. For the first time since he increased his constitution, Tad looked fit. He looked good. But more impressive than how he looked was how he felt. Strong. Fast. Deadly.
Until now, there had always been something missing. But now he was complete. His body ached with need. Power pulsed through his veins and muscles. Was this how Scar felt all the time? Was this the reason he was so grumpy? Was Scar’s strength just jacked through the roof, which increased his aggression? Unlikely. Tad was sure the guy was just a douche.
With a thought, Tad opened his stats. The weakness debuff had disappeared.
*Tad Harrington
Rank: Soldier
Level: 11
Health: 110/110
Mana: 31/42
Str: 5
Dex: 15
Con: 11
Mag: 21
Cou: 5
Cha: -9
Points to allocate: 2
Quest Reward Available!*
He would save his last two stat points.
A roach that had begun steadily climbing the husk mountain disappeared into the husks. Alarm flooded Tad’s veins.
“What the-”
A slimy thorn-covered whip shot from the husk pile and rotated up Tad’s leg in an instant. The thorns sunk deep into Tad’s flesh from his calf to his thigh before it pulled him down into the husk pile.
Right into the maw of whatever creature lurked below.
Sharp teeth like a row of long knives bit through Tad’s armor, they pierced deep into his back and chest. A wave of heat pulsed through his body, acid was being pumped into his veins.
*Warning! You have been poisoned!*
“You think!” Tad’s head swam, he struggled to bring his daggers past the husks of roaches to where his leg was being squeezed even harder. His hands already shook from the poison, but Tad found the slimy rope-like tongue and severed it. His dagger accidentally sliced deep into his own calf as warm blood trailed down his leg.
An ear-shattering roar of pain bellowed from the mouth that held Tad in its jaws. The pressure of the bite relaxed just enough for Tad to slip his arms and daggers into the mouth that held him. Tad sliced wildly in panic. Firebolt after firebolt erupted as Tad shot them into the creature’s mouth. Tad dropped to the floor as a massive presence retreated farther into the mountain.
Tad furiously swam toward the edge of the husks, using his daggers to stab into husks and pull himself through the pile, minor scrapes from errant metal pincers opened up along his arms and back.
Tad had hidden inside that thing’s lair! He had been in it twice now! No wonder the roaches left him alone, a super predator lived inside! The roaches must have thought him insane for jumping into its lair! Gruff’s assumption had been wrong. The husks weren’t discarded shells of growing roaches at all! The thing inside the mountain had eaten each one of those roaches. Guts liquified and sucked out most likely. The metal pincers should have been a clue; there was no way they regrew metal pincers each time they molted. At least if monsters had similar biology to humans. Tad burst from the husk pile in an explosion of roach corpses. Tad’s health dropped from full down to forty-six between the calf wounds, the poison, and the crunching bite of a hundred dagger teeth. Sweat dripped down his back. He would have instantly died had he not healed.
Roaches charged Tad as he popped out of the husk mountain. Tad dodged and spun, flying past the first couple of roaches to one isolated near the back. Anger at how close he had been to death fueled him forward. It mixed with the need from before. His strength demanded to be tested. Tad baited a bite from the roach before he slipped beneath the closed pincers and rammed his shoulder into the underside of the roach. The impact jarred his entire body, but the roach flipped backward. It squirmed wildly as it tried to right itself, but its legs didn’t bend that way. Tad raised his daggers to the sky and plunged them downward. With a satisfying crunch, they pierced through the roach’s exoskeleton. Tad’s hands blurred with speed as wound after wound opened across the underbelly of the roach. Before his pursuers had time to do anything, the roach lay on the ground lifeless.
He no longer had to dance around trying to attack their eyes. Tad was a fully formed war machine. Being a timid caster who hid behind others in the last dungeon left a nasty taste in Tad’s mouth. He had done it out of necessity, but now he was complete. Balanced. The dungeons had been terrifying. But now… it felt like the dungeon had lost its fangs. No… That was wrong. Tad just had fangs of his own now. He was no longer a defenseless animal. He, too, was a predator.
Without counting, Tad knew there were six left. He had already killed three, and one got sucked into the mountain of roach corpses. They no longer charged. Not in the same way. They were hesitant. But Tad’s vision swam, the poison’s effect grew stronger each second as it spread, pumped through his veins by his racing heart. His blood felt like acid, like he was being dissolved from the inside. He had to end this. Fast.
The fight became a blur. Tad flew toward the roaches. Wherever he went, antennae, legs, mandibles, and even two metal pincers flew. Satisfying pops and crunches accompanied each of his thrusts as the armor of the roaches no longer stopped him. At first they were a worthy match. Blow for blow, they attacked. But he was too fast. Tad dodged and spun away from their attacks while his daggers found their targets. Severed roach legs and pincers littered the ground as the battle raged. With their ability to move and attack diminished, Tad plunged a vicious counterattack deep into the brain of an attacking roach.
Two roaches attacked from opposite sides. Tad leapt, his strength-enhanced legs propelled him off the earthen floor of the cave, fifteen feet into the air. The two roaches tried to stop, but their momentum propelled them into each other, pincers dripped with orange blood. Tad pulled. In a vast explosion of black mist, Wraithford’s second axe appeared directly below him. Tad leapt off the axe head, as it shot downward, crushing the roaches below. Tad shot another twenty-five feet upward as he flipped. He reoriented himself, feet pressed against the ceiling as he grabbed onto a stalactite, looking for his next victim.
There was only one roach remaining. He half expected the last metalroach to run away, out of fear or something. But apparently the bugs didn’t feel fear. It scuttled up the side of the cavern to get to him. Tad didn’t wait for it. He pressed his legs against the ceiling like coiled springs. He flew like a launched rocket. The roach didn’t even see him coming.
Crossed daggers met the roach at the junction between the head and the thorax. A powerful slash decapitated the roach in an instant, it fell from the wall in a heap. Tad rebounded off the wall and gracefully landed on his feet.
*You have leveled up!*
What a rush! Tad’s chest was on fire. What exhilaration! Was this how Bunta felt each time he fought a boss? Or was it the poison? This feeling alone might push Tad back into dungeons. It felt so good, no doubt it was addictive. Tad’s blood rushed faster and faster through his veins. It burned. He had never felt this good in his entire life. He’d always been slower than other kids, weaker than other kids. Last picked in gym class. But look at him now. He had dispatched an entire room full of man-eating roaches by himself! In a flash, he had out sped and out muscled his enemy. To find what lay beyond. Victory. He let out a roar of triumph that echoed throug
h the cave.
Tad wanted to lie on the floor. The cool damp earth beneath beckoned like a loamy bed. Tad shook his head. He had to do something first. Unsteady feet led Tad to one of Wraithford’s axes. Tad placed a hand on the axe and waited. Something was supposed to happen. He was supposed to do something, but he couldn’t remember what. Tad dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. Oh right!
“Identify!”
The obsidian axe glowed as it floated in place. Words scrolled before Tad’s eyes. The intrusion into his mind shocked him.
*Wraithford’s Trusted Right Axe:
80 damage. 160 when dual wielding with ‘Wraithford’s Mistrusted Left Axe.’
Strength required: 40*
Tad sat, his back against the obsidian axe head as it fell to the ground. Golden roach essence sparkled across the cavern where Tad had dispatched their bodies. Tad wasn’t sure if the axe was good or not. His thoughts slipped through his fingers like water.
Time passed. The magical crackling of his firewall behind him was oddly soothing as shadows from its light bounced across the cavern walls. A deep voice broke his trance.
“What the hell was that, Kid? How did you move like that…? Who… no, what are you…?”
Gruff stood next to the firewall, his beard thick, matted in blood. Hairy gorilla hands held Scar’s mosquito sword. His shield was noticeably absent. On his hip was one of Bunta’s daggers. Becca’s bow strapped across his back.
Gruff glared at Tad. “They’re dead. They’re all dead. Bunta. Terrance. Becca. Your fire trapped us in that infernal tunnel against an endless swarm of metalroaches. You killed them, Tad. You killed them all.” Gruff paused. Tad could see it now, the rage, the hatred that surged in his eyes. It was the same way Brad looked at him. The same way all his tormenters eventually looked at him.
Tad stared at Gruff, horrified. He tried to speak but words wouldn’t come out. He had to explain. He hadn’t meant to kill them; he’d only been trying to help! There were so many roaches at their back!
“I’ll only ask one more time. What are you?” Gruff pulled the sword to his ear, ready to use it.
How was Tad supposed to explain what he was when he didn’t even know himself? Gruff was the closest thing to a friend Tad had. He deserved an explanation. Tears welled up once again as Tad finally found his voice.
“I… I didn’t mean to hurt anybody!”
“You led us into this dungeon even though you knew. You knew. Other slayers died here. The monsters inside had grown stronger. You knew and you let us come inside.” Gruff’s voice turned rough, inhuman even, he screamed the words again at Tad. “What. Are. You?”
Tad felt something break as the words poured out. “I’m… I’m voidboy…”
All his feelings of inadequacy over the horror of what he had done to his friends broke him. Hot tears rolled down Tad’s cheeks as he sobbed. Quietly at first, then in big gulps and gasps as panic took over. Gruff watched, his expression hardened, anger flared in his eyes.
“That’s right. You’re worthless. A zero. A loser. Nothing. You really think just because you can get stronger that you can change? You can’t. You’ll never amount to anything. You will always be the same broken kid who used to hide from the world inside his room. You were dead weight, just holding us back.”
His words pierced Tad’s heart, his worst fears revealed. Gruff exposed the worst things about Tad. Like a spool of thread, he could feel himself unravel. His body trembled with each word Gruff said. Was it true? Was he worthless? Why was Gruff saying these things?
“No! Please Gruff…! You’re my only friend.”
“Friend? Hah. Who would want to be friends with you? You’re a serial loner. A social misfit. You’ll never belong. You’ll always be weak. A target. A mark. A victim.”
Tears streamed down Tad’s face as Gruff’s berating continued. It was true. It was all true. All the horrible things Gruff was saying. It was his fault. Had he just been more insistent that other slayers had entered this dungeon, then this wouldn’t have happened. Suddenly the image of his mom popped into his head. His mom had always been his friend. Been on his side. Even when they fought or disagreed. What would his mom say to him right now? As if summoned by the thought, a second figure walked out of the tunnel. She walked straight through Tad’s still burning firewall. No… It was impossible! His mom looked more angry than Tad had ever seen her.
“Tad.” She said his name with great disdain. “I never loved you. I wish you would die in this dungeon. Do you know how much you have burdened me? How hard it is to have a kid as worthless as you? Why couldn’t you be more like Liam?”
Tad’s terror disappeared. Replaced by confusion. His mom would never say those words. Despite his flaws, she loved him, and would help him even if he himself had given up. The figure degrading him wasn’t his mom. It couldn’t be his mom.
Tad wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at the two figures closely. Gruff looked different from when they had entered the dungeon. His hair and beard were full, like when Tad had first met him. And his mom. His mom was wearing the same clothes she’d worn the last time he’d seen her.
It was fake.
It was all fake, manufactured by his own mind. Relief flooded his mind before laughing, the sounds forced from his throat. Maniacal laughter, harsh tones flooded the cavern as the two figures flickered and evaporated into mist. Tad could barely get the word out between his laughing fits.
“Stats.”
*Tad Harrington
Rank: Soldier
Level: 12
Health: 110/110
Mana: 42/42
Str: 5
Dex: 15
Con: 11
Mag: 21
Cou: 5
Cha: -9
Debuffs: Rockfang poison
Points to allocate: 7
Quest Reward Available!*
Tad pressed on the poison. A transparent window full of text appeared before his eyes.
*Rockfang Poison: Poison used by the rockfang to sedate their prey. The poison can cause hallucinations and wild mood swings.*
Wild mood swings? Tad’s laughter redoubled. After a few moments, Tad stifled his laughter as it turned into giggles. Suddenly Tad blinked. Where was it? When had it happened?
His class. Voidboy. It was nowhere on his character sheet. His class had disappeared.
Tad’s laughter redoubled. He was no longer voidboy. His hallucinations had been wrong. They manifested his greatest fears, from the two people who meant the most to him in the entire world. But deep down, Tad knew they were wrong. Tad was different now. Even his class said so. He would show them, even if they were just phantoms, he would show them just what he could become.
Chapter 18
The cavern plunged into sudden darkness. Tad blinked as he tried to figure out what happened. Where had the light gone? The blackness was all-consuming. Even after a few minutes, Tad couldn’t see anything. There was nothing. Even the golden monster essence had disappeared. Tad stood in the darkness, but as time passed, it felt more like he was floating. Floating in an endless dark void… No! Tad shook his head, he didn’t want to remember the dark void. Where that being of immense power lived. Tad didn’t want to think about that. Not right now.
Clicks and fevered battle sounded far in the distance. The sounds were soothing. Relaxing. Tad laid on the cool dungeon floor. Nothing would feel better than a nap right now. Tad’s eyes slowly shut. Despite coolness of the damp earth beneath, he was warm. So warm.
Hadn’t he leveled up? Tad shot up, sitting in the darkness. His eyes were wide open. It didn’t help. Everything was still black as pitch. Excitement swelled in his chest, then it erupted. He had never been so thrilled about anything in his entire life. His heart pounded in his chest, his hands trembled in the darkness.
“Stats!”
*Tad Harrington
Rank: Soldier
Level: 12
Health: 110/110
Mana: 42/42
/> Str: 5
Dex: 15
Con: 11
Mag: 21
Cou: 5
Cha: -9
Debuffs: Rockfang poison
Points to allocate: 7
Quest Reward Available!*
Tad couldn’t help but feel a little proud. He was already level twelve. He really was making progress. Lazily Tad wondered what the max level would be. Would he have his progress halted at sixty or maybe level ninety-nine like so many games did? Somehow that didn’t seem likely. During his soldier trial, it claimed his next max level would be fifty. And he was still only a soldier. It must go higher.
Tad dreamily looked again at his stats. Seven stat points left to allocate. Tad laughed in the darkness. Allocating stats was magical. His body instantly morphed to meet his new stats, he didn’t think he would ever tire of that feeling. But where to put his remaining seven points? Somewhere in the back of Tad’s head he could hear a voice scream that this was not the time to do this, but he pushed it away. It was way more fun just to do it now.
Tad squinted at his magic stat. A wave of annoyance surged through his entire body. How was his magic still his highest stat? He had been focusing on other things! He would fix this. And now! Tad put the rest of his stat points into dexterity. Accomplishment surged through Tad like waves from the ocean. He’d done it. Take that magic! A familiar chime rang throughout Tad’s head. Tad roared with excitement as he read the notification.
*You have learned the skill ‘Stealth’*
Tad’s excitement vanished. Heat pulsed through his body. He felt dreadful! Like he’d eaten rotten fish. Huge beads of sweat dripped down his face. His headache pounded with each beat of his racing heart. Panic set in. This was how Tad would die. Alone in the darkness. His head pounded like drums of war. Surely it would split open at any moment. And that would be the end, his brains on the floor for giant roaches to slurp up.
Tad holstered both his daggers while he pressed his hands to his temples to dull the pain. He knew there was another way he could put weapons away, but it eluded him. He tried to stand in the dark. He had to get away. But his legs didn’t work right. He spun as he fell backward. A crunch filled the air, followed by a wet sensation spreading across the seat of his pants.