Sanctum

by Matthew Powell

  Joshua quickly found one of the countless tunnels that led to empty rooms and sat down in the far corner facing the entrance. He chugged another health potion before getting to work, wanting to be at full HP and not wanting to spare any of his Pestilence generation. With the pistol in his hand, he started funneling the Pestilence into it.

  Rather than just let it upgrade, Joshua added his own intentions to the process. He didn’t just want a gun with more damage, he was aiming for a very specific outcome. The small pistol grew larger, gaining over an inch in length and becoming noticeably heavier.

  The second upgrade took longer, and the process repeated. Detailing started to appear, forming out of the material. The metal that made up the gun lost its rust color, becoming a shiny brown instead. It still wasn’t enough.

  The third upgrade finished over an hour after starting. While simply getting extra damage would have been nice, Joshua had other ideas in mind when he started. The goal with this crafting was to eventually create weapons that other players could use so that he could sell them for profit. There was no better way to do that than to create one of the most iconic weapons in video game history, something that every gun-user would pay a fortune for so long as its damage was high.

  In Joshua’s hands was a Desert Eagle.

  Endemic Magnum

  Soul-Bound Weapon

  Damage Potential: 200 Blunt/5000 Piercing/1500 Infection (DOT) 100P/shot

  Pestilence Towards Next Upgrade: 0/10,000

  There was one thing Joshua knew that people would pay for above all else: appearance. There was no point in showing off high-level equipment if it didn’t look badass. There were people who spent hundreds of thousands of credits each year just to make their characters looks as awesome as possible while also having high stats.

  The Endemic Magnum exactly the kind of thing that these players would kill for. Absurdly high damage and shiny ornate engravings on a weapon that everyone would recognize, even centuries after its creation. Without a way to get rid of the soul-binding, Joshua would just have to use it himself for now. There were worse outcomes.

  The damage was high enough to potentially one-shot most of the Tier 3 monsters roaming the trench-filled wasteland. Even the Drudge Bear didn’t seem like such a formidable foe anymore. The only limiting factor was the bullets high cost. Joshua didn’t even have enough Pestilence to completely fill the clip in one go, let alone use it in an extended fight. Still, given how spread out the monsters seemed to be this far away from the dungeon, taking a few minutes to regain Pestilence between fights wouldn’t be too hard of a task.

  Joshua took half an hour to fill the weapon’s 8-round magazine before leaving his hidey-hole. Nearly two hours had been spent making the Endemic Magnum and the ammo, an unacceptable but necessary amount of time, but it had been worth it. Once he started walking the trenches again, it only took a few minutes to find his first unwilling test dummy.

  Ravenous Freak

  Tier: 3

  Level: 7

  HP: 1700/1700

  Huddled in a corner of an open area in the trenches was a Ravenous Freak, weaker than the one Joshua had first killed. Joshua leveled the Endemic Magnum at it, taking aim as best he could, before drawing its attention.

  “Hey, over here!”

  The freak’s head snapped towards Joshua, its jaw peeling open to reveal its rows of teeth as it began to roar. Joshua pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang, accompanied by a clanging sound as the Desert Eagle smacked Joshua’s helmet. He had assumed the gun wouldn’t make any sound or have recoil, much as the first one hadn’t, but he was clearly wrong.

  The only reason Joshua didn’t have a broken nose right now was the metal helmet…the helmet that now had a dent in it where the gun had hit. Regular guns weren’t supposed to have that kind of kick, but the Pestilence must have changed something. Snapping out of his thoughts, Joshua prepared to fight the Ravenous Freak, but he didn’t need to worry. The monster was lying on the ground, a massive hole in its upper right chest near where its heart would be.

  Critical Hit! Heart Punctured! Ravenous Freak has taken 2400 damage!

  Ravenous Freak has died!

  Zandrius gains 400 EXP

  The monster never had a chance. The bullet had perforated it, dealing a massive amount of damage and killing it instantly. Joshua saw the massive damage number and grinned. Things had just gotten a whole lot easier.

  Chapter 15

  Rest assured, if one of the Old Gods sets their sights on you, there is practically no escaping without the help of another extremely powerful being. They do not think or act in ways that the rest of us deem sane. If one of them that took an interest in you starts to ignore you, it doesn’t mean you are in the clear. Quite the opposite, it means that they have already predicted your actions and determined, through some insane and incoherent logic, that you will advance their agenda better without them interfering.

  The Endemic Magnum quickly proved cumbersome. Despite its extremely high damage, using it in combat was exceptionally difficult. Not only did the recoil actively damage the user, but the loud gunshots also attracted any zombies in the area. A fact that Joshua could attest to, as he squared off against five different Tier 3 zombies that had been attracted by the noise.

  Joshua knew the moment that he first fired the gun that the noise would be a problem, so he had taken off through the trenches as fast as he could. Despite his speed, more and more enemies seemed to pop up everywhere he turned. Two Ravenous Freaks and one Spiked Aberration already lay dead behind the remaining five, but he was starting to run low on Pestilence. It had been over twenty minutes since the first kill, and Joshua had left a path of corpses behind him.

  Each kill, while quick, drew more and more zombies from the surrounding area. Joshua was starting to believe that there weren’t actually this many enemies wandering around, but that the game was spawning new ones based on how much noise he made. The more he thought about that, the more he was convinced it was true. Finding an enemy had actually been time-consuming before the shooting had started, but now they were crawling out of the woodwork.

  The only reason he had been able to sustain the constant fighting was the massive increase in Pestilence that each kill gave him. Every three to four kills gave Joshua enough extra Pestilence to fire another shot while also increasing his regeneration rate. He hadn’t been able to check his status screen yet, but his total had to be closing in on 1000.

  Two of the remaining five zombies fell, massive holes ripping them apart before Joshua finally ran out of Pestilence. It wouldn’t take long for him to generate enough to fire a few more off, but even that short amount of time could be lethal against these enemies. Joshua drew his sword for the first time since starting the massacre.

  Before the zombies charged, Joshua had the time to throw a quick glance at his status sheet. It wasn’t enough to read all of his new stats, but he was able to mash the level up button. The fighting had given him enough EXP to skip level 2 and go straight to 3, providing a massive HP boost that he desperately needed. Just as he had hoped when he first took the Wight Guard class, each level gave an extra 500 HP.

  Of the remaining three zombies facing Joshua, two of them were familiar. A freak and an aberration, two enemies he was confident in fighting head-on. With the new HP boost and enhanced stats from leveling, he could probably handle both of them at once with just the sword. It was the third zombie that he was afraid of.

  Radioactive Divergence

  Tier: 3

  Level: 17

  HP: 4400/4400

  A zombie that had undergone a special mutation due to constant exposure to intense radiation. Divergences are significantly sturdier than normal zombies, have slightly increased intelligence, are capable of regenerating from non-fatal wounds, and possess weak ranged attacks. They are among the stronger Tier 3 monsters and are normally only found inside of dungeons or near the center of blast zones.

  The new zombie wasn’t any bigger t
han the normal ones, but its flesh had massive glowing cracks and tears. Based on the description, the Radioactive Divergence had either wandered a long way from home, or the constant running and gunning had accidentally pushed Joshua close to a very dangerous area.

  Perhaps the most dangerous part of this new zombie was its apparent intelligence. While the freak and aberration charged wildly, the divergence sat in the back and waited for an opening. If this new zombie had possessed actual leadership capabilities instead of just enhanced intelligence, the situation would have been a lot worse.

  While the other two zombies may not have been smart or worked together, the nature of their powers created a strange synergy. The Ravenous Freak closed the distance to engage in melee while the Spiked Aberration stayed back, lashing out with its spikes. The dual attacks forced Joshua to multitask, using his sword to keep the freak at bay with his right hand and taking swipes at any approaching tentacle with the dagger in his left.

  It almost looked like a stalemate had been reached when the divergence made its move. A bright yellow beam shot out of the monster's mouth, hitting Joshua in the left shoulder. The attack spurred the other two forward, the freak lunging to grab his arm and a spiked tentacle slamming into his side. It wasn’t ideal, but the situation had turned in Joshua’s favor.

  The beam hadn’t pierced all the way through his Plague Plate armor. It had done some damage, nearly burning off the entire shoulder plater, but the arm underneath was untouched. Joshua’s left arm lashed out, cutting off the tentacle’s spike and rendering it useless, while his right arm position the sword to keep the Ravenous Freak at bay.

  The loss of its spike caused the Spiked Aberration to develop a sense of caution, pulling its tentacles back. Without their support, Joshua was free to focus entirely on the freak in front of him. It was still mindlessly searching for an opening to strike at, keeping just out of range of the sword. It wasn’t prepared for Joshua to suddenly charge it, lashing out with his sword and carving a deep gouge across the monster’s chest.

  Almost immediately the wound began to blacken and rot. The combination of Virulence Aura and the swords own poison quickly ate away any chance the Ravenous Freak had of fighting back. Joshua didn’t even finish it off, turning towards the remaining two enemies as the EXP notification popped up.

  He was met with another beam, this time to the face. Joshua’s head snapped back as the entire front half of his helmet was disintegrated. Had the Radioactive Divergence’s laser attack been even slightly stronger, it probably would have taken off his head. Despite that, so long as he was only hit in an armored area, the Spiked Aberration was a bigger threat.

  A flying eye formed, darting towards the aberration’s head. The monster’s remaining tentacles darted towards the eye, catching it and ripping it apart midair. Joshua wasn’t concerned in the slightest; the eye had more than served its purpose in its few seconds of existence. It had drawn the aberrations attention away from his for a few seconds, almost as long as it could last anyways with the radiation damage, and that had bought him enough time to close the distance.

  Joshua’s sword pierced through the Spiked Aberrations neck, dealing critical damage and killing it instantly. The damage hadn’t come without a cost, however: both of the monsters remaining spikes had stabbed into his back, piercing his armor and dealing quite a bit of damage.

  Remaining HP: 1711/2500

  He reached around, pulling the spikes out of his back and tossing them to the ground. The HP loss was unfortunate, but it would heal with time. The only remaining enemy was the Radioactive Diverge, a fact that Joshua was quickly reminded of as another laser hit him in his right leg.

  The divergence, getting desperate without its two allies supporting it, had used a more powerful laser for its next attack. The beam burned right through Joshua’s armor, putting a gaping hole through his leg and scorching off a good deal of the other leg’s armor. Joshua fell to his knees, unable to stand with his right leg incapacitated. Checking his Pestilence for the first time since creating the Endemic Magnum, Joshua couldn’t help but smile as two shots rang out.

  Critical Hit! Head Pierced! Radioactive Divergence has taken 3917 damage!

  Critical Hit! Heart Pierced! Radioactive Divergence has taken 2998 damage!

  Radioactive Divergence has died!

  Zandrius gains 1350 EXP

  The amount of EXP that the higher level enemies were starting to give was getting a little bit absurd. Stacking all of those growth blessings had possibly been the greatest idea Joshua ever had. The divergence’s death had given him enough EXP to reach level 4, getting yet another HP boost. The glowing zombie, surprisingly, didn’t give much Pestilence. While 20 points was by no means a small amount, it was much less than he expected considering how much the other were giving.

  It was enough, however, to push Joshua’s total Pestilence to over 1000. He sat and waited for a notification or reward, but none came. He knew the next blessing didn’t come until 2000, but he had hoped reaching four-digits might have come with its own reward, aside from the massive increase to both Pestilence and HP regeneration of course. Unfortunately, not every milestone comes with a special bonus.

  The divergence’s death signaled the end of the coming zombies. In total, Joshua had racked up a kill count of 23 tier 3 monsters, enough for two quest turn-ins at once. All that he needed to do was head back to Grace and collect his bounty…which led to his next challenge. He had no idea where he was.

  Joshua had spent a fair amount of time running and fighting after accidentally causing the zombies to swarm. In that time, he had completely lost his position. Sticking his head above the trenches, Joshua found that he was completely and totally lost. All that surrounded him, for as far as he could see, was more trenches and wasteland. He couldn’t even see the trenchless wasteland where he had first started, and the dungeon skyscraper was out of sight.

  Dying was always an option. It would let him respawn back in town without any hassle, and there wasn’t enough EXP leftover after leveling up to worry about losing, but the thought of it left a sour taste in Joshua’s mouth. Dying was a natural part of playing online games like Macrocosm, but it was still something that players preferred to avoid, even if the consequences were minor. Once his Pestilence was refilled and his HP was topped up, Joshua picked a random direction and started working his way through the trenches.

  After several minutes of walking, the grown started to slope down slightly. The trenches ended abruptly shortly after, the way forward completely blocked off by a wall of stone stretching into the sky. Joshua was stunned by the sight when he climbed out of the trenches: a massive circular stone wall in the middle of the wasteland. Thinking back to old documentaries he had watched, combined with what kind of planet this was, it didn’t take long for Joshua to figure out what the wall was. He had just stumbled onto a nuclear blast site, possibly the same one that had created the radiation zone.

  Rather than intimidating, Joshua found the sight to be exhilarating. Anything like this had to have amazing loot and powerful enemies inside of it. The wall surrounding the crater wasn’t a steep incline, but rather a shallow curve leading to the crater’s lip. Determined to see inside, he started to climb. It only took a few steps forward for the crater’s challenge to become clear.

  Heavily Irradiated Zone Entered!

  Everything in the area will take 10 damage per minute.

  The damage wasn’t a crippling amount, but it was enough to give a group pause. Joshua, with his current Pestilence generation, could heal at nearly 25HP per minute, so he soldiered on. Just a few feet later, things got worse.

  Extremely Irradiated Zone Entered!

  Everything in the area will take 15 damage per minute.

  He wasn’t even a tenth up the slope, but the damage was increasing rapidly. At this rate, the crater itself would deal well over 100 damage per minute. Joshua’s dream of looting the crater may have been short-lived, but he was determined to see the inside bef
ore escaping back into the trenches. Sprinting up the side of the crater, Joshua ignored the messages that popped up every few seconds to warn him of the damage until he was at the top of the crater.

  The view from the crater’s lip was even better than he had hoped. The crater itself was several hundred meters in diameter, deep enough that the bottom appeared fuzzy from the distance. To Joshua’s disappointment, only two things in the crater were visible. The first was a metal chest, bigger than he was, sitting at the exact center of the crater. The second made his blood run cold.

  Drudge Bear

  Tier: 4

  Level: 39

  HP: 59,000 / 59,000

  Sitting behind the chest was the Drudge Bear, even stronger than before. Originally its HP had appeared at nothing but question marks, and Joshua honestly wished they had stayed that way. It was clear at this point that every class Tier provided exponential power bonuses, but the sheer amount of HP that the hulking bear had seemed absurd. With its natural defenses, even the Endemic Magnum would barely leave a scratch.

  Joshua immediately ducked behind the crater’s edge and started making his way back towards the trenches. If the Drudge Bear spotted him right now, it would rip him apart. While he didn’t know exactly where he was, it was a safe bet that the crater was near the center of the radiation zone. All that he needed to do was head straight in any direction and he would hit the edge eventually.