Chapter 24: Chapter 24 - Punch
Damage report prompts washed over me in such great numbers my entire field of view became fully covered in them.
[Host’s [Pierce Resistance] has increased greatly : x10]
[The Skill [Pierce Resistance IX] has been upgraded to [Pierce Resistance X].]
[Host’s [Impact Resistance] has increased greatly : x10]
[The Skill [Impact Resistance IX] has been upgraded to [Impact Resistance X].]
[Host’s [Slash Resistance] has increased greatly : x10]
[The Skill [Slash Resistance IX] has been upgraded to [Slash Resistance X].]
[Host’s [Ice Resistance] has increased greatly : x10]
[The Skill [Ice Resistance III] has been upgraded to [Ice Resistance IV].]
[The Skill [Ice Resistance IV] has been upgraded to [Ice Resistance V].]
[Host’s [Rot Resistance] has increased greatly : x10]
[The Skill [Rot Resistance III] has been upgraded to [Rot Resistance IV].]
[The Skill [Rot Resistance IV] has been upgraded to [Rot Resistance V].]
All three physical damage resistances had reached Level 10. It was an accomplishment worth celebrating. It meant I could no longer take physical damage from a Bronze Ranked being. But this was neither the place nor time to do so.
I pushed away the prompts, blood gurgling in my throat as I forced my focus inward, trying to will the strands of mana through my vessels again.
I willed. I urged. I pleaded.
Move. Burn me again. Anything.
But the energy stayed dormant.
Frustration surged as my trapped body lost a leg, and a mandible stabbed through my side.
[Host’s [Slash Resistance] has increased greatly: x4]
[Host’s [Pierce Resistance] has increased greatly: x4]
Come on.
My axe was torn from my grip, kicked away by one of its many legs.
Come on.
I resorted to punches.
Come. On.
Frost cracked flesh as the rot flooded into me, my skin bubbling, flesh blackening wherever it spread. My vision darkened at the edges but regeneration surged. Decayed tissue sloughed off in sheets only to be rebuilt. Over and over.
Host’s [Ice Resistance] has increased greatly: x15]
[The Skill [Ice Resistance V] has been upgraded to [Ice Resistance VI].]
[Host’s [Rot Resistance] has increased greatly: x15]
[The Skill [Rot Resistance V] has been upgraded to [Rot Resistance VI].]
Again. And again.
It didn’t stop.
Time lost meaning. Every second was pain. Mandibles. Frost. Rot. Repeat. The body rebuilt, only to be ruined.
And through it all, I swung my fists. Always swung. Always tried. My flesh and bones against its armor.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
But there was nothing.
I focused on my core so hard I could see every single string of blue-white Mana coiled within it. But they refused to move.
Come ON. COME. ON.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
COME ON!
THUD.
COME ON!
I punched. And punched. Ceaselessly. And with every failure, that frustration only grew.
The Beast remained unfazed, continuing to maul into me at a pace far too close to the speed of my recovery. My resistances grew, and grew, and eventually...
[The Bronze Rank Skill [Impact Resistance X] has successfully evolved into the Silver Rank Skill [Enhanced Impact Resistance I].]
And yet, despite how joyous the occasion of a skill evolution should have been, in that moment, I just didn’t care. Because I had failed to channel the Mana. And I continued to fail.
Even as the rest of them followed suit, evolving one after the other...
[The Bronze Rank Skill [Pierce Resistance X] has successfully evolved into the Silver Rank Skill [ Enhanced Pierce Resistance I].]
[The Bronze Rank Skill [Slash Resistance X] has successfully evolved into the Silver Rank Skill [ Enhanced Slash Resistance I].]
...there was something I wanted more.
But it refused. The Mana always refused.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Anger clouded my judgement. Opportunities to escape from under the beast’s grasp arose, since I was taking less and less damage due to the Silver Ranked Resistance skills, but I was too consumed by the rage to notice.
I wanted to fight back. I wanted to win. Not just survive.
One of the beast’s indiscriminate mauls severed my left arm, so I continued with just the right. My vision tunneled. No words. No reason. Only a constant, raging roar in my skull.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Eventually, without me noticing, those roars were ripping through my throat—animal, broken, unrecognizable. Pure, unadulterated anger.
THUD. THUD.
And then, a single moment, when the haze had fully overtaken logic, when there was nothing in my mind but the rage, the hate, and the urge to destroy, the coiled threads of Mana in my core snapped loose all at once.
Through every vein like wildfire. What remained of my body convulsed, veins glowing red as my fist barreled in.
The beast’s frozen armor rang like struck metal, and then,
CRACK!
BOOOOOM!
The centipede’s body was torn from me in an instant as the impact of my fist threw its massive frame across the chamber, one of its many segments spiderwebbing with cracks radiating from where the punch had landed.
I stared at my trembling hand as I lay there. Flesh half-healed, blood steaming, veins pulsing a faint red.
What did I just do...?
The haze lifted, reason trickled back in, but I couldn’t remember. Not exactly.
And then my regeneration took over and I finally realized just how many hundreds of System Prompts I hadn’t seen, even following the Skill Evolutions.
How long was I punching that thing for?
As if in answer, one final prompt appeared,
[You have killed a Lv.3 Tremor-Class Frost-Rot Centipede.]
[The Fourth Wave has been cleared successfully.]
[Do you wish to continue?]
[Yes/No]
I killed it? With one punch? Something like that...is beyond the Gold Rank...
My eyes shot up to the giant timer floating in the air.
[Time Elapsed: 19 minutes 33 seconds]
With only thirty seconds to go...I actually killed it.
I lay there in the spreading puddle of my own blood, watching my skin stitch shut once more.
[Analyzing Challenger’s condition...]
[Challenger is alive and conscious.]
[You will be disqualified, with all rewards confiscated if an option isn’t selected in {15 seconds}]
[Do you wish to continue?]
[Yes/No]
My eyes widened in urgency, Yes! I wish to continue!
It was only natural. A challenger that is conscious, but not picking an option could be seen as someone trying to game the system for extra rest time.
[Rest period has begun.]
[Time remaining: 4 minutes 59 seconds]
My head dropped to the ground, exhaustion and relief washing over me.
That was some battle.
As I waited for my body to heal up enough for me to stand, I decided to finally look through all the hundreds of System Prompts I’d missed. I had completely lost track of time in that fight.
And near the end...I’d also lost track of myself.
System...this is too much...can you just show me the most recent upgrades to my skills, relative to the point in time when Impact Resistance evolved to the Silver Rank?
[Request acknowledged.]
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A/N :
First PROPER feature, today! Editor’s Choice!
AND I’ve been CONTRACTED! I’ll be going premium soon, so all of you can expect a mass release of 5-10 Chapters when that happens. I’ll be striving for the maximum possible number, rest assured.
This period is CRUCIAL for the book’s development and success, so if you’ve enjoyed my work thus far, I would like to request all of you not to forget to add this book to your Collections, comment or leave a review if you’re able, and possibly most importantly, VOTE Power-stones and Golden Tickets, and if you REAAAALLY loved the story so far---GIMME MONIE--- ehem. I meant, stay tuned.
Because you’re about to love it even more.
Cheers guys. I’ll be seeing y’all. >.<
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