[Survival chance: None]
[Difficulty level: Impossible]
________________
Vritra stared at this message in disbelief as his gaze moved from the ethereal message towards the endless horde of goblins that was being held for now by some kind of invisible wall.
"FUCK!! W- What is this? Endless horde? Holy shit, why is there such a trap just at the first floor?" Vritra took a step back, feeling his heart beating wildly.
He was just rejoicing surviving the deadly fall but that wasn't even the part of the trap, the true terror was yet to come.
Then more messages appeared in front of his eyes, giving him a very bad feeling.
________________
[Quest: Survive the first wave.]
[Reward: 10 Allocation points and the title: The Cursed Hunter (Level 1)!!]
[Penalty: None]
________________
"Whoa so generous, no penalty. Like hell, I would be alive if I fail." Vritra spoke as he pulled out his sword, biting his lip hard to throw away any fear he felt.
The air was thick with bloodlust, each and every goblin looked wild and dangerous; they were hitting the invisible wall with madness, their sharp teeth and ugly bodies made them look more dangerous despite their small size.
'From what I have heard about the goblins of 1st floor of the labyrinth, they should be from level one to level fifteen? I am not sure though, even if my stat might be higher than most of them but there are just too many of them, if they surround me then my fate will be none other than death.
And my abilities, I don't think they will of much use, at least I have lots of healing and mana regeneration potion…' Vritra pondered in his mind, calculating to increase his chance of survival even by a little bit.
The damned goblins looked much more dangerous than in any of the anime, they were acting so wildly, as if they had gone mad.
But Vritra didn't have much time to think as the invisible wall disappeared and the endless wave of goblins ran towards him, reminding Vritra of a zombie movie scene he had seen back on earth.
But their sheer numbers were daunting. They were small, but relentless, with a savage glee in their eyes, and extremely ugly.
The message vanished.
The invisible wall dropped.
And the horde rushed forward like a flood.
A tidal wave of green flesh surged toward Vritra; their snarling faces illuminated by the faint glow of the labyrinth's ominous glowing stones. The ground trembled beneath the sheer volume of their small feet, and their bloodthirsty screams melded into a single guttural roar, making the walls shudder.
Vritra's grip on his sword tightened, for a moment he felt his body frozen with the death looming over his head the killing intent was too thick, but death would come faster if he didn't fight back, even if it is useless he wasn't planning to go down without putting up a fight.
Vritra didn't wait. He charged into them, sword gripped tight. Despite the fear and repulsion in his heart, he didn't hesitate on the thought of killing them, there was just no time for such useless thougths.
With all his strength he swung the sword at the approaching goblins as the blade cleaved through the first goblin's skull, splitting it like a ripe fruit. Warm blood sprayed on his face.
For a moment Vritra was surprised since he didn't expect that strike to deal so much damage, to the dangerous green demon.
But now that he thougth about it Vritra had never really gone all out before in fear of hurting others too much, even here in the labyrinth his specs alone put him above most of the low levelled goblins since they are naturally weaker and born with low stats.
++++++++++++
[You have killed a Level 3 Goblin.]
[+EXP Earned.]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[All Stats Increased by 1.]
[ You have gained 1 Allocation Point.]
++++++++++++
There was no time to think. No time to feel. Another goblin lunged, and Vritra kicked it in the gut, sending it crashing into two others.
"Shit!" he cursed as a dagger carved a shallow gash across his forearm. He gritted his teeth, blood dripping from his arm and the pain making it feel numb yet he didn't let go of the sword.
Ignoring the slight pain for the time being, he focussed all his mind at the large crowd of demons; thankfully he possessed the skill that lessened his pain.
But the number was just too large, and it was impossible to defend against all attacks, he could only try to avoid the sharp weapons or attacks aimed at his vitals.
Vritra sidestepped another goblin, putting all his strength in his legs and decapitated it with a sharp turn of his blade, as a wave of blood rushed out, drenching him completely before his kick crushed the skull of another.
++++++++++++
[You have killed a Level 4 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 2 Goblin.]
[+EXP Earned.]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[All Stats Increased by 1.]
[ You have gained 1 Allocation Point.]
++++++++++++
Vritra didn't stop for a moment, he ignored the wounds piling up on his body but with each swing of his sword, with each slice the rage and hatred in his heart kept building up, anger at these demons whose sole goal was to kill him and anger at the people responsible for putting him in this situation.
[Activating Dust Attunement.]
As he used his skill, Vritra effortlessly moved dust particles around him and even the mana consumption was very low; although he couldn't use that to directly kill the goblins but he struck the eyes of the goblins with the dust, blinding them momentarily before his sword tore their bodies apart.
His blade danced— slashing, stabbing, slicing throats, opening guts; killing the goblins in a frenzy, his adrenaline surging like wildfire through his veins. Each kill fed the storm inside him changing him with each passing moment, completely stripping him of any lingering fear, mercy and pain.
Blood sprayed across his face, warm and sticky, but he didn't stop—couldn't stop.
They kept coming. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands upon thousands. The corpses began piling up around him. The floor beneath his feet turned slick with blood and pulped organs. A severed goblin hand clung to his shoe.
While slaughtering the goblins he noticed that after their deaths, they seemed to be dropping various items like weapons or armours, but they all seemed very weak and he had no time to examine them or even pick them as he felt the little demons charging at him from all directions.
Vritra kept moving forward, knowing that if the space around him got too littered with corpses, then it would be more difficult to fight and move, he kept pushing into the endless swarm of green creatures moving further away from the wall; getting more efficient the more he killed.
++++++++++++
[You have killed a Level 1 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 2 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 2 Goblin.]
[+EXP Earned.]
++++++++++++
Vritra was panting already, his arms screaming from the effort. His body trembled, not just from exhaustion, but also from all the injuries, He was completely drenched in green and red blood.
This was the first time he had ever killed anything. But he had no time to process that as another wave of goblins came.
He screamed—not in fear, but in pure, blood-boiling rage, appearing more like a demon, fury drowning out all reason as he stabbed another goblin through its neck, watching it gurgle and twitch for an instant before pulling his sword. Another leapt at him from the side, and he barely managed to duck, rolling in the blood-drenched ground.
He came up covered in gore. A goblin's intestine clung to his leg.
Vritra kicked hard, crushing its head against a wall. Bone fragments flew.
His grip tightened on the sword, knuckles white.
Dust particles kept swirling around him, as he blinded any goblin within range, at this time he was finding this skill more helpful than any other skill he might have received.
It also improved his senses in short range since he could feel the movement of goblins through the particles, allowing him to dodge most of the attacks.
He was using the skill continuously, yet the mana meter was down only by a bit. His only way to survival was killing as many of them as possible to increase his strength, otherwise in the next phase when the tide of stronger demons come, he won't be able to do anything.
Khrrrkkk—sssssshh
He saw a slightly taller and heavier goblin pouncing at him, carrying heavy staffs in his hands. Vritra knew if that struck him, it would at the very least injure him critically, throwing the dust into its eyes he pushed weaker goblin at it, watching as their bodies turned into minced meat as they got struck.
As the blinded goblin aimlessly waved its heavy staff while roaring, Vritra wasted no time as he thrust his sword into one of its socket with as much strength as he could muster, but while focussing on the bigger goblin he wasn't able to react as another goblin slashed at his back with a sharpened bone, leaving a big gash as blood seeped out.
"Ahhh" a groan escaped his lips as he jumped away; despite the pain resistance skill that he possessed he still felt some level of the pain, his body finally slowing down because of exhaustion and injuries.
++++++++++++
[You have killed a Level 4 Goblin.]
[You have killed a Level 6 Goblin.]
[+EXP Earned.]
[You have Levelled Up!]
[You have levelled up!]
[All Stats Increased by 2.]
[ You have gained 2 Allocation Points.]
++++++++++++
With a flick of his fingers, a thin cloud of dust swirled toward an approaching goblin's eyes. It shrieked, dropping its weapon, and Vritra didn't hesitate as he tore its body into two symmetrical pieces.
Time became irrelevant.
One hour. Then another. Then another.
His legs burned. His arms ached. But the goblins didn't stop. If anything, they increased.
Hours had passed of mindless killing, each time the system messages popped in front of him Vritra felt his strength and speed increase, allowing him to continue his massacre despite his weakening condition.
Suddenly another message popped in front of him.
++++++++++++
[Your skill have Levelled Up]
[Dust Manipulation has advanced to Level 2.]
[Dust Attunement have now transformed into 'Dust Convergence'.]
++++++++++++
Vritra had no time to read the message, but he felt that something had changed; he could sense that his control over the dust had grown.
GRRIIIIIIIIK-KAAAAAH
But before he could delve further into this feeling, all his senses tingled as a goblin stabbed him in the side.
Vritra roared in pain and cut its arm off, then sliced its face open. He dropped to one knee, clutching the wound while slicing through another goblin. Blood soaked his entire body, some of his own while most belonging to the goblins.
But the endless horde of goblins wasn't going to wait for him, Vritra jumped behind one of the small mountain of corpses and used it to stop the attacks for a moment.
With trembling hands, he pulled out an intermediate healing potion, his eyes never leaving the approaching swarm. He drank more than a quarter of it, then sent the rest back in his inventory, and stood again.
All his wounds disappeared within moments, even the pain he felt in his muscles due to fatigue was gone and although he was still slightly out of breath but once again he was ready to go on a rampage, his stamina seemed to have grown quite a bit as he levelled up.
He swung wildly now, losing any resemblance of grace, but not precision. Not completely. The more he killed the less wasteful his swung became, this was the first time he was using a sword but his movement had already started to resemble someone who had been using a sword for more than a year.
Guts spilled across the floor, as he walked forward a river of green blood was created. Corpses were lying all over the place in bits and pieces, the Death canopy was filled with thick killing intent.
_________
Thanks for reading...