The wind howled in the trees, snapping cold air against my skin. A moment after, pain erupted from my neck and shoulders.
I took a breath in.
I took a breath out.
And I got to my feet.
There was a sudden commotion as a three-headed bear charged through the forest, one head lunging forward, baring fangs.
I grabbed it by the face and twisted, ripping half its body from the other. The halves fell in heaps of blackened mana, before disintegrating away, leaving behind a shiny white orb.
{TriBear}
[(-2000) -1972 Hp]
I didn’t bother picking it up.
In another few minutes, I’d have to collect it all over again.
Instead, I sat in wait on a rock. Soon after, a silver flash cleaved through the brush, cracking against Crapshoveler’s blade. There was a flash of golden energy, and Crapshoveler vanished again.
Dena whistled, stepping out from the undergrowth, dragging grey and gold chains on the mossy forest floor. “For a level zero, you aren’t half bad—”
Crapshovler cracked against her forehead, and she snapped backward.
“OW!” Dena yelped. “What is wrong with you?!”
{Dena : (-0) 1000 Hp}
“Okay, geez, I’ll find someone else…” she said, with a low grumble. “Not worth the trouble."
I stood up and started walking toward her.
“I’d appreciate it if you stayed,” I said.
//2132 Str//
The ground dissolved around me, dirt and grass melting away under the immense weight of my power.
Dena pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “Two thousand? In case you weren’t aware, that’s really good for a level zero.”
“I’m aware,” I said.
She looked me up and down, before a grin split across her face. The chains around her body began shaking, their silver metal turning black, with gold strands.
“Alright, what’d I do?” Dena asked, leaning forward. “Kill your girlie?”
“My daughter."
She laughed. “That must have been rough! So, is this some sort of scary revenge attack?”
Then there was a gash across my chest, spilling blood.
“Black huh?” Dena asked. She caught me as my legs gave out, twirling her six-foot scythe around one finger. As before, the attack dealt no damage whatsoever.
“Honestly, I was expecting a little more.”
She bopped me on the nose with the end of her scythe, and poison seeped into my skin.
{Grind}
[(-1255) 0 Hp]
[Death Rot I inflicted]
I looked up at her.
Dena shivered. “Oh don’t give me that. It’s creeping me out.”
She kicked my face in, and I blacked out.
…
The wind hissed, growing stronger, tearing limbs from the forest canopy.
I waited for the explosion of pain, before picking myself off the dirt.
A third of a second later, the three headed bear hurtled into my back hand, and a handful of trees gained new stains.
This time, I summoned Crapshoveler, walking toward the patch of forest, just a little left from where I woke.
A half-hearted attack pierced the brush, clipping against my shovel.
Dena kicked, flipping over my head, snapping the back of her scythe against my neck.
“You’re a squirrely one,” she giggled.
I bobbed back, knocking her blade to the side with a flick of my wrist.
The next few moves were a little tricky, since she was behind me, but Dena wasn’t taking this seriously, yet, so, at the very least, it was possible to counter.
Three hits across the body and a spin over my shovel, before pivoting off one foot to catch her next attack before it started, followed by a series of blows and feints that took a fair share of resets before I got the hang of it.
Dena stumbled back in shock,stepping onto crapshoveler. I twisted the handle, knocking her off balance, whipped at the fullest extent of my power, earning an audible crack of bone.
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
Unfortunately, the sound came from my own hand, fractured on impact.
“AgH!” Dena screamed, wrenching my shovel from my hand and spearing me through the chest, all in the half-second of a move.
She took a deep breath, then spat on the ground. “Congratulations buddy, you’re way over your head.”
{Grind}
[(-1255) 0 Hp]
[Death Rot I inflicted]
She hesitated. “What are you smiling about, idiot? You’re dead.”
“I finally hurt you,” I whispered.
I had spent a day’s worth of fighting to get this far. This was progress.
My eyes rolled back, and I died.
…
The wind snarled, dropping temperature in the morning chill.
I got to my feet, bracing for the flash of pain. When it passed, I stepped forward.
The bear crashed through the trees.
{Grind}
//2132 Str//
The forest dew was stained black.
{Grind}
//0 Str//
I waited two minutes and thirteen seconds.
Dena’s scythe passed over my head, clipping my hair as I ducked down. I shifted my weight to one side, avoiding the following attack as she adjusted her grip.
When she adjusted her stance, I knocked her back with the flat of my hand, and Dena stumbled.
After a moment to process, Dena broke into a wide grin. “You’re a lucky guy.”
I kept my face neutral. That was getting easier over the resets.
Dena backed up. “Okay, you seem like trouble, so I’ll cut you some slack.”
“Busy day?” I asked.
“Oh don’t you know it,” Dena said, with an ominuious chuckle. “Go back to meditation or looting or whatever you were doing, and I’ll be on my way, alright?”
“No,” I said.
She scoffed. “No?”
“No.”
A shimmer of silver appeared behind me, aiming for a point in the center of my back. Physically speaking, a zero-level would not be able to dodge it.
{Grind}
//2132 Str//
I swung around, catching the handle with the back of my foot and drove her blade into the ground.
Dena was stunned for a quater of a second.
I had time for two blows. The first was a simple fist and then a knee, both to her stomach, which had neither chains nor armor to protect it.
She bent down, siphoning mana into a special attack of purple energy. Any physical contact during the charge would deal a thousand damage, so I summoned Crapshoveler from my inventory and struck her on a very specific part of her jaw, cracking bone.
Earlier that week, she had gotten into a fight wtih some sort of monster, and her injury hadn’t fulley healed. Unlike other similar injuries, the spot on her jaw wasn’t well protected.
Dena switched to a field of healing energy. She didn’t have a lot of experience fighting with the first area’s limit caps, and as such, used too much energy, weakening her mana shield.
I rammed my fist into the first joint just to the lest of her elbow, then several times more into her ribs and shoulder.
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp} {Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp} {Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
Then a hit to the head, the side, and a kick to the leg.
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
Two hits to the nose, and a open palmed strike across the side of her face.
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp} {Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
{Dena : (-1) 1000 Hp}
Her jaw tightened, sparkling with black energy as her bone knit back together. The moment that was done, her mana shield resumed, and my attacks would have no further effectr.
Dena staggered back, hands in surrender.
“Okay, buddy,” she said. “You’re clearly pretty strong. If those were all spontanious moves you pulled out on the fly, then your reaction speed is far beyond my own. That said, you can’t actually hurt me.” She clasped her hands. “You’re aware of area caps? Those are to keep experienced adventurers like myself from killing shrubs like you.”
“I’m aware,” I said.
“Grind, is it? I have more health than you can count. Yes, I’m much weaker than I would be in my home region, but sheer magnitude of my health in reserve makes any such fight pointless.”
I hesitated. She had to be from the second area, right? Or maybe the third.
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“How much more than a thousand health do you have?” I asked.
Dena flashed a grin. “Currently? Six sextillion nine hundred fifty-seven quintillion six hundred ninety-eight quadrillion five hundred seventy-six trillion eight hundred ninety-five billion six hundred ninety-eight million five hundred seventy thousand. Think you can break through that?”
I let out a groan. “That might take a while.”
“Yeah.” Dena chuckled. “So is this a draw?”
What was I supposed to do now? Even if I spent years and years in this fight, trying to kill her, I wouldn’t make so much as a dent in her health.
Dena grinned, and her scythe appeared in her hand. “You know what? As compensation, I’ll let you keep my blade.”
“That’s very generous," I said. “Why?”
“Oh this is only my second area weapon,” Dena stated. “I’m supposed to be keeping descrete, you see, so I can’t be tossing Void Enders left and right…”
Her scythe tore throuhg the air, flashing toward my neck, and I caught it.
White hot pain exploded through my entire arm, searing into my skin.
The scythe shot out of my hand into hers, and I dropped to the ground.
Dena burst into shrill laughter, stooping down beside me. “You’re not supposed to drop it, silly!”
Her chains turned black, and, with a blur, there was a gaping hole in my chest.
{Grind}
[(-1255) 0 Hp]
[You have attempted to wield an item beyond your region]
[You have been afflicted with severe damage to your [left] arm]
She started talking.
That was fine.
Because I just got a great new idea.
{Purger - item of {Dena’s}}
~
~High Transcendent~
[High Osmium]
~
[Unusable {4} reasons]]
~
[While in {Reaper Form VII} Purger will permeate through all shields of high Transcendent or weaker foes, as well as through all adjacent life forms of High Transcendent or weaker type.]
[this effect cannot be cured or reverted]
[this object has no durability bar, instead consuming life force of the victim. Drastically weaker victims may require supplementation with wielder's life force]
~
[[Reaper-type] : only a disciple of the Reaper can wield this blade.]
[Transcendent : This item cannot be sold, stolen, broken, erased, misplaced, removed, or disabled by any gear or effects of a lower quality than {High Transcendent}]
~
{Biomancy : Neuroblade : this blade can understand and relay basic instructions and protocol
[Float [Maximum] : this item’s physical location is under the full control of the wielder, scaling with [mana] and [intellect] or similar [mind] and [magic] type stats]
If her weapon worked how I think it did, then I just had to get a good grip on it.
{Purger}
[A blade crafted from the dying heart of a reaper]
[Inflicts [Instant Death]]
[[Instant Death] cannot be negated.]
[[Instant Death] causes subject to die.]
“Hey!” Dena shouted, snapping her fingers. “Aren’t you listening to me?”
By that point, I was already dead.
…
The wind was quiet, but it was cold, and it was hard.
I opened my eyes and started walking.
Halfway into a step, pain crackled through my nerves. It was interesting to find the sensation growing more and more distant with every reset. Perhaps I was building up a resistance.
As I approached the forest, there was a sudden burst of movement as the three-headed bear bolted as far from me as he could.
That was another interesting side effect of looping. Animals had started avoiding me.
A blade tore through the brushes, striking against the rusted gold of my shovel.
Dena bobbed back, pulling on her scythe. By that point, I had dropped my shovel and planted both my hands on its blade.
The metal itself was cold, eliciting a burning numbness. Beyond that, it wouldn’t deal any damage. The affliciton of death was only applied during an attack.
Of course, grabbing the sides of a transcendent weapon of death was not for the faint of heart.
I gritted my teeth, pushed my strength to its limit, and tore the scythe out of Dena’s hands.
There was an instant jolt of cold energy that tore into my skin, followed by real pain, far more potent than the initial shock at the start of every reset.
Dena waited ten seconds before attempting to regain her weapon. She was merely curious to see what would happen.
Nine.
Black smoke curled around my hands.
Eight.
When the game didn’t want a player to wield a weapon, they have a system which makes the weapon heavier and more painful the longer you hold on. I wouldn’t be able to hold it forever, but I could hold it for a little while.
Seven.
The hardest part of grabbing an item was the natural response of my own body. The first time I tried it, my hands flinched away, like they had touched hot metal. Then Dena would grab her scythe, mock me for a couple minutes, then kill me.
I just had to force my hands to hold on.
Six.
That’s easier said than done, but I had all the time in the world.
Five.
Dena smirked. “You idiot. What’s your plan?”
Four.
A charred smell seeped into the air, and layers of skin turned to ash.
Three.
I closed my eyes, and pressed my hands tighter against the blade.
Two.
In addition to everything else, if the weapon hadn’t been returned in ten seconds, then the game intervenes.
One.
My arms went numb from the elbows up to the tips of my fingers. Once I let go, I would lose control of them entrely.
Zero.
The scythe ripped from my grip, and my arms hung uselessly at their sides.
A few more times. I would just a need a few more times.
Dena plucked the scythe from the air and rammed it into my chest.
I died shortly after.
…
Energy crackled through my veins, begging to be used, squirming underneath my skin.
//4000 Str//
Patience.
//0 Str//
Good.
I pushed off the grass, and a warm pain crackled into my body.
Dena sensed the initial presence of power, so she started the fight earlier than before, at thirteen and a half seconds, jumping over my head and slashing downward with her scythe.
I took a deep breath, and caught the blade between two fingers.
//100 Str//
Dena snapped her blade left, then right, then through a teleport to her secondary hand, positioning the blade at the base of my throat.
After the first week of resets, Dena started taking me a lot more seriously. It was annoying, but not totally unexpected. Beyond a certain point, she realized that something was going on, and that I had to be immediately dealt with.
I caught the handle and shoved her scythe back, ramming the blade hilt-deep into the grass.
Dena cackled. “Seriously, who are you?” She teleported the scythe back into her hand, looking me up and down. “Nice work restraining your strength, by the way. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you just started.”
Dena shifted to her first Reaper form, where only her hair turned black. As long as she kept this state, the fight was winnable.
I took a step forward.
Kick, kick, punch, elbow, jab, then followed by a flurry of blows and movements as we skirted around one another.
Dena flickered, reappearing a moment away from me, only to be stopped by another kick to the side, knocked off balance.
{Grind}
//596 Str//
I tore her scythe from her grasp and impaled her through the stomach.
Dena staggered back in shock.
“You’re…insane,” she whispered.
My hand twitched erratically, the grab having withered the skin and burnt the flesh beyond the point of being usable.
Unfortunately, a pawn of the reaper was slightly harder than usual to kill.
~Transcendent~
{Dena}
[(-1000 Hp) 0 Hp]
[This player has the [Reaper-type immortality IV] ability.]
[3/4 Revivals remain.]
[This player has been revived.]
[(+Max) 1000 Hp]
The air flashed with mana and Dena snapped her blade from one arm to the other, attacking far faster and stronger than anything I could perceive.
But I already knew where she was striking, so I just ducked, summoning Crapshoveler from my inventory, and cracking him against her wrist.
The scythe dropped into my gnarled hand, and I cut a slit into her foot.
For Purger, any cut was lethal.
~Transcendent~
{Dena}
[(-1000 Hp) 0 Hp]
[This player has the [Reaper-type immortality IV] ability.]
[2/4 Revivals remain.]
[This player has been revived.]
[(+Max) 1000 Hp]
Dena screamed in outrage, lunging forward for another pathetically easy opening.
Perhaps she didn’t realize that I still held her scythe.
A cut later, and another life gone.
~Transcendent~
{Dena}
[(-1000 Hp) 0 Hp]
[This player has the [Reaper-type immortality IV] ability.]
[1/4 Revivals remain.]
[This player has been revived.]
[(+Max) 1000 Hp]
She clenched her fist, and the scythe vanished into her inventory.
The two of us watched each other from a distance.
Dena’s only weapon was the scythe. Whether that was a reaper thing or a personal choice, it meant her only other way to kill me was to fight bare handed.
Dena chose the third option.
She turned around and started running.
“Try and catch me!” Dena screamed, glancing over her shoulder.
I hunched against the ground, then jumped, one arm extended, brushing against the flickering trees as they passed, until it snagged against one of Dena’s chains.
Now for the tricky bit.
//4,000 Str//
Every muscle in my entire body seemed to explode with energy and I flung her into the sky, puncturing a cloud with Dena’s forehead.
Then she was gone.
I took a deep breath, bracing myself.
Dena teleported behind me, scythe in hand, her black chains full gold, and crackling with her near-unlimited mana.
The attacks came in a sudden burst as hundreds of chops and slices were all performed, one after the other, each aiming for even the smallest piece of exposed skin.
Crapsholver was fast, but attacks like this far outpaced anything he could respond to. In other words, everything I did had to be done from memory, at four thousand strength or higher.
I’d assumed it was impossible, but a little practice works wonders.
A split second passed, and each attack was blocked or deflected into the ground, creating a hissing cesspool of melting biomass all around my perfect little square of dirt.
Dena staggered in shock, giving me the opening to take her scythe and slit her arm.
~Transcendent~
{Dena}
[(-1000 Hp) 0 Hp]
[This player has the [Reaper-type immortality IV] ability.]
[0/4 Revivals remain.]
[This player has been revived.]
[[Reaper-type immortality IV] has been exhausted. It will require [assorted items] to be replenished.
[(+Max) 1000 Hp]
In the throes of death, Dena grabbed my throat and squeezed.
In other resets, I had to dodge, but after a certain point, I could hold her back with my good hand.
{Grind}
//12,000 Str//
Her grip slackened
She held a hand to her face, where blood was dribbling. The blood turned black, and the blackness crawled up her veins. Her resistant ability had been building up charges over her near-deaths, stalling the toxins for a short while.
Dena crumpled, her hands shaking in front of her. Her glare went from hostile to terror in an instant.
“Why?” She whispered.
“You killed a friend of mine,” I said. “His name was Dexten.”
Then I punched her in the face.
{Grind}
//111,132 Str/
There was contact, and then her body was gone, likely tossed beyond the first area.
The impact shattered my arm, naturally. While I could use strength beyond the limit cap, the low magical pressure put heavy strain on anything with high magical pressure, like myself.
I ignored the listed rewards, walking to Dena’s scythe and plucking it off the ground.
While I hadn’t counted, I knew for a fact she’d killed one hundred rookies, plus twelve good people whom I knew personally.
She had killed more, obviously, but I was getting sick of fighting.
A hundred and twelve was enough.
I took a breath in.
Focus.
Cierin, Mall, Throttle, Sern.
My breath choked.
“Just a couple more times,”
I braced myself and slammed Purger into my chest.
