Camelot Empire.
One month after the official launch of Everlasting World, a name familiar to all the gamers in the world started circulating once again.
Handsome Lunatic.
Be they casual gamers or hard gamers, be they ordinary players or expert ones, they all knew this player whose might was unrivaled across numerous VRMMO games.
They called him God Lunatic, suggesting this person's exalted fame amongst hundreds of millions of gamers.
They dubbed him as the greatest gamer ever due to his peerless combat records in PvP and his achievements in completing legendary quests in PvE.
He was known by all as the strongest.
And now, he, the strongest, has appeared in what could be debatable, the hottest game in the world!
His fame has extended all over the players in Camelot who all made their way into the Arena of Glory, hoping to watch God Lunatic's awesome skills.
And at this moment, a certain rumor suddenly spread regarding the gaming god, in both in-game and at the forums.
"Hey, have you guys heard about it yet? God Lunatic's summoned pet?"
"Ah? Are you talking about that skeleton of his? I've heard about those rumors too, could it be that they're real?"
"Absolutely real! I've seen it with my own two eyes. He summoned the skeleton during a fight in the Arena of Glory!"
"*Sigh* I saw it too... Who could've thought that summoning an undead to fight for you without changing to the Necromancer class is possible."
"I've heard that God Lunatic has changed into a hidden class, one which gives him the ability to summon and upgrade an undead."
"To the commenter above, that rumor is bullsh*t! No such thing happened. His class that's displayed in the Tower of Trial says that he's still a warrior."
"Rumors say that he actually obtained a unique skill book in the high-level map [Ancient Undead Plateau."
"Yes, the one above, I also heard that rumor. They said that God Lunatic got the skill book from hunting Skeleton Knights or Bone Terrors, monsters way above his current level."
"With God Lunatic's abilities, won't that skeleton become as strong as a boss monster in the future?"
"Yes, I think so. Have you heard of the Chinese adage 'Like a tiger that has been given wings'? It means that the already God Lunatic's power would be redoubled, becoming much stronger than before."
"Haysss... who could compete with him at that time then? Is he gonna remain invincible as always? Similar to the past?"
"Probably so. But what I'm more interested in is that rare skill book that lets you summon an undead. I'm gonna farm that skill book in the Ancient Undead Plateau once I hit level 40."
"Oh? You do know that the drop rate of such skill books are incredibly low right? It's probably one-in-ten thousandth. What level are you now?"
"Ehem, I'm level 5."
"..."
"..."
* * * * *
Meanwhile, at the Tower of Trial's Training Hall.
Currently, hundreds of people could be seen huddling in front of the stone obelisk which showed the rankings of those who have climbed the tower.
"Holy sh*t!" a player shrieked, his voice so loud the surrounding players glared at him in annoyance. "Look, it's the madman! His name is in the rankings!!!"
"What!" immediately, his words shocked the crowd as they furiously looked at the ranking leaderboard.
"Where? Where's our Training Hall's mascot? You're not lying are you?"
"You probably saw it wrong. He was only level 1 when he—"
A few seconds after the denial of numerous players, a loud shout suddenly took them by surprise.
"What the f*ck! The mascot! Look! He's rank 70!"
???!!!
Shifting their attention to the leaderboard, the surrounding players' eyes started traveling downward.
And then, they saw it.
____________________
Tower of Trial's Leaderboard:
[Rank 1]: Handsome Lunatic (Lv. 37) — 56th Floor.
[Rank 2]: Queen (Lv. 33) — 50th Floor.
[Rank 3]: Spectre (Lv. 31) — 49th Floor.
[Rank 4]: Claude (Lv. 31) — 49th Floor.
[Rank 5]: Leland (Lv. 31) — 48th Floor.
[Rank 6]: Walker (Lv. 31) — 48th Floor.
[Rank 7]: Leonard (Lv. 30) — 48th Floor.
[Rank 8]: TwistedFate (Lv. 30) — 48th Floor.
[Rank 9]: Su Yan (Lv. 30) — 47th Floor.
[Rank 10] Kyle (Lv. 30) — 47th Floor.
[Rank...]
[Rank...]
[...]
[...]
[Rank 70] Sky (Lv. 8) — 30th Floor.
____________________
!!!
Gasp!
30th Floor?!
Level 8?!
What the f*ck?! How is that possible?!
* * * * *
Hup!
Facing a Centaur, a half-man half-horse creature, Sky dodged the large ax that swung towards him by a hair's breadth.
Boom!
The ground caved in from the centaur's attack, suggesting the shocking strength behind the swing.
Stones littered the ground and dust diffused in the air.
Holding his breath, Sky's eyes narrowed as he saw the large figure that was over two meters tall rush towards him behind the smoke dust.
Buzzz.
A buzzing sound was heard as Forsaken's blade suddenly shone with a red light.
"Killing Cleave!" said Sky as he used his brand new skill that he received as a reward.
----------
[Killing Cleave (Enhanced)]
Lv. 2 (3%)
Enhanced with sword energy. Deals 300% attack power to a single target. Damage increases by 2% for every 1% missing health of the target. (Maximum Damage increase: 50%)
Sword Energy Cost: 250
Cooldown: 120 seconds.
----------
The crimson aura that was the sword energy circulating around Sky suddenly diminished, becoming translucent upon the usage of the skill.
With a flash of red light, «Killing Cleave» was unleashed at the centaur which was caught off-guard.
Since the centaur's health was on the brink of diminishing completely, the skill was further strengthened as Forsaken hacked towards the centaur's chest.
[You have dealt 3,200 damage to the target!]
[The enemy has been slain.]
[You have received 1,200 experience points.]
[You have obtained: 3 gold coins.]
[You have obtained: Centaur's Battleax.]
[You have cleared the 30th Floor.]
[Reward(s): Strength, Vitality, Agility, Dexterity, and Fighting Spirit has increased by 1 point.]
"Phew." Sky sighed in relief after seeing the centaur collapse.
The fight took him nearly half an hour to finish since the centaur's attributes were superior to his. Furthermore, the monster's health pool exceeded 50,000. Pair that with the centaur's agile movements and terrifying strength, even Sky had trouble killing it.
"The monsters in this tower is completely different from the ones outside," he whispered. "Their movements and thinking are way superior to the monsters I've fought before."
Thinking of the goblins below the 11th Floor and barbarians below the 30th, they all had improved qualities in terms of combat and usage of skills. They had synergetic unity and accurately used their numerical advantage when fighting against Sky.
Their AI was more advanced when compared to the monsters that Sky had fought outside the tower.
'Even the Demon Spawns were inferior to this centaur in terms of combat prowess. The only advantages they had were their higher level and overwhelming attributes. If a centaur had the same level as a Demon Spawn, there's no doubt that the former would win.' he thought as he spared the disappearing corpse of the dead monster a glance while walking.
"It seems that this tower is more special than I thought," mumbling under his breath, he ascended the stone stairway and headed to the next floor.
[You have arrived at the 31st Floor.]
Clop,clop, clop.
As soon as Sky heard the system notification, he suddenly heard the sound of multiple hooves clip-clopping.
Although he couldn't see anything due to the darkness, Sky knew that the sounds came from the centaurs that were running towards him.
Right then—
Fwoosh!
Ting!
Hearing that familiar sound, Sky instinctively raised Forsaken and deflected an incoming arrow.
Clop, clop, clop, clop.
The clip-clopping sound intensified, suggesting the arrival of the centaurs.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
One after another, the sound of arrows piercing through the air was heard as Sky swung his sword repeatedly.
-Human!
-Human! Kill!!
The resounding roars of the centaur reverberated in the dark passageway as Sky finally saw their figures.
There were five of them, holding bows and arrows with axes and spears hanging behind their backs.
They were rushing towards him!
Dug!
With a stomp, one of the centaurs arrived before Sky as it raised its ax and swung it from above. At the same time, multiple arrowheads made their way towards him, the centaurs didn't want to give him a chance to retaliate!
'Parry the attack and dodge the arrows.' Sky thought when he saw the situation.
"Chop!"
Clenching Forsaken's sword, Sky used «Chop» as his sword shone with blue light.
Clang!
The sword and the ax clashed.
[You have suffered 390 damage.]
[You have dealt 1,090 damage to the target.]
Despite taking damage from the impact from the clash, Sky remained calm and focused on the incoming arrows.
Keen Insight displayed its magnificence and blended together with the Perception stat.
Gliding and weaving, he dodged the arrows with the most minute movements and spun towards the centaur's back, hacking Forsaken towards it.
[You have dealt 700 damage to the target.]
Sky didn't mind being caught between his target and the other four centaurs that shot the arrows.
-Human! Invader!
-Kill him!
Seeing their comrades being attacked, the four centaurs on Sky's flank a few meters away roared aloud and started rushing towards him, throwing their bows and arrows aside.
Sky ignored them ad used another chop on the same spot on the centaur's back and jumped on top of it.
[You have dealt 2,000 damage to the target.]
Arghhhhh! The centaur cried in pain as it madly jumped about, trying to shake Sky off its body. However, Sky wasn't gonna let that happen as he grabbed its neck tightly and gripped Forsaken's hilt.
Without caring for the oncoming centaurs, Sky stabbed his sword on his target's head mercilessly.
[Critical hit!]
[You have dealt 1,345 damage to the target.]
The gory visual didn't deter Sky at all since he had seen and experienced things much terrible than that.
Hooooooo.
Crimson red aura started forming around his body as his sword energy started to revolve.
-Die! Human scum!
Just then, another centaur arrived beside Sky and stabbed its spear towards his head.
Sky immediately hopped on the head of the centaur that he was mounting, barely dodging the spear attack. Clenching his sword's hilt, Sky used another «Chop», this time on one of the centaur's eyes.
The poor centaur couldn't even retaliate as blood started gushing out.
[Critical hit!]
[You have dealt 2,494 damage to the target.]
Enraged, the other four centaurs swung their weapons at Sky, wanting nothing more than to kill the wretched human.
However, at that moment—
[Forsaken's option 'Divine Punishment' has been triggered.]
Crackle! Crackle!
Who knew whence it came from, bolts of lightning that were the color of gold suddenly appeared at the 31st Floor's ceiling.
The sudden change in the situation could be said to be drastic and extreme.
A terrifying aura could be felt coming from above as the five centaurs shivered in fright, their faces grim as if they met their maker.
How could these mere centaurs resist the awesome power of the gods? Just the godly aura alone already suppressed these creatures, forcing them into subservience.
The roaring of thunder could be heard as the lightning above threateningly crackled, it was as if the gods above intended to smite all evils in the world, extinguishing them once and for all.
Then, without even giving notice, the divine punishment descended.
Boooooom!!!!!