Irade
March 15, 8:13 pm, Beijing, China
To Irade's surprise, she cleared the first two floors quite easily.
Using the [Monster Map], stealth, and the occasional ['Dash'], Irade was able to dispatch monsters with ease. Surprisingly, they didn't seem all that durable. In fact, the most efficient method was just a quick kick to the head.
It was a little strange how brittle these monsters were, as if their bones were made of cheap glass. Of course, Irade's [Strength] stat was also growing with each monster she beat, but she couldn't be getting that strong that easily. Could she?
To test it out, Irade picked up a fork, and tried to bend it with a single hand. To her surprise, it did bend...but only a little. Okay. So her strength was probably about that of a strong, adult male. That, coupled with her speed, would make her kicks pretty formidable...but they weren't enough to crush someone's skull. Probably.
Could it be the effect of [Monster Hunter]?
But according to the HUD, [Monster Hunter] had a different effect.
[Monster Hunter (Passive): Increases stat gain when leveled by battling a monster. +5 stat gain, then additional stat gain stacked, proportional to level difference between player and monster.]
From what Irade could tell, it meant that, she would gain +5 to every stat if she leveled by defeating that monster in addition to the +1 from a normal level gain. Furthermore, if the monster she defeated was a higher level than her, she would gain additional stat points equal to the level difference. For example, if she beat a monster that was 3 levels higher than her, she would get +1 for leveling, +5 from the skill, and +3 from the difference in level (it seemed to count the level before she leveled up, which was nice).
It was truly and OP skill. The only drawback was that she would have to constantly face monsters far above her level to reach optimal effects.
So far, the highest boost she got was a +4. Most of the stronger monsters seemed to be on the higher levels, as when she went down to the first floor she only got +5 boosts (once she leveled, since leveling on the lower floor seemed to take at least two monsters, as opposed to just one on the upper floor).
But that still didn't answer why it was so easy.
Maybe monsters just had weak bones?
It was then Irade remembered a fact about birds: they had hollow bones in order to allow them to fly. Most of the monsters she had seen here had wings. That probably meant their bones were hollow or something!
Paying no mind to the fact that these monsters had bat wings, or the fact that monsters like these probably didn't have conventional biology in that sense, Irade went on a her silent killing spree.
SPLAT!
The monster's head burst, and Irade immediately stepped back. She didn't want to get caught in the splat radius again, but a few stray bits of gore splattered on her pants.
''Mother' is gonna kill me for getting the uniform dirty,' Irade thought idly as she walked past the monster's dead body and into the room it was guarding.
The room was one of the rooms the [Monster Map] had been leading her to. Irade expected maybe some sort of treasure, or items or something.
It looked more like some sort of office. Not even a fancy office; there was just a desk, a chair, and a filing cabinet. When Irade checked the [Monster Map], it looked like the papers were glowing yellow.
Irade sighed. She has wanted some sort of treasure, or maybe a better weapon. Instead, she got a whole bunch of papers. From the looks of it, a bunch of documents about...some sort of science experiment?
Right. This was a [Story Mission] after all. She supposed that a story had to be present.
To be honest, Irade was never really much for the story of games. She was always more about the gameplay and the competitive elements.
Then again, Irade supposed there was no harm in taking the papers for now. Maybe there was some sort of achievement for collecting all the papers. Besides, they were all marked on her [Monster Map]. It couldn't hurt to take them all.
With that in mind, Irade made her way up the spiral staircase.
One strange thing about this building, was that there was no elevator. Only stairs. Irade supposed this made sense for the ground level, which was a bona fide nightclub. The first and second floors seemed to be more of the same, being smaller, more private rooms, each with their own personal stages and seating. The upper levels were definitely more fancy, and so she wondered at what level would an elevator be considered a required perk.
Irade was thinking this, because she was waiting, halfway up the stairs, for the monster that was guarding the third level to leave already.
She watched his silhouette through the [Monster Map]. From what she could tell, it was a quadrapedal monster, with wings. Possibly a Thiljar, but the head looked funny. More...boar-like. There was no real way to tell without going up to see for herself.
In any case, it was positioned in a way that it seemed to be looking down at whoever would come up the spiral staircase. Better to wait it out.
After about ten minutes, she realized that the monster was not going to move. It must've been assigned to wait at the stairs, probably to check people going up.
Irade wondered if she would be able to sneak past. That would be ideal; keeping herself hidden while she slowly racked up points. However, Irade had a bad feeling that her free ride was about to end now.
Well, no use in waiting around.
Irade made her way up as slowly as she could, but it was no use. As soon as the monster saw her coming up, it squealed. Loudly.
Immediately, Irade used ['Dash'] to smash into the monster. She felt her leg connect solidly with the monster's head, sending the monster flying.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
The monster slammed into the wall with a crash, then immediately leaped back at Irade.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
Irade had no time to think. She dropped her bag, and twisted her body to the side, barely dodging the monster's assault. Instinctively, she brought up her hand, and with one fluid motion, sliced at the monster's midsection with the Thiljar Fang.
The monster split in two, it's innards splattering down the stairs.
Ew.
[Level Up!]
Irade looked at the fang in her hand. This was the first time she had used it; she hadn't expected it to be so sharp.
Wait, no time for this. She needed to get out of here, quick. If she was right about the pig-monster...
She rushed up the stairs, and immediately saw two more monsters heading towards her.
The landing in front of the stair was actually quite large, with hallways in four directions leading towards her. Monsters were coming from the north and east halls, and Irade briefly checked the [Monster Map] and realized more were on the way.
The pig-monster must've put them on alert with its weird scream. She should've moved quicker.
No time to regret that. Monsters already here.
The first monster leaped at her; a Thiljar. Irade managed to dodge it, and swing herself into a ginga. When the second monster came around – an ape-like beast with the head of a lion - she spun around into an Armada. She felt her foot hit cleanly against the monster's face.
The monster went flying to her right, but Irade knew it wasn't down yet. She didn't feel the same impact of crushing the monsters with ['Dash']. But before she could chase down the kill, the Thiljar was back, swiping at her.
Somehow, Irade ducked in ginga – a moved called an 'esquiva' – and spun around, swinging the Thiljar fang at the beast. She managed to slide down it's side like a hot knife through butter.
"RROUUUN!"
The monster roared in pain, but it wasn't down yet. Irade immediately stepped forward, towards the injured Thiljar, then kicked herself into a handless cartwheel to her left.
Towards the Baphomet that appeared just a moment ago.
She managed to get a solid kick on the head, knocking it down, giving her enough time to slice the Thiljar's neck, before dodging the incoming monkey-monster once more.
[Critical Hit!]
[Level Up!]
"Monkey, full hp, charge on cd, new Thiljar coming up from west hall full hp, Baphomet cc'ed coming up in 3-"
More and more monsters were appearing, giving Irade less time to think. That said, thanks to her years of gaming, Irade had quickly started to track where each monster was, where they were appearing from, and what sort of state they were in. With that information, her body moved on instinct, slashing and weaving, never once stopping her ginga.
Slash! "ROU!" "SKREEEE!"
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
Irade was in a rare state where the flow of the game simply took her, where her will flowed through her body and onto her character as if they were one. Except this time, she was controlling herself. Thanks to the weeks of raising her [Agility] and [Speed] via the Daily Tasks, Irade could now control her body as she wished.
Slash!
"AAUURRR!!!"
Slash!
[Level Up!]
"ROOOOUUUU-"
Slash!
[Level Up!]
She slashed through the battle with the grace of a leaf floating along the wind, her body twisting and turning through the current of her opponents' bodies. Blue blood flew through the air, the bodies of her enemies slowly dropping. Irade's attacks were swift and decisive, and always with a thought in mind. If she couldn't kill, she would maim. If she couldn't maim, she would stun. If she couldn't stun, she would dodge.
If she couldn't dodge, she would kill.
"SKREEE-"
Slash!
[Critical Hit!]
[Level Up!]
The last monster dropped to the floor, throat gushing with blue blood. Irade quickly jumped out of the way, not wanting her already filthy clothes to be soaked in even more bodily fluids. However, there was nowhere to step; the floor was covered in monster corpses.
It was only then that Irade realized that she was the cause of all this. Panting slightly in the middle of a crowd of corpses, covered in blue monster blood, her weapon dripping with the thick fluid. Yet, she didn't feel sick.
Maybe it was because Irade had faint memories of her birth dad slaughtering sheep and chicken and horses, or maybe because the blood was blue, but Irade wasn't the least stressed out by these events. In fact, she felt relaxed and refreshed; like after a good, long session of gaming. Actually, no. She felt like she was in the zone. Like she could keep this up for the entire night.
Irade grinned, wiped off her face a little, and started looking for the stairs to the next floor.
[*Arabic Writing*: Level 22]
[HP: 34/154]
[Strength: 141]
[Speed: 152]
[Intelligence: 153]
[Agility: 148]
[MP: 26/163]