I suddenly found myself in the ruins of an abandoned city. The environs was shrouded in complete debris and wreckage. Dilapidated buildings that stretched as far as the eye could see were scattered across the environs. This was obviously the second floor. The environs were so eerily quiet that I could hear my own breathing. The sky was gloomily cloudy, with heavy rain drops falling on the ground.
After taking in the view of my environs, the regular holographic screen of the VR tower AI appeared before me.
There were 3 difficulty levels as usual, just like that for the previous floor.
Of course, the hard difficulty mode was obviously ten times harder than the easy and intermediate difficulty mode.
It's reward for managing to clear the floor at the hard mode was pretty much bountiful, with a whooping reward of 4,200 student credits and a penalty of -5000 student credits.
The requirements to clear the easy and intermediate mode were not that important to me.
However what I needed to do to clear the hard mode was to defeat 50 E rank diabolic beasts in three minutes.
This time, unlike the previous floor, I received a 1 minute count down till the challenge officially would officially begin.
Right after I familiarized myself with what I was supposed to do, I did not wait for the appearance of the prey I was supposed to hunt. There was no specification as to which diabolic beasts specifically would appear this time, unlike at the first floor where I was specifically supposed to defeat sabretooth tigers.
I had to be at a place where I would not be at a disadvantage. I had no idea if the animals that would attack me would include those with aerial or flight advantages or speed advantages.
Quickly, I spotted a tower with creeping plants swarming it's exterior in the distance.
''There..'' I sighed in relief as I quickly run towards that direction. I arrived at the target location in a few moments time.
Thump!!!...
With a kick of my leg, the door opened, revealing a long staircase.
''This must lead to the top of the tower'' I quickly maneuvered my way up the staircase and lo and behold, I finally arrived at the tower's zenith.
The cylindrical shaped tower's last floor where I stood, was roofed, with large windows housing the exterior of the floor.
Beep... beep... The 1 minute countdown was over and the beasts would appear very soon. I sighed in relief, having secured an advantageous hideout on time.
Squeech...Squeech...
''As expected, precautions were necessary'' . I crouched on the floor so that the flying reptile like looking creatures that hovered the air from a distance could not spot me.
They looked like large lizards, however, with wings, granting them an aerial advantage..
As they neared, I perceived they would launch darts of ice towards the ground from time to time.
''Elemental beasts?'' ... I was inwardly shocked, as not all diabolic beasts possessed an elemental advantage. Some had superior strength, others had speed, others also possessed some special affinities that were not elemental in nature... others also had elements like wind, fire , lightning and the like. There were even some terrifying beasts who managed to have the advantage of elemental affinities, some special affinities that were not elemental in nature, and speed and strength at the same time.
Anyway, to my advantage however, these beasts were oddly close to one another. This meant that if I launched a flame bullet, the flames would spread to the others. It would be friendly fire amongst them., then I made my decision.
The notification of my ID slot AI feature appeared on my retina.
[Pyromancer's slug activated]
About ten seconds had passed since the diabolic beasts had appeared in the air.
With my right fingers assuming a water pistol posture, I stood up, from my crouching position, then fired a flame bullet towards the near approaching horde of aerial monsters. Then another flame bullet followed, then another, then another.... My main focus was their wings. Hitting their wings would not only make them lose the aerial advantage, but the flames would also manage to devour them.
''About 15 more bullets left to fire... However about 26 of them have fallen due to the spread of the flames to other members of their horde.''
Various ice darts would hit the walls of the tower from time to time, with some managing to pass my way through the widows of the tower. However I would quickly duck and evade them. I simultaneously fired one flame bullet after another as I evaded the ice shards of the flying lizards....
Screech sounds were made by one lizard after another as the blue flames from my bullets tore through their wings. The 5 seconds interval notification timer of the AI of my ID slot appeared on my retina that it was almost 25 seconds into the start of the challenge. Since I counted every one of them that fell, I knew that I had managed to deal with about 40 of them with about 20 bullets. The advantage of the flames from the bullets spreading to the nearest members of the horde had accounted for this.
However, now, I had lost my long distance range advantage, as the remaining 10 creatures had managed to break through the empty windows of the zenith floor of the tower where I was located.
I knew that it was either I managed to get rid of them, or I would lose this challenge. Not to mention the uncomfortable bone chilling ice shards that would cause my virtual reality self to meet a pitiful end....and the worst part...my loss of student credits.
Quickly, I activated my flame maestro skill. Surrounded by the remnant of my prey, who at this time almost deemed me their prey, blue flames gushed out of my limbs and with force, propelled me forward out of the window.
Quickly coming out of their grasp, and managing to maneuver the air, I twisted my body to face them before the flames that propelled me into the air went out and with precision, quickly launched the remaining flame bullets I could muster at them as they flew in a swarm after me.
I lost my aerial advantage as I fell down from the air towards the ground. As I wondered if I had gotten rid of them, a notification that carried a pleasant news appeared before me, before my vision went blank.