[Round 3 will begin in 30 seconds]
[New Quest received: Finish the round]
[Reward: A return Key will be given]
[Failure: A penalty will be applied]
The rewards for being in this place so far were beyond great. Zain could feel the improvement in his sword skills, but he was in the body of his 11-year-old self. Hopefully, after completing the third round, Zain's sword skills would then reach level 2. Possibly allowing him to go even further through the rounds and get even more rewards.
For a second, Zain glanced at the table behind him.
'Now that I have unlocked the Weapon's Skill tree, I can use any of the weapons on that table and improve myself with them. Still, I think the best thing to do would be to focus on improving one weapon's proficiency for now. Especially considering I currently have a sword on me in the real world.'
There was another thing that crossed Zain's mind, and it was the quest reward this time. Although the other rewards weren't so clear, this was the most confusing of the lot.
'What can I do with a Key? But the word Return? Is it a key that will let me return to my real body?'
Regardless, the reward was just a by-product of what he really wanted in the first place anyway. To upgrade his sword mastery.
"What's it going to be this time? 20 zombies? 25?" While musing to himself, Zain found something strange as 30 seconds had already passed. The usual growls and groans that echoed through the tunnels into the large cave hadn't come.
Instead, he only heard a groan.
'It can't be…' Zain thought.
Stepping out from the tunnel, it was what Zain feared.
"ARGHLLLEK!" The creature opened its mouth wide, and like a flower, several large teeth could be seen in its mouth before it closed up again. The zombie's body was covered in boils that looked to be pulsating and ready to pop.
'This is the Stage 2 Zombie, the Spitter. I beat it before, but I'm now in a weaker body…can I do it again?' There was hesitation in Zain's mind, but he had to act soon because the Spitter was already running towards Zain.
All the boils on its body lit up, and in the next moment, it spat out the red liquid towards him. Quickly, Zain rolled out of the way. The landing was a bit rough as he scraped his knee on the hard floor. However, he managed to avoid the spit.
'Sh*t, that hurt. I'm not in my own zombie body either.' Zain gritted his teeth as he stood up and tried to ignore the pain, and went straight toward the zombie. Having been in the zombie body for a while, he had gotten used to not feeling pain and would thus take some risks while fighting against other zombies, but this put him at a disadvantage here because there was no instant self-healing or painless state in the human body.
Swinging his sword, he went for its side, but the Spitter lifted its arm and easily blocked the incoming attack. And, in doing so, the sword clashed against it and clanked as if it had hit a rock, and the recoil pushed back Zain's arms.
'This is just like before with the hardened skin!'
Before Zain could fully regain his composure, the Spitter opened its mouth and leapt towards Zain, who had no choice but to move at the last second again and try slashing his sword towards the back of its head. This time it was a successful hit, and the sword had gone in a bit easier but had done next to nothing to seriously hurt it.
'Its head seems to still be the weakest part of its body, but I hit the bottom of the neck. Maybe if I give a proper hit on its temple instead, it will get injured.'
When the Spitter turned around, it shot out the red liquid from its mouth again and spat it in a line across rather than straight towards Zain. The only way to avoid it was to head in closer, and that's what Zain did.
He thrust his sword for a stab and hit one of the large boils on its body, which popped then and there, releasing part of the liquid on Zain. The Spitter screamed, but this chance gave enough time for Zain to get away.
'The liquid, I got some of the liquid on me…does that mean?'
Looking left and right, Zain was expecting more zombies to come toward him, but in the end, there were none.
'Wait a second, the main danger of the Spitter is how it uses its boils on dead zombies and how it attracts all of the zombies in the area. If this is like a game, then right now, the only enemy I have to face is the Spitter, so I don't have to worry about the red liquid.
'The Spitter must act in a certain way to defeat its enemy, but in a place like this, it's actually severely weakened.'
Thinking of this, Zain knew what he was to do next. He continued to lure the Spitter, allowing it to attack him, although he easily avoided the attacks repeatedly. At times, a hand nearly came to his face, but even if he couldn't pierce the Spitter's skin, he could still knock it away with his sword.
That's when the boils on its body started to light up and glow again. However, this time Zain stood right before the Spitter's attack. The red goo went all over Zain, and simultaneously, he thrust his sword forward. Twisting his arm, he gave it a little spin and felt it dig deep into the Spitter's head.
The sword got stuck, and he knew it wouldn't be enough, so jumping up, he kicked the sword's hilt with both his legs, pushing the sword in as deep as it would go while falling to the ground and landing on the floor.
"Ahh, that hurt!" Zain said as he got off the floor and saw that the Spitter had also collapsed.
'I did it...I killed the Spitter in this body.' Zain smiled.
Thinking back to when the red goo had hit Skittle, it had done nothing to the latter. There was no pain whatsoever, so it made sense to do the same here. With no zombies, there were no worries, apart from his strength.
No amount of sword skill was going to help him take down something he couldn't pierce. But, in the end, he managed to succeed.
[Congratulations, you have completed the quest]
[Sword mastery is now at level 2]
[You have received the item 'Return Key']
[The Return Key is a one-time use item that can be used at any time to return to the Melee Weapons Horde Challenge]
'Oh, so the Return Key was to return to this place. That's a really good reward. But, I wonder, will I start from round one again if I return? That way, I could use another weapon and improve with that as well.'
[Would you like to proceed to round four?]
[Yes] [No]
So far, every round came with a great reward, but there was also always a mention of a penalty. As to what that penalty was, it was hard to say, and it made him wonder if he should go through to the next round.
He had barely managed to pass the third round. If his plan hadn't worked out, then he would have lost the fight. However, there was the fact that he now had level 2 sword mastery.
'Usually, in games, one would still try to see how far they could get to anyway, and it looks like I won't be able to enter this place again unless I get a key. I don't even know if the rewards will be the same when I get here the next time.
'This cave, the opportunity is too good to pass up. I just have to take that risk.
[Round 4 will begin in 30 seconds]
[Reward: Instant Level up of any weapon skill]
[Failure: Penalty will be applied]
Seeing the possible reward brought a smile to Zain's face, and he thought it was the right choice to make
'What am I going to face next? A simple horde, or a horde with Stage 2 Zombies, or maybe even a Titan?'
The timer soon ended, and once again, Zain could only hear growls and noises coming from one tunnel direction. Again, he would rely on his sword for whatever was to come out.
The next second, running straight out, was a creature Zain had never seen before, but it did look familiar.
'This is…the Stage 2 on Shark's board.'
Before Zain knew it, the creature swung its arm, which looked like a curved blade itself. The stage two zombie's skin was green, and its eyes were larger than a human's, around two times the size.
Zain blocked the attack using his new sword skill, but his whole hand shook from the impact and went numb.
'This thing is fast and stro-'
Before Zain could finish his thought, the new Stage 2 Zombie's hand had already pierced right through his stomach and blood began to pour out. The next moment, the creature used its other arm to slice Zain's head off, and the latter's whole vision slowly went black.
[You have failed the quest]
[Penalty will now be applied.]
*****
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