Kristoffer Pauly

Loopshard - Chapter Fourteen

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter Fourteen

Although he knew it might be a bad idea, Adam sold his Bone Armour to be able to afford the Fiendbarb Relic. He also purchased a Reroll, which he thought he might need for the Stage Three Relic reward since he’d gotten crap twice in a row during this loop.

< < Relics Purchased > >

< Fiendbarb (Epic) >

< Reroll Die (Uncommon) >

< 28 Points Remaining >

28 Points… I guess I can’t spend that anywhere. Shame Luvicidix is only here during the day.

Adam headed back to the Tavern. The leaf-shaped tip of his spear was now replaced with the bone-cactus-looking Fiendbarb. He wanted to try it out in the Player House before he went to sleep, but first he wanted to talk some more with his friends.

When he entered the Tavern, he saw that Belamouranthe was still sleeping and now covered with a blanket. The red ant was sitting on a chair next to the girl, watching her sleep. He paused for a moment in the doorway to look at the strangely-human affection the giant ant displayed.

Even though they are both fictional creatures created for the Trials, they just seem so real. I wonder if the vendors and Yenna the wasp all take a breather like this when I’m not looking.

Charlie immediately stood up when she saw him.

“Don’t worry about it, Charlie. You can sit back down again.”

“Would you like me to bring you anything to eat or drink?” she asked, ever the attentive Tavernkeeper.

“Maybe later,” he replied.

She remained standing.

“Sit down,” he repeated. “I don’t need anything right now.”

“I am not allowed to relax while you are present.”

Adam frowned and looked to Shitbox.

“Tell her to take a break.”

[The Tavernkeeper will take a break when you are not present.]

“Why the fuck are you torturing the insects too!?”

[She is fulfilling the role granted to her by the All-Seeing System. To disobey would be to face its punishment.]

He took a deep breath, trying not to get angry at something he couldn’t change.

For a moment, Adam almost wanted to leave again, just so the ant could take a goddamn break. But he relented and sat down on a stool next to the Elphin girl.

“Actually, could you bring me an espresso?”

“Of course. Anything else?”

He thought about it for a moment, as the seats all around him filled with holograms.

“Two scoops of vanilla ice-cream and a warm lava cake. And I guess something that Belamouranthe might like, but I’ll leave that to your imagination.”

Charlie giggled in that strange bubbly way of hers. It seemed she was happy to be allowed to serve the girl something too. The thought made him a bit sad, since she was clearly the motherly type who loved to take care of others.

It must be hard to have such a personality and then not being allowed to follow her instincts unless I tell her to…

Why the fuck is the System also this cruel against the NPCs of this world?

Is suffering the only thing it seeks?

Adam let out a sigh.

I can’t worry about that right now. I have to stay focused for what comes next.

“Show me Willow Martin and Lenard Schulz.”

[Understood.]

The tables cleared of holograms until just two remained further down the table in the middle of the room. They were already talking to each other and Adam felt a childish pang of envy for a microsecond, but shoved it away.

“I’m back,” he said, drawing their attention.

Their holograms flickered and reappeared opposite him.

“You were gone quite a while,” Willow said.

“I went back to the Market and then hit up Alivida, before returning to the Tavern to find someone to explain a Relic I wanted to buy.”

He showed them how his spear had transformed.

“You sold your armour to afford it?” she asked, looking worried.

“The extra defence is nice, but if I can kill things quicker, I won’t need to take any hits.”

“That sounds reckless,” Lenard remarked.

Adam ignored the comment. “Did you end up getting a second weapon?”

He nodded. “I had just enough Points left over from before Stage Two to afford it all. I bought my twelfth upgrade and got another Mastery Shard from the evolution. Then I bought the Second Sheath from the moth and purchased the Defender Weapon Type.”

“Does it change your stats at all?” Adam asked.

“I had to pick which of the two Weapon Types’ stats I wanted to use. I chose Defender because of its higher defence.”

Interesting. Second Sheath suddenly seems way more useful. It would be possible to take the Defender sword and shield, and then use the Movement, Stamina, and Damage stats from Lancer instead.

“That’s not a bad pick,” he said. “What did you evolve your bow into?”

Lenard grinned and lifted his new weapon up onto the table. It was a large crossbow. “I evolved from Trickster into Bounty Hunter. Aside from the weapon change, all my headshots now deal double damage.”

“Nice,” Adam muttered.

It will undoubtedly kill anything he hits, but a crossbow like that is difficult to reload. If he didn’t have the other weapon thanks to Second Sheath, he’d be screwed in fights against more than one enemy…

I wonder if there are Relics to offset such an obvious demerit. I thought for sure he’d get a repeating crossbow or something, given that his previous evolution was speed-based.

“What was the other evolution choice?” Adam asked.

“Quickshot. It was a differently-shaped shortbow that had the ability to ricochet arrows.”

That was definitely the better pick of the two, Adam thought to himself.

He looked at Willow and her thoughts were painted on her face, clear as day. She obviously thought he’d picked wrong as well.

“What did you buy?” Adam asked her.

“I bought something called an Echo Earing. It’ll make the Acid Burst explode twice. I also got the Yellow Trophy to give me a speed boost when I need it. And then I bought two Rerolls. I used the rest of my Points on just rerolling the Relics that Lucca sold…”

Adam laughed. “That’s exactly what I did too. But I think this thing will help me a lot in the next Stage,” he said, tapping the Fiendbarb with a finger of his Slime Glove.

He briefly explained how it worked, although he obviously hadn’t tested it himself yet.

“What do you think we’ll fight next Stage?” Lenard asked.

“Before that,” Adam interjected. “What about my prize? What do I get for being right about the Goblins!?”

Willow laughed.

“Technically, you said Orcs and I suggested Goblins,” Lenard said.

“That’s besides the point!” he insisted, a smile on his face. “You picked Wolves!”

Charlie arrived with Adam’s dessert, espresso, and what looked like a massive turkey drumstick for Bel. The Elphin girl immediately woke up and started devouring the meat.

Willow eyed Adam’s plate. “Didn’t you just have a massive feast of food earlier?”

“It’s weird, I don’t actually feel full after gorging myself in here,” he replied.

“I noticed that too,” said Lenard.

“You’ll develop bad habits for when we’re released from these Trials,” she cautioned.

A pensive mood fell over them at that prospect and no one said anything for a while.

“Do you really think there’s a way out?” Lenard eventually asked.

“I’d like to think so,” she replied.

They looked to Adam, but he just shrugged. “I hope so,” he said, though his real thoughts on the matter were more complex than that. “Anyway, I think the next Stage will be an escort to get Bel back to her mother.”

The girl was still busy devouring her drumstick and, like the tesseract, it seemed that she couldn’t hear what Adam said when his words were directed at the holograms of his friends.

“If it’s an escort, then it has to be an ambush,” Lenard said.

Adam nodded.

“How are you two so certain about these things?” Willow asked.

“It’s because the Stages are like a videogame,” he replied.

“So far it has been very cliché,” Lenard added.

“So if it’s an ambush, what will we be fighting?” she wondered.

“Probably whoever wanted to buy Belamouranthe in the first place,” Adam said.

“Buy her?” Lenard and Willow both asked, horror on their faces.

“You didn’t ask her why she was kept prisoner?”

“I didn’t want to pry,” Lenard said.

Willow nodded.

“Bel told me that the Hobgoblin kept her fed because she was to be sold,” Adam explained.

“Oh, I didn’t even think about that,” Lenard said, “but that explains why she wasn’t malnourished!”

“Weren’t you a policeman?” Adam asked, making a light jab at his lack of observational skills.

“I wasn’t a detective or anything, but you’re right, I should have noticed. It’s just…”

“What?”

“She reminded me a lot of my Sarah. She turned nine this year.” The German had a small wistful smile on his face.

I hope he doesn’t find out that the people kept in ‘holding’ are all dead… It would break him.

“Do you think the enemies will be human?” Willow asked, trying to return to the topic.

“Bel told me that her people have ‘magic in their veins’, whatever that means,” Adam explained. “I’m guessing that whoever wanted to buy her has some evil purpose in mind, so humans are probably a safe bet.”

“Or Demons,” Lenard said, clearly appalled by the concept Adam laid out.

“It would be too early for Demons,” he replied. “They’re always kept for later.”

Lenard grinned. “I knew you’d say that.”

“Are we making another bet?” Willow asked. “If so, then I’m saying humans.”

“Hey, not fair!” Adam complained.

Lenard laughed. “I guess I’ll pick Demons then.”

He frowned, not sure what else he could pick. “I’ll go for a twist and guess it’ll be Elphin, maybe some rogue faction from her Sanctuary.”

***

When Charlie announced that the Tavern was closing, Adam headed back to his Player House with Belamouranthe. She was skipping along the cobblestones between the dumpy houses, clearly full of energy. He was starting to fear that she might not be able to sleep since she’d already rested for hours in the Tavern.

Suddenly, the Elphin girl stopped in her tracks and looked up at the radiant silver moon.

“I am glad we are beneath a familiar light,” she said poetically.

I suppose that is a comfort. It would’ve been weird if this fake world had no moon.

After returning to the Player House, Adam checked on the status of his Glass Acorn.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Glass Acorn (Rare) — Grows for 2 Stages >

Just 2 more Stages and I’ll see what it does.

In the garden next to the Secret Relic was a new creature. It was a tiny green goblin. It was sleeping next to the blue slime from Stage One.

Such an odd detail.

If there really are dozens of Stages, then this garden will eventually become quite busy with critters…

He headed inside the house and found that there was a small new bed by the foot of his own giant one. Belamouranthe immediately beelined for it and laid down. Within seconds she was asleep.

I hope I don’t wake her up while I practice with my new Relic.

Adam went over to the practice dummy. It was the usual strawman version right now.

He lunged forward with the spear, driving the new bone tip deep into the dummy. When he pulled it out, a gaping hole was left behind.

Nothing happened after that.

Is it not working?

Then he realised his mistake.

It’s called ‘Blood’ Burst for a reason…

“Change the dummy into a goblin.”

[There are 3 versions to pick between: Green, Blue, & Yellow.]

“Can you turn it into the Hobgoblin boss?”

[Of course.]

The target dummy changed and became identical to the red Hobgoblin, even wearing the same bone armour.

He nodded to himself. This was a good target to practice on.

First he tried to see how bad the lack of armour penetration was. His thrust into the bone vest skidded off completely, pushing the dummy back a couple steps, but only leaving just a tiny gouge in the armour.

Alright, that’s pretty bad. But that was to be expected.

He circled around the Hobgoblin and jabbed his spear into its armpit just like he’d done during their fight.

Before he could even retract his spear, a loud internal pop and crunch came from inside the wound.

He pulled his spear free and fragments of crystallised blood were dislodged from the target’s body. The blood had taken on pointy gem-like shapes.

Then the dummy flickered and reappeared back in its original spot.

“That was enough to kill it?”

[Yes.]

Okay, that seems pretty strong.

I’m not entirely sure what’s happening, but it seems like the Fiendbarb makes the blood solidify and take on strange crystalline shapes, which I bet does a lot of internal damage.

Adam practiced against the Hobgoblin dummy for a while, testing out the effects of glancing blows versus deep wounds. Even when his spear didn’t pierce the target, the Blood Burst was pretty devastating. Like Fah had told him, it basically poisoned the blood of his target, though the crystallisation was incredibly fast, so, depending on where he hit, the results varied a lot. If he struck the side of the target’s neck and introduced the poison to its carotid artery, the whole upper body became like a pin cushion as all the blood turned to crystals. If he struck somewhere without an artery and didn’t pierce into its organs, then the upper layer of skin and flesh became brittle like poor-quality glass. It was weakened to the point that a punch would completely destroy it.

But there was an obvious downside, which he discovered as he changed his target into a slime.

The Fiendbarb only worked if his target had blood.

If I end up fighting insect creatures, I hope their haemolymph counts as blood.

Any kind of elemental enemy, like slimes, will be a problem though.

After spending about an hour training, Adam went over to his bed.

He blinked in surprise at the things that lay atop it.

It was the clothes that the Weaver had made for him and Belamouranthe.

I completely forgot about this.

The shirt, jeans, and socks were identical to what he was already wearing, but when he put them on, the feeling was completely different. It felt like he was wearing flexible clouds.

He placed the dress made for Bel in front of her bed, so she’d see it when she woke up.

Then he went to sleep.

***

In his dreams, he saw the giant eye in the cosmos. Two moths, black and white, circled each other like Yin and Yang.

The moths converged at the centre of the iris, before taking on the silhouette of a man. The silhouette looked just like Adam.

Then the eye blinked.

< < Now Entering > >

< Stage 3 >

< Forest Escort >

< 5 Waves >

Adam awoke seated on a comfortable cushion. The world was rumbling and light flashed by outside through the window. Opposite him sat Belamouranthe, dangling her legs over the edge of the bench.

I was right about the escort, he realised.

Adam looked around. The interior was made of lacquered wood, the cushions were green and silky-soft, and there were a door on either side. Set into the door was a narrow window, and beyond it was a forest landscape cast in an amber-orange afternoon glow. His spear leaned against the wall next to him.

We’re in a carriage? That’s not what I expected…

“Who is driving this?” he asked.

There was no way to see to the front of the carriage, but he heard the sound of hooves.

“Mine guardians. Mother sent them.”

“Are they Elphin like you?”

“Yes.”

Adam clenched his jaw.

This Stage has to revolve around an ambush then. There’s no other way I can picture it, unless I’m supposed to stand atop the carriage and fight off attackers, but that seems preposterous.

Suddenly the carriage jerked to a halt. The shrieking sound of scared horses filled the air.

“The road is blocked!” called a male voice from the front. “We have to find a way aro—!”

Before the unseen speaker could finish, the crackle and snap of what sounded like lightning struck the carriage. The whole vehicle shook violently for a second.

Shit! It’s starting right away!?

Adam picked up his spear and hurried out the door.

“Stay in here!” he told Belamouranthe.

After closing the door behind him, he looked at the area.

Yep… This is the area I’ll be fighting in.

It was perfectly walled off. Ahead of him lay a gentle slope down into a sparsely-wooded area. There were some large rocks placed around at random, as though to provide cover from ranged attackers. The carriage was stopped in the middle of a dirt road, and in front of it was a collapsed tree, blocking the way. The way back was clear, but it would probably be foolish to try to escape on foot. Plus, he was pretty sure there’d be an impassable boundary. On the other side of the carriage was a dense wall of trees that was probably impassable as well.

There weren’t any enemies in sight for now, but it seemed pretty obvious that they’d come up the slope to attack him. As he went around to look at the front of the carriage, he saw that there were two muscular Elphin men seated at the front. Both of them were dead. From the looks of them, it seemed they’d been struck with some kind of magic, since they had scorched holes through their heads. The two horses tied to the front of the carriage were unscathed, but they stomped nervously, clearly wanting to flee. Although they should’ve been able to simply take off, they didn’t go anywhere.

Shitbox appeared from between the two dead drivers and floated over to Adam.

[Stage Three will introduce objectives to the Trials. For the duration of the entire Stage, you must protect the carriage and its lone occupant. Should the Elphin child perish, you will be eliminated from the Trials.]

< < Stage Objectives > >

< Protect the carriage and the Elphin Child >

< Complete all Waves >

So, if Bel dies, I die… Crap.

“Will she die if a timer runs out?”

[No. If the Wave timer expires, the following Wave will still trigger, as per usual. However, it is possible for enemies to reach the carriage before the Wave timer expires, so please keep that in mind.]

[Wave 1 will begin in 60 seconds.]

Well, shit.

Hold up. If the objective is to kill her, why do the ambush like this? That seems very contrived.

I guess it doesn’t really matter.

Adam hurried back to the carriage and opened the door.

“Bel! If you see anyone that isn’t me come close, shout as loudly as you can, okay?”

“Understood.”

He shut the door again and then ran down the slope to look around the area. The whole area was dyed in the orange light of the setting sun, giving it a beautiful appearance.

As he’d noted earlier, there weren’t a lot of trees in this particular area, but beyond a sort of rectangular field were densely-packed forest walls, similar to the clearing of the Magical Forest. The whole area he had to watch, counting the road with the carriage, was about 40 metres wide and 100 long. There were a total of three large rocks and only like thirteen trees, though they were thick enough to provide decent cover as well.

[20 seconds remaining.]

He had a decent enough feel for the area, so he ran back towards the carriage, while keeping an eye out for anywhere a Secret could be hidden away.

Wait…

He ran up to the front with the dead drivers and climbed up so he could look at them. Both men had stubby horns, grey silky hair, green eyes, and ashen skin. Appearance-wise, they didn’t have a lot in common with Belamouranthe, aside from the fact that they kind of looked like elves. They wore the same buttonless silken shirts and kilts that stopped just above the knees.

Both had shortswords hanging from their hips, but when Adam tried to take one, it turned to dust in his hands.

This shit again…

Then he noticed that one of them had a silver necklace. It had a strangely-shaped pendant hanging from it. It was like a wireframed pyramid with a solid sphere inside it, and there were two ‘horns’ protruding from the front of the sphere.

[5 seconds remaining.]

Adam grabbed the necklace. It didn’t dissolve in his hands, so he quickly pulled it up over the head of the dead Elphin.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< All-Mother’s Wrath (Rare) — When Player is damaged by an attack, curse attacker with Lethargy for 30 seconds. 1-minute cooldown >

I can’t tell if that was poorly-hidden or if I’m an outlier for assuming they’d hide it on the drivers’ bodies…

Still, this isn’t terrible, I guess. Not that I’m planning on using it though.

I’m betting that Lethargy is like a kind of snare or slow effect. Or maybe it reduces Stamina and recovery perhaps.

< < Wave One > >

< 60-Second Timer >

Down at the far end of the field came a rustling of the trees. From the sounds of it, it seemed to be a lone target. Adam tightened his grip on the spear and advanced.

Here we go.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Thirteen

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter Thirteen

Adam hurried through town as the sun set on the horizon. He was still frazzled by the strange encounter with Ilya, but pushed it from his mind for now, since he had to hurry. The tesseract floated along behind him as he ran past the buildings.

Belamouranthe remained in the Tavern, where Charlie watched over her as she slept.

“Good evening, Adam,” greeted Yenna as he ran past the fountain next to her. She’d swapped out the hurdy-gurdy for a violin and was playing a spirited tune.

He froze mid-step and spun around to face her. “Play me the theme from Schindler’s List.”

“Of course, Adam.”

As she started up the sorrowful melody, he continued on to Lucca’s stall.

He took a long look at the options again, but he’d already decided on what he was going to do.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Avalanche Boots (Rare) — All kicks inflict disorientation on normal targets for 2 seconds >

< Yellow Trophy (Rare) — Increase Player Speed by 15% for 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown >

< Potion Belt (Uncommon) — Carries up to three potions and makes them indestructible | Uses the potion in the right-most slot when its associated resource is exhausted >

< Blink Ring (Uncommon) — Charged attacks are performed instantaneously when you blink >

“I’ll buy a reroll and use it immediately.”

Lucca chittered sinisterly. “Excellent.”

< < Relic Purchased > >

< Reroll Die (Uncommon) >

< 978 Points Remaining >

The items were sucked down into the chest and it rumbled slightly, as new Relics were generated inside.

Come on, give me something good!

It popped open, showing mostly new Relics.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Boomerang Pendant (Rare) — Returns thrown objects. 15-second cooldown >

< Fiendbarb (Epic) — Imbues attacks with Blood Burst | Weapon becomes incapable of penetrating armour >

< Fragile Impact Glove (Uncommon) — Thrown objects shatter armour. Breaks after 3 uses >

< Echo Earing (Uncommon) — All trigger effects activate twice >

An Epic, now we’re talking!

The Fiendbarb looked like a greyish bone with spikes sticking out of it. From its description, he imagined it would slot right onto the tip of his spear.

Echo Earing looks pretty good too, considering its only Uncommon. I wonder if that means there’s a drawback to it, like with the Blink Ring.

Fragile Impact is also strong, which I guess is why it has limited uses, just like the Parry Bracers.

He looked between the options, while trying to figure out what he wanted to do.

If I sell my Bone Armour, I can afford Fiendbarb, but I think I’ll ask around about it in the Tavern before I decide. Question is, do I commit to that now and go and spend the remaining 128 Points with Luvicidix?

The white moth was the reason he’d been running, but he didn’t like committing to buying the Fiendbarb before knowing what it did. After all, if the Relic wasn’t a good pick, he wanted to be able to reroll again.

Hm, I think maybe I’ll just skip the Meta Upgrades for today.

I do still want to visit Alivida though, since I’ve got that Mastery Shard now.

He suddenly felt kind of silly for having run here, when he was no longer on a tight deadline to make a purchase.

I suppose the only good reason to spend my Points with Luvicidix now rather than later is that, if I die in the next Stage, I won’t lose those Points.

Before he left the Market, he went over to the silverfish’s stone stall.

Just like the first time, she was scrubbing down the countertop.

“Hi! Nelly! That’s me! Are you looking for a new weapon?”

“Just browsing,” he said, looking at what was on offer.

I should probably check this more often, just to get an idea of what kind of options I might have when I go back to Stage One.

He frowned to himself. If I go back… If.

The stone block next to the silverfish came to life and showed four weapons, which floated above. There were twin daggers, what looked like the paws of a wolf, the good old sword and shield, and the gauntlets.

< < Weapon Types For Sale > >

< Backstabber (Common) >

< Beast (Epic) >

< Defender (Common) >

< Brawler (Uncommon) >

Well, shit, the Beast one is definitely new.

Then he thought about the businesswoman with the tattoos.

“Does one of the rarer options look like black ink on the Player’s hands?”

“I can’t say!” Nelly replied. She sounded excited for some reason.

Shitbox supplemented her answer before Adam could start complaining. [Vendors cannot inform Players about potential Weapons, Relics, or Upgrades that you have not already seen.]

Oh well, worth a try, I guess.

“Can I ask how the stats are and what kind of upgrades weapons can get?”

[No, for the same reason.]

So I’m just supposed to fumble in the dark and get lucky?

Whoever is observing this horror show, they must really like random chance. I mean, if you get bad luck and don’t have rerolls, then you’re just screwed.

Though I suppose that if I find a strategy that makes the Fool type viable, then I can tweak the odds in my favour.

Adam paused, frowning.

There I go again… Why do I keep planning around resetting?

It’s like I’ve just accepted that I will die again soon.

Is it really so hard for me to visualise my own victory?

But he knew what it was. He knew that it took people like Willow and Ilya, those naturally gifted, to overcome the Trials. He’d had a leg up because of his knowledge of Stage One, but he was already behind both of them with his performance on Stage Two.

Without a word, Adam walked out of the Market and towards Alivida’s tent in the garden. While he was deep in his own thoughts, the sun went down and the bright moon took its place.

He thought about his sister, Helena. He didn’t know if she’d died in the first or second Stage. Part of him wondered if he could help her by going back in time again. Her husband, Christian, had been a car salesman and Adam was surprised that he hadn’t survived either. He’d always seemed like a reliable and strong guy. As for his aunts and uncles, he figured they hadn’t survived because they were all in their fifties and sixties, although it was possible they’d just gotten unlucky. It was only now that he realised how bizarre it was that they hadn’t been excluded like his grandmother, sick father, and niece.

Adam recalled the words Shitbox had told him.

Chosen because of my maturity and physique…

At the time he’d thought it meant that he was above average, but that was clearly delusional. Thinking on it, he realised it probably just meant that he was relatively healthy. The question was how far that definition was stretched.

The purple glow from the tent in the garden drew his attention away from his dark thoughts. He walked past the flowerbeds of black Dahlias and entered through the flap. Scented fog rolled out to meet him, but he quickly entered and shut the tent flap behind him.

Alivida the Black Moth was perched atop her high-backed chair just like last time. She was staring deeply into the purple-glowing orb on the table, while her wing scales circled in the air. Shitbox froze once again.

She looked up at him with her large compound eyes.

“You have… what I seek,” she announced.

“Show me your upgrades again.”

She nodded. “Yes. Please give me the Shard you hold.”

He frowned at the way she phrased it. It reminded him of the same weird way Lucca practically begged for his Points.

I wonder what they actually get out of this.

< < Mastery Upgrades For Sale > >

< Hardmode — Unlock a toggleable Stage Hardmode — 1 Shard >

< Second Sheath — Carry 1 additional Weapon — 2 Shards >

< Orb of Insight — View info about the upcoming Stage — 3 Shards >

< Visiting Stone — Visit the Dimension of a known Player — 8 Shards >

< Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid — 10 Shards >

Hm, okay. The only thing I can afford is the Hardmode.

Since the upgrades can be paid incrementally, it might be a good idea to just commit my Shard right away.

Question is: which upgrade benefits me most?

“For the Hardmode upgrade, how does that actually work?”

“Each Stage has different challenges added onto them. I cannot… give specifics.”

That makes me think that it’s not the same kind of difficulty-spike. Which probably means it isn’t just more damage and health for the enemies.

“Aside from a bigger challenge, what else does it change?”

“You receive double Points for completing a Stage on Hardmode.”

He blinked. Okay, that’s pretty awesome.

“And it’s toggleable? How does that work.” he asked.

“Yes. You must make the decision before a Stage begins.”

That could actually be useful then. Double Points is significant.

But making the upgrade this cheap probably means the System wants Players to pick it.

It has to be a trap, somehow.

He looked at the other options.

“What does the Orb of Insight do?”

“Insight will give you a look at… your future opponents.”

That could be useful, depending on how much info it gives. If it has weaknesses included, it would be powerful.

“Is it a one-time use?” he asked, figuring there was a reason it was relatively ‘cheap’ in terms of Shards.

“No. After using the Orb… it must cool down for 2 Stages.”

“What about the Visiting Stone, does it have limits?”

“Visitation is only possible between Stages and only once per day.”

It would be nice to meet another Player in person rather than as a hologram, but I’m not sure what the exact benefit is. Aside from…

Adam shook his head.

“The Vanity upgrade, how does that one work? If I apply it to a Vendor, will they retain their ‘humanoid’ traits for the next loop?”

“No. But you will be able to select them again. Or you can… select someone else. This upgrade can be purchased multiple times.”

“What about the Visiting Stone, can I get more than one to skirt the limitation?”

“No.”

“Does the Vanity upgrade do anything aside from altering a Denizen’s appearance?”

“No.”

He frowned. “What’s the point of it then? It’s the most expensive one after all.”

“The All-Seeing System believes that when Players get lonely, they may want—”

Adam waved his hands in front of his face. “Stop! I don’t need to hear the rest!”

The small moth tilted her head and gave him a strange look.

“Would you like to hear about the Second Sheath?” she then asked. “You have inquired about the rest… after all.”

He nodded. “Please.”

Anything but the talk of the System’s creepy attempts to placate human desires with insect people…

“It will not allow you to choose two of the same Weapon Type. You will not receive additional upgrades either.”

“How does upgrading work then?”

“The weapon held while upgrades are offered will be the one which receives the upgrade.”

He nodded. That makes sense.

“Can I acquire it more than once?”

“No.”

Adam thought about it for a moment. Given that the Vanity upgrade could be acquired several times, it either meant that there were possibly dozens of Stages, maybe even a hundred.

Or perhaps it’s designed for those who use the Self-devouring Eye to loop back again-and-again.

I wonder if the person in the Tavern who blocked me was someone like that.

It feels a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way. After all, if they’ve found the Relic once and went back to the start of the exact same timeline, then they should be able to find the Relic in the same spot again.

Finding the Self-devouring Eye might be my best shot at beating the Trials perhaps. After all, if you know the odds of the rewards, then you have such a massive advantage that any challenge can be overcome.

It seems too convenient a setup though. Perhaps there’s some trick to it that I haven’t realised yet.

Since my way of looping is different from what Luvicidix described, I probably won’t end up stuck in a loop like that unless I find the Divine Relic.

He finally decided on what to do.

“I’ll invest my Shard into Second Sheath.”

“Thank you,” Alivida said.

The pyramid gem emerged from Adam’s chest and floated across the table, before it was absorbed by the purple-glowing glass orb.

< < Mastery Upgrades Progress > >

< Second Sheath — Carry 1 additional Weapon — 1/2 Shards >

“I’ll be back once I have another Shard.”

“I will… look forward to your return.”

***

After returning to the Tavern, Adam queried it for someone who knew about the Fiendbarb Relic and understood its effect.

The tables emptied out until there were just two Players remaining. They were both in the middle of eating.

One was a short dark-skinned lady with cropped black hair who looked somewhere around forty or fifty. A spear like Adam’s leaned next to her. He guessed she was from Thailand or the Philippines based on her appearance. The other woman was younger and looked maybe South American, with light-tan skin, thick dark eyebrows, and brown curly hair. He couldn’t tell what her weapon was.

“I’m looking for someone who can tell me about the Fiendbarb and how it works.”

Both women shifted their attention to him.

“What are you trading?” asked the younger woman. She spoke with a New Jersey dialect, which almost blew him off his stool.

I guess that’ll teach me to make broad assumptions based on appearance, he thought to himself. But damn, that dialect is rough coming out of anyone, let alone a young woman…

“I’ve got info about Secrets and special Point bonuses.”

“Point bonuses? I’m interested,” said the other lady.

New Jersey girl gave the short woman a look, before answering, “I’d like to hear about Secrets.”

Adam got an idea and turned to Shitbox.

“Can I trade with both of them at the same time?”

[Yes.]

He turned back to face them. “Alright, I’ll just trade you both and you each explain what you’ve discovered about the Relic. Is that alright?”

They both agreed.

After introducing himself and finding out their names were Fah and Carol, Adam started off explaining the Secrets he’d found so far. Fah, who was Thai, had already found the Lucky Stone, which was how she got the Fiendbarb. Carol hadn’t found any Secrets, but she’d gotten the Speedrun achievement in Stage One. Her weapons were twin axes and the Weapon Type was called Berserker.

A New Jersey Berserker called Carol… A more terrifying thing probably doesn’t exist.

Once he’d upheld his end of the trade, Fah was the first to reciprocate.

She showed Adam her spear, which was a lot shorter than his since she hadn’t picked any Growth upgrades.

“You see this?” she asked, pointing to the tip.

Adam realised that the Relic was the tip, as though it had replaced the end. It looked like a bone cactus.

That probably explains why it lacks penetrative power.

“Once you stab it into your enemy, a spike breaks off and poisons their blood.”

“Which is how Blood Burst triggers?”

She slapped her spear. “It is dangerous and can maybe hurt you. The wound pops, like Bang!”

“It works a bit differently with my axes,” Carol explained. “Spikes break off like what she said, but my axes slice and chop, so I can actually see the ‘Burst’ when it happens. I’m assuming a spear will trigger it deeper within and maybe does more damage to organs.”

“What does it look like?” he asked.

“Like thorns of blood emerging from the wound,” Carol described. It sounded cruel, which was probably how it’d earnt its name.

“It poisons the blood,” Fah repeated. “When I tested it, some blood spilled on the ground and popped like those slimes.”

Adam nodded. “Okay, I think I have a good idea of how it works. Thank you both.”

“Bye, Adam,” said Carol and vanished.

Fah tried to reach over and clap him on the shoulder. “Be safe!”

“You too. I think the next Stage might be to escort Belamouranthe.”

The lady grinned, showing her teeth. “I will protect the girl.”

Then she vanished.

Well, I think that settles it.

Adam left the Tavern and went to go buy the Fiendbarb Relic.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Twelve

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Wrapped up my school exams and editing on Madman book 1, so have more time to write. I'm still hoping to hit at least 60k words on Loopshard before it releases on RR February 14th. Given that it's currently sitting at 46k, that should be doable.

Today, the last chapter of Madman book 2 released on RR and the reception has been much better than I was expecting, which is really awesome. For those eager to see where the story continues, I should have new chapters of Book 3 available in February. I probably won't be able to do a big backlog before it releases on RR again, but we'll just see how it goes. Thinking I might scale the release schedule down on that one and do longer chapters. I haven't really decided yet.

-----------------------------

Chapter Twelve

Belamouranthe beamed as Charlie the red ant brought a boar pot roast to the table. She immediately dug in, ignoring the cutlery set out in front of her and tearing the meat apart with her hands.

After listening to the Elphin girl rave about it for a while, he pushed aside his seafood pasta to give it a try.

“Holy crap,” he muttered reverently. Around him, it looked like a bunch of the holograms were trying the exact same dish, prompted by the tiny girl. Granted, he couldn’t see their dimensions’ version of Belamouranthe.

As soon as she noticed he’d taken a bit, she clutched the whole ceramic pot and hissed at him like a miserly cat.

“It’s not good to be greedy,” he told her.

“Get thy own boar! This is mine!”

Before he could try to convince her, Shitbox interrupted him.

[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]

“Who is it?”

[Player Willow Martin.]

“I thought you weren’t allowed to tell me the names of other Players.”

[I am allowed when they are requesting to speak to you.]

Weird. Still wish it’d been able to tell me about that person I saw when I asked about the Self-devouring Eye Relic.

[Do you wish to talk to the Player?]

“Yes.”

[Understood.]

A hologram flickered into life on the opposite side of the wooden table.

“You survive,” she said, relieved.

Adam couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to know she cared about him.

“I’m glad you’re alright as well. Did you get any of the bonus objectives?”

“You mean the challenges?” she asked. “I got the Flawless bonus.”

“Flawless?”

“That’s what the no-damage achievement is called,” she explained. “It gave me 400 Points.”

“Damn,” he muttered. He’d been so close to getting both of the achievements.

“Did you get any?” she asked.

“Nah,” he said, frowning. “I was 25 seconds off from the Speedrun. The last Wave screwed me.”

She nodded. “Same. I was 50 seconds off from it, but my staff isn’t that great in tight spaces.”

“How does it work?” he asked. “I haven’t tried that one yet.”

Willow frowned at the way he phrased it. Still, Adam was glad that he didn’t have to hide his past loops from her.

“It’s a bit odd,” she started. “You have to swing it to launch spells after preparing them. The base version is a ball of magic that’s hard to aim. I selected the Seeker evolution and now it fires a magical bolt instead, which is a lot faster. The other evolution, Acolyte, makes it possible to prepare more spells.”

“That does sound weird,” Adam noted.

“It’s pretty strong and it works well with the Slime Ring.” Willow lifted her hand and showed a ring that Adam remembered seeing last time they spoke. For some reason, he hadn’t realised that it was a Relic.

“What does it do?”

“It gives my projectiles Acid Burst, which makes them explode where they land, showering acid.”

“I’ve never seen that before,” he muttered.

“You know, I think there’s a bias to the randomness of the rewards. I’ve seen a lot of Mana-related stuff, but I’ve yet to encounter things like that Duellist’s Glove you were talking about.”

Adam nodded. That makes sense, he thought.

If there are dozens-upon-dozens of Relics available for every Stage, there has to be a way to make sure Players get something they can use. If they want to keep things fair, they probably wouldn’t throw Mana-related rewards at Players with Stamina-based weapons.

Maybe that’s why Lenard couldn’t find the glove either.

“Did you find the Secret by the red goblin guy, by the way?” Willow asked.

“No? I didn’t realise there was one in that area. I only found the spider one.”

“Spider one?” she asked, confused.

[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]

Adam lifted his hands forming a T for ‘timeout’.

“Hold on, Willow, someone else is trying to talk to me.”

He turned to the floating cube. “Is it Lenard?” he asked.

[Correct. Would you like to speak to him?]

“Merge him with our conversation like last time.”

[Understood.]

Lenard appeared next to Willow, a large pot of boar roast in front of him.

“This girl’s a genius!” he exclaimed. “I had no idea boar could taste this good! Although I had to get my own since she wouldn’t share…”

Adam laughed. “Good to see you again, Lenard.”

“You’re both alright,” he said, sounding relieved. “One of the other people I’d been talking to… she didn’t make it…”

“How can you tell?” Willow asked. Adam was wondering the same thing, but was glad she had the guts to ask.

The German frowned. “If you search for someone in here with their full name, the black box will tell you if they’ve died.”

Willow and Adam shared a glance.

“I’ll be right back,” he said. “Going to give it a try.”

“Me too,” she added.

Lenard smiled sadly. Perhaps he felt like he’d passed on cursed knowledge. After all, sometimes it was better to not know if someone was dead or alive.

Adam looked at Shitbox. “Show me Helena Fischer.”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

He clenched his jaw.

“Show me Christian Fischer.”

[The Player you are searching for has perished.]

Adam continued through the names of his aunt and uncles.

Each and every one of them had perished.

I’m the only one left out of my entire family…

Fuck…

“How many Players are left?”

[419 million Players survived Stage Two. Currently, 121 million Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.]

Okay, that’s not as bad as I feared…

Although that’s still over 100 million who died…

Goddamn.

“Charlie,” he said, calling over the Tavernkeeper.

“Yes, Adam?”

“Bring me a milkshake and three croissants. And some dinosaur nuggets. Oh, and a smaller version of the roast that Belamouranthe got.”

“Strawberry again?”

He nodded.

“I will be back in a moment,” she said with a giggle and left.

Adam looked at the Elphin girl. She was leaned over the table and snored loudly. Her hands and face were covered in the oily fat from the bottom of the ceramic pot.

He smiled and reached over, patting her on the head.

Even though you’re just a figment of this world, it’s nice to have a companion at least.

Belamouranthe frowned and started mumbling angrily in her sleep.

Adam turned back to his companions, rejoining the conversation.

“Did your girl fall asleep as well?” Lenard asked. “She’s snoring really loudly next to me.”

“She did,” he replied.

Willow frowned. “I made the mistake of letting her try my milkshake. She’s been sprinting up-and-down the tables for the last 2 minutes. Pretty sure you’re not supposed to give sugar to elves…”

The two men laughed at the scene they imagined in their heads.

It was good to have an excuse not to think about the death of their loved ones. Previously, Willow had said that she thought her brothers were dead as well. Based on the distant look in her eyes, he guessed that she’d gotten confirmation about their fates, and it hadn’t been good news. But then it vanished as she fixed Adam with a hard stare. “So, what was that spider thing you mentioned?”

He grinned. “You first,” he said.

“I was just talking about the Lucky Stone. You didn’t find that one?”

“I found that too,” Lenard said. “They didn’t really hide it very well.”

Adam’s grin faltered. “I missed it… Where was it?”

“Inside the Hobgoblin’s chamber. The same place Bel was kept hostage,” Willow answered.

“It increases the rarity level by one for the next reward options,” Lenard explained, before he could ask. “I used mine and got an Epic-rarity necklace. It has a weird side-effect though.”

“I’m saving mine for later,” Willow said.

“Damn, wish I’d found that,” Adam muttered jealously. “It would be really powerful if you mix it with the rarity bonus from doing a Wave really fast.”

She nodded, clearly thinking the same thing.

“So, the spider?” she insisted.

“It’s kind of dumb. It was inside one of the goblin huts at the end of the village. Like in a hole full of webs. Belamouranthe went down the hole and got it for me, after I removed the webs of course.”

Lenard looked horrified. “You made a child get in a hole full of spiders!?”

“I didn’t make her do anything,” Adam immediately replied. “She went in there on her own. Also, there weren’t any spiders. Just this cocoon thing. It was called Weaver’s Egg.”

“What does it do?” Willow asked. “Did you get a spider companion?”

“I wish,” Adam replied with a frown. “It’s just a vanity vendor that was added to the Market in my world.”

Both of them seemed surprised by the answer.

“I didn’t know we could find more vendors,” Lenard said.

Willow nodded. “I’m surprised there were two Secrets, since the first Stage only had one.”

“I think it might have had two as well,” Adam replied.

“Where would they have hidden it? It wasn’t possible to leave the clearing.”

“Maybe inside the tree?” Lenard guessed.

Adam blinked.

Holy shit. That’s gotta be it!

I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!

The slimes’ attacks dissolve the tree, so it’s no doubt meant to be something that can be accessed by goading them into hitting the tree repeatedly.

“I’ll try to ask around and find out,” Adam said. “Maybe someone managed to break open the tree.”

“What’s the point?” Lenard asked.

Before Adam could bullshit his way out of the very poignant question, Willow said, “If we know about what kind of Secrets there are, it may be helpful for the next Stages.”

He considered the answer for a bit, before conceding. “That’s a good point. I think I’ll ask about the different Relics that people got.”

“Wait, what was the thing you got? The Epic-rarity one?” Adam asked before he could leave.

“It’s a necklace. It’s called Hobgoblin Pendant.” Lenard lifted a string of hair up from under his straw-brown sweater. Three carved finger bones were attached to it. “It makes me immune to pain and I can survive a fatal hit, but it’ll break if that effect triggers.”

“What’s the side-effect?” Willow asked. Adam had already forgotten about the off-hand comment, but she was good at remembering small details.

Lenard ran his hand across the table. “It makes me unable to feel anything like physical touch.”

“That sounds dangerous,” she remarked. “You might get seriously injured and won’t even notice until it kills you…”

“I know,” he replied, his tone serious. “But the last Stage was pretty rough. The spear goblins did a real number on me. I had to eat a lot of those disgusting bugs just to survive.”

“Is your shortbow not working well?” Adam asked.

Lenard frowned. “I’m going to see if I can’t buy a Relic that makes it stronger, but right now it seems very weak.”

Willow looked poised to say something, but she stayed her tongue. Adam could probably imagine that her comments might sound incredibly biased since she’d spent her life mastering archery.

“If you can’t find some strong Relics,” Adam said, “then maybe you should try and swap to a different Weapon Type.”

Lenard looked down at the weapon next to him. “But my bow is level 11. Maybe if I evolve it again it’ll become better.”

Adam knew that it was a tough decision, especially since swapping weapons now would mean giving up all of his upgrades and likely falling behind the difficulty curve.

“If you evolve it again, you’ll have two Mastery Shards,” Willow told him. “Then you can buy the Second Sheath upgrade from the black moth. That’ll let you have a backup weapon if you need it.”

I hadn’t even thought of that.

Lenard nodded eagerly. “Thank you, Willow. I think I might do that!”

She smiled warmly.

It’s like she was born for this, Adam thought.

I wonder how Ilya did. He seemed like a perfect pick for the Trials as well.

If these Trials really are being broadcasted, I bet most people are watching those two.

I wonder who the spectators actually are… Aliens? Other beings like Shitbox maybe?

He wanted to ask the tesseract, but it probably wouldn’t give him a straight answer.

“Let’s meet up again tonight,” Lenard said. Then he stood up from his stool and vanished.

“I’m gonna hit up the Market,” Willow said.

Adam nodded. “Talk to you later.”

Just then, Charlie returned with his mountain of food.

Willow gave him an incredulous stare.

“Don’t fat shame me,” he told her.

She laughed as she got up and vanished as well.

***

After searching for over 20 minutes and trying to refine his query in a way that would actually work, Adam managed to find someone who had the information he was looking for.

The man sitting opposite him wore a dark-blue short-sleeved shirt. He had a buzzcut and dark skin. Adam was fairly sure he was Japanese, though he hadn’t spoken a word yet. Despite accepting his request to talk about the Secret from Stage One, he’d held up a hand and silently asked Adam to wait until he was done making his food.

In front of the man was a small one-time-use grill and he had six meat skewers lined up on it. Every few seconds he’d flip one or stoke the coals with a simple paper fan in his hand. Adam had to admit it looked quite delicious, even though his stomach was already full to the bursting from eating his croissants, nuggets, and boar roast.

I guess it’s possible to ask Charlie for something like this as well.

I wonder what the exact limit on her requests are.

Like, can I ask her to bring me a chocolate fountain?

When the man was finally done, he handed the skewers off to the side, where they quickly vanished.

Wait, he spent that long making it just to give it all to Belamouranthe?

The man continued looking off to the side, probably watching as his unseen companion scarfed down the skewers. He smiled to himself a little.

“Apologies,” he then said, looking back to Adam. His voice was kind and warm. “The girl was hungry.”

Adam reached his hand across the table. “I’m Adam.”

The man looked at the outstretched hand and then reached out to shake it. Of course, they were unable to touch.

“I am Mori Toshio.”

Adam was glad that he’d guessed the man’s nationality correctly. There’d often been many Japanese tourists where he lived because of the mountains, which were apparently similar to those in Japan. In fact, it hadn’t been more than a week since he’d recently helped two Japanese women find their way to the nearby theme park. It had been kind of awkward because of the terrible translation app he’d been using.

I never did find out if they actually made it there.

But, unlike back then, we can now communicate with effortless ease.

Before Adam could even ask, Mori lifted a scabbarded sword up onto the table. It seemed quite heavy and both scabbard and blade were covered in a layer of stone. Gold poked out from cracks here-and-there. It looked powerful.

“This is ‘Gram’,” Mori explained. “I obtained it in the first Stage by chopping down the large tree.”

“You chopped it down!? How?”

“I selected the Woodsman type. It gave me an axe. It was the only weapon I was familiar with from the selection.”

“Did you switch to this blade then?” Adam asked.

Mori nodded once. “It is powerful. Its unique skill is called ‘Anvil Splitter’. I used it to kill the red ogre in one hit.”

A unique skill? I’ve not heard of that before.

“Thank you for telling me, Mori,” Adam said.

In exchange, Adam told him about the black moth, along with the Flawless and Speedrun bonuses.

I can’t wait to try out that weapon when I go back.

I mean… If I go back.

He said goodbye to Mori and almost made to leave the Tavern, but realised he had one more query he wanted to search.

“Show me all the Players that obtained the Flawless and Speedrun achievements for Stage Two.”

[Understood.]

The air flickered and three people appeared. One of them was Ilya. To his left was a woman in a blue business suit with blonde shoulder-length hair. She looked like one of those lawyers that lacked any sense of humour. Further down the table was an older guy with a scraggly black beard and a dark winter coat. He was sleeping next to a bunch of bottles.

Only three people? Out of the 120 million currently in the tavern?

For a moment, Adam wanted to ask them how they’d done it, but they were all quite imposing. After all, they were each a 1-in-40-million Player. It was an insane accomplishment he thought. Stage Two had actually been quite challenging, considering its mix of close quarters, ranged enemies, and ambushes. Anyone who obtained both achievements had to be quite skilled.

Even Ilya, who he thought was his friend, looked quite intimidating. The fact that he’d managed to get both achievements two Stages in a row was also a testament to his terrifying power.

Since he hadn’t talked to them, they didn’t know he was watching. So he decided to observe them for a bit to see what their Relics and weapons were. Almost immediately, the businesswoman got up. Just as she disappeared, he noticed that there were dark swirling tattoos on her hands.

That has to be a Relic. Or maybe it’s her weapon?

He switched his gaze to the sleeping drunkard. Fortunately, his weapon was right next to him. It was a large ornate book.

No. Not a book. A tome.

I think he must’ve picked Warder. That’s a Rare Weapon Type.

I wonder what it does.

In terms of Relics, he couldn’t tell what the man had.

Then he looked back at Ilya. He was in the middle of talking to someone, though obviously Adam couldn’t tell who. His weapon was somewhere out of sight, but Adam was quite sure he’d gone with Javelineer, since he’d mentioned the Boomerang Pendant which worked well with thrown items.

It seems like a pretty terrible fighting style without such a Relic, Adam thought.

Thanks to Ilya’s baggy t-shirt, he couldn’t tell what other stuff he might have, which was a shame.

He was about to get up and leave, when the Russian guy turned to look at him. “Hello again, Adam.”

Adam got such a shock that he tumbled off his stool and fell on his ass.

What the fuck!?

“How was he able to see me??” he asked Shitbox.

[I do not know.]

Who the hell he was talking to??

That can’t have been a coincidence!

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Eleven

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter Eleven

Adam blinked in surprise. The girl looked no older than seven or eight and spoke with a British accent that had a slight lilt to it. She wore a white dress and her skin was ashen. Her hair was golden like sunshine and her eyes glowed orange. Two black horns sprouted from her temples.

“What the hell?” he asked, looking to Shitbox who was still unfolded in the middle of the floor.

[As part of completing Stage Two, you have saved the daughter of the Elphin Queen,] the tesseract explained.

“Mine name is Belamouranthe.”

“I’m Adam,” he replied, confused as hell.

He went over and untied her bonds, then he looked back at the podium.

“Is there like a recurring storyline between the Stages?”

[Yes.]

Does that mean that Stage One would be somewhere nearby then?

I hadn’t even considered that possibility.

Adam frowned, realising what had to come next.

I’ll probably have to bring her back to her mother…

“Wait, how does this work? Is she going to come to Interim Island as well?”

[Yes.]

That seems odd. Almost like a narrative break.

I mean, if I can teleport to Interim and bring her along, couldn’t I also just teleport her straight home?

“Will thou take me to mine mother?”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” he replied. “Though before we go, I have something to do first.”

“Is it outside? I wish to see the sky and trees again.”

“I suppose you could tag along.”

While Shitbox remained unfolded in the chamber, Adam quickly moved through the tunnels that led outside. The grimy elf dogged his heels.

Definitely didn’t think this was how the Stage would go.

But if all Stages are connected, it should make it easier to predict future encounters.

I thought for sure it would be nothing but meaningless waves against new types of enemies. It might be worth paying more attention to the environmental story-telling to find clues.

The girl gasped as they emerged from the cave.

“How long were you in there?”

“I do not know how many moons passed, but it was a long time.”

“Good thing I came along then.”

Belamouranthe dropped to her knees in the grass, running her hands through it while smiling. She wore a white dress of spun silk, but it was tarnished by dirt and grime. Her arms and legs were skinny, but her face had some childish plump to it, which was a good sign.

Adam let himself be distracted by the sight of her frolicking in the sun.

She looks healthy enough at least, so if I were to consider the implications, that means the goblins were keeping her alive for something.

He didn’t like where his imagination was taking him though, so he shook his head and continued past the trees to the village. When he reached the raised platforms, he realised that they’d been rebuilt.

The girl ran to catch up with him.

“Do you know why they were keeping you captive?” Adam asked as he retraced his steps to the hut with the hole in the floor.

“The red goblin said I was to be sold. He fed me to ensure I would not perish.”

He frowned. “Why the hell would anyone want to buy a kid…” he muttered in disgust.

“Mother says we have magic in our veins.”

What the hell does that mean?

But she’s very eloquent for a kid.

“How old are you?”

“Twelve.”

“And where do you live?”

“In the Sanctuary. Mine mother is its Queen.”

“Sanctuary? For what?”

“For Elphin.”

I guess that’s what her species is called? But I mean, she just looks like an elf with horns…

“Do all of you have horns?”

“Yes. Mother’s are the most brilliant of all.”

He nodded, not knowing how else to respond to that.

“We’ve arrived,” he announced as he entered the hut.

“Is this thy home?” the girl asked.

He laughed. “Do I really look that dirty?”

“I am not familiar with thy kind. Are you human?”

“That’s right. Do they not have those at the Sanctuary?”

“No. Mother forbids them entry.”

“Well… I’m sure to receive a warm welcome then.”

“Fear not, Adam. As mine saviour, no harm shall befall thee.”

“Good to know,” he muttered, while getting on his knees in front of the hole. He scooted forward so he could look straight down to the bottom. There was a glint of something down there, but he couldn’t tell what it was for all the spiderwebs in the way.

Belamouranthe knelt next to him.

“Are thou a fan of spinners.”

“Hell no.”

Adam pushed himself to his feet and pulled the spear from his back. Then he moved it around the edges of the hole to clear the webs away.

The Elphin girl stared down the hole as he worked.

“Further,” she urged.

He pushed the spear deeper.

“More?”

“No.”

Adam stared at the cobwebs tangled around the end of his spear after pulling it out of the hole.

No spiders at least.

“I see what lies at the bottom,” announced the girl. “I must say, the quality of this Spidersilk is tremendous.”

He looked down at her. She was holding some of the cobwebs between her tiny fingers, splaying the strands like a true connoisseur.

After kneeling next to the hole again and peering down, he couldn’t help but frown at what he saw.

It’s an egg sack? That’s the Secret Relic?

At the bottom was a round cocoon of tightly-packed spiderweb. He knew enough about spiders to know it would be teeming with tiny babies.

Adam shuddered.

Looking at it now, that hole is way too narrow for me to fit down.

Belamouranthe suddenly crawled feet-first down into the hole.

“What are you doing!?” he exclaimed, horrified.

“It is no trouble for me to get it.”

A couple seconds later she was down at the bottom, the hole only slightly taller than her. She crouched and grabbed the egg sack, before handing it to him.

“Thanks,” he said and pulled her up with one arm. She weighed barely anything.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Weaver’s Egg (Rare) — Wriggles with inner life >

[2 minutes remaining.]

Shit. I don’t have any more time to look around.

“We’ve gotta hurry back,” Adam told the girl.

He stuffed the egg sack in his jeans and sprinted from the village to the cave. Surprisingly, the little girl was able to keep up with him, despite his increased movement speed. They moved through the tunnels so quickly that Adam felt confident he could grab the Speedrun Bonus next time.

Next time…? Am I planning on dying and coming back here again??

[30 seconds remaining,] Shitbox stated as they reached the boss chamber.

He scanned the upgrade options again.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Growth (Uncommon) — Increases spear length by 30% >

< Bash Damage (Uncommon) — Increases shield bash damage by 10% >

< Damage (Rare) — Increases all damage by 15% >

“Select Bash Damage.”

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Bash Damage (Uncommon) >

The chest immediately started to glow the moment Adam picked the upgrade, but he still felt like it was taking too long. With a pop, which startled the Elphin girl, the bone chest sprung open, revealing three Relics.

< < Relics Available > >

< Fat Grub (Common) — Eat to restore health back to full over 60 seconds. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

< Reroll Die (Uncommon) — Allows the Player to reroll reward or vendor options. Relic disappears after use >

< Bone Armour (Uncommon) — Increases Player Defence by 30%, but breaks after 6 hits >

Goddamn it, none of these are useful.

“Shitbox, if I take the Bone Armour, what happens to the armour I’m already wearing?”

[Only one Armour Relic can be equipped at a time. Selecting a new Armour Relic will unequip your current one. You can choose to carry it around or I can stow it in your Player House.]

Guess I can sell the Bark Armour to Lucca. Hopefully it’ll still be worth 150 Points even though it only has 3 hits left before it breaks.

“I’ll pick the Bone Armour,” he decided.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Bone Armour (Uncommon) >

The flexible bark plates vanished from his body and landed by his feet, folded up like a towel. A bone vest similar to the Hobgoblin’s appeared over his white shirt, along with a skirt, a headband of fingerbones, and bracers for his arms and legs.

This seems to cover less than the Bark Armour…

Still, it increased his Defence by 5% which wasn’t insignificant, given that taking less damage meant less pain and less Points lost.

He stooped to pick up the unequipped Armour Relic.

Belamouranthe made no comment about his new attire, though she also hadn’t remarked upon his clearly otherworldly outfit, so maybe she wasn’t the type to judge.

Wait… Why am I considering her a real person?

If the Trials take their cue from games, wouldn’t that make her an NPC?

He looked down at her. She was staring back at him with a smile.

Oddities aside, she does seem very real. But so do the insect vendors…

The tesseract let off a pulse of magic and the cave interior was swallowed by darkness. As the dirt walls became dumpy buildings and the oppressive ceiling turned to azure sky, the little Elphin only stared at Adam.

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

A spirited hurdy-gurdy melody welcomed him back and a warm breeze ruffled his hair.

The surroundings had changed somewhat, Adam realised. The melted clay structures pretending to be houses looked slightly less crap than before, and the cobbles underfoot were a bit more orderly. Even the errant plants and trees seemed less like invasive growths, somehow.

Odd. It’s like this place is becoming more coherent.

“Are you hungry?” he asked Belamouranthe.

She nodded eagerly.

He hefted the Bark Armour that was folded up in his arms. “I’ve just gotta sell this, then we can go to the Tavern. You can eat whatever you want there.”

“Even boar meat!?” she asked excitedly.

“I’m sure that’s an option. Heck, they’d probably even serve you Dodo meat if you wanted.”

“Is that a type of pig?”

“No, I think it’s like a fat pigeon.”

She shook her head. “I will have boar.”

Adam couldn’t help but smile at her intensity.

He expected Luvicidix to stop him before he headed north for the Market, but it seemed the White Moth was observant enough to know when his services were wanted.

The moment Adam arrived in front of the wasp Musician, something happened.

< < Secret Relic Activated > >

The egg sack lifted itself out of Adam’s pocket and floated past the wasp and the fountain behind her. It continued past the flowerbeds and all of the Market stalls, before pausing in front of the trees on the island’s edge. Then the cocoon ballooned in size and grew into a vague facsimile of the other stalls.

Another spider appeared within, though this one was only the size of a poodle.

“So there are Secret Relics to unlock more vendors?”

[Correct. You have unlocked the Weaver. This vendor sells non-Relic attire.]

“What, like underwear?”

[Yes.]

Adam laughed. “Amazing… I’m so glad I found that,” he deadpanned.

He gave Yenna the wasp a nod as he passed her, but then paused for a moment as he saw that the sculptures of the fountain had become goblins instead of slimes.

What an odd attention to detail…

Belamouranthe tagged along behind him while he looked at the stalls, but didn’t seem too bothered by the giant insects all around them.

The vendors all greeted him as he perused, but aside from Thea, whose upgrades now matched his evolved Weapon Type, there were no differences. He’d kind of hoped that Belin the cockroach would be selling more types of consumables, but it was still only the three types of roots and potions.

I should probably buy a health potion though.

“How much does a small potion heal?” he asked.

“Small ones, regardless of type, recover 40%. Medium types recover 60% and Large recover everything.”

“And it was 100 for a small?”

“Correct. Medium is 500 and Large is 1200.”

That makes no sense though, he realised.

I could just buy three small ones for 300 Points to achieve the same effect, while saving 900.

There’s gotta be some reason for it.

“Is there a cooldown to using potions?”

“Potions do not work like Relics,” she answered. “They do not have cooldowns, but rather toxicity build-up. This means that consuming two potions back-to-back will raise your toxicity to dangerous levels. Consuming three in quick succession is lethal.”

Goddamnit…

“And how long before it’s safe to consume a second one?”

“10 minutes.”

“That’s stupid. Stages don’t even last that long.”

She gave him a look that, despite her unsettling cockroach appearance, seemed to indicate that there was something she couldn’t tell him.

“Is it the same with the roots?”

“Correct. However, the root toxicity does not overlap with the potion toxicity.”

“Is it regardless of type though? Like, would I get poisoned from drinking a health potion right after a stamina potion?”

“Yes.”

Adam frowned.

Suddenly they don’t seem that useful… But I guess the health-boosting root might be worth using.

“How much were the roots?”

“250 Points.”

“Eh, I’ll think about it,” he told her and continued on to Lucca’s stall.

The grey spider was leaned out of her stall and all eight of her clustered-together eyes stared down at the newcomer’s shop.

Adam froze at the sight of the giant spider.

They can move out of their stalls!?

The spider slowly turned to face him.

“Hello again, Adam.”

Adam swallowed. “Hello.”

“You have brought a weaver here,” she said, matter-of-factly. There was a sinister tone to her words that unsettled him.

He frowned. “Will that be an issue?”

“My kind eats other spiders. But fret not dear, I am civilised.”

“Well, if you are so civilised, would you go back inside so I can look through your wares?”

A chittering laugh emerged from the spider as she pulled her long legs and head back under the red overhang. She tilted her head slightly as he came closer.

“Show me your Relics,” he said.

Two of her long legs gestured to the black treasure chest next to her.

“Have a look.”

Golden light cascaded from the chest as it popped open. Adam immediately stared at the Epic-rarity option that appeared.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Blue Trophy (Rare) — Increase Player Damage by 15% for 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown >

< Chaos Fragment (Epic) — All Player’s equipped Relics are randomly changed to something of equal Rarity. Disappears after use >

< Parry Bracer (Uncommon) — Can be used to parry physical attacks. Breaks after 3 uses >

< Fat Grub (Common) — Eat to restore health back to full over 60 seconds. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

The Chaos Fragment looked like a shard of rainbow-hued glass.

Depending on how ‘equal rarity’ is considered, it might potentially be an upgrade for some items, if it picks from options that don’t become available until later Stages.

If that’s the case, it has the most potential power in the early Stages, but, at the same time, it would be better to use when I have more Relics.

But I don’t like the random chance of it.

He scanned the other options. The Trophy was literally just the torn-off ear of a blue goblin. The Bracer was made of bronze and looked cool, but it was clearly not super useful. The Grub was, as expected, just a fat worm.

I have 1028 Points. If I can sell the Bark Armour for 150, then I can buy a Reroll and maybe get lucky with another Epic Relic. Or I could buy two Rares.

Before he got too ahead of himself, he lifted the folded-up armour in his hands and said, “I’d like to sell this.”

“Of course,” Lucca replied. “You will receive 150 Points in return.”

He nodded. “Deal.”

The Armour Relic vanished from his hands.

Before he could even ask, Shitbox explained, [You can view your Point Total by uttering the word ‘Currency’.]

“Currency.”

< < Player Currencies > >

< Points — 1178 >

< Mastery Shards — 1 >

Oh, this shows the Mastery Shards too.

I wonder if there are other types of currencies.

Maybe I should visit Alivida again. If I remember correctly, she had something that cost just 1 Shard.

“I’d like to buy and use a Reroll,” he told Lucca.

“Excellent,” she chittered.

The black chest closed, before popping open a moment later.

“Adam, I am hungry.”

He blinked and looked down at the Elphin girl.

Crap, I completely forgot about her for a moment.

“Give me like 10 more minutes, then we can go to the Tavern.”

“Understood.”

Adam had a look at the new set of Relics.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Avalanche Boots (Rare) — All kicks inflict disorientation on normal targets for 2 seconds >

< Yellow Trophy (Rare) — Increase Player Speed by 15% for 10 seconds. 2-minute cooldown >

< Potion Belt (Uncommon) — Carries up to three potions and makes them indestructible | Uses the potion in the right-most slot when its associated resource is exhausted >

< Blink Ring (Uncommon) — Charged attacks are performed instantaneously when you blink >

Damn. No Epics this time…

The Boots could be useful though. The Yellow Trophy as well.

The Belt might be okay if I can find a Relic that does something about toxicity build-up, but on its own it seems more likely to get me killed by self-inflicted poisoning. Plus I’d have to buy potions to keep it stocked…

“I’ll look around some more and return later,” he told Lucca.

“You will be back,” she replied knowingly. “Bye for now, Adam.”

Since he wasn’t interested in the other vendors, he went straight to the new one he’d unlocked.

The stall was made entirely of spiderwebs, but was otherwise indistinguishable from the rest. Dresses, shirts, pants, underwear, socks, and every other type of clothing imaginable hung down from the ceiling on imperceptibly-thin lines of silk. Unlike the off-white stall, they were full of colour.

The Weaver in charged crawled up the back of the counter and peered over the edge at him. Then with a little hop it landed on top.

“Hi Adam. My name is Weaver.”

“Hello there.”

“Thank you for bringing me here,” she said. Her voice was timid and small.

“What do you sell?” he asked.

“Clothing spun from my own silk.”

Adam gestured to Belamouranthe. “She says your Spidersilk is very high quality.”

The girl nodded eagerly. “Mother would love to welcome thee to our Sanctuary I am sure.”

“Thank you,” Weaver replied. “If you would like, I can spin new clothes for you both. For free.”

Adam considered his jeans and shirt. Both were stained and damaged.

“I wouldn’t say no to that.”

“I would like a green dress!” insisted the Elphin girl.

“I’d just like replacements for what I’m already wearing,” Adam added. “If you can make those with just silk.”

“Understood,” Weaver replied. “The finished clothes will be brought to your Player House. Any subsequent sets of clothing will cost 100 Points.”

“Thank you, Weaver.”

Belamouranthe looked up at Adam expectantly. “Will thou take me to where boar is served?”

“Yes, yes, we’ll go to the Tavern now.”

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Ten

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

I've locked in on a release date for Loopshard over on RoyalRoad. It'll be the 14th of February, right after I get back from a 2 week trip to Japan.

Been crazy busy with exams, but aside from having to 'defend' a 24hr project I finished yesterday, I finally have some breathing room. I'm hoping to wrap up the edits on Madman and put out at least 3 more chapters of Loopshard before the 28th when my next semester starts (who needs breaks between semesters anyway .... me... that's who).

-----------------------------

Chapter Ten

Seven goblins in total came for him. Four green ones emerged from behind the various trees, two blues popped out from the cave across the way, and a yellow archer followed behind them. Instead of charging ahead with the club-wielders, the spear goblins stayed in front of the cave opening. The archer stepped out in front of them and prepared to shoot at Adam.

It’s too far to hit it with the Glove from here.

I need to get closer.

He ran to meet the four green goblins.

Before the first one could even swing, he’d speared it through the neck, shearing all the way through.

Adam hopped out of the way of two simultaneous clubs, then smacked his new shield into the one on his left, before spearing the other and killing it. Then he quickly stabbed the one he’d hit with his shield, finishing it off.

As he was about to kill the last green goblin, a whistling from above caught his attention. Adam immediately lifted his parry shield in front of his face, just as an arrow slapped against it and plinged off to the side. The impact was stronger than expected, stronger even than the one which had hit him in the shoulder.

That would’ve gone right into my neck if I hadn’t noticed it!

Pay attention! he scolded himself.

A shrill roar preceded a swing from the remaining green goblin, but he narrowly avoided it by jumping to the side. Then he switched the spear to his left hand and grabbed the creature by the throat using his Slime Glove.

It squealed in pain and dropped its club. Although it tried to use its disgusting nails to dislodge his hand, they too started to dissolve when they touched the Green Slime Glove.

As he charged for the three goblins by the cave, the one in his grip stopped struggling and died. An arrow flew towards his face from across the way and he lifted the dead body like a second shield. The arrow hit the goblin in its forehead, spattering a bit of blood onto Adam’s face.

Just a few more metres and I should be close enough!

Moments later, another arrow thumped into his goblin shield, hitting it in its stomach. None of the arrows were strong enough to go all the way through and reach him.

Adam stopped and pulled the dead creature behind his back. Then he took a long step forward to shift his weight, before launching it towards the three goblins by the cave. Although he threw it far, his ‘shield’ would still fall way short of his target.

But that wasn’t why he’d thrown it.

As the goblins traced the flight of their dead friend coming towards them, Adam lined up a shot with his Slime Glove and launched it right at the archer.

A loud thud came from the dead goblin as it hit the grass and rolled over itself. A second later, a loud squeal echoed across the forest as the acidic glob struck the yellow archer.

Adam returned his weapon to his right hand and loped towards the spear-wielding goblins.

The archer tossed away its bow and started running in circles, while clawing at its own face to pull off the slime eating through its flesh. It suddenly tripped when half its head was reduced to bone, striking the ground with a thump.

It didn’t get back up from where it’d fallen.

This thing is so gruesome to use…

He lunged for the blue goblin to the right of the cave entrance. It moved out of the way dexterously. At the same time, the other one launched forward with a jab of its own.

Adam caught the tip of its spear against his small shield, but wasn’t able to actually parry it. Then the first hopped forward with an attack, forcing him to backpedal to avoid it.

That turned out to be a bad idea, as they both moved with him, having ample room for follow-up attacks.

Adam was forced to make a split-second decision. He swung his left arm out, trying to parry the attack coming from his left, while moving the spear in his right to push aside the other’s strike.

He succeeded in parrying and disarming the first, but missed the second. Its spear struck the bark armour on his right thigh, before continuing into his flesh. It fortunately didn’t go deep, but the pain was immense.

Adam let out a cry of agony as he felt the splinters from the wooden spear-tip tear at his skin.

With a quick stab to the back, he killed the goblin on his left as it was trying to pick up its lost spear. Then he roared and smashed his shield into the last one’s face, breaking its nose and several teeth.

It yanked the spear out of his thigh and he gasped in pain, but quickly finished it off before it could hit him again.

As the blue goblin collapsed to the ground with two stab wounds in its upper torso, Shitbox announced, [Well done! You cleared the Wave within 50 seconds.]

Adam dropped to the ground.

< < Wave Four Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

“Argh, fuck! Damage!?”

[The attack dealt 60 points of damage, which was reduced to 45 thanks to your Defence rating. That means you now have 55 Health or 55% remaining.]

“Son of a bitch!” he exclaimed. Despite the wound not being life-threatening, it hurt a lot. It was almost as if the amount of damage inflicted dictated the level of pain. It felt way worse than being hit with corrosive acid, which made no sense.

“Tell me there’s healing available in the next Wave!”

Shitbox had unfolded into a podium, but still deigned to answer him.

[Healing Items may be found within the Goblin Village to any Player who can stomach it.]

It was much less helpful than during the first Stage and its words almost seemed like a riddle. Adam was fairly sure it was referring to the wicker baskets full of worms and bugs that he’d seen earlier.

There might be some of those within the cave. But I’m not sure I actually want to eat them.

Plus, there had been plenty of them available, so he was sure there was an insidious trick behind their abundance.

They might inflict me with some kind of sickness.

“You are talking about the worms, right?”

[Correct. Each one you devour will replenish 1 Point of Health.]

“Fucking knew it…”

He would have to eat over fifty of them to get his full health back.

I’ll just have to beat the Boss without getting hit, he decided.

[15 seconds remaining before Wave Five begins.]

Adam frowned at having wasted half his break time on getting such a useless answer. He wanted to poke his head into the cave before the Wave began, so he quickly looked at the options.

Arrayed above the podium shape were three rare options. One of the upgrade symbols was new and showed a small shield with a strange icon next to it.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Growth (Rare) — Increases spear length by 45% >

< Shield Parry (Rare) — Successful parry disorients for 1.5 seconds >

< Venom (Rare) — Attacks inflict Venom slowing target by 15% for 10 seconds >

Shield Parry disorients? That’s actually very useful.

He knew he didn’t want to grow his spear any longer, since that would make it hard to fight with, especially since a Rare growth upgrade would put its length at almost 3 meters. Venom might have been useful if he had a ranged weapon, but in the end the choice was obvious.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Shield Parry (Rare) >

The upgrade made no visible difference to the shield, similar to the damage upgrades for his spear. Though he wasn’t sure what he’d expected. It was hard to say how such a thing as disorientation would truly manifest, appearance-wise.

Adam limped over to the cave entrance, blood dripping from his injured leg down onto the green grass. As expected, there was a boundary right in the opening, but he was still able to peer inside. The entrance led down below the large hill it was recessed into and a rank smell wafted out from within. As he peered down, he saw the tunnel fork at least once. Though its walls were made of compacted earth, it looked like there’d be no threat of it collapsing in on him.

Still, if it’s a tunnel-system inside the cave, I likely won’t be fighting just the boss.

Just to be sure, he asked, “Wave Five is the last one of the Stage, right?”

[Correct.]

< < Wave Five > >

< 300-Second Timer >

Damn, 5 minutes?

I told myself I would focus on getting the no-hit reward, but I was too obsessed with speed. I’ve saved a lot of time already, so I think I can afford to go slowly.

He looked down at his leg.

Not that I have a choice…

Adam clenched his jaw as the boundary in the cave entrance disappeared and he was able to enter. His shoes produced a hollow sound on the compacted dirt floor, which echoed throughout.

So much for stealth, I guess.

The tunnel was just tall enough for him to walk upright, but it pressed in on his sides when it curved, making it one of the worst places to have brought a spear.

A bow would also struggle here, he considered.

The smell of the dirt walls filled his nose, along with a scent of refuse and death. While he’d noticed an odour in the village above ground, it was nothing like this stench.

He only walked a few steps before the tunnel forked and led to a small room on his right. As soon as he came close, a green goblin hopped out. There wasn’t enough room to bring his spear up, so Adam immediately slammed his shield into its head.

As it fell onto its back, he leaned down and repeatedly smashed the bronze edge into its face until it stopped moving. With a sigh, he stumbled back a step. His arm and shield were covered in gore.

Alright, ambushes are definitely at play here. Guess there’ll be more before I find the actual boss.

Hopefully it’s only green ones. An archer strategically placed at the end of a corridor here would be tough to handle.

He stepped over the ruined body of the goblin to look inside the room it had emerged from. Bile rose in his throat from what he saw and smelled. On the floor within were the rotting carcasses of hunted animals, with fat larvae and bugs swarming the bones for scraps of flesh.

Adam backed out immediately, though the scent lingered in his nostrils like an infection.

I imagine that’s the source of their food baskets…

I don’t even care if there’s a secret in there, because I won’t go get it. Fuck that.

He continued down the tunnel, leaving the nasty chamber behind, while cautiously delving even deeper into the dark. Somehow though, despite the narrow tunnel, he was able to see clearly. It was almost like his body’s presence lit up the surroundings. It didn’t make much sense realistically, but he figured it was due to the game-like nature of the Trials.

Adam passed by branching paths from the main tunnel as he ventured deeper. But they were all the same: a chamber or two, with a goblin lying in wait. Every chamber had corpses inside, though not all of them seemed to be for harvesting ‘food’. One chamber in particular had three humanoid skeletons within, all tied up prior to death.

After the sixth goblin ambush, he was starting to grow exhausted and the claustrophobia was truly setting in. The pain in his thigh had subsided, which didn’t make sense, but he was happy for it.

“Time?” he asked Shitbox, as he reached the end of the main tunnel. It opened up into a larger chamber with three meters to the ceiling.

[153 seconds remaining.]

Only 2.5 minutes? Felt way longer than that.

He looked across the large room.

I found the boss at least.

Seated on a chair of bones was a red-skinned creature. He looked similar to the goblins, but he was far more muscular and his black hair was thicker. Plus, he was the size of an orc, perhaps even taller than Adam.

I think they call these creatures Hobgoblins in games. Maybe that’s what he is.

When Adam slowly entered the room, the Hobgoblin stood up from the throne and it creaked under his weight. He looked like a bodybuilder with how much muscle he had. A vest of horizontal bones covered his torso and the bottom of his neck. A skirt of smaller bones covered the top-half of his thighs.

That’ll be troublesome to pierce I’m guessing.

I should aim for his face or armpits.

The Hobgoblin picked up a sword leaned against his throne. Its handle was a large bone, perhaps the femur of a bear or a deer, and the blade was like a rusted oversized machete.

The boss suddenly slammed his chest with his left fist and roared.

“King! Goblin!”

Adam blinked, surprised that the creature could speak, but then he shook his head.

“You’re no king,” he said.

The Hobgoblin roared again, then swung his blade in the air before stomping towards him.

Adam tested his weight on his right leg. It didn’t hurt that much anymore.

He grinned and kicked off, pushing himself to go as fast as his movement stat would let him. His shield was raised in front, while his spear was held back, ready to lunge forward.

The two met in the middle of the large chamber, with the Hobgoblin making the first move. He swung his large blade at the centre of Adam’s body, as though thinking he could chop him in half.

Clang!

Adam parried the attack with his shield, though the impact sent a bone-shaking tremor down his left arm and made his muscles cramp.

The sword was knocked aside and the Hobgoblin paused with a blank look on his face.

The disorient worked! he exclaimed internally.

Adam quickly moved around the side of the boss and rammed his spear-tip up through its exposed armpit. The leaf-shaped blade easily slipped through its red skin.

He pulled the spear out and prepared to strike again, but the Hobgoblin roared and retorted with a rapid flurry of swings. His left arm hung limply by his side and a deluge of blood spilled onto the dirt floor as he moved.

Adam back-pedalled while switching his spear to his shield hand. He was much faster than the Hobgoblin, so it was simple enough to keep creating space, especially since the room was quite big.

Thank God we aren’t fighting in the tunnels.

As the boss started slowing down due to exhaustion, Adam suddenly stopped and punched his Green Slime Glove forward, firing off a glob of corrosive jelly.

Although the Hobgoblin tried to avoid it, they were too close and his movements were sluggish. The acidic glob hit the side of the boss’ face and a pained roar filled the chamber.

Adam had already switched his spear back to his right hand and, as the Hobgoblin clawed at its own rapidly-dissolving head, he prepared to strike. After a couple seconds of waiting for the perfect moment, Adam lunged forward and drove the spear through the boss’ neck.

With a flourish, he tore it out the side and spattered its blood everywhere.

The Hobgoblin immediately lost its strength and collapsed to the floor with a heavy thump.

[Well done! You cleared the Wave with 120 seconds remaining.]

The green slime hissed as it continued to eat through the red skin and flesh.

Not keen to watch the gruesome display, Adam walked over to the bone throne and sat down with a sigh of exhaustion.

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

I think I did pretty well this time around. It should have been fast enough for the Speedrun Bonus.

< < Score > >

< 285 Seconds Completion Time >

< 45 Damage Received >

< 1028 Points Awarded >

“Wait, no Speedrun Bonus!?”

[The Speedrun threshold for Stage Two is 260 seconds. You were 25 seconds late.]

Damn it. That single wound in my leg screwed me severely. I could probably have rushed through the tunnels though, but I might’ve gotten hit or dragged all six goblins into the boss room…

“What is the Speedrun reward for this Stage?”

[250 Points.]

Adam frowned. That was a lot to have missed out on.

“What would the no-hit reward have been?”

[I cannot reveal that.]

“Why not?”

[As you have not obtained the relevant reward yourself, I am not allowed to disclose anything about the topic.]

“That’s annoying,” he muttered.

Shitbox ignored him and floated to the middle of the large underground chamber, before unfolding itself into the reward podium. A chest decorated with bones showed up next to it. There was the face of a goblin on the front.

He looked at the upgrades available and already knew which one he wanted, but he had something to do first.

“I’ve got 10 minutes to look around before the choice is picked for me, right?”

[Yes.]

“Then I’ll be back.”

But before Adam could leave the room, a small girl poked her head out of the ‘doorway’ to a chamber on his right. He hadn’t even noticed the opening in the wall until now. The girl had her hands bound but was otherwise unharmed, although she was covered in dirt.

Confusingly, she wasn’t a goblin. No, she was an elf. With horns.

“Has mine mother sent for me at last?” she asked.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Madman Apocalypse Book 2 cover

Commissioned Creadfectus to make another cover for Madman Apocalypse.

Here's the original image I used to guide what I wanted, lol.
 

Loopshard - Chapter Nine

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Just one more exam next week and I'm done with the semester. I've passed the previous two, but they were so technical and full of crazy terms we're meant to memorize. That's definitely my weakness in any education, I think. I do much better in practical exams, which the next one is fortunately.

I will try to have two more chapters out next week, since I'd like to hit 40k words on the story, but we'll see how it goes.

Still have some editing to do for a publisher deadline at the end of the month, but that should hopefully be doable. There's a lesson to be learnt there, and that lesson is that I am a time-optimist, which is a terrible trait when you don't know how long something is actually going to take <.<

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.

-----------------------------

Chapter Nine

< < Wave Two > >

< 90-Second Timer >

90 seconds already? That’s not a good sign.

Adam was standing near the third row of huts, but he had no idea how much further the boundary expanded with the second Wave.

He gripped his spear with his slime-gloved hand, preparing to launch himself forward at the first sign of goblins.

A shrill pig-like yell came from several metres behind him, just as two blue figures leapt from the fifth and sixth huts along the right side.

At least three this time! Adam realised.

He made a split-second decision and charged for the two in front of him, while keeping his ears perked for the one approaching from the back.

I have to kill all three in 15 seconds to get the rarity bonus for the Wave… That might be impossible, unless I can snipe the last one with my glove.

The goblins this time were blue-skinned and taller, standing at about a metre-and-a-half. They had lanky builds and held primitive wooden spears. Their heads weren’t big like the green ones’, but rather elongated. The ears were also narrower and flopped less. Along with their thin noses and toothy grins, they seemed far more cunning than the club-wielding greens.

With a grunt of exertion, Adam flung his right arm forward in a jab. The shaft of the spear slid through his hand, aiming right for the neck of the closest goblin.

The blue bastard moved out of the way just in time, his spear-tip missing its throat by a hair. Its sudden movement surprised Adam, but he took a step forward and swung the weapon sideways. The goblin, pressed up against the wall of a hut, had nowhere to go. The spear sliced through its neck, severing the throat and left carotid artery.

As its blood sprayed across the soil and hut, Adam quickly sidestepped a stab from the other goblin. It was too close for him to strike back with the spear, so he quickly switched the weapon to his left hand and grabbed it by the throat using the Slime Glove. Then he squeezed.

Its pained scream was smothered by his pincer grip.

Despite it being taller than the green ones, it was still more than a head shorter than him and much weaker.

A yell came from behind him and he whirled around, just as the last goblin lunged forward with its own spear. With a few quick steps, he positioned the goblin he was holding in its path. The attacker paused, clearly worried about hitting its friend, and Adam exploited its hesitation. With a stab from below, he rammed his spear into its abdomen.

The goblin collapsed with a squeal of pain, pulling his spear out of his hand. Adam discarded the dead goblin he was holding and aimed his right palm at the kneeling figure.

Then he fired his acid point-blank. It died within seconds as the slime ate through its head.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 15 seconds.]

Adam looked down at the melting goblin. The glob wasn’t done devouring its skin and flesh.

I think I’m gonna be sick.

< < Wave Two Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

He took a few steps away as Shitbox unfolded itself into a podium. Then he noticed that the goblins had left their primitive spears behind. The green ones had also dropped their simple clubs, but those were of no use to him.

“Can I use the weapons they drop?”

[No.]

He frowned. That’s stupid.

Despite its answer, he stooped to pick up one of the spears. As soon as his fingers touched the wood, it became like sawdust and the soft particulates slipped through his fingers.

Why would they not allow me to keep it?

That makes no sense.

He looked over to where the next set of upgrade options had appeared.

Whatever. I’ll just have to make do with this.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) — Increases spear length by 10% >

< Throw Speed (Uncommon) — Increases throwing speed by 20% >

< Luck (Rare) — Increases luck by 3 >

A Rare Luck isn’t bad, but I’ll pick Damage. After all, the next upgrade is the sixth. Then I get to evolve my weapon.

But, before I select, I need to see how far the boundary goes now.

Adam continued down the rows of huts. Like before, he couldn’t go to the other side of them, so the accessible area was still just the corridor between the huts.

He stopped moving forward once he got to the eight row at the end of the ‘street’. Past them were two raised wooden platforms sitting atop trees that’d had their tips chopped off. They were accessible by ladders so narrow they were obviously designed for goblins. Beyond the platforms was an open stretch of forest, which led to the hill with the cave entrance.

I’m guessing the next Wave will make this open area accessible and then the following one will lead me into the cave.

Although…

He recalled the goblin appearing at the far end of the huts.

That’s a dirty trick for sure. I might lose time if I move too far forward too quickly and something spawns behind me.

Adam made his way back, quickly scanning the interiors of the huts just in case.

[10 seconds remaining before Wave Three begins.]

He paused. Right as the announcement had hit him, he’d looked into the sixth hut on the left side. There was a hole in the floor and thick cobwebs visible within.

Adam went into the hut to look closer.

The hole was deep enough that he couldn’t see the bottom, but the thick webs didn’t help either.

[5 seconds remaining.]

“Select spear damage,” he said, having no doubt that Shitbox could hear him.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) >

There’s gotta be something down this hole.

He suppressed a shudder. It was just wide enough for him to crawl down into, but it was quite possible that he’d get stuck. And whatever had spun the silk had to be at least half the size of Lucca.

I’ll have to come back here after I’m done with the Stage.

< < Wave Three > >

< 120-Second Timer >

Adam exited the hut, his grip tight on the shaft of his spear.

“Glove cooldown?” he asked, as the tesseract floated over to him.

[20 seconds until it is ready.]

He frowned.

I shouldn’t use it to end a Wave. Better to open up with it as my first attack.

And this Wave might be trouble. 120 seconds. That probably means 5 or more enemies. Or maybe a new tough one. Like something with armour or a shield.

Pig-like squeals came from the end of the huts as four green goblins charged for him. Their clubs were raised in the air threateningly, but he doubted they could hurt him more than the slimes.

Then he saw two yellow goblins in the distance. They were climbing up a platform each. Appearance-wise, they seemed no different than the green ones, but he was fairly sure they were this Stage’s equivalent to the ranged green slimes.

“Tell me when the glove is ready,” he told Shitbox, then ran to meet the green goblins.

As soon as they got close, the four small creatures tried to surround him like wolves, showing they had some rudimentary tactics at play. He backed up, not allowing them to box him in.

Adam let the first one swing for him. He easily dodged the attack and stabbed his spear into its neck. As he tore it free, he swung his weapon widely, causing the other three to back up. On the distant platforms, the two yellow goblins stood ready, each with a small bow.

Shit!

He drove his spear-tip into another green goblin, piercing it through the mouth and wrenching it free as he ran towards the end of the huts. At the same time, the yellow archers took aim.

The sound of their strings firing was almost melodic.

Adam dashed to the side, but one of the arrows caught him in the shoulder, sticking to his Bark Armour, but failing to penetrate. It no doubt still counted towards the Relic’s durability. He quickly pulled it out and it became sawdust in his hands.

A pained squeal from behind him indicated that one of the two pursuing goblins had caught the other arrow.

The one he’d pierced through the mouth was lagging behind the other two and bleeding profusely. Adam almost felt bad for leaving it in pain, but then he reminded himself that they were trying to kill him.

He broke from the huts and went directly under the platform to the left, so that the archer above couldn’t hit him. Then he turned and lunged for the goblin that’d caught an arrow to the forearm. With two quick jabs, he punctured its ribcage and destroyed its heart.

The second one balked at the brutality, but then squealed indignantly and charged for him with a wild flurry of swings. Adam had no choice but to back away, dancing around the tree that held up the left platform.

On the right, the other archer had a clear line of sight and it launched a couple arrows at him, though he managed to avoid both.

[Your Green Slime Glove is now ready.]

The frenzied goblin was almost out of stamina, so Adam pushed towards it instead of running away, surprising it long enough to leave it open. A stab through the eye socket immediately killed it.

He whirled around and pointed his right palm towards the platform across the way, aiming for the tree holding it up.

Despite guesstimating the trajectory, he launched a slime glob across the way with just the right arc to hit the tree right below where the platform was attached. The acid hissed loudly as it ate through the wood and the whole platform quickly started to tilt. As it collapsed, the archer dropped to the ground and was quickly pinned by the platform falling on top of it.

The remaining green goblin had only just gotten to the end of the last row of huts, but it had to steady itself against a wall, while blood continued to pour out of its face.

Above him, he heard the other archer stomping about, no doubt waiting for the moment he would emerge from below it. The platform itself wasn’t overly thick and his weapon had a lot of extra damage, plus penetrative power.

I could probably stab through that, but my weapon will 100% get stuck.

Then he realised he had an easier method.

He switched the spear to his left hand and started using his gloved right to dissolve the tree holding up the platform. After only a few seconds, he’d severely weakened it by eating halfway through it with his slime Relic.

Adam ran out from under its cover, moving towards the pinned archer across the way. At the same time, the other one shifted its weight on the platform to take a shot at him. The tree below snapped and its squeal was cut short as it hit the ground with a crunch.

When he reached the pinned yellow goblin, it snarled up at him. He noticed how, up-close, it had two differences from the green goblins: its ears were smaller and its nose was thinner. He couldn’t tell how it was any different besides that, but it didn’t really matter.

Adam killed it with a quick stab, before running down the last green goblin, which died without a fight.

[Well done! You cleared the Wave within 40 seconds.]

A shame I was hit. That probably means I won’t get the bonus points. Though I didn’t take any actual damage it seems.

All things considered, I think I did pretty well.

< < Wave Three Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

I’ve gotta remember to go back to that hut with the spiderwebs when I’m done.

He watched in anticipation as Shitbox unfurled into a podium and the three options appeared.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Speed (Rare) — Increases spear attack speed by 35% >

< Throw Aim (Uncommon) — Increases accuracy with throwing by 10% >

< Dodge (Uncommon) — Grants a 10% chance to dodge a direct attack >

Rare Speed, huh? I suppose it’ll be more useful than growth at least.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spear Speed (Rare) >

Then something new happened. Even though he’d been anticipating it, it still surprised him when the spear in his hand started to glow brightly, as though covered in sunlight.

The tesseract had folded itself back into a cube and was hovering in front of him. He hoped this little interlude paused the time before the next Wave triggered.

[Your Lancer Weapon Type has reached Level 6.]

[At Level 6, your Weapon Type can be evolved in one of two possible directions.]

“Is there another evolution at Level 12?”

[Yes. Level 12 is the second milestone. Level 18 is the third and last.]

“What happens after I evolve for the third time?”

Shitbox didn’t reply.

I guess I’ll have to wait until it happens to find out…

The eye on the black box looked down at the weapon in his hands. Then it started glowing with the same light and the spear became like tiny gold-glowing flies, which quickly vanished into the cube.

For a moment he thought his weapon was lost, but then Shitbox dropped to the ground and became a pyramid shape rather than a podium. Two new floating Weapon Types projected from its left and right faces.

On the left was a spear with a leaf-shaped tip and next to it was a bronze shield about a metre in diameter, which had a circle bitten out of the top. With the unique shape, the missing top of the shield seemed to serve the purpose of allowing blocking and attacking simultaneously. Although, it was perhaps a bit too small for blocking.

The option on the right was four spears bundled together, clearly designed for throwing.

< < Select an Evolution > >

< Hoplite — Trade throwing capability for a small parry shield >

< Javelineer — Gain 3 additional spears purpose-made for throwing >

Pretty sure Hoplites had bigger shields than that.

Unsaid in their descriptions was the fact that the spears themselves were vastly different. The Hoplite’s spear was clearly meant for stabbing, given its leaf-shaped tip that would cause large wounds. The Javelineer’s spears were thinner and shaped with more centre mass, giving them excellent balance for throwing, but making them less effective for stabbing due to their narrower tips.

I wonder if Ilya went with Javelineer because of his Boomerang Relic.

“Shitbox, how does parrying work?”

[Enemy attacks can be parried by moving the shield into the strike mid-motion and pushing it aside or interrupting it. Parrying enemies is a great way to create an opening to strike.]

“Do my attacks following parries have increased damage?”

[No.]

Adam frowned.

If it doesn’t help me kill faster, then I’m better off not trying to parry. Overextending myself will just get me injured or worse.

Of course, there might be Relics that increase follow-up damage or something.

The ability to disarm would also be useful.

Guess I’ll check the Tavern for Parry-based Relics when I’m done here.

Adam reached out and touched the Hoplite Evolution.

< < Evolution Selected > >

< Lancer => Hoplite >

The bronze shield manifested itself on his left arm, already strapped to his forearm, and the leaf-tipped spear appeared in his gloved right hand. Despite the changed appearance of the tip, the rest of the spear was more or less the same as before. The wood was still caramel-brown, but it now had a lacquer-like sheen to it. The spear-tip, which had been some kind of dark metal previously, was now the same bronze as the new shield.

< < Mastery Shard Obtained > >

A pyramid gem, like what Lenard had showed him, appeared in the air before Adam. As soon as it touched his outreached hand it vanished.

“Status,” he said.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Hoplite >

< Level 8 >

< Stats >

< Health — 100 >

< Stamina — 150 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 100% >

< Defence — 100% >

< Speed — 165% >

< Upgrades >

< Force (Rare) >

< Movement (Rare) >

“Armament.”

< < Weapon Status > >

< Spear & Parry Shield >

< Common Quality >

< Level 6 >

< Stat Upgrades >

< Spear Damage 30% >

< Spear Speed 45% >

< Spear Growth 30% >

He nodded, pleased. Despite not knowing what came next, he felt very sure of himself.

Perhaps I am developing a combat sense like Ilya after all?

If all I really had was my ability to go back in time and retain knowledge of the things I saw, then I doubt I would’ve made it through the first three Waves of this Stage as easily as this.

Once he’d gotten over his disgust at killing sapient creatures, he found that the goblins were no great threat. They were easy to kill and seemed to mostly rely on their numbers to fight him.

Still, I wonder what kind of boss this Stage will throw at me.

Adam walked to the end of the boundary, where it looked out on the forest in front of the cave. There were only a few trees here and all of them were smaller than the apple tree from Stage One. There weren’t any obvious places the goblins could pop out from, but also no hiding spots, aside from the canopies. Until now, the Waves had always spawned the enemies from realistic locations, usually out of sight to give the illusion they had been lying in wait for him.

Yeah, I doubt they’ll make them appear up in the trees. Though I should keep an eye out for any more of those archers.

< < Wave Four > >

< 150-Second Timer >

Adam spun the spear in his grip and flexed his left shoulder. The shield was heavy despite its size, but he already had a few ideas for how to utilise it in his fighting style.

A small smile played on his lips and he realised he was looking forward to trying out his new ideas.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Eight

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Got a pretty tough exam coming up this week, so next chapter might not arrive until Sunday.

-----------------------------

Chapter Eight

Adam was in the middle of talking to a Scandinavian guy named Sven, who’d picked the Slime King Relic, when Shitbox announced:

[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]

“Yes please.”

[Understood.]

“Sorry, Sven, but I’ve gotta go.”

“Thank you for the information, Adam,” he said. Thanks to the Relic, he was now made of the same stuff as the slimes of Stage One and four cores floated around within his body. He only had the outline of his previous features, but no visible mouth, eyes, hair, or anything. A rusted metal crown sat atop his head, the only part of him not made of jelly.

Nevertheless, from his description of how it functioned, Adam thought it might be great for a ranged setup, since the ‘King of Slimes’ effect interacted with projectiles in a unique way.

“Likewise,” Adam replied.

The guy’s strange hologram flickered and vanished, before Willow took his place.

“You weren’t lying!” she exclaimed, speaking quickly.

“You met Alvida?”

Willow nodded. “Although, it wasn’t a woman like you said, but another guy.”

“Another guy?” he asked, confused.

“Yeah, all the insects are guys. Isn’t it the same for you?”

“No, they’re all women. Or well, their voices are.”

“Weird.”

Adam grimaced. “They’re supposed to be our ideal companions.”

“They keep calling me flappy…” Willow grumbled.

He couldn’t help but laugh, which didn’t go over well with her.

“They said the same about me,” he quickly added.

A moment passed in silence, but then Willow said, “So…”

“So?”

“How do I become like you? How do I gain the ability to go back in time?”

“Well… I’m not quite sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“I killed Shitbox and the explosion sent me back in time. Then, when I died a second time, it happened again. Aside from the initial death, I’m not quite sure what’s causing it…”

Willow frowned. “You have to die to go back in time?”

He nodded sombrely. “It’s not great, yeah.”

“I’m not keen to try that,” she replied.

Few people would be…

“You might not have to,” he then realised. “Luvicidix, the white moth, hinted that there’s a Relic which can send you back in time.”

She perked up. “Really!?”

“Yeah. But it’s Divine rarity.”

“Divine? I didn’t even know that was a rarity,” she replied.

“Me neither. Apparently it’s called ‘The Self-devouring Eye’.”

“There’s a lot of eye-based symbolism with the Trials…” she remarked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty creepy,” he replied, thinking of the eye in the darkness.

***

Willow and Adam spent the next couple hours eating and talking, mostly just getting to know each other more. Despite her initial apprehensions about him, she seemed to have warmed up and become comfortable talking about herself.

While Adam had worked as an accountant before the tesseract had stolen him away, Willow had been a talented athlete in the sport of Archery. She’d apparently represented Australia in several international competitions. Her dream had been to enter the Olympics.

It’s a shame she didn’t get the Archer Weapon Type this time. It’s the perfect fit for her.

She was using the magic staff offered by the Spellcaster type, which she said was hard to get used to, but would be powerful when she mastered it. Considering that she’d gotten the Speedrun bonus and Secret Relic with an unfamiliar weapon, she was clearly extremely talented and observant.

Meanwhile, I only got those because I had already completed the Stage before…

Adam couldn’t help but feel that someone like her would be better served with having his looping ability. Although, it seemed like a curse as much as a boon.

And if I die, Willow is going to forget me.

Despite knowing that it would hurt to be forgotten and have memories about him erased, he didn’t want to hold back on getting to know people. After all, that would be a coward’s way to live.

I will treat each life with the respect it deserves.

At some point, he was pinged by Lenard, and the German guy ended up joining them. After introducing him to Willow, the three talked the rest of the night.

Lenard opened up about himself as well. He’d been a policeman in Munich and had been on patrol when the tesseract appeared before him. His goal for beating the Trials was to save his wife and two kids. Adam didn’t have it in him to reveal that anyone not in the Trials had been consumed by the All-Seeing System.

The German also raved about the croissants he had recommended him. Willow ordered one as well, and quickly joined in on the praise. Adam was happy to spread the gospel of Jameson’s magical pastries.

When the talk came to Relics and Weapon Types, Lenard revealed that he hadn’t been able to find the Duellist’s Glove. He had instead bought an upgrade for his bow and managed to reach level 6.

“The whole thing started glowing,” he described.

“Did it evolve?” Adam asked. It’d been his main guess as to why the beetle smith had only sold upgrades up to level 6.

Lenard nodded. “I had to choose between Ranger or Trickster. I picked Trickster.” He lifted his bow up to show that it’d gotten smaller. “It is worse in terms of power and penetration, but much faster and manoeuvrable. I tested it out in the Player House earlier.”

“Maybe you’ll be able to evolve it again to get a crossbow or something?” Adam guessed.

“Was the other option long-ranged then?” Willow asked.

She’d for sure have picked Ranger if she had the chance.

Lenard nodded. “I’m hoping for a crossbow, yeah. I didn’t get to try the Ranger one, but it did say longer range and more power. Sounded like a Sniper route almost.”

“Might still lead to a crossbow,” Adam said.

Willow frowned. “Crossbows aren’t superior to bows. Compound bows can beat them in everything except penetrative power.”

Adam could immediately sense that the topic was a minefield, and didn’t know enough to make any conclusions himself.

Thankfully, Lenard quickly provided an escape, as he said, “I got something else too. It’s called a Mastery Shard.”

He pulled out a pyramid gem and placed it on the table between them. It was very similar to the Glass Acorn, as it was translucent and had amber-glowing light inside it.

“This is what Alvida wants to trade for!” Willow realised.

Adam nodded.

So much for getting these things easily… The Vanity upgrade requires 10 of these, meaning I’d have to evolve a weapon 10 times… If it’s 6 levels per evolution, that’s a heck of a lot of upgrades. All just to turn one of the Interim Island insects into a human…

He also had to wonder how anyone who didn’t loop was going to be able to afford the more expensive upgrades. It was clear that the All-Seeing System had designed the Trials of Defiance with looping in mind… just not the way Adam was doing it.

Lenard obviously asked who Alvida was, and Willow and Adam went on to describe her location and upgrades, while silently agreeing to walk around the topic of Adam looping through time. Although, it seemed Willow mainly avoided talking about it because she still wasn’t fully convinced.

It’d be impossible to provide definitive proof, he considered. Even if I came back and was able to recount her background story perfectly, she’d just assume I was a stalker or something.

After the conversation naturally switched to what they expected for Stage Two, Willow ended up joining in on their bet about the enemy type they’d face next. She was certain it would be something that would require them to prove their skill, such as other humans. It was not lost on Adam that her guess matched Ilya’s, and he felt that it was quite telling that the two strongest Players he’d encountered agreed on their predictions.

When it seemed close to midnight, although there were no clocks or windows to the outside to track the time with, Charlie the Tavernkeeper came up to Adam. Based on how Lenard and Willow turned away, it seemed this was happening to all of them simultaneously.

“Adam, the Dimensional Tavern will be closing in a few moments.”

Then Shitbox piped up. It had been mostly silent throughout the night, which he appreciated.

[It is recommended that you return to the Player House and get proper sleep before Stage Two. It will commence at dawn. The Player House can be found on the eastern side of Interim Island.]

“What about breakfast?”

“You will be able to eat at the Tavern when you return,” Charlie told him.

Adam looked to his companions.

“It seems we’ll have to go our separate ways for now.”

Lenard and Willow turned back to face him.

“Be careful out there,” Lenard said.

Willow nodded. “I think I will try to aim for the no-hit bonus.”

“Me too,” Adam said. “See you both tomorrow.”

***

Adam walked to the Player House in the moonlit night. In the light, the dumpy houses looked even less like buildings and more like failed clay sculptures. Unlike normal, Shitbox was leading the way this time, as though not trusting him to get there on his own.

After some minutes, he arrived at the round patch of grass with the little house in the middle and brown wooden fence around it. A small variant of the Magical Forest’s apple tree stood next to it and a tennis-ball-sized blue slime huddled by its roots, fast asleep. The house had a rounded straw-brown roof and white walls with black stripes that looked like melted wax. There was a brown door and two windows, but he knew they were just decorations.

[This is the Player House. Within is­—]

“Skip.”

He walked through the fence gate, eyeing the slime.

[Secret Relic activated.]

Adam blinked in surprise as the Glass Acorn lifted itself out of his right pocket. It floated over near the apple tree and settled into the grass.

“Did it just plant itself?” he asked.

[The Secret Relic’s effect requires it to be planted in the Player House garden.]

“Are there other Relics like that?”

[Yes.]

Almost thought it wouldn’t answer that question.

I wonder if the Acorn sticks around between loops.

Adam walked over to where it’d settled itself into the ground and immediately its description appeared.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Glass Acorn (Rare) — Grows for 3 Stages >

It should be fully-grown when I’m done with Stage Four.

He suddenly yawned, the moment stretching for several beats, and realised he was actually exhausted.

I guess I haven’t slept in close to three days…

Unless dying counts.

Yeah… It probably doesn’t…

He went through the door to the Player House and was met with the familiar interior.

A large bed with fluffy pillows took up an entire corner, and there were shelves, racks, and mannequins next to it. Unlike last time, there was a trophy on one of the shelves. It was bronze and shaped like a slime.

Walking over to inspect it, he saw that the plaque read ‘Magical Forest Speedrun’.

Wait. If this is bronze, that means there are two extra trophies for the Stage.

No-hit is obviously one of them, but what’s the last one?

Adam eyed the large bathtub in the other corner and decided to take a bath before going to bed. But first, he wanted to test out the Slime Glove on the straw dummy.

He started off by just touching the dummy’s torso with the glove. It immediately started to dissolve the straw.

Hmm, that’s an unlisted use.

Good to know that it can be utilised this way though.

After pulling his hand away, there was a handprint eaten out of the centre. He took a few steps back and tried to activate its projectile, but it took a few different gestures until he discovered one that worked.

Clenching his fist and punching it forward while opening it caused a baseball-sized glob of acidic jelly to shoot out of his palm. The glove vibrated strangely after firing off a piece of itself.

It struck the dummy and immediately dissolved the straw, turning it black before fully erasing it. The glob moved through the body, melting it down to nothingness. As it reached the floor, it continued eating through the wooden boards for a few seconds, before disappearing into itself.

“I can change the dummy into a Slime, right?”

[Correct. Would you like to alter the dummy’s appearance and resistances?]

“Yes, make it a Purple Slime.”

[Understood.]

The air flickered and an exact replica of the enemy he’d picked appeared. The floor also returned to normal.

Adam immediately tried the projectile attack again, but nothing happened.

It took him a second to realise why.

Oh, right. Cooldown.

He swung his spear around in a flourish and nailed the two cores within the target in quick succession. The dummy fell apart instead of exploding like it would have were it real, then flickered and rematerialized intact.

With two quick jabs, he killed it again.

When it repaired itself a third time, he took a step back and then fired the Green Slime glob at the dummy. It struck its body and slid off harmlessly.

“What just happened?”

[Slimes are resistant to corrosive damage.]

That makes sense. Don’t know what I was expecting to be honest.

Anyway, I guess that’s enough experimentation. It’s much easier to use than the Blink Ring, that’s for sure.

Also seems stronger than the Duellist’s Glove, although I’m sure corrosive resistance might show up again later.

“Shitbox, how do I use the bathtub?”

[Would you like to take a bath?]

“Yes.”

[Understood.]

The entire jacuzzi-sized tub flickered and reappeared full of steaming fragrant water.

Adam took a pleasant bath and then went to sleep.

***

In his dreams, Adam saw the eye in the darkness.

It was staring at him, boring into his soul.

The vision of the eye scared him, because to him it was synonymous with death.

Like every time before, the iris was his own silhouette.

When the eye blinked, he suddenly felt like he was falling.

< < Now Entering > >

< Stage 2 >

< The Goblin Village >

< 5 Waves >

Adam awoke standing on his feet. Below him was light-brown dirt. Nearby were simple huts, and the area was much larger than the first Stage’s.

Damn, turns out I was the one who was right… he considered, seeing the name of the place.

Not a fan of going to sleep and waking up in a Stage though.

But at least I feel fully-rested.

In the distance were trees not too dissimilar to the ones that’d surrounded the clearing of Stage One. The huts looked like they were made of thatch and straw, and they got bigger the further away from him they moved. There was a hill in the distance and what looked like a cave was dug down into it.

[Stage Two is different from Stage One. Players must fight their way through the Goblin Village with each Wave.]

“Does that mean they won’t just come to me?”

[Yes.]

That complicates things.

“Status,” he said, bringing up his info.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Lancer >

< Level 5 >

< Stats >

< Health — 100 >

< Stamina — 150 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 100% >

< Defence — 100% >

< Speed — 165% >

< Upgrades >

< Force (Rare) >

< Movement (Rare) >

The Movement should serve me well here. Force too, if the goblins have armour.

[Wave 1 will begin in 60 seconds.]

“Armament.”

< < Weapon Status > >

< Spear >

< Common Quality >

< Level 3 >

< General Upgrades >

< Spear Damage 20% >

< Spear Speed 10% >

Adam looked through the two pop-ups filling his vision, while walking towards the cave in the distance. The huts naturally guided him straight to it, but after passing the fourth building, he stopped moving forward. The sensation was almost like walking on a treadmill.

He stared down at his feet. They were moving but going nowhere. “Why can’t I go further?”

[Each Wave has a set perimeter. Every subsequent Wave expands the area.]

[45 seconds remaining.]

He ran back the way he’d come, seeing how far he could go. Past the four huts were another two rows and then a large rock. There was a boundary just in front of the rock that sat in the middle of the ‘street’, but he could see more buildings behind it.

I’m assuming I’ll have to move towards the cave with every Wave and perhaps even into it, but it might be worth checking this area after Wave One.

Maybe the rock will disappear? There might be a secret hidden away beyond it.

Since the first Stage had a secret, it seemed all but inevitable that the Village would have one too. However, from the design of the surroundings and the fact that the ‘playable’ area grew with every Wave, there were a hundred different places to hide away something small like the Glass Acorn.

[20 seconds remaining.]

Adam quickly checked the sides near the huts and found that he could actually enter them. The boundary was on the other side of them. The interiors were all really basic. They each had a wicker basket of worms and bugs, possibly the resident’s food; a simple straw bed; and random knick-knacks like peculiarly-shaped branches and rocks.

[5 seconds remaining.]

Adam left the hut and returned to where he’d arrived.

He scanned the surroundings, while clenching the shaft of his spear.

I’ll have to watch my surroundings well. There’s no telling where they’ll come from.

And goblins are small sneaky bastards, at least if they’re anything like the ones from games and fantasy stories.

The boundary setup meant that, for Wave One at least, he’d be fighting in fairly close quarters.

Ranged Players will have a hard time here, I think.

< < Wave One > >

< 60-Second Timer >

Alright. Here we go.

From where he stood were four huts on either side of him running down the ‘street’. From the second on the right and the third on the left emerged a green goblin each. Both wielded thick clubs made from branches, with handles carved into them.

The goblins were diminutive creatures. They screamed when they spotted him, perhaps in an attempt to be frightening, but Adam was already moving.

With a fast lunge, he speared the one on the right through the eye, immediately killing it.

As it died, it pulled his weapon down with it. He tried to yank it free as the second one charged him, but the spear-tip was trapped inside the skull’s eye socket.

Adam pulled his gloved hand off the shaft and aimed it at the goblin running straight at him, its club lifted above its large head.

With a punch and release motion, he shot a glob of the highly-corrosive green jelly right into its face.

It immediately began to squeal like a pig on fire. The sound was horrendous, but it was dead after only a couple seconds. The acid continued to devour its flesh as it ran down its body.

Holy fuck!

That’s way too gruesome!

He looked down at the green glove on his right hand, frowning at just how destructive it was.

With a grunt of effort, he tore the spear free from the dead goblin’s head, while pressing the heel of his shoe against the side of it. In the process, he fractured the skull and the creature’s head deflated.

Adam swallowed down the urge to vomit.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 10 seconds.]

[Completing a Wave this quickly results in the rewards going up one rarity level.]

He took a few steps back from the goblin he’d slain. It wasn’t until then that it really struck him.

I just killed a sapient creature… Two of them. Without even hesitating…

The goblin he’d speared was about 1.2 metres tall, with the head twice as large as it would’ve been on a human. Its skin had a greasy sheen and was covered in coarse black hairs. It wore no clothes, but was fortunately shaped like a Ken doll. The hands and feet were also larger than they should be, and each digit was capped with a black claw. It had a big nose and large droopy ears. Strangely, the eyes were the same size as a human’s, but given the size of everything else, they looked tiny. There was a strong resemblance with pigs going on.

The other goblin was basically just a skeleton with a few patches of resilient skin and flesh here-and-there. The acidic glob had almost devoured it entirely.

Bile rose in Adam’s throat again.

Unlike the slimes which conveniently evaporated when they were defeated, the goblins remained where they’d died.

< < Wave One Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

Shitbox was in the middle of unfolding into an upgrade podium, when he asked, “Will the corpses persist between Waves?”

[Yes.]

That might cause problems… he considered.

He thought about dragging the bodies off to the side, but he really didn’t want to touch them.

Familiar symbols appeared over the podium’s three steps. One of the spear upgrades was rare, but he already knew he wouldn’t be picking it.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Growth (Uncommon) — Increases spear length by 30% >

< Throw Speed (Rare) — Increases throwing speed by 35% >

< Bleed (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict Bleed dealing 10% Weapon Damage over the course of 10 seconds >

More reach might be good. I just have to be careful not to make the weapon too long, in case I have to fight inside the cave.

Although I do have the Slime Glove as backup, which is reassuring.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spear Growth (Uncommon) >

The caramel-brown wooden spear grew to about two metres in length, with the dark metal tip barely getting any longer.

It seems to mostly increase the length of the shaft, which is not ideal.

The centre of balance also shifted quite a lot.

“Shitbox, how long until my Glove is ready to fire again?”

[25 seconds.]

I should’ve spent more time before selecting, he realised, as the second Wave began.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Seven

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter Seven

Adam had eaten two of the croissants before he made it to the Market, but at this point he’d reached his limit. He halted as he saw the Wasp strumming the guitar.

“Hello Adam,” she said in a sultry voice.

“Hi again, Yenna,” he greeted.

The response confused her by the looks of it, as she tilted her head while her black compound eyes stared at him.

“I mean, nice to meet you.”

“Do you like my melodies?”

“They’re quite nice, yea.”

“If you’d like, you can request any instrument or melody that you want.”

He thought about it for a moment, then asked, “Do you know Estas Tonne?”

“I do. Would you like me to play some of his melodies?”

“That’d be great.”

Yenna lowered her head and started strumming the guitar strings. He recognised it as the beginning to ‘Internal Flight’.

Adam continued into the Market, but walked past all the vendors until he got to the freaky spider that sold Relics.

Despite thinking he’d gotten used to the sight, he still couldn’t help but frown as he stopped before her stall.

“Welcome, Adam. I am Lucca.”

“Seriously, Shitbox. Why couldn’t you have made the Vendors human?”

[I was not the one who chose their appearance.]

Lucca chittered. “I prefer eight limbs to four,” she said.

“I’d just be way more comfortable if I was looking at a human face at least.”

“If it is any consolation, your countenance is also upsetting to my eyes. You are very flappy.”

Adam frowned. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“I sell Rerolls and Relics,” Lucca said, returning to business mode. She then reiterated her prices just like the first time he’d been here, while four items popped out of the black chest next to her, hovering above the lid. “My Rerolls cost 100 Points. The price of the Relics is based on their rarity, with Common being worth 150, Uncommon 300, Rare 500, Epic 1000, and so on. If you do not like the options I have, you can always Reroll them.

“I will also buy any Relics of yours for half their worth. For example, you could sell me your Bark Armour for 150 Points.”

Adam looked at the four options on display. There were two Commons and two Rares.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Healing Apple (Common) — If the Player’s health falls below 25%, this apple is consumed, healing them back to full. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

< Slime Coating (Common) — The Player's weapons are coated with the essence of a Blue Slime, imbuing them with 10% additional Corrosive Damage. The Relic lasts for 3 Stages >

< Boomerang Pendant (Rare) — Returns thrown objects. 15 second cooldown >

< Scope of Insight (Rare) — Any target viewed through this Relic has their weaknesses laid bare >

The Healing Apple must be a guaranteed option no matter what.

Oh, that’s the Relic that Ilya was talking about.

Still, I have 693 Points. I should probably reroll and see what I can get. A Rare is 500 after all.

“I’ll buy a Reroll Die and use it immediately,” Adam said.

“Excellent,” Lucca chittered ominously.

The die lifted itself from the red velvet pillow and began spinning. Light shone from the ten numerals etched into it and the four options were sucked back into the black chest. Then the die popped in a small golden explosion.

The chest rumbled for a moment as though alive and golden light leaked out from under its lid. A moment later, the lid shot open dramatically and revealed four new options.

Adam immediately noticed the purple glow of the Epic item. It was a crown.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Slime Core (Common) — The brain and heart of a Slime >

< Committed Attack Ring (Uncommon) — All Cooldown-based Relics gain a second use that can be triggered within 10 seconds of the first activation, but the cooldown is tripled >

< Green Slime Glove (Rare) — Player can touch corrosive materials | Fire a glob of highly-corrosive green slime. 60 second cooldown >

< Slime King’s Crown (Epic) — Become the King of Slimes | Player turns into a humanoid Slime with four cores that each hold 25% of total health >

The Slime Crown sounds quite interesting. Although, if I become a Slime, then it’ll be quite easy for someone to kill me with a piercing weapon.

Wait there’s another option with 2 effects. It’s Rare.

Adam looked at the strange green jelly glove.

I can afford that. Shooting green slime sounds kind of cool.

I could also sell my Bark Armour, reroll again, and see if something useful comes along. However, it seems that all options are changed when a Reroll Die is used.

He couldn’t decide what to do.

“Lucca, do you think I should get the glove?”

“Yes, please use all your Points on my wares.”

Adam frowned. “That doesn’t help me…”

[The Dimensional Tavern can be utilised if you’d like to obtain information about a Relic,] Shitbox said.

He sighed. “Guess I’ll go back there.”

From the position of the sun, he figured there was only about an hour of daylight left. He needed to hurry.

***

“Show me everyone who got the Green Slime Glove.”

The tables of the Tavern filled with holograms of people, then flickered a moment later and replaced everyone, repeating again a few seconds later.

Okay, that’s quite a lot…

“Filter by those who know how it works and haven’t unlocked Speedrun or no-hit bonuses.”

The holograms flickered and there were now about twelve people scattered across the hundreds of seats, with one even seated up above on the first floor.

That’s actually a good way to find useful trades, he realised. I should do that next time I’m looking for info.

Adam addressed them, “I’m looking to trade info about an integral Trials feature to the first person who can explain how the Slime Glove functions.”

“I’ll trade!” a female voice immediately called from above. The accent was British.

The other holograms flickered out before they could even say anything. Then the woman appeared in front of Adam. She had dark skin and black hair cut in a bob. Her apple-cheeks made her seem friendly. In front of her was a chai latte and a half-eaten cinnamon palmier.

Just like him, she was wearing the Bark Armour Relic, which covered her white blouse. On her left hand was the Green Slime Glove. He frowned when he saw that her bones were visible within the jelly that’d replaced her skin and flesh.

“Hello!” she greeted eagerly. “Oh, we picked the same clothes. Awkward…”

“Hi there,” he replied. “I guess I should start?”

“Don’t worry, it isn’t possible to run away from a trade when you’ve agreed to it,” she told him. “You physically can’t pull yourself out of the seat until the trade is done.”

That’s good to know. But also kind of scary. Hopefully there are protections in place to avoid someone getting locked into a trade they can’t complete.

“I’m Adam,” he said.

“Kate,” she replied, raising her hand above the table.

Adam grinned and leaned forward to high-five her, although their fingers passed through each other.

“Okay, so,” he started. “The first Stage had both Speedrun and no-hit bonuses.”

“I must’ve been really close,” she said. “Eyebox told me I was fast on some Stages. Those spikey bastards gave me quite a lot of trouble though.”

“I think the threshold must be something like 200 seconds. I call my guy Shitbox by the way.”

Kate laughed. “That’s much better than my nickname. Is no-hit just avoiding damage?”

He nodded.

“That’s good to know.”

“They give bonus points, with the no-hit one giving the most, at least in the first Stage.”

“I suppose I should try to get that one then. I got hit quite a lot in the first Stage,” she admitted with a frown. Then she lifted her left hand. “Putting this on wasn’t pleasant either. Quite cruel these Trials, wouldn’t you say?”

“Sadistic,” he agreed, nodding. “Is it good? The glove’s attack, I mean.”

“It is,” she replied. “The projectile it shoots completely destroyed the target dummy in my Player House. It even damaged the floor.”

“I think I might get it then,” he said.

“What weapon do you use?” Kate asked.

“A spear. It was perfect against the slimes.”

“I picked the Rapier,” she said placing the weapon on the table.

“What Weapon Type is that?”

“Duellist.”

Ah, I think I got that option at the start as well.

[Another Player is trying to communicate with you. Do you wish to talk to them?]

Adam turned to look back at Shitbox hovering behind him.

“Sure, I’ll talk to them.”

[Understood.]

“It seems someone else wants to trade with me,” Adam told Kate.

“Talk to you later,” she said with a wave. “Thanks for the trade.”

Then she winked out, only to be replaced by a woman with dark hair in a ponytail. She wore a light-grey blouse with long sleeves and there was a pink milkshake in front of her.

Adam blinked in surprise. “Willow?”

The woman looked pretty surprised herself. “Do you know me?”

“Sort of,” he told her.

“You got the Speedrun bonus and the Secret, right?”

“That’s right,” he replied. “Did you get those too?”

“I did. But it seems there’s only two of us.”

“There were actually two other guys,” he told her. “A German and a Russian.”

“Maybe they’re not here right now.”

“They went ‘shopping’,” Adam explained. “I was actually about to leave for the Market as well.”

“I see. I was hoping we could talk a little bit about the Stage.”

She seemed less sure of herself than the first time they’d spoken, but perhaps it was due to the dynamic being different this time around. Or maybe it was because he’d called her by her name.

“If you can wait like 20 minutes, then I’ll be back. My name’s Adam by the way. Adam Fischer.”

“I’m Willow, although you somehow already knew.”

“And your last name? It’ll make you easy to find. There are quite a lot of people in Australia called Willow.”

She blinked in surprise, then laughed. “Are you stalking me?”

“I promise you the answer is way more bizarre than you can guess, but I really need to get going before it becomes dark.”

“Don’t leave me hanging, Adam Fischer,” she said. “My full name is Willow Martin.”

***

“I’ll buy the Green Slime Glove,” Adam told Lucca.

“That will be 500 points,” the spider replied, a sinisterly-gleeful tone in her voice.

I could sell the Bark Armour and get 2 Rerolls, or more points to spend on Luvicidix’s upgrades.

No, it’s better I keep it.

“Deal,” he said.

Then the Green Slime Glove appeared on his right hand.

Adam screamed in sudden indescribable pain.

He was immediately reminded of his previous run, where he’d destroyed his hand by sticking it inside a Blue Slime. This was way more aggressive, since the slime was green.

Kate you bastard! You could’ve warned me it was this bad!

After ten brutal seconds spent in jaw-clenching agony, the pain subsided. From his wrist to his fingertips were now only bones, with the green slime replacing his skin and flesh.

Adam flexed his fingers and could easily move them. In fact, there was no discernible difference.

Hopefully I can still use my weapon.

He shifted the spear he’d been leaning on to his right hand, but even as the green jelly touched the wooden shaft, nothing happened.

I can even feel what the glove is touching. That’s very peculiar.

What happens if I unequip the Relic though?

The sun was setting, so Adam bid farewell to the spider.

See you in my nightmares…

***

He managed to return to the centre of Interim Island, where he’d first met the White Moth, before it became night.

Time froze as silver scales rained down around him.

“Hello again, Adam,” came the voice of Luvicidix from above.

Then she landed before him on the street, her arrival utterly silent.

“You came just in time.”

“Why do you have to leave when it becomes dark?”

“I cannot say.”

Adam suddenly remembered something he’d wanted to check during his first life.

“Is it because of that tent in the Garden?”

“I… cannot say.”

That pause seems like a clue!

“Anyway, I wanted to put my remaining 93 Points into one of your Upgrades.”

“Which one?”

“The Rewards Upgrade.”

“Of course.”

< < Meta Upgrades Progress > >

< Rewards — Increase Reward Options by 1 — 93/4000 points >

“You have used up all your Points,” Luvicidix stated. “I will now take my leave.”

“Hey, wait!”

The silver scales floating in the air all pulled themselves back to the Moth’s white wings. Then she flapped them once and shot into the air, disappearing into a sunset-coloured cloud.

I guess I’ll go to the Garden before I return to the Tavern.

He’d only been gone for about 10 minutes, but he was worried Willow would leave before he returned.

From the centre of the island, he headed west. As he moved past the many dumpy buildings, the sun fully set and submerged the houses and streets in darkness. A few minutes passed where he fumbled around, trying to stay on course.

Then the moon arose from the east and cast a silver light across his surroundings. It had the intensity of the sun, but its light was cold and unwelcoming.

After a few minutes he found the garden with the strangely-shaped flowerbeds. Just like the first time, they were placed in three layers like some kind of strange symbol, with parts missing to allow people to walk through without trampling the flowers. The outermost layer was a square, the middle was a ring, and the centre was a triangle. Inside the triangle-shaped flowerbeds was a dark-blue tent.

All the flowers were Dahlias and, in the silver light of the moon, all of them were black.

Well, that’s new.

“Still got nothing to say about this place?” Adam goaded Shitbox.

[It is recommended that you visit the Player House and get proper sleep before tomorrow. The Player House is located on the edge of Interim Island to the east. Stage Two will commence tomorrow at dawn.]

He shook his head.

As expected.

Adam walked through the gaps in the patterns the flowerbeds were arranged into. When he reached the centre and stood before the tent, he realised that another thing had changed. The door flap was pulled down and purple light spilled out from within.

His heart started suddenly pounding against his ribcage.

I wonder what’s inside.

Adam cautiously lifted the flap. Incense and smoke wafted out, obscuring his view. Despite not knowing what awaited him inside, he entered.

As the flap closed behind him, the obscuring fog dissipated. A round wooden table stood between him and a small black moth, which crouch-perched atop a high-backed chair. Its body was as dark as its black compound eyes. It was like it was a piece of shadow sculpted into physical form.

Tiny ash-like scales floated around in the air, orbiting the brown table and chair. A fine silken shawl full of intricate patterns was spread over the table and atop it stood a glass orb that gave off the purple light he’d seen.

Another merchant?

It’s a moth like Luvicidix, so maybe that’s a clue to its purpose.

“You do not have… what I seek, Adam.”

The voice was predictably female, but the tone was bored and tired, as though she didn’t want to be here.

“Can I still see what you sell, even though I’m out of Points?”

“It is not Points… that I seek.”

Uh oh. It’s probably some weird sacrifice thing then… This moth isn’t giving off the most trustworthy impression after all.

“If not Points, then what are you after?”

“Shards of Mastery.”

“What’s that?”

The black moth did not answer. Or, more likely, she wasn’t allowed to.

He turned to look at the tesseract, but it was stuck in the doorway, frozen in time.

“Are you another loop-based vendor?” he asked.

“You have met my… twin?”

“Luvicidix is your twin?”

The moth inclined her head slightly.

“I am Alivida. I am night. My twin is day.”

“Uhuh… So, can I see what you’re offering?”

“You do not possess… the shards.”

He frowned.

The moth didn’t seem to like that expression very much.

“Fine… I will show you regardless. But… do not return without shards.”

“Deal.”

< < Mastery Upgrades For Sale > >

< Hardmode — Unlock a toggleable Stage Hardmode — 1 Shard >

< Second Sheath — Carry 1 additional Weapon — 2 Shards >

< Orb of Insight — View info about the upcoming Stage — 3 Shards >

< Visiting Stone — Visit the Dimension of a known Player — 8 Shards >

< Vanity — Turn an Interim Island Denizen into a humanoid — 10 Shards >

“Holy shit,” he muttered in awe.

There’s actually a way to transform all these creepy insects into humans!

And there’s a way to visit other Players!

Man… All of these upgrades are great.

I really need to get my hands on some shards!

“These upgrades, are they like Luvicidix’s? Do they carry over between loops?”

“They are and they do.”

“I’ll get my hands on these shards and return as soon as possible!”

“Take your time…”

Adam pushed aside the tent flap and ran back towards the distant Tavern. A shit-eating grin was plastered on his face.

***

“You’re back,” Willow said, surprised. “And right on time too.”

Adam was breathing quickly from his spirited jog from the Garden to the Tavern.

“I’ve got so much to tell you!”

“First, you have to tell me how you know my name.”

Adam put his hands on the table and leaned forward.

Willow copied him and leaned in conspiratorially.

“I killed the tesseract. Just like we talked about, the first time that I met you.”

She pulled back slightly. “I don’t remember ever meeting you before,” she said with a frown. “But, I’m glad it’s possible. Fuck that little murder cube.”

“The thing is. When I did it, it blew up and killed me. But for some reason, I went back in time. Although, things are different now. You had a bow when we first met, as well as the Blink Ring Relic.”

Willow leaned back, narrowing her eyes. “You sound like a crazy person.”

“I know!” Adam admitted.

This time around Willow had a magic staff. It leaned against the stool next to her and was a gnarled wooden thing.

“I would’ve picked bow if it was an option,” she admitted. She took a long sip of her milkshake, then fixed Adam with a suspicious look. “How do I know you’re actually telling the truth?”

“Go to the dark-blue tent in the Garden on the western side of the Island, you’ll meet a black moth named Alvida there. Ask her if the mastery upgrades she sells carry over between loops. If she can’t answer that, ask about her twin, Luvicidix. She’s a white moth who sells meta upgrades that persist between loops.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked. “I mean, if this is true, shouldn’t you be keeping it to yourself?”

She’s right of course, but I can’t just keep this to myself.

I’d go crazy if no one knew…

He nodded and said, “You obviously don’t remember this, but the first time we met in here, you helped me out. Thanks to you, I was able to destroy Shitbox.”

Adam looked back to where the tesseract floated, but it seemed to not be paying attention to their conversation. It was also possible that any talk of looping back in time was obscured from it by the All-Seeing System. Initially, it’d tried to interrogate him about how he knew things he shouldn’t be able to know, but it had stopped, which was unsettling in a way.

Willow made to stand. “I will go check the Garden. I’d like to trust you, but it honestly just sounds insane to me.”

Adam smiled weakly. “More insane than being transported here by a floating talking box?”

“I’ll be back.”

Then her hologram flickered and vanished.

The tavern fell silent.

Adam waved over Charlie the red ant.

“Yes, Adam?”

“I’d like to try your cheeseburger,” he told her. “I have it on good authority that it’s delicious. Also, another milkshake please.”

“Anything else?”

He looked to the plate of croissants he’d brought with him. There were still two left.

“I’m good for now,” he said.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Six

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Been almost a month since the last chapter, but I'm back to writing on this daily. While editing Madman Book 1 (yep, still on that...) and preparing for my exams in January.

Next chapter should be out sometime this weekend.

Have to add *** to denote timeskips, because Patreon is still bugged and deleting all paragraph spacing...

-----------------------------

Chapter Six

“Who are you?” Adam asked, while staring right into the large black compound eyes of the white moth.

“Why, I’m Luvicidix of course!”

“I’ve got no fucking clue who you are. This is my first time here…” In this life.

The moth lifted one of the four black-banded legs she was using as arms, touching her comb-like antennae. It looked like a nervous mannerism.

“There must’ve been some mistake. I was clearly informed that I was to arrive here once you returned.”

“I’m super lost,” Adam admitted.

“Me also,” the moth replied.

“That really doesn’t help… What kind of stuff do you sell? I’m guessing you’re a vendor.”

Adam looked to the tesseract for guidance, but it was staying silent. Or rather, it was frozen in place. In the distance, the plume of smoke from the Tavern was unmoving, and even the ever-present guitar melody had paused.

“Are you stopping time?”

The moth nodded eagerly.

He couldn’t tell which of his questions she was responding to.

And I thought the normal vendors were bizarre, but this one takes the crown for sure.

“Yes, yes, I can pause time. Handy isn’t it?”

“Concerning, more like. Seriously, what is your deal?”

The moth, which was about a head taller than him, leaned down slightly. “Is this really your first time here?”

Adam sighed. “No,” he then answered.

“Aha! I knew I wasn’t in the wrong place!”

“Do you know why I go back in time when I die?”

Luvicidix seemed confused. “Pardon?”

“Weren’t you talking about my ability to go back in time?”

“Yes, of course! But what’s this talk about dying?”

“That’s how I go back!” he exclaimed, becoming quite frustrated with its nonsensical responses and reactions.

“Peculiar. I’m only meant to show up for Players who find and utilise the Divine Relic known as ‘The Self-devouring Eye’. It doesn’t kill you when you use it.”

“A self-devouring eye?” he asked. “What the hell is that?”

“So you didn’t obtain the Relic and use that to go back in time?”

“No!”

The moth leaned in closer. “Then how?”

Adam glanced back to the tesseract which was frozen in place behind him. Then he ran his eyes up-and-down the moth.

Can I really trust this thing?

But it seems like maybe it knows something useful…

“Don’t tell anyone this,” he started.

The moth nodded.

“I managed to kill that floating box there during my first life, but it exploded and killed me in return. As soon as I died, I was sent to this black darkness with a big eye and a strange silhouette that looked like me. Then I woke up back at the start of the first Stage.”

“Most bizarre,” the moth commented. “Certainly an unorthodox method of obtaining the ability to rewind time.”

“I’m not rewinding time when I die,” he replied.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes! If I were, then my rewards would be identical right?”

“Of course.”

“Well, they aren’t! First time I got offered things that never showed up during this life, like different starting weapons. The Relics awarded after killing the boss are different too.”

The moth hummed speculatively, causing several silver scales to lift off her glistening wings and orbit around the two of them.

“I think I might have a guess as to what have happened. But if you return to me after your next trip back in time, I should have figured it out.”

“You want me to die so you can study me?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, I’m not fucking doing that. That’s psychotic.”

“A shame. Some of my Upgrades are only useable once you start back over.”

“Upgrades? What kind?”

“The kind that spans more than one life,” Luvicidix promised.

With a beat of her wings, a menu suddenly appeared in front of Adam. There were currently six upgrades available to him, though several more were greyed out and illegible.

< < Meta Upgrades For Sale > >

< Damage — Increase All Damage by 10% — 1000 points >

< Rewards — Increase Reward Options by 1 — 4000 points >

< Vendors — Increase Vendor Options by 1 — 4000 points >

< Rerolls — Start every loop with 1 Reroll Dice — 2500 points >

< Relic Saving — Start every loop with 1 Saved Relic Slot — 5000 points >

< Cheat Death — Start every loop with the Cheat Death Relic — 10000 points >

“Woah.”

Luvicidix nodded eagerly. “I am very good to know, right?”

“I can’t afford any of those. The prices are insane.”

Basically all of them were ones he wanted, except maybe the damage one. Getting more reward and vendor options would help a ton, but so would starting with a Reroll.

“Worry not, Adam! You may pay towards unlocking the upgrades incrementally across several loops if you wish. Once they are unlocked, they will remain, even when you die and return!”

“Loops?”

“Is that not what you are doing?” the moth asked philosophically. “Are you not in a loop, returning to your starting point once it ends?”

“I guess so…”

“Would you like to buy anything at this moment?”

“No, I’d rather spend my Points on Relics I think.”

“I will be here when you come back,” she said, as though it was inevitable that Adam would give her his points.

“Actually, I had some questions.”

“Of course.”

“Can you tell me what lies ahead? If you’ve seen past ‘loops’, you must know what the next Stages are.”

“While I work beyond the scrutiny of that thing,” Luvicidix said, pointing an arm at Shitbox. “I am yet bound by the All-Seeing System’s rules. I cannot tell you anything that would be deemed advantageous.”

Adam sighed. “It was worth a try.”

“If you have questions that do not run afoul of this rule, I am happy to answer.”

He thought about it for a moment. Most of his questions were things that would probably be deemed advantageous to know the answers to.

“Why are you stopping time?”

The moth rubbed her antennae again.

Adam gave her a suspicious glance.

Is she avoiding the question?

The moth seemed to sigh, before answering. “Things are complicated by it knowing I exist. The All-Seeing System deemed it to be for the best that I remain ‘undetected’.”

“I don’t understand,” Adam replied, confused. “Isn’t the tesseract a part of the System?”

“Tesseract? Is that what you think it is? But, I cannot answer that.”

“How is the answer advantageous!?” he exclaimed. “That makes no sense!”

“Do you have any other questions?”

Adam frowned. He hated that none of the creatures in Interim Island were allowed to be forthcoming, even though they possessed so many answers.

Calm down. It’s not her fault she can’t answer.

He realised he had a different question.

“Will you remember me if I die?”

Although Luvicidix’s face was that of a moth, she still managed to convey a smile. Somehow.

“Of course, Adam!”

“Even if I don’t return in the way that you expect?”

“Certainly! I transcend—”

The moth stopped mid-sentence.

“What?” he asked.

“I cannot say.”

“Of course…” he groaned.

“Do you have other questions?”

“I guess not… Or wait, I do have one last one. How do I find you again? Do you disappear when time resumes?”

“In a way, but I will wait here for your return. However, I must leave when night falls on Interim Island.”

“Why?”

Luvicidix rubbed her antennae.

“Can’t say?”

“Indeed,” she replied.

“Well, I’m off then. But I’ll probably be back before nightfall if I have any Points left.”

“See you then,” she said cheerfully.

The floating silver scales returned to the white moth’s wings and Adam blinked involuntarily.

In that split-second, the moth vanished from sight.

The tesseract floated over to him.

“Shitbox, did you see that?” he asked.

[I don’t know what you are referring to.]

“Nevermind then.”

Adam walked towards the Tavern in the distance.

***

[This is the Dimensional Tavern. Here you may—]

“Skip,” he said as he walked through the door.

The long wooden tables appeared along with the scent of baked bread.

Adam breathed in deeply.

The red ant approached as he walked over to a stool.

“Hello Adam, my name is Charlie.”

He nodded. “I’ll have eight croissants from Jameson’s Bakery.”

“Anything else?”

He thought about it for a moment. “A strawberry milkshake.”

“Of course,” she replied and left.

Speaking of…

He sat down and the stools filled with people. A cacophony of voices filled the interior.

“Mute all the voices not speaking to me,” he told Shitbox.

The voices died down at once.

[About 500 million Players survived Stage One. Currently, 12 million Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.]

That’s not a lot… I guess I am early.

[It is possible to state your in—]

“Skip. Show me Willow from Australia.”

Hundreds of people appeared along the tables. None of them were the woman he’d met during his first visit to the Tavern. The holograms flickered and were replaced. This happened a few more times before it had cycled through everyone matching his query. Then it went back around.

There was no sign of her.

She might’ve died.

No, that’s unlikely. She seemed resourceful after all.

Maybe she’s still at the vendor?

During his first life, he’d taken his time exploring and gotten here late. There’d been over 80 million people in the Tavern when he arrived.

Maybe she’ll be here later.

He thought about what other queries he had for the Tavern and figured there was an obvious one.

“Show me everyone who has looped.”

[Your query cannot be executed. You may need to rephrase your question.]

Adam frowned.

“Show me everyone who has completed the first Stage more than once.”

[Your query cannot be executed,] Shitbox repeated.

Maybe it isn’t possible to see those who have gone back in time. Or maybe I am not allowed to search for them?

But wait, there’s a way I can maybe ask without breaking the rules.

What was that thing called again?

Oh right.

“Show me everyone who knows about the Self-devouring Eye.”

The tesseract seemed to stutter in place. [What is this object? I am not allowed to learn its nature. How do you know of a restricted item? And your previous questions. Why are you searching for people who fall outside the rules of the Trials of Defiance?]

Adam still had no idea why the tesseract wasn’t allowed to know about Luvicidix and the fact that Players could loop, but he figured it was probably for the best that he didn’t enlighten it. After all, Adam was not following the rules of time-looping that the System designed. Drawing too much attention to himself was obviously a bad idea.

“Just do as I ask,” he demanded.

The holograms of Australians named Willow flickered and disappeared. The tables all emptied out.

No one, huh? he thought, while looking around the interior.

But then he blinked and saw that there was one. Seated up above on the first floor in front of a small table was a single figure. Their body was submerged in shadow. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.

“Hey!” Adam called.

The silhouette turned to look down at him. Then it flickered and vanished.

What the hell.

“Shitbox, who was that?”

[I cannot inform you about other Players. They must share their information with you themselves.]

“Why did they just disappear?”

[If a Player so desires, they can be made inaccessible to others in the Tavern.]

“So, like an anti-harassment feature?”

[That is one of its functions, yes.]

Adam frowned.

They didn’t want me to ask questions…

If they blocked me, I doubt I’ll ever find them again, no matter how I search.

But how did they do it so quickly without saying anything?

“Is there a way to block people without speaking?”

[Yes. You may access the commands and queries using your mind.]

“How does that work?”

[By prompting with your thoughts and forcing the intent.]

I guess I’ll give it a try.

Adam concentrated, furrowing his brow.

Show me everyone who received the Speedrun bonus.

Holograms flickered to life on the stools. All of them filled up.

It worked!

“How many people is that?”

[There are 32.098 Players matching your query.]

If there’s still 12 million in here, then that’s not a lot. About 1 in 400.

Adam suddenly felt quite good about himself.

That was actually a good run then?

I wonder how many found the secret.

Before he could ask the question, Charlie the Tavernkeeper showed up with a plate stacked with the magical croissants and a tall glass of milkshake.

Adam took the plate and glass gratefully.

He ate two croissants immediately, shivering with delight. Then he washed them down with the strawberry shake.

Holy crap!

He looked around and spotted the red ant nearby. “Charlie, where is this milkshake from!?”

She came over and answered, “I made it myself, Adam.”

“Well, it’s delicious!”

“Thank you,” she said, her voice bubbly and warm.

After eating his third and fourth croissant, he turned his mind back to querying the Tavern.

“Show me everyone who found the Glass Acorn,” he said, pulling the Relic out of his pocket.

In the warm golden light of the tavern, tiny particles danced inside the glass with the light.

He looked up and saw that, across the three long tables, only about 63 people were seated. It was a lot less than he had expected. Several of them had thousand-yard stares and were eating without seeming to pay attention to anything. A few were openly crying. Only about seven people were seemingly unaffected, and most were talking into the air, perhaps chatting with others they’d queried to find.

“Remove everyone who didn’t get the Speedrun reward.”

The holograms flickered and winked out until only two people remained seated at nearly opposite ends of his table. They were men, and European both, from the looks of them. One wore a black t-shirt and the other had a straw-brown sweater.

“What weapons did you use?” Adam asked them.

They both turned to look at him. One said a few things into the air, as though bidding farewell to another person. Then they flickered before reappearing opposite him.

“Did you find the Acorn as well?” asked the one to his right. He had a square face with oily-looking brown hair, thick eyebrows, and green-blue eyes. Based on his accent, he was probably German. Still, he was perfectly-understandable to Adam.

Language wasn’t something he’d thought about until then, but it would’ve been an issue if people were supposed to trade info and couldn’t understand one another.

Adam nodded. “I got both the Speedrun and Acorn. It seems only the 3 of us accomplished that. I use a spear by the way.”

The other man nodded. He had an angular face and shoulder-length grey hair. His brows were arched and thin, and his eyes were golden-brown. A bushy moustache crowded his upper lip and stubble ran down the sides of his mouth, ending on his chin.

“I too use the spear. It is a good weapon.” He spoke around a burger he was eating, muffling his voice. Next to the plate for the burger was a basket full of breadsticks.

“I picked the bow,” the German guy said. “My name’s Lenard.”

“I’m Adam.”

Burger guy finished swallowing his bite and said, in a Russian accent, “I am Ilya.”

“Are you French?” Lenard asked Adam.

He saw where his eyes were looking and laughed. “Oh no, I just really like these croissants. You should try them. Just ask Charlie for croissants from Jameson’s Bakery, she’ll know.”

“If you are hungry later, ask her for the homemade cheese burger. It is very delicious,” Ilya recommended.

“I will order the croissant first,” Lenard decided.

“What Relics did you get from the Boss?” Adam asked them. Since the Tavern had been focused heavily on ‘trading’ info the first time he’d come here, he figured they might not be willing to share the info freely. To ease them along, he shared his own reward first. “I got the Bark Armor. It increases defence, but only for a few hits.”

He tapped the bark helmet he was wearing.

Lenard was turned away, presumably speaking to the Tavernkeeper though Adam couldn’t hear him.

“I received the Boomerang Pendant,” Ilya said, pulling it out from under the oversized black band T-shirt he was wearing. “It returns thrown objects. I have not tried it yet, but it is Rare.”

“You can test it out on the dummy in the Player House,” Adam told him.

“That is good advice, thank you.”

“I got the Blink Ring,” Lenard said, having finished ordering his food.

“It pairs well with the bow,” Adam told him.

“I tried it out a little bit, but it’s hard to get used to.”

“If you can find the Duellist’s Glove, you’ll have a very powerful setup,” he advised. “The spider Vendor might sell it in your world.”

“What does it do?”

“It makes charged attacks go through all armour.”

Lenard nodded thankfully. “I will look for it in the Market.” Then he seemed to feel guilty for receiving info in return for nothing and said, “It may be too late to test this, but I had a theory in the first Stage that I couldn’t try because of my bow.”

Adam leaned closer. “What kind of theory?”

“You saw how the cores inside the slimes are what makes them stronger, yeah? I thought that maybe, if you could take out the core from a blue slime and put it inside one of the others, they would evolve.”

That actually makes a lot of sense, Adam realised.

“How would you get a core?” Ilya asked. “No matter how gently I poked them, they would always break.”

“I pulled one out with my bare hand,” Adam admitted. In my previous loop…

Ilya laughed. “Very crazy, your hand must not have been happy.”

“It was really foolish,” he replied. Ilya just laughed more. “But it was possible to recover it intact. It becomes a Relic simply called Slime Core.”

“I am glad you are both so knowledgeable,” Ilya said. “I talked with some others and they do not know much. Many are just crying.”

“Have either of you managed to upgrade your weapons six times?” Adam asked.

They both shook their heads. It was clear neither had visited the Market yet. In a way, it did seem smarter to start with the Tavern before going to the Market.

“I think I may know something to trade,” Ilya said. “You have both been so useful to talk to, so I will share it with you. It will be useful for you in the future I should think.”

Adam and Lenard looked at him in anticipation.

“There were not many who accomplished this besides me in the first Stage, but there is a bonus reward for avoiding damage. For the first Stage, it was 300 Points.”

Damn, he must have gotten a lot of points, Adam considered. I nearly would’ve pulled it off too.

This Ilya guy must be quite proficient and level-headed, given that he did both the Speedrun and avoided taking damage.

Since the Speedrun Bonus was 150 Points, I’m better off going for no-hit runs than fast ones.

“I think I have a guess at what the next Stage could be,” Lenard said, as a Jameson’s croissant, big frothing glass of beer, and a burger appeared in front of him. “It seems very much like a game, these Trials.”

Adam nodded. He’d thought as much himself.

Lenard continued. “If we go by that logic, then Slimes are the weakest monsters an adventurer will encounter. They are not intelligent but still pose a danger. However, considering many people survived, it is safe to say most can handle them. Next should therefore be a type of dangerous animal that poses a bigger risk, such as Wolves or Boars. They are often recurring enemies in games, right?”

“I do not know much about games, but I would think Bandits are next,” Ilya said. “To me, the first Stage was made to separate those too weak-willed to fight from those willing to do what must be done. Now that the culling is done, the real challenge will begin.”

“Could also be humanoid,” Adam suggested, trying to ignore the bone-chilling words coming out of the Russian. “Like Orcs.”

“Or Goblins,” Lenard added. “But if I’m right that the first Stages are tutorials, then I do not think they would introduce intelligent enemies that quickly.”

“Shall we make a wager?” Ilya said. “I say Bandits.”

“I’m picking Wolves then,” Lenard said.

Adam thought about it for a bit. Internally, he hoped Lenard had the right of it, but his guess was they’d toss humanoids at them next. “Goblins,” Adam decided.

Ilya nodded. “We will return here after the next Stage and decide the winner.”

Adam grinned. Even if the other spear-wielder was quite scary, he had the right mindset required to win the Trials.

“I will go to the Market now,” the Russian said, picking up the basket full of breadsticks and putting it under his arm. Then he stood up and disappeared.

Adam looked across at Lenard. “Thank you for the chat. I will go to the Market as well.”

“Goodbye for now,” he replied.

Then Adam got up from the stool and the German’s hologram flickered out. He looked down at his plate with four croissants remaining. With a shrug, he picked it up and went out the door of the Tavern.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Thank you for a great 2024!

Thank you everyone who has or still is supporting me on Patreon.

2024 has been a tremendous year for me in many ways and I have your support to thank for it.

PATREON:

Starting tomorrow, January 1st, I will be releasing a new tier called 'Invoker', which is $5. This will replace the 'Ascendant' tier with no changes other than name and price. I hope everyone still subscribed will switch over and save themselves a bit of money. And don't worry, anyone who switches from Ascendant will be refunded the cost of the Invoker tier.

The plan is to continue with Madman Book 3 in February, while building up the Loopshard backlog over the course of January. It is set to hit RoyalRoad in mid February. I have exams during January, so Loopshard releases will be a bit random, but I'm aiming to at least have 60k words on Patreon before the month's end. I already have 2½ more chapters than what are available on Patreon, they just need to be edited. Once Madman Book 3 is done sometime in Q2 2025, I will pivot to Isekai Exorcist Book 4.

I will of course give a head's up before these various books begin releasing again, but I recommend unsubbing if you are not currently reading Loopshard, and instead returning when the stories that interest you are available.

I understand that supporting me on here is at times frustrating, because I switch between many different stories. It's because of this that I've decided to lower the price.

PUBLISHING:

As I revealed recently, I have signed publishing deals for both Madman Apocalypse and Isekai Exorcist.

Madman will be published as an audiobook by Tantor, narrated by the amazing Eric Michael Summerer. I will be self-publishing the ebook and paperback. Book 1 will be released on May 1st 2025.

Exorcist will be published by Aethon in audiobook, ebook, and print. The release date for Book 1 is slated for somewhere in Q2 2025.

Thanks to the advances from these two deals, I have been able to consider myself a full-time author in 2024. This is something that I've strived for since I was 17 and first started writing. To have it come true is quite spectacular. Hopefully I can keep it up in 2025 as well, that would be the true mark of success.

Thank you everyone for a great year, and I hope to enjoy a great 2025 with all of you!

Happy New Years!

Madman Apocalypse - Book 2 End - Behind the scenes

If you haven't finished reading Madman Apocalypse Book 2 (i.e. up-to-and-including chapter -155), then avoid this post if you don't want to be spoiled!

------------------------------

I figured that, for anyone who's read the ending of Book 2, it might be fun to see how the ending comic was made and the process behind it.

My amazing agent, Edward Kim, worked with Webtoon in the past as part of their Content Acquisition, so he has a lot of knowledge and ties to the webcomic industry. He also has his own team that he's been using for pitches and art and such.

Anyway, I had this idea of doing something different with the end of Book 2, since it was such a big plot-twist. Like, without a doubt the biggest I've done. I thought just delivering it normally would make it feel less special. When I found out he had this team, I got the idea for adapting the ending into a comic.

Here are my initial pitch drawings:

 Pretty good, right?

I then went on to write a script document, which was basically just an early version of the text-based version included in the pdf of chapter -155. After that was written, I wrote a panel breakdown, describing what each panel would have.

Here are my amazing drawings that went along with those:

 
 
 

 
 
 
As you can tell, my paint drawings are quite shit, which is why it was so surprising when the artists were actually able to interpret them and make this:

Working with professionals is pretty awesome to be honest. I mean, this was already more-or-less the concept I'd come up with and provided them, except it looks amazing.

Of course, before this was made, I was sent some various sketches to pick between and mould into the right shape I had in mind. Such as these:

 
After the initial sketch came a version without any colour, to serve as a base for the colourist, who was separate from the person doing the art.

Okay, minor lie, the blood was somewhat coloured in. Not sure why. Also, the intestine hitting the sink was just a stroke of genius, lol.

I initially wanted the Queen to be brownish-red, since that was how the Agents were described. One of the issues I had with the descriptions was that, at the time of initiating the webcomic art, the story was only getting into something like chapter -100. As a result, I had to plan pretty far ahead, which is something I don't really do <.< at least not down to colour schemes and the minutiae of details.

Anyway, after seeing this, both Eddie and I felt like blue was a much better colour, and it was conveniently also a much better match for the sub-story involving the Child Protective Services Hive and their reliance on Children's happiness to gain power, and how having those children pulled out of their grasp made them all basically start decaying. So it became this:

From here came full colouring.

It was deemed too dark and a brighter version was made, with this being a good example of before-and-after.

To wrap it up, all that was missing was the text, and it became the final version you now see on chapter -155.

It was just a super cool process and it was very gratifying to see part of my own story made into a comic like this. I really hope everyone was blown away when they first saw it, and I hope it was fun for you to learn how it came to be.

This small adaptation definitely won't be the last time I do something like this!

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -155

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

This is it. This is the last chapter of Madman Apocalypse Book 2.

There's something pretty special in this chapter that I've been waiting to show off for months.

-----------------------------

Chapter -155

“Did ‘Time Save’ reset my items too?” I asked Panda as I rapidly closed the distance to the Queen.

She was still in the process of regrowing her head. For some disturbing reason, the outer layer was made first, perhaps because the insect carapace was equivalent to her skeleton. But unlike bone, it was flaccid without the flesh inside. The result was that, as she regrew, her body looked like an armored balloon being inflated with minced meat. It reminded me of videos about how sausages were made.

“Your Urchin Ring is ready, yes. All cooldowns were reset, not just skills,” Panda answered, while watching the horror show we were heading towards.

“And the fight restriction on Pow Punch was reset too, right?”

“Yep.”

“Then let’s go for another one,” I said, a determined grin on my face.

I moved around the side of the Hive Queen, just as the empty eye sockets in her head were filled in with the bulbous compound eyes.

“Am I on target?” I asked Panda, as I tried to position myself such that my attack would destroy the entire length of the Queen’s body.

“Take another two steps to the left and aim for the middle of her body,” he advised.

“I’m fakken ready!!” Brock squealed eagerly.

I’d stored up almost 80 punches. With all my cooldowns reset, I would be able to deliver a positively nuclear attack. One that would probably get close to the original damage I’d been able to deal before Pow Punch was nerfed.

With a roar, I clenched my fist to trigger the Urchin Ring, lowered into a crouch to activate SPRING_HEEL, and then I launched myself forward. I wasn’t even aiming to strike the Queen’s body, since I knew the attack itself didn’t really need to connect to deliver its payload.

“Math.pow(Punch)!” I shouted and swung my fist forward.

---

ACTIVATING SCRIPT: Math.pow(Punch)!

Number of Punches recorded in fight: 80

Calculating 80 to the power of Punch

…

…

Calculations complete!

---

I landed a few yards from the Queen’s body and spun on my heel, running in the opposite direction.

Just then she finished her full recovery.

“YOU INSOLENT LITTLE—!”

I was knocked forward by the backwash of air, but there was no sound at all.

Light like a solar flare filled the interior and I thought for sure I’d have gone blind if I’d been looking at it.

This was the unleashed effect of Pow Punch. There were no Dungeon Barriers here to rein it in.

I tumbled head-over-heels as the blast carried me several dozen yards. The dust and debris in the air flew with me as though I was in a desert hurricane.

Just like the previous time, a pillar caught me and I anxiously looked back in the direction of the Queen.

There was nothing left of the chamber on that side. About one-third of the enormous room was just void of pillars now and the ceiling was peeled away exposing the vastness of space. Like the hole I’d made earlier, the near-vacuum of outer space wasn’t affecting the interior of the Hive Ship. A few pillars that’d been on the fringes of the blast cone remained standing but they were smoldering like firewood. The floor was likewise stripped away, revealing parts of the Hive Ship below, although I hadn’t manage to pierce through the bottom of it. The backwall where the pool had been was just gone and the several chambers and hallways behind it were a total ruin.

The Queen was nowhere to be seen.

“I think you did it,” Panda said, clearly unable to believe his eyes.

“That must’ve been close to the same amount of damage I dealt before Pow was nerfed.”

“Nowhere near,” he replied, “But it was a lot of damage, don’t get me wrong.”

I sighed. “How do we get Bee back?”

Before he could answer, an achievement arrived.

My heart skipped a beat when I read the title.

Panda read the description aloud as I ran towards the destroyed part of the chamber.

“Blink!” I shouted and teleported 100 yards forward.

A sense of dread grew in my chest as he went through the long text. I realized that this was a type of foe I had never truly fought before. I thought about how troublesome an opponent Logan had been, despite being of equivalent level to me. The Queen had won her own version of this extinction game and become way more powerful as a result. And unlike the Glitch Hunters, she wasn’t just relying on glitched skills either. No, she was much closer to me and Logan than any of the Agencies’ grunts. That fact scared me.

Suddenly the Queen’s awful voice filled the massive chamber.

“IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I LAST FOUGHT AGAINST A GLITCH AS POWERFUL AS YOU. I SUPPOSE I SHOULD TAKE THIS FIGHT SERIOUSLY.”

There was a brief pause before she activated a spell. It was one that was familiar to me.

“THERE IS NO ESCAPE.”

---

WARNING!

You have been cursed with ‘No Escape’.

There is no escape.

You cannot run.

You cannot hide.

Only death will grant you respite from this hunt.

---

“Shit, this one is different from yours!” Panda said, speaking quickly. “It lasts until the fight is over!”

“throw Exception( )!” I countered, while spinning around and trying to spot her.

---

ERROR!

This ability is on cooldown.

Time left:

6,705,512,734 μs

---

“Fuck!” I muttered, remembering that the ability couldn’t have its cooldown affected.

Then it was like a hook caught me by the navel and yoinked me back towards the entrance. I flew straight to the towering Hive Queen, who was completely recovered as though she’d respawned following my killing strike. Fortunately, her body was still a sickly blue color, meaning she hadn’t recovered from her weakened state. It was likely some kind of sickness that transcended death and revival.

Unlike before, her body wasn’t quite as long, although it was still twice the length of the Metro Train. She wasn’t tied down anymore and could now move around. She looked down at me with her enormous eyes and lifted her six pincer-tipped arms, each one glowing with a differently-colored spell.

I moved with the pull of ‘No Escape’ and used one of the ‘Lucky Dice’ from my inventory, leaving me with just the two Tina had given me.

“Gambit, wait!” Panda warned, but I was already committed.

---

LUCKY DICE ROLLED!

Your next luck-based Encounter, Skill, or Loot Drop has been tweaked heavily in your favor.

---

I launched myself at her with SPRING_HEEL, swinging my fist into her body. I was hoping to deal with her in the same way that I’d dealt with the Red Pawn.

“Punch.spinTheWh—!”

“MUTE.”

---

Warning!

Your ability has been muted!

Time remaining:
59,468,189 μs

---

I roared in frustration as I belatedly realized that whatever had respawned her back to full had also reset her cooldowns.

“OBLITERATION,” the Queen said and all of her pincers launched their spells. The colors coalesced in front of her and became a ball of black destructive energy. At the same time, a solid blast of air launched me away from her, giving her a clear line of sight to fire her spell.

“Quick, honk!” Panda yelled.

“Honk!” I shouted, triggering my Swan-Feather Cloak.

---

SKILL TRIGGER!

Swan-feather Cloak’s ‘Indestructible’ Skill Activated!

Somewhere, a Swan takes notice of your power.

---

My cloak wrapped around me as I flew through the air from the blast. Then my whole world shook and spun as her spell struck me.

“Holy fuck!” Panda cried. “That just tried to literally delete you from existence.”

I felt the moment that I hit the ground, though I was still protected by the feathers. Then the cloak unfurled itself from me. Two pillars nearby were missing perfectly-spherical chunks, but otherwise there were no signs of the obliteration spell’s effect.

“You’ve gotta use ‘wannaCry’!” Panda instructed forcefully, but I trusted him to guide me well. After all, I had entirely forgotten I possessed the ability until he mentioned it. It was an unfortunate side-effect of having so many different skills.

“I’ll make you cry!” I yelled, while pointing Brock’s middle-finger at the Queen.

---

Installing Malware!

…

…Swapping background image with ‘getpwned.jpg’…

…

…Checking embarrassing search history for potential blackmail…

…

…Texting ‘Let’s get back together’ to contact labeled ‘ex’.

…

Abilities disabled successfully!

---

“HOW MANY MORE TRICKS DO YOU HAVE LEFT?” she yelled in a taunting tone as she rapidly skittered towards me on her enormously-long legs.

Even without her abilities, she was still a scary gigantic monstrosity.

Her pincers grabbed two pillars and tore them loose from the ceiling and floor, before swinging them at me with astounding speed.

“Oh shit!” I sputtered, before leaping up off the floor.

But my trajectory was poor and she moved way faster than expected. At the same time, I realized ‘Blink’ would’ve been a better choice.

A pillar crunched against my right side and launched me across the room, only for the pull of ‘No Escape’ to begin dragging me back. My broken arm and ribs were scraped along the floor painfully.

“Blink!” I exclaimed, zipped forward and landing with me feet against the side of a pillar next to her. I shot right at her neck using SPRING_HEEL.

“Cooldown Claymore!”

The crackling orange energy sword appeared in my broken and useless right arm, but I quickly switched it to my functioning hand, while orienting myself so I was flying head-first at her.

“YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME WITH THE POWER OF MY OWN CREATION!” the Queen roared.

“Watch me!”

I zipped past her, tearing through her neck with the blade and decapitating her. I was moving so fast that I accidentally cut through a pillar as well.

“Blink!” I shouted before hitting the ground and zipped back towards the Queen again, landing on the floor right next to her. I launched up off the ground while dragging the glowing sword through her, landing on the top of her tainted-blue centipede carapace. I swung and slashed the perfectly-sharp blade through the Queen, cutting off legs and arms, as well as separating entire segments of the long trailing body.

“Leave nothing left!” Panda exclaimed excitedly.

Until the Claymore fizzled out, I got as many hits in as possible, leaving her massive body in a hundred distinct pieces. Although my arm was broken, I also got several punches in with Brock, in order to spread his curse, but it failed to take hold, which was worrying.

I stood in front of her severed head, while waiting for her to do something. Since her passives weren’t affected by ‘wannaCry’, she no doubt had several ways to recover from even something like this. Instead of destroying her body into nothingness, it made more sense to wait out her cheat death skills and not burn through all my cooldowns.

“Use your ‘Injection’ ability on her corpse before she’s completely dead,” Panda advised.

It was inevitable that she’d come back, so it made sense to take proper precautions. Still, I wasn’t sure if that was the right call.

“If I pass on the ‘No Escape’ curse to her, she’ll just be pulled to wherever I am,” I argued. I definitely didn’t want a giant insect flying directly at my face whenever I tried to create distance.

“Fuck, you’re right!” he replied in a high-strung voice. “Gods, being a backseat commander is so stressful.”

The carved-up corpse of the Hive Queen was leaking out blue-tainted blood, but its massive compound eyes still seemed to have some life left in them.

Panda wiped his stitched mouth with his right arm. “Alright, new plan, use Spin the Wheel when the Mute wears off in—”

I never heard what he said next, as a pincer grabbed me around the neck and clamped shut, decapitating me. While my body fell towards the floor, my severed head popped into the air like the cork of a champagne bottle, spinning around so I could see the Queen. Her entire body was shedding some kind of camouflage skin, while the cut-apart corpse at her feet deflated and disappeared.

---

GAME OVER!

You have died.

Please wait for scheduled resurrection by <????>

---

SKILL TRIGGER!

Rules of Anarchy(Respawn Once) respawned you back at the beginning!

---

I was getting pretty sick of dying this way.

Darkness enveloped me and I briefly saw the interior of my asylum cell.

But then a powerful tug on my stomach pulled me through space and time, depositing me back in the Queen’s chamber on the papery floor right behind her. She was facing the other direction, not yet realizing that I’d returned due to ‘No Escape’.

---

SKILL TRIGGER!

BIRTHDAY_SUIT is now in full effect!

I_CAN_FLY is now available!

---

I slowly looked down at myself, seeing that I was without clothes.

“HOW MANY MORE LIVES REMAIN?” the Queen taunted me and turned around to look down at my naked visage.

“Oh shit!” Panda exclaimed. “Gambit, run and grab your shit!”

My headless body lay on the other side of her, about 70 yards away, a golden-glowing wisp hovering above it. Nearby, a golden portal was manifesting in the air and scaly bronze-colored imps were hopping out from within, all of them wielding gruesome tools to cut up my previous body. It seemed the silver skeleton within it was being repossessed.

“Blink!”

I teleported directly in front of the body and immediately looted the wisp. Several of the repo imps hopped back in surprise and cursed in a language I didn’t understand.

Before I could attempt to use any of the other skills that’d come off cooldown with my revival, the Queen’s voice boomed in my ears, “FORCED RETIREMENT.”

“.interru—!”

“MUTE.”

---

Warning!

Your ability has been muted!

Time remaining:
59,834,983 μs

---

WARNING!

All Skills have been placed on a 40-year cooldown.

---

“throw Exception( )!”

---

ERROR!

This ability is on cooldown.

Time left:

6,623,834,012 μs

---

“Fuckshitcrapballs!!” I cursed incoherently and took off running, while hastily equipping all my gear through my inventory.

“Yep, we’re fucked,” Panda agreed.

I ran around pillars to break line of sight with the Queen, but I felt how my curse still tied me to her. I had no idea how the curse had survived her dying, but there was the very uncomfortable thought in my head that maybe what I’d killed with my Cooldown Claymore wasn’t her real body. Perhaps it had been some kind of clone that’d taken her place, a bit like my Fall Guy passive.

But it didn’t matter. I was so mega-fucked without my skills.

This was truly looking like I’d die for real.

I brushed my left hand along a bit of exposed obsidian metal beneath the material of the floor and activated Rebel’s Ring. If I couldn’t kill her, then I’d at least blow up her stupid spaceship and fling her out into the black void.

---

WARNING!

Ineligible target!

---

“Son of a bitch!” I cursed. I realized the reason it didn’t work was likely that the Hive Ship wasn’t a ‘non-living thing’. It raised some questions I wasn’t in any position to ponder right now.

I touched a pillar instead and activated the ring again.

This time no error message came and I booked it for a pillar further away.

The pull from ‘No Escape’ wasn’t super strong, but the reason was pretty clear.

“Go faster! She’s right behind you!” Panda yelled.

I spared a glance over my shoulder and saw the Queen skittering after me on her massive legs. Her entire body was just moving way too fast for how big it was. It was very disconcerting.

She passed by the pillar right as it exploded after a 10-second delay. I dove behind a different one, as a large fireball exploded outward from the pillar. Whatever they were made of, it was great for blowing up it seemed.

“You’ve only got the Sea Urchin Ring and Swan Cloak items left now!” Panda said. He was clearly stressed out.

“It won’t be enough,” I said as I ran behind a fallen pillar. It also seemed that my Benefactor had given up on me. Or perhaps they’d known it was impossible from the start, and I was just here to help them gather data for a future attempt to take down the CPS. I still remembered how an achievement describing their organization had told me they were known for sacrificing Players to achieve their goals.

Panda hopped down off my shoulder, while the Hive Queen moved around just on the other side of the fallen pillar we hid behind. The dust that’d been raised from the pillar’s explosion was obscuring us. It seemed that she was taking it easy now that I’d been hit with her absurd 40-year duration debuff.

The plushie looked up at me with a weird expression on his face. It was completely neutral, as though he’d become someone other than the panicking commentator and coach of just moments before.

“You’re taking this a lot harder than I thought you would,” he remarked.

“I thought it felt really weird being squeezed through a tube, but I didn’t realize it was inside my other self! That’s a truly horrific ability, Panda!”

“Good thing it only has one use then,” he replied evenly. “Anyway, there’s been a bit of a hiccup.”

I stopped wiping myself down to look at him. “What?”

“The Great Game hasn’t started yet.”

“Wasn’t that meant to happen?” I asked.

“What I mean is: we’re early. Like at least an entire day early.”

“Isn’t that going to just make it easier to find this dimension’s version of Bee, Samantha, Tina, Chris, and Steve?”

“Yes and no,” he replied.

I plucked a tooth out of my hair. “Why?”

“Try bringing up your Status.”

“Status,” I said.

Nothing happened.

“Oh… Oh no.”

“Yep. No skills, no nothing.”

I looked at the balloon glove on my hand. “Brock? Are you still there?”

Nothing.

I tapped the quartz transport cage in the front pocket of my suit. “Lordie??”

Also nothing.

“I think I’m gonna have a panic attack,” I told him, realizing both Brock and Lordie were gone. “Why do I suddenly feel so miserable!?”

“So, the attributes that the System grants you affect your body and mind quite a lot. As far as I can tell, you haven’t lost any of your skills or levels… They’re just inaccessible to you right now. Same with Lordie.”

“Oh my God, I’ve become… human.”

Panda sighed. “Anyway, we have more time to find our friends, but I’ve got no idea what it’s like outside prior to the initialization of the System.”

I nodded, already over my initial panic. “Bee was around the Kindergarten when the Great Game started.”

Panda shook his head. “She might not be there. It was almost a full day after the Great Game’s start when you originally met her, remember?”

“Not in the slightest.”

He sighed again.

I started walking towards the security door to the cell, but then thought better of it and spun around and went to the window.

With a single punch from my balloon gauntlet, the security glass fractured. Another punch sent several of the bars flying.

“Thank fuck I still have my strength,” I said.

“Uh, yeah, so… I’m pretty sure you’re not meant to have that yet,” Panda remarked, sounding worried.

“Don’t look a gift-horse in the mouth, Panda,” I said. “It’s time to rescue Bee!”

-----------------------------

If you'd like to see the text version of the comic panels, please check the attached PDF. I wanted to deliver the plot-twist and ending in an interesting way, and my agent who is a former content acquisition for Webtoon helped me set it up. You can't imagine just how long I've been sitting on these images and wanting to show them to all my readers! I hope I blew your mind a little bit and I hope you're excited about what comes in Book 3.

Since comments are immediately available to anyone who sees the posts on Patreon, please refrain from writing down the spoilers there, or at least not at the top of the comment. I'd like everyone who sees it to have it be unspoiled for them :)

Thank you so much for reading and supporting Madman Apocalypse!

The story will now take at least 1 month break, although it may end up being a bit more than that, since I've got exams and a vacation to Japan coming up in the start of the new year.

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -154

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Apologies for the delay, but this chapter is also over 4000 words long, so it took a bit longer to get done.

The next chapter (-155) will be the last chapter of book 2. It will arrive either tomorrow the 16th or Tuesday 17th. It will contain something very special that I can't wait to show off.

-----------------------------

Chapter -154

The sounds of Joysworth McGiggles tearing through the ant defenders and beetle invaders echoed through the halls leading from the pillar room, along with a cacophony of screams and laughter.

I flew through the air like a missile aimed in the direction the Manhunter’s Badge pointed me. The further I went, the more ostentatious the surroundings became, with engraved pillars lining the massive corridors and abstract carvings flowing along the walls. I moved through chambers from which armies of ants surged forward to tackle the devastation wreaked by the Joy Monstrosity. They seemed to be emerging out of pods lining the chamber walls, as though freshly-baked for the occasion. Though after a brief look, I realized the pods were tube-fed and pulling the ants from other parts of the enormous Hive Ship.

Still, I knew it wouldn’t be enough. If I hadn’t incapacitated the source of happiness juice that the CPS’s strongest fighters relied on, then maybe they would’ve had a chance. But that obviously wasn’t the case anymore. My Appraising Eyes ran across the soldiers and saw how their levels had dropped down to around 20 on average, even though they seemed fit to fight. Even the Aphid-Dogs were clearly affected, both in their levels and power, though I couldn’t quite tell why.

After another hallway, I went through what looked like a kennel of sorts, although it was perhaps more accurate to call it an Aphid-Dog prison camp, given the design of it. There were deep pits in the floor and at the bottom several young Aphids were fighting to the death, even now. It wasn’t hard to guess that the winner would then be elevated to become either the pet of a Collector Captain or an Executioner like the one that’d been dropped in front of Castle Twine.

Although most of the Aphid-Dogs available were already fighting and dying to Joysworth, there were several lying around inside the kennel as I passed through. Some Captains were trying to rouse them, while others lay dead, torn to shreds by their formerly-loyal pets. The turrets atop two languid Executioner Aphids tracked me as I flew by, but did not fire. Or rather couldn’t fire.

“For an organization that has ‘Child Protection’ in their title, it seems there isn’t a single individual here, who didn’t exploit the children’s happiness for their own gain,” Panda commentated.

“It’s just like how any country calling themselves ‘The People’s yada-yada” tend to not really care much about democracy,” I pointed out.

“At least the real CPS before the Great Game wasn’t that bad.”

I frowned. “Don’t even get me started.”

From the Aphid-Dog kennel was a series of luxurious-looking areas that seemed like some kind of resort spa for the upper echelon of the Hive, with pools of honey similar to what the Healer in the Mall used to grant Full Recovery. However, the honey was all tainted a sickly blue and smelled like burning plastic. A few unfortunate Collector Captains, two Wardens, and a single Queenguard lay dead in the pools, the submerged parts of their bodies almost entirely dissolved.

The next chamber that followed was like a massive buffet, and there were even slot machines, roulettes, and blackjack tables in a corner of the room, as well as a ball pit, for some reason.

“Bet you they were exploiting the children for more than just the power that came from their happiness.”

“It’s probably the Tinctures,” Panda said.

I brought up the tooltip for the one Tina had given me.

“I think you’re right,” I replied. “They’re probably also produced from the happiness of children somehow.”

“She might be tough to beat if she has a stockpile of these things,” he remarked.

“If she’s as reliant on the children as the rest of her Hive, I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” I replied confidently. “Besides, Brock makes it impossible for anyone affected by his curse to heal.”

“I don’t know,” Panda said uncertainly. “She’s been mentioned a lot and it seems she even acts as a Benefactor to some Players. She might be as strong as your old Benefactor, Miranda.”

“I thought you said Demons weren’t scary.”

“Not when compared to Absolutes and their offspring like Messimer, but they’re no joke when compared to humans.”

“It’ll be fine,” I reiterated.

I flew out of the luxury resort area and emerged into a long corridor wide enough to fit the Metro Train monster and still have room to spare. More of the engraved pillars lined the floor in rows of two and led to the largest blast door I’d seen in the Hive Ship thus far. Two towering Queenguards stood in front of it, even taller than the first one I’d encountered, and yet they only reached to about halfway up the height of the door they protected.

The Manhunter’s Badge was pointing right at the door.

“Bingo,” I said and increased the pull of gravity as I adjusted its aim to the guard on the right.

While the pillars flew by me, I spun around so I was falling head-first towards my target and got a better look at the two guards. They were probably thirty feet tall, but their posture was sagging and they both leaned on the enormous shields they carried. Their carapaces were far more impressive than the first Queenguard I’d seen, with spikes and patterns adorning them, much like those on the walls. However, their black carapaces were riddled with glowing-blue pockmarks and their shields were completely powered down, while oozing blue goop instead of radiant orange energy.

My Appraising Eyes scanned him as I came within range. Panda immediately started reading it out loud for me.

A moment after Panda finished reading it, I hammered my fist into the middle of #2’s body, before immediately flicking my gravity’s direction at the other one and hitting it in the face, then I spun around and settled down on the floor between them.

Two quick pops followed and both of the Queenguards toppled over, one with a massive hole in its torso and the other with its head deleted.

“That was too easy,” I said.

---

BAD CATCHPHRASE!

You have taken 1 point of damage.

---

“Ow.”

Then an achievement hit me. I figured I’d get something similar to the Warden Juice from killing them.

I realized that they were referring to Bee and the fact that she’d killed a Queenguard with the Eau de Tonsil-Stone Eye-Bleach.

“Shit, we’ve gotta get in there!” I panicked. “The Queen is about to kill her!”

I put my hands on the massive blast door and started to lift.

The obsidian structure didn’t even budge. It felt like I was trying to pull a building up by its foundations.

With a grunt of frustration, I let go and resorted to the second-best option.

“Brock is great a lockpicking!!” the balloon gauntlet squealed as I began slamming him repeatedly into the enormous door.

For the next three seconds, as I punched the door non-stop, nothing happened whatsoever. But then the delay caught up and the obsidian metal started to bulge inward, one echoing bang at a time.

I kept punching and warping the blast door, pausing only when it stopped deforming from the damage and instead just blew open a hole. The damage from the punches that’d yet to register followed shortly after and the hole grew large enough that I could squeeze through.

“Be careful!” Panda warned as I went through it.

The chamber on the other side of the massive door was gigantic. From floor to ceiling was fifty feet if not more. Thick pillars filled the interior, running down in parallel rows until the far end where something like a massive pool was carved into the floor. Like the pools in the luxury part just outside the chamber, the honey that filled it was corrosive and blue.

Between the entrance I’d made and the pool was an insect hybrid that would tower over even the Metro Train monstrosity. It looked like the cursed offspring of a centipede and an ant doing the nasty. The body was covered in sturdy-looking and glossy carapace, but it was corrupted and completely blue. Legs the size of busses ran along the segments of its serpentine body and six giant pincer-like arms were set into its narrow torso. Its head alone was as big as a Minor Warden and massive compound eyes took up half its size. It had a giant maw full of sharp teeth and there were horn-like protrusions from the top of its head that created what looked like a crown of sorts. Two sets of wings hung down its back, but it seemed unlikely that it could actually fly.

I blinked, unable to comprehend just how massive the creature was. This had to be the Queen of the CPS.

“Gambit! Look!” Panda exclaimed, pointing to one of its giant pincers.

In it hung a tiny wingless moth with broken bones and white blood leaking out of several wounds.

It was Bee.

Without even coming up with a plan, I redirected Fuck Gravity directly at the arm holding my friend and set its pull as high as it could go. The moment I started falling towards the Queen, the G-force of the acceleration made my vision flicker black for a moment.

“BEE!!!” I screamed.

Then my Appraising Eyes brought up the info for the Queen of the CPS.

As my voice echoed through the space, the Queen turned her attention away from Bee and fixed me with her enormous compound eyes.

“FORCED RETIREMENT,” she said, invoking some manner of spell with a voice so loud it shook the air and hurt my ears.

---

WARNING!

All Skills have been placed on a 40-year cooldown.

---

“Oh shit!” I gasped as my Fuck Gravity cut out and all my momentum was arrested. Then I fell straight down to the floor far below.

My body bounced once with a loud crunch as my right leg caught my fall and snapped. From how easily it broke, I was fairly sure Silver Skeleton had stopped working.

“Fuck!” I groaned.

“You’ve gotta use ‘throw Exception’!” Panda urged. “It wasn’t affected by her spell!”

“throw Exception( ),” I said, while trying to get up. I still had the Tincture that Tina had given me, but it’d be a waste to use it on just my leg.

---

‘Forced Retirement’ encountered a RunTimeException!

Debuff failed successfully.

---

I felt how my bones hardened and got heavier as my skeleton once again became silver. The potential of Fuck Gravity also kicked back in. I immediately pulled myself back into the air, while the Queen started swiping at the pop-ups that my skill had sent her way. Then I set my gravity directly on her head and change the pull to its maximum. I’d pop her head like a pumpkin before she had a chance to respond.

“It seems like your Benefactor knew she had that trick,” Panda remarked.

Before I could get much closer to the Queen, she yelled, “STASIS.”

---

WARNING!

You have been afflicted with ‘Stasis’!

Time remaining:

∞

---

My body just froze mid-air, while she returned her attention to Bee, who was apparently unconscious where she hung from her pincer.

“You’ve gotta use ‘wakeUp’!” Panda yelled. “She’s gonna kill Bee!”

I tried, but I couldn’t move. My mind still worked, but my body was stuck solid.

“You have to trigger it with your mind!” he exclaimed, panicked.

I didn’t even have the chance to try and figure out how before the Queen said, in her loud voice, “I HAVE HAD MY FUN. TIME TO CLEAN UP THE INFESTATION IN MY HIVE.”

Then she squeezed her pincers shut around Bee.

I wanted to scream, but my mouth would not move. I just hovered there, a witness to my friend’s murder.

A voice rolled through the Queen’s chamber, while the petals of a purple flower grew from the air surrounding Bee’s body. The flower it formed clasped shut around her like a protective shield and pushed away the enormous pincers.

---

VILE QUEEN-PRETENDER!

HOW DARE YOU SEEK TO SLAY MY ADORABLE LOST CHILD!

YOUR CROPS WILL ROT IN THEIR FIELDS AND PESTILENCE WILL BEFALL YOUR KIN! YOUR CASTLE WILL CRUMBLE INTO SAND AND A SWARM OF GNATS WILL STRIP THE SKIN FROM YOUR BONES!

AS THE ALL-MOTHER, THIS IS MY PROMISE TO YOU!

---

Then Bee vanished and an implosion destroyed the Queen’s entire arm in a mist of blue-tainted blood and flesh. The tug of my Manhunter’s Badge immediately vanished.

“CURSE YOU, ALL-MOTHER. I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU FOR ROBBING ME OF MY JUSTICE!” the Queen screamed indignantly.

Then she seemed to realize that I was still just stuck in stasis mid-air and lifted an arm towards me, preparing to squeeze me like she had done to Bee. At the same time, the arm she had lost slowly regrew as golden energy rolled through the many segments of her long body and up to her torso. I realized then that her body was like one long cable connecting her to somewhere near the pool at the far end.

“She’s using Full Recovery Tinctures somehow!” Panda exclaimed. “You’ve gotta break free! Use the ability with your mind!”

I concentrated as hard as I could, feeling a migraine blossoming as the pressure inside my brain grew.

---

SKILL TRIGGER!

wakeUp triggered.

You have broken free of ‘Stasis’.

---

The pincer missed me by just a few inches as my momentum returned and carried me towards the Queen’s head.

“Cooldown Claymore!” I shouted. Crackling orange energy, much like what the Minor Wardens used, appeared in my right hand. It was the same shape as the original Crimson Claymore, but I could feel that it was somehow more potent now.

“SHIELD,” the Queen said, and the air around her head shimmered as it activated and created a barely-visible magical barrier.

I swung the sword through the air and felt only a weak bit of resistance as it tore through the magical shield. My entire body spun with the movement and I came close enough to strike her head. A loud sizzle came from the Queen’s left compound eye as my glowing blade carved a channel through it. It seemed the sword cut through immediately, without waiting for my damage delay.

Lifting the blade I swung it down again, and—

“REFLECT.”

The Queen’s body shimmered again, right as I drove the claymore into her jaw. It moved through her unimpeded and the damage was immediately reflected into my own body.

Panda yelled something as my body separated into two from my right shoulder to my left hip. I lost control of Fuck Gravity and immediately plummeted towards the ground in two pieces. Moments later the Queen activated another spell and I was hit by solid air. My body flew back towards the large blast door, leaving behind the lower half.

My shiny silver ribcage was exposed where it’d been cut through cleanly. The reflected attack had missed my heart by the width of two fingers, but death would come within seconds if I didn’t act fast.

“Drink the Tincture!” Panda exclaimed as my blood freely trailed from my severed torso, tainted suspiciously-purple.

I somehow managed to stay conscious enough to use the Full Recovery Tincture through my inventory.

Warmth spread through my torso and immediately started reassembling the right shoulder and arm from scratch, along with my torso and everything below. It still felt like I was dying though and the pain was immense. My Unicorn Suit was also knitting itself back to full, but it was slow going. Fortunately my Swan-Feather Cape was unscathed.

I blinked and darkness overtook me for a second, but Panda’s yelling snapped me back.

With a single burst of concentration, I was able to momentarily activate Fuck Gravity to slow down my fall.

Then I hit the ground and started to tumble. Fortunately, the healing was still ongoing, so the damage I took from the rough landing was immediately cured.

When I finally came to a rest, a loud woosh echoed through the chamber before lamppost-sized bone spikes rained down around me, embedding themselves halfway into the floor.

Even though my legs weren’t fully formed, I triggered SPRING_HEEL to launch myself to safety behind one of the nearby pillars. It was quickly pierced through with several more spikes.

“This is meant to be her weakened state!?” I exclaimed incredulously.

My feet return as the Full Recovery wrapped up.

“You’ve gotta hit her with everything you’ve got!” Panda told me.

“What about Bee!? What the fuck happened to her!?”

“Don’t worry about that right now! Focus on what’s in front of you!”

I knew he was right, but I had the sinking feeling that it’d be impossible to get Bee back from the clutches of the All-Mother. A part of me also wondered if it was worth it. Perhaps the Absolute wasn’t one of the bad ones, I wondered.

A spike tore right through the pillar in front of me and flew by my face close enough to ruffle my hair.

I concentrated and activated Fuck Gravity again, lifting off the ground to fly around the side of the Queen while using the pillars as cover from her magic.

“I don’t think she has any of her incapacitating or cooldown-based spells left,” Panda said. “She might have something capable of interrupting though.”

A rudimentary plan formed in my head and I started punching the pillars I flew by, cratering some of them and breaking others. As the broken pillars pulled free of the ceiling and toppled to the floor of the massive chamber, they lifted up dust and debris, creating an obscuring cloud. One of the pillars hit another one and started a domino-chain that ended with five pillars collapsing in a row.

The Queen, although possessing immensely-powerful magic, didn’t seem to have amazing perception and was firing at random with bone spikes and condensed air blasts. Her spells did almost as much damage to the room as I’d already done.

I flew up behind her and landed on the ground, running forward with a punch aimed at the bottom of where the torso and centipede-like parts of her body came together.

“Punch.spinTh—!”

“MUTE.”

---

Warning!

Your ability has been muted!

Time remaining:
59,900,513 μs

---

I grinned and clenched my fist to trigger the Sea Urchin Ring, which covered my arm in a spiky black shell. On my way here I’d stored up twenty-seven punches. It would be enough. I activated SPRING_HEEL and leapt upwards, swinging my arm at an angle that pointed right towards her head.

---

“Math.pow(Punch)!”

ACTIVATING SCRIPT: Math.pow(Punch)!

Number of Punches recorded in fight: 27

Calculating 27 to the power of Punch

…

…

Calculations complete!

---

The spikes from the ring fired off, but nothing else happened besides that. I was already flying backwards to escape what was about to happen as a result of my insane multiplication of damage values.

The Queen was slowly turning to track me, while firing off spells. It seemed she had no idea what was coming.

Finally, the ‘Damage.sleep(3000)’ passive caught up.

A gust of warm wind rushed past me, lifting me along with it and cancelling out my Fuck Gravity passive through sheer intensity.

I looked back over my shoulder and saw a bright light and what looked like a beam of solar energy flying from the floor and up through the ceiling of the chamber. It created a massive hole in the top of the Hive Ship itself and showed that we were somewhere in outer space, as there was a backdrop of the Earth, which my beam had just taken a bite out of. As far as I could tell, I’d just deleted parts of the southern Pacific Ocean.

I caught myself on one of the pillars in the room, as the insane damage from my Pow Punch died down. The Queen’s entire top-half was gone, though her long centipede body remained behind.

“Holy fuck, you just did like 50 trillion points of damage,” Panda said.

A flappy bit of red-and-white meat landed on my head, before being sucked into my inventory.

“It wasn’t enough,” I said with a frown, while sliding down the pillar to the ground.

The Queen’s body was regenerating quickly as golden energy pulsed up along her centipede body.

“Maybe she really is immortal,” Panda muttered.

I knew I didn’t have a choice but to win, so I decided to activate ‘Time Save’.

---

TIME SAVE TRIGGERED!

All cooldowns have been reset.

---

Since I’d almost died once, I activated a failsafe as well, while running towards the rapidly-regrowing Hive Queen.

“Rules of Anarchy(Respawn Once).”

---

Rules of Anarchy Activated!

Passive Selected: Respawn Once

Description:

Upon death, respawn at the beginning

1 Use

---

“Once more, from the top,” Panda joked.

I gritted my teeth and started punching the air as I ran.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -153

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Just two or three more chapters to go before the end of Book 2!

-----------------------------

Chapter -153

“Do something!” Panda yelled.

In the distance came a loud explosion and the ground trembled. We didn’t have much time left.

There was nothing I could do, so I looked to Tina, but she clearly had no way to help Steve either.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered, casting him one last glance before running out of the wide hallway. “Tina! Come on!”

The Venomancer took a second to stop staring and caught up to me by the exit back to the pillar room.

Almost directly outside were Aphid-Dogs, weakened and blue Minor Wardens, and ant soldiers as far as the eye could see. Carving their way through their numbers were one Glitch Hunter and hundreds of beetle Agents. Pound-for-pound the beetles were winning, but the ants had an endless supply of soldiers.

There was no way we’d get through them.

I frowned and turned around, heading back down the hallway and past Steve who was already beginning to transform. Tina followed me through the partially-open blast door that Bee had lockpicked with her Puzzle Lock ability.

The chamber we came into was full of dead ants. It seemed they’d all succumbed to the Eau de Tonsil-Stone Eye-Bleach. There were several of the bulbs that’d housed children in the Children’s Zones, but they were bigger and decorated with swirls and patterns. One of them looked like it had caught fire, as the top-half was scorched black. I was fairly sure Bee had been trapped in that before breaking free.

“What are you doing?” Panda asked. “You’ve gotta get out of here!”

“There’s no way we easily get through that,” I told him. “It’ll be easier if Steve gets out there and tears them apart.”

“That’s pretty cold,” he remarked.

“You said it yourself, he wasn’t my friend. Besides, there’s nothing we can do for him. Isn’t it better that his transformation serves a greater purpose?”

“It will kill us first,” Tina muttered, her eyes wide-open and crazy. Well, crazier. She handed me something and I looked down to see two Lucky Dies and a Tincture of Full Recovery.

“Here it comes!” Panda exclaimed. I quickly stuffed the items in my inventory.

We watched from the corner next to the doorway as Steve’s body transformed. First the legs extended and grew another joint, then the torso expanded like a balloon. The head morphed into an egg-shape, the skin turned purple, and the Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts became yellow-and-blue overalls. Lastly, as minor touches such as makeup and needle-teeth were added, the whole body started to grow.

“It’s a clown,” Panda realized. It was a pretty obvious outcome, given Steve’s Class.

The clown started to bend as it became too big to fit even inside the wide hallway, and it seemed to be almost forty feet tall. Its triple-jointed legs were about three-fourths of its length. The torso, although massive, seemed stumpy by comparison. The body shape of the clown was gangly and thin, with the colorful overalls bagging around its torso and legs. It reminded me slightly of a clown on stilts, especially given that the arms were proportional to the torso and not the legs. The head too was way too small.

The curled-up massive clown looked at us with two pitch-black eyes within which swam small golden pinprick pupils, pinging around with not a care. Steve wasn’t recognizable in its face at all. White makeup covered the purple skin of its face, yellow paint circled the eyes, and blue paint was drawn along the top and bottom lips to form a wide grinning smile.

HOO-HEE-HUU.

The floor shook with its incredibly-loud, but somehow-soothing melodic giggle.

“Meow!” Lordie exclaimed in fear and hopped back into his transport cage.

Then an achievement popped up.

Without even meaning to, I triggered the new passive and was met with an appraisal of the clown.

Suddenly, Tina walked out of the chamber we were hiding in. I moved to grab her, but just as my fingers touched her arm, a euphoric high overcame me.

---

WARNING!

You have been afflicted with ‘The Giggles’!

Time remaining:

∞

---

The drab paper-like material of the walls and floor was suddenly dripping with colorful splotches of paint that shifted and morphed, while laughter echoed from somewhere far away.

It was my laughter.

The air in my lungs felt as though it was bubbling and full of electricity, while my stomach convulsed in enjoyable tugs.

I’d never ever laughed like this before. It was unfiltered and pure.

Joysworth led Tina and I out of the wide hallway and into the pillar room. Outside, glowing rainbow-colored water lapped at our feet, while sleeping ants and beetles lay around us. Those still standing paused their fighting to focus on the clown. He slowly emerged head-first out of the doorway, while crawling on his knees. Then he rose to his full height.

They all began to scream, but Joysworth’s own laughter deafened the noise they made.

I belatedly noticed that there was a blurry incomprehensible shape on my shoulder. It was a shape made of nothingness and only visible due to its outline.

It was screaming something at me and its voice sounded like static interference.

“W....E..P!”

I was struggling to hear what the shape was trying to tell me.

“..AK..U..!” it repeated.

The beetles and ants, as well as tall mantisflies and aphids began to attack Joysworth. The tall joy-giving clown clapped its hands together, only to pull them apart and reveal a golden-glowing balloon animal. It immediately leapt from the palm and down onto a beetle, which it pulled apart to shower his friends with colorful water.

“WAKE....!”

“........UP!”

I heard the static voice clearly for a moment and paused. The ant I’d been pulling apart with my hands fell down into the colorful water lapping against my ankles.

“Wake… Up?” I asked, trying to piece the words together.

An epiphany hit me and I repeated the words as one: “wakeUp.”

---

SKILL TRIGGER!

wakeUp triggered.

You have broken free of ‘The Giggles’.

---

All the colors drained away and screaming filled my ears, as yellow and blue balloon animals tore through the ants and beetles. They’d already died by the thousands, judging by the white blood that was everywhere.

My lungs and stomach hurt like I’d been punched repeatedly. An uncomfortable soreness flared up with every breath.

“You’ve got to go!” Panda yelled. “That skill has a 5 minute cooldown, so you’re screwed if you get hit with the affliction again!”

I immediately used Fuck Gravity to take to the air and fly feet-first in the direction indicated by the Manhunter’s Badge. It wasn’t moving anymore though. I’d wasted too much time.

Guilt and frustration filled me as I saw Tina, wreathed in neon-green energy, fighting alongside Joysworth and his balloon animals.

“Don’t even think about it!” Panda scolded me. “If you try to save her, you’re dead!”

“If I don’t, she will die.”

“Remember why you came here!”

I frowned, but knew he was right. However, something unsettled me. Even though Tina had the apparent ability to see the future, she’d stayed with me despite surely knowing that it would lead to her demise.

In the distance, the enormous clown was still making balloon animals and laughing. None of the ants nor beetles seemed capable of hurting it, not even the Aphid-Dogs. I couldn’t see Tina’s green magic anymore.

Gritting my teeth, I flew out of the chamber and towards the pull of my Badge. Panda was right. I had come here to save Bee.

I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -152

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter -152

In the end, instead of borrowing some from Steve, we killed the Minor Warden next to the blast door and used its blood to fill up our Glitch Hunter Hearts. The Birthday Brat had commanded his army of mind-slaved ants to defend him and they weren’t letting us get close.

“It was just a joke,” I told him. “You can come out now.”

“I refuse!” he yelled from within the clump of ants.

Tina lifted up the black squishy tube which sloshed with the foul-smelling blood of the Warden. I mimicked her.

As one, we both blew into the ends of the hearts as though they were alien instruments.

The resultant sound was very strange, almost like a giant’s sneeze, but melodic somehow. The white blood exited the tube hearts as rings of smoke, which flew through the air until they hit a wall and popped like water balloons.

“Motherfuckers!” I exclaimed as I read the first part. Then I hurriedly went through the options, before deciding on ‘Blink’. ‘Nine Lives’ would’ve been a good passive if not for that last part. As it stood, I was better served with my Respawn passive, though I hoped to never need it again.

“Steve, get the fuck out of there! We’ve gotta go!” I called. “Agents are coming!”

Steve peeked his head out from the pile of ants. “Huh!?”

The banshee wailing I’d heard earlier when the Glitch Hunters had appeared sounded throughout the Hive Ship again. The papery floor trembled slightly as the blast door behind us burst open and a horde of ants came out. All of them had deflated gasters, but there was a crazed look about them, as though the wailing had altered their minds in some way. They moved past us without even seeming to register our presence.

“Where are you going!” Steve yelled to his enslaved ants as they all followed after the horde.

Tina went through the blast door first and I was right behind her.

“Get your ass in gear!” Panda called to Steve from my shoulder.

Moments later he caught up to me as we moved into a different part of the Hive Ship. The blast door we’d used shut behind us and sealed us in. Immediately beyond the door was a massive room that, although still made of the papery material, had tall pillars holding up the ceiling. Pathways snaked up the pillars and led to balconies higher up, though I couldn’t tell for what purpose. There were also pod-like huts clustered around along the walls, almost like the rooms of a capsule hotel, and I guessed the ants used these for sleeping.

Steve moved up front, since he had a mapping ability, but before he could point us in a direction, Lordie sprang out from the transport cage. Tina stopped and tried to pet him when he appeared, but the little bastard had other plans as he quickly scuttled off.

“Come back here doggie, I just wanna pet you!” she yelled, running after it.

“For fuck’s sake, Lordie! Where are you going!?” I exclaimed as I followed them. Steve started falling behind as Tina and I pushed our speed to the limit.

“Meow!”

“What did he say?” Panda asked.

“He said he smells something? I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Well, you’d better catch him. If he dies, you die too, remember?”

“You don’t need to remind me!”

We followed the hand-spider through a doorway that led us left in relation to the door we’d entered through. Steve was yelling about us going the wrong way and pointing towards the far end of the pillar room, but I wasn’t paying attention.

From the pillar chamber we ran through a wide hallway that led to another blast door that was open. In the threshold of the doorway lay a dead Queenguard with a powered-down shield and next to him were several dead soldiers. The door itself had a strange Rubik’s Cube attached to it.

“That’s from Bee’s Puzzle Lock ability!” Panda exclaimed.

“She isn’t this way,” I said. The tug was pointing in the same direction Steve had wanted us to go.

“But we know she came through here!” the plushie insisted.

Tina nearly caught the hand-spider since she was somehow faster than me, but then she suddenly just dropped to her knees and covered her face while screaming.

Lordie didn’t stop and went through the doorway, climbing over the corpses to get in.

I came up next to her, but before I could ask what was wrong, it hit me.

---

WARNING!

You have been infected with ‘Eau de Tonsil-Stone Eye-Bleach’!

Time remaining:

N/A

---

“My eyes!” I screamed, while trying to blindly crawl out of the range of the smell.

“Not again!” Panda exclaimed and hopped from my shoulder to safety.

Steve caught up to us and was laughing at our display from a few feet away.

Then he paused as the sounds from Tina morphed into genuine despair, probably realizing that it was quite serious.

My vision had gone completely white and there was a ringing in my ears. I was pretty sure my gums were bleeding and my brain was starting to swell. It felt like acid and fire were melting the skin off my face, while a hundred bees stung the inside of my mouth.

From the sound of his footsteps, I heard as Steve hurried over to help Tina, but he only managed to fall into reach of the foul stench as well.

“What is tha—? Oh my fucking fuck!!”

A thud came from the Birthday Brat as he collapsed to the floor, while other sounds seemed to indicate that Tina was having a seizure.

“Somebody pop me, I want to die on my own terms!!” Brock squealed in desperation.

“Blink!” I yelled, trying to use my new ability to escape.

---

ERROR!

No target.

---

It didn’t work since I couldn’t see.

I also tried to use my Fuck Gravity to pull me back the way we’d come, but it was impossible to concentrate enough to use it.

Nina’s ominous voice rang out briefly, “The Monstrosity of Joy…!” she warned.

Then I blacked out.

I came to what might have been hours later or maybe just a couple seconds. The stench was gone and my vision was back, albeit blurry and miscolored.

“Holy fuck, I can’t believe I survived,” I muttered.

“Bee must’ve been desperate to use that against them,” Panda commented.

“What happened?” I asked, as I pushed myself to my knees.

Tina lay unconscious nearby, while Steve was writhing in obvious pain, which was unlikely to be a good sign.

A white t-shirt landed in my hands, just as Lordie sauntered back into the wide hallway. Half of a familiar puzzle box was sticking out of the mouth that sat in the middle of his palm.

“Lordie, did you eat the box?”

“Me-ow!” he answered in his Morgan Freeman voice. Then, with a loud slurp, the rest of it vanished inside his ‘mouth’.

I brought up his stats to see if something had changed.

“He’s ‘pleased’,” Panda remarked, worried.

“Holy crap, eating that box gave him at least 20% extra maturity!” I muttered.

With a gasp, Tina woke up. “Where am I? Where’s Irene and Adam!?”

Then her eyes realized where she was and she seemed to calm down.

But only for a second, as the writing form of Steve started to buck and writhe aggressively.

She ran over and grabbed a hold of my right arm, pulling me to my feet.

“The Monstrosity is coming!”

I blinked, momentarily confused, until a sinking realization hit me.

Steve had reached 100% Insanity and was turning into a Boss Monstrosity.

-----------------------------

And then there were two.

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Five

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

I had planned to put this up yesterday, but didn't finish writing it until like 2am and didn't want to post it before giving it an editing pass.

Update February 10th: this will be the last chapter made available for free. Don't forget that Loopshard launches on RoyalRoad on Friday the 14th.

-----------------------------

Chapter Five

“Here we go again,” Adam muttered to himself. He was leaning his weight on the spear and, despite having just emptied out his stomach twice, felt a lot better about his odds this time around. The spear was the perfect weapon against the slimes.

They won’t stand a chance.

< < Wave One > >

< 60-Second Timer >

As soon as the blue slime squeezed out of the treeline, Adam was next to it, jabbing his spear-tip right through its jelly flesh and into its core. It was destroyed immediately.

He hopped back several steps as the slime shot out a pressurised stream of its acidic innards thanks to the precise strike he’d made. The spear was not only perfect for piercing the body of the creature, but it also didn’t create the violent explosion that cutting the core in half would result in.

I wonder if there’s a way to precisely cut into its body to extract another Slime Core.

Adam put his right hand in his pocket to grab the one he’d looted earlier, but there was nothing but some lint inside his grey jeans.

Oh right, that was from the previous life…

Man, that’s going to be impossible to wrap my head around. Strangely, Shitbox doesn’t seem to have realised. Maybe he’s not as powerful as I thought. But, then again, I did kill him with my sword after he said it couldn’t be done.

Shitbox seemed to be struggling to understand what’d just happened, but then he announced:

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 5 seconds.]

“Pretty slick right?” Adam replied, twirling the spear in his hands. The innate proficiency from simply touching the weapon allowed him to already have quite a good feel for the spear. Coupled with his experience from using the sword and shield in his first life, he felt really confident. Knowing the weakness of his enemies was also like a hidden superpower.

[Completing a Wave this quickly results in the rewards going up one rarity level.]

Adam nodded.

That’s more like it! I should be able to repeat that with the next Wave as well.

< < Wave One Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

The tesseract unfolded itself into a podium. Two new symbols appeared alongside a familiar one. The ones he hadn’t seen before were a spear with a spiked aura and a spear with speed lines behind it. All three of them were glowing green.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) — Increases spear damage by 10% >

< Throw Speed (Uncommon) — Increases throwing speed by 20% >

< Movement (Uncommon) — Increases movement speed by 10% >

Hmm, it seems that, much like the sword and shield, the upgrades for the Spear are divided between two utilisations. I could specialise in spear-throwing, but I think that’s way too risky a fighting style though, considering I only have one spear. If I miss or my throw doesn’t kill, then I’m left wide open.

I’ll probably pick damage. Although, the movement upgrade might not be a bad idea.

He’d already noticed how big a difference the additional 50% from Lancer made, and not just in how fast he ran, but also in the speed of his attacks.

I’ll stick with damage for now though. Plus, I want to see what happens when my weapon hits level 6.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) >

Just like with the sword, there was no obvious sign of the increased damage with the spear.

“Armament.”

< < Weapon Status > >

< Spear >

< Common Quality >

< Level 1 >

< General Upgrades >

< Spear Damage 10% >

“Shitbox, tell me again. Something happens when I hit level 6 with my Armament, right?”

[You will have to reach level 6 to find out. Players have to discover the facts and facets of the Trials of Defiance on their own.]

“But I can ask other Players at the Tavern, is that right?” he said, recalling the initial excuse for why the beetle smith wasn’t allowed to explain it to him.

[How do you know about the Dimensional Tavern and the ‘Armament’ command?]

Uh oh, I probably shouldn’t alert it to the fact that I’m a time traveller.

“You mentioned it earlier, didn’t you?” he lied unconvincingly.

[I did not.]

Although it seemed like the tesseract was poised to interrogate him further, it then just dropped the topic to continue the Stage.

< < Wave Two > >

< 60-Second Timer >

As soon as he heard the announcement, Adam was already sprinting to the opposite side of the clearing. Two blue slimes squeezed their way out and he killed the first immediately, but missed his strike on the second one. It hopped into his leg and its acid burnt through the jeans covering his right thigh. The acid continued through the fabric and into his skin, dissolving it within moments and exposing his flesh. The smell was revolting.

“Argh! Fucker!” he yelled and disengaged. The sudden movement stung a lot, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it.

The slime hopped forward again and he quickly stabbed it through its core.

[Excellent! You cleared the Wave within 10 seconds.]

“Do I get another rarity upgrade?” he asked, while a bead of cold sweat trailed down his forehead.

[Yes.]

“What’s my health at? That hurt way more than last time.”

[The attack dealt 45 points of damage. That means you now have 55 Health or 55% remaining.]

“Goddamn, three hits from the small ones will kill me??”

[Yes.]

< < Wave Two Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

This time there was only one unfamiliar option as Shitbox unfurled to reveal his choices. The one he hadn’t seen before was a spear held ready to throw at a bullseye. There were two greens and one rare.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) — Increases spear damage by 10% >

< Throw Aim (Uncommon) — Increases accuracy with throwing by 10% >

< Force (Rare) — Attacks pierce armour by 15% >

I’d like to pick damage again, but I need the piercing for the purple slimes and the boss.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Force (Rare) >

Force didn’t change anything about his weapon, which he thought was odd.

< < Wave Three > >

< 90-Second Timer >

[During Waves you may take damage. Although you can—]

“Skip,” Adam told the tesseract. Then he ran across the clearing again. Despite running back-and-forth, he didn’t feel exhausted at all.

The Stamina boost is awesome. Not a fan of the low Health and Defence though, that might become a real problem later.

I’ll make sure to get the apple and top-up after finishing this Wave.

The purple slime squeezed out of the treeline and Adam was right there, holding his spear in both hands and ramming the tip right into one of its cores. He couldn’t tell if it was the weapon or the new piercing upgrade, but he didn’t feel anywhere near as much resistance as when he’d used the sword.

The core broke and the slime stretched to try and form itself into a spike to retaliate. In doing so, it made it much easier for him to hit the remaining core.

With a roar, Adam hammered his spear into its dense body, destroying the second core, right as the two blues emerged next to him. He thought for sure the purple slime would explode like a grenade, but he’d manage to kill it in such a way that it didn’t happen. Instead it shot out its innards with such pressure that it arced over his head and nearly reached the central tree.

He danced back two steps to bait out their attacks, while being careful to avoid the deadly purple stream. The two blue slimes dutifully hopped forward and he surged back in with a stab that killed one. Although he was a lot more confident with this weapon, his jab at the last slime still whiffed.

Adam backed away as it hopped towards him, then moved forward as it landed and jabbed twice, managing to strike the core on the second hit. He turned around and walked towards the tree as it sputtered and died, just like its friends.

[Well done! You cleared the Wave within 25 seconds.]

“Do I still get a rarity upgrade?”

[No.]

Hmm, maybe that means the limit is within one-sixth of the duration. If I’m fast on Wave Four, I should be able to clear it within 15 seconds.

< < Wave Three Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

There were two new symbols. One depicted a fast-moving spear held in a hand, and the other had a flying spear with a trajectory line. Adam sighed as he saw what they were.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Speed (Common) — Increases spear attack speed by 10% >

< Throw Range (Common) — Increases throwing range by 10% >

< Crush (Common) — Increases the impact of attacks by 5% >

All of them are useless and the lowest rarity…

Adam decided on Spear Speed just to level up his weapon. Before he picked it, he located the Healing Apple. He skewered it with his spear and brought it to his mouth.

[Healing Apple consumed! Recovering Health back to 100%.]

The dissolved skin on his thigh return, covering up his flesh beneath.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he started hopping on the toes of his shoes, eager to finish the next wave as fast as possible.

“Select Spear Speed,” he said.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spear Speed (Common) >

This time there finally was a visual change to his spear, as the tip at the end became slightly narrower.

< < Wave Four > >

< 90-Second Timer >

He ran towards the other side of the clearing again.

As soon as the first green slime appeared from the trees, he’d already speared one of its cores. He changed his grip and destroyed the second, then ran through the blue slime that appeared alongside it, basically skewering it on his spear and destroying its core as he ran. Before it could pop and spray its destructive acid all over him, he flicked his spear and sent it flying away.

Plop-plop-plop came the sound of the other green slime.

Adam side-stepped out of the way quickly, and then had to clumsily back up again as the second blue slime hopped directly into his path. He shot forward and hammered his spear into its core.

Perhaps because of his damage or maybe because of the angle of the strike, the core didn’t just break, it split.

“Oh fuck!” he muttered, tossing himself to the side just as the blue slime popped and sent its acid everywhere. A tiny bit got on his left pant leg, eating holes in the jeans and causing red coin-sized welts to form on his calf. Fortunately, it didn’t dissolve his skin, although it was quite painful and itchy.

Probably a bad idea to scratch at, but damn it feels like ants are nibbling on my leg.

“How much damage?” he called to the tesseract.

[You received a partial attack dealing 20 points of damage. That means you now have 80 Health or 80% remaining.]

Plop-plop-plop came the second round of projectiles, as Adam pushed himself up off the mossy ground. He ran right under the baseball-sized slime loogies and flung his spear out in front of himself, tearing a gouge into the side of the green slime, but missing both cores.

It hopped towards him once, surprising him with the move and he scrambled back a step. Then it expanded as though taking in air. He hurriedly stabbed it again, once more missing both cores. The strike did stop it from trying to shoot him point blank though, but in retaliation it hopped forward again.

Adam circled around its ‘back’, before stabbing it a third time and managing to hit one of the cores.

Calm down! he scolded himself internally. You won’t hit shit if you aren’t focused!

He stabbed and destroyed the second core, but once again hit with enough force to split it.

“Goddamnit!”

Before it could shower him in its highly corrosive acid, he ran towards the tree, diving as soon as he heard it explode.

Pop!

Adam landed on his belly at the foot of the tree, but none of the acid reached him.

I can’t tell if I’ve just been lucky with managing to kill most of the slimes without popping them until now or if the additional damage and piercing are at fault.

[Well done! You cleared the Wave within 30 seconds.]

“Yeah, yeah…”

< < Wave Four Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) — Increases spear damage by 10% >

< Throw Speed (Common) — Increases throwing speed by 10% >

< Bleed (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict Bleed dealing 10% Weapon Damage over the course of 10 seconds >

He didn’t need to think long and hard about these options and just picked damage.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spear Damage (Uncommon) >

“Armament,” he said, bringing up his weapon stats again.

< < Weapon Status > >

< Spear >

< Common Quality >

< Level 3 >

< General Upgrades >

< Spear Damage 20% >

< Spear Speed 10% >

Three more levels until I find out what kind of thing happens at level 6…

“Wait, where’s the Force upgrade listed?” he wondered.

[General Upgrades can be viewed by uttering the word ‘Status’. It may be useful to check on your Player Status during a Stage.]

< < Wave Five > >

< 180-Second Timer >

“Status,” he said, while waiting for the sound of the Slime King making its way to the clearing.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Lancer >

< Level 4 >

< Stats >

< Health — 100 >

< Stamina — 150 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 100% >

< Defence — 100% >

< Speed — 150% >

< Upgrades >

< Force (Rare) >

“What a bizarre way to structure this stuff, but I guess it’s because upgrades like Force will stick around, even if I change weapons?”

[Correct.]

If I revive for a third time and I end up with a bad weapon type, it may be worth picking mainly general upgrades, rather than weapon-based ones.

A quake rolled through the ground, before a shadow appeared on the opposite side of the clearing. Then the boss arrived, landing like a meteor with a loud boom.

Adam spun the spear in his hands.

Last wave. Then I can take a break and try to figure out why the fuck I keep coming back here when I die.

Oh, I almost forgot, I should go get the Glass Acorn before I leave the Stage.

The dark-blue slime with the crown on its head leapt off the mossy understory and a new shadow appeared directly where he stood.

“Oh shit!”

Adam tossed himself to the side.

Boom!

The slime hit the ground with such force that he was bounced a few centimetres up off the ground. He quickly got to his feet and double-handed the spear. Then he rammed it into the boss’ body, aiming for one of the three cores swimming around within.

By some miracle, he clipped one core and triggered the boss’ transformation. Unfortunately, he was a bit too close.

The Slime King instantly ballooned in size as though it would explode and Adam was close enough to be sent flying.

Déjà vu… he thought to himself as he tumbled across the moss. Except, this time it hurt way more and he felt a jabbing pain in his chest as though he’d been stabbed.

[Warning! Health below 25%. You are close to dying.]

I think it broke some of my fucking ribs!

He got to his feet unsteadily, with blood dribbling out of his mouth.

Adam groaned as he saw that the Slime King was already split into the purple and green twins.

Plop-plop-plop!

Oh shit!

He rushed towards the green slime as its projectiles flew right by his head, narrowly avoiding him with their sizzling acid and dissolving the moss where they landed.

With a roar he lanced his spear right through one of its cores.

Schiiing!

Adam leapt out of the way as the purple slime speared through its green twin, destroying the remaining core. He landed with a pained grunt, though knew he’d been extraordinarily lucky.

No stopping! he told himself, even as a new Healing Apple hung not far away on a branch of the great tree.

The destroyed cores within the green slime split into four and began to divide its body. Adam ignored it and rammed his spear right into the purple slime. Despite its dense body, his spear broke right through to one of the cores and split it.

Schiiing!

Adam jumped to the side as the purple slime’s spear-head hammered itself into the ground where he’d stood. Then he finished it off by precisely stabbing through it to hit the last core.

But he couldn’t relax, because four blue slimes had spawned from the corpse of the green one.

While weaving around their deceptively-simple hopping attacks, he stabbed quickly, hitting their cores with almost every strike. His accuracy had gotten a lot better already, and he wondered if perhaps the innate understanding of the weapon accelerated his proficiency.

Unfortunately, he was destroying almost every core with his quick strikes and had to keep backing away when they popped violently and showered the surroundings with acid.

Just as he finished off the last of the four, four more were spawned from the purple one’s corpse. These too died within moments.

No sooner had the last one popped than the tesseract announced:

[Well done! You cleared the Wave within 50 seconds.]

< < Wave Five Complete > >

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

As his score was calculated, Adam walked to where the Healing Apple hung on a branch above. It was higher up than the one from the third Wave, but he was still easily able to spear the fruit. Despite the fact that his body was slowly healing from the Stage finishing, he couldn’t wait to have the pain relieved.

The moment he bit down on the perfectly-glossy red fruit, a pleasant warm flowed through his body. It cured the jabbing pain in his chest and got rid of the itchy red welts on his leg.

< < Score > >

< 120 Seconds Completion Time >

< 150 Point Speedrun Bonus added >

< 125 Damage Received >

< 693 Points Awarded >

Adam nearly choked on the chunk of apple still in his mouth as he saw his point total.

That’s more than double what I got on my first attempt!

“Did my completion time trigger the Speedrun Bonus?” he asked Shitbox as it floated over next to him, where a large chest had also appeared.

[Correct. Completing a Stage within a set amount of time is rewarded with additional Points and a physical award that will be displayed in your Player House.]

He grunted.

What’s the point of a trophy if I’m the only person who can see it?

The tesseract went on to explain that he would be able to utilise his Points to purchase things, but he ignored it and started climbing up the tree.

When it finally finished its speech, he asked, “You won’t teleport me back to Interim Island until I collect all my rewards right?”

[You will be automatically transferred to Interim Island in 10 minutes. Your rewards will both be chosen at random if you do not select them before then.]

Plenty of time, he thought to himself.

Adam climbed up to the same spot he remembered from his previous life.

Those previous two deaths… They really did happen, huh?

Now that he finally had the time to think, he realised there was a gnawing hole in his lungs. It was as though he could still feel the fragments piercing through him from the tesseract’s explosion. Or maybe it was just the existential dread that he was stuck, forced to die and resurrect without any say in the matter.

I’m gonna take my time when I get back to Interim and have a nice meal at the Tavern, while I figure out what the fuck is happening to me.

I’m pretty sure me going back in time is not a part of this fucked-up game.

[5 minutes remaining until automatic transferral to Interim Island.]

Adam pushed his thoughts aside for now and climbed through the canopy until he saw the branch with the bird’s nest. Just like before, a little glass acorn glinted within.

I won’t make the same mistake twice, he decided and reached out for it with his spear.

The spear-tip easily pierced the nest and allowed him to pull it back towards him.

He grabbed the little glass piece and lifted it up. It was hollow and seemed quite fragile.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Glass Acorn (Rare) — Grows for 3 Stages >

With the Secret Relic in his possession, he crawled back down to get his rewards. Fortunately, it was much quicker down than up.

[2 minutes remaining until automatic transferral to Interim Island.]

“Relax. I’m here, ain’t I?” he said to Shitbox, while looking at the Upgrades.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spear Growth (Common) — Increases spear length by 15% >

< Throw Speed (Rare) — Increases throwing speed by 35% >

< Movement (Rare) — Increases movement speed by 15% >

Damn, this is a tough one. I think Movement is the best pick here, but that won’t level up my weapon. I’ve got the feeling that’s what I really should aim for.

But…

“Shitbox, how many Waves are in the Second Stage?”

[There are 5 Waves in Stage Two.]

“Surprised you actually answered that. Thought for sure you’d tell me I’d have to wait to find out.”

[Knowing the number of Waves does not represent an advantage in this instance.]

“I would beg to differ,” he replied and picked Movement.

I’ll get the last two Weapon Upgrades I need in the next Stage. Or maybe I’ll get them from the beetle smith. What was her name again?

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Movement (Rare) >

The upgrade didn’t really make him feel any faster.

At least that was until he tried stabbing his spear.

Holy shit! I knew Movement wasn’t just for running speed!

The podium folded back into its usual tesseract shape, before flying over to the treasure chest. Golden light spilled out from the seam of its lid and it popped open exactly like the first time. Golden light shot into the air as three Relics floated out from within.

He frowned when he realised none of them were rare. However, besides the apple appearing again, the other two options were new. The first one looked like a helmet made of wood and the other was a ten-sided die.

< < Relics Available > >

< Bark Armour (Uncommon) — Increases Player Defence by 25%, but breaks after 5 hits >

< Healing Apple (Common) — If the Player’s health falls below 25%, this apple is consumed, healing them back to full. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

< Reroll Die (Uncommon) — Allows the Player to reroll reward or vendor options. Relic disappears after use >

Huh, a Reroll Die.

Granted, I can buy one of those for 100 Points from the spider, while a Common Relic is worth 150. I also doubt I can sell it, so it’s not worth it. Besides, if I pick the Uncommon armour and sell it, I get 150 Points back and can buy a Reroll and still have some left over.

“Bark Armour it is,” he decided.

< < Relic Selected > >

< Bark Armour (Uncommon) >

Adam hadn’t realised exactly what picking the Relic meant until it manifested on his body. Covering his shins, thighs, forearms, upper arms, torso, abdomen, as well as head, was what looked like plate armour. Except, it was made of bark and worryingly-flexible.

“How do I look, Shitbox?”

The tesseract didn’t respond, but instead let out a pulse of magic. The big tree and moss were immediately consumed by impenetrable darkness. Then the ground below him became a cobblestone road. The strange dumpy houses came into view with the following pulse, before the tesseract announced:

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

A calming guitar flowed through the air and Adam breathed in deeply as he realised he was out of immediate danger. For now.

[Welcome to Interim Island. Players like y—]

“Skip,” he said, halting Shitbox’s long speech before it could get started.

Then he marched in the direction of the Tavern.

But he made it only four steps before something landed in front of him.

It was a giant white moth. It stood upright on two of its six legs, all of which had several black bands ringed around them. Fuzzy white hair-like fluff grew from the back of its head, which held two massive black compound eyes and comb-like antennae. Its wings beat once, as though to get his attention, although he was already staring right at it. Tiny glistening scales floated around the insect like silver snow.

“Hello again, Adam,” the moth greeted him in a lilting female voice.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -151

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

We're getting closer-and-closer to the end of Book 2. It's very exciting :D

-----------------------------

Chapter -151

As I chased after the tug of the Manhunter’s Badge I ran through several chambers that’d housed Children’s Zones. They were now full of empty bulbs and demoralized Minor Wardens knelt within. They didn’t even try to stop me when I ran past them.

They couldn’t stop me. Their energy was gone.

When I realized this, I killed every single one I came across before they could get back up. Although none of them rewarded me anything. Not even an achievement.

The tug from the Badge was moving around a lot, as though Bee was somewhere close by and flitting back-and-forth through the air in one of the rooms.

I flew into another tall chamber with Fuck Gravity. Just like the last six I’d already gone through, a Warden knelt in the center of all the empty bulbs. Unlike those previous six however, this Warden was turning blue. It was as though its body was decaying due to a lack of the orange energy.

I pulled back my fist and punched the Warden in the head as I flew past.

“They lost all their power,” Panda commented as my damage delay caught up. Its head popped off and landed in one of the empty bulbs. “The implications are quite clear.”

“And what are they?” I asked.

Steve flew after me atop his Birthday Pillow, while his horde of enchanted ants marched along behind him. I noticed how the glowing-orange fluid that’d once filled their gasters was now gone. They all looked quite pathetic, though none of them had stopped moving or turned blue.

I felt on the cusp of some realization when Panda put it into words.

“The ants of the Child Protective Services were using the energy of children to gain their power. I’m not entirely sure, but I think they were literally harvesting their happiness.”

“So you’re saying I was decapitated and killed by energy created from happy children?”

“Exactly,” he replied.

“That’s crazy.”

“Is it? I feel like it makes a lot of sense actually.”

“What about the Aphid-Dogs?” I asked.

“I don’t think those were relying on it as much, they’re just freaks of nature. The Wardens and Queenguards were clearly utilizing it a lot though.”

I paused mid-air and cast a glance back at the headless body of the Warden which slumped on the floor.

“Them turning blue is a good thing, right?”

“Definitely.”

“Should make the Queen easy enough to kill then,” I guessed.

“We should try to find Tina before we take her on,” Panda advised.

I blinked. “Shit, I forgot about her!”

At this point my control over my own gravity had grown proficient enough that I easily spun around and floated back towards Steve.

“Oy, Birthday Boy!” I called as we met in the air above the dead Warden’s body.

His enslaved ant soldiers started stabbing the headless corpse with their spears.

“You finally slowed down! I’ve been yelling at you to stop for like ten minutes…”

“Do you know where Tina is?” I asked, ignoring his complaint.

“That’s what I’ve been saying! I don’t know where the hell you’re going, but she’s not in this direction.”

“I’ve been chasing down Bee,” I said.

“Well she’s probably not that way either,” he told me. “There’s a dead-end outside this chamber.”

“What!?” I exclaimed. “Is there something further beyond that dead-end?”

“Sure, there is some kind of massive open plaza, but we can’t get to it that way. We have to go around. The layout here is really convoluted and weird.”

“Hold up,” Panda said. “How do you know all this?”

“I’ve got a map ability,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Since when?”

“Since the beginning?” he replied, confused. “Have you not been listening to me!?”

“No, not at all,” I told him honestly.

He sighed loudly.

“Follow me,” he then said and went back the way we’d come, before turning left down a long hallway. “We’ve got to hurry though, I don’t have any more Sanity Pills left and my gauge just keeps going up. I don’t want to go insane.”

“I think that’s too late,” Panda remarked.

I glanced at the plushie standing atop my stomach as I flew horizontally through the air. “He isn’t going insane because of my Immorality’s Curse, right?” I whispered.

“No, no, that just makes him morally evil.”

“Phew,” I said in relief. “I’d feel bad if it was my fault.”

“Oh, it’s definitely your fault! It’s just not because of that passive.”

I frowned.

“Steve, how much are you at?”

“97%…” he replied.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“Can you see other people or enemies on your map?” Panda asked.

“No,” Steve answered. “Although Tina said I might be able to fuse it with some other skill to make it do that. She said I needed a Golden Fusion Urchin though.”

“She knows about fusions??” I asked excitedly. She was low-key psychic about the future, so it kind of made sense. The realization made me feel profoundly stupid all of a sudden. I should’ve relied on her earlier.

We flew above exhausted-looking ants as Steve led us down a zigzagging and unintuitive journey through the Hive Ship. It seemed that while the CPS grunts weren’t turning blue from the lack of happiness juice, they were still affected by the sudden loss of it. No doubt it was because they’d all been carrying it around in their gasters and at least partially relied on it for strength.

Suddenly my stomach gurgled loudly and cold sweat ran down my forehead. I had a sudden flashback to the tooltip of the Warden Juice.

“You okay, Gambit?” Panda asked.

“Uhh, yeah. I think it’s DOD.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Delayed-onset diar—”

“There she is!” Steve exclaimed loudly, interrupting me.

At the end of the hallway we’d been following was a large wall with a sturdy blast door preventing anyone from going further. Tina was sitting with her back to the wall and bleeding profusely. Next to her lay a dead Glitch Hunter with a body full of holes leaking green venom. Slightly further away was a catatonic Minor Warden that’d turned completely blue.

We landed right in front of her, but before I could ask if she was okay, she downed one of the Tinctures of Full Recovery she’d bought in Castle Twine. It wasn’t until the restoration kicked in that I realized her right leg had been torn off at the hip and she’d lost several fingers.

Within seconds, her body was good as new.

She let out a small sigh, then looked me in the eyes and said, “Thank you for freeing my children.”

“I know where they went,” I told her.

“The new moon, right? Nina already told me.”

“Seriously, how does she know all this?” Panda wondered.

“What moon?” Steve asked, clearly out of the loop.

Tina shook her head, before changing topic. “Nina wanted to tell you something important.”

Neon-green hair sprouted to life atop her head and her personality changed to her alter ego. The more I learnt about the strange Gods that the insects and other denizens of the Great Game worshipped, the more I suspected that Nina’s power and personality derived from one of them.

“Forsake this familial sphere and seize victory anew with the aid of the Planewalker’s Spawn!”

“Seek your loyal Knights in the time before the Children of Stars and the Insects of Show Business lay claim to this world!”

“Unlock the truth within and soon the chains will drop!”

As soon as she passed on her message, Nina vanished and Tina returned.

I frowned. These clues were much harder to discern than the usual ones.

“I’ve got no idea what any of that means,” Panda said.

Steve shook his head. “Me neither.”

To be fair, I hadn’t expected either of them to get it.

“Tina, I’ve got a Golden Fusion Urchin, what should I use it on?”

“Show me your Status screen,” she said.

“Status,” I said, realizing I hadn’t checked it in a while. Then again, I also hadn’t leveled up in over a day, so there hadn’t been much need for me to look at it.

Panda tapped me on the side of the head. “Gambit! Look at your Mana and Intelligence!”

“What is that?” I wondered, squinting at it.

“It’s a key and a keyhole! Remember that achievement from when you hit 200% Insanity?”

“No,” I replied.

“Nina says you don’t have the means to use them yet,” Tina told me.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter right now. Tina, tell me which skills I should fuse together.”

She looked through my long list of abilities and passives, but it didn’t take her very long to come to a decision.

“Crimson Claymore and Zap,” she told me.

I hadn’t even used Zap once, originally picking it just for the purpose of fusing it later.

“It has to be in that order,” she insisted.

“What, the Claymore first? I didn’t think it mattered since they’re being combined.”

“It matters,” she said seriously.

“Alright.”

I pulled out the Golden Fusion Urchin.

Steve’s eyes marveled as he saw it, but I quickly tossed it in my mouth and chewed down. Just like the first time I’d consumed one, it was a delectable treat that had a complex flavor reminding me of the sea. I was able to actually savor it despite Brock’s curse fucking up my tastebuds. It was a good thing Lordie was staying in his cage, since he’d gone crazy last time he’d seen one of these.

ACTIVATING GOLDEN SKILL FUSION!

Choose two Abilities or Passives to combine:

“Combine ‘Crimson Claymore’ with ‘Zap’,” I announced.

COMBINING SKILLS!

Please wait a moment, while we combine the skills and roll for the most favorable traits based on the two components!

…

…

…

Uh. One moment.

…

…

…

New Legendary fusion skill created!

Congratulations!

You have unlocked the new Ability:

‘Cooldown Claymore’

“Tina, you’re a genius!” I exclaimed when I saw the result.

“That’s pretty strong,” Panda said.

She nodded. Then she pulled out a lumpy tube-shaped organ that seemed eerily familiar and gestured towards me.

“What?” I asked her.

“I need your blood for this.”

After a second of confusion, I realized it was the ‘Glitch Hunter’s Heart’. She had no doubt received it from somehow managing to kill the beetle that lay nearby.

I pulled out the one I’d gotten myself. “Trade?”

Instead of replying, she turned to look at Steve.

I followed her gaze.

We both grinned as the Birthday Brat slowly backed away.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -150

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Hm, they managed to break paragraph spacing with Patreon when they changed how new posts are made. I can't really tell if it will turn out fine from how terrible the editor is, but let me know if it ends up all smushed when you look at it. It's just another day of using Patreon <.<

Since my release schedule this week has been slightly skewed, Chapter -151 will arrive on the 8th instead of tomorrow the 7th.

The images are my commissioned cover Christmastified by my friend Euphy who writes "Last Rae of Hope". Think they both turned out quite fun, but obviously Brock with the elf hat is objectively the best

-----------------------------

Chapter -150

I frantically looked around for the Nightmare and wherever he’d manifested, but I couldn’t see him at all.

“Above!” Panda shouted.

Steve and I both looked up, seeing a dark smudge with yellow-glowing eyes and teeth falling down from above.

TICKLE…

TICKLE…

TICKLE…

Predictably, Steve took off, running down the hill as fast as he could go. The collapsed houses had become sinkholes leading into pitch-black darkness and the parks were quickly following suit. Whatever thing ensured the integrity of the Children’s Zone was clearly collapsing.

I stood my ground, awaiting the Nightmare.

“What are you doing!?” Panda yelled. “You’ve got to move!”

“Look around, Panda. There’s no way out of this place,” I said. “I might as well deal with this guy once and for all.”

“Have you already forgotten how he can’t be defeated??” the plushie asked incredulously.

“It’s okay, I know a way.”

“I can tell you’re lying, you know?”

I shook my head with a grin. “Panda, you’ve gotta believe in the me that I believe in.”

“Huh?”

Another tremor rolled through the made-up world, collapsing the streets and distant terrain, leaving only a small area around the hill clear. It seemed as though it was collapsing from the outside in, with the hill being the center.

Steve let out a shriek as he tripped over his own feet and tumbled down into one of the black sinkholes.

“Well shit…” I muttered as I saw him disappear into the darkness.

Then, before I’d anticipated it, Arney landed right on top of me. All of his many hundred baby hands scrabbled across my body, while his red-skinned face and glowing teeth pushed right up against mine.

“TICKLE! TICKLE! TICKLE!” he groaned eagerly in a deep reverberating voice.

Panda had somehow managed to escape in time and I heard him berating me from a few feet away. “This one’s on you Gambit, you goddamn moron!”

“Don’t worry,” I said, looking right into Arney’s glowing eyes. “I’m not ticklish.”

The Nightmare took this as a challenge, as the tiny fingers on his many black arms intensified their bizarre attempts to tickle me.

“TICKLE!!!”

“Sorry, boss, it’s just not doing it for me,” I told him.

Arney stopped and pulled his body away, while eight of his arms kept me pinned to the grass at the crest of the hill.

“What’s he doing!?” Panda yelled.

“Changing tactics, I think,” I told him.

“Why aren’t you fighting back!?”

“Remember the appraisal we saw?” I replied, as the hundreds of hands that’d let go of me suddenly manifested white feathers. “He only kills his targets by tickling them.”

“So you’re just going to endure?”

I grinned as Arney brought the feathers to bear on my body, running them along my cheek, the outside of my Unicorn Suit, and the bottoms of my Schmonic Boots. Surprisingly, I could feel them through my clothes and equipment.

Despite his best attempts, it hadn’t even tickled a little.

“If he can’t tickle me, he can’t defeat me,” I told Panda.

The yellow-glowing grin faltered and his bug-eyed stare narrowed suspiciously.

“I’m telling you, Arney, I’m not ticklish.”

He pulled back again, once more using only a few arms to keep me pinned. Like a magician, he flicked his hundreds of wrists and swapped the feathers for potato peelers. Then his grin widened.

“Uh, Gambit, you might want to abort this now!” Panda insisted.

“I’ve never been tickled with a potato peeler before. Doesn’t seem like it’d be very pleasant,” I commented. “But! Momma always told me to try everything once!”

“That’s horrible advice!” Panda argued.

“TICKLE?” Arney asked.

“He seems uncertain! Now’s the time to fight back!” Panda insisted.

I pulled my right arm free of the tiny hands pinning me and reached up to the bottom of his red-skinned face. I used my index finger to tickle him under his chin, like how I’d always done with my bullfrog Kevin. As soon as Brock touched the Nightmare, a tiny bit of his purple curse rubbed off on him.

“Guchi-guchi-gu!” I said playfully.

“Oi! Imma weapon of death!! Not whateva this is!!” Brock complained.

Arney’s hundreds of arms dropped limply to the ground, though his face didn’t move at all.

“A… A…”

Panda walked up to where I lay on my back in the grass. “What’s happening?” he asked, looking up at Arney’s face.

The yellow grin grew even wider than before and the eyes seemed about to pop out of his head. I kept tickling him.

“Haaa… Haaa…”

Then the world rumbled as another tremor rolled through the Children’s Zone. The hill underneath me broke like the thin shell of an egg and I immediately began to fall.

Panda grabbed on to my hair, but, more surprisingly, Arney wrapped all of his arms around me in a hug. Together, we plummeted into the same darkness that’d swallowed Steve.

The Nightmare was rumbling and shaking, as the deepest most ominous sound imaginable emerged from him.

HAH!

HAH!

HAH!

Arney the Tickler was laughing.

---

WARNING!

Now exiting ‘Children’s Zone #22’!

---

I landed on my back with an oof as I returned back into the creepy chamber with all the trapped children. Nearby, Steve was standing atop his Birthday Table ability, while a bunch of ants sat in the chairs and watched him with their rapt attention.

“Definitely not what I expected to return to,” I muttered. He had a strange way of always disappointing me, only to impress me moments later.

“Gambit! You’re back!”

Several of the ants shot to their feet at the sight of me.

“Sit back down!” Steve commanded and they obeyed immediately.

“Woah,” Panda remarked, looking around the chamber.

I followed his gaze and realized that every bulb had lost its amber-like honey. All the children that’d been trapped within were now gone.

“Crashing the Children’s Zone seems to have set them free,” Panda guessed.

“Question is: Where are they now?” I replied.

To answer that question, a message came in from my Benefactor.

“Holy crap!” Panda exclaimed. “That’s super powerful!”

“There’s a new moon?” I asked, ignoring the ability.

Then an achievement appeared.

A bracelet made of finger-bones and human hair appeared around my left wrist. I tried to pull it off, but it wouldn’t budge.

“What the fuck?” I muttered. Then I inspected it.

I was about to ask Panda what he thought the effect meant, but then I noticed something. The tug from my Manhunter’s Badge was shifting ever so slightly.

Bee was on the move.

Within seconds I was back on my feet and running in its direction.

“We’re coming Bee!” I yelled.

Steve and his birthday party of ants quickly followed along as I ran from the Children’s Zone chamber.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Announcement about my stories, Patreon, and things happening in 2025

Hey everyone. I've got a few things to share.

Firstly. When Madman Apocalypse wraps up Book 2 very soon, I will be taking a break for about a month. That means there'll be at least one month where I probably won't be posting much on here aside from new chapters of the unreleased Loopshard and F-tier Assassin stories.

Secondly. I have signed deals for both Isekai Exorcist and Madman Apocalypse. This happened a while back, but I didn't want to share it before I had more concrete information on the deals.
- I have signed the first three books (ch. 1-181) of Isekai Exorcist with Aethon. I don't have an exact date of release for Book 1 on Amazon, but it should be sometime in Q2 of 2025. It will be released in ebook, print, and audiobook formats.
- I signed an audiobook deal with Tantor for the first three books of Madman Apocalypse and I'll be self-publishing the ebook/print. The launch date of Book 1 will be May 1st. I can already reveal that the narrator will be the amazing Eric Michael Summerer who narrated The Perfect Run and many other great books. You can keep an eye on this page for more info as the release date approaches.

Because of signing two stories in the same year and acquiring what I believe are pretty solid advances, I've been able to feel like I'm a full-time author this year. Granted, I've got no idea what 2025 holds or how the releases will go, but I'll at least do my best to make them successful.

Since I've been editing Madman Book 1 lately, I've been really busy and have had a hard keeping up with the regular chapter releases on Patreon. It's been super stressful to be quite honest, but I've still managed to stick to 3 chapters per week on Madman. However, as I wrote above, I will be taking a month-long break after finishing Book 2, which will happen this month. It's both to continue focusing on editing, but it's also to avoid burning out or getting too overwhelmed by stress which definitely happened earlier in the year when I was putting out 6+ chapters per week across Exorcist and Madman.

Due to how busy I've been, I've also not been able to immediately continue Isekai Exorcist. I haven't abandoned the story, but my priorities have just shifted for the moment. I wrote on it for a year straight without breaks and I just know that kind of non-stop writing doesn't work well for me. I'm genuinely not a very fast writer but I've been pushing myself way beyond my limits because I thought for sure that if I didn't seize the opportunity and go all in on the books that took off, then people would drop me without a second chance. My sense of responsibility towards my readers and especially those who support me financially also just made me believe I couldn't afford to take a single break. I legitimately wasn't lying when I said that my break two weeks ago was the first I'd taken in over a year.

Anyway, that'll change going forward. I will be focusing on writing one book at a time per whatever series I'm doing and making sure to take proper breaks in-between. This does mean that supporting me on Patreon might feel frustrating and I apologise in advance for that. I'm already aware that my style of writing several different stories and constantly shifting to something new is not very effective for long-term Patreon support. This is also why I stopped offering the annual deals, because I could imagine some people signing up for them and then being upset when I stopped writing new chapters for the story they subbed for.

Lastly. I've been using Patreon since March of 2023 and I've genuinely disliked it from the outset. It is the most widely-adopted membership-based creator support site, but it is also the most hostile creator experience imaginable. Today is a great example of that, as they once again altered a fundamental structure to how the site works and added even more clicks per post, which will add more time to an already bothersome process of posting chapters. Three weeks ago they blew up the font size without any way of changing it back and also screwed with the sentence and paragraph spacing, breaking any sort of formatting. Basically, it sucks putting stuff on here and trying to make it look nice.

As you can no doubt tell, I really don't like Patreon. Patreon isn't made for writers and it's obvious. Further, the mods/devs do not give a shit about the creators who use their platform, nor do they care about the consumers' experience, which I'm sure many of you have felt. They also take an absurd ~15% cut of any money you contribute to a creator, while providing none of the features that creators and consumers desire.

As a result of my intense dislike of this site, I am considering transitioning to Ko-Fi instead. After my break following the conclusion of Madman Book 2, I will probably start cross-posting both here and there. If I like it enough, I might transition altogether.


Phew, that was quite a lot and it got kind of ranty towards the end there...

As you can tell, there's a lot going on, and I felt that it was only fair to keep y'all appraised. I cannot describe how much I appreciate all of you and the support you've shown me.

Even if you decide to unsubscribe after reading this, I hope you know that my discord server is always open to you. I've never wanted to be a "take the money and run" kind of creator and it honestly does make me super uncomfortable to even receive monetary support through something like Patreon, so I hope that you have felt your contributions to me were worthwhile. Because of my complicated feelings about this, I'm also planning to lower the cost of my "here's everything" tier by half starting in 2025, although because of how Patreon is set up that means I'll have to make a new tier.

I really truly want to make a living off of writing and, with the deals I've signed, that dream at least became a reality in 2024. My hope is that my stories can do well on Amazon in 2025 and that I can keep on writing like this forever. I obviously won't abandon RoyalRoad, but the way I write just clearly makes Patreon unviable as a steady source of income, since you're rewarded more for writing one story that never ends, than several distinct ones that do. And if you want to make a living by sticking to RoyalRoad and never doing Amazon publications, then you need Patreon.

Ah shit, I'm rambling again...

TL;DR:
- Break after Madman Book 2 wraps in December.
- Publishing Book 1 in Q2 next year for both Madman and Exorcist.
- Considering trying out Ko-Fi as a replacement for Patreon.
- Making new $5 tier identical to Ascendant tier in Jan 2025 when I return from break.


If you read this far, thank you for indulging my rambling.

— Dosei (土星) —

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -149

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter -149

We tore through the hallways and chambers of the Hive Ship, while a massive battle continued to rage between the ant defenders and beetle intruders. It was interesting that they cared more about their rivalry than about us sneaking into their base.

“Turn right here,” Tina announced and I dutifully obeyed.

We zoomed around a corner and down a narrow tunnel, which had a warm orange light at the end. As soon as we came out at the other end and I saw what stretched out above us, I lost a hold on my Fuck Gravity effect and it cancelled out completely.

The three of us dropped to the papery floor, which cushioned our fall.

Steve gasped awake and then his eyes were stuck wide-open as he took in the enormous chamber. Although that word felt too small for what we were seeing.

Starting from the floor and going up the walls into the darkness far above were hundreds-of-thousands of round bulbs. The bottom half of each bulb was shaped like a bowl using the papery material, while a golden-orange honey droplet sat within and trapped a person like a bug in amber.

No, not a person. A child.

This was where all of Earth’s children had gone. This was the so-called Children Zone.

“It’s just like the Matrix,” Steve muttered in awe.

I got up from the floor. “What’s that?” I asked.

Tina and Panda both gave me a look, while Steve seemed incensed.

“You’ve never watched it!? It’s a masterpiece!” he exclaimed, not seeming to care that there was a Minor Warden flitting around between the bulbs high above. She seemed to be checking on the condition of each child inside the amber-like droplets.

“I’m surprised you don’t know it,” Panda agreed. “They showed it on the TV in the Asylum’s common room all the time.”

“How have you never watched it!?” Steve went on.

“It was a bit hard to follow the plot of any story on that TV,” I said. “What with all the screaming and whatnot.”

“They were always showing movies they knew triggered people,” Panda commented.

Tina nodded. “It’s because they lost money whenever a patient stopped being psychotic and could be transferred back to jail or released out into the world.”

“We’re wasting time,” I said and strode across the floor of the disturbing chamber. It didn’t look anything like what Bee had said the CPS pamphlet described. There was no farm and petting zoo type thing going on.

Panda pointed ahead to a different kind of structure that stood in the middle of the floor. There were no real paths to the center, but just small gaps between the countless pods with children inside. The structure was like an artistic and organically-shaped doorway that stood inside a circular recess in the floor. From the rounded top of the doorway was the same gloopy honey-like substance, filling out the shape. It glowed amber and reminded me somewhat of the Dreamland doors.

“I see a door, I’m going through it,” I said.

“We don’t know where it leads, so that might be a bad idea,” Panda cautioned.

“Oh, I know where it leads,” I said. My Manhunter’s Badge was pointing right at it after all.

A sudden angry crackle of electric energy snapped through the air above.

“Trespassers!” screamed a distorted female voice from the same direction.

“Oh shit! The Warden has spotted us!” Panda exclaimed.

I gestured to Tina and Steve who were lacking behind. “Come on, follow me!”

I sprinted across the floor as the Minor Warden fell down towards us, while preparing her energy magic. However, I felt certain that she would show restraint in this place, since I doubted she was allowed to harm the bulbs with the children inside.

As I ran, I realized that it was faster to use Fuck Gravity than my legs, so I hopped off the ground and reoriented its pull so it was centered on the amber-glowing honey doorway.

When my feet hit the strange substance, my momentum slowed significantly, though I was still falling through it. I could also feel how my legs were clearly emerging somewhere else and not just passing right through.

While the doorway slowly consumed me, I aimed a finger of my balloon gauntlet at the descending Minor Warden. It was focused on Tina from the looks of it.

The exact moment she launched the lattice prison spell she’d been preparing, I shouted, “.interrupt( )!”

The Warden’s head flicked in my direction in annoyance, before lashing its arm towards me and flinging a rope of crackling-orange energy. My eyes widened as it came within inches of my face, but then the doorway released a loud slurp and pulled me all the way through, saving my head from decapitation.

---

WARNING!

Now entering ‘Children’s Zone #22’!

---

I landed on my back as my Fuck Gravity lost its target and was cancelled. Unlike the Hive Ship’s hallways and chambers, I didn’t land on a papery floor. Instead it was soft grass and dirt that caught me.

“Do you think the others are alright?” Panda worried.

I sat up and looked back at where I’d come from. But there was nothing there.

“It’s a bit too late for me to help them now,” I muttered, feeling a tiny bit of guilt about going in first and leaving them to fight off the Warden.

“I know you want to save Bee, but you can’t just sacrifice everyone to get her back,” Panda scolded me.

“I’m not sacrificing anyone!”

“What about Chris?”

“That wasn’t my fault and you know it!”

“If you hadn’t pushed so hard, maybe you’d been more prepared for Logan’s ambush,” Panda argued.

“I didn’t hear you stop me. You’re just as guilty as me.”

Then Steve’s horrified face slowly appeared in mid-air above the small hill I’d landed on. His hands, feet, belly, legs, arms, and all the rest appeared right after, until the viscous doorway let go of him and he plopped to the ground on his knees.

He was breathing heavily, while looking around.

“Where are we?” he asked. His bald dome was reflecting the light of a sun in the sky above.

I took in our surroundings as well and was surprised by what I saw. It was an idyllic idea of 60s era suburbia, with large colorful houses. They were identical in shape and all had their own front lawns, as well as kids’ versions of family cars parked in the driveways. The ‘cars’ were pedal-operated and clearly quite a hit with the many kids playing around and pretending to be families.

Along with the neat houses were also hills with swing sets and playgrounds, as well as parks with fruit trees full of apples, oranges, pears, cherries, and so on. Kids between four and eighteen were running around, laughing, playing, and just seeming to have a great time.

Some of the older children were using nerf guns and defending cardboard forts built around the streets and parks, while others were roaming on scooters, skateboards, and roller-skates. Meanwhile, the younger kids seemed to be mostly centered around the playgrounds and houses.

As I watched, a boy of maybe eight nosedived off the top of a tall pyramid of climbable ropes. He hit the ground below and immediately bounced to his feet, completely unscathed.

“This is beyond trippy,” I muttered.

“It doesn’t look like any of the kids are in trouble,” Panda said.

I looked back to where Steve had emerged from the air. “Is Tina coming or what?”

“She said she’d lead the Warden away,” Steve answered.

I frowned. “Goddamnit, Steve.”

“What’d I do!?”

I got to my feet. The Manhunter’s Badge was pointing in the direction of a nearby park. “Let’s just find Bee and get out of—”

---

Children’s Zone Update

New occupants detected!

Adjusting parameters of Happiness Algorithm…

Loading assets…

---

“What does that mean?” Steve asked.

Then two voluptuous and beautiful women wearing summer dresses materialized out of nowhere and sauntered over to where Steve was sitting in the grass.

“Hey big guy, do you want to play with us?” they asked in unison.

Predictably, the Birthday Brat’s eyes went wide with perverted desire.

“What the fuck?”

I walked up to one of them and prodded her in the forehead. She was real, although she didn’t react to my touch at all.

I glared at Steve. “Is this your wish fulfilment happening here? Is that what this place is?”

Then the announcement repeated.

---

Children’s Zone Error

Failed to load assets!

Readjusting parameters of Happiness Algorithm…

Loading assets…

---

“I think it’s struggling to cope with whatever would make you happy,” Panda said, looking at me.

Steve, meanwhile, was walking down the hill with the two women, hand-in-hand.

“His form of happiness seems pretty shallow…” I muttered in disgust. “Though I can’t say I’m surprised.”

---

Children’s Zone Error

Failed to load assets!

All checks failed!

Corruption detected!

Summoning Technician!

Summoning failed!

Summoning Technician!

Summoning failed!

Aborting…

---

Panda sighed. “Great. You broke it.”

“I didn’t do anything!” I defended myself.

Then the sun in the sky was switched off and the idyllic Children’s Zone was cast in darkness. My Transition Lenses immediately activated and I saw that all the kids had vanished from the houses, streets, and parks. The Manhunter’s Badge still pointed in the same direction, but I felt fairly confident now that it wasn’t pointing me to somewhere within this place.

Steve was standing further down the hill by himself. It seemed he was snapped out of whatever strange trance the zone had affected him with.

“Gambit!? What happened? Where are you?” he called, unable to see me.

“Use your lamp ability thing!” Panda yelled down to him.

“Okay! IKEA Catalogue: ‘Årstid’!”

A simple table lamp appeared in the air above him, casting a ring of light on the grass.

Then an earthquake rolled through the area, collapsing several houses and knocking over trees.

Just to really make matters worse, a familiar sound echoed throughout the zone.

TICKLE…

TICKLE…

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -148

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter -148

William Twine nodded towards Steve and said, “Uh yeah, happy birthday.”

The Birthday Boy groaned. “We should get going, right? They’ll probably realize we’ve infiltrated their base pretty quickly, considering their ability to track Gambit wherever he goes.”

“They can’t actually do that anymore,” Panda told him. “I think what happened in the Safe Zone wasn’t because of him being tracked, but rather some automatic trigger reacting to his amoral nature and the whole being on the registry thing.”

The Twine brothers shared a suspicious glance with each other, before looking at me with disgust in their eyes.

Before I could defend myself, an achievement appeared in front of my face. The way everyone else seemed to pause made it clear that I wasn’t the only one to receive it.

“What the hell does that mean!?” William exclaimed.

“We need to go,” Tina told me and pulled me towards the blast door.

William and Matthew started to argue about how stupid it was for them to have followed us up here, somehow both able to ignore Steve’s last command to get along.

Then came a message I had honestly been expecting for a long time.

---

WARNING!

Glitch-Hunter Task Force deploying to your area!

We know where you are.

You cannot hide.

Extermination imminent.

---

The two brothers stopped arguing.

“Run!” Panda yelled. Steve immediately took him up on the advice.

A sound like tearing fabric came from the far end of the chamber, furthest from the big blast door we were heading for. Then it was like the air itself was pulled open, creating a rift that a bulky beetle Agent stepped through. It was the same one that’d hunted Bee and I during the first Game Event.

With a roar, Matthew took off from the ground and flew towards the Glitch Hunter, while William drew his bow and started doing weird bounding movements as he fired off arrows.

“Let’s get the F out of here!” Steve insisted. He was holding a Looking Glass in his hand and shared the appraisal with me.

“I kind of want to try and kill him,” I said.

The Glitch Hunter’s thick carapace shimmered and all the arrows fired at him reflected right back at the Satyr, several of them burrowing deep into his torso and legs. As William tumbled to the ground, Steve repeatedly slammed on a button next to the large blast door to open it.

“Recursive.action(Beetle_Bolt),” the Hunter said, lifting his girthy right arm to shoot a ton of bolts at Matthew.

The Meatshield-turned-Red-Pawn absorbed several of the flechettes, before body-slamming the beetle into the ground with enough force to produce a loud crunch and releasing a violent crackle of red electricity. The beetle spasmed and fell still.

Matthew got up and tore the projectiles out of his sturdy body, before turning around and running back to his brother. William was no longer moving and dark-red blood pooled where he’d collapsed.

I watched in horror as the Glitch Hunter slowly got back to his feet.

“Oh no you fucking don’t,” I said.

I crouched and triggered SPRING_HEEL, then aimed my new gravity directly towards the Hunter’s torso.

Like a human-shaped rocket, I flew across the chamber, while pulling my fist back.

“Kapow!!” Brock squealed as I smashed him right into the Agent’s beetle head, utterly obliterating it in a mist of white blood.

Despite this guy being high-leveled and fucking scary, he still shared the same weakness as other beetles: impact damage. They wore their skeletons on the outsides of their bodies, so any force that could penetrate through that would devastate them.

“Holy shit!” Steve yelled from the door that he’d managed to get open.

However, the Glitch Hunters didn’t play fair. Already, his neck stump was beginning to rebuild itself into a head.

But I didn’t play fair either. The purple curse from Brock’s impact was spreading out along the beetle’s carapace and preventing the regenerative effects, but not fully.

I did the only thing I could think of and kept punching the headless body until there was nothing left but purple-stained mush.

The body glowed golden and seemed to be doing something similar to my original ‘Personal Rule’ passive that’d allowed me to cheat death once. The result was that the mush tried to take on a coherent shape, before Brock’s Anti-Heal effect kicked in and prevented it. This happened nine times in total, before finally the Glitch Hunter was truly dead.

A squishy ridged black tube landed in my hands and I immediately inspected it.

Then the air around me tore open and three new Glitch Hunters crawled out of their own personal rifts. Before they could fully materialize, I shot myself towards the open blast door using my Fuck Gravity and SPRING_HEEL. I made sure to grab Tina and Steve on the way out.

Outside the pod chamber was a large hallway connected to several other rooms with their own tube holes. Many of them also had open pods inside. It seemed they only closed up once ants or aphids were to be sent somewhere to the surface down below.

The hallway’s floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of the same strange papery material. All the doors were identical to the first, i.e. glossy-black space-ship-looking blast doors. Just like the chamber we’d entered through, it was absolutely sweltering here.

Even though the papery walls absorbed much of the sound, I could still hear Matthew fighting with the Glitch Hunters. However, it wasn’t my problem anymore. I’d already saved his life once, despite the fact that he’d robbed my dead body, so I didn’t owe him shit.

“They’ll follow you!” Steve complained, even though I was providing him the means to escape.

“They can’t track me,” I said confidently.

“You’re right,” Panda agreed, “But they can track Steve…”

“Ah, well shit.”

“Nina says we should take a left and head into the first Children’s Zone we see,” Tina announced.

I didn’t need to be told twice, as the tearing sounds from nearby made it clear that the Glitch Hunters had dealt with the Twine brothers and were now coming for us.

Then suddenly a loud warning klaxon filled the hallway and no doubt all of the Hive Ship, although it was less like a normal alarm and more like unhinged banshee wailing. I wondered if it was the voice of the Hive’s Queen. Within seconds, ants flooded the large hallway, lending credence to my theory.

Instead of attempting to stop us where we flew by above, they instead honed in on the three bulky beetles. A fight immediately broke out and though the three Glitch Hunters fucked up the ants, they were so outnumbered that they were unlikely to survive for long.

“Good thing the Agencies hate each other,” Panda muttered in relief.

A fork in the hallway appeared and I took us left, continuing to ‘fall’ sideways through the air in the most peculiar approximation of flight imaginable. But hey, it worked.

“I’m proud of you Steve,” I said down to where the Birthday Boy dangled in my grip. “You didn’t scream once.”

Panda, who was standing on my horizontal torso looked down at the guy, before saying, “Gambit, he’s out cold.”

“Oh.”

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Loopshard - Chapter Four

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

The poll I did last week was pretty conclusively in favour of Loopshard and I've been finding it much easier to write that F-tier Assassin, so it will probably end up being what I publish in February on RoyalRoad instead. It's a big change of plans, but that's how it goes with artistic endeavours sometimes.

However, this doesn't mean that F-tier won't get published, it just means I will continue to take my time writing it. It's not a style of narrative that's much suited to being written to a schedule, so I won't have a specific date for the next chapter, but it is already more than half-done. Sorry, but it will just be kind of an absent uncle who shows up once in a while ^-^'

For those of you who enjoyed Loopshard, rejoice. I should be able to have at least one chapter per week available for the story. There isn't quite as massive an intricate web of characters and story beats as I've got planned out for F-tier, but Loopshard will still have some fun and surprising moments that you can look forward to. It is my first true attempt to write a proper timeloop story and I hope that it'll end up entertaining for you to read along with!

Update February 4th: I have made chapter 4 available for free members as well. Before the release of Loopshard on RR (February 14th), I think I will make chapter 5 available for free as well.

-----------------------------

Chapter Four

< < Wave One > >

< 60-Second Timer >

“How the fuck am I supposed to fight with just my fists!?” Adam yelled at the tesseract. Despite killing it with his attack just moments ago, it was somehow alive again. More confoundingly, he’d returned to the beginning of the despicable Trials of Defiance.

[Failure to slay the enemy within 60 seconds will lead to Wave Two triggering.]

A transparent-blue slime squeezed its way out of the treeline nearby and began hopping towards him. He didn’t know what to do. Punching and kicking it would only get his skin dissolved.

“Shitbox! What the hell happened!?”

[You failed to select a Weapon Type and thus were defaulted to ‘Fool’. This Type starts with the Epic Relic ‘Lucky Bracelet’, but has no weapon. The ‘Fool’ is incapable of wielding weapons and you cannot swap to a different Type later on. Would you like to see the information for the Relic?]

“Will it help me fight??”

[Perhaps.]

“Then show me, quick!” he demanded, as the slime came closer.

< < Relics Equipped > >

< Lucky Bracelet (Epic) — All rewards are Rare quality or higher >

Epic rarity?? I mean, sure, that’s really awesome. But how am I supposed to make use of its effect if I can’t kill anything!?

Adam eyed the slime that just continued hopping towards him.

Fuck…

He made up his mind, knowing there was no other option. He needed to get his first reward before the Wave could lapse and the second one added two more slimes to the mix.

This is really going to suck.

From the previous life, he knew that the cores inside the creatures were like stones, but still able to be cut with a single attack. He was pretty sure he might be able to crush it with the heel of his shoe, so he charged forward and punted the blue slime as hard as he could.

It did not go as planned.

Because of the slime’s jelly-like flesh, it was extremely resistant to blunt force. Instead of his shoe travelling through its body and kicking the core out from within it, the slime just left the ground and flew like a football for a few metres. To make matters worse, its corrosive effect clung to the faux leather of his shoe and rapidly began dissolving it.

“Argh, fuck!” he yelled, as it burnt the skin of his foot. Adam quickly pulled the shoe off and tossed it away. Within seconds, the whole thing was dissolved into nothingness. Angry red welts were visible on his naked foot.

Fucking hell! That acid really likes fabric…

The slime righted itself and began hopping for him again. Adam glanced to the big tree in the centre of the clearing, wondering if there was a branch he could use as an improvised weapon. The Healing Apple and its branch had yet to appear. The rest were high up and way too thick to easily break with his hands.

The apple doesn’t appear until Wave Three… he then recalled.

I guess I really did go back in time…

Another dumb idea entered Adam’s mind as the blue slime came closer.

If this doesn’t work, I’m so fucked.

He waited until it was close enough that its next hop would hit him, then easily side-stepped it and rammed his right hand into its ‘back’, flattening it like the blade of the sword he’d had before he died. The tip of his fingers easily penetrated the jelly flesh, but immediately started dissolving in its acid body.

Adam screamed while forcing his hand deep enough to reach the core in its centre. He closed his hand around it and then yanked it back with as much force as he could.

A wet slurp came from the slime’s body as his hand was pulled free, the core clasped between the fingers.

Adam immediately dropped the spherical stone on the mossy ground. He stumbled back a few steps while clutching the middle of his forearm. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t stop screaming.

The skin on his right hand was gone, as was most of the flesh. The tips of his fingers were just tiny stubs of exposed bone, which had been pitted and damaged from the acid and looked like they might crumble into ash at any moment.

“Fuck!!” he screamed, while tears of agony filled his eyes.

Meanwhile, the slime deflated without the core inside it, becoming flat like a pancake. Then it just evaporated with a pathetic fizz.

The core that he’d extracted lay on the moss, still intact. As he stared between it and his ruined hand and forearm, he knew it hadn’t been worth it.

Maybe I’ll start back over again if I die? Just like the first time.

That seems like wishful thinking though…

And if I throw my life away just to try out that insane theory… I don’t even want to think about that possibility.

He decided to keep going, despite the pain and the mounting despair.

The trick to going back in time is probably to kill Shitbox. I’ll have to find a way to do that again.

Then the tesseract announced his success.

< < Wave One Complete > >

< Choose your Upgrade >

The four-dimensional box flew out in front of him and began to rearrange itself into the podium shape, dragging additional mass from some other space. Even though he’d witnessed it quite a few times already, it still hurt his brain to look at.

“Shitbox, can I pick this thing up?” he asked, pointing at the core.

[Yes. You may collect any intact ‘Slime Cores’ you are able to extract. They are considered a Common Relic. Here is the Relic’s information.]

< < Collectible Relic > >

< Slime Core (Common) — The brain and heart of a Slime >

It’s a Relic? Doesn’t seem like it does anything though. I guess the idea is that you can sell them to Lucca and get 75 Points per each you collect. That might be a good strategy, although I can’t really use my hands for it. Yeah… that was way too reckless.

He looked at the options that appeared over Shitbox’s podium. All of them were glowing blue like Rares. The three symbols were: a four-leaf clover; an arrowhead going through a wall; and a shield with cracks in it.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Luck (Rare) — Increases luck by 3 >

< Force (Rare) — Attacks pierce armour by 15% >

< Crush (Rare) — Increases the impact of attacks by 15% >

Can I even use any of these…

I guess Luck? Maybe it’ll give me a Rare or even Epic Damage boost next time around.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Luck (Rare) >

< < Wave Two > >

< 60-Second Timer >

Adam frowned as two blue slimes emerged from the treeline opposite where he stood in the clearing.

“Shitbox, is this actually meant to be doable without any weapons?” he asked, while stooping to pick up the ‘Slime Core’ Relic and putting it in his pocket.

[Yes. However, the ‘Fool’ Weapon Type is deemed the most difficult option.]

“Awesome…”

He was pretty much screwed with his right arm out of commission, so he chose the only way forward he could think of: running out the clock until the branch with the Healing Apple appeared.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to run in circles to evade the pair of blue slimes, since they were uncoordinated and slow.

[15 seconds remaining of Wave Two.]

[5 seconds.]

[The Wave Timer has run out! You were unable to defeat the enemies fast enough. Unfortunately, this means that the next Wave now begins. You must defeat all enemies from both Waves before the Timer runs out again. You will not receive rewards until you successfully defeat all enemies within the allotted time.]

< < Wave Three > >

< 90-Second Timer >

[During Waves you may take damage. Although you can purchase consumable health regeneration after this Stage, there are also ways to acquire them from within the Stages themselves. Look towards the tree, where a Healing Apple is awaiting you.]

Adam grimaced, when a purple slime appeared, quickly followed by two blues. It was now five-on-one and he had no weapon.

Before any of them could catch him, he ran to the big tree and jumped to reach the branch with the Healing Apple. It snapped off easily, giving him a metre-long stick that would hopefully work as a weapon.

But first he took a bite out of the fruit. Relief and warmth flooded up his right arm and restored it back to full. It was almost enough to make him forget how much it’d hurt in the first place. Almost.

Adam shifted the branch from his left hand to his right, and then charged for the nearest blue slime. The purple one was much slower than the rest, so it was not yet a problem, but it would prove the biggest challenge for his pathetic weapon.

With a mighty roar, he jabbed the branch right into the blue ball of jelly, spearing through its flesh to strike the core. Nothing happened when it hit and the branch was immediately dissolved by its acidic body.

“Shit!” he exclaimed and quickly retracted his weapon, but it was already too late to save it. Adam had to drop it to the ground as the acid ate through it. And just like that, his hope was gone.

The only idea he had left was to try and bait the purple slime into hitting the blues. Even if that worked, however, he had no clue if he could kill it with his hand. And should that work, by some absurd miracle, he would then be faced with wave four and the green slimes, which would definitely dissolve his hands faster than he could yank out their cores.

Yeah… I’m fucked.

But he didn’t want to just give up, so he spun around and bolted for the great tree. Despite his missing shoe, he scrambled up the bark as best he could, managing to climb up into its crown, while the slimes were unable to follow. Since they couldn’t reach him, they instead began slamming into the tree below him. Their strikes slowly ate away at the dense bark.

Are they able to destroy the tree? he wondered absentmindedly as he pulled himself as high as he could go.

The branches up here were much thicker than the one he’d used before, but he had no easy way to break them off, so he couldn’t even attempt to use them as weapons.

[30 seconds remaining of Wave Three.]

Adam sighed.

Guess I’ll be putting that reckless death loop theory to the test after all…

As he sat up in the canopy amongst the branches and leaves, he suddenly spotted something glinting in the sunlight. It was a small object inside a bird’s nest, but it was situated precariously at the end of a thin branch.

Adam looked down below to see that the purple slime had joined the other four in attacking the tree. He estimated that he’d reach the fifth Wave before they were able to deal any serious damage to it.

With nothing to lose, he began to slowly work his way towards the glinting object. As he came within two metres of it, he realised it was an acorn made of glass.

What’s this doing here? he wondered.

This has to be something special! I can feel it!

If I get it, maybe I can complete this Stage!

[The Wave Timer has run out! Starting next Wave. You must defeat all enemies before the Timer runs out.]

< < Wave Four > >

< 90-Second Timer >

Adam carefully scooted his body across the branch to reach the bird’s nest and its prize, while he heard the plop-plop-plop of the green slimes firing off their projectiles. None of them had enough power to reach him though and each just collided against the trunk of the tree with a loud hiss before evaporating.

Come on, just a little bit more!

He reached out and cupped his hand around the glass acorn.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, feeling a small victory amidst the heavy despair of his situation.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Glass Acorn (Rare) — Grows for 3 Stages >

“Ah shit…” he muttered, realising that this wasn’t the salvation he’d been desperately hoping for.

Then the branch snapped and he plummeted to the ground.

Despite the mossy understory of the clearing, the landing was anything but comfortable. From the series of snap, pop, crack, and crunch sounds, as well as the indescribable pain, it was obvious he’d broken several bones and possibly dislocated the shoulder he’d landed on.

The air was punched out by the impact and he was quite sure his lungs might have collapsed as well, given that he was unable to draw in a new breath.

A figure loomed over him, while he tried to utter just a single word of defiance.

Schiiing!

***

Adam returned to the darkness, where a colossal eye opened and gazed upon him. Its pupil was the silhouette of a man and he was walking towards where Adam floated.

< < ADAM > >

He gasped as he was returned to his feet in the clearing of the Magical Forest. Then he collapsed to his knees and hurled, while tears stung his eyes.

That was a much worse death than the first… A shard to the heart beats falling from the top of a tree for sure.

But it worked!

I’m ba—!

He hurled again, only bile and acid coming out. The taste of croissant was gone. Nearby, Shitbox was unfolded into the podium with the choice of weapons. His vision was blurry both from the tears in his eyes and the disorientation of been flung back in time.

[30 seconds remaining.]

Adam scrambled to his feet, not wanting to be defaulted to ‘Fool’ again. He immediately slipped in his own vomit and landed on his back with a loud thud.

“Wait…!” he groaned breathlessly, as he tried crawling towards the podium. “Tell me… the options!”

< < Weapon Types Available > >

< Lancer (Common) >

< Defender (Common) >

< Duellist (Uncommon) >

< Backstabber (Common) >

< Warder (Rare) >

The Defender was available again, but the rest of the options were different, which was peculiar. However, he immediately knew which he’d pick and screamed it out loud.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to touch the weapon to select it. Immediately, a metre-and-a-half caramel-brown wooden spear with a dark metal tip appeared in front of him on the moss.

< < Weapon Type Selected > >

< Spear >

< Common >

< Level 0 >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Lancer >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 100 >

< Stamina — 150 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 100% >

< Defence — 100% >

< Speed — 150% >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -147

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

I am back from my brief vacation, thank you for waiting patiently.

-----------------------------

Chapter -147

Tina wrapped her green serpents around the three of us, although it was awkward since I was upside-down and they weren’t. Above me, which was below them, was the distant town hall of Madeville. I couldn’t see William Twine anywhere, but several Players seemed to be defending the Safe Zone from the giant Executioner Aphid-Dog. They were being torn to shreds by its aggressive turrets.

The pull on my stomach as I fell upwards toward the Hive Ship was accompanied by an increasingly-painful pressure on my ears, just like the experience of sitting in a plane during takeoff.

Steve was no longer screaming, but instead just ragdolled unconsciously while strapped to Tina and me. Meanwhile, Panda was inexplicably sitting on my shoulder as though our incredible velocity didn’t affect him, but, then again, it wouldn’t be the first time he defied reality.

“I think I can control the effect!” I yelled into the whooshing air.

“You think??” Panda replied pessimistically.

“The passive said gravity has no control over me, so I should be able to control it.”

“That makes no sense,” he said.

“If you can’t slow us down, I’ll try something,” Tina commented in-between excited laughs.

Below my pee-stained-white Schmonic Boots was the black outer shell of the Hive Ship, which just grew-and-grew as I continued to fall.

After twenty straight minutes and with a head that felt like it might pop from the pressure, the ship was the only thing I saw in the sky below.

“It’s fucking huge!” I exclaimed.

“Makes sense, doesn’t it? It houses all the human children of earth after all,” Panda commented.

Tina stopped laughing. “My children are waiting for me up there.”

I blinked in surprise. “You have children!? Since when??”

“Since five months ago,” she answered. “They were taken from me a week before the Great Game began.”

“Don’t worry!” I told her. “We’ll get them back.”

“I know. Nina said you would be able to save them.”

Tina raised her head to look up, which was my down, before adding, “There’s a hundred feet until we collide.”

“Oh shit!” Panda exclaimed. “Gambit, if you’re gonna slow us down, you’ve gotta do it now!”

I focused and, though it would be impossible to explain how, was able to intuitively ‘relax’ the momentum my reversed gravity had.

While I rapidly slowed my upwards fall, Steve spasmed awake with a loud gasp, only to immediately begin screaming. I lost control of the effect and we suddenly plummeted back down to earth for a couple seconds, before I managed to flip the gravity back around. Then we were leisurely floating towards the underside of the Hive Ship.

I rubbed my hands excitedly. “This will be so much fun to use in a fight.”

“If you can control it properly, it’ll definitely make you super powerful,” Panda agreed.

My squishy boots touched down on the black shell of the enormous spaceship. The landing was gentle enough that I didn’t even feel the impact. Tina and Steve were still oriented right-way-up, which made it very bizarre as their heads were down around my knees when I began walking.

“I’m gonna hurl,” Steve groaned.

“Don’t,” I told him. My face was in the direct line of fire.

He shut his eyes and shook his head. “Just find a way for us to get inside. Hurry!”

Tina, unfazed by the confusing situation, pointed off in a direction, where a hill of reflective black metal poked out of the jagged carapace of the ship. It was as though the entire thing was one impossibly-vast shard of a hybrid material made of obsidian glass and metal. Strangely, it produced a loud clink as I traversed it, despite my soft boots.

The hill turned out to not be a hill at all, but rather a strange barnacle-like protrusion from which a pod had been launched. The middle of the barnacle dipped down into a tube wide enough to fit the giant Metro Train.

“Woah,” Panda muttered as he looked around. I followed his gaze, seeing how in every direction the ground was the same polished black. The ship was so enormous that it was impossible to see where it ended, even from this elevated position.

Suddenly something zipped by us and went down into the barnacle hole. I caught just a quick blur of red, yellow, and white.

“What was that!?” Steve yelled in horror.

“The Twine brothers,” Tina replied.

 “I wanted to be the first one in,” I complained, before hopping down into the barnacle hole.

Steve immediately began screaming again and his voice echoed off the walls of the tube strangely as we fell upwards into the Hive Ship.

The tube took a serpentine route as it moved through the outer shell and I had to constantly readjust the trajectory of my Fuck Gravity passive. When we finally reached the end a few minutes later, I felt as though I’d fully learnt how to master both the passive’s trajectory, as well as its inertia.

We flew out of the floor and towards the ceiling of a large chamber, but I quickly maneuvered us through the air in a U-turn and landed us gently on the floor. Since I was controlling the trajectory, this meant that I landed feet-on-the-ground, with Tina and Steve now being upside-down. The Venomancer quickly dispelled the neon-green serpents and they were both untangled from my body, before plopping down on the floor.

The chamber was rectangular and about thirty feet wide and a hundred long, with a massive blast door of the black material at the opposite end from where the giant hole in the floor had spit us out. The walls, floor, and ceiling weren’t anything like the exterior of the ship, but instead reminded me of the Healer’s shop in the Mall. It was like brown kind-of-flexible paper and it absorbed most of the noise from Steve’s violent vomiting. The air in the chamber was dry as a desert and sweltering like one too, perhaps due to the material’s insulating effect.

Opposite the hole from us were two figures: a fluffed-up and sick-looking Satyr; and a raincoat-wearing mask-thieving Angel Boy.

“Give me back what you stole, you bastard!” I yelled to Matthew Twine.

He wore the Red Pawn mask on his face and its color clashed severely with the white-and-yellow style he had going with the winged raincoat he wore.

Before he could respond, everyone froze. The puke leaving Steve’s mouth hung suspended in mid-air; the red lightning that was sparking to life in Matthew’s palm became static; and the neon-green serpent Tina was shooting forward in response was half-formed and stuck with its fanged maw aimed at his face.

Then a voice addressed us and our region. It was much different than the female voices of the Wasp Announcers, but still familiar to me. Unlike the first time I’d heard this voice, it didn’t feel like my brain was slowly decaying, although there was a distinct series of zaps rolling across my brain with every syllable it uttered.

---

In the absence of any eligible Announcers, I have taken it upon myself to perform the GREAT GAME announcements.

My name is Messimer and I am the Master of the Broadcast Department. Due to the interference of two enterprising Players and an unregulated Benefactor, I have been summoned to the Castleburg Region ahead of schedule. Nevertheless, the show will go on as prescribed.

As you will recall, the period between GAME Events was shortened to 24 hours and it has now been exactly one day since the First Event concluded across all Regions. Thus, the Second Event must now commence.

Considering that there are no Announcers to guide you into this Event, I will briefly describe it before you are transported to the venue.

The Second GAME Event is called ‘Best in Show’. Players will be required to work together as teams in order to manufacture the most powerful Monstrosity possible. Teams are created based on current proximity, meaning that you are highly likely to end up on a team with those next to you in this current moment.

There are three phases to the Event:

The Collection Phase, where Players must scour the Singing City for parts and hunt its denizens for materials. Hunting other Players for materials is highly encouraged.

The Crafting Phase, where collected parts and materials must be combined to create a Monstrosity. Players who lack parts and materials may use this time to hunt down other Players to steal theirs. Teams without a Monstrosity at the end of this Phase are eliminated.

The Tournament Phase, where Teams will pit their Monstrosities against each other in a tournament bracket. Players may not interact with other Teams or Monstrosities during this Phase. Any Team whose Monstrosity is defeated will be eliminated.

I am unable to answer many of the questions you have, but I believe that if you have survived until now, you possess the ability to find the answers by yourself.

Good luck and may the best Teams win.

---

When the announcement finished, none of us were transported away.

Tina’s big green serpent shot across the room, only to immediately collide with a spear of red lightning shot from Matthew’s hand. Both spells exploded and sent a weak shockwave outward.

Before either of them could try something else, Steve got to his feet, holding the Announcer’s Microphone in his hand. “Steve Says: Everybody has to get along!”

I’d been a millisecond away from leaping across the room using SPRING_HEEL and my new gravity-manipulation passive, but as his words washed over me, the aggression left my body.

But only for a moment.

Tina and Matthew both relaxed as well, but their eyes were still locked on one-another.

“For fuck’s sake, Steve!” I yelled.

“Shut up, Gambit! Just shut up for once!” he screamed. “We’re here to free your friend right?”

“And Tina’s kids,” Panda added.

“What?” he asked, the anger quickly replaced by confusion.

“Yeah, her kids are here too,” he said.

William got up from the floor, where he’d also thrown up, much like Steve. Then he said, “Where did that Panda come from? And why the hell are we still here when the Second Event just started!?”

“Maybe it’s because the Hive Ship is outside the influence of the Great Game?” Panda guessed.

While the plushie spoke, Matthew looked at him as well. It seemed both brothers were pretty close to going insane.

Then Matthew looked to Steve, who was wiping puke off his shoes.

“Happy Birthday,” he said in a deep and flat voice.

-----------------------------

I know it seems like this Second Event will be skipped, but don't worry, the Monstrosity Tournament battle will be coming later.

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Which do you like the most?

Opened this up to all members.

So, I've been considering which of my two new stories I should continue writing.

I wanted to have something ready to go by February 2025 and I initially thought it would be F-tier Assassin, but lately, due to being busy with editing Isekai Exorcist and Madman Apocalypse, I haven't been able to focus on it as much as before. At the same time, I started writing Loopshard and found it super easy to write on.

I'm not able to focus on more than 2 stories at a time, but when Madman Apocalypse reaches the end of Book 2, I'll have a month where I won't be writing on it and I was thinking of using this time to prepare the next story.

So, the question is, which of the two stories do you think I should focus on.

If you haven't read what I've put out on either of them, you can find them here:
F-tier Assassin
Loopshard

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -146

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

I am going on a vacation to Barcelona, so there won't be any chapters until November 28th. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I haven't taken a proper vacation since April 2023 and I'm really starting to feel it to be honest, so I'm gonna really try to not work during this brief respite ^-^'

-----------------------------

Chapter -146

We passed by a bunch of Players on the short walk from the second floor to the lobby. Every single one of them was facing towards the entrance, while also trying to get to where James was. The way their eyes were completely blank was kind of creepy.

“This power is really something,” Panda remarked, looking around. “I don’t see a single person not under the effect of Steve’s spell.”

“It’s not usually this strong,” the Birthday Brat admitted.

“The Aural Damage is increasing the potency,” Tina commented as though it was obvious. It seemed an unlikely interaction, but, then again, the way my punches were counted was also clearly not right.

The Venomancer paused as we entered the lobby. I turned to ask why, when a strong hand grabbed my right shoulder.

“What the fuck did you do to my Safe Zone,” hissed a gravelly male voice.

“They forced me to do it!” Steve squealed. The idiot was still holding the microphone I’d given him.

I put my gauntleted hand on the newcomer’s red-purple arm and yanked it off. Brock’s curse didn’t trigger, probably because of the Safe Zone rules. Strangely, Steve’s ability hadn’t counted as an attack, which was a pretty massive exploit.

The newcomer was a devil-looking humanoid with a red Billy Goat beard, ram’s horns, goat ears, furry hooves, and red-purple skin. A simple bow that looked like it was carved from a gnarled tree branch hung around his shoulder and his hands were covered in rings. I couldn’t tell if any of them were special or not.

“William,” Tina said. “Get out of our way or I’ll dunk your head in acid like I did your girlfriend.”

The guy narrowed his sharp red-hot eyes. “How’d you get back in here? You were banned last time...”

I blinked in surprise and looked to Tina. I’d thought for sure I was number one on their shitlist, but if they’d been dealing with Tina and Nina since the beginning of the Great Game, then they were unlikely to be good friends. She had a way of always seeking out the strongest people and trying to fuck with them. It was how we’d met at the asylum.

Steve looked surprised as well, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

Then realization hit me.

“You’re William Twine?” I asked.

“Are you slow or something?” he replied.

“Gambit, seriously…?” Panda remarked.

“Your brother got me killed and stole two items from me,” I said.

“I know. I was the one who told him to get those.”

I clenched my fist.

“Gambit, hold up!” Panda urged.

“Get out of our way,” I said. “Unless you want to die.”

The Satyr laughed mockingly. “Try me.”

“Steve, get him to leave the Safe Zone,” I said.

“I can’t!” he replied. “If I use it again, the previous effect will be overridden.”

I groaned. “We don’t have time for this.”

To emphasize my point, a massive thump and resultant tremor came from just outside the town hall.

“Didn’t the CPS just kill you earlier?” asked William. “You’re going to fight them again?”

I gritted my teeth and barreled through him. It wasn’t enough to trigger the Safe Zone auto-ban for damaging another Player, but it was enough to forcefully knock him aside. Tina and Steve pushed past him when he tried to stop them as well, but despite his attitude he wasn’t very strong.

“I kind of figured this guy would be more of a menace,” Panda muttered. He seemed disappointed.

“Come back here you bastards!” he growled as we exited the Safe Zone.

---

WARNING!

Now exiting Safe Zone ‘Castle Twine’!

---

As soon as we stepped out of the building, a massive Aphid-Dog noticed us from only about thirty yards away and immediately began bounding toward us.

“Oh shit!” Steve exclaimed and ran back into the Safe Zone.

Except he couldn’t enter.

The threshold had become like a solid wall, even though the doors were open.

“It says we can’t enter the Safe Zone while in combat!” he exclaimed in terror.

“Meow,” Lordie said and disappeared back into his cage.

Tina ran forward while neon-green hair appeared atop her bald head, immediately beginning to fling her venomous spells at the giant insect beast.

“Gambit, look! There’s no rider on it!”

True enough, there was no Captain sitting behind its big head. It was similar to the other giant beetles I’d seen before, but it’s carapace was much thicker. Each of the Aphid’s six legs had massive claws attached and its front mandibles were capped with giant scythes. It also had three carapace-covered turrets grown into the front of its natural armor. These swiveled around as they searched for targets and looked like a cross between a ballista and an anti-air battery.

It looked way more dangerous than a Minor Warden or Queenguard.

I pulled out my Looking Glass and quickly appraised it.

“Ah shit,” I muttered. “How the fuck are we supposed to get a Transponder if they won’t send a Captain!?”

“Are we even sure we can trust the intel of your Benefactor?” Panda asked. It was a fair question, given that I’d killed several Captains already and hadn’t gotten a single Transponder out of it.

“The Hive Ship is still above us,” Steve muttered from where he hid behind me.

As I looked up, William Twine came out through the Safe Zone entrance with his bow in hand. He froze as he saw the giant beast hurtling for the town hall.

“It’s a shame none of us can fly,” Steve continued.

I looked down at him, then back up at the black shape in the sky.

“Holy shit, I just got an amazing idea! Tina, uh, I mean Nina, come here!”

The Venomancer launched a giant green serpent at the Aphid-Dog and ran back to where we stood in front of Castle Twine. The energy serpent managed to stop the beast for a couple seconds, but then his turrets and scythe mandibles tore it apart.

“Aren’t you going to kill it?” Steve asked.

“We don’t need to,” I told him. What I didn’t mention was that the things that would help me defeat it, like the Rebel’s Ring and Crimson Claymore, were on cooldown. Plus, if I defeated it, they would just send more or cut their losses and fly away.

No, leaving it alive served my goal more than trying to kill it, especially now that I’d realized a way to get to the Hive Ship without a Transponder.

“What the fuck did you bring to my doorstep!?” William exclaimed, raising his bow towards the giant insect. It’d smash into the front of the town hall in approximately twelve seconds.

I ignored him. “Steve, Nina, grab an arm each.”

They both did as I asked without question, which was a nice change for once.

Of course, they would no doubt regret it in a moment.

“Rules of Anarchy(Fuck Gravity)!” I shouted.

The ground trembled like an earthquake as the Aphid-Dog tore up the road to get to me. The three turrets on its armor started shooting giant spikes at us, each releasing a loud thud with their impacts, though their accuracy was poor thanks to the beast’s bounding motion as it ran.

---

Rules of Anarchy Activated!

Passive Selected: Fuck Gravity

Description:

Gravity has no control over you.

---

I grinned as I saw that the passive did exactly what I’d hoped. Then I crouched to trigger SPRING_HEEL, before performing a powerful leap and shooting myself into the air. I wasn’t quite sure why, though I guessed it was because of my weight being more than theirs, but Tina and Steve were easily pulled along as we flew towards the Hive Ship in the sky above.

And we didn’t stop. We just kept on flying into the air, higher-and-higher.

What’s more, I could feel how my Manhunter’s Badge was pointing straight at the enormous black ship.

“We’re coming, Bee!” I yelled excitedly.

Steve was screaming his lungs out. Nina quickly transformed back into Tina, who couldn’t stop laughing.

Then Panda asked, “How are you planning on slowing down?”

-----------------------------

I am going on a vacation to Barcelona, so there won't be any chapters until November 28th. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I haven't taken a proper vacation since April 2023 and I'm really starting to feel it to be honest, so I'm gonna really try to not work during this brief respite ^-^'

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -145

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter -145

By the time I made it to the Safe Zone with my new group of friends, I’d already said “Damn that’s crazy” in reverse-speak about eight times. Still, no one had noticed that I wasn’t the real Nate Asher.

“They’re gonna catch on,” Panda insisted.

As I climbed the steps up to the town hall’s front door, Emma said, out of nowhere, “Nate sure became a lot more talkative since that weird guy with the eye showed up.”

The other two both nodded.

“He’s finally coming out of his shell,” Henry agreed.

“I thought for sure he’d never get over watching his parents, his three brothers, two sisters, aunt, uncles, and wife get brutally murdered in front of him in that torture dungeon.”

“Holy shit!” Panda exclaimed. “No wonder this guy became a Skinstealer. His mind must’ve been totally wrecked.”

“You’re bad friends,” I said honestly.

“Aww, thank you!” Emma exclaimed.

“Let’s definitely stick together,” I added.

“You’re leaving?” Benji asked, as he heard the reverse of what I’d said.

I nodded. It was easier than trying to explain myself.

“You’ve gotten good at this,” Panda praised me.

I walked through the door to the town hall and was greeted by an announcement.

---

WARNING!

Now entering Safe Zone ‘Castle Twine’!

---

I groaned at the horribly-narcissistic name. Perhaps the Twine brothers were no different than Logan and Ophelia.

The entrance of the Safe Zone was like a lobby with a few offices that’d been turned into shops, with one run by a hovering milky-white jellyfish that looked like it sold healing items. It had about a foot of water inside the store and there were two crustacean humanoids guarding the entrance. Next to it was a pharmacy run by a pink axolotl. It looked identical to the one in the Serenity Park Mall, with rows of items and a simple counter. Since I didn’t see Steve inside, I figured he’d probably already burnt his coins on Sanity Pills.

There was also a pawn shop along the other wall, with three Players lined up in front of the security door. A dark crustacean stood in front of the shop, wearing a bulletproof vest and trying to look intimidating. None of the people in line were anyone I knew.

From the lobby was a set of double doors directly opposite the entrance and a stairwell leading up. I went up the stairs, since I figured it’d give me a better view. At the top it led to a U-shaped gallery that looked down on the hall below, which had a stage at the far end.

“This place is way smaller than the Mall,” Panda remarked.

Despite the town hall’s size, it had a lot of Vendors crammed into the place, as well as a Safe Zone Token arcade and a familiar carapace-covered character, who leaned against a large metal box full of wares.

There were a lot of Players around, walking to-and-fro or haggling with Vendors. It took me a second to notice Tina, James, and Steve standing in front of Shellby the Wandering Smith. The Birthday Brat was haggling with the Triops about something.

I walked over to them and Tina looked away from the items on display, giving me a nod. Steve didn’t notice me right away though, since he was too focused on an item he wanted to buy. I scanned Shellby’s metal box and saw that most of her items were sold, though she still had two Tinctures of Full Recovery, some Curse-Lifting Powder, the Golden Sea Urchin, and the Fur Collar I’d sold her.

There was an additional item, which was listed at 1200 coins, and it was what Steve wanted to buy. I frowned as I inspected it.

“Why is she selling that?” Panda wondered.

Steve froze and turned to look at me. He blinked rapidly in confusion as he saw my face and Panda sitting on my shoulder.

“Tina? Are there more than one insanity panda?” he asked, his eyes locked on me.

“I’m the one and only,” Panda said with a wink and a smug grin.

I sighed.

“Why are you wearing the skin of Nate Asher?” Tina asked me.

Steve looked between me and her.

Then he finally seemed to realize.

“Gambit!? Is that you!?”

A few Players turned in our direction at his outburst.

“Sure, tell everybody, you idiot!” I hissed.

“‘No, don’t tell everyone, you genius’?” he repeated slowly.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, while trying my hardest to not throttle him.

“Why does Shellby have the item that Bee was carrying?” I asked.

Steve and Tina looked confused, while James was just looking up at me in amusement.

“He wants to know why she’s selling the Microphone,” Panda repeated. “It dropped from the Announcer that Gambit and Bee killed. She had it in her inventory when she was kidnapped by the ants.”

Tina nodded, quick on the uptake. Then she raised the question to Shellby.

The Triops fixed its three eyes on me and said, “I find my wares here-and-there. Sometimes on the dead that wash into the sewers, sometimes at the bottom of lakes, and occasionally on the loot left behind without an owner.”

I grabbed Shellby by her carapace-covered shoulders.

“Where did you get this!? Did you find it on Bee’s body!?” I asked her urgently.

“Gambit, you’re not making any sense.”

Shellby looked from Panda to me, and I recalled that she’d been able to see him thanks to the third eye with the X-shaped pupil. “I did not find your friend, no. The item fell from the sky as I was traveling to Madeville through the forested mountain.”

I let go of Shellby’s shoulders.

“That shouldn’t be far from where you fought the CPS. She must’ve tried to leave a trail or something,” Panda guessed.

I ground my teeth in frustration. We’d already wasted too much time.

Suddenly a hand fell on my shoulder.

“Nate, you shouldn’t yell at the Vendors,” said Henry. Benji and Emma were standing behind him.

“My name isn’t Nate,” I replied.

---

LIAR!

‘Faux Pas’ deactivated!

---

My borrowed body shed away like a second skin. As soon as I was back to normal, Lordie hopped out of the transport cage to sit atop my head.

“What the fuck!?” Henry exclaimed and pulled his hand away as though he’d been burnt.

I opened the top of my suit and took out the unFake plugin, then I slotted unHero back in again.

---

PLUGIN UNINSTALLED.

‘unFake’ protocol no longer in effect!

---

PLUGIN INSTALLED.

‘unHero’ protocol now in effect!

---

“If you touch me again I’ll break your fingers,” I told him.

Suddenly two achievements hit me, followed by an announcement.

---

WARNING!

Child Protective Services have come to publicly execute the registered Amoral Pervert known as ‘Gambit’ for the following crimes:

Failure to disclose his amoral history when moving into a new neighborhood.

Kidnapping the Wayward Minors known as ‘James Anderson’ & ‘Bee’.

Killing countless Child Protective Services Agents.

Public exposure in a school zone.

All Players found to be colluding with this registered Amoral Pervert will be executed alongside him. If you bring him outside the Safe Zone, you will be spared.

---

I took a deep breath. “Maybe we didn’t need the flare after all,” I said.

Steve looked panicked, while Nate’s friends seemed on the verge of attacking me.

I grabbed the Microphone from Shellby’s box. “This belongs to my friend.”

She nodded.

“I’m also buying this,” I said, grabbing the Golden Sea Urchin that no one else had bought yet.

“That’ll be 2400 coins.”

I handed her the money and was left with 218.01 coins as a result. But I knew it was a good trade. Tina immediately purchased the remaining Tinctures.

Steve was looking down the end of the gallery and over the side, where people were running around like headless chickens. “What do we do!?” he yelled.

I pulled out the obsidian headphones and handed the Announcer’s Microphone to Steve.

“Tell them all to stay inside the Safe Zone and protect James. Oh, and add that we’re the good guys.”

Steve’s eyes widened. With the microphone, he’d be able to affect everyone in the entire Safe Zone.

I put the headphones on and gave him a thumbs up with Brock.

When he didn’t immediately use his ‘Steve Says’ power, the balloon gauntlet piped up. “Sing ya cunt!!”

The Birthday Brat looked at my gauntlet with a shocked expression, but then he lifted the microphone.

As his voice became amplified, I felt every syllable as a slap on my chest. I saw how everyone around us and below immediately calmed down. Panicked and worried faces turned to determination. Nate’s friends immediately walked over to James and Benji lifted him up onto his shoulders.

Tina, Steve, and I walked towards the exit, while Chris’ little brother waved at us.

It was finally time to board the CPS’ hive ship.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

MADMAN APOCALYPSE - Chapter -144

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

Maybe the Patreon programming staff is taking an extended break and just leaving the site broken, lol. This new size thing just looks horrendous <.<

-----------------------------

Chapter -144

Since Steve was in a hurry to get some Sanity Pills and Tina said staying outdoors was dangerous for James, Panda and I were left by ourselves as the three of them went into the Madeville town hall.

“Some friends,” I muttered.

“Are they actually your friends?” Panda asked.

“I guess not. Steve is the reason we’re in this mess to begin with and Tina’s more like a prison friend.”

“What the hell is a prison friend?”

“You know, someone you’re only friends with in the institution, but on the outside you avoid each other.”

“So like classmates.”

“Basically.”

“How are you going to find a disguise though? Wait, is the reason why you need a corpse because you’re gonna use the unFake Plugin?”

I pulled the floppy disc out of my inventory, holding it aloft.

“Exactly.”

I opened the front of my unicorn suit to access the floppy disks and pulled out the one labeled ‘unHero’.

‘Anti Heroism’ was the thing that made me turn morally good Players insane with my damage, and ‘gasm.org’ allowed me to steal someone’s skill. I wasn’t counting on having to actually kill another person to assume their identity, so I figured I didn’t need it right now. Not to mention, I hadn’t used it a lot.

“You know, if you had used gasm.org when Steve showed up during the ant fight, you wouldn’t have died,” Panda remarked.

“Don’t you ‘um actually’ me! If you had been a better companion, you’d have told me to use it. Just admit it, you forgot about it just like me.”

---

PLUGIN UNINSTALLED.

‘unHero’ protocol no longer in effect!

---

PLUGIN INSTALLED.

‘unFake’ protocol now in effect!

---

I buttoned up my shirt and jacket to hide away the plugins.

“Let’s see if we can’t find some unfortunate bastard who got mauled by monsters.”

“Woah, that’s weird,” Panda muttered. “I know that you mean the opposite of what I just heard come out of your mouth, but man, this Opposite Day passive is super bizarre.”

“What do you mean?”

Panda paused, blinking rapidly. It looked like his brain was having a meltdown.

“Alright, let me just repeat back to you what you said.”

“Go for it.”

“Don’t do it?” he asked, confused. “Oh wait, ugh, right, so… Man this is hard. You said: ‘I hope we can find a fortunate hero who outsmarted the beasts’.”

“That’s weird,” I replied. “No, wait, that’s normal.”

“You’re totally fucked as soon as you use Faux Pas,” Panda told me honestly. “You have to keep saying the opposite or the disguise will break.”

“It’ll be fine,” I told him.

“Damn straight it’ll be a problem!” Panda agreed.

I shook my head, then tapped the quartz-like transport cage in my front pocket. “Lordie, are you there?”

The hand-spider materialized atop my head.

“Meow?” he immediately asked. It sounded like he was remorseful.

“Chris? He’s, uh, he’s dead.”

“Me-ow…?”

“No it’s not because he followed your ridiculous advice.”

“Meow.”

“Sure. Anyway, I need your help finding a corpse or something humanoid-looking.”

“Meow!”

“Wait, really? It was totally a shot in the dark. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I have absolutely no idea what is happening,” Panda remarked.

“Lordie is able to point us in the direction of a Skinstealer.”

Panda narrowed his eyes, as he tried to sift through my sentence to figure out how to interpret it.

I sighed, scrunching up my brow as I tried to repeat the phrase but in backwards-speak. “Peasant isn’t capable of indicating a… What’s the opposite of skin? Anyway, that, a not-skin-giver.”

Panda repeated my words as he heard them: “‘The King can show a synonym of insides. Additionally, a skin-taker.’”

“Yes, that! Wait, no, incorrect!”

“Take the fucking plugin out,” Panda told me. “This is giving me an aneurysm.”

I was hiding in the shadow next to a post office and grocer that’d turned into a dungeon. Across the street, which had the deep furrow left behind by a Humanbus and piled-up cars, were four Players.

Three men and a woman. As I scanned them with my Looking Glass, I thought the woman might be the one, since I figured a Skinstealer would have an easier time blending in that way. After all, guys were generally less observant about oddities when it came to women.

“That’s a sexist stereotype,” Panda replied.

“I’ve yet to meet someone who didn’t prove it was true.”

The ‘target’ ended up being a slightly-chubby guy with a red-brown beard, receding hairline, and ill-fitting armor. He also had a vacant thousand-yard stare, as though just idly waiting until a good opportunity to strike would arise.

“Level 7, huh?”

“He’s a ‘Good Guy’, what the hell is that?” I muttered.

“The human equivalent of a golden retriever? Just don’t let him hug you.”

I scanned the other three just to be certain it was just the one Skinstealer. The woman’s name was Emma and she was a Level 6 Dexterity-based ‘Stabber’ Class; the other two men were called Benji and Henry O’Brien, with a ‘Meatshield’ and ‘Powerhouse’ Class respectively. They were both Level 8.

It seem their group was entirely melee-based.

“Me-ow!”

“I’m not gonna do that. I only need to kill the Skinstealer.”

“Did he want you to kill them all?” Panda asked.

“Of course.”

I walked out of the shadows and crossed the road to reach them.

“Hey friends!” I called.

“‘Goodbye enemies’?” Panda repeated, confused.

Despite Panda’s advice, I had kept the plugin installed, but I’d already forgotten about the Opposite Day passive.

The four Players looked at me, seeming alarmed. All of them, except for Nate the Skinstealer, lifted their weapons and squared up, preparing for a confrontation.

“I was leaving to keep a secret that your enemy is real.”

Panda laughed, before repeating back what had come out of my mouth, “‘You were coming to inform that my friend is fake.’”

I sighed, then pointed at the Skinstealer and said, slowly, “Not-Him is not-human.”

The three looked between them, before looking at Nate.

“I think it’s working, keep it up!” Panda encouraged.

“Have not-you not noticed not-him is not-acting abnormal?”

“Nate has been a bit strange since that last dungeon,” the Meatshield agreed.

The other two nodded.

“But, who are you?”

“Don’t not-you haven’t discarded not-seeing not-glass?” I asked them.

“Gambit, this is a mess, you’re making very little sense.”

I pulled the Looking Glass out of my inventory and pointed to it.

“Just take the plugin out!” Panda yelled at me. “It doesn’t even need to be installed until you’re actually using Faux Pas!”

I knew he was right, but I was too committed to back down now.

The Players seemed to realize what I meant, and they pulled out their own Looking Glasses and appraised Nate through them.

“Uhh…” said the woman.

“Yeah, that’s weird,” responded the Meatshield.

Then Nate responded by unzipping his whole body down the middle and revealing a massive toothy maw. His friends all backed away in fear and surprise.

I threw my Looking Glass back into my inventory and shot myself forward with SPRING_HEEL, driving my balloon gauntlet into the middle of its open mouth.

“Fak yuu, creep!!” Brock squealed.

After landing my strike, I hopped back a few steps as the Skinstealer tried to chomp down on me.

Then the 3-second delay passed and the middle of its body just disappeared in a mist of blood with a loud wet thwack. The Skinstealer collapsed onto the ground, instantly dead.

I went over to it and prepared to use Faux Pas, but the other Players were looking at me in shock.

“Please look at me!”

“That’s a harsh way to word that,” Panda commented.

The three immediately turned away, perhaps fearing my power.

I focused on Nate Asher’s fucked-up Skinstealer body and then said, “Faux Pas.”

From one moment to the next, the dead corpse vanished and my body changed shape into that of a chubby man with a receding hairline and red-brown beard.

“Don’t look at me,” I said, my voice now that of a guy with a slight lisp, as though his tongue didn’t know where it was meant to go.

“This is extremely weird,” Panda muttered. He was still sitting on my shoulder, though he now had a lot more space since I’d grown both wider and taller.

The three Players turned back around.

“Nate?” asked the Meatshield. He scanned me with the Looking Glass still in his hand, but seemed satisfied with the info it showed him. “It’s back to normal again. Weird.”

“I’m so confused,” said the woman.

“Me too,” agreed the Powerhouse. “Where did the guy with the weird eye and suit go?”

“You’re staying,” I said.

“Where are you going?”

I scratched my new beard.

“If you’re looking for how to say ‘town hall’, then I can’t help you,” Panda said.

Instead of trying to figure out the way to phrase it, I just pointed in the direction of the Safe Zone.

“Good idea, we’ll go too. This dungeon seems a bit too difficult for us anyway.”

“I hope this Nate guy was a quiet type,” Panda joked, when I was joined by the three other Players as I headed back to the town hall.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

TASTE-TEST: Loopshard - Chapter Three

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

This concludes the Taste-test of this story. I will undoubtedly continue writing on it in the background, but any future chapters will only be available to paying members.

Update February 4th: I have made chapter 4 available for free members as well. Before the release of Loopshard on RR (February 14th), I think I will make chapter 5 available for free as well.

-----------------------------

Chapter Three

Instead of heading straight through the centre of the island to reach the southern part where the smoke from the Dimensional Tavern was visible, Adam followed the edge of the island around the western side. Despite Shitbox telling him nothing about the area, he had a sneaking suspicion that there was something hidden away there.

Adam looked out over the edge of Interim Island as he walked, marvelling at how the clouds below seemed to stretch on forever. The sun above was on its journey towards the horizon, and within a few hours it would be dark. He hadn’t seen any lamps around the dumpy-looking buildings, so he wondered if anyone would be able to see what they were doing once the sun was gone.

When he arrived to the western part of the island, he found a flower garden with a single square-ish dark-blue tent in the centre. It looked like something that might house a palm-reader or another kind of carnival scam artist.

“What’s that?”

Shitbox did not respond.

That’s suspicious as hell. This thing usually never shuts up.

Adam went into the garden from the edge-facing side. The flowerbeds were placed in three layers like some kind of strange symbol, with parts of the ‘lines’ missing to allow people to actually walk through without trampling the flowers. The outermost layer was a square, the middle was a ring, and the centre was a triangle, within which the tent stood.

All the flowers were Dahlias, but they were painted in a seemingly-random array of colours.

Maybe this garden looks like something specific from the air? Adam wondered, wishing he had the ability to fly. Given that he’d just fought sentient slime, getting such a power didn’t seem all that far-fetched a prospect.

Inside the tent was just darkness. There wasn’t even a table or chairs.

“Seriously, Shitbox, what’s this place for??”

The tesseract remained silent.

“Is it a time-based thing perhaps?” he wondered out loud.

[It is recommended that you also visit the Dimensional Tavern and the Player House.]

“You’re a little shit. You know that, don’t you?”

After looking around some more for a few minutes and even managing to climb on top of the tent, which was surprisingly-sturdy, Adam left the area empty-handed. He had played enough games in the past to know that the flower garden stank of secrets. Of course, it was possible that it was just empty, because it would house some special kind of vendor after later Stages.

Adam continued to the southern side, while planning to revisit the suspicious tent after the sun had gone down. Aside from the unique areas like the Garden and the Market, the rest of Interim Island was filled with dumpy-but-quaint buildings that might resemble houses, if not for their melted-wax appearance and lack of doors. It was all just very samey, even the random plants and trees that sprouted here-and-there. It was as if some simple asset pack from a low-effort game had been utilised to make the island’s unimportant areas less bland.

Could’ve saved the trouble and just squeezed the island down to a smaller size, making it less inefficient to travel between the areas that actually have stuff worth visiting.

After his eyes had started glazing over at the uniform scenery, he suddenly reached the source of the chimney smoke. The Tavern was, unfortunately, remarkably similar to the other buildings, except it actually had a door and was both wider and taller. It stood three stories high and was like a red-brown loaf of bread that hadn’t been baked, with the roof melted into walls that flared outwards at the bottom, as though they couldn’t contain what was inside.

Maybe this is just how they think architecture is meant to look? he wondered, as he walked up the three steps to its front door. It too was strangely-organic in shape and had a knob handle that he pulled on to enter.

As soon as it opened, the amazing smell of fresh-baked bread, sizzling bacon, grilled meat, beer, and spices flooded his nostrils, making his mouth water.

Adam hurried inside, only to find that the interior was nothing like what the outside would suggest. The floor was perfectly-flat light-brown wooden boards. The wooden walls too were straight and normal. There were two floors above, though these were just walkways with railings and a few secluded tables and chairs. The ceiling had rafters running across it.

Immediately in front of him were three long red-brown wooden tables that stretched from one end of the room to the other, with simple stools placed evenly along them. Despite what Shitbox had told him though, the place was empty save for another insect, who quickly approached him.

“Hello, Adam, my name is Charlie,” the red ant introduced herself in a deep and comforting voice. “Would you like something to eat?”

Adam looked around. “Where’s the kitchen?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. The food is very real, even if the kitchen isn’t.”

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “It won’t kill me, right?”

“Of course not, silly,” she said and giggled in a way that sounded like bubbles in water.

“What kind of food do you have?”

“Anything you’d like, I can make.”

“I’ll have to put that to a challenge I think. I’ve got some pretty specific things I want.”

“Croissants from Jameson’s Bakery?”

Adam’s eyes widened in awe. “You’ve got those!?”

“Of course, Adam. Please find a seat and I’ll bring them to you. Would you like anything else?”

“Black coffee with a splash of milk and two sugar cubes. Oh and dinosaur nuggets! Plus a pineapple pizza!”

Charlie giggled again, before walking down the length of the tables and rounding a corner to where stairs seemed to lead up to the floors above.

“Shitbox, where’s all the Players?”

[The Dimensional Tavern is only active while you are seated.]

“Okay?”

Adam picked the nearest stool and sat down. He wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

All around him, seated on the chairs along the three tables, were hundreds, if not thousands, of people with the appearance of see-through holograms. All of them were talking and eating, while constantly flickering in-and-out and being replaced by other holograms, as though the Tavern was trying to show him everyone that was actually seated within their own dimension.

[A little more than 500 million Players survived Stage One. Currently, 86 million Players are utilising the Dimensional Tavern.]

The noise from all the talking holograms was deafening, but Shitbox’s voice came through clearly.

“How do I mute them!?”

Instantly the holograms fell silent.

“Thank you.”

[It is possible to state your intentions within the Dimensional Tavern to find others who may respond to your query. If a Player within this place fulfils the requirements, they will be able to hear your voice.]

“So I can filter through the noise to find my friends and family?”

[Possibly.]

“I’d like to see everyone who is related to me.”

The holograms all flickered and disappeared.

“Okay, maybe they’re not dead but just in a different part of the island…” he tried to convince himself, as his heart-rate began to run amok at the fact that the Tavern was completely empty.

He scratched his stubble, as he tried to think of something to distract himself with.

“Ehh, show me the people who were in the bakery with me when the Trials began.”

Two figures appeared, the female clerk and the guy who’d been behind him in the queue. The guy was sobbing loudly, while the woman was eating a burger.

That’s depressing…

“Show me everyone who has the same Relic as me.”

The holograms flickered and the three tables filled up completely. Some of the figures were eating, others were talking, but a lot either sat despondently staring into the air or were actively sobbing.

“More than I figured, to be honest.”

He’d thought that the rare quality meant not a lot of people would’ve gotten it, but when hundreds of millions of people were part of the equation, it meant that even a small percentage chance would lead to thousands.

Wait, it said about 500 million… Without accounting for the fact that children and elderly, as well as physically-unfit people, were not included, that’s still billions of people that must’ve died!

Sweat was starting to form on the back of his neck at the thought.

One in sixteen people made it past Stage One… Everyone else died or is in ‘holding’, whatever that means. This is an extinction-level event…

“Speaking of which. Where are all these billions of people and their ‘temporary holding’?”

[Apologies for misleading you, that phrasing was incorrect. Every member of your species not currently on Interim Island has been consumed by the All-Seeing System to fuel the Trials of Defiance.]

Adam’s heart skipped a beat. “But… You said they were alive and that their lives depended on me…”

[The truth would likely not have motivated you properly for the first Stage. Now that you have survived it, there is no need to withhold the truth.]

“Fuck you!” he yelled, surprising a few of the holograms, before he got up and they disappeared. He immediately pulled his sword and swung for the tesseract.

Predictably, it teleported out of the way, but he didn’t let up. While he was chasing after it, running across the tables, it stated:

[You may save your family, your friends, and your species, if you complete the Trials of Defiance. That is why it has been named this way. If you wish to defy the All-Seeing System and the extinction of your species, you must conquer its challenges.]

Adam stopped mid-swing, his chest heaving from exhaustion and his saliva tasting like acid.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” he promised the box, before sitting back down. He put his sword and shield next to him on another stool.

The seats around him filled up with holograms of people again.

“Show me all the Players who have the Blink Ring and understand how it works.”

The holograms flickered and were replaced with just a handful of people.

“I need someone to explain to me how the Blink Ring works.”

Every single person turned to look directly at him. There was a South American guy with tattoos and a buzzcut who was eating a lamb chop; an Asian woman with shoulder-length silky hair slurping up noodles from a cheap ramen cup; two business men still in their suits, one of which looked Scandinavian and the other perhaps British; and, lastly, a woman with her dark hair in a long ponytail who looked North American and was drinking a milkshake.

“Do you have something to trade?” asked the guy with the buzzcut.

“Trade?” Adam asked.

Disappointment was obvious in most of their eyes and all but one flickered out and disappeared.

“New to the Tavern?” asked the sole person remaining. It was the woman with the ponytail.

“I spent some time looking around the Market and the Garden,” he explained.

“Garden?”

“It’s on the western side, there’s an empty tent there that looks like it might hide secrets.”

“You shouldn’t give info away for free,” she warned him.

Her hologram flickered and he thought she’d taken the hint and run off. Then she reappeared directly opposite him on the bench.

“Why do you want to know about the Blink Ring?” she asked.

“I’m Adam,” he told her, reaching his hand across the table to her.

“We can’t actually touch each other,” she told him, giving him a suspicious look.

“I don’t care, just pretend to shake my hand at least.”

She reached across and feigned the motion with him.

“I’m Willow.”

He finally noticed her accent. She was Australian.

“So?” she prompted.

“I’ve got the Duellist’s Glove.”

“Don’t know what that is.”

“It allows me to charge an attack that pierces armour.”

Her eyes widened. “That’d pair well with the Blink Ring.”

“Exactly. I saw it in the Market, but I had no idea how it worked.”

Charlie the ant suddenly arrived with his food. Apparently Willow could see it all.

“You must be hungry. Those croissants look good though.”

“They’re from a place called Jameson’s Bakery. You should be able to ask Charlie to bring you some.”

Willow turned away and started talking to someone Adam couldn’t see. He also couldn’t hear what she said.

Adam lifted a croissant in front of him and bit into it. It flaked and crunched slightly, while filling his mouth with the buttery pastry and sending him back to a few days earlier, when he’d first tasted one of them at the office thanks to Sharon.

“Are you crying?” Willow suddenly asked.

“They’re happy tears,” he replied.

“That croissant must be really good.”

He nodded, taking another bite.

“Alright, so, the Blink Ring. It’s very weird and kind of dumb. I’ve got a bow, so it actually works with charged up attacks, since pulling the string back is considered ‘charging’ it. Wonder if that’s intentional. Anyway, if you blink, the string immediately fires and the arrow teleports into the target.”

Adam finished the last bite of the croissant, then wiped the flakes off his face. “That sounds powerful,” he replied.

“Sure, if you can hit anything with it. Kind of hard to aim when you have to blink to fire. Also, it triggers on all blinks, so you need to learn to control that impulse.”

“Does it make your arrows faster?”

“No, it just eliminates the travel time. Means you won’t have to lead your shots as much. Do you have a bow as well?”

Adam lifted up his sword and shield. “I picked Defender.”

“Safe choice,” Willow replied. “I think more than half of the survivors picked that.”

“Did you hear how many people survived the first Stage?”

“Yeah… I think my brothers are all dead.”

Adam frowned. “Have you asked your Shitbox about the ‘temporary holding’.”

She nodded, a dark cloud falling over her expression. “I tried to kill it using my bow. I actually hit it, thanks to the Blink Ring, but my arrow just bounced off.”

Adam grinned from ear to ear. This was what he’d been hoping to learn. Since the tesseract could teleport, having something that made his attacks instantaneous might enable him to hit it. And if the armour-piercing quality of his Glove was brought into the mix…

“Thank you Willow. I’m gonna go get the ring.”

“You should practice with it in the Player House. There’s a target dummy there. Also, if you kill your box, come back and let me know.”

He smiled. “Of course.”

With renewed vigour, Adam shovelled the dinosaur nuggets into his mouth and washed them down with the coffee, before folding up the pineapple pizza and eating it like a burrito.

“Uh, you didn’t cut the connection,” Willow said.

He gave her a deer-in-the-headlights stare and she started laughing.

“Bye Adam,” she said between laughs.

Then her hologram flickered and disappeared.

After emptying his coffee and gulping down the last bit of the pizza, Adam stormed from the Tavern towards the Market.

“I’ll buy the Blink Ring,” he told Lucca the spider.

After spending time talking to another human, the creature seemed even more horrific than before. He tried his best not to look at her black eyes.

“That will be 300 Points,” she said, sounding gleeful.

“How do I pay you?”

[Uttering your acceptance of the deal will suffice.]

“Deal,” he said.

< < Relic Purchased > >

< Blink Ring (Uncommon) >

< 75 Points Remaining >

The ring appeared around his left index finger and it seemed that the Glove prevented him from wearing it on his right hand, which was peculiar. The Blink Ring was an iron-grey reflective band with a small engraving of a stylised eye that was filled-in with black.

“Come back again when you have more Points,” the spider told him.

Adam didn’t respond and just headed straight for the Player House to the east. The sun had almost set and part of him wanted to see if his suspicion about the tent in the garden was real or not, but another part knew it wasn’t the most important thing right now.

If what Willow had said was true, he’d be able to land a hit on Shitbox by combining the effects of his new Blink Ring and the Duellist’s Glove.

I wonder what happens if I kill it? If it is just one of countless ‘eyes’, then they’ll probably just send me a replacement. Or maybe they’ll kill me as a punishment…

Fuck it. I’m going to kill it, even if I end up dead as a result. It’ll be my own small revenge for my family.

Whether it was due to ignorance or arrogance, the tesseract floated along after him with not a care in the world. It did not fear his conviction, because it believed itself impervious to damage. Of course, it had the power to traverse dimensions and teleport him anywhere it wished. From its perspective, he probably looked like a pathetic little insect tapping on the walls of the cage it was trapped in.

Adam was far from the first person to scheme to kill the box that represented the cruelty of the Trial, but he was possibly the only person who’d tried combining these two Relics to accomplish it. After all, anyone who took this Trial seriously would invest their Points in something better, like Potions, Rerolls, or more sensical Relics like the Healing Apple.

What really made him certain that his theory was untested, was the fact that, of all the people in the Tavern with the Blink Ring, only a handful had apparently understood how to use it. It was also almost certain that they’d gotten the Relic from the Boss reward, since it was unlikely to be something anyone would spend their Points on at the Market, meaning none of them would have the Points to buy the Glove even if it did appear in the vendor’s selection. Of course, this all hinged on guesswork and the assumption that it wasn’t possible to obtain 500 Points from Stage One, but nevertheless he felt certain.

The dumpy buildings parted to reveal a round patch of grass with a little house in the middle and a brown wooden fence around it. Within the fenced-off patch of grass was an apple tree, much like a smaller version of the one in the Magical Forest. Next to it hopped a small tennis-ball-sized slime. The house was pretty similar to the other dumpy buildings on the island, with a rounded straw-brown roof and white walls with black stripes that looked like melted wax. There were two windows and a brown door.

[This is the Player House. Within is a Relic Storage, Practice Dummy, and Rejuvenating Bed. Any Accolades you have earnt will also be displayed here. In the garden around the house will be friendly variants of the enemies you encounter in the Stage.]

“Accolades?” he asked.

[Feats of Mastery, as well as other accomplishments, will be awarded with a Trophy visible inside the Player House, alongside a fitting prize that will be a boon to your progress through the Trials of Defiance.]

“Like what? Can’t you give me an example?”

[You will have to earn an Accolade first for me to introduce the topic further.]

Adam frowned. “Whatever.”

He eyed the slime warily as he went through the fence gate and across the grass. After pulling the door open and entering, he found that the Player House was much bigger on the inside, similar to the Tavern. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all made of the same light-brown wood and there were maybe 100 square metres of space inside. Strangely, though there were windows visible on the façade, none of the walls within had any.

The bed was a massive brick in the corner, next to a bunch of empty shelves, racks, and mannequins that seemed able to wear any of the Relics he wouldn’t use. There was also a large jacuzzi-sized bathtub that Shitbox hadn’t mentioned. Lastly, in the opposite corner from the bed stood a lone target dummy. It was basically just a man made of straw.

Adam walked over to it, while drawing his blade from its scabbard.

[This is a Practice Dummy. It is currently in its default state. It is possible to change it into a facsimile of enemies you have already encountered. Its defences are a perfect replication of any enemy it imitates.]

“Can it be set to attack me, in order to simulate an actual fight?”

[No, but it can perform evasive movements to aid in practicing ranged weapons and attacks. Would you like to set it to the evasive state?]

“No. This is fine.”

Adam walked close enough that he’d reach the dummy if he swung normally. Then he tightened his grip on his sword’s handle and triggered the Duellist’s Glove. He immediately blinked without meaning to.

When he opened his eyes, the bottom-half of the dummy was severed and it fell over backwards.

Before he could ask if it was self-repairing, it started to flicker like the holograms in the Tavern and then materialised back into its original shape.

Since the cooldown on his Glove was a minute, he spent the waiting time trying to land hits on the dummy’s chest with his blade, while his eyes were closed. It was a lot harder than he’d thought.

When the Glove was ready again, he opened his eyes and gave it another shot, doing his best to delay his blinking until the perfect moment.

Blink.

The strike instantly finished its arc without any noticeable strain in his arm, nor any sound of the blade travelling through the air.

What a silly yet terrifying Relic, he thought to himself, as he watched the dummy separate down the middle from his upwards slash. Two thuds came in quick succession as the halves hit the floor.

[Impressive. Synergy between Relics is integral to conquering the Trials of Defiance.]

Adam ignored it.

Just wait until it’s your turn.

Adam kept on practicing for what might’ve been an hour, trying out various types of charged attacks whenever the Glove came off cooldown. His aim wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to bet on.

After going at it for that long, he knew exactly what kind of attack he’d use against the tesseract. Although it was riskier, since it’d be harder to hit, he was going to try a charged stab to nail it in its eye. He had no idea if the piercing effect from the Glove would work on its entire fourth-dimensional body, and from his practice he’d realised that stabbing beat out any other attack in terms of speed. It also had the least-telegraphed movement, in case the tesseract was able to predict his intent and teleport away before he could trigger the blink strike.

I kind of want to go to the tent in the flower garden first, just to satisfy my curiosity.

Adam shook his head. It didn’t matter.

“Shitbox, what can I expect from tomorrow’s Stage?” he asked, trying to distract it.

He walked away from the practice dummy that he’d destroyed over fifty times, lowering his sword as he neared the tesseract.

[It would be unfair to give it away in advance.]

Adam closed his eyes for a full second before opening them. Then he started squeezing the handle of his sword.

“You can’t even give me the name of the Stage?”

[No.]

Heat flushed up the back of his hand as the Duellist’s Glove began to activate and change colours.

“Why is the Trials so intent on ‘fairness’?” he asked.

The tesseract was floating at eye-level, only two metres away, staring right into his face. Adam tensed his forearm, as he prepared for a lunging stab from below.

[The All-Seeing System deemed that—]

Blink.

His view went dark for the microsecond that he closed his eyes and when they shot back open again, his arm was stretched to its limit and holding the sword perfectly straight. At the end of his blade, the tesseract was impaled straight through the eye. Perhaps due to its dimensional properties, the sword’s tip wasn’t poking out the back of its box-shaped body.

[Urrr—] the tesseract groaned in a voice so deep that it made Adam’s breath catch in his lungs and caused his heart to trip over its own beat.

Then it exploded.

But it wasn’t like a firework.

It was an explosion that took place in a dimension beyond the three that he knew. His sword was flung away, embedding itself in the ceiling above. The air where Shitbox had hovered became a jagged tear in the fabric of reality, while ripples from the shockwave travelled across his skin. The sensation was bizarre, almost as if it had frozen his whole body and stopped his heart.

Adam coughed and tasted copper.

He looked down from the rift in front of him and saw a large jagged shard of black glass poking out through the torso of his white shirt. Its reflective surface showed colours not present in the room, almost as if it was reflecting a beautiful galaxy above.

His legs gave out from under him and his head bounced once when it hit the floor.

Unable to move, he lay there, as a puddle of his blood formed around him.

Then darkness covered the world.

An eye opened in the dark and its pupil was the silhouette of a man. The man walked closer to where he floated in the nothingness. His hair was dishevelled and brown. The face had a chiselled chin, thick eyebrows, and amber eyes that reflected some unseen kaleidoscope of colours. The silhouette was clad in shadow from the neck down.

Perhaps he had been in the darkness for too long, because it took him a while to realise whose face he was looking at.

It was his face.

< < ADAM > >

With a gasp, Adam opened his eyes and saw moss spread out before him. There was the brown trunk of a tree further away and birdsong filled his ears. Something black and metallic was unfolding itself nearby, but he was unable to focus on it.

What…?

A tinnitus whine in his ears grew to deafen the birdsong, while the pulse of his heartbeat throbbed in his temples, fingers, and toes.

Did I just…?

Adam tilted his head up and the movement made everything blur. Colours mixed together into incoherent noise. He felt bile rise in his throat, before dropping to his knees and emptying his stomach onto the ground.

He could taste croissant and coffee for a brief instant.

With the act of purging his guts, he felt clarity return to him.

I think I just died.

But, that dark thing imitating me brought me back?

Am I back to the beginning of the Trials?

[Failed to select a Weapon Type within 60 seconds. You have been defaulted to the Weapon Type ‘Fool’.]

“Huh?” he managed to blurt out, as a bracelet made of wooden balls on a string appeared around his right wrist. It seemed there was some kind of small pebble inside each of the balls, since they clanked like crazy.

What the fuck is happening??

< < Weapon Type Selected > >

< Bare-handed >

< < Player Status > >

< Adam Fischer >

< Fool >

< Level 0 >

< Stats >

< Health — 50 >

< Stamina — 200 >

< Mana — 0 >

< Damage — 200% >

< Defence — 50% >

< Speed — 200% >

< Luck — 25 >

< Upgrades >

< — — — >

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

TASTE-TEST: Loopshard - Chapter Two

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----

-----------------------------

Chapter Two

Adam looked around. He felt like he’d been pulled into a quaint German town like where his great-grandparents were from. The cobblestones were uneven and slightly frustrating to traverse, the buildings were colourful but misshapen like dumpy clay sculptures, and the trees and plants grew wherever they pleased. A simple guitar melody filled the air and made his heart-rate slow down to a state of relaxation, despite what he’d just gone through.

[Welcome to Interim Island. Players like yourself will be sent here following every completed Stage. Before your next challenge, you should visit the vendors in the Market and utilise your Points to acquire Relics, Healing Items, Rerolls, and anything else that might be useful.]

“My Points are money?”

[Points are the currency of the Trials of Defiance.]

“Which way is the Market?”

[Follow the sound of the music to the north.]

Adam needed a few seconds to figure out which direction it was actually coming from, since it was bouncing off the buildings. When he was sure he knew its source, he followed the cobblestone path that snaked through the strange town in that direction. There were no other people around, despite Shitbox mentioning that all Players would come here after a Stage.

“Where is everyone?”

[The Interim Island is sliced into individual dimensions. You will only encounter other Players in the Dimensional Tavern.]

“Tavern?” he asked, as he rounded the corner of a light-brown building with crooked window frames and no door.

[The Dimensional Tavern can be located to the south by following the smoke of its chimney.]

Adam paused and spun around to search the baby-blue cloudless expanse above.

Where?

A tiny plume trailed into the sky in the distance, hardly noticeable above the organically-shaped rooftops.

Ah, I see it. It’s in the other direction. Guess I’ll go there after the Market.

“Anything else I need to know?”

[It is recommended that you get proper sleep in the Player House. It is located on the edge of Interim Island to the east. Stage Two will commence tomorrow at dawn.]

“Proper… sleep?” Adam couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. “You’re killing us! But also concerned about proper sleep!?”

[For the Trials of Defiance to be undertaken properly, the Players need to be at their peak. Excessive exhaustion results in unenthusiastic participation.]

“You want us to try and relax, before sending us back out to be slaughtered!? Fuck you, you sadistic piece of shit!” Adam yelled, swinging his sword at the tesseract.

The dimensional box blinked out of the way of his attack, as well as the three follow-up slashes.

[Please cease your hostilities.]

“Or what!?” he yelled, jabbing his sword towards its eye, only for Shitbox to appear a finger’s breadth from his face.

[I will not be delivering your punishment.]

Adam stumbled back a few steps in surprise, before squeezing the handle of his sword in impotent fury.

I’ll find a way to break this box, mark my words.

Then he noticed a heat slowly building from the back of his hand and shifting along his fingers to his palm. When he looked down at the Duellist’s Glove, the colours were inverted, such that it was now a red glove with white stars embroidered into it.

Without a second thought, Adam slashed his sword upwards to try and catch Shitbox unawares.

Woosh!

His blade travelled through the air with way more force than usual, but the tesseract once again appeared right in front of his face, making him stumble.

[Any attempt to harm me is futile.]

“Eat my ass!” he yelled, swinging again, only for Shitbox to teleport away.

With a huff of frustration, Adam gave up for now and stomped along the cobblestones towards the music indicating the Market. As he followed the meandering road with uneven stones, he passed by shrubbery and trees, as well as many more of the dumpy houses without doors.

This place is like a bizarre fever dream, he thought to himself.

Then the road opened up ahead of him and he immediately saw the source of the guitar melody.

“What the fuck…”

It was a human-sized yellow-and-black wingless wasp. It was sitting with its bottom two legs crossed on a tall wooden stool, its abdomen to the side and its stinger on proud display. Its four other legs served as its arms and were strumming away on the strings.

“How is a wasp that good at playing guitar?”

“I have a name, you know,” the wasp replied without pausing. The voice had a sultry note to it and was distinctly female, while the appearance was distinctly I’m-going-to-die-if-it-stabs-me.

“Ah, didn’t realise you spoke English as well. That raises an unfortunate amount of questions.”

[The denizens of Interim Island adjust to the inhabiting Player’s language, in order to establish a sense of comfort.]

“How do I mute you, Shitbox?”

“My name is Yenna,” the wasp introduced herself.

“I’m Adam. I’d shake your hand, but you kind of freak me out.”

“Understandable. I am also repulsed by your flappy skin.”

He frowned. “I’m not that flappy.”

Yenna moved right along with the introductions. “Do you enjoy my melodies? If you have a preference for an instrument, I am proficient in all of them.”

“Even the Theremin?”

Despite the fact that her head was a terrifying mask with chittering mandibles at the front, antennae at the top, and black compound eyes, Yenna managed to look confused.

“I don’t know what that is.”

“What about the Stylophone?”

“Are these culturally-significant instruments from your world? I have practiced with all those provided to me by the All-Seeing System. Those two were not included as part of your world’s heritage.”

Adam sighed. Why is the System even doing this? What’s the point of pretending to give a shit about humans and what we like?

“Play whatever you like. It sounded nice.”

“Thank you, Adam.”

He gave the wasp a wide berth as he walked past her. There was a fountain behind where she sat and on it were sculptures of slimes spewing water into the air to land in a top bowl, from which it spilled down three flat circular tiers and back into the bottom.

When he looked down at the water, he noticed the glimmer of coins that’d been tossed in, which seemed weird, since Shitbox had said the currency here was Point-based.

Past the fountain were sporadic flowerbeds and between them were a few wooden stalls with different colours for their cloth overhangs. Behind them were two rows of trees, but no other buildings. Or even ground for that matter.

“Are we in the air!?” Adam exclaimed in surprise, as he saw a cloud drifting by lazily below the edge of the island.

[Yes. The Interim Island is a flying piece of land.]

“What happens if I jump off.”

[You will plummet to your death.]

Adam gritted his teeth. “Okay, I see how it is.”

What a convenient way for them to weed out those too weak-willed to go on. Sickening reason to design their little waiting area in such a way.

He looked away from the distant edge and refocused on the Market stalls. Then he realised they were manned by giant insects as well.

“Can I kill these people?”

[Any denizen of Interim Island that you slay will not return nor be replaced. You may take your frustrations out on them, but it is meaningless and will permanently prevent you from accessing their services in the future.]

Adam shook his head. “What is wrong with you…? Why even put sentient creatures here? You’re clearly capable of handling the upgrades and such yourself. Do you just enjoy cruelty for the sport of it?”

[This inefficiency was deemed beneficial to Player enthusiasm in the Trials of Defiance.]

They really care about Player’s being engaged with their little extinction game. But why?

Wait…

“Are you broadcasting any of this?”

[The Trials are being observed by many watchful eyes, yes.]

“So you need us to put on a show, is that it?”

[Yes.]

“Well, at least you’re honest, you piece of shit.”

Adam flipped off the air. He had no idea where he was being watched from, but he figured it was no doubt from above.

With his outburst over, he walked up to the nearest stall, which had a blue overhang. Behind the wooden counter was a small anvil and forge, as well as various tools. The creature manning it was a large incandescent-green beetle with two massive plates covering its back. Like Yenna, it was using its bottom two legs as actual legs, and the other four as arms, while standing upright.

“Afternoon, Adam. My name is Thea. I offer weapon upgrades in exchange for Points,” she told him, also speaking with a female voice, though this one was sharp as flint.

Adam glanced around at the other stalls suspiciously.

“Don’t tell me they’re all women…”

[It was deemed most beneficial to Player enthusiasm to have desirable companionship within Interim Island.]

“Are you out of your fucking mind!? They’re all insects, you shit for brains!”

Adam quickly spun back to face the beetle.

“No offense, Thea.”

“None taken, I too find your visage offensive to the eyes.”

Adam sighed. “How much are your services?”

“450 Points for any upgrade up to and including level 6.”

“Damn, that’s pretty expensive. But why only until level 6?”

“I am not allowed to tell you yet.”

Adam glared at the tesseract. “Seriously? Can’t they just be allowed to inform me about this stupid game!?”

[It was deemed fair that Players have to discover the facts and facets of the Trials of Defiance on their own. However, it is possible to trade information with other Players at the Dimensional Tavern, if you should choose to do so.]

With every new thing he learnt about this game, he was realising that the cruelty ran deeper-and-deeper. This was a blood sport, and ‘enthusiasm’ only mattered because it made for a better spectacle. If they gave two shits about fairness, he wouldn’t have been thrown in blind and rushed along non-stop.

But who gives a shit about fairness? I’ll fight as dirty as I need to, if it means my family gets to live.

I’ll finish checking out the wares here, then I’ll visit the tavern, before preparing for the next Stage.

“I guess I’ll come back when I can afford your services. Wait, that came out wrong. Ah, fuck it, you know what I mean.”

“Bye Adam.”

He left the beetle smith and went to the next stall, which had a green overhang. Here, a red-brown cockroach stood behind a slanted wooden board draped in a black cloth, which displayed items he easily recognised. There were three size variants of vials and they came in three colours. Along with the potions were dried roots in a similar colour scheme.

“I’m Belin, I sell consumables,” she told him, while he tried his best not to focus on her fucked-up appearance. Her voice was calm and gentle.

“Well, you probably already heard, but I’m Adam. How much are your potions? I’m guessing red is Health, green is Stamina, and blue is Mana?”

“Correct. Each small potion is 100 Points. Medium is 500 and Large is 1200. The roots are 250 and provide a 10% boost to one of the three stats, but only one boost can be active at a time.”

“Damn, everything here is pricey… Do you also have roots that boost Damage, Defence, and Speed?”

“Not yet,” she answered vaguely.

I guess that means the choice of wares expands as I progress through Stages.

“I’ll come back later,” he said.

“Until then, Adam.”

They all really insist on using my name…

The next stall had a sandy-brown cricket behind a dark wooden counter. A black cauldron bubbling with a green soup stood next to the cricket and various bizarre reagents hung down from strings attached to the purple overhang.

“Hi Adam!” the cricket said cheerfully, her tone warm and welcoming. The way she was standing on her overlong back legs seemed uncomfortable, since they were folded in a way that did not look normal. “My name’s Karie, I sell general upgrades. All upgrades are 300 Points!”

Her massive black compound eyes were locked onto him, while she swayed her head from side-to-side, swishing her overlong antennae back-and-forth. Adam focused on the cauldron instead of her.

“Is there no level cap where the price increases?”

“Nope!” she replied. “Would you like to see what I currently have on offer?”

“Sure.”

Karie waved one of her arms over the cauldron and it released a puff of toxic-looking vapour, then four symbols appeared. Two of them were new to him, a four clover and a blade with a droplet at the end. The last of the four was a blue rare, but it was for movement speed, which didn’t interest him.

< < Upgrades For Sale > >

< Venom (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict Venom slowing target by 10% for 10 seconds >

< Damage (Common) — Increases all damage by 5% >

< Luck (Uncommon) — Increases luck by 2 >

< Movement (Rare) — Increases movement speed by 15% >

“If you purchase one, the options are scrambled, and four new options will appear. If you don’t like the options you see currently, you can use a Reroll to scramble them.”

So, it’s possible to get a Luck boost as well. I guess that’ll increase the likelihood of better upgrades. Wonder if that’s a good trade, when compared to something immediately useful. Although, I can foresee a strange feedback loop where increased luck makes the next luck upgrade stronger, which then makes the next one even stronger, until eventually all upgrades are the rarest possible outcome. Can’t really tell what the numbers mean though. Is +2 in Luck something that actually makes a difference?

“Thank you for the explanation,” he said, while wondering if Shitbox would actually give him a straight answer to his question.

“If you come back after the next Stage, the options will be different!”

“Guess I’ll do that then.”

Although he could afford an upgrade from her, he was fairly sure his Points were better spent on buying Rerolls and Potions. It was likely that the second Stage wouldn’t have an easy-to-grab Healing Item, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

“See you later, Adam!” the cricket called as he went to the next vendor.

The stall had a red overhang and a black metal counter. Atop it was a red velvet pillow holding a ten-sided die, with each face featuring a Roman numeral. Behind the counter stood a grey spider, which used four of its eight long legs to stand on and the other four as arms. Its head was small compared to the abdomen that hung below and its eyes were clustered together above two large mandibles that chittered slightly.

Adam thought he might shit himself at the sight.

“Welcome, Adam. I am Lucca.”

The spider’s voice had a very sinister quality to it and he couldn’t stop staring at her, as though paralysed by dread.

I hope I don’t have to fight spiders of this size in the Stages…

She continued. “I sell Rerolls and Relics.”

At the mention of the latter, she gestured to a black treasure chest next to her. It had the engraving of a spider on the lid. Golden light peeked out from the seam and it popped open to reveal four items.

“My Rerolls cost 100 Points. The price of the Relics is based on their rarity, with Common being worth 150, Uncommon 300, Rare 500, Epic 1000, and so on. If you do not like the options I have, you can always Reroll them.

“I will also buy any Relics of yours for half their worth. For example, you could sell me your Duellist’s Glove for 250 Points.”

The mention of prices and the fact that he could sell his Glove to earn Points, immediately snapped him out of his wide-eyed stare. He turned to look at the four Relics hovering above the treasure chest.

< < Relics For Sale > >

< Healing Apple (Common) — If the Player’s health falls below 25%, this apple is consumed, healing them back to full. Once consumed, the Relic disappears >

< Blink Ring (Uncommon) — Charged attacks are performed instantaneously when you blink >

< Committed Attack Ring (Uncommon) — All Cooldown-based Relics gain a second use that can be triggered within 10 seconds of the first activation, but the cooldown is tripled >

< Scope of Insight (Rare) — Any target viewed through this Relic has their weaknesses laid bare >

Hmm, two of these might actually have synergy with my Glove.

“Isn’t it a conflict of interest that you also sell Rerolls.”

“Rerolls are a type of Relic. They may even appear as a reward in any chest you find within a Stage.”

That’s an odd way to phrase that. Is she saying there are more chests than just the one after the Boss?

“So, let’s say I wanted to buy the Blink Ring. It would cost me 300 Points, right?”

“It would. If you sold me the Relic you’re wearing, you could even buy two Uncommon Relics or one Rare,” she said, her voice seeming even more sinister than it already was. He was fairly confident she just wanted him to take a bad deal, since her profit was way higher the rarer the item was.

“Shitbox, can I sell my things to other people in the Tavern?”

[No. Trade between Players is prohibited.]

Okay, so I don’t actually have a choice if I want to get rid of a Relic.

[However, any unused Relic can be stored in the Player House.]

“Has any other Players attained these Relics you’re offering me?” I asked the spider.

Apparently this wasn’t prohibited information, since Lucca answered, “All items you see are potential rewards of Stage One.”

“Which means the Relics you sell will change the further I progress?”

“I am not allowed to answer that.”

“Figures.”

I wonder if the Blink Ring works the way I think it does. It might be worth asking other people in the Dimensional Tavern.

Adam read through the four options once more. “Alright well, I’ll be back later I think.”

“I know. Until then, Adam.”

He went to the last stall, where a silverfish was jittering while standing on two of its six legs, using the rest to rapidly clean down the stone counter in front of itself. The overhang was yellow.

“Uh, hi?”

“Hi! Nelly. That’s my name. Weapons. I sell those.” The silverfish’s voice was high-pitched and hurried, but had a cheerful tone to it.

“What do you have?”

Nelly pointed to a stone block next to her and it came to life, displaying four items above. A bow, a spear, a two-handed sword, and a spell staff.

< < Weapon Types For Sale > >

< Archer (Common) >

< Lancer (Common) >

< Warrior (Common) >

< Spellcaster (Uncommon) >

I forgot that Spellcaster was a rarer type. That introduction was really unhelpful… It’s like they set people up for failure.

“How much do they cost?”

“Common is 500, Uncommon is 1000, Rare is 2000, and Epic is 5000. They are not upgraded. You want something else, use a Reroll.”

“Can I sell you my weapon?”

Shitbox answered in her place. [It is not possible to sell your weapon. However, you will lose your current weapon and its upgrades if you purchase another.]

“That’s a dumb system… Guess I’ll come back after next Stage,” he told the silverfish.

“Okay! Bye Adam!”

If I find someone with the Blink Ring inside the Tavern who can tell me how it works, I might end up buying it, since there’s something I want to try. Otherwise, I might just buy two small Healing Potions and a Reroll.

After what had felt like hours of perusing the stalls, Adam left the Market and headed towards the south of Interim Island, all while Yenna’s guitar melody followed him.

-----------------------------

-Previous chapter-
---Next chapter----