[Notice: You have entered the designated area. The quest will begin momentarily]
It was the same as before, a tremendously huge hall—reminiscent of a forsaken cathedral. The textures of the walls, floors, pillars, and ceilings were ancient—layered with dust, marked by cracks, and bearing clear signs of decay.
The surroundings were just as bleak as during my first skill upgradation quest. Soon, the darkness was replaced by a warm yellowish glow as the torches ignited on the pillars and walls. The yellowish glow then dispersed gently, scattering the light throughout the darkness.
The stage was being prepared for me to take my skill upgradation quest.
The unique system I was granted offered three separate upgrade quests, each varying in both objective and reward. If the rewards were subjected to upgrade my rank, I needed to clear a PvP battle against a boss-level monster. If it was to upgrade my Class Tier, I needed to clear a PvP as well, but in that case, I needed to defeat an entity of the same class.
For example, if I was upgrading my mage class tier, I needed to defeat a mysterious mage.
In any case, the opponents were formidable nonetheless.
However, my current circumstance was different than the other two types of quest. It was about upgrading my exclusive skill . This time it wasn't a PvP match—rather a time-limit survival.
Yes, I had to survive against the foes who were yet to appear. Besides, there was another catch to it, which would occur in…
Three…
Two…
One…
[Ding!]
Just as I expected. I smiled as the system interface appeared.
[Limitations have been compromised and have been adjusted temporarily]
[Cooldown of the Exclusive Skill: Class Shifter (Stage-II), has been lifted off]
[Your rank has decreased. Current rank: E (Temporary)]
[Only unnamed weapons are allowed. You cannot use any named or higher-grade weapons]
[Healing Items are prohibited; you can only use fatigue reducers]
That's why I sometimes hate to follow the system's instructions. I sighed. As I mentioned before, it did give me opportunities from time to time, but most of the time it kept me disappointed.
But it wasn't time to complain. The enemies were appearing one by one.
As I stood in the middle of this ancient and decaying cathedral, uncountable numbers of soul reapers appeared—clad in a ragged black cloak with a scythe made of dark aura. Their body was emitting dark energy as if they were the embodiment of darkness. Their scythe, too, unleashing vile and dark energy.
They surrounded the entire cathedral and floated in the air quietly as if waiting for an instruction to go berserk on me like wild beasts.
[Shadow Reapers encountered]
[Survive their attack for 25:00 minutes to get rewarded]
"Twenty-five Minutes Last Stand, eh!" I murmured, scanning the entire area and finding the tiniest things I could take advantage of.
[DUNNN!!!]
[Survive]
[24:59]
[24:58]
[24:57]...
….
The quest commenced. The countless horde of Shadow Reapers rushed at me. They looked tough and agile. They closed in from every direction.
[Class Sifter (Stage II) has been used]
[Class: Mage (Tier-6); INT: 54 (+20)]
I leaped from the ground and created a respectively huge magic circle that would last a few moments in the air. I stood on it, cast a few small magic circles all around the reapers, and then…
[Class Sifter (Stage II) has been used]
[Class: Archer (Tier-7); ACC: 54 (+15)]
I selected the lowest-grade archery bow and arrow I had in my inventory. I shot them one another through the magic circle floating around the area.
The magic circles served only a sole purpose and that was to enhance the arrows, coating them with dark energy. The dark-coated arrows then struck the reapers, killing them within an instant.
However, the vacant place was filled with newly arrived Shadow Reapers. It only made sense since it was a 'Last Stand' survival. I continued firing the arrows repeatedly.
[Skill gauge: 8%]
[24:09]
Damn! It's not even a minute. I frowned, jumping off from the magic circle as it disappeared. The horde closed in once again, swinging their scythe swiftly.
[Class Sifter (Stage II) has been used]
[Class: Assassin (Tier-6); AGI: 61 (+20)]
"Glitch Step!"
The countless scythe struck all at once. I was there yet I wasn't.
I mean my body remained there and their attacks passed through me like they struck my image. My body coordination drifted through their scythes, bypassing their offenses.
"Shadow Step!"
[Failed! The Shadow Reapers don't have any shadows. The skill cannot be used]
That's a disappointment. I bit my lips, running unimaginably fast as I passed through them swiftly—and sliced one or two reapers every once in a while.
They looked tough but weren't strong enough. However, they were fast—much faster than I thought, actually, and their sheer number that didn't have an end made them formidable.
I didn't need to defeat all of them. I had to cut only a few of them to survive until the end of the period. Attacking them without consideration would only cause me exhaustion and would increase my fatigue at an alarming rate.
Of course, I could prevent that by using a potion or two. But it didn't mean I had to go wild and reckless. My current rank, after all, was now weak. The force I applied to them was also weak. Perhaps, it was the urgency of the weak to get stronger that prevented me from any reckless move.
I was proceeding much smoother and safer until this point. Then there was some adjustment to the enemy's movement.
[19:59]
For the first time, I took a direct hit from them. A scythe from my left came and sliced across my chest.
[Health drained; Health: 1580/1860]
[Fatigue: 44%]
[Skill Gauge: 39%]
Damn! They've gotten faster. I leaped backward, evading their strikes one after another. Several reapers closed my backside and prevented me from slipping through the small opening.
I threw out a 'Jump Back Kick'— a martial art move I learned when I used to visit the dojo my dad worked in.
Back then I just copied others and never really tried to learn accurately. Well, I had a sickness that prevented me from interacting too much with others. However, I did try it only to experience what it felt like to do martial arts. It wasn't entirely a succession nor did I feel anything. I could perform some martial arts to an extent. It felt a lot easier than IRL, anyway.
The horde of Shadow Reapers fell on each other as I pushed them with the kick. Then…
… As if a sharp but not highly painful sensation surged through my thigh muscles. Was it cramped? I wasn't certain.
[Fatigue: 57%]
The pain was real. Perhaps the fatigue I had accumulated so far caused the sudden cramp. In any case, my fatigue reached nearly 60. I quickly used up a couple of bottles.
[Fatigue: 21%]
That looks good for now. I thought and tried to slice through them one more time. I wasn't able to. Instead, I face a coordinated attack from them. I used the glitch step again and bypassed their offense one more time.
However, I couldn't rely on it forever. Although there was no Cooldown period to my Avatar Exclusive Skill, I still had recast time remaining on my class-based attacks. And there was my Skill Recast Reducer (SRR) that reduced the recast time slightly.
But they wouldn't be any good against the next attack I was about to face.
[16:24]
I glanced at the remaining time. I still had a long way to go. I was considerate of my surroundings. Even so, two coordinated attacks were coming at me without any successive time gap.
I managed to evade the first one and was open to the second. I could hear the faint fringing laugh from the reapers as they, all at once, struck me.
[Class Sifter (Stage II) has been used]
[Class: .....