He wasn't the only one with the desperate idea to charge to the source. As the clock ticked down, other players - realizing that staying on defense was a slow death sentence, rushed towards the rifts to bolster their kill counts. No one wanted to die before the first floor even truly begun.
Reagan scanned the horizon for a gap in the chaos and spotted two rifts a few dozen meters away. They were less crowded, occupied by only two players. One rift was a gateway for lycan wolves; the other birthed mutated ants. It was a high - risk, high - reward goldmine for experience points. He pushed his pace, his legs burning.
I might die if I poke this nest, a voice whispered in the back of his mind.
He crushed the thought. He would die anyway if he failed the quest. He had a long life ahead of him and a family to return to; if he was going to go down, he'd go down fighting.
He spotted a lone wolf with it's back turned, preoccupied with the grisly task of scavenging a corpse. Reagan surged forward, aiming for the throat. But instinct is a powerful thing. Just as the blade was about to sink in, the wolf sensed the shift in the air. It leaped aside, and Reagan's dagger missed the jugular, instead carving a jagged line through the beast's left eye.
"Shit," he hissed.
The wolf scrambled back, half-blinded and snarling, blood drenching the side of its face. Reagan dropped into a fighting stance. He had the advantage of a blind spot now, but he needed a distraction - even just three seconds to close the distance.
He didn't have to wait for long, but the distraction came at a terrible price.
"Aaaaaargh!"
Nearby, a scream ripped through the air. A wolf had clamped onto a young man's arm, tearing it clean off. Within seconds, a pack converged on him, shredding him to pieces. "Please... help..." he gurgled before a wolf crushed his throat, silencing him forever.
The second player at the rifts panicked. That split second of frozen terror was his undoing. The mutated ants swarmed him, their massive mandibles shearing through his legs. "I don't want to die!" he wailed, but his body went limp in less than five seconds.
'What a hellish way to go,' Reagan thought. Then, cold dread pooled in his stomach. He had committed the same sin as the dead man: he looked away.
The blinded wolf lunged. Reagan tried to bring his daggers up, but he was too slow. The beast's claws raked across his chest, the force of the blow sending him spiraling through the grass.
[- 5 HP]
[- 5 HP]
[STATUS: HEMORRHAGE]
The system's alerts were frantic. The bleeding was worse this time. The wolf didn't let up, charging again with its jaws aimed at his throat. Reagan dug his heels into the dirt and threw himself to the side, his inreased Agility barely saving him. As the wolf surged past, Reagan balled his fist and punched the beast in the ribs with every ounce of his strength.
Crack.
The sound of breaking bone was sickeningly clear. The wolf rolled across the grass, struggling to find it's footing. Reagan didn't give it a chance. He leaped onto its back, driving both daggers deep into its neck. The wolf thrashed, its paws kicking at the empty air until, it went still.
[KILLED A LEVEL 1 LYCAN WOLF]
[LEVEL UP! | HP: 310/310]
[GAINED 3 ATTRIBUTE POINTS]
[GAINED 10 G COINS]
"Finally, that debuff is gone," he breathed, feeling the warmth of the level up wash away the dubuffs and close his wounds.
But the victory was short lived. The dying yelp of the wolf had alerted the rest of the pack. The monsters that had finished devouring the other two players turned as one, their predatory gazes locking onto Reagan.
[TIME REMAINING: 4min: 01sec]
[CLOSING ALL RIFTS]
The crimson rifts flickered and vanished, leaving thirty enraged monsters trapped on the field with him.
"You've got to be kidding me," Reagan cursed, turning to bolt. Fighting thirty monsters at once was suicide.
He hadn't made it ten yards before a sharp, crushing pain spiked in his ankle. An Ant had clamped it's mandibles around his leg, dragging him to a halt. Reagan spun, roaring in frustration, and brought his heels down on the ant's head. The exoskeleton shattered like glass, spraying purple fluid across the grass.
He grabbed the ant's heavy carcass , swung it like a makeshift club to knock back the closest wolves, and threw it into the pack to create a bottleneck. It worked for a moment, but then he felt it - a strange, pulsing heat radiating from his ankle. His vision blurred. The world began to tilt.
"... poison?"
His muscles seized. His legs gave out, and he hit the ground, unable to move a finger. He lay there, paralyzed, watching as the shadow of the first wolf fell over him.
[STATUS: POISONED | STATE: PARALYZED]
The monsters pounced, a wall of fur and mandibles descending on his helpless body.
********
This is not the story, just some few explanation.
✓ EXPERIENCE POINTS AND LEVEL UPS
The experience points needed are doubled from the previous level up.
The experience points needed for level 2 was 240, level 3: 480, level 4: 960...
✓ ATTRIBUTE POINTS
Each level up grants 3 free points
✓ STATS POINTS
Strength, agility, defense, stamina, intelligence, they increase by 3 each with each level
HP increases by 100 and MP increases by 5(although this depends with class)