As the ten creatures emerged from the four corners of the room, Luca extended his Ego throughout his body.
Forming a cloud of it that connected with his core anchored in his brain.
Everything he perceived with his energy seemed to send back feedback images to his skull.
Luca's brows furrowed at the occurrence, but his focus was absolute.
The first Null Spawn had been chosen.
Luca dashed past the closing tide and singled out one of the flying critters.
He propelled into the air and grabbed it by its neck as it squirmed in realisation. Pulling its claws towards Luca's face.
The young Trancer frowned slightly before blasting through a series of walls with the creature's body used like a battering ram.
He crashed into an empty room and slammed it into the wall. The creature snarled. Its voice sends out ear-clenching sounds into the ear.
Luca felt like biting his ears off from the sound alone, but he pushed his detest behind him.
Achieving a complete focus was easy for someone who had spent so much time tilling the soil and washing it to grow.
It was a factor that helped him more than he realised, without him actually noticing it.
The way he acted was simply how he perceived himself to be.
Behind him, the floor trembled as the heavy presence of corrupted energy reached him.
Luca's brow arched in curiosity. He felt like he could sense them through their energy without even looking back.
He ignored it as he raised his leg in the air.
Then with a sudden jet eruption of Ego, he slammed his energy-infused leg against the Spawn with a crackling thud.
The walls shook as cracks in a spider web pattern spread throughout from the impact.
The creature snarled in pain. Scratching the surface of Luca's face with its sharp talons and pushing back with its feet.
The boy's face was pushed back with such force that he heard a snap. Three raw lines of flesh formed and blood dribbled down. Still, he remained unfazed.
He sent his leg into the air and slammed again.
This time, the wall didn't just cave in, but gave out.
Cold air blasted into the dungeon as the sound of yawning wind invaded the room.
Luca was about to push the creature fully out of the dungeon when his hair stood on end.
It wasn't like he could see with the back of his head. But the Null essence they exuded. The corrupted version of Ego energy had begun to speak to him.
It was weird to say the least, but Luca welcomed every change as a way for the Trance to balance his trials. Even he hadn't heard of any Egoist experiencing what he went through.
As the danger warnings caused his skin to shiver, his motor neurons sparked with action.
Luca moved to the side, a fraction faster for a pair of extended arms that slammed into the flying Null Spawn and sent it flying out of the dungeon.
The four-armed Null Spawn tilted its head in shock before Luca was upon it.
But the others were already closing in!
Luca dragged the Spawn by its hands, flipped and flung it through the air.
The corrupted beast slammed through another series of walls before he dashed after it.
After much fighting, Luca had come to realise the slow but evident increase in power.
He had linked it to his Ego Core. After all, a number that nearly reached 40% was far from human.
Even these Grade 3s couldn't compete with him in a single match-up.
His strength, speed and dexterity were already out of the human scope of knowledge, and this was while still being a Trancer!
The thought left just as it came. Replaced with the constant spinning cogs and wheels that made up his brain.
The other Spawns trailed after him. Too slow to catch up, yet too quick to give him breathing room.
Luca felt the constant throb of danger as a result, but appreciated it. His body was in constant motion, as a result. And he had begun to think several steps ahead as he did so.
The four-armed Null Spawn he flung away rose from the debris like an I'm Dead. A chilling sneer escaped its lips as its crimson eyes glowed with malice.
It had intended to dash forward, but Luca was already next to it.
Luca spread his arms as Ego took full precedent over his limbs. Two blades formed wherever they touched. Extending till they nearly overtook the room.
The creature sent its fists forward, and Luca kicked the floor, flipping over the creature with acrobatic grace.
Before the creature could turn back and just as Luca had begun to land, he swung his arms across the air in a diagonal cross and dashed to the next room.
Walls of cement crumbled and erupted as the remaining creatures chased after him. Leaving the four-armed beast to crumble with its head rolling to the floor with a propulsion of black blood.
Luca carved his Ego blade through the wall. Slashing through it with such control that they began to scatter before the others rushed after him.
Then he sliced erratically through the air.
He led them to a familiar spot. The very beginning of this entire scuffle, and it suddenly came to a stop. He twisted his entire form towards the Spawns before swinging his hand vertically through the air.
The chasers skidded to a halt, but the dumber ones weren't so quick.
His ego blade extended by his will and sliced through the Dungeon floors upward to the ceiling and two were caught in the mix.
One that had been air jumping and another with four pairs of spear limbs and thorny spines that protruded across its back.
The two fell with their bodies falling apart in the middle. Side to side.
Luca stopped to catch his breath. His golden gaze was sharp as he watched over the Spawns who stared at him cautiously.
It was evident by now that these creatures, once human, had at least kept a primitive form of their instincts.
'Though, it's too late.' He looked down at the floor and around the walls.
The place he had just sliced through erratically without a care in the world.
From his experience in the second-floor dungeon and even here, he had concluded that while it seemed like each floor was a large expanse on its own, they were still the floors of a Hospital.
Everything had been the same. The hospital appliances, though old and turning to dust, still existed. The labels and the function of the floors remained the same.
Even their connection with the outside world.
Seeing as how he nearly died from being pushed out of the dungeon, he had proceeded to observe if it would work in his favour.
Luckily, as he observed his number index, he was pleased to find out it did.
[9/15]
It had indeed died. Nine of them were gone, leaving these six for what was left.
And if that worked as well, then…
Luca turned slowly to his right. The elevator stood right in place.
Then he shifted back to the Spawns that had begun to approach him and stamped the floor with his entire weight.
The world stilled as even the Null Spawns froze as if sensing something was amiss.
Then in a snap of chaos, the room rattled. The walls crumbled. Cracks spread like worms in jagged arcs
across the entirety of the Third floor.
This place was indeed the former floor building of the Hospital, and Luca will lay it to waste.
The cuts he had made throughout the walls began to show signs of giving out from the sudden weight.
Immediately, the ground trembled. Pieces of it began to tear loose and fall to the gods know where.
Luca though, didn't wait around to find out.
He dashed to the Elevator as the creatures snapped into a synced realisation.
By the time he reached the Elevator and grabbed a metal panel, the floor gave in and everything fell with it. The creatures included.
One had managed to air jump its way out as the number of dying Null Spawns increased its index.
'It worked!'
He thought as he stared at what he could only describe as a dark, yawning chasm that awaited the fallen creatures.
He gulped hard. Swinging from side to side while he focused on the last Spawn.
'Shit! I should have taken care of the ones capable of flight first!'
Just as he thought that, the creature lunged at him and pounced over his body.
Luca screamed.
Pain tore through his body as the creature clawed his flesh. Blood splashed out from closed ones and already opened ones.
And his grip… his grip loosened.
'No!'
Not willing to fall into his own trap, he held firmer and suddenly twisted in the air. Dangling his feet inches away from the hole beneath.
He slammed the Spawn against the Elevator door.
It screeched. Stabbed and held firmer.
Its teeth made sharp bites over Luca's shoulder.
The boy screamed once more. Tears rolled down his face as he slammed it again. Then again. And again.
Ego erupted in tides. It squirmed all around him, and in a moment of clarity, sharp spikes protruded out in a sudden outflux.
Even if the Spawn had expected it, being in such proximity didn't help in mitigating its effect.
It screamed and loosened its grip on Luca. But refuses to bulge. Biting even further, going as far as towards his neck.
Luca bent awkwardly. Causing it to narrowly graze him before he slammed it again. And in a sequence of repeated motion, he did this ten more times.
The young boy didn't know how long had passed, but at some point, his eyes now clouded with blood had seen the notification. Just as he slammed the unwilling Spawn once more.
[18/18]
[FLOOR CLEARED]
[PROCEED TO THE ELEVATOR]
The loud ping echoed and the elevator hummed open.
Luca didn't waste a moment extending his leg towards it, and then an arm towards the side of the door before pushing into the open space of the Elevator.
Luca panted heavily as he slumped to the ground. Blood plastered on the wall and slid down with his form.
He pushed off the Spawn that had seemingly hung on even in death and kicked it off the Elevator.
The door hummed closed, and the light beam began to glow once more.
Luca sat there. Eyes wide. Mouth dry. Lips quivering slightly from the pain.
A shaky gasp escaped his lips.
"Fuck."