"Argh, my head hurts. What a horrible dream that was." Dustin woke up, pressing his hands against his pounding head.
"Damn it! That is my kill!"
"Like I will let you take it!"
"Back off! I did most of the damage!"
"I lost three friends for this! The kill belongs to me!"
"I will slaughter anyone who steps forward!"
"Keep quiet! What is all this noise about?" Dustin opened his eyes and was completely shocked by the scene in front of him.
The giant monster was lying on the ground. It was barely clinging to life. All of its legs were either torn off or blasted to smithereens. Its body had thousands of deep injuries. Even though its scales were incredibly tough, the lower jaw of its crocodile mouth had been entirely ripped off. The monster was on death's door. It looked like it just wanted someone to end its suffering.
But the people who had worked so hard to finally defeat this beast were now fighting amongst themselves. Why?
It took Dustin a moment to process all of this information because his head was hurting so badly.
"Damn it. What are they fighting for? Shouldn't they just kill it already and be done with it? It hurts so much. Wait a minute. Wasn't I dead? What about my injuries?"
Dustin looked down at his abdomen. His clothes were torn to shreds and completely covered in blood, but he did not have a single scratch on his skin.
"How did I get healed? If I remember correctly, I did not even have time to drink a healing potion. There are no healers in here either, so how did... Argh, not again." Dustin held his head as another wave of pain hit him.
"Haha! Now the only thing left is killing it." The madman stepped forward to claim the prize and swung his weapon at the dying monster.
CLANG.
The madman frowned deeply as his attack was parried by another survivor.
"What makes you think we will let you take this kill? All of us fought hard for this. Most of us died. Do you really think you can just walk up and take the fruit of our labor?" The man who blocked the attack stood his ground. "Didn't you say you just wanted to get out of here? So sit there quietly until we decide who keeps the kill. Understand?"
"Oh? Really? You think I am a fool? Just because I want to get out of here does not mean I will go empty handed. Now get the hell out of my way."
The madman unexpectedly lashed out, cutting off the man's entire arm before kicking him in the face.
For a split second, everyone froze. Then, total chaos erupted. They all charged forward and started fighting each other.
Everyone was desperate to get their hands on the final blow, but whenever someone got close, another person would block their attack. This instantly spiraled into a bloody brawl.
SLASH. BAM.
"Die!" a woman screamed, driving her blade into a man's back as he reached for the monster.
"Get away from it!" another warrior yelled, swinging a battleaxe wildly into the crowd.
"Damn it, what happened? Why are they fighting each other? Oh right, the monster. Is it dead?" Dustin squinted, his headache finally lessening a bit. "That thing is still alive. Are they really fighting each other just to take the kill? Man, I wish I could steal that."
"Wait a minute." Dustin's eyes shined brightly as he weakly stood up and opened the system shop. "I still have some of my stamina left. I just might be able to..."
SWOOSH.
A sharp blue light suddenly shot out from somewhere. It bypassed all the fighting men and pierced directly into the skull of the dying beast, instantly killing it.
The entire room went dead silent. Out of the fifty who had started the final wave, only about ten men were still breathing. Those remaining survivors became furious. All their hard work was for absolutely nothing. It was like they had planted a tree, watered it for years, and just when it finally bore fruit, a thief sneaked in and swallowed it whole before they could even take a bite.
Every single pair of those remaining eyes slowly turned and locked onto Dustin. He was just standing there in his tattered, bloody clothes.
"You... Weren't you the one who got hit when the boss stood up? We thought you were dead! You were just acting so you could steal the kill after we did all the heavy lifting!" One of the men screamed, his eyes completely bloodshot. "You just lay there while we risked our lives! You rested while our friends died!"
"No, no, it is not what you think." Dustin tried to defend himself, but the crowd was beyond listening.
"Do not give us that crap! You just wanted the 2500 points for yourself!" a woman screamed in pure greed. "He stole our reward! Kill him!"
"He watched our friends die! Do not let him live!" another man shouted.
The entire mob abandoned their previous brawl and rushed toward Dustin with murderous intent.
"Damn it! Are you kidding me?" Dustin panicked. "They were just killing each other! Why me?" He shoved the thoughts away and turned around, sprinting with all his might. "Why isn't the dungeon clearing? The boss is dead!"
"I lost my brother because of you! Stop right there!"
BAM. BAM. BAM.
Dozens of magical attacks and projectiles shot toward Dustin. He narrowly dodged them, relying entirely on his super sense.
The angry mob kept chasing him. But why? Weren't they just trying to kill each other? They were not actually angry that Dustin refused to help them fight. They were furious because they all knew only one person could claim the final reward, and this kid had stolen it despite doing a fraction of the work. How could he take their prize? How dare he?
DING.
[ Congratulations ]
[ You have slain a Level 100 Beast Amalgam ]
[ Rewards: 2500 Points ]
[ Level Up ]
[ Level Up ]
[ Level Up ]
[ Level Up ]
[ Level Up ]
[ Level Up ]
A wall of system screens blinded Dustin's vision while he was sprinting for his life.
[ Level 45 reached ]
[ Physical Strength: 139 ]
[ Vitality: 115 ]
[ Agility: 129 ]
[ Stamina: 125 ]
[ Endurance: 117 ]
[ Wisdom: 17 ]
[ Intelligence: 40 ]
[ Bonus stat points: 19 ]
"Did I just skip all the way to level 45?" A wide smile spread across Dustin's face. "But I lost my spear that was worth 9999 points. I wish I could have gotten it back somehow."
DING.
[ Requirements met for a sub-class ]
[ Sub-Class: Spearbearer (Level 3) ]
"A sub-class? Does this mean I can now access the skills of a spearman in the shop? If so, this is like hitting the jackpot! Haha!" Dustin could not contain his joy and laughed loudly.
"Look at that bastard! He is still laughing! Catch him and skin him alive!" The mob relentlessly continued their chase.
DING.
[ You have successfully cleared the dungeon ]
[ Rewards: 5000 points have been rewarded to each survivor ]
This notification appeared in the vision of everyone still alive in the dungeon.
"Finally!" Dustin cheered, feeling a wave of relief.
"Damn it, do not let him escape!" The men behind Dustin became even more frantic, speeding up their pace until they were just inches away from catching him.
DING.
[ You have successfully cleared this special Dungeon ]
[ Event task: 2/7 Dungeons cleared ]
"Just teleport me out of here." Dustin prayed to anyone who might be watching. He had never believed in God, and this entire death game had only strengthened his disbelief, but right now, he desperately wanted a higher power to intervene.
SWOOSH.
Multiple streams of bright light descended from the ceiling. Dustin and all the remaining men were instantly teleported out of the dungeon and scattered at random locations across the Desert Tutorial grounds near the Dungeon.
"Finally." Dustin collapsed onto the sand to rest, but he instantly leaped back to his feet. "Ah, it is so hot! My back is burning!"
"I should find a place to rest first." Dustin started walking toward a shaded rocky area, but he suddenly stopped. "Wait, I still do not know how long I was unconscious in there. I need to catch up to Zac before he leaves without me."
Dustin opened the map of the tutorial grounds. He checked his coordinates and saw he was not too far away from the designated transportation channel. Based on his experience over the last few days, it would take roughly four or five hours to reach it on foot.
...
"I am so thirsty." Dustin's throat felt like sandpaper. He had not drank a single drop of water for more than a day. His supply had run dry during the dungeon, and all the fighting and running had drained whatever moisture he had left.
"Two more hours of walking."
Even in this scorching heat, the thing bothering Dustin the most was not the temperature. It was the fact that he had almost died, only to wake up completely healed. How was that possible?
The memory of the giant beast towering over him flashed in his mind. He remembered the crippling, suffocating fear that paralyzed his lungs right before the monster swatted him out of the air. He shuddered, trying to push the terrifying memory away.
After thinking about his miraculous recovery for hours, the only logical conclusion he could reach was his 'Shadow Heal' skill. He was not entirely sure, but he might have instinctively activated it right before he passed out.
There was evidence supporting this theory. Before taking that fatal hit, he had almost full stamina from drinking potions. When he got smashed into the ground, his vitality plummeted to zero, but his stamina was still full. Yet, when he woke up, his stamina was cut in half.
The skill used a massive amount of stamina to heal. Since he did not know how long he was knocked out, it was possible his stamina hit rock bottom, slowly regenerated, and the skill continued healing him in cycles until his body was fully repaired.
Putting the mystery aside, his gains from this dungeon were incredible. He had jumped all the way to level 45, pushing all his stats well over 100, except for his Wisdom and Intelligence.
His point balance was also massive. Even after losing the spear, he still left the dungeon with 10,370 points.
While walking, he had already spent some of those points. He upgraded his 'Shadow Heal' skill to level 2. Then, he spent another 4300 points to buy a new skill from the shop, which had become available after unlocking his Spearbearer sub-class. He bought a skill called 'Adrenaline Rush'. It gave him a temporary ten percent buff to all his stats for ten minutes, followed by a twenty-minute cooldown. He desperately needed a buffing skill, so it was a perfect purchase.
He now had a total of three active skills and one passive skill. The only thing missing was a good weapon. That spear was the most expensive item he owned, and now it was gone forever.
Another grim thought crossed his mind. "And now I am wanted dead by angry madmen who will definitely kill me. Ah, damn it. I need to get out of this tutorial ground as soon as possible."
Dustin fastened his pace.
After walking for another half hour, Dustin came across a level 31 desert monster. It was obviously no match for him. The moment the creature saw Dustin, it turned and ran. But Dustin only saw a walking meal. He chased it down, killed it in minutes, and prepared to cook it.
He was so incredibly hungry and thirsty that he almost lost control. After gutting the beast, he pulled out its heart and fed it to the cicada. Watching the cicada eagerly drink the fresh blood made Dustin consider doing the same to quench his thirst, but he quickly rejected the idea. It was too inhumane.
He cooked and ate a portion of the meat, stored the rest in his inventory, and continued his trek.
By the time evening arrived, he had finally reached the Oasis where the transportation channel was located.
Since Dustin had no idea how much time had passed, or if Zac was even still there, he headed straight for the channel.
People had set up large camps around the Oasis, acting as if they had been living there for years. Many survivors had even opened up small shops and trading posts.
"Do these people not have missions to complete? Is the cicada going to boil them alive?" Dustin wondered internally. But then he remembered seeing people with very relaxed missions. Maybe surviving in this camp was their only task.
He walked to the edge of the Oasis to get a drink, only to discover that a group had monopolized the water source. He had to pay 10 points just to get twenty liters of water. Dustin gritted his teeth and paid the toll. He did not want to start an unnecessary fight when he was so close to escaping.
After drinking his fill, he walked to the actual transportation channel. Unsurprisingly, he found another man standing guard, claiming to be the "Lord" of the channel.
This instantly reminded him of Brock. "This guy is doing the exact same thing? Charging people money just to use the public transport? Why is everyone acting like a greedy capitalist in a literal death game?"
He paid the guard 300 points, received a numbered ticket, and sat down to wait. He decided he would wait until tomorrow morning. If Zac did not show up by then, he would assume his friend had already moved on to the next zone.
Luckily, late into the night, Zac finally appeared.
The two friends met up, shaking hands warmly before exchanging everything they had learned over the past few days.
Zac shared a lot of valuable information. He explained that people who were initially assigned non-combat classes received much less dangerous missions for this event. Even some combat classes had incredibly simple tasks. Zac had met one guy whose only mission was to walk for fifteen hours a day. Zac also warned Dustin about roaming bands of murderers who were killing people for sport in the Cloud Tutorial grounds.
"Really?" Dustin asked, completely dumbfounded by the sheer variety of missions.
"Yeah. Oh, and did you know you can unlock a sub-class if you work hard enough with a different weapon type?" Zac asked.
"Yeah, I know. Actually, I already gained a sub-class. It is already at level 3. Haha." Dustin laughed lightly, feeling a surge of pride as he bragged to his friend.
"What? Really? How? I tried so hard these past few days. I even leveled up twice, but I still could not get a sub-class." Zac stared at him in disbelief.
Dustin spent the next hour telling Zac all about the dungeon. He explained how he got so many level ups, how he barely survived death, how he stole the final boss kill, and how that unlocked his sub-class.
However, he purposely left out the details about how terrified he was. He did not mention the suffocating fear that paralyzed him when the Beast Amalgam looked down at him.
"Man! I should have come with you. If I was lucky, I might have snagged a few level ups too," Zac sighed in regret.
"We need to leave. If those guys from the dungeon catch up to us, I am as good as dead," Dustin urged, pacing nervously.
They quickly approached the teleportation channel and showed their passes. Dustin's number had already been called, and Zac had paid his toll days in advance, so the guards immediately let them through.
SWOOSH.
In a flash of light, both Dustin and Zac vanished from the Desert Tutorial grounds.