Amber | Chapter 30. (Patreon)

Chapter 30.

Amber stared at the Grand Ostrutem Serpent, and in turn, the serpent stared right back at her. Its golden slitted eyes, piercing and aggressive, its body coiling and tensing, its being preparing and getting ready to strike at its prey. Amber grinned and raised her dagger, having already devised a plan.

The creature, like many other monsters it had fought, seemed to lack the capability to dig objects out of its body. And Amber was going to use it, having tested it in the fires of battle time and time again. She tightened her grip on her weapon, and with trepidatious anticipation she waited.

She serpent coiled back and with a slithering hiss of its tongue, it struck⁠—

Amber used Quick Dash to side-step and then used Cursed Cleave⁠— her dagger blurred and struck the serpent’s head and⁠— a shriek resounded as the dagger bounced off. Amber winced, feeling her wrist nearly snap and the serpent recoiled back. Its massive slithering body casting a shadow over her.

And then it slapped. Amber barely jumped over the monster's whipping tail; the attack hit the wall behind her and shattered it; stone streaked along with a booming sound and Amber in response sneered. She most definitely didn’t want to get hit by that, even if the prospect of seeing how she fared against it seemed interesting.

She turned towards the snake that let out a low hiss, black blood was running down its face now, a slitted injury present at the center of its cranium.

“I have to give it to you, you are durable.” She smiled.

And in response, the serpent attacked. It lunged forward baring its fangs, and Amber moved out of the way. She dodged and stabbed with Cursed Cleave, the dagger hit the side of its head and⁠— bounced. Blood was spilled and Amber scoffed, stowing away the weapon.

So hard… She unsheathed her sword and held it by the blade. If I can get it to swallow the dagger I will, but otherwise… She frowned. I’ll just break its bones the hard way.

The serpent whipped and Amber blocked; she felt her arms crack and Cursed Momentum immediately soared. Her boots scraped against the smooth ground of the room as she was sent sliding back. Then, she looked towards the serpent who was raising its large maw, and a particle of light formed⁠, then another⁠— and another. Hundreds of particles formed in a split second⁠, orbiting the center of its maw as light emerged from its throat⁠—

Shit⁠—

With a burst of Quick Dash she moved out of the way as the serpent fired one beam after another of blue light. Blue flashed inside the room. The stone shattered and chunks flew across the room as the serpent’s aim trailed after her. Why does it get to shoot out of its mouth?! When do I get to do that?! Amber sprinted before looking towards the stationary serpent and dashing in its direction.

The serpent whipped and Amber was forced to block the tail strike. She took note of its muscle movements and watched as the monster prepared to fire another salvo of magical attacks. She dashed forward and it fired⁠—

The projectile barely missed her, hitting the air in front of her instead. Amber frowned; the serpent was much smarter than she had initially anticipated, but it had yet to see all of her attacks so it wouldn’t expect some things. Or more importantly, it wouldn’t expect Cursed Stomp out of all things.

Amber grinned and took a ninety-degree turn, a blue blast barely missed. Then, she used Quick Dash and avoided another hit. The serpent let out a low hiss and prepared its tail.

Now⁠— She stomped.

The ground split open from Cursed Stomp, bits of rock flew, the ground in front progressively cracked and the monster was hit, discombobulating it for a brief and precious second. The snake wobbled, then, with a final step forward, Amber jumped. Her superhuman strength aiding and sending her multiple meters up the air, and when the serpent recovered all it saw was her figure in the air and she⁠—

Smashed.

The pommel of her sword hit the previous injury and the serpent’s skull cracked. The Grand Ostrutem Serpent screeched in agony and thrashed. It wiggled in the air and Amber’s sword remained lodged like a pick as she was dragged along with it. The serpent’s head swung and she was carried along with it. She hit the floor, flew in the air and slammed against the ceiling, but it was a fruitless effort from the monster for one simple reason.

Amber grinned.

Her hand grabbed onto the dagger at her waist, and with the noise of sharpened metal it was unsheathed. She raised the weapon high as the world blurred around her and she stabbed.

Her dagger went into the monster’s cranium drawing a pained shriek. The serpent banged against a wall, but Amber didn’t plan on stopping there. She wanted to kill it right then and there. So, she twisted the dagger inside the monster and then she used Cursed Rage Synergy and Curse Battery⁠ simultaneously—

Thousands of lacerations exploded⁠— burst around the monster’s head. Black blood exploded in all directions, staining the surroundings with long splatters that followed the way of the slashes. A shriek of defiance echoed and the serpent hit a different wall, breaking it apart, but in the end, its fate was sealed. The monster thrashed for two more seconds as more lacerations opened all around its body, and then⁠— it collapsed.

The Grand Ostrutem Serpent was dead.

Lacerations continued to ripple for a moment before the notification came.

[You have defeated a [Grand Ostrutem Serpent. Lvl. 95].]

And finally, Amber obtained what she had been waiting for this entire time. 2nd Rank, and while it came in the form of one of three skills rather than all three, she was still thrilled because of what it did.

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]

[Cursed Battery has ranked up. Curse Battery is now 2nd Rank level 1.]

[⁠Curse Battery has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You passively store the curses affecting you, and you can unleash forty-five minutes worth of them upon touching an enemy. You store 15 minutes per hour.

2nd Rank ⁠—  The unleashed curses last an additional half-second on the target.]

It was insane.

At first glance, a half-second didn’t seem to mean much and even looked pointless, however, Amber instinctively understood that it was actually borderline fucking broken. And the reason was simple; the Curse of Laceration wasn’t something that lasted it was instant. But if the skill’s 2nd Rank forcefully extended it into half a second…

Didn’t that mean that they’d have all forty five minutes worth of curse applied to them multiple times over that half a second?

Just thinking about it made her feel giddy. And at the same time, the skill had also gained an additional fifteen minutes of charge and gotten a drastic increase on how often she could use it.

It was nothing short of amazing.

And the surprises didn’t seem to end there.

[You have reached level 83. 5 stat points awarded.]

…

[You have reached level 85. 5 stat points awarded.]

She had gained numerous levels, and gotten a new Core Skill, though she decided that once more there was nothing worth replacing. The new Core Skill had been tempting, it seemed to be a stronger version of Cursed Stomp but foregoing any possible range. While it seemed appealing, Amber already felt like she lacked long range options in her arsenal.

However, even after everything she felt excited to say the least. She had also realized something about her status, Endurance was… a useless stat to her; not because she couldn’t use it, but rather; Recovery of Curses actively replenished her Endurance for as long as she was actively being touched by a curse.

And so, that allowed her to neglect it and focus on the attributes that truly mattered to her.

[Name: Amber | Level: 85

Class: Cursed Chosen Berserker | Unspent Stat Points: 0

Stats:

Vitality: 180

Strength: 168

Dexterity: 160

Endurance: 51

Intelligence: 32

Wisdom: 55

Free Core Skill Slots: 0 | Core Skills:

[Cursed Cleave - 2nd Rank Lvl. 10], [Quick Dash - 2nd Lvl. 7], [General Weapon Mastery - 2nd Rank Lvl. 9], [Cursed Momentum - 2nd Rank Lvl. 8], [Berserker’s Body - Lvl. 2nd Rank Lvl. 8], [Cursed Stomp - 2nd Rank Lvl. 6], [Recovery of Curses - 2nd Rank Lvl. 5], [Curse Battery - 2nd Rank Lvl. 1], [Cursed Rage Synergy - Lvl. 10], [Curse Manipulation - Lvl. 10]

General Skills:

[Supernatural Nullification], [Identify. Lvl. 2], [Toxin Resistance ⁠- 2nd Rank Lvl. 7], [Elemental Resistance - Lvl. 8], [Physical Resistance - Lvl. 9], [Magical Resistance - Lvl. 7], [Sharp Instincts - 2nd Rank Lvl. 8], [Quick Recovery - Lvl. 10].]

Amber grinned, and turned to the dead Grand Ostrutem Serpent. The shimmer on its scales had faded, and the light in its eyes was gone. The monster had been decently strong⁠—

She grunted feeling her shoulder blade popping back into place.

But unfortunately, it had still been felled. Amber found it to be an enjoyable battle, and thinking about what the following floors had to offer greatly excited her. Sure, she knew that not every floor would be interesting, but those that were…

She grinned.

Amber stretched and then continued into the next floor.

* * *

Amber ascended ten more floors and spent a whole month doing that. One of them had been tedious, but she also took the time to try to increase her resistances further. She had also leveled up a few times, as well as leveled up some of her skills.

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]

[Curse Momentum has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[Berserker’s Body has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[Curse Battery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 1 to 2nd Rank level 3.]

[Elemental Resistance has leveled up from level 8 to 10.]

[Physical Resistance has leveled up from level 9 to 10.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from level 7 to 9.]

[You have reached level 86. 5 stat points awarded.]

…

[You have reached level 87. 5 stat points awarded.]

She also tried to use this time to level up Curse Manipulation and Curse Rage Synergy, however, it didn’t bear any results.

She frowned.

Hopefully this floor will be it⁠—

Amber stepped out of the way as the snow to her side ruptured, a gigantic white worm towered over her; its spike lined body oscillated, cutting anything that dared to come close by. Amber was lightly bleeding from her previous attempts attacking the monster.

[Snowllating Worm. Lvl. 95]

The worm, in Amber’s opinion, was weaker than the Grand Ostrutem Serpent, and while she found it annoying to fight, she was just using it to level up Cursed Rage Synergy and Curse Manipulation, just like all the previous floors.

She would get hit by the spikes and then unleash it on a modified attack, changing the pattern of the lacerations.

She spent well over an hour trading blows with the worm, but eventually she ran out of patience, and she most definitely wasn’t in the mood to see how long she could go on even while annoyed. There was a whole damn tower after all.

And so, Amber ran straight into the oscillating spikes of the worm, and stomped. The monster was stunned and Amber used Cursed Cleave to immediately dig into the worm’s huge body.

The monster screeched, it had a diameter of over five meters and a length of over two dozen meters, however, to Amber it was all the same. The Sword of All Mortals dug into its flesh and carved deep, and by the time the worm recovered enough Amber used Cursed Stomp yet again causing the monster to reel.

She carved into its flesh, tore away its insides and once she made the hole deep enough she tossed the dagger with the Curse of Laceration in. Amber was beginning to find the strategy just as lame as paralyzing stuff with health potions, however, in comparison to the health potions this one had an aspect that couldn’t compare.

She watched as the worm began to wriggle and screech in pain, cuts began to rupture all across its body. Its blue blood stained the snowy ground and after some minutes the monster entered a frenzy beginning to attack all of its surroundings.

Amber of course, simply deflected and watched the monster struggle till its last breath. At first it fought with great vigor; the snowy floor was torn apart, it even began to conjure a deadly blizzard that Amber happily withstood. But after twenty minutes of struggle, the monster eventually fell dead. And this time, one of her 2nd Rank skills actually moved up.

[You have defeated a [Snowllating Worm. Lvl. 95].]

[General Weapon Mastery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 6 to 2nd Rank level 7.]

[Recovery of Curses has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 5 to 2nd Rank level 6.]

[Magical Resistance has leveled up from level 9 to 10.]

[Cursed Battery has ranked up. Curse Battery is now 2nd Rank level 1.]

[⁠Curse Rage Synergy has reached 2nd Rank ⁠— level 1.

You store attacks you receive as your own rage. Stored rage does not disappear. You can unleash your rage in a single attack or transfer it to improve your skills: Cursed Momentum, granting it great build up or Recovery of Curses granting it increased recovery.

At higher levels the skill may be more effective at improving your skills.

2nd Rank ⁠—  Rage builds up twice as fast.]

Yet another amazing 2nd Rank and skill upgrade. Amber grinned. She was convinced that she was on her way to becoming an unstoppable force; if she wasn’t one already. Not only that but there were level ups to be had as well.

[You have reached level 88. 5 stat points awarded.]

…

[You have reached level 90. 5 stat points awarded.]

The new Core Skill once more was nothing worth mentioning, and Amber found that there was no skill that was worth replacing. And to be honest, she wasn’t even bothered. All of her skills were strong; very few would be worth replacing. The only skills she was looking to replace were Quick Dash and perhaps Cursed Stomp; General Weapon Mastery if a better version of it came up.

She walked up to the dead Snowllating Worm and stuck her hand into its insides, rummaging for her dagger. Even though she was used to entrails at this point, feeling the stickiness inside was something else; it was kind of gross all things considered. But she quickly got used to it.

How would being completely submerged in it feel? Amber pondered, and forced the uncomfortable thought upon herself even after finding the dagger.

It was necessary for her to adapt to this; though it was less about adapting and more like seeing where her limits lay, and she found that even the thought of choking on it seemed bearable.

Finally, after a few minutes of that, she took her arm out of the warm and sticky insides, then stowed the dagger and cleaned herself with the snow on the ground. After doing that, Amber turned to the stairs at the end of the floor. They were hard to see due to the snow.

Time for the next ten floors.

* * *

Amber spent one month and a half if not more clearing out the next ten floors. And the main culprit had been a floor that, for lack of a better description, required her to dig to the next set of stairs. She fought in a desert and even in a swamp, but in the end she saw no 2nd Rank level ups. To some extent she was starting to feel like the tower was carefully measuring them and spacing them apart.

At least, her 2nd Rank skills were leveling nicely.

[Quick Dash has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[Cursed Momentum has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Berserker’s Body has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 9 to 2nd Rank level 10.]

[Cursed Stomp has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 7 to 2nd Rank level 8.]

[Curse Battery has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 3 to 2nd Rank level 5.]

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 1 to 2nd Rank level 3.]

[Sharp Instincts has leveled up from 2nd Rank level 8 to 2nd Rank level 9.]

[You have reached level 91. 5 stat points awarded.]

[You have reached level 92. 5 stat points awarded.]

She didn’t know what kind of push skills needed to reach 3rd Rank, but she was starting to think that she’d get it before Curse Manipulation reached 2nd Rank. Though, she knew she was close.

Now, she was on the fortieth floor.

Amber stared into the dark room ahead, she couldn’t see anything, not even the walls to the other side. It reminded her of the guillotine room, but the atmosphere felt different. Almost eerie. She felt as if she was staring into a deep void, and she felt an unsettling feeling well up within her; her hairs stood on end.

Though having spent so long in the tower already made her acclimated to things. The only reason she was still alive to begin with was due to the fact that Recovery of Curses kept her from going hungry. Instead, her body subsisted off the curses affecting her body. So the unsettling feeling made her excited instead.

Interesting… She smiled. I rarely get to feel fear like this.

Amber wanted to see how she fared and how much she could endure the feeling, and so,  plunging into its depths as she walked ahead. It was cold, it was uncomfortable, but it was making her better; improving her.

Amber continued walking, her footsteps echoing into the vast emptiness. Eventually, the wall behind her faded and was replaced by the same unsettling darkness. But Amber didn’t try to return, instead she continued walking forward. Her footsteps echoed inside the vast space, it felt as if she was walking inside a void, and yet an unknown source of light seemed to be following her, allowing her to see about two meters ahead in all directions.

Her skin prickled, and even though she was shaking, she still walked forward with a smile. She didn’t know what kind of monster was on this floor for her to feel like this. But whatever it was, made her think of only one thing, and one thing only. She wanted to fight it and best it. She wanted to try going all out from the get go.

Amber continued walking forward with nervous anticipation, and about a minute more of walking she heard the sound of something scraping against the ground. The sound got closer as she continued and a second later she saw a white figure at the edge of her vision. About four meters away a three meter tall humanoid thing was walking towards her, sliding what seemed to be a stick on the ground.

It had ghastly and sickly limbs, and even though it resembled a human its head had multiple holes with eyes. Looking at it, Amber couldn’t help but shiver at its existence, however, even then she activated Cursed Rage Synergy on Cursed Momentum, immediately getting it to max and rushed the monster.

[Voidlurker. Lvl. 100]

She used Cursed Stomp and attacked, her cleave dug into the monster’s arm as lacerations burst around its legs. And the monster⁠ in response⁠, didn’t flinch, didn’t even so much as pause it just— swung.

Amber was hit by the monster’s stick, sending her back as her boots gritted through the ground.

Her arm was broken from the attack and the monster was unaffected by Cursed Stomp.

Amber couldn’t help but wonder:

What the fuck even are you?

And the monster swung again, forcing her to block through gritted teeth.