Armaros dragged himself all the way to the train station, the new weapons he had gained disappearing into an invisible inventory. All Periodics could do the same, but since everyone knew them as some of the greatest humans to live, there was no point in doing so, as their weapons only added to their power and grandeur. But when it comes to a boy like Armaros—someone who nobody cares to give the time of day—one can see the issues with keeping two great swords in both hands.
He had come back to the train station not intending to board it home, but with the plan to examine a structure he had seen when getting off. In the abandoned corridors of the system, a blue shimmering light had caught his eye as he was leaving, unable to examine it due to wanting to reach the Wave Hunters as fast as possible.
The structure was on the side where barely anyone could have seen it—if they even could. Upon walking down this lonely, abandoned side of the subway, the air grew thicker, chilling in temperature as Armaros walked further down. He didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest—his heart was too broken to feel the chills life threw at him.
Inches away from this shimmering light, a large runic symbol floated in the air amid the hallways before him. The floating emblem was made of four insignias of crows bound around a central one of a woman with serpentine hair. This was a gateway, the first one he had ever come across.
So…this is how those Raid things look, I suppose. Looks just like something out of a manga.
Armaros's eyes then lit up with their blue hue to the boy's surprise, pulling up the UI interface and prompting him with a notification.
[You are standing before a Raid. Current Party Count: 1. Are you sure you want to take on this Raid? Yes/No?]
Well, I don't really have anyone else to go with me, System. And everyone thinks I'm delusional…or already dead. So I really don't have much to lose, Armaros thought, melancholy dulling the very few levels of resolve left in his voice.
But as he was about to think "yes" for the system to confirm his choice, the rank of the raid appeared.
[Raid Rank: Corrupted.]
What? What does that even mean? I thought these things showed letter ranks, not…whatever that is.
Left confused by the message, this was the first wake-up call he received from anything. Everyone else had told him to simply give up, turn around, and find some other path. This rank was unfamiliar, which solidified his sense of not belonging in this new world.
Every second felt like a test of his will. Would he cave in to his own fears and take everyone's advice? Go back down to his bed and suffer the unknown fate of death that came when he didn't show up for the First Wave? Or would he go out on his own terms, leaving a mark behind in the world that sought to take all ounces of favor from him?
The choice was his.
Whatever…if I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail on my terms. Yes. I want to go through with the Raid.
With his decision cemented and the system's acknowledgment, the blue gateway before him erupted with light. Its colour slowly changed from blue to a horrid green, casting sweeping, dark winds of emerald shade around the hallway that forced Armaros into a guarding position. The whirlwinds of air consumed Armaros all around until his vision went black, and the system prompted him one more time.
[Raid Generation in Progress: Objective: Defeat Glycon, The False Queen of Snakes.]
*****
As the verdant winds surrounding Armaros dissipated, he found himself in a dark cavern of weathered stone. A dark, viscous emerald liquid oozed from the stone and ceiling above him. The floor and walls made the place feel dungeon-esque, dark green with decrepit, dead vines hanging from each side. Small snakes slithered over his sneakers, scurrying away from the boy's sudden arrival.
Well, shit…this has gotta be out of a video game or something, Armaros thought, looking at the walls and hearing the pit-patters of the dripping fluids around him.
Some of the liquid from above dripped on his shoulder. Instantly after touching his hoodie sleeve, the system prompted him while the liquid began burrowing its way through the material.
[Corrosive Element: Acid Poison. If contacted with open skin, damage will accumulate per second to the target.]
Oh crap!
Immediately, Armaros stepped out of the way of the dripping poison, taking his hoodie off in the process. He examined the poison continuing to tunnel into his hoodie sleeve, coming out the other side, then vanishing into the ether the moment it had finished its burrowing. It happened so quickly that Armaros was quite unnerved by its speed.
If it could go through clothing that fast, his skin—or even bones—wouldn't be far behind.
Alright, environmental elements are also out to kill me… that's really nice.
A few hisses echoed down the hallway, followed by the howls of a beast. The enemies of the dungeon were nearby, further down the labyrinthian corridor that split into ways either left or right.
Though growing fearful from the sounds of the snarls and hisses, Armaros did his best to put his terrors at bay. Armaros, with Zeus and Hermes in hand, readied his F-tiered weapons. He had no clue how to dual-wield effectively, but he was going to try anyway, taking inspiration from popular media.
"Alright…let's go see what this Raid is all about," he said, moving down the corridor towards the sounds of the beast that sat dormant in wait.
*****
Throughout Armaros's trek through the forgotten catacombs of green, he found himself examining more of his system. One notable thing was the emergence of three bars at the top left of his eyeline, where his Name and Level used to be.
The top-most bar was red, allowing him to surmise that it was most likely his health bar. But why would he need to see his health when he could readily tell when he was knocking on death's door? Next was the blue bar, the smallest of all bars, and it served as his sort of mana bar. It served no real purpose as he wasn't likely to be casting spells anytime soon. However, the last of the three was the light green bar, constantly draining, but recharging slowly whenever he stopped moving. From this, he knew that this was his stamina bar.
Ha…quite linear. You know, I wouldn't mind meeting this The One Unforgiven and finding out what his thought process was when making—
A disastrous howl echoed down from the end of the hallway, breaking Armaros's thoughts the moment he heard it. He was nearing the end of the corridor, near a cavern-frame opening that led to an open-spaced area. Whatever had made a sound was most definitely in this room, as smaller snakes began scurrying in hordes away from the room frantically.
Oh god…this is about to get ugly, isn't it?
Armaros stepped forward into the open space, part of this cavern being broken, revealing the black sky that sat overhead of this new realm. The corpse of a dark red-scaled dragon lay motionless on a collapsed wall. A moon glimmered over the scene, with a few candles around the area so the horrors could be seen with little problem.
Over the corpse of the fallen sky-beast, Serpents with bodies of lions or wolves ate ravenously from the corpse, dried blood and flesh being thrown all over the place. Each Serpent had three heads sprouting from their shoulders, with an additional serpent that served as their tail. In Armaros's View, his system labeled each enemy, with about 10 of them all around being nearly the size of him.
[Enemies Detected: Chimeric Serpentines, LV.5]
Red health bars appeared over their heads. Armaros stared at each of the beasts, noticing their scaled hides and how terrifying even one of them looked on their own. The last thing he would want is to bring attention to himself, because all 10 of them seemed ready to leave their feast for new food.
I just gotta get to the other side…He thought, seeing an entry back to the labyrinth workings across the other side.
Crouching in a low position to make as little noise as possible, Armaros stayed close to the back wall and moved along it.
So far, so good.
At times, small snakes crawled out of the back wall. Some tried to crawl onto his hands and sword edges, forcing him to step a bit further away from his steady point. However, it was not until he reached the middle of the room that the tides of fate seemed to turn against him.
One snake that slithered out of the wall fell right beneath his foot. Not noticing this until it was too late, Armaros stepped full-force onto the creature, eliciting the creature to release an abnormally larger-than-normal hiss. His attention instantly snapped to it. But if it was loud enough for him to hear it, the other creatures at their feast were next to hear it.
You've got to be kidding!
All the Chimeric Serpentine looked in his direction, each of them snarling and some releasing howls he didn't know a snake could make. Their beaded eyes gleamed with chaos, their forked tongues flickering out of their mouths. They stepped off the dragon they were eating, slowly stepping toward the boy.
Knowing he couldn't hope to win, and seeing the Corridor exit way near, Armaros immediately knew what he had to do—run. He booked it for the other side, as fast as his stamina would allow him. One of the beasts saw this coming, leaping in one bound to cut off his exit. In shock, Armaros stumbled back. The weight of his swords, especially while dual-wielding, didn't give him much body control since he wasn't experienced in weapon usage.
He was at the mercy of this beast, and its friends to come soon.
I have to put some distance between me and this thing!
Quickly staggering to his feet, Armaros tried to lunge back from the beast. But in a second, the beast sped at him, swiping with its tail to take out one of his legs. The serpent's tail scraped its teeth across his leg, inflicting poison and damage to the boy in an instant. As his blood flowed from his upper thigh, he fell to a knee.
Another beast joined in, not letting him gain a second of reprieve. The beast rammed Armaros with so much might it left a crack in the wall behind where Armaros's body connected with the structure. The boy felt his ribs collapse onto his lungs, puncturing tissue and forcing blood to bubble to his lips. But not done with his torture, the two beasts wanted more.
Next, it was time for their treat. Their heads wriggled about, each set of three bearing their fangs laced with green venom. Armaros watched in terror as the venom dripped from their fangs onto parts of his arm. Patches of skin were erased in seconds, eliciting wails of pain from Armaros.
Please…not like this…
No answer would come to his plea. Moments after, the two beasts sank their fangs into his shoulders, three heads to one shoulder blade each. Blood traced up their fangs, seeping right back into their mouths. Armaros could feel his blood being drunk by his tormentor.
All feeling in his form slowly died. His legs were slowly going limp, and there was not much feeling left in them. He was fated to die alone; he did exactly what Tyra had told him not to. And now, he would pay the price with his life to be the cost.
But then—the shing! of a blade cut two of the heads of one beast free. Some strength in his arms still remained, and one thing was on Armaros's mind—not to live, but to prove he had done more than what people thought he could do.
If I die…I am going to die doing something in my life! If that means killing one of you with me, so be it!
To the same one he'd just decapitated, he thrust his other blade into its body. The blood loss from two out of three heads gone and its body now being skewered caused the bar over its head to fade to grey. He had killed one beast, but in its place, the rest came right after, now biting down on his arms and restraining him even more.
He could move no longer. His health bar was nearly emptied like the beast he had slain. The others descended on him, having their fill of his flesh. Squelches from his body rang around the room. His thoughts were empty, replaced by memories of the one who had left.
Armaros would die alone and afraid.
…
[You have slain a Chimeric Serpentine, LV increased to 2. Periodic Affinity Awakened: Lightning.]
[Weapon Affinity and Periodic Affinity Matched. Awakening Weapons, Zeus, Olympus's True Lightning, and Hermes, Messenger of The Tempest.]
Both weapons sparked with electricity, crackling with enough energy that the wall behind a dying Armaros shattered and broke around him. None of the debris fell on his body, his lightning destroying it instantly. Zeus turned itself into a bolt of lightning, eviscerating all the Serpentine that was biting onto Armaros's right side. Hermes followed suit in its own fashion, summoning and dragging his dying hand, and with unimaginable speed, destroyed every creature that remained alive after Zeus's onslaught.
Every serpent had died; not a single one remained. Their blood had drenched Armaros completely, yet the boy was still not awakened.
He lay there against the wall, collapsed in exhaustion, with the two things that hadn't forgotten him, giving him their favor. Whether he would live or die, remained a mystery left unknown.