Before They knew it, the world declined.
The resource humanity had come to rely on was all gone, leaving the world powerless.
Mother nature had seemed to turn her back on them, reducing the ocean to mere ponds and the trees to nothing but lifeless stems.
Yet, there was one thing that remained alive. A vrmmopg game world called Endless—even when the world had gone stagnant, it stayed alive.
The game grew, becoming an aware, sentient system, storing the human mind into the game when their bodies remained in the real world.
Scientists believed that maybe somewhere woven into the data of such a world is a new world we must discover, and to do so, you must survive, fight, and become unstoppable, and perhaps you might be that new world's god.
Deep within the fifty-first level of the Montserrat Tower, one of the nine primordial towers, Saint is face to face with the only being that stands between him and the next level of his ascension .
His knuckles crack at his side, his eyes firm on the monster he has to defeat to ascend. The creature they call Quantum.
A black demon with red pulsating veins and numerous numbers of legs and arms sprawling out like grotesque wings. It's eyes are hollow with faint red, yet crimson orb that lights it up.
With an air of surpermecy spriling around him he steps into its domain, the floor at once illuminating with a magic circle.
Saint feels the pull of magic circling him, yet he remains still, awaiting it's attack.
[Level 51: dungeon boss]
[Name: Quantum]
[Ability: Quantum Immortality]
[Level: 70]
[Type of beast: A rank]
Saint's eyes breeze over the stats before facing back up to the monster as his stats display.
[Name: Saint]
[Player rank: classifed s rank hunter(Adamant hunter)]
[Level: 79]
[Towers conquered: 60]
[Mp: 999/1000]
[Mana: 998/1000]
[Health: 450/500]
[Ability: Awakening]
[Awakening: Allow the user to awaken any dormant high-grade sealed treasure. Or reawaken any powerless tearsures with new abilites.]
[Current unsealed treasures: Earth's tomb, Infernal Bindings, Supernova, Gods calling, Ruthless seas, Heaven's might.]
"I see a soul has finally reached my level." Quantum screeches out, like a thousand knives scratching across a chalkboard, but the words seem to transmit to Saint's ears. "Do you deem yourself worthy, human?"
"I deem myself better than you." Is all, Saint says, putting his hands out as reality fluctuates and a golden horn forms into his palms.
[Weapon chosen: God's calling]
Quantum wastes no time, shifting slightly before he zips up in a split second, hands outstretch for his face.
[God of speed, heard your calling.]
[Attribute sent: Speed of everlight]
[time limit: 1hour minutes]
'I guess I have to make this fight last 50.' Saints thinks to himself.
The moment his thought registers, its matte black hands reach mere inches away from his face, and like air he vanishes. Quantom taken a back hears his feet and turn to see, Saint standing unharmed at It's side as it crashes into the wall.
[God's Calling: allows its user to seek power from the gods. Giving them a temporary attributes.]
"Quantum Immortality is a hard ability to defeat," Saint admits out loud, turning his head to see it already hurling back at him. "Because technically you can't die." He voices again, repositioning at the speed of light to another location, this time in the air. "But death—"
God's calling dematerialize, and the space around his hands sparks again, a purple light enveloping him as chains wrap around his frame, the tip bearing a scythe blade.
[Weapon chosen: Infernal Bindings]
"Death follows everyone and everything, and I fear yours is nearing." He finishes as the beast's arms unfurl, stretching to grab him, but in the blink of an eye, the spiked chains of his scared weapon entangles all around him.
Thud!
He drops back to the floor, watching as it squrim for freedom which only makes it tighten its grasp on It.
Saint stares at the so-called paramount of the creatures of this tower and scoffs. "And people call you a dungeon boss." Shame drips from his tone as he lifts his hands, and the air above Quantum flickers.
[Second chosen weapon: Earth's tomb]
[Third chosen weapon: Ruthless seas]
[Fourth chosen weapon: Heaven's might]
Each of his unsealed scared weapons forms above it's head. Earth's tomb is a long sword crafted out of stone and lava, Ruthless Seas is an intricately designed triton, and Heaven's Might is a large, long hilted hammer.
"I'm sure there isn't endless parallel reality you can go to when you die," Saint says, voice devoid of emotions.
Wihout delay, he activates the first skill of Earth's tomb, the very foundation of the tower shaking as the earth lifts and slowly encloses around the monster.
Then, his fifth skill of Ruthless Seas, activates as well, the very air around the creatures turning into water and puddling as the tomb closes in, and then, before it completely closes, the hammer drops into the water.
"I'll just have to wait for you to completely die." He snaps his fingers, the hammer inside the tomb ignites with lightning, sucking Quantum health down with the continuous waves of lightning against the water.
[Quantum's health: 600 % dropped to 580%]
Quantum roars echo from outside, and the tomb rattles. And making sure there is no failure in his plan, uses more chains from Infernal Bindings, tieing it around the tomb.
[Quantum's health: 500 % and dropping]
Saint only stares at the rapidly dropping health until it hits zero, then it glitches to one, finally causing his mana to drop by one.
[Quantum's health ability activated]
[Quantum's health restored to: 590%]
'I see, so the more it uses its abilities, the less its health becomes. I was right; even in this game world, everything dies.'
Time slips by, but Saint's eyes never once leave the tomb — not until Quantum finishes his final shift.
[Quantum's health restored to: 10%]
Yet as his draining begins, the tomb fractures.
He had sensed it before, but now it was undeniable, the power radiating from the tomb and the slow, visible drain of his health.
Saint's thought came through. Quantum became stronger with each presumed 'death'.
Crack! Crack!
It's like a ticking bomb before it explodes. Stone and water cover the floor as it erupts, debri flying everywhere.
Quatume roars, causing the chamber walls to crumble as he unfurls his now upgraded forms.
Instead of numerous hands and legs, he remains with two, and its stature of a monster morphed into one that mimics a human. While in one of those black arms held a curved sword that bent on its left side like a hook, which emitted a red energy.
[Monsters reawakening turn on!]
'All dungeon bosses that are inhabitants of any primordial tower undergo a reawakening once they are close to death.'
Summoning Earth's Tomb to his side, it materialized in his hands.
Its sleek yet rugged form, with veins of lava oozing between its cracks, might make it seem blistering to the touch, but to Saint, it felt like nothing more than a gentle breeze.
'Nine more percentage of health to go.'
"It seems you humans have lost touch with reality to think you can kill me." Quantum screeches, and again it transmits to Saint's head again.
Slowly, like a trained swordsman, he lifts his hands and brings them down, holding his sword directly in front of him the right side facing down and the hooked end, facing itself, hovering barely above it's head.
"Let me show you what real power is." Quantum finishes.
Saint grits his teeth. "Useless data like yourself should have no say in human matters."
Like connected minds, they both rush up to each other at the same time. Both of them mimicking the other's speed. With a loud and earth-shaking tremor, they clash their weapons in a haze of slashes.
Saint uses all of the skills of his unsealed weapons. Earth to block its upcoming attack, which it effortlessly breaks through but manage to slow down; water to make his moves more fluid; chains to bind him even for a second or to delay an attack; and lightning to intensify each slash.
Quantum uses only his strength to deflect, collide, or dodge each of his attacks and also strikes precised and deliberate watching as Saint's health drops.
[health: 100/ 500]
'Shit. I hit the one hundred mark.' Saint thinks, pulling back to dodge another hit, blood spewing from open wounds, but he ignores the pain and pushes forward. 'It's commonly known that if you ever hit that mark, any high-grade monster could bring you down to zero with the right hit.'
The zero hp glitch.
An opening forms, and Saint sees it. Spotting the Triton besides him, he uses his mind, commanding it forward, allowing it to successfully plummet into Quantum's side.
'I've never reached this low to experience it, and if I did, I would be dead. In both worlds.'
Quantum screeches in pain, taking the Triton and yanking it out of his flesh, dropping it to his side.
[Quantum's health: 7% > 5%]
Dashing up, Saint sees another opening, one he had to create, yet he's not the only one who sees one.
Quantum sees the glitch, a patch of glowing data right at Saint's lower right abdomen. Like a lightning strike, he vanishes from in front of Saint and wastes no time in piercing Saint's side.
The hooked cuts through Sain'ts side with precision, forcing blood to flare out his mouth and ontop his combat suit.
Yet, Saint saw it.
In order to create this oppunity even though he knew he would be wounded, he still took it.
Just for that oepning. Turning his blade quickly, he jabs his swords upwards, through Quantum's under-chin, pierceing through its skull, blood splattering everywhere as they both come out fatally wounded.
[Warning! Warning!]
Red letters swams his vision.
[Glitch found!]
"Look like you found it." Saint mutters, vomiting out blood.
[Health dropping to zero!]
[Quantum's health: 5% > 0%]
[Victory!]
A smile forms on Saint's face as his entire world blurs, his vision weaving in and out as he stands there watching as Quantum decays into nothing.
"A player defeated me…" Quantum speaks up. This time it's not transmitted but comes out as words from his mouth.
"And a monster defeated me," Saint says to Quantum. "I guess we both underestimated each other."
"I fear so." Quantum crumbles to the floor, and Saint follows behind. "Perhaps if you had won, you might have completed the game and found the new world." He completely withering away, leaving his words to hang in the dead silence.
"Yes, that is my only goal." He coughs up blood, and the system sparks to life.
[Weapon chosen: God's calling!]
Using all of his strength, he blows on it.
[God of luck answered your call!]
[Attribute: Luck of a all men.]
"System, reawaken this body!" Saint shouts, desperation weighing on him.
'This has to work. I didn't do all this just to die.'
<<
[Second reawakening unachievable!]
[Ability only viable on treasures!]
"Then." He coughs, the percentage of health dropping to 5 %. "Turn this body into a scared treasure."
[In order—]
"Just do it!"
<<
Pain surges through his body as each weapon rises, turning into pure light before sinking deep into his flesh.
An excruciating heat erupted within him, as if his very being were being forged anew from the inside out.
His blood boils, and his veins rupture from within, as if each cell is being torn apart and reshaped into something greater.
Then it all falls silent, the world turning completely black.
[Reawakening achieved!]
[Using the attribute: luck of all men, the skill given to you too is…]
[Reincarnation]