Sponsored Apocalypse, ch 20

[Debuff:  Venom]

Then,

[<Built Different> has activated.  Debuff: Envenomed canceled.]

I got swarmed almost immediately after that.  In the next 10 seconds, I was stung at least 100 times.  The status messages kept flashing like a strobe.  My entire body hurt but I had the feeling it would have been much worse if I hadn't already raised my stats. As it was, it felt terrible. But I could handle it.  Barely.  The sensation was sort of like the worst feeling I’d ever felt while being sick, but with the added pain and discomfort on my skin on top of everything else.

Part of me wanted to try running through the swarm, kicking off the bugs that were all over my ankles and legs. I resisted the urge.  Despite the pain, my mind was whirring, thinking, keeping me grounded.

If I ran into a cloud of them, I would probably actually get bitten more. And I knew that if the pain grew too much more I might have problems functioning.  Heck, I might even pass out.

Still, the Faceted hadn’t lied.  As long as I didn’t panic, I could tell this wouldn’t kill me.  I was in excruciating  pain but [Built Different] was turning what otherwise would have probably killed me into nothing more than a really miserable walk.

[Stalwart Pan of the Lonely Mountain] faded I as moved, but the pain and damage that I was experiencing didn’t seem to get any worse.  I didn’t activate the skill again.  Better save it in case I really need it later, I thought.

One step after another I moved down the hallway.  Biting stinging insects surrounded me.  A few times I couldn’t take it and I did swat at them. I killed tons whenever I did, but there were always more to replace them.

Luckily, my plan to move slowly was working. At the pace I was going they actually got in the way of each other. So I kept moving slowly.  I put my hands over my eyes and open tiny slits to see and I kept my mouth shut.

The end of the hallway was about a quarter mile away. Then the door came in view, I choked a chuckle.  The door actually said, “End,” on it. Finally, after a few more agonizing seconds, I was standing right before the door.

As one last show of defiance, I closed one eye and drew my hammer from my belt. Then I charged it with the most powerful [Angry Arrows] enchantment that I could manage.

I chucked the hammer down the hallway, under hand. And right as the blast went off, timing it perfectly, I opened the door and entered what I thought was another room.

Once again, my world went black.

When everything cleared, I found myself in a new place again but I’d obviously been transported there.  This time the room was a copy of the first one that I'd found myself in.  It was just a stone room with a door at the end. One difference was that this time, there was a number “2” next to the doorframe. And suddenly, I understood.

Out loud, I said, “This is going to continue and each new round is probably going to get harder and harder.”

I hadn't even seen what lay beyond the door yet. But I could intuit that what I'd said was true. It made sense too, based on what the Faceted had told me about the reward structure.  The better I did without dying, the better my prize would be.  Not dying was probably the tricky part, though. The first hallway I’d been down definitely would have killed me a few days ago.  Probably in seconds.

“Great,” I saidI found myself in what looked like a stone room.  The space seemed pretty bare, but was not exactly plain.  It actually sparkled at the corners, but there was no obvious cause for the light.  In the center of the opposite wall was some sort of intricate motif that drew my eyes and caught my attention like a fly in honey.  Almost in a half trance, I walked forward to get a closer look.

Suddenly, I heard a throat clearing and, “Please acknowledge that I am here.  This is rather rude.”

I was almost startled out of my skin and spun around like a spooked cat.

Behind me, on one side of the room there was what looked like a stone pulpit and behind it was a creature unlike any I'd ever seen before.

The monster had skin or hide that looked like it was made of diamond.  No clothing.  Its head, body, and even parts of its arms were spiky.  Sharp protrusions seemed to cover it wherever its body didn’t have flat, glittering planes.  It had no eyes.

I cursed and reached for my hammer but before I could even grab it the monster spoke again.  This time my jaw dropped as I realized I could hear the words in my mind.  “Please do not use violence in this space, warrior.  If you do, you will void your opportunity to challenge this Assessment Room.  I will be required to return you back to your home plane.”

This had really been a hell of a day so far.  What the hell? I thought.  But whatever the creature was, it was not moving. I didn't sense any actual danger, either.  Since I was alone with the thing and didn’t know how to return where I’d come from, and it wasn’t attacking me, I relaxed.  Somewhat sheepishly I dropped my hand before crossing my arms.  My tolerance for a weird stuff was definitely a lot higher than it used to be.

But after everything I just seen only a few minutes ago, my current situation was still not on my things to be totally chill with the list.  “So, what are you?” I asked.  “What is this place?”

The creature “spoke” in my mind again.  “This is an Assessment Room, where if you choose, you will be challenged on one aspect of mettle and can receive a reward based on how you are ranked. Ranking will take place in a way your species understands, from F to A, with S and even SS being possible for the mightiest or most talented. At rank S or SS, a second reward may be chosen from the highest tier rewards possible, and more rewards will be available to choose from than at lower rankings. Do you understand my words so far, warrior?”

“Uh, I think so.  I take a test and get prizes?”

“That is mostly correct.  If you choose not to embark on an Assessment Room challenge, you will be returned back to your world. And you may never return.  Every soul may only visit each unique Assessment Room a single time.””

“What are you?” I asked.  The question was rude, but I was intensely curious.  Aldina had definitely never mentioned anything like this before.

“What my kind are known as is not important.  However, we have been known by many names.  Some have ever called us, ‘Angels.’”

“And you run this place?” I asked.  “This Assessment Room?  So…this is an opportunity to win prizes?”  I was feeling a little suspicious, but I wanted to understand what was going on.

“That is correct.  Now you must choose to challenge one of two paths. The first is defense and the second is the gauntlet.”

“Wait, wait, wait,”  I said.  “What do you mean, gauntlet?  Can I die?”

“You cannot die in the challenge room.”

Something about the creature was tripping my bullshit meter. I narrowed my eyes at the thing and said, “Can I get injured?”

The self-proclaimed angel didn't respond right away. After two seconds it said, “Yes. You may get injured in the course of your challenge.”

I said, “So how is it possible I won't die?”

The creature once again paused. My mind spun and I realized that the damn thing had been trying to pull a fast one on me!

When it answered, it said, “If you are grievously injured and cannot continue before your assessment is complete, you will be removed from the Assessment Room back into your world.”

Mentally, I said to myself, Right...  Out loud, I said, “Who do you work for?”

“We have relationships with leaders from both the good and evil gods.  Rest assured that every Assessment Room is completely trustworthy.”

After I heard that, I had a sudden thought and opened my system menu.  At the top, I could see a new line.

[You are in a Faceted-run Assessment Room!  Congratulations on your good fortune and good luck if you choose to take part in a challenge!]

With a pensive face, I closed my menu.  I was still not completely at ease.  “So you’re a Faceted?”

“That is one name I have been called.”

“Uh huh.  Is there any time limit for me to make decisions in this place, or a time limit for these challenges?”

“No.”

“Can you tell me anything about the two challenges that you said I can take?”

“No.  Except I can assure you that entering either of them, even at your skill level, should be easily survivable.”

“Will there be danger involved in both of them?”

“Yes,” it said.

By this point, I had a really solid feeling that this frickin’ thing might be trying to kill me. But at the same time, I had to admit that all the talk of prizes was awfully tempting.  The possibility of this thing, the…Faceted, messing with my menu was not worth considering.  If it was that powerful it could have just killed me.

And getting stronger was becoming more important to me rather quickly.

Seeing all the carnage that the goblins had created, how they had destroyed an entire community had left a deep mark on me. My nebulous desire to get stronger and just adapt…to my world was starting to change. I'd already decided that I truly hated certain types of monsters. But an overwhelming rage towards all monsters was building.

Beyond that, there was also frustration, anger at whoever or whatever had decided to destroy my world like a kid in the sandbox. Based on my brief discussions with Aldina about it, she’d seemed resigned to it. It really seemed that she thought it couldn't be changed. We were all playthings of the gods.

But I wasn't sure I could accept that. My stubborn, obstinate side was starting to assert itself. What’s more, I was beginning to develop an object for my frustration.  If all of the worlds out there were part of some great divine struggle, then theoretically, someone or something should be presiding over all of it.

If there were good and evil gods, maybe it wasn't one…manager. Maybe there were controllers on both sides. I wasn't sure.  What the Faceted had said earlier kind of alluded to it, though.

The only thing I knew for sure was that I was getting really fed up with all of this.

When I’d known the end of the world was coming, I'd made my peace with just about every scenario I could have thought of–even a zombie apocalypse!  But everything I was seeing and experiencing was truly starting to make me angry.  My world was a “Good” world!?  I’d hate to see an evil one.

My growing anger was demanding that I find my inner Karen.  It was time to see the manager.  Getting there might be a problem, though.

If I ever had any chance of getting strong enough to truly go to another dimension like all Aldina had talked about before, or traveling to a higher plane, I wasn't going to get there without taking risks.

Should I play along, do this challenge?  I wasn’t sure yet, so I thought about it. To get more comfortable, I sat down on the middle of the floor and put my chin on my hand.  The Faceted said nothing, just watched me.  At least I thought it did.  It was hard to tell where it was looking with no eyes.

Slowly, I said, “If I decide I don't want to participate, I can just leave right now?”

The Faceted said, “Yes. But once you choose to begin you will not be able to quit until the end of each stage.  Once a stage has begun, you must complete it.  There are multiple stages in each challenge.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.  The Faceted didn't answer.  I wanted a full minute.  Nothing.  I guessed what I’d gotten was as good of answers was I was going to get.

From where I still sat on the floor, I tapped a finger on the ground a few times.  My two choices were defense and gauntlet.  At first, I thought about choosing defense.  After all, I had some armor abilities and good Endurance.  But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if that was a trap.  Defense sounded like combat.  Despite my lucky breaks so far, I was painfully aware of my deficiencies.  One of them was various types of combat.  Meanwhile, a gauntlet could be endurance based, which was my strength.  The Faceted said I should be able to get through at least the first stage easily, and I had to believe the thing was telling the truth or there was no point to any of this.  I thought about it some more and finally said, “Okay, fine. I choose the gauntlet.”

“So be it,” said the Faceted.

Then the entire world went dark.

When I could see again I found myself in a small stone room. The stone was made out of the same material that the first room with the Faceted was made of.  On one side of the room was a door.  I checked my body and saw that I had all of my gear on just like I had in the in the room with the Faceted.

After all my gear disappearing when the end of the world happened, I had trust issues now about my stuff vanishing.

It took me a moment to really get my bearings, but as soon as I did, I calmed myself down.  I didn't open the door right away. Instead, I walked up and pushed my ear against it in order to hear what might be on the other side. Nothing. Weird, I thought.

So then, not quite knowing what to expect, I opened the door a crack and peeked out.

Nothing remarkable.  There was a stone hallway. This seemed to extend for a long distance before curving. I still didn't step out right away though. In a situation like this, I thought it was prudent to be cautious.

I kept observing the hallway trying to find any dangers. The only thing I’d immediately noticed that was strange was how there was light without any obvious light source.

Eventually, I spotted some cleverly hidden holes in the walls. The way the light shone down from the top of the ceiling covered the holes in shadows, making them hard to watch.

Tricky, I thought.  Now that I’d seen it, the fact that the Faceted had called this a gauntlet made more sense to me. Without too much reaching, It seemed that my goal was to get down the hallway to the end.  This was supposed to be dangerous, though.  The holes were obviously bad news.  But as of right now I had no idea what was going to be coming out of them.

Well, this is the choice that I made, I thought.  Resignation came over me and with it a certain kind of strength.  The only thing left to do was decide if I was going to try to run down the hallway as fast as I could, or take it slow and be careful.

As soon as I actually articulated that to myself, I realized it was a really good question. There were dangers associated with either approach. The possibility that spikes might come out of the hole and impale me was ultimately why I decided to go slowly, though.

I took one step, then another, then another. Nothing happened. Finally, despite myself, I started to relax a bit. Figures.  That's when I heard the buzzing.  I looked back where I'd come from and spotted a few flying bugs leaving the holes in the wall. And all at once I realized what sort of challenge this had to be.

Shit.

In only seconds, the hallway grew full of buzzing bugs. Okay, this is going to be a problem, I thought to myself.  Then it got worse.  On the ground at the floor level, I noticed even more bugs coming out of holes. What looked like giant ants.

So far, all the bugs I'd seen were about the same size as bugs on Earth. But they were unlike any I recognized.

I picked up the pace of my walking, but the bugs were starting to spill out of the walls faster and faster.  The ones chasing me were not particularly fast, but I wasn’t exactly sprinting, either.

Then the first one stung me. Oh, holy shit that hur! I felt heat, numbness, and pain start to spread from the spot.

A system message popped up:

[Debuff:  Venom]

Then,

[<Built Different> has activated.  Debuff: Bleeding canceled.]

I got swarmed almost immediately after that.  In the next 10 seconds, I was stung at least 100 times.  The status messages kept flashing like a strobe.  My entire body hurt but I had the feeling it would have been much worse if I hadn't already raised my stats. As it was, it felt terrible. But I could handle it.  Barely.  The sensation was sort of like the worst feeling I’d ever felt while being sick, but with the added pain and discomfort on my skin on top of everything else.

Part of me wanted to try running through the swarm, kicking off the bugs that were all over my ankles and legs. I resisted the urge.  Despite the pain, my mind was whirring, thinking, keeping me grounded.

If I ran into a cloud of them, I would probably actually be bit more. And I knew that if the pain raised exponentially I might have problems functioning.  Heck, I might even pass out.

Still, the Faceted hadn’t lied.  As long as I didn’t panic, this wouldn’t kill me.  I was in excruciating  pain but [Built Different] was turning what otherwise would have probably killed me into nothing more than a really miserable walk.

[Stalwart Pan of the Lonely Mountain] faded I as moved, but the pain and damage that I was experiencing didn’t seem to get any worse.  I didn’t activate the skill again.  Better save it in case I really need it later, I thought.

One step after another I moved down the hallway.  Biting stinging insects surrounded me.  A few times I couldn’t take it and I did swat at them. I killed tons whenever I did, but there were always more to replace them.

Luckily, my plan to move slowly was working. At the pace I was going they actually got in the way of each other. So I kept moving slowly.  I put my hands over my eyes and open tiny slits to see and I kept my mouth shut.

The end of the hallway was about a quarter mile away. Then the door came in view, I choked a chuckle.  The door actually said, “End,” on it. Finally, after a few more agonizing seconds, I was standing right before the door.

As one last show of defiance, I closed one eye and drew my hammer from my belt. Then I charged it with the most powerful [Angry Arrows] enchantment that I could manage.

I chucked the hammer down the hallway, under hand. And right as the blast went off, timing it perfectly, I opened the door and entered what I thought was another room.

Once again, my world went black.

When everything cleared, I found myself in a new place again but I’d obviously been transported there.  This time the room was a copy of the first one that I'd found myself in.  It was just a stone room with a door at the end. One difference was that this time, there was a number “2” next to the doorframe. And suddenly, I understood.

Out loud, I said, “This is going to continue and each new round is probably going to get harder and harder.”

I hadn't even seen what lay beyond the door yet. But I could intuit that what I'd said was true. It made sense too, based on what the Faceted had told me about the reward structure.  The better I did without dying, the better my prize would be.  Not dying was probably the tricky part, though. The first hallway I’d been down definitely would have killed me a few days ago.  Probably in seconds.

“Great,” I said