"Well folks, as you can see, the competition is becoming fierce! More than 99% of contestants have already passed the 5th floor, and the top echelon of the top guilds in Boundless have long entered the double-digit floors! Let's check the list to see those in the lead!" Amber announced with excitement to the lively crowd who were engrossed in the events of the Individual Battle Tower.
1st – Essence Stalker: 21st Floor, 79%
2nd – Slim Fatty: 21st Floor, 73%.
3rd – Deployed Solider: 20th Floor, 23%.
4th – Gentle Lamb (Kiran): 20th Floor, 7%.
5th – Loving Aunt: 19th Floor, 94%.
6th – Silent Walker: 19th Floor, 92%.
7th – Dreary Traveler: 19th Floor, 91%.
8th – Eyepatch (Boyd): 19th Floor, 90%.
9th – Quiet Blade (Cobra): 19th Floor, 88%.
10th – Alpha Male (Uno): 19th Floor, 86%.
"Just look at the competition from 5th to 10th place. They are all fighting the same boss right now, and the Rankings are shifting rapidly with how much more damage each of them can cause to. Even first place and second place cannot afford to get lazy, otherwise they would be quickly surpassed!" Amber commentated with hype in her voice, making the crowd go wild as each of them cheered for their countries' people.
Each of them zoomed in on their chosen candidates, watching their continued climb with interest and fervor.
…….
｢Name: Dream Eater – Captain Rank monster
Level: 200
HP: 23,220,000/86,000,000｣
Slim Fatty was panting heavily as she moved rapidly about this dark forest. Many spiritual monsters rose up from around to attack her, and her heart was locked into turmoil.
This tower was truly a brutal battleground. The first 10 floors had Rank 3 foes at the Sergeant grade that increased by 5 levels with each floor. Floor 11 had Lieutenant grade monsters at Rank 4 which continued up until this final floor of 20.
Not to mention that this Dream Eater was a horrible foe to battle against for physical classes like her. Monsters made of spirit or soul were always tough to fight against, not to mention this one that was overpowered.
The moment one entered floor 21, they would collapse to the floor as they were struck by a hypnosis spell. After that, they would be dragged into dreamland by the Dream Eater where it was king.
Luckily since this dream belonged to Slim Fatty, she could still fight back and the Dream Eater wasn't too outrageous with its antics. However, the fight had been going on for more than ten minutes already, and if her calculations were correct, the event had less than 30 minutes till the time ran out.
She could not afford to rush it. She was suffering from a 60% reduction in Damage and Defense while the Dream Eater enjoyed an increased 60% to Damage and Defense due to Rank Suppression.
Her stats were also reduced by 95%, which was a horrible reduction. If it wasn't for the equipment she was using that gave her an edge as well as the Legendary class passives that blessed her, she would have been dealing no damage at all.
Right now, Slim Fatty was mostly relying on Swordblade to battle her foe, its extreme weight lent it great power that could not be suppressed easily. Sure the actual damage of her attack in terms of numbers might be reduced by 60%, but nothing in this world could save you from being hit with a train at full speed, which was what it felt like getting hit by that bloody thing.
The Dream Eater had learned to approach Slim Fatty only when she was distracted by its clones that it could create intermittently, and Slim Fatty knew to feign mistakes to draw the monster in so she could bash it.
Many of her fans were left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry at the sight of this valiant woman thwacking the poor Dream Eater with her sword like it was a club.
The monster too was not very clever in this regard, as Slim Fatty continually confused it to lure it out of hiding and would chase it using her full speed to bash it about, not giving it the chance to go back into the darkness until her now lowered stamina would bottom out, leaving her panting as she could only watch the best fade into darkness while ailing.
Suddenly, the woman found herself jerking awake as she rose from the floor. She looked around to see that she was in a lively forest that looked normal, much unlike the dead version which she had been fighting in.
Across from her, she saw the carcass of the Dream Eater that was fading away, while she herself still had all her stats intact. She then understood that everything that happened in the dreamscape only affected the real world once a party died.
Aside from that, it had been just that, a dream. With this in mind, Slim Fatty rushed up the flight of stairs that appeared and vanished into the 22nd floor.
When she appeared here,m she noticed that she was standing upon a very small ship that was floating in the middle of an ocean. There was no sign of land in any direction around her, just lovely blue water that was moving calmly, and the sun that was lazing down on the clean deck.
However, Slim Fatty did not enjoy this setting. Rather, her face changed horribly when she realized what kind of environment she was in, which meant that…-
KREEE!!!!
Immediately, huge tentacles burst out of the water, their dark blue color contrasting the seawater from which they came. These tentacles swished in the air as the body of an octopus crossed with a starfish came out from the depths, its beak-like mouth trained towards the tiny ship before it.
It opened its maw and screeched once more, sending waves of murky seawater that smelled like filth hurtling at Slim Fatty. The lass could only dodge it with slumped shoulders, her face paled at the herculean challenge before her.
｢Name: The Kraken – Captain Rank monster
HP: 97,000,000/97,000,000｣
The only piece of 'land' Slim Fatty had to fight with was this small ship, which the Kraken could likely destroy in a matter of minutes with a concentrated bombardment. Realizing, this Slim Fatty realized that she absolutely could not allow it to have its way.
The ship, ironically, was more important than her own life if she wanted a chance to succeed. As such, before the Kraken could initiate an attack, Slim Fatty tossed one of her other supporting Legendary swords forward.
She then connected her mind to it as she jumped forth, barely landing on the flat side of the blade as it slowly took to the air. She almost lost her balance and fell off as it moved rapidly, which would have been the end for her.
After a bit of movement, Slim Fatty managed to regain her balance as she was performing the almost impossible feat of flying with her sword! This famous mechanic of martial arts and cultivation stories was recreated in the Western Fantasy section using special loopholes and Slim Fatty's class skills.
Even the crowd outside was going wild at this, both newbies and veterans players alike reduced to insanity as they beheld this amazingly cool and valiant scene from Slim Fatty.
Even though Essence was also fighting the same monsters and even doing much better, it was less interesting from his end because he had Void Manipulation. The setting of his battle didn't matter, whether it was the seas, space, underground, or land, his power transcended that and allowed him to move as he pleased if he had enough MP.
Slim Fatty though, had found a creative way to overcome an obstacle which many thought would be the end for her, and they could only sit at the edge of their seats to see how things would end.
The woman herself was currently in a tough spot. After being startled for a while, the Kraken regained its ferocity and began lashing out at her with its many appendages. If it couldn't swat her to death, it could easily capture her and toss her down its maw for a quick snack.
She could only focus on her sword to make her dodge, but these janky movements made her even more unstable. It if wasn't for that fact that she was clever enough to use a blade that was wide enough for her to put both feet on side-by-side, she would have long lost her balance.
She was struggling to adapt to this. Moving in a straight line at a controlled speed was manageable, just shifting left, right, and at inclined angles quickly to dodge incoming attacks were throwing her off.
Many could see her perilous situation. Forget killing the boss, she was having a hard time keeping her life intact! She did not have magnets at the bottom of her feet to keep her connected to her sword, otherwise, this would not be an issue.
However, the more Slim Fatty moved about, the more she realized something. That was the fact that if she moved her body in tandem with her sword, it greatly reduced the resistance she felt and made her feel much more stable.
If she leaned in when it darted right or left, she found that her legs would not slip and her balance would not be as disturbed, which would allow her to attack even as she moved!
Understanding what she needed to do, Slim Fatty resolutely began using the next few minutes to get a hang of this mechanic. The tentacles really helped in this regard, as giving her something to avoid helped her naturally move her body and sword in sync.
When Slim Fatty was confident in herself, she dodged one attack and bolted in using the opening given. She then raised her heavy sword and cried out in anger as she struck the Kraken right on its head!
The beast screeched in pain, not really suffering from the power of the slice, but the crushing weight of the sword that even knocked it back underwater for a few seconds.
On its head was a huge indentation where the sword struck. The Kraken's narrow red eyes became even more bloodshot due to the pain it felt. Part of its brain had even been damaged from that hit, causing it to lose a significant amount of health.
-3,984,000!
Well, over 99% of that damage score was from the system calculation using her stats, the stats of her weapon among others that usually decided damage dealt in Boundless' combat.
The rest was the result of the sheer physical force of the attack that had nothing to do with game stats and just weight. If you toss a mountain on a city, it didn't really matter if the city had a super strong defense or that the one who tossed the mountain was not able to apply force into the throw, making it weak.
The mountain itself was enough to do the job of turning this lovely human settlement into an earthen pancake for Gaia to enjoy.
Slim Fatty dodged the increased attacks from the Kraken. This time, the beast left some tentacles behind to defend its head so that it could not be attacked easily by Slim Fatty.
However, Slim Fatty smiled. She grabbed one of the other Legendary words that were floating around her and tossed Swordblade up into the air. The blade shot into the sky, rising so far upwards that it was practically impossible to see.
The Kraken and the crowd failed to notice this, wondering why Slim Fatty had just sent her only weapon away. While the stats of what she was holding was in no way inferior as it was a Legendary sword she had acquired, it was not enough to bridge the gap.
However, many were left shocked as Slim Fatty rushed forward, heading towards the Kraken. This many the beast panic as it expected another heavy attack, and so flailed its tentacles around to stop her.
What left the crowd and the Kraken speechless was the fact that Slim Fatty dodged all of these attacks deftly and… rushed into the mouth of the beast herself!
The Kraken was more confused than anyone else.
'Sister, were you so cowed by my might that you decided to become my meal? If you were going to do that, at least give me a warning okay? Taking in random things was advised against by my personal medical practitioner, Doc Ock.'
For a few seconds, the Kraken and the crowd just sat there, wondering what was going on. However, some sharp ones in the crowd realized that Slim Fatty had not been ejected from the tower, meaning she was not dead!
Suddenly, Fitter's eyes gleamed as he sat in the crowd. He had been watching his babe tear up the place since the first floor, and smirked when she saw that her gambit had paid off.
He used his visor to gaze at the sky, where he saw a shimmer in the air. Soon, a shape could be seen hurtling towards the sea, its body generating fire around it as it tore through the atmosphere.
Before the confused Kraken could tell what was wrong, this fiery mass that was traveling at speeds faster than the eye could easily follow struck the top of the monster, causing a huge explosion in the middle of the sea.
Immediately, there was a huge expanse of sea that was blown in all directions, creating a seemingly empty circular space where only the seafloor could be seen. Huge waves of waves flowed in a 360-degree radius that would travel for days and should this have been the real world, would have causes tsunamis all around the world.
As it were, the shockwave from the blast kept the water locked off from this circular area, like Moses parting the red sea. From this disaster, the body of Slim Fatty could be seen flying out, still moving atop her sword.
She looked left and right, smiling bitterly when she saw that the ship she had tried to protected had been blasted into smithereens by the shockwave. She herself was not doing too good, both her arms broke and most of her armor cracked.
She had lost more than 90% of her HP in that gambit, but at least she was alive. As for the Kraken though, it had long been split in half by the shockwave, the majority of its body crushed to a pulp by the sheer force.
Slim Fatty's plan had been simple, let the blade go as high into the sky as possible and then leave it. The force it would accrue from its dive towards the ground would provide enough physical force to destroy the monster in one hit.
However, after Update 2 introduced Tier 2 Realism, she could not be hurt by her own skills and techniques, especially the natural forces of an attack. For example, if she had been above the sea or under it when that shockwave landed she would have been turned into a skeleton as all her flesh would have been blown off in a single second.
So, for her plan to work, she needed a buffer. Her best option was the body of the beast itself, which was why she entered its mouth. With so many walls of flesh protecting her, she estimated that she would be alright.
Slim Fatty was not a physicist, so she could not calculate the exact effect of her plan, she just thought it would cause severe damage by leaving the monster alive, but she was underestimating the power of Kinetic Energy and Momentum.
However, the monster had been first cut in half then smashed into a pulp. Had its flesh not contracted to squeeze her tightly, she too would have been shattered to bits. To describe it, it was like being in a 200mph crash reach while wearing a bubble suit/airbag suit.
Yeah, she lived it but was suffering for it.
She could only smile bitterly and walk up the stairs to the next floor, the 23rd floor. Luckily, the system restored her to perfect shape with each floor a player climbed, so she was back to normal.
However, her face changed when she saw that she was in the middle of a large clearing. In the center slept a beast that had the head of a chicken, the scales of a lizard, the wings of a bat, and the claws of an eagle.
｢Name: C.o.c.katrice – Captain Rank monster
Level: 210
HP: 170,000,000/170,000,000｣
The moment the monster sensed someone nearby, it opened its eyes and rose to its feet. It first shook its body lazily then took in the sight of the intruder with a nonplussed expression.
Seeing that it was a mere human, this sub-draconic monster simply scoffed in disdain and became annoyed that it had to deal with this loser. As such, it spread its wings and shrieked so loudly that Slim Fatty almost fainted.
