Chapter 370.1: Floor 25 Part 1

A player and his companion entered the Tower...somehow.

Josh wasn't sure how this was possible. After all, this Floor was supposed only to be soloable. It seemed like he could bring this friendly NPC orc along for some reason. He had made sure to buy him a bow and plenty of healing pills.

[Welcome to Floor 25 Hellish!]

[ Mission Defeat the Blattagriff! ]

"Come again? Blatta-what?" Josh had no damn clue what the heck that was.

"Master, this isn't the regular enemy on Floor 25. It seems like it has changed. This is bad news." The orc grunted.

Was this because of the difficulty? Or perhaps had it changed because of the latest update? Either way, they had to be wary.

Their surroundings were dark, and they found themselves standing on what seemed like enormous pillars. All around, that was a frightening dark abyss, making this place a really shitty Floor to summon Nightmare.

The two warily checked their surroundings. Where would the danger come from?

[Good luck, you'll need it ^_^!]

"Tch— cheeky Tower," Josh grumbled.

"Luck? Strong warriors don't need such a thing, hahaha!" The orc guffawed.

But a second later, they both directed their attention toward the void. A sound was beginning to echo. It was a mix between a flapping and a buzzing sound. What could it be?

The longer the wait, the sharper they became. It was getting closer! They were perfectly ready for the creature— or so they thought.

As it finally appeared, they both gasped in shock.

"What kind of abomination is that?!"

"It feels so unnecessary!"

They finally understood what a Blattagriff was­. It wasn't pretty, didn't make sense, and had hella strange characteristics:

1. It was shiny and black

2. It had countless wings

3. It had a chitin carapace.

4. It had feathers and weird protrusion

5. It had a beak filled with sharp mandibles

This thing was a chimera between a cockroach and an eagle. What was even the point of it? There were flying cockroaches already! But even then, this thing was scary as fuck and gigantic!

Its wingspan was the size of a football field: a mix of feathery, transparent, and leathery wings. It generated gale as it circled the pillar they stood on, eying with its eagle eyes what it considered food.

"Master, I really hate the way it's staring at us."

"Then stop dilly-dallying and shoot it the fuck down." Josh chuckled as he summoned his bow.

Without wasting any time, he promptly drew the bowstring and released an arrow made of mana AND enhanced with his own along with some killing intent. The projectile flew fast and true— but still missed.

"Tch— this thing flies as unpredictably as a cockroach and has the damn vision of an eagle!" Heck, it had followed the arrow with its gaze and easily dodged it.

The orc king followed suit as they both rained death upon the creature. Sadly, it was too far away to take any kind of damage.

"Master, what do we do if it never comes forward?"

"We die." Josh nonchalantly stated.

He would always be able to escape with his dimensional belt, but he'd run out of lifespan if he couldn't Climb anymore.

"Master, can we be less grim? Sorry, but I can't afford to die just yet. I will be rebuilding my army and destroying this goddamn Tower!" He growled.

"Is that so? Guess it can't be helped." Josh turned toward the enemy as he began to emit pure killing intent. "Come over, you dumb bird insect thingy!!!!" He shouted powerfully.

This was enough to challenge the proud creature. With a screech, it flew over:

— Screech!!!! —

The thing didn't even dare come nearby. All it did was fly nearby, open some of its once folded wings, and throw rocks at them. They quickly dodged them, using the time to counterattack!

The sound of their bows filled the entire realm:

— Twang! Twang!—

— Twang! Twang!—

— Twang! Twang!—

A rain of arrows landed on the creature, making it shriek in more anger than pain. But at least they had managed to inflict some damage on it.

But suddenly the orc began to shake, distressed:

"M-master. The rocks are moving?!"

"I don't see any moving rock, but yes, we should probably do something about it." Josh chuckled.

What had appeared like large pebbles were, in fact, curled-up insects. But now, they were opening up, revealing cockroaches with legs as sharp as talons and an odd mix of beak and mandibles.

Either way, they all could fly, and they went at them with incredible speed. These things were so goddamn tricky! Josh hurriedly dodged to the best of his capabilities, but these things were deadly!

"ARGG! Die, you cowardly insects!" the orc king roared as he kept powerfully swinging his hammer.

But even when it made contact with the insects, it just pushed them. He was barely able to crush a few at a time. What made it worse was that he would lose some flesh every charge, his green skin getting bloodier and bloodier.

"Careful," Josh shouted as he went to save him. He was simply way better suited for this task.

The cocky abominations charged at him only to get an incredible surprise. Their plan was to use their numbers to bully him, but he'd change his morphing weapon to match their numbers.

"If only I still had my armor and the strength from before." The orc grumbled.

"This just means that you'll have to grow stronger." But then he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. "Tch— it's coming back."

They were managing this wave just fine, but what would happen with a second or third one? They get overwhelmed soon enough!

"We have to shoot its wings down, the one that it raises when it uses that ability," Josh explained.

The orc nodded his head grimly. There still remained the problem of the fog of insects. How were they supposed to aim in such circumstances? That's when it made a decision.

"Master, they seem attracted to the scent of blood. I'll run while you take care of attacking. Let's do this—" The orc prepared himself to sacrifice himself heroically.

"Stop! Let's exploit this instead." Josh waved his hand, and suddenly a rat appeared.

The orc looked at it puzzled. What the heck was wrong with it? Why was it just staring at empty air?

"Master, I think there's something wrong with—"

"Oh, don't worry. It always looks dead. Now, stick your bloody clothes in its mouth!" Josh ordered while he kept fighting back.

The orc felt utterly puzzled but complied either way. What good would this do? The flying creatures would simply gang up on the rat and eat it alive, right? A few seconds later, the deed was done.

Josh nodded, satisfied, before getting a stick out. Was he going to play fetch with the rat to send it away? But that's when his hand began glowing purple, with the light slowly entering the branch.

The orc could only stare, impressed. This man didn't have that much mana, but why did it feel special? It had an unfathomable aura as if nothing could ever bring it down. What happened next surprised him even more.

Grass began to grow out of the branch, not just a little but a shitload! It then slowly took a humanoid shape, very vaguely, as the thing bowed to its master. Then seemingly understanding its will, it got to work.

Grass tentacles extended, grasping unto the rat, and then it.....began to wave it around violently?! It was using it as one would a flag, with it flapping in the wind. As the creatures smelled the blood, they charged at it.

The orc could only give a silent prayer to the poor creature that was sacrificed so easily— not that he would mind. After all, better it than him. He just wasn't sure how much time this could buy.

The rat was now impossible to see as far too many insects surrounded it. But it was still alive?! Even after a few seconds, it wasn't going down at all. How was this possible?! That's when Josh nudged his side.

"Stop gawking like a dumbass and start shooting already. Even the previous you at full power wouldn't have been able to hurt a hair on its body." He explained.

"What?!" The orc exclaimed in shock.

This goddamn dead rat was stronger than him at his peak state?! What kind of bullshit was this?! He couldn't believe it! But he had too, seeing how serious Josh looked. Thus he could only grab his bow, still shellshocked.

Thus began an incredible yet boring fight.

Archer VS Blattagriff!

— Twang! Twang!—

— SHRIEK!!!!—

— Twang! Twang!—

— SHRIEK!!!!—

— Twang! Twang!—

Every time it passed nearby to rain more of its brethren upon them, they kept shooting. But every bit of damage was paid heavily for. By now, there were so many critters that the rat + branch duo couldn't aggro them anymore.

They were akin to two dudes taking a relaxing break in a beehive— spoiler, it wasn't very relaxing.

Josh even had to summon Nightmare to do the little it could to help. The poor horse was facing its Nightmare. For horses, flies were already an issue because of their lack of hands. This was even worse!

It kept glaring at its master, wondering if it shouldn't just kick him down the pillar. As long as he died, the suffering would end, right?! But it resisted the temptation since it wanted to live.

It took what felt like an eternity of getting every part of their bodies nibbled constantly, but they finally managed to take down...a few wings.

Luckily it seemed that they had disabled its brethren-throwing ability.

But it was now coming over, looking as deadly and mad as ever...

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Party Status

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Rat: Still swinging

Branch: Still waving

Nightmare: Bloodied all over

Orc King: No green to be seen, only blood

Josh: Still looking relatively fine but annoyed AF

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