While sailing through the swamp, John opened his system to check his progress.
[Host: John Smith
Level: 35
Experience Points: 285,000/350,
Mission: N/A
Troops: N/A
Soul: 106
Infantry: 0/300
Special Forces: 0/100
Non-Combat Personnel: 0/600
Military Hardware Limit Composition
Weapons:
Land: 100
Air: 85
Navy: 1/30 (SOC-R Riverine Craft)
System Points: 115,500
Inventory:
System Shop
]
John let out a low whistle, his eyes locked on his glowing System Points balance. He was thinking of leveling up his skills or checking if they are new skills available.
[New Personal Skills Available for Upgrade:]
[Combat Perception & Reflexes (Level 0/5) - Unlocked at Level 25]
[Effect: Enhances dynamic visual tracking, reaction speed, temporal perception in high-stress combat, and spatial awareness by 15% per level. Allows host to process hyper-velocity threats and react instinctively to ambushes.]
[Upgrade Cost: Level 1 (2,000 SP) | Level 2 (4,000 SP) | Level 3 (6,000 SP) | Level 4 (8,000 SP) | Level 5 (10,000 SP)]
[Physical Conditioning & Endurance (Level 0/5) - Unlocked at Level 30]
[Effect: Enhances core physical stamina, muscular endurance, impact resistance, and environmental hazard resistance by 20% per level. Greatly reduces fatigue and physical strain during high-intensity combat.]
[Upgrade Cost: Level 1 (2,000 SP) | Level 2 (4,000 SP) | Level 3 (6,000 SP) | Level 4 (8,000 SP) | Level 5 (10,000 SP)]
A vicious grin spread across John’s face beneath his tactical mask as he scanned the descriptions.
"Sharper reflexes and boosted physical endurance?" John chuckled, his fingers already tapping the glowing interface. "That’s exactly what I need to keep up with these high-level floors."
Given that the monsters were getting faster and the environments more hostile, maxing out his personal reflexes and body resilience was an easy choice.
"System," John commanded flatly. "Max out Combat Perception and Physical Conditioning immediately."
[Upgrading Combat Perception & Reflexes: Level 0 -> Level 5]
[Deducting 30,000 SP...]
[Upgrading Physical Conditioning & Endurance: Level 0 -> Level 5]
[Deducting 30,000 SP...]
[Total Deducted: 60,000 SP | Remaining Balance: 55,500 SP]
A sudden wave of intense warmth surged through his central nervous system and muscles.
In an instant, his peripheral vision broadened, tracking the subtle motion of falling water droplets in mid-air with absurd clarity.
Now all has been set, he must now look for the exit.
John closed the system menu, gripping the twin throttles of the SOC-R as the Yanmar diesels purred beneath the aluminum deck. Running solo meant he had to manage navigation, helm control, and heavy ordnance all on his own, but with his newly maxed-out reflexes and physical conditioning, every input felt entirely second nature.
He pushed the throttles forward, sending the thirty-three-foot riverine craft tearing through the pitch-black, acidic swamp. The waterjets blasted a thick, steaming roostertail of black sludge behind him as the low-draft hull planed effortlessly over submerged roots and jagged, corroded rocks.
For nearly twenty minutes, John navigated the winding, fog-drenched waterways of Floor 8, using his HUD’s real-time sonar overlay to avoid deep drop-offs and underwater hazards. The suffocating humidity clung to the air, but behind his tactical mask, his breathing remained deep, slow, and unbothered.
Suddenly, the narrow swamp channel opened up into a massive, stagnant lagoon.
In the center of the vast body of water sat a towering, ruined stone dais—and right behind it, glowing with ancient, pulsating golden runes, was the circular teleportation altar.
The floor’s exit.
"Found it," John muttered, throttling back the engines as the SOC-R drifted into the calm water of the lagoon.
Before he could approach the dais, the entire lagoon began to vibrate. Massive air bubbles surged up from the deep bed of black sludge, releasing thick clouds of toxic, sulfurous gas that hissed against the SOC-R’s Kevlar ballistic panels.
BOOM!
The water erupted.
A monstrous, seventy-foot leviathan burst out of the mire, towering over the SOC-R like a bio-mechanical nightmare. It was an abyssal hybrid—a massive, armor-plated Hydra-Serpent with four serpent heads flexing atop thick, muscular necks covered in dripping, corrosive iron scales. Its central head possessed a massive, glowing emerald maw, and its six yellow eyes locked directly onto John with raw, ancient malice.
[System Notification: Floor 8 Mini-Boss Encountered!]
[Target Identification: Iron-Scale Hydra-Serpent (Level 50 - Class-A Mini-Boss)]
[Armor Class: Corrosive Bio-Metal Plating]
John’s eyes narrowed behind the white-phosphor glow of his AN/PVS-31A night vision goggles. His maxed-out Combat Perception immediately kicked in, tracking the subtle, hyper-fast movements of all four serpent heads simultaneously as they reared back to strike.
"Fuck, that’s one huge monster."
"Let’s see how your regenerative iron scales like motor-driven lead," John growled.
He stepped over to the bow-mounted M134 Minigun, his newly enhanced reflexes allowing him to read the beast’s telltale muscle twitches. The four serpent heads flared their hoods in unison, their gaping maws dripping bright emerald acid into the mire.
HISSSSSS!
The leftmost head lunged forward at blinding speed, opening its jaw to unleash a torrent of pressurized, boiling acid straight at the boat.
John slammed the spades of the M134 down and squeezed the electrical trigger button.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
A blinding beam of red tracer fire and continuous muzzle flash erupted from the six spinning barrels. Six thousand rounds per minute of 7.62x51mm Armor Piercing ammunition ripped through the fog at two thousand eight hundred feet per second.
The wall of lead intercepted the stream of acidic venom mid-air, atomizing the liquid into a cloud of harmless steam, before walking straight up the serpent’s neck.
SPARK-SPARK-SPARK-CRACK!
Tungsten penetrators chewed through the bio-metal scales, pulverizing bone and muscle tissue in milliseconds. The leftmost head exploded into a slurry of black blood and severed cartilage, its headless neck thrashing violently before falling back into the sludge.
SPLASH!
"One!" John yelled over the motor’s deafening roar.
Before he could swing the barrels toward the second target, the central head let out an earth-shattering screech. With terrifying speed, the remaining three heads struck simultaneously from three different angles—one coming straight down to smash the hull, two sweeping in from the flanks to crush the boat in a pincer move.
John let go of the M134, ducked under the sweeping arc of the rightmost neck, and slammed his hand onto the SOC-R’s throttle controls.
He jammed the twin Yanmar diesels into maximum reverse while cutting the wheel hard to port.
VRRRRRRRRRRR!
The Hamilton jet drives reversed thrust instantly, blasting a torrent of acidic water forward. The thirty-three-foot riverine craft slid backward on a dime, spinning forty-five degrees.
CRASH!
The central head’s massive snout slammed directly into the spot the boat had occupied a microsecond earlier, splintering massive iron-wood mangrove roots and sending a thirty-foot wave of black sludge washing over the gunwales.
John’s maxed-out physical conditioning absorbed the violent kinetic jolt effortlessly. His feet stayed rooted to the non-skid deck as if gluelessly anchored.
He opened his system interface with a razor-sharp thought while bringing the boat to a sliding halt.
"System! Deploy Mk 19 Automatic Grenade Launcher onto the midship mount!"
FLASH!
A heavy, matte-black Mk 19 Mod 3 40mm grenade launcher materialized on the starboard pintle mount, pre-loaded with a belt of M430A1 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose (HEDP) rounds.
John stepped up to the weapon, seized the twin spades, and aligned the leaf sight with the recovering central head.
"Eat high explosive, you overgrown eel!"
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!
The Mk 19 barked with heavy, rhythmic thuds, cycling thirty-two-millimeter blowback action at three hundred rounds per minute. Six 40mm HEDP grenades streaked across the fifty-yard gap in rapid succession.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
A chain of brilliant fireballs detonated across the central head’s snout and eyes. The shaped-charge warheads punched straight through the thick bio-metal plating, exploding inward with over three thousand degrees of molten copper jet pressure. The central skull shattered, its six yellow eyes vaporizing in the blast as the massive head collapsed limply into the water.
[Target Damaged: Regenerative Trait Activating!]
SKRRRRRRT!
From the bloody stumps of the two destroyed necks, thick, sickening coils of writhing muscle and fresh bio-metal scales began to sprout at hyper-speed, rapidly reforming the severed heads.
"Oh no you don’t," John growled. "You don’t get to heal that shit back."
He abandoned the Mk 19, spun toward the stern-mounted M2HB .50 caliber heavy machine gun, and reached into his system menu once more.
"System! Swap .50 BMG belt to Raufoss Mk 211 High-Explosive Armor-Piercing Incendiary!"
[Inventory Applied: 200 Rounds .50 BMG Mk 211 Mod 0]
He racked the heavy spade handle back with a metallic CLACK-CLACK, locked the iron sights onto the two regenerating stumps, and laid his thumb flat on the butterfly trigger.
CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK-CHUNK!
The heavy .50-caliber beast thundered through the cavern, its slow, heavy cadence shaking the boat’s aluminum frame. The Raufoss Mk 211 rounds—containing a tungsten penetrator, zirconium incendiary mix, and RDX explosive core—struck the regenerating tissue.
KABOOM-KABOOM-KABOOM!
Every single hit triggered a secondary internal explosion, burning the raw, regenerating cells with white-hot thermite fire and completely cauterizing the flesh before it could reform. The burning stumps squealed with a wet, bubbling hiss as the regenerative trait was completely neutralized by the extreme heat.
The remaining two original heads thrashed in blind panic. Realizing their regeneration was failing, they submerged into the black sludge, diving straight beneath the SOC-R to flip the craft from below.
John’s maxed-out Combat Perception tracked the shifting water ripples beneath the boat in real time. He could see the thermal distortion moving directly under the hull.
He didn’t hesitate. Reaching down to his tactical belt, he unclipped both M67 frag grenades, pulled the pins, and dropped them straight into the waterjet intake grates behind the boat while slamming the throttles into neutral.
Then, he opened the interface one last time.
"System! Deploy two Mk 65 Heavy Depth Charges into the water!"
FLASH!
Two massive, cylindrical anti-submarine depth charges materialized over the stern and dropped straight into the dark abyss.
John jammed the throttles to emergency forward.
VRRRRRRRRRRR!
The SOC-R rocketed forward at forty knots, its waterjets screaming as it cleared fifty yards in two seconds.
THUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMP!
A terrifying, subterranean shockwave detonated beneath the mire. Hundreds of tons of black sludge and water erupted eighty feet into the air like a geyser. The massive underwater overpressure pulverized the submerged leviathan’s internal organs, shattering its ribcage and blowing its remaining two heads clean out of the water in a mangled heap of meat and iron scales.
The massive, seventy-foot carcass surfaced, rolling onto its side as dark, non-regenerating blood expanded across the lagoon.
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Scale Hydra-Serpent (Level 50 - Class-A Mini-Boss)]
[Calculating Experience...]
[Level Gap Bonus Applied!]
[Experience Awarded: 180,000 XP]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 35 -> Level 41]
[Cumulative XP: 465,000 / 550,000]
[System Points Awarded: +60,000 SP]
[Souls Received: 150]
[Floor 8 Guardian Defeated!]
[Floor Exit Unsealed: Ancient Altar Teleporter Active!]
The golden runes on the ruined stone dais flared with blinding, transcendent light as the teleporter hummed to life, clearing the thick sulfur fog from the lagoon.
John throttled the SOC-R down to a slow crawl, drifting the aluminum hull gently alongside the stone steps of the dais. He clicked the safety back on his weapon, killed the twin diesels, and stepped off the boat onto the dry stone platform.
He wiped a streak of black mire off his cheek and calmed himself down as the adrenaline was still on his system.
That’s two floors, six more to go.