Part Two – First Blood

After getting my head around this series of absurd events, I finally started to explore the dungeon. My guess was that this place was a dungeon, which meant it would be full of monsters. Standing around and bantering with myself was just going to attract trouble. Obviously, since I had no weapon, even if I came across a monster, I would be done for. Skanda wasn’t going to help me here.

Personally, I found the endless corridor to be rather strange. Who would even build such a structure in the first place. There’d been no sign of any occupation since I woke up. Just miles and miles of the same bland hallway.

Or, at least that’s what I thought, but upon going around a corner I entered my first room. Hm, it looked like a storm had gone through it. There was wreckage everywhere, bits of wood and metal were strewn haphazardly across the floor. What looked like broken shelves lined the walls, alongside barrels and crates. Hm, maybe I can get a weapon here?

Picking up a long piece of metal, I slapped it against my palm, satisfied with the weight. Hm, wait can I use Analyze on this?

Iron Bar

Rank: F

Effect: None

Description: A plain iron bar. Not good for much, but better than your fist.

Huh? It kind of felt like it was making fun of me. Surely that’s my imagination, right? Shouldn’t the description be a bit more, I don’t know, normal?

*Buzzzzz……Crash*

That was when something came streaking into the room, and slammed into a shelf. I had to duck down to avoid the shrapnel launched across the room. Coughing due to the dust cloud raised by the impact, I waved my hand in front of my face to clear up the air.

Huh? Is that a beetle? Why is it so big? As the dust cloud settled down, the giant beetle that had launched itself into the room was revealed. It looked like a scarab beetle, only about the size of a cat, with mandibles that could cut through bone. Analyze identified it as a Rank F Scavenger Beetle.

Clicking its mandibles irritably, the beetle proceeded to zip across the room at me. Gah! I had to jump to the side to avoid its charge. As I stood up from the roll I used to dodge, the beetle turned around to prepare for another attack. At this rate it’ll hit me no matter how I dodge. It’s just too fast when it attacks, and I can’t get over in time to attack before its ready. The second those mandibles got a hold of me would be the end. Wait, Skanda! Since it speeds up my perception I can use it to counter.

Holding up my iron bar, I prepared to use Skanda. Using a skill just required me to will it into action, but since I’d never used it before I was nervous how it’d go. I watched the beetle closely, looking for the optimal moment to attack. The second the beetle went into the preparatory motion to charge, I triggered the skill, and time slowed to a standstill.

Huh? This kinda feels like that guy who could dodge bullets in slow motion in that one movie. Even though the beetle had moved so fast I couldn’t see it before, it flew toward me at a mere crawl. Using my increased thinking speed, I swung the bar up bringing it into position to collide with the beetle's mandibles as it flew past.

The only downside to this skill is that it has such a long cooldown. Though it was flying at a fraction of its usual speed, the beetle still covered ground quickly. Up close like this I got a good view of its carapace. The shell on its front was far thicker then the rest of it, no doubt to protect it from its charges. I’d have to send it into a tail spin and cause it to crash into a wall in order even have a chance to kill it.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t disengage Skanda after using it. Though, this did allow me to watch in slow motion as the beetle flipped through the air and crashed back first into the wall. As soon as Skanda disengaged I rushed over to the beetle as it squealed on the ground, and slammed my iron bar into it over and over. After the third hit, its cracked shell broke apart and on the next, I crushed the beetle into a paste.

Hah..hah..hah, that was rough. One misstep and It would’ve been me squashed on the ground. Though now that it’s over, my body feels warm all of a sudden. What’s this about?

My body was aching, the cuts and scraps from the shrapnel and rolling on the ground were taking a toll on me. Looking around the room, I could see why there was all this wreckage. If this happened every time a beetle came through, it was no wonder the room was in such bad shape.

Pulling up a crate and a couple shelves, I made a makeshift barricade so I could take a break and recover. Not only am I trapped in this damn maze, but there’s killer beetles on the loose. This efin sucks. Luckily, when I’d used Analyze on the beetle it had given me more info, I’d just hadn’t had time to go through it, but those beetles were highly territorial. That meant as long as I stayed in this room I shouldn’t run into another beetle. As I leaned on a shelf behind me I realized just how tired I was. Maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a….zzzz

Honestly, once you got used to their charges, the beetles weren’t that big of a challenge anymore. It was just that first encounter were they could rip your head off. Once I’d woken up refreshed from my nap, I set out to explore more of the maze. By now I’d killed five of the stupid bugs. Thankfully, I could instinctively tell when Skanda's cooldown was over. This combined with the beetle's territorial nature, made the bugs perfect fodder, if you could ignore the thought of a giant bug coming at you at high speed.

Even now I was currently bringing my bar down to kill another beetle. I’m starting to feel like an exterminator. However after I crushed the bug, its body glowed briefly then vanished, leaving behind a pair of boots. Um, What!? What is this? Are these mine? I mean, I do need shoes, but these look old and worn out. Oh hey I can use Analyze on these.

Vagabond's Boots

Rank: F

Effect: Slight increase in Speed

Description: Boots that an aimless wanderer would use. They aren’t of very high quality, but are better than nothing.

Because of the beetles I’d almost forgotten, but this stupid system did it again! Why is it being so flippant with me? Did I do something to you System? Is that why you hate me? Phew, my brief hysteria aside, these were certainly better than nothing. Wait, there’s even socks with them? What the hell!?