“I… see… you… prisoner,” Although the warden’s voice sounded quite manly, it was still apparent that it was broken and also extremely raspy.
The warden lifted its hammer while appearing behind Stark, ready to smash the prisoner’s head.
“Prisoner… go back to your cell…”
~SWING~
“…” Stark didn’t look back, he already knew that the warden was behind him, and his pupils were at the far edge of his edges, taking everything.
[FIGHT!]
~SLAM~
[The ‘Purgatory Shadow’ took the hit in your place]
A shadow of himself appeared and got its head smashed in instead of his.
But… Stark wouldn’t let that slide.
With a swift movement, he slid while turning around and jumping in the air, spinning repeatedly.
And then…
~SLAM~
He kicked the warden’s head with his leg, who had powered up from the spins and aura, sending the monster back by a few meters, although it didn’t fall, it just slid on the cold floor as it held its ground pretty well.
“-48372!” the damage was decent, but not enough to actually harm the warden.
Although…
“Cough…” some drops of black blood did come out of its mouth.
And the moment Stark managed to hit the warden…
~FWISH, FWISH~
All the darkness that had surrounded them suddenly disappeared.
[You have hit ‘Warden’, thus the effects of “Warden’s Darkness” have been cancelled]
Seems like it had been using a skill to plunge this entire place in darkness, but hitting it only once would deactivate that skill.
And now… they could observe the surroundings of floor 0:
It was a massive, ancient chamber filled with towering pillars, intricate carvings, and glowing runes on the walls. The ceiling was adorned with swirling patterns of light and dark, and the mysterious hum of energy permeated the air.
The sound of machinery could be heard from anywhere, and obviously, the giant metal door that was the exit of the prison was still there.
Floor 0 was basically a giant arena, and it was completely closed off as there was no way to leave now, going back to a floor below this one impossible as the door had disappeared.
“Ten of you at the start,” Warden held its hammer in its own hands, making it glow with aura, “Now only two remain…”
He hadn’t observed it well, but his hammer was just a giant and normal one, except for the fact it was ENTIRELY covered in sculk, which was some sort of liquid with white points that were slowly flickering repeatedly.
And the last observation… was that Warden had some sort of chain around its neck, some sort of gem that was also covered in sculk: it was the [Sculk Necklace], something that gave it power and allowed it to use many of its skills.
Sora immediately rushed right next to Stark to assist, positioning herself while summoning her flowers around her, a vine with flowers of different types surrounding her completely.
‘Domination is so weird…’ Stark thought as he looked at her.
He had been given fists as powers, but in comparison to others… it was pretty lame.
Officer got guns, Leader got summons, Akira got the moon, Yuri got stars, Kokoro even go a fucking tablet that can summon holograms, and now Sora has the power of the [Flowers]?!
This meant that [Domination]’s weapons could be pretty much anything, but oh well, it didn’t matter for now.
~THUMP, THUMP~
Warden slammed its two legs on the ground like a sumo fighter, its entire body glowing with ‘sculk’ aura.
“Perception!” and Stark decided to check that thing’s window before continuing the battle.
…
[Name: Warden, The Prisoner Killer]
[Level: 125]
[HP: 591628/640000]
[Strength: 8372]
[Stamina: 3291]
[Speed: 5094]
[Defense: 7268]
[Skills: Warden’s Darkness, Sculk Infusion, Hammer Slam, Sculk Surge, Ultrasound Aura, Prisoner Chain, Horns Detection, Sculk Handcuffs, Flickering Movements, The Dark Spheres, Warden Smash, Armor Sculkification, The End of the Line, The Lucullus Prison…]
…
Other than the fact it had 14 skills, its stats were also extremely high, its strength almost reaching the five digits, and its defense also being really high.
Its speed was extremely decent, although slower than Stark and Sora, while its stamina low, meaning that it would prioritize powerful attacks rather than keeping the fight going.
And as for the HP… 640000 was a lot.
“He has-” Stark immediately tried to talk to explain the warden’s skills, stats and HP to Sora.
But…
“No need, the flowers have already informed me,” it seemed like she could also check it out thanks to a skill called [Flower Analysis].
“Huh, then doesn’t that mean you also checked me out?” Stark tilted his head, one of the flowers from [Flower Analysis] was indeed pointed at him, emitting some sort of signal.
“I won’t deny that, you can check out my status as well, we need to know one another better to fight after all,” Sora shrugged.
And so Stark just did what he felt like doing.
…
[Name: Sora]
[Level: 62]
[Class: Domination]
[HP: 83000]
[Strength: 2728]
[Stamina: 7201]
[Speed: 6472]
[Defense: 5983]
[Skills: Domination, Flower Analysis, Radiance, Elements of Nature, Vine Surge, Pollen Bombs, The Flaming Rose, Regenerative Drop, Nature Distortion, Flower Barrier, The White Jade (MYTHICAL), Evergreen Resilience, Petrification…]
…
[Domination] as well as 12 other skills since she was level 60, it made sense, and as expected all her skills were related to her flower power.
Low strength, but all other stats were pretty high for someone at her level.
But the thing that caught his attention the most… was the fact that her HP were extremely high, 83000 was around thrice as much as Stark, and even twice as much as Akira.
After observing the status windows of this many users, Stark realized one thing: everyone’s stats were different because of their style of combat, for example he had low HP, yet somehow Sora and the others had higher HP than him.
It truly made him feel… that every [Domination] user was unique in their own way, yet all forced to participate in these deadly trials.
But before any of them could finish…
“Prisoners need… to go back to their cells…” the warden suddenly took a step forward, its hammer still in hand, and the blue spheres in the middle of its torso glowing.
“Make us,” Stark smiled as he positioned his hands in front of his face, “The moment you get closer I’ll just rip you apart!”
“We… will… SEE!”
~FWISH~
In less than a fraction of a second, the warden dashed at Stark and Sora, swinging its hammer at them.
“HAMMER SLAM!”
The sound of the impact echoed through the chamber as the warden’s hammer connected with the ground. Stark and Sora used the moment to dodge the attack, the force of the slam causing the floor to shatter and sending up a cloud of debris.
But while they were avoiding… the warden revealed that he was actually doing a combo attack.
And so…
It pointed the arm that wasn’t holding the hammer toward Stark, and suddenly, sculk appeared all over it, created freshly thanks to the [Sculk Necklace].
“SCULK SURGE,” and it sent a laser-like attack of sculk toward Stark.
“Oh come on, why me,” he sighed, although he kept smiling, mimicking the [Superior Clone]’s confident attitude.
This time, the fight would truly begin, would they be able to beat the strongest the enemy they ever faced, or would they succumb to the [Death] difficulty trial like all the others…
And if they did in fact kill the warden, then just how many would survive by the end?
