Chương 36: Solo Mission - Ben (4)

"What?" Ben had faltered. He had lost all of his concentration on the mission because of his lingering desire to be rich. He had been engrossed by all of the advanced-level mana crystals he had collected, and he had completely forgotten about the mystery beast. He was stunned. Rooted to the spot. Speechless. He had been distracted, and now he had to pay the horrifying price.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!" After a while, the pain kicked in, and it was the most horrific and dreadful pain he had ever experienced in his life. Something had penetrated through his body and come out of the other side. Ben could see the blade that had pierced him dyed in a repulsive crimson colour. He dropped the mana crystals that were in his hand in shock, and the crystals were given a soft landing due to the blanket of snow below. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.]"Why did this happen?"

Ben shouted whilst coughing up blood. He couldn't say anything more otherwise a blood fountain would spill out of his mouth, contributing greatly to his untimely demise. He could only look at what had pierced his skin whilst testing the upper limits of his healing skill. Was it a basic-level beast? Or an advanced-level beast? Or even worse, was it a legendary-level beast? There were too many questions in Ben's mind, but he couldn't think about trying to answer any of them during that moment.

If he stuttered, he could die from excessive blood loss. Ben put his hand on the wound, and instantly, pure ruby-red blood flowed onto his hand which was akin to spilling a can of red paint. He wanted to reach for the mana crystals he had dropped, but he didn't know how much pain that would deal to his body.

"Ouch!" The blade that had perforated his body was swiftly withdrawn, sending drops of blood spilling onto the snow. There were now three shades of snow on the floor: pure white, jet-black and crimson. He couldn't tell whether his wound was healing or not. He was still feeling an extremely sharp pain in his abdomen and he was struggling to stand up. Was this it? Was his life as a Hopper over just because of one deep cut? He had made it this far, and he had even survived a blizzard on Antarctica for this mission.

But was it all for nothing? Was it all so very futile?

"Not… done… yet…" Ben wheezed, trying to speak. But eventually, he just ended up coughing out more blood. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.]"Please… please…" Like a snail, Ben crawled towards the mana crystals he had dropped. And when he reached them, with weak hands that were trembling uncontrollably, he threw the crystals into his mouth.

"Mystery beast!" Ben shouted.

"I… will… get you!!!" [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.]"Just… let me get… to the beast…" Ben slurred, gasping for air. The air quality on the planet he was on was similar to the air quality back at home, but it still wasn't helping his situation. It was definitely the mystery beast that had stabbed him.

The planet he was on was unexplored, meaning it had never been explored by other Hoppers, so the probability that he had just been stabbed by another person was close to zero.

"Still…" Ben gasped for air.

"I need… to kill… that thing." Ben forced his head to turn and look at what was behind him, and what he saw could have been the scariest thing he had ever seen. It was certainly very high up on his list.

"M-Mystery beast…" Ben stammered when he saw the beast with wide-open eyes.

"W-What is that?" Towering above him like a skyscraper was a massive snowman that was about twenty feet tall. It was definitely a snowman; it consisted of three immense snowballs stacked on top of each other, a carrot as a nose that depicted a dagger and sticks for arms. If Ben was a regular city building that was about a hundred feet tall, then this snowman was the Empire State Building. Was I stabbed by one of those sticks?

Ben thought as he was glued to the unruly appearance of the abominable snowman standing in front of him. That was the only logical answer. Nobody would ever believe him if he told people that he had been stabbed by that snowman's carrot nose. [Mission 2/3: defeat the beasts] Beasts to defeat: 1) Blizzard Yeti (basic, 50/50) 2) Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced, 50/50) 3) Abominable Snowman (0/1)"That's the thing I have to defeat," Ben whispered to himself.

"I have to kill a snowman the size of an apartment block." How was he going to do that? Did the snowman even have blood circulating through its body? What would happen if he stabbed the snowman? Was it really just made of pure snow? Again, questions began to build up inside his brain that he was possibly never going to get the answers to. They were questions that he had to suppress. Getting killed by a giant snowman is potentially the most stupid way to die, Ben thought. He had to kill that thing.

Not just for the sake of the mission, but also for his dignity. He was never going to get killed by a snowman regardless of its size. He didn't want his cause of death to be from a mere snowman. Snowmen weren't supposed to move, and they weren't supposed to be this horrifying.

"Screw this wound," Ben said when the bleeding slowed down.

"I have to kill this snowman at all costs." [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Stab! Ben had teleported to a place behind the abominable snowman and thrust his sword deep into the snowman's body. He thought he had gotten a clean hit and that the snowman was going to falter, however, he had to face the disheartening and plausible reality.

"Shit," Ben cursed.

"I'm stabbing a snowman. What's the point?" Obviously, the snowman was unharmed.

"Roar!" Just then, the snowman turned to face Ben, who was still holding onto his stab wound with one hand. The snowman had no blood, it seemed, so it was impossible for it to die from excessive blood loss. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. That meant stabbing the thing continuously and recklessly wasn't going to get Ben anywhere. It was just going to drain his energy and mana for no reason.

There was only one way to defeat the snowman. And Ben knew exactly what it was. The problem was that the snowman was smarter than Ben and unlike the other snow monsters he had defeated just minutes ago, it had the frightening ability to fight back. Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! The magnitude of the tremors from that abomination were out of this world. They were more than just little earthquakes; they were enough to be classed as medium-sized earthquakes.

In short, they were enough to destroy concrete houses and send Ben airborne. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.]"I can reach it! I can definitely reach it!" But he couldn't. He was just a few feet too short.

"Oh dear." Like a skydiver, Ben, with his wound still not fully healed yet, began to fall. Crash! Luckily, he fell on a layer of snow which meant he suffered almost no additional pain from the fall.

"Still…" He was partially grateful that he had landed on a blanket of snow, since it acted as an ice pack for the stab wound. However, he still had to fight that thing quickly. He got up and tried again. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Ben was airborne again. However, he had only been teleported to a height that matched the snowman's torso.

He clung onto his sword in an attempt to slash the snowman's body, but after seeing the daggers that were on either side of the snowman, he hesitated and missed the snowman's body. Crash.

"Ouch." This technique wasn't working. Was it because Ben wasn't strong enough or was it because of his injury? That was something he had to find out. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] He moved to a distance far enough away from the beast to recover. He took out some of his mana crystals and broke them with some difficulty. You have chosen to use a 'Basic Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +3 2) Agility +3 3) Stamina +3 4) Intelligence +3 5) Upgrade skill Option 1.

Trait, 'Strength', has been upgraded by 3 points. Strength: 40 → 43 You have chosen to use a 'Basic Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +3 2) Agility +3 3) Stamina +3 4) Intelligence +3 5) Upgrade skill Option 2. Trait, 'Agility', has been upgraded by 3 points. Agility: 20 → 23 You have chosen to use a 'Basic Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +3 2) Agility +3 3) Stamina +3 4) Intelligence +3 5) Upgrade skill Option 2. Trait, 'Agility', has been upgraded by 3 points.

Agility: 23 → 26"Nobody said that you can't get stronger in the middle of a fight," Ben said to himself as he continued to consume mana crystals.

"I don't give a shit if this is classed as cheating. When fighting mana beasts, I believe that there is no such thing as cheating." You have chosen to use a 'Basic Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +3 2) Agility +3 3) Stamina +3 4) Intelligence +3 5) Upgrade skill Option 2. Trait, 'Agility', has been upgraded by 3 points. Agility: 26 → 29 [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!

The snowman was inching closer and closer towards Ben again, although the distance between them straight after Ben had teleported was at least a hundred feet. Its strides were grand and bold. Ben realised that he couldn't evade the beast forever; he had to fight it and win if he wanted to survive. Still clutching onto the stab wound, Ben raised his sword and pointed it at the snowman. The snowman continued to march closer towards Ben, undeterred.

"Looks like the battle will end here," Ben said with a sneer.

"One slash and it's over." [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! He landed a clean hit on the snowman's torso. However, since the snowman's whole body was made out of snow, no blood leaked out nor did the snowman squeal in pain. Slash! Slash! Slash! Three more clean hits. Still, the snowman didn't feel any pain. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! This time, Ben was able to land a clean hit in a vital area.

He was able to slot his sword in between the middle and bottom snowballs. All he had to do was to slice off the bottom snowball in order to deliver a fatal blow. [Skill, 'Enhanced Strength (basic)', has been activated.] The sword was going to cut off a third of the snowman as if it was cutting off one layer of an immense wedding cake.

"I can do this!" Ben yelled, coughing up blood in the process and staining the pure white snowman's abdomen with liquid advanced mana crystals.

"Just a little more!" He could feel the sword moving. He had upgraded his strength by just three points, but already, he could feel a massive difference. His advanced-level mana sword was slicing through the snowman with ease.

"Just think of slicing a cake," Ben repeated to himself.

"It's just a large cake that you're gonna serve to a bunch of people." The sword was almost there!

"Please!" Just a little more force!

"Almost there!" Slice! Soon, the snowman's head and torso broke apart from the bottom third like the carriages of a large train separating and going to different destinations. They were flung up high into the air before crashing down on the soft blanket of snow with a huge thump.

"Did I do it?" Ben was panting and gasping for air. He thought he was going to have a heart attack. Next to him, where the top two-thirds of the snowman had landed, was a huge heap of snow that seemed to form a small mound. Small animals could potentially live in that heap of snow. The snowman's dagger arms were pointing to the sky and the carrot nose rolled towards Ben's shoes.

"Holy shit," Ben murmured, trying not to cough up any more blood.

"I did it." There was a palpable sense of relief on the planet. Ben had reduced an abominable snowman into nothing but a pile of fresh snow. [Mission 2/3: defeat the beasts] Beasts to defeat: 1) Blizzard Yeti (basic, 50/50) 2) Blizzard Yeti (basic/advanced, 50/50) 3) Abominable Snowman (1/1)"Yes," Ben said.

"I've completed the mission." Then came the inevitable wave of system messages. [You have completed Mission 2/3: defeat the beasts.] [You have gained 1000 XP for defeating an 'Abominable Snowman (advanced)'.] [Total XP: 2660/2000] [You have progressed to stage 5!] [You have unlocked 5 new inventory spaces!] [Level up!] [Congratulations, skill user! You have reached the advanced level!]"I've finally done it. I've earned my reward. I'm now an advanced-level skill user. Now I just want to get out of here."

He had levelled up, but he was still on the verge of a repugnant death. All of his efforts would be fruitless if he had died on this planet right after levelling up. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.]"One more mission to go. Please don't let this be a hard mission. I'm battered, I'm bruised and I'm dying from excessive blood loss." And luckily for him, Ben got his wish. You have a new mission! Mission 3/3: claim the item