[Boss Door] Encounter 3/7 - The Mountain of Faces. Choose a Difficulty Tier from 1 to 5. Greater Tiers bring more rewards, more challenge.

  “Tier five, please.” ‘Click.’

  The moment his choice locked in, the world twisted. Not the polite, seamless transition of a loading screen, but the gut-wrenching lurch of something correcting an error in reality. He was getting used to these transitions, and thus they got easier, faster. A few heartbeats later, Bob stumbled forward, boots crunching on ice. Around him, a frozen hellscape stretching to eternity. And there, in the only direction that mattered, rose the Mountain of Faces. It was less of a peak and more of a grotesque vertical wall of humongous slurred faces. Hundreds of them, carved in every expression imaginable. Sorrow. Rage. Terror. Some seemed to scream in perpetual agony, others frozen mid-laughter, yet they made no sound. The ice beneath his soles was thick and ancient, covering a dark sea. Everything about this arena was.. vast.. a place undisturbed by his miniscule presence.

  [System] Sustained environmental effect detected. Frostchumb. Frost Damage: 2. Re-triggering in 1 minute.

  [HP: 8/10]

  Bob’s breath turned sharp, chest burning as the air sank its frozen claws into his lungs. “Son of a..”

  [Echuu] Oh! I tried to 'warm' ya! Unless you’ve got access to a nearby orca’s stash of regen potions or a top-tier winter coat.. I suggest getting that inner fire blazing quick. Otherwise, you know.. Bob-sicle time!.

  That is NOT happening. Bob popped a path orb without hesitation. Stats could help here. HP regen might offset his suffering and ArcDef could provide flat mitigation against elemental damage.

  [System] Path Orb Activated: Stats. Rolling..

  Choose One Stat Increase:

  +0.5 ArcPow (Tier 1)

  +0.5 PhyDef (Tier 1)

  +10 HP (Tier 3)

  Bob’s eyes flicked between the options. Only the HP boost was going to help against periodic damage, doubling his pool. That wouldn't be enough if the fight dragged out. It was a buffer. Just enough to buy him a few minutes, before he dropped into danger-zones. Still. ‘Click’

  [System] Max HP increased to 20.

  Not enough. What ever was coming, he would need more time to work out angles, and strategize effectively. Bob reached for another path orb. Hesitation. Let's do skills instead. Something fire-based thanks! The pulse of progress coursed through his being. A faint, momentary warmth.

  [System] Path Orb Activated: Active skill. Rolling..

  Choose from the following options:

  Ice Spear.. ‘NOPE, not it’

  Arcane Dash. ‘Got that already. Maybe it tiers up? Still, bad timing.’

  Rock Throw. ‘Nah, I’m not some raggedy-ass kobold in a starting-zone mine.’

  [Echuu] Oof. RNG, am I right? Mental high-five if you’re feeling it!

  Bob scowled. He needed heat sources, not the opposite. And definitely not the ability to roleplay a medieval peasant at a pillory.

  A sudden, frigid wind howled down from the mountain of faces, slamming into his exposed skin like a fist made of razors. Bob grunted, his entire left side going numb for a solid two seconds.

  [System]

  .. Frost Damage: 2. Re-triggering in 1 minute.

  [HP: 7/20]

  “This shit!” Bob shook, gritting his teeth. His voice came out sharp, carrying through the vast, frozen expanse. So just max HP, huh.. That didn't help much. His HP regen would tick for 1 HP for each 2 damage from frostchumb, leaving him with seven minutes on clock as is. Without hesitation, he rerolled, sending fifty coin spiraling down the drain of terrible luck.

  [Coin total: 200].

  ..

  [System] Path Orb: Active skill. Rerolling..

  Choose One from the following options:

  Glitter Step. ‘The actual fuck?!’

  Water Barrier. ‘Bet it’s not warm water. Either way: Piss-your-pant effect’

  Ghost Sound. ‘This is getting ridiculous.. ’

  Bob’s eye twitched. None of these were it. None had any ounce of worth right now. Guess I’ll gamble this aaaalll the way out.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  [System] Reroll Cost: Randomizing..

  A pause.

  [System] Debuff Acquired: -5 Stamina Max. -5 Mana Max. Lasts until next victory.

  Yeah, right on cue. That one cut deep. Gone was Arcane Dashes. And the stamina drop was near a death sentence, if this fight turned into a tug of war. Bob’s teeth clenched, jaw locked tight enough to crack. When his breath came, it curled in the air, a ghost escaping its corpse. He gazed at the interface, bracing for more disappointment.

  [System]..

  .. Choose One of the following options:

  Blood Shield (Tier 3)

  Mana Drain (Tier 2)

  Shadow Gate (Tier 4)

  Fuck me! This is.. interesting. Judging by the names alone, all three were something he could throw into a build, even if he had no idea how they were hardcoded. His eyes locked onto the first option. Blood Shield. Protection. That might be what he needed now though, if it worked on elemental damage. His crossed fingers twitched, second guessing. 'Click.'

  [System] Skill Acquired: Blood Shield (Tier 3). Sacrifice HP to gain a damage absorbing shield for 2 minutes. Conversion Rate: 1 HP for 5 Shield. Stacks.

  The knowledge settled into Bob’s being - this power was now his. No time for deliberation. Blood Shield.. Pain! A sharp, needling bite in his chest near his beating heart. Crimson tendrils shot out a dime-size hole in his skin, extending and hardening into a barrier inches from his skin: life force spent and reshaped in grim parody of temporary resilience.

  [Echuu] That’s a spicy one. You're basically DYING to tank, huh?

  If Bob had responded to Echuu's quips, it was overshadowed by the ‘CRACKS!’ and ‘CRASHES!’ in the distance to his left. He turned his gaze and saw the world detonate in a violent splintering of frozen chunks. A shadow surged from the depths, an impossible leviathan shooting skyward. Tentacles, scales, a writhing mass of flesh, way too massive for Bob to fully process. It kept rising, breaching the clouds high above with effortless momentum, reaching for something beyond. The sky darkened, smothered beneath its vastness blocking of the sun. Air groaned, reality itself buckling under something that shouldn’t exist.

  ‘SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH.’

  The sound it made hit Bob hard. Noise didn’t just ring in his ears, it thudded its way through his pores, skull turned bell, the world a tuning fork. Knees buckled and he hit the ice hard, breath punched from his lungs. Am I staggered? His vision swam, fingers spasming uselessly against the frozen surface, limbs locked in place. Above, the thing finally hesitated, and for a moment it seemed stuck mid air, gravity itself stamping out for the day. When the pull of the sea had kick-started into gear, the elder-god'ish creature started falling. There was no grace, no control: a hanging rope suddenly cut at the top. Bob’s pulse jackhammered, body unresponsive. MOVE. MOVE, YOU ASSHOLE. And just like that, the world broke again.

  ‘IMPACT’

  Force disrupted the ancient frozen expanse within a miles-wide radius, chaos now reaching and erupting everything around Bob. A concussive wave had blasted outward, sending massive plates flying, tilting, grinding and crashing. Bob too was flung into the air. He was but a ragdoll, smashing against a multitude of slick, solid surfaces, skittering about uncontrollably.

  [System] Shield Depleted.

  [HP: 13/20]

  ‘Blood.. Shield..’ The absorption came just in time for the retriggering environmental effect.

  [Shield: 3 / 5. Dur: 1m 54s.. 53s..]

  Bob coughed and blood spilled through gritted teeth, hands scrambling for purchase. The solid sheet beneath him was tilting, an entire slab of ice dislodged by the now force-infused waters. One of his feet found purchase and he threw himself sideways, fingers hooking onto a jagged edge, saving himself from tumbling into instant hypothermia and certain doom. He pulled himself up and ahead, lunging onto flatter ice. That x2 jump-power boost from ‘stick-the-landing’ came in handy here.

  [Echuu] Soooo.. My plan was to provide some useful tip's in this arena. Guide you to a better tomorrow. But honestly? Nope. No notes on any of this.

  It wasn’t a fight anyways. It was a natural disaster. Bob couldn’t even process where to attack something that size. He swallowed hard, eyes scanning for a way out. Maybe get to the mountain. Those faces would surely be more welcoming. At least, one of them had been smiling.. menacingly. Don’t think, Bob. MOVE! He pushed off, trying his best to sprint across the slippery ice, leaping from one precarious slab to another.

  'SOUND!' A deep, resonant groan that made everything beneath his feet vibrate. Bob had one second of warning before a massive tentacle erupted directly in front of him. He twisted mid-step, barely avoiding the initial slam. The force sent shards of terrain exploding outward, one slicing through his remaining shield, cutting up the skin of his neck as he ducked.

  [Blood Shield Depleted], [HP: 11/20]

  It started whipping about, gigantic, unyielding, smashing into the ice with random violence. No patterns, no tells, just chaos incarnate. Bob pivoted, muscles screaming in protests as he narrowly dodge-rolled another thundering impact.

  [SP: 7/15]

  This is NOT sustainable. His reduced stamina-pool flickered at him mockingly, as every frantic leap for survival stole it's rightful share of dwindling resources. He had to stop running, at least he'd go out on his own terms. Bob spun to face one of many tentacles attached to a boss scaled into the unfathomable. Alright, let’s see if I got a patent for one-swing-Bob in me.

  It rose to tower before him, yet didn’t come crashing down. Instead, it hovered almost in hesitated second thoughts. It's tip started twisting and convulsing, reminiscent of a bloodhound sniffing for its mark. A moment of tension passed, before the whole thing slumping back into the dark from whence it came. Bob squinted through the sudden mist of icy seaspray. He saw it now: Massive flies, each the size of garbage trucks, buzzing and twitching helplessly in the air, dropping in cascades from above as they gaze into stagger. Numerous tentacles lay ready below, bursting through sheets of ice to drag their bloated bodies into forgotten depths.

  Oh.. Oh, shit! That uber-boss wasn't hunting him. It was just.. feeding casually. That screech had been all about getting flying mega-treats out of the clouds. Now, it was simply cleaning its plate. Bob wasn't even on it's radar. A stray crumb on the floor during a King’s lavish banquet.

  [Echuu] Aw, that bloat-lover ignored you! Don't take it personally, mister petite. Plenty of other bosses are ready to make you feel all kinds of special by killing you first.

  “Yeah, thanks.” Bob muttered. HP was able to tick upwards at a miserable crawl due to the math of Blood Shield and regen, yet he still had an arena boss to fight. And that ‘thing’ he just bore witness too, was definitely not it, right? He turned towards the mountain. His singular post-shock expression could be up there with the rest of them. Get it together, and move. Feet started making purchase.