Nightmare System 3 Awaiting Death

"Now, how should I use these grenades?" h.e.l.l murmured to himself. It took 4 seconds for a grenade to explode after the pin was pulled and he was certainly dextrous, but he wouldn't be able to efficiently use all of them at the same time no matter how fast he was, he thought. He had but 2 hands after all. The adrenaline made him feel he could continue forever but he knew better than that after the first punch he endured. Although there was no more blood, the pain was constant and surging.

"Enduring nightmares for perhaps the last 15 years. You gotta up your game." h.e.l.l said, looking up into the sky from the few openings of the abandoned building he was in. He wondered what happened to this place. There seemed to be no one left except these soldiers and many, many goblins. He figured this was a dire apocalypse scenario, seeing only 40-50 soldiers were deployed against such a threat, and they'd probably die soon as well. Which meant this was a mission impossible. Was this the last worthless attempt of humans to eliminate this threat? He was but a Private and was here, after all, it didn't make any sense. They were probably sent here to be eliminated. It didn't matter however, this was just a random scenario.

"Right." He said, turning to the commander. "Please support me from behind as best as you can and he gave up his rifle, trading it with a shotgun-like weapon from one of the soldiers. Although the soldier protested at first, saying he wouldn't be able to properly use it, it didn't matter as the commander shut him up. The commander also knew this superhuman of a private was their only chance of perhaps taking a few of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds along themselves.

The buildings around shook as they were preparing, and even though there was some distance between at first, not only were they close now, they would also be found out soon. But it was enough, h.e.l.l just needed a breath, and he had used some healing liquid from the commander. It had actually restored quite a bit of his HP now, finally taking effect. "Great timing." h.e.l.l said with a smile. "So what if this is real for me? I died thousands of times and won even more of those dreams. You make it so that I can't control the world? Doesn't matter, I'll beat it with your rules or die trying." His HP was raised to 70/100.

*Player is resolute, spin the Wheel of Gains and Misfortune?*

"Spin the f.u.c.ker." h.e.l.l said in his mind. The system would pick up his intentions. "I can't win if I am a nice little soldier, right? I'll go all the way, just like before. I'll use everything." h.e.l.l said, determined. He almost heard a slight giggle from the system for a moment, but then figured he misheard and waited, and the soldiers were at this point started firing outside. One of the giants probably saw them now, h.e.l.l thought.

*Player chose to spin the Wheel of Gains and Misfortune.*

The black wheel from before appeared. It got bigger than h.e.l.l after a moment or two, and was spun. This one had writings on both sides. One side was gains, and the other was misfortunes. So he was guaranteed to have something? That was pretty great, he waited. He was gazing at the gain part, there were abilities such as "flying" or "telekinesis" there. He really wanted one of them and the wheel slowed down more and more, finally stopping. "Devourer" was what it stopped on. The voice was heard again.

*Player was awarded Devourer. The player will be able to plunder the special abilities of his targets*

*Player receives misfortune*

The system also began saying so he turned around to see what the misfortune was, he would be fine with anything, he thought. As long as he could continue fighting properly, but blood was drawn off his face after he saw what the misfortune was.

*The Greatest Fear is chosen. Pseudo-curse of the player will be transferred to a person the player deeply cares about*

*There is only one person the player cares deeply about. Player's brother will now be converted into a pseudo-player*

"No, no, no!" h.e.l.l said. "Take the gain back, I'll do anything! Take an arm or an eye if you wish so, don't touch my brother, he is just an 18-year-old boy!"

The system was, however, silent. He was stupid. He knew the system wasn't here to help him. It was there to put him in ordeals until he died. There was suddenly a bright light in the room, momentarily and he really did see his brother, still in his tracksuit. He was probably just jogging, he loved jogging during night time, possibly a habit he got from his big brother, although h.e.l.l no longer did so.

"What?"

"Hi, Devlin." h.e.l.l said.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you?" Devlin said as he looked around and saw it was a completely different place to where he was moments ago, it was shocking. h.e.l.l then took off his helmet and his face was revealed.

"Brother? What is… going on?" Devlin asked again. h.e.l.l got closer to him and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "I want you to listen to me very carefully, I don't want any questions, understood?"

"I… understand. But-" Devlin wanted to ask something as he was silenced by the loud noise of a battle outside.

"Believe it or not, this is absolutely real and you can die here. I will explain everything later, now do everything I say. First, stay here. I will send two soldiers in here after a moment" h.e.l.l said and handed him his shotgun he so planned on using. "Use this if you see any non-human creature, don't attack the ones in my armour." Devlin nodded in a stupefied expression, but he would listen to his big brother when he was serious as such.

"System, is misfortune only for this level?" h.e.l.l asked. There was no response. "f.u.c.k this," he said as he rushed out.

h.e.l.l saw two of the giants in the next street, closing in here and one that had arrived after a minute or two after having already killed around 6 soldiers, didn't matter how scattered they were, they could neither run or properly fight against the giants. h.e.l.l sneaked around this time, the giants were as big as the buildings, he could sneak around here. This was the perfect place to fight them. One of the two giants behind soon fell on the ground, the other giant laughed at him, possibly thinking he tripped, and he soon followed, not even understanding what was going on. h.e.l.l slit their throats with the glaive as fast as he could and continued onto the giant that was fighting the soldiers. He saw 5 more soldiers were missing, likely to have died. He speedily proceeded to the giant's heel, slas.h.i.+ng it down and as soon as he had done so, the giant yelled on top of his lungs. Perhaps he wanted to alert the other giants, or it maybe was just in horror. He was the one that saw how h.e.l.l killed the first two giants, it must have been horror.

The 5 giants remaining as well as all the goblins heard his distress call and began to furiously rush at the area from each and every way. Luckily, there would be some time as their army was scattered around the ruins of the city. They at least got a minute or two. He slashed the giant's throat a few times as soon as he fell and the giant was finally killed.

*You have levelled up*

The system informed him again, but before dealing with his stats, he went up to the commander and asked him he needed two soldiers to protect someone, as soon as possible. The commander didn't hesitate and called his best combatants for the job, all 4 of them rushed to an abandoned building, h.e.l.l moved at their speed for a while, but when they got close, they heard the sound of a shotgun. h.e.l.l's heart clenched and he explosively moved forward toward the building, seeing 5 goblin corpses around as well as his bloodied brother, who collapsed as soon as he saw his big brother. He let go of his weapon and rushed at his brother, trying to identify any wounds he may have received while he asked him in a heart-wrenching outlook.

"Injuries, wounds, do you have any? What happened? Tell me. I'm here now."

"It's nothing." He faintly said. "The first of these creatures was a tad sneaky. He got me there." Devlin stopped holding his side, blood started pouring out again.

h.e.l.l immediately applied pressure. "I'll kill everyone if you die, alright? Remember? You don't want all other people to die, too, right? Live for their safety. You won't die from this." h.e.l.l got the words out in speed, with an anxious demeanour, tears falling down his face.

"Save him." h.e.l.l turned to the soldiers that just arrived with flabbergasted minds and ordered them, pitiful he looked, but stern at the same time. h.e.l.l's grieving face revealed showed that there would be consequences if they didn't save him. All 3 of them felt a chill in their bones, this Private was not as he seemed after all, he would become a demon when it suited him.

*You have levelled up*

*You have levelled up*

*You have levelled up*

*Upon reaching level 13, Player learned the command "Identify"*

The system informed him again. The other two giants must have died finally.

"Brother." Devlin said, his face pale. "Don't hurt other people, I don't know what is happening, but I wouldn't blame you, I wouldn't blame my brother anyway." He added and he seemed to be pa.s.sing out. One of the soldiers brought out something resembling a first aid kit and tried to close the wound.

"Identify." h.e.l.l commanded in his mind, wearing a blank face as if his world collapsed. He lived for himself, too. But he was going to protect his little brother. It was one of his tenets in life. Not even he himself was an exception from the tenets he decided upon.

*Dying brother of the Man of Cursed Spirit. Curse him to become a player?*

"No." h.e.l.l said.

His brother was incomparably kind of a person, vastly differing to his older brother, who became kinder with the influence of his younger brother. After his parents, the only thing of value he had in life was his brother, and he was about to kill him with his stupid mistake, he would die confused, not knowing why everything was happening.

*Player rejected to save his brother* The system spoke again.

"Save, huh?" he sat there and watched his brother slowly fade away in his arms. "I can't… do this. I'll lose my mind." h.e.l.l said.

"Private, this is war. I am sorry if he was an important person to you but we have to fight!" The commander said promptly. Trying to urge h.e.l.l to fight, they could already feel the ground shaking right after one of the other giants' shriek of death.

"I'll kill you if you say one more word to me." h.e.l.l said with no emotions, blankly looking at his brother. This man was killing giants with utmost ease, at least compared to themselves, but he was broken right now. The commander wanted him to leave his brother with those guards and join the fray to fight the goblins outside, but he didn't want to die here, either. The commander thus stayed silent and the soldier applying first aid suddenly spoke up.

"He lost too much blood. If you can find one of the injury liquids we treated you with, I believe he would have a chance." Soldier said. "But you would need to kill all those giants around just go get to our bunker in the battlefield.

"Is that so?" h.e.l.l said. Slowly lying him on the floor, finding some cloth nearby, he also made something to rest his head on. "I'll do that, then." h.e.l.l said as his face wore a mask filled fury with tears still streaming down his face. "Your lives will depend on whether he lives or not, take care of him, please." h.e.l.l said as he went out, taking the glaive with him.

"Open Menu."

*Dexterity=116*

He rushed out, pulling the pins of the grenades as he went around throwing them to goblin concentrated areas near the giants. He wanted to disorient them and slash their Achilles' heels right after. If he could do it, that would be the optimal way of killing them. These giants were strong, but stupid. The giants fell down one after another. The more his dexterity was raised, everything became that much easier, only problem being his sore arms, seemed he still needed more durability. He soon used up 10 of his grenades and had finished around 60 goblins along the remaining 5 giants. Although h.e.l.l himself hadn't noticed, he was fighting better than he was before, not wasting any energy in his moves, having graceful attacks.

*You have levelled up*

*You have levelled up*

*You have levelled up*

*You have levelled up*

*You have levelled up*

He heard as everything around him started dying. He wanted to be faster to get to his brother, he opened his menu again and invested the points all into Dexterity.

*Dexterity=166*

*As the Dexterity stat exceeded 165, Player gains the ability "Short Distance Warping"*

*Short Distance Warping: 50 Mana for each use, allows the player to warp itself in any direction for 15 meters at most each time*

He had 0 mana and couldn't use it, as unfortunate as it is, but he felt as light as a feather. He felt as if the glaive was heavier than his whole body. He left the glaive, stabbing it into one of the dead giants. His hands were even faster now, losing the imbalance created by the weight of the glaive. He figured the glaive was around 5 kg, but it suddenly seemed much heavier compared to his body, albeit his strength which remained the same as before.

He found a small dome ahead that had the same design on it as their insignia, the place was half-destroyed. He hoped he could find the liquid there as he frantically searched for it, going pa.s.s any goblins he saw on the way. He then saw a small goblin carrying one such liquid away from the dome, apparently just having left the place. h.e.l.l took out his pistol, didn't matter if it was ineffective against giants, it was enough against the puny goblins whose only strength was their sneak attacks and numbers. He saw the goblin was about to use it on another badly hurt goblin.

"Perhaps he is also trying to save his own brother." h.e.l.l thought as he fired at the dying goblin from point-blank range and immediately grabbed the liquid from the other one. The remaining goblin went into a craze after witnessing the scene, but was taken out with the following shot from the pistol. h.e.l.l started rus.h.i.+ng back to the abandoned building they were in before. He was positive the remaining 15 soldiers or so would be able to hold the goblins in the bay at least. He really thought he would fail to save his brother before, he was joyful beyond belief right now as he continued rus.h.i.+ng as fast as he could. After raising the stat to 166, the goblins couldn't even react to him, the world seemed so much slower than he was.

The exact building his brother laid was moments later in sight. He arrived at the entrance and rushed in. "I'm back!" he yelled. Met with the sullen commander and two soldiers looking at him. He went up to his brother and poured the liquid on his wound, which seemed to be infected with some green pus.

"h.e.l.lebore, the wound seems infected with the blood of goblins, I don't think your brother has much time." Commander said.

"No." h.e.l.l said. He couldn't accept that possibility, so he waited for his brother's breathing to stabilize. This would not be the end to his brother, he asked the system.

"I will accept any misfortune on myself if you restore my brother, system."

*The restoration is only realized at the completion of the level.*

The system informed him again. The system was ruthless, h.e.l.l even felt this system, this ent.i.ty was enjoying what was happening to him. h.e.l.l then turned to the commander and soldiers and asked:

"How long do you reckon he has?"

"Hard to say, should be around 15 minutes." The soldier who was trying to treat him said.

"Is the lair we saw the base of their leader?"

"Yes." Commander spoke up this time.

"Can any of you give me some string?" h.e.l.l added, got some string from the soldier with the first aid kit and left in speed. h.e.l.l started laughing on his way. "Everyone pays for it if my little brother, if something happens to him." His mental status has been deteriorating with the circ.u.mstances. He shot some goblins on the way, clearing a path for himself directly to the lair. He didn't stop for any tougher looking enemies and finally reached the doors. He reckoned it would have been around 6 minutes now. He had little time left. "Everything will be fine." He said as he entered the place.