Dungeon Clear - World Awakening: The Legendary Player

Nox's head was still spinning a bit, and his HP bar was hovering somewhere around 30%, maybe less. Yeda was slumped against the wall, looking completely drained, her silver aura gone.

'Okay, this is bad,' he thought. 'But also… kind of fun.' His blood was pumping, that familiar cold clarity mixing with a raw excitement he hadn't felt since he first got the system.

One clean hit. That's all he needed. If he could just get this overgrown dog to make one stupid mistake.

He grinned, a bloody, swollen mess of a grin. "Hey, ugly," he called out, his voice hoarse. "You call yourself a boss monster? My grandma hits harder than you, and she's been dead for ten years."

The monster, still shaking its head from where he had punched it, snarled. "You're still talking, insect? I'm going to enjoy pulling your tongue out."

"Oh, I'm terrified," he drawled, taking a shaky step forward. He still had the metal pipe, though it felt heavier now.

"Seriously though, your breath smells like something crawled in your mouth and died. Oh wait, that's probably just your personality rotting from the inside out."

The monster's eyes narrowed. "You dare insult me?"

"Insult you? Nah, just stating facts. You're slow, you're predictable, and honestly, you're probably the weakest boss monster in whatever crappy game this world turned into." He took another step, a bit unsteady. "I've seen scarier poodles."

"I will tear you limb from limb!" the monster roared, its voice shaking the already damaged gym. It stomped a foot, clearly losing its cool.

'Good, good,' he thought. 'Almost there.'

"Yeah, yeah, heard that one before too. Big talk for a thing that got its ass handed to it by a girl who just learned how to use her powers like, five minutes ago." He gestured vaguely at Yeda with the pipe. "Pathetic, really."

That did it. The monster howled, a pure sound of rage, and charged. It wasn't fast and calculated like before. This was just raw, mindless fury. Its good right claw was aimed straight for his stomach, clearly intending to gut him.

He didn't try to dodge this time. He braced himself, gripping the pipe with both hands, and let the attack come. He risked it all.

The claw slammed into his stomach, a sharp, tearing pain that almost made him black out. He felt it rip through fabric, then skin, then muscle.

It went deep, not quite all the way through his body, but far enough that he knew it was bad. His HP bar plummeted into the red.

But in that same instant, as the monster's arm was buried in his side, Nox took this chance. He dropped the pipe and his hands shot out, grabbing the monster's thick wrists with a grip that felt like forged steel.

"Haha," he coughed out, blood spraying from his lips. "That was a big mistake, shithead."

The monster's eyes widened, the rage momentarily replaced by confusion, then dawning horror. It realized it was trapped. It tried to pull its arm free, to yank its claws out of his gut, but Nox's grip was absolute. His boosted strength, fueled by adrenaline and desperation, wasn't letting go.

The monster thrashed, roaring, trying to shake him off, trying to get its other arm free to hit him, but he held on tight. He could feel his own blood, hot and wet, soaking his shirt and pants, but he ignored it.

With his hands still locked on the monster's wrists, he kicked out, his foot connecting with the fallen metal pipe, sending it spinning up into the air. He released one of the monster's wrists for a split second, snatched the pipe out of the air, and then immediately re-established his grip.

"Game over," he grunted.

He used the monster's trapped body as leverage, pulling it slightly forward and down. Then, with every last bit of strength he had, he drove the jagged end of the pipe upwards, aiming for the underside of its jaw, angling it towards its brain.

The metal punched through fur and bone with a sickening crunch.

The monster's struggles stopped instantly. Its body went rigid, then limp. The red light in its eyes flickered and died.

He held it there for a second, still impaled by its claw, still holding its wrists, the pipe buried deep in its head. Then, he let go.

The massive creature crumpled to the floor, pulling its claw free from his stomach as it fell. Nox staggered back, clutching his bleeding side, and dropped the bloody pipe.

He looked down at the dead boss monster, then at the gaping wound in his own stomach.

"Well," he panted. "That was messy..."

He felt his knees buckle. The floor rushed up to meet him, and he hit it with a thud, the impact jarring through his already battered body. The hole in his stomach was just… gushing. So much blood.

"Nox!" Yeda was there, crawling towards him, her face pale and streaked with dirt and her own blood. "Nox, are you okay? Oh god, you're bleeding so much!"

He tried to say something, to tell her it was fine, but the words wouldn't come. His vision was starting to get that blurry, tunnel-vision thing. Everything sounded distant.

'Well, this sucks,' he thought, a strange sort of calm settling over him. 'All that. Actually had some fun for once. And made some friends for the first time in... ever.'

He thought of Kendra's stubborn loyalty, Vasa's quiet pragmatism, even Yeda, who had just discovered a terrifying power to save his ass. It wasn't the lonely, miserable existence he had been used to.

'And now I'm just going to bleed out on a dirty gym floor. Life's a real bitch, huh?'

Just as the darkness started to really close in, a series of bright blue screens popped into existence right in front of his fading vision. They were insistent, almost annoyingly cheerful.

[Congratulations! Boss Monster: Anomaly Defeated!]

[Massive EXP Gained: 2000!]

[Level Up!]

[You are now Level 11!]

[All stats increased by 1!]