I Only Want To Kill-Chapter 167: The Everstair

Blaze, for once in his life, felt a little tipsy. He had not tried alcohol before.

The more he drank, the less bitter the liquid. He could feel a warm, tingling feeling on his chest that elevated his mind a bit higher than usual. The two guys, Gerald and Thomas, continued drinking.

Blaze couldn’t allow himself to drink more. He waved goodbye to the pair and ended the day.

The next day. Blaze took a look at the Everstair that Sam mentioned.

It was a cave entrance at the edge of the city, leading upwards to who knew where. It was a spiral passage with stairs underneath. The stairs seemed to be made of some purple crystal.

It was dark and Blaze was barely able to make sense of what’s inside.

Around the entrance, there was a group of men talking with each other. They noticed Blaze but didn’t talk to him or even try to introduce.

They only observed closely when he walked onto the stairs and disappeared into the darkness behind it.

"Another challenger that wants to get out." A man said. "How many levels do you think he can pass?"

"Hmm? Maybe three? The kid seems strong."

After walking for a bit, the cave lit up and Blaze found himself to be standing inside a large stone disc that was floating in the sky. There were no lands nor seas to be seen around. This world was an endless sky of clouds and sun. The only other thing existed was the large disc.

"What is this?" Blaze said.

[DETECTING TRAINING GROUND]

[PLEASE SELECT YOUR TRAINING REGIME]

<UNARMED> <WEAPONS> <POWERS>

Three options appeared in front of Blaze’s eyes. This ’Everstair’, whatever it actually was, was now being influenced by the system. Blaze didn’t understand much of the logic behind this.

He tapped on <POWERS>.

[POWERS CHALLENGE IS SELECTED]

[THE TRAINEE CAN USE ALL POWERS IN THIS CHALLENGE]

[CHALLENGE LV.1]

[1 D-RANK ENEMY]

A white, porcelain statue materialized in front of Blaze. It had no face, only a smooth shiny white head. It was tall and slender with plates of gold armor spreaded on its body.

The statue aimed its hand forward and a mini cyclone converged in its palm. The ball of wind flew at Blaze.

He replied by the same action, pointing his hand forward. His eyes lit up in blue, electricity dancing around the corners. A deafening cry of thunder roared out.

A blue lightning bolt pierced through the ball of wind and struck the doll. Its body was separated into several pieces.

[YOU HAVE GAINED 50 EXPERIENCE POINTS]

As soon as Blaze saw that notification, he felt energized. This ’Training Ground’ was an experience farm slot.

[CONTINUE TO LEVEL 2?]

<YES> <NO>

Blaze didn’t hesitate and clicked next. The D-Rank doll wasn’t even enough to warm up his body.

[CHALLENGE LV.2]

[2 D-RANK ENEMIES]

The porcelain statues appeared. The slender doll from before was there again. But the second doll had a big frame with two giant arms. Its arms were made up of two thirds of its body.

The big doll slammed its hand on the disc, causing it to wobble and spin. Blaze lost his balance and the other doll, in that moment, shot a cyclone ball at him.

They were playing a team game. One tried to make Blaze lose his footings while the other attacked while there was an opportunity.

Blaze stomped his feet and flew up. His eyes glowed blue more intensely and his body hovered slightly above the disc.

Then, he aimed his two palms toward the dolls. Two deafening lightning strikes appeared at the same time, breaking both of the dolls.

[YOU HAVE GAINED 100 EXPERIENCE POINTS]

[CONTINUE TO LEVEL 3?]

<YES> <NO>

Blaze landed safely on the disc and clicked on <YES> once more.

[CHALLENGE LV. 3]

[3 D-RANK ENEMIES]

On the outside, the group of men from before gathered around the entrance of the Everstair.

Within five minutes after Blaze had entered, the purple crystal stairs lit up. The number 1 appeared on the surface of the crystal.

"How the hell?" A man blurted out.

"He beat it so fast." Another said.

"Maybe he got lucky and received the power challenge."

"He’s right. There is one in three chances that he got it."

Then the stairs lit up again with the number 2.

"Yup. He got the power challenge, alright."

"Anyone want to bet how far he can go?"

"Game on! I bet ten ginnies!"

"What?! Are you a kid? Fifty ginnies minimum for a bet!"

"Oh, come on!"

Inside, Blaze got through five levels without breaking a sweat. The higher the level, the more dolls there were.

Level 1 was one doll with wind power.

Level 2 were a wind doll and a strength doll, the one with giant arms.

Level 3 had the two dolls from before and a third doll with wheels for feet. It moved like a Speedster and acted as both attacker and defender. Unfortunately for it, Blaze’s speed was better. He got through level 3 with ease as well.

Level 4 consisted of the three previous dolls and a fourth doll carrying a blade. This doll’s attacking patterns were chaotic and unreadable. Each strike slashed the air and created rifts that temporarily made that space dangerous to get close.

Blaze used a longer sword, the Slaughter’s Blade, to out-range it and split it in two. Getting rid of the main power striker first. Then the rest were easy, he just repeated what he did in the previous level.

Level 5 had five dolls. The wind doll who shot the cyclone ball from before. The big doll with big arms. The doll with feet as wheels. The doll with the blade. And the fifth doll, a black doll that could turn itself into a wolf like version of it.

The previous four dolls were easy to deal with. So Blaze quickly get rid of them.

That was his mistake. When all four other dolls died, the fifth doll screamed and looked like it went berserk.

Its wolf form suddenly appeared spikes on its back. Its skin became a glowing moonlight texture that was half transparent. And then it curled itself into a ball and launched at Blaze.

The fifth doll was no wolf, it was an angry hedgehog. The ball of spikes came crashing into Blaze. He shot at the doll with his lightning but the electricity was absorbed by its luminescent skin.

"Interesting." Blaze took a huge breath inside. His lungs were energized and lit up a blue color.

[You have gained the temporary effect: Lightning Ascension]

<Lightning Ascension>: Agility + 60 - All your physical attributes + 30; Cognition + 20 - All your mental attributes +10.

A blue aura enveloped Blaze. Then, he took out the Moonlight Karambit and turned it into the Twinblade.

He had no opportunity to use the Twinblade in its maximum potential since he had acquired it. The woods made sure it was only a facade of what it actually was. But now the Twinblade was released.

The <Night Silk>, two long black strips that were wrapped around the Twinblade’s handle came into contact with Blaze’s wrists. They fused into one with his skin.

Blaze splitted the Twinblade in two, each blade wrap to each wrist.

Then, when the hedgehog doll came charging again, Blaze slashed the two blades gently on his forearms, letting them feed his blood.

The blades shined a crimson color. Blaze used them as projectiles and threw them at the hedgehog doll, manipulating the flight of the blades via the <Night Silk>.

The blades slashed through the hedgehog one after the other. Its body was splitted in two and its mechanical body dropped on the stone disc.

[YOU HAVE GAINED 500 EXPERIENCE POINTS]

Level 1 was 50 experience points.

Level 2 was 100 experience points.

Level 3 was 150 experience points.

Level 4 was 200 experience points.

Level 5 was 500 experience points. That hedgehog doll alone was 300 experience points.

[CONTINUE TO LEVEL 5.5?]

<YES> <NO>

"Level 5.5? Why not level 6?" Blaze asked.

The system then opened up a window for him to see.

[After each five levels, the trainee must accomplish an additional challenge level to advance to the next level]

"I see. It’s like a boss level."

Blaze felt like he could continue. The dolls weren’t even a challenge for him. He clicked on <YES>.

[CHALLENGE LV. 5.5]

[1 MID PRIMITIVE STATE ENEMY]

[PRIMITIVE PYROMANCER HAS BEEN SELECTED]

"Primitive State? Wait a minute..." Blaze found this word very familiar but he couldn’t remember where he had encountered it.

He temporarily threw it out of his head to focus on the battle at hand.

Before Blaze, a pillar of fire was ignited. It stood right in the middle of the stone disc and slowly constricted to the size of an adult human.

A new doll was presented. A porcelain doll with orange-red surface color. It still had a smooth face but it had a yellow crown that looked like its hair. The crown spiked up like a living fire.

This doll had lost all of its armor, very different from the previous doll design.

Before it attacked, the red doll bowed at Blaze with its two hands clasped together. Some kind of ancient greetings that were used before a combat battle.

Blaze felt like he should return the respect and did the same.

[YOU HAVE ACCEPTED BATTLE TO THE DEATH INVITATION]

[DIFFICULTY INCREASE TO NIGHTMARE]

[PYROMANCER WILL NOW SHARE THE SAME POWER RANK AS YOU]

[PYROMANCER IS NOW AN S-RANK PRIMITIVE STATE AWAKENED]

[GOOD LUCK, TRAINEE]

The red doll exploded into a blazing flame. Its entire body was engulfed in an orange fire. It looked like the fire had become its new skin and body. Its eyes were now two bright yellow irises. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The doll charged forward, turning into a blur and struck at Blaze with its fist.