A group of players decisively headed inside a large tree, ready to face a monstrous enemy.
How many would even survive the deadly fight to come? Probably only a handful at best. Yet, they didn’t cower one bit as their soul quivered in expectation.
“Alright, here we are. Apply all that you’ve learned so far, and we may have a chance.” Jack whispered, with each of the 20+ members nodding solemnly.
The tree’s interior looked quite eerie as the wood itself was slightly glowing with a green radiance. It bathed the area in dim light, barely enough for them to see.
Then they reached the deepest part, and there was their target!
<Fox Progenitor Level 8☠>
It was way bigger than a regular fox, and its fur was swaying even without any wind. Its orange eyes focused on them as it licked its lips. Twenty invaders? Nope, twenty nice little snacks!
They could sense its hungry gaze and carefree attitude. It didn’t feel threatened one bit:
“Tch— this thing thinks we’re food.”
“Let’s teach that dumb fox a lesson!”
“Hehe, imma slam my stick up its ass!”
“Which one?”
“….Fuck you! I’m no furry!”
“Then prove it and kill that fox!”
This last statement came just in time as the fight began! The fox dashed forward with phenomenal speed, akin to a legendary fast and furious orange Supra.
The players gasped in shock. How the fuck were they supposed to contend with that?! But, their bodies moved before their minds could even come to terms with that insane enemy.
— Chomp! —
The fox’s maw barely missed one of them. It had been such a fucking close call!
Only now did they fully realize what Jack had meant by minimal movement dodging. Either they had the timing perfect, or that was the end.
But just as the man was rejoicing, the fox spun on itself biting once more. Except that this time, it did manage to grab the unfortunate player.
— Chomp! —
-15
-15
— Dead! —
As he disappeared in blue particles, the others couldn’t help but gulp. What the fuck was that damage?! But they still used the opportunity to rain a flurry of blows on the creature.
— Shlack! —
— Shlack! —
— Shlack! —
But they were bound to be disappointed as they saw their damage numbers:
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
-…
“Oh god, I’m getting flashbacks from the Chicken Overlord.”
“Don’t tell me this one has an AoE attack too?!”
“If there’s one, then we’re royally fucked.”
“Yeah, this tree is way too cramped!”
Jack couldn’t help but agree with that statement. Should the fox use an AoE attack, they would indubitably perish. But, he quickly reassured them.
“There won’t be any AoE here. It’s too early in Infinite. It would require tanks and healers, and there are none so far.”
They all nodded as they understood the logic. Game design wise it wouldn’t make much sense….then again, this was fucking Infinite! But, their mood became better as Jack and Bubblegum attacked.
-4
-1
-5
-1
-3
— Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! —
As usual, they found the sound of his Cluckinator reassuring. They also couldn’t help but praise his ability to weave shield bashes to his slashing combo for even more damage!
He alone was almost as effective as all of them together! How insane was that?! But what happened next surprised them even more.
-2
-3
-3
-2
What?! Bubblegum almost had the same damage as him?! How was that possible?! In their eyes, he was akin to a god, yet she was low-key nearly as powerful?!
But as they glanced at her once more, they came back to their senses. She was fighting with twin daggers! Of course, her damage would be good.
She was a dedicated DPS while Jack was the front line, DPS, and strategist all at once!
— Whimper!—
The fox felt pain for the first time in forever!
It stared at the most hateful human, the one with the white and black weapons, and began gekkering menacingly! It would kill this wicked human!
“You mad, bro? Bring it on!” Jack successfully taunted.
As the fox charged at him, he did his best to avoid it.
+ The good news was that the pressure on his allies was pretty much zero.
– The bad news was that his damage-dealing potential was also lowered a lot. Even he would die from being devoured, shield included.
The tree hollow echoed with the sound of the sticks thumping, of daggers slashing, of chomps missing, and of angry growling.
“You’ll have to do better than that to catch me!” Jack kept taunting as he barely dodged the bloodthirsty maw while the others went ham on it!
Every chomp was so damn close! He was akin to a comedian avoiding getting canceled in woke modern-day!
But, the fox quickly realized that its current strategy wouldn’t work. As much as Jack tried to anger it, he could only keep it so long on him.
That’s when the creature went on a mad rampage. Biting left and right, it tore apart the Mighty Wolves as if they were tofu!
They weren’t that bad at dodging when they knew the Boss would attack them, but it kept switching target randomly and crazily: it wouldn’t be toyed with anymore!
They couldn’t help but complain as they died one after the other:
“I thought the Chicken Overlord was bad, but this is something else!
“Fucking hell. How doesn’t it have indigestion yet?!”
“There’s still 6 of us left. Keep beating it!”
“Trash it like a goddamn carpet!”
They valiantly kept fighting, but very soon there remained only three of them:
– Jack, the Demon King.
– Bubblegum, the wannabe assassin.
– CPR dude, almost dying every second but persevering anyway.
To be fair, he didn’t have Bubblegum’s agility, nor Jack’s OP gear, and near-infinite experience.
He looked like a goddamn fool as he kept throwing himself on the sides unsightly…and yet that’s what kept saving him again and again!
Perhaps Jack had underestimated him!
At this moment, they kept juggling the aggro between the three of them, developing incredible coordination.
One would taunt with the other two attacking and vice-versa:
“You smelly fox, this wolf daddy is gonna mess you up!” CPR dude heroically shouted.
-5
-1
-3
— Cluck! Cluck! —
-3
-2
-2
“Hehe, you think you’re fast? What the point of speed if you can’t even catch me?!” Bubblegum playfully mocked.
-4
-4
-4
— Cluck! Cluck! —
-1
-1
-1
“Stop struggling already. We all know how this will end up, so why don’t you just peacefully kick the bucket already?” Jack “advised” while the others kept attacking it.
“It should be about to die! One last push, and it will be all over!”
“Alright, Boss!”
“Yes, Teacher!”
But that’s when the fox suddenly began glowing an orange glow. Its fur seemed to grow akin to a super Sai-yan. Its entire aura changed as it stared at Jack with malice.
Oh god! This was hella bad! What kind of transformation was this?!
“Quick, kill it!”
“Get wrecked!”
“Die, you fiend!”
They all went all-in, but the creature just menacingly growled as it began its counterattack! As it charged, Jack understood that it was over. Not only was its movement speed buffed, but so was its attack rate.
He could perhaps dodge the first chomp, but the second would annihilate him.
— Chomp! —
He dodged the first attack and slashed at the creature as quickly as possible. He would do as much damage as he could before dying!
-5
-1
-4
-1
-5
Then the next attack came, and it was over— or so he thought. A body suddenly appeared between the monster and him.
CPR dude had thrown himself in the creature’s maw to buy time!
“Fuck this bitch up—” this was the man’s last words.
“Will fucking do!” Jack kept attacking, making sure the sacrifice wasn’t in vain!
But, it seemed even the fox’s devouring was quicker. It was already done dispatching CPR dude. It turned his way once more.
The deadly maw approached his face again and clenched around…Bubblegum’s body! She gave him one last look as she disappeared.
“Die, you fox!”
Jack sensed that the creature was about to breathe its last. But it wasn’t dead just yet. He still had one blow left, and he would fucking make it count!
He targeted the creature’s gaping maw. One of them would die in this exchange. Then came the time for the collision. He watched his blade approach the creature’s weak inner mouth area. It would be a crit for sure!
“It’s over!” He chuckled madly.
The blade seemed to proceed in slow motion as a trace of fear appeared in the creature’s eyes. Then it hit and—
-3 … Fuck!
The fox had closed its mouth at the very last second, the blow landing but doing pitiful damage.
A victorious glint flashed in its eyes as it reopened its maw and went to gobble Jack’s head. It was over. This was a wipe.
Their next attempt would probably be a pain in the ass. They had learned from this fight, but so had the Boss.
— Chomp! —
The bite crushed the flesh, the bones, and devoured it all. Yet, Jack was still standing. At the last minute, the little wolf had thrown itself into the beast’s maw.
It disappeared with a pained yet heroic “Woo~.”
The fox couldn’t understand how that had happened, but it realized that it was screwed. That’s when the deadly white swings reached it.
-5
-4
-5
The final hit was enough to take away the last of its remaining HP. The fox perished with regret. It had lost because of a wolf pup?!
Yes, the small wolf was the true MVP of this fight. (Most Valuable Pet)
Jack then turned his gaze toward the fox corpse as it began to glow with a pulsating mesmerizing orange glow. What was about to happen was the reason they had fought the beast in the first place.
It was starting….
Creator’s Thought
It was a good thing that I forced them to train before the fight. Still, this victory was way too close! This was because of the difference in levels. It increased the effectiveness of the devouring attack against us, thus we could only dodge not tank.