Silas stopped moving when the system hit him with this quest. The title was even [Betrayal]. The system clearly wanted something of him, but he was unsure of it. But when Silas stopped walking forward, Tanner turned to face him.
“You alright man?” Tanner’s face looked… unfamiliar now. It looked like someone who Silas never knew, akin to the scientist he shot with a jolt. Silas didn’t know how to respond to the question, whether he could.
[System Message: The gun is unnecessary. You can simply cut him down.]
And that certainly didn’t help. Silas felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand as he stared at Tanner, and Tanner stared back. Silas took a deep breath, and decided to weigh the risk against the rewards.
The rewards were high, in fact, they practically confirmed his ability to escape. But the risk? It was non-existent. The only thing that held him back were his morals. And the system seemed to know it.
“Dude, are you alright?” Tanner reached out to him, and Silas backed up for a second. His vision not quite blurring, but a cold sweat forming along his back. He felt this never before, after all, he lived quite an easy life under the Foundation.
He was perfectly open to killing if it meant getting out. But his best friend? The system didn’t give him much time to decide either. “Dude..?” Tanner’s voice was shaking now, as Silas looked down at his hand.
He’d equipped the same longsword that killed off the instance of 939 when they had to run. He closed his eyes, he didn’t want to do this, but the rewards. With his eyes closed, he couldn’t see Tanner’s face, but only two timers.
21:58:50 ; 7:06. It was all the System gave him, and he took a step forward. He heard a step back, and the alarm blaring within the evacuation shelter. There wasn’t any punishment for failure, but he was sure the System was compelling him in some way.
It would be mostly silent too. Silas could easily get away afterwards after slaying Tanner with the stats given from five levels. His blade felt so heavy right now. He was unsure if he could even lift it as he raised the sword.
Tanner took another step back, this time Silas saw it through the dust, and his grip got a bit tighter. He knew these five levels would greatly help against his escape, and it would even tie up some loose ends.
It would lower the risk in his escape. And that seemed much sweeter than allowing Tanner to live. Another reason to do it fell in his mind, as he thought just a bit longer. I won’t see him again after he goes into the evacuation center.
The silence that rang out as Silas took another step forward, except the breathing from where he presumed Tanner to be. The gap in the dust, the gap in his magical sixth sense for dirt that he can clean.
Tanner’s breathing was uneven, and Silas hated it. It reminded him that he was killing not just another faceless person. He’d gotten lunch with another version of Tanner; he’d gotten breakfast with them, talked about Wednesday being free pizza day.
And now, the blade was to fall, he raised it slightly. Tanner lifted his arm, with something oddly shaped in the vision of the dust. It wasn’t quite covered in dirt, it was well cleaned. Silas had to think for a single second as to what it could’ve been.
“Dude, you don’t have to do this.” Tanner’s voice was shaking, but his aim was still steady as Silas took more steps forward. Silas took another step forward, and quickly curved as he picked up on a twitch of Tanner’s finger.
It wasn’t enough to evade the bullet as something impacted his right shoulder. The sharp pain accompanied by a system message he couldn’t ignore. [-10 Health]. Such a message should’ve striked fear in his heart, but it was quickly ignored with his sword sinking into something soft.
Kevlar was usually slashing resistant, but it wasn’t too stabbing resistant. The Foundation counter-acted that with metal plating on the interior, and Silas’s superhuman strength carried through in that moment.
He felt his sword tear through the metal, and the system tell him two things. Two numbers, the damage he dealt to his best friend, and the damage his sword took. The bone as well felt similar to the metal, but was easier to bend the stab around.
[21 Damage Dealt]
[-1 Durability]
He flinched as he saw such a high number for the damage he dealt, and Tanner simply asked a single question as Silas felt the warmth of blood seep through the kevlar vest and onto his hands.
“Why..?”
Silas was shaking now, pulling the sword from his previous best friend. It was a terrible thing he’d just done, and for what? He took a few steps back, still not opening his eyes. He saw the grime spread from Tanner, and Silas’s own shoulder was bleeding.
The other timer fell still, as the quest completion screen opened, alongside the warmth spreading from the gunshot wound. The pain still lingered, but it was quite hard for it to magically wave that away Silas was sure. 21:55:16 ; 4:32
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[+10 Experience]
[Quest Cleared; Betrayal]
[Time Remaining Upon Completion: 4:32]
[+5 Levels]
[+Common Dungeon Reward]
[Common Equipment Acquired; Rusty Longsword]
[+Mythical Dungeon Reward]
[Mythical Equipment Acquired; Starshooter of Lightner’s Wrath]
[+Common Arrows]
[Common Arrows Acquired; 24 Wooden Arrows]
[Level 3]
[+8 Stats]
[Level 4]
[+8 Stats]
[Level 5]
[+8 Stats]
[Level 6]
[+8 Stats]
[Level 7]
[+8 Stats]
Everything fell apart in the past 2 minutes, everything he’d done mattered so little now. He had only one goal, and that was to reach the outside world. It was all he could to honor what he’d just done, the blood covering his hands, visible even when he closed his eyes thanks to his own innate trait.
Power: 9 [+]
Agility: 9 [+]
Constitution: 5 [+]
Magic: 5 [+]
Stats Remaining: 40
He genuinely let that menu sit open for a little bit as he sat down besides a wall. He got a mythical item, but he hadn’t even looked at it yet. It was some kind of bow. And when he pulled it out, attempting to equip it, he saw a daunting message.
[You do not meet the requirements to use this Equipment]
[Required; Power 100]
That gave Silas a direction in to where to place his stats. He hardly looked at his stats as they raised. He at least knew now what he needed highest now. He cracked his knuckles as his mind felt weirdly clear after the stat points were distributed.
Power: 39
Agility: 14
Constitution: 10
Magic: 5
He looked on at the stats, and felt his strength surge. He could easily kill people with his bare fists now. Silas could feel it. And yet, he walked forward. Silas’s breath was still shaking as he stepped through the endless hallways.
He needed a keycard, but he wasn’t going to loot his dead friend for one. He closed the door behind him to ensure even if he wanted to look back, he wouldn’t have to see the pain he’d caused.
Silas felt the blood caking his hands dry as well. It felt like wearing a glove, an unnatural one. The gauntlet on his right hand looking like it’d be rusting, but the system of course gave it an immunity to such realism.
His footsteps are louder than his thoughts at the very least, and his eyes shifted from hallway to hallway, unsure if he was looking for prey or threats. Guns were still an issue even at this issue, a bullet to the shoulder dealing 10 damage meant 10 shots and he was down.
But, they were also one shot to him. So it was even. He drew upon the simplistic bow he received for killing an instance of 939, and he walked. Walked and walked, through the endless hallways the same as always.
He only had a Level 2 keycard, and he needed some way to upgrade it, or replace it with a better fast. That’s when he saw some black ooze from a wall, and he swiftly shifted his bow to fire against it.
What emerged from the rotting of the concrete walls was odd, an old man covered in the same black goop that ate through the concrete like isopropyl alcohol falling on styrofoam, leaving a sludge that dripped down the same wall.
The system didn’t tell him what he was facing before the full body of this creature was visible, the impossibly white teeth smiling back alongside the white dots perfectly clear despite the haze that had originally formed in his mind.
He was filled with a feeling in his gut to run from this creature, despite the humanoid look of it, it had a sadistic look in its eyes. Silas let loose a singular shot straight towards the beast before running away. 21:50:04
[48 Piercing Damage Dealt!]
[-1 Durability!]
He ignored the damage the bow dealt to the hunter chasing him down, as Silas begins to run. He doesn’t try to notice the way the goop slipped off this beast as he just ran. He hit button and let the steel door open as quickly as possible.
[Quest Created; Flee the Old One]
[Clear Condition: Escape SCP-106]
[Time Limit: 2 Minutes]
[Reward: +3 Levels]
[Punishment for Failure: Have to escape SCP-106’s Pocket Dimension]
He kept the effort in his legs, and just ran for his life. The doors having to reopen, and Silas could hear the beast get closer and closer. The footsteps sound awfully closeby, them sounding as though through sludge.
He opened another door, and found what probably would’ve been a good thing to have found ages ago. A large metallic door, similar to the one that sealed the evacuation shelter, with a little paper marker showing gears and the words SCP-914.
And the worst part, at least in Silas’s mind, was that it hadn’t even been a minute. 21:49:16 ; 01:12. He was cornered, and the fact that the system gave him a quest not to kill 106, but rather to just escape? He was given the idea that this thing wouldn’t be easy to fight.
But he’d try anyways. He let out a roar as he summoned his original sword, to slash at the old man, watching with horror as his sword reached the old man, dealing very little damage, but also…
[2 Slashing Damage Dealt!]
[-28 Durability!]
It melted, rusting to nothing. He feels a sharp pain in his gut as the SCP catches him and drags him into the ground, and he could only watch in horror as the world he knew sank away…
[-35 Health]
[Quest Failed; Flee the Old One]
[Name: Silas]
[Class: Ranger]
[Level: 7]
[Experience: 14/17]
[Stats:
POWER: 39
AGILITY: 14
CONSTITUTION: 10
MAGIC: 5]
[Health: 100/100
Mana: 500/500
Movement Speed: 13
Evasion: 18 (+1)
Reaction Speed: 1]
Skills:
[Unarmed Strike]
[Dash]
[Sweeping Strike] 10/10
Traits:
[Human]
[Cleaner]
[Natural Shot] 1/2
Inventory:
[Pistol]
[Simple Hunting Bow] (9/10)
[Steel Gauntlet] 30/30
[Rusty Longsword] 7/7
[Starshooter of Lightner’s Wrath] (50,000/50,000)
[Wooden Arrows] (5/5) x23
