Gacha System in a Game-Like World

Kratos lunged immediately without wasting a second’s breath.

Meanwhile, the rabbit general’s crimson pupils narrowed, its lips curling into a cruel grin as it watched the approaching swordsman.

’Fool!’

A fraction of a second later—

BOOM!

Kratos was thrown backward as he crashed into an invisible wall. It was just like he had crashed into an invisible, side-bouncing mountain.

The transparent barrier that had vanished only moments ago had reappeared, and now, it was denser than before. White ripples raced across its surface before it settled into an unbreakable crystal sheen.

Thrown backwards, Kratos landed lightly beside Tony, his boots scraping across the glowing ritual circle.

Outside the barrier, the three Generals slowly rose from their thrones.

"You truly thought we did allow you to reach us, just like that? You imagined we are as weak as our subordinates?" the rabbit asked rhetorically as its grin widened.

Without another word, all three monsters stretched out their hands. Then, dark runes began to ignite beneath their feet. Once the runes were fully formed, they began to chant.

They chanted a deep, guttural chant that echoed throughout the temple hall. The language they spoke had changed and was no longer something that Tony or Kratos could understand.

However, from the look of things, it seemed they were uttering incantations. Tony could tell this much because of the subtle changes that appeared on the Generals’ body.

The goblin’s emerald eyes glowed.

The arachnid’s crystalline horn pulsed with black light.

The rabbit’s long ears twitched as crimson mist poured from its body.

Unbeknownst to the duo inside the barrier, the three Generals had reached an agreement before actually performing this incantantion.

Since the masters no longer desired the two humans alive and had given them the decree to play with them as much as they wished before killing them, they thought that offering them as the sacrifice they needed to strengthen themselves was far from a waste.

Hence, the chanting only intensified. The ritual circle beneath Tony and Kratos erupted with blinding light. The air grew, once again, unbearably heavy, although it was meaningless to the duo.

The pressure coming from the circle formation alone would be enough to slay a weak player or monster per se. However, neither Tony nor Kratos panicked.

Instead, the duo looked sideways at each other and nodded agreeingly.

While the Generals were so focusedly busy preparing them for their boosting ritual, they had decided on the plan to take the monsters out in a go.

’System, show me the mission profile.’

[Minor Quest: Completely Clear an F-Rank Dungeon.

Time Limit: 3 hours

Objective: Level up as much as you can.

Reward: +1,000 FGP.

Failure: 50% of all stats get drained.]

Tony called on the system to once again glance through the quest he had been given earlier, and as expected, he had no much time again.

He needed to end the lives of these monsters, and as quickly as he could. Since this was the nightmare-tier part of the tutorial ground, Tony guessed that this should be the last challenge before he cleared the quest.

He inwardly hoped and prayed that this should really be the last challenge.

Hence, to avoid wasting time should there be more challenges, they needed to send these monsters to their grave... at best, within minutes.

Therefore, Kratos stepped forward and sheathed one of his katanas while he slowly raised the other one before his face. Closing his eyes, he extended his index finger, and beginning from the guard, he gently dragged it across the flat surface of the blade.

Wherever his finger passed, brilliant white energy bloomed into existence. It flowed like liquid moonlight, wrapping around the sword until the entire blade radiated a sacred brilliance.

Tony’s eyes narrowed. He had never seen this technique before. All he knew and had learned from Kratos so far was how to channel his energy into the blade of his sword from within his being.

And that he did, waiting for the latter to—

Kratos finally opened his eyes, which now shone with absolute focus.

[Severance.]

Sensing the release of that skill, Tony immediately dropped into a squat.

FWOOOSH!

Kratos spun just at the same time, the glowing katana carving a perfect circle through the air. A crescent of white light erupted from the blade at that instant, spreading outward.

’Thank goodness,’ Tony mused as he squatted. Although they had planned this, Kratos was so fast with his action. If he had wasted even another moment of a second, his body would have suffered from that attack.

CRAAAAAACK!!

The supposedly indestructible barrier split apart, snapping Tony out of his reverie.

Thousands of glowing fractures spread across its surface. The so-claimed strengthened prison — created from the sacrifice of countless monsters — shattered into glittering fragments that rained throughout the hall.

Even the ritual circle beneath Tony’s feet cracked apart before dissolving into particles of light.

The three Generals froze.

Impossible!

That barrier was something that had been formed from thousands of formidable monsters. Even the monsters the duo had defeated herein were inclusive, and that alone meant that the barrier should have withstood anything.

However, it was really strong.

Had it not existed, that slash that had shattered it would have cut every one of the three Generals in half. That was the advantage they enjoyed.

Instead, the slash had gone all the way to impose severe injuries on their bodies. Blood sprayed as a result.

The arachnid general’s expression stiffened.

A thin crimson line appeared across its face. Then, its head split apart.

Both halves fell in opposite directions before crashing onto the marble floor of the temple hall.

They had been engrossed in the oddity of how the duo was able to shatter the barrier and didn’t see Kratos appear before it.

On the other hand, Tony had moved with his glowing, brown blade. Appearing before his opponent, he thrust the sword straight into the rabbit general’s abdomen.

SCHLK!

The blade pierced completely through, black blood erupting alongside steaming entrails of its stomach contents as they spilled onto the floor.

Disgusting.

The rabbit screamed as a result.

However, Tony didn’t relent as he planted one foot and twisted his waist into a spin. His sword traced a merciless diagonal arc.

SHHHHK!

The rabbit’s body separated cleanly into two slanted halves. Both pieces collapsed with heavy thuds.

Confirmed that his opponent had been defeated, Tony immediately turned and was about to lunge only to discover that the goblin general had already fallen.

Behind it, Kratos stood with his katana rested quietly at his side.

The goblin’s body remained standing for another heartbeat. Then it split apart from shoulder to hip before collapsing lifelessly.

Tony exhaled. Silence passed with each second as none of them made any move yet.

They seemed to be waiting for something.

That’s right. Tony was waiting for the system’s notification to affirm his victory. To give him the assurance that this was the last challenge he needed to face for the mission to be completed.

His brows slowly knitted together.

If there was no notification that he had even killed these generals, does that mean—

What happened next prevented his next thoughts, confirming his dread.

"Kratos."

"I know."

The carcasses moved. Black flesh writhed like nests of living worms, while bones snapped and muscles twisted.

The rabbit’s two halves crawled toward each other, as its spilled contents rolled back in place into its abdomen.

The goblin’s shattered corpse trembled violently.

The arachnid’s severed head rolled back toward its body as dark tendrils stitched everything together.

They were regenerating, and from the look of how so, the regeneration wasn’t normal.

Crack! Spurt!

Their bodies began to swell. Extra limbs burst from broken flesh. Jagged black armor spread across their skin.

More so, their mana skyrocketed with terrifying speed. The temple itself shook as three horrifying new creatures slowly rose from the pools of their own blood and started moving towards each other.

Tony unconsciously tightened his grip around his sword.

’They are mutating? No, what? Why are they approaching each other?’

That was the thought that threatened to consume Tony’s mind.

Beside him, Kratos slowly drew his second katana once more, his expression becoming serious.

"Why?" he muttered, getting Tony’s confused attention.

"Why?" he asked again, his voice laced with frustration and somewhat, fury.