Rexus ~ Chapter 17!

Jaxon coughed and sprayed a mix of blood and phlegm onto the floor. He was down to three opponents, but each of them was moving so quickly that he was having a hard time keeping up with dodging their attacks, let alone making any of his own. Frankly, he was nervous that defeating any more of them would cause the others to be able to tear him to shreds with ease.

The best-case scenario would be to defeat all of them at the same time with some tricky maneuver, some clever plan, but he had nothing. Joe was the one who could make a sly plan come together, Jaxon was the sort of person who damaged his opponents until they stopped moving. Wait... stop them from moving?

With all the force he could muster, Jaxon activated intimidation. "Stop right there criminal scum!"

He chose those words because they reminded him of a game he had played in the past, where this phrase had been one to inspire fear and a ‘oh dang’ moment. Just as he had hoped, for a bare second his powerful intimidation effect caused the three cats to stop and flinch. Using every last drop of his stamina, Jaxon swung with his right hand, his left, and his right again. The first two attacks generated instant death for his targets, but the third and final enemy was so powerfully enhanced that it was able to dodge as if Jaxon were moving in slow motion.

His final opponent's manacle snapped, and the chain that had bound it vanished into motes of light. From that point forward, Jaxon had a hard time following what was happening. Although his dexterity would allow him to dodge every attack if he could see it coming, his perception was simply not up to the task. The demi-human tore open Jaxon's left thigh, then ran to the wall and used it as a springboard to get onto his other side. Razor sharp claws dug into Jaxon's right rib cage, only the bones stopping his lung from being punctured. Jaxon had forty-six health remaining at this point, and had no illusions that he would be winning this fight; let alone the next one he would need to face.

Why was he not already dead? His oxygen-starved brain tried to answer the simple question, knowing that it would have significant bearing on this fight. He remembered in the past, how he would watch cats play with their kills, and realized that that was exactly what was happening. The only way to win, or at least to defeat his opponent, was to make the fight no longer fun. Jaxon slid to the ground bonelessly, doing his best to play dead. The Cat Man stopped and sighed, as if it were genetically forced to do so, and sauntered over to complete its kill.

It reached down and grabbed Jaxon by the neck, pulling him upright and beginning to squeeze. Jaxon smacked at its wrist uselessly, already fighting for air. This caused a grin to appear on the Cat Man face, and it let out a slow, pleased, chuckle. "That was plenty of fun, but I must say I am pleased that I am the one that gets to exact revenge. Heh-heh. After all... If someone were exacting revenge for me, that would mean that I fell in combat. A good fight, for a human."

Jaxon simply smiled as his vision began to fade, so the beastman frowned and began swinging its arm to tear his throat open. Jaxon closed his eyes and activated Adjust. Slapping at the demi-human’s arm had kept the needle from extending, but he now had ten stacks of Adjust on the wrist. As the skill activated, Jaxon's opponent was rocked with a hundred points of damage, shattering not only it's wrist, but the bone all the way to the shoulder.

Taking a deep, heaving breath, Jaxon pulled air into his withered lungs. He stumbled forward, tackling the Cat Man to the ground and landing several weak and sloppy blows on its chest. The monster was fully in shock, it's brain dealing with the absolute agony it was in as well as trying to process the adrenaline pumping through it. By the time it could focus enough to launch a counterattack, all it could see was a fist coming for its face.

Exp: 25 (25 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x1) (Level seven).

Exp: 30 (30 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x1) (Level eight).

This was getting tedious. Jaxon skipped to the final two messages.

Exp: 120 (60 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x2) (Level fourteen).

Exp: 70 (70 * Kitty Kitty Chain Gang x1) (Level sixteen).

It seemed that each of the enemies in the room increased by a level each time one of their compatriots died. Except at the very end, where Jaxon killed two of them nigh simultaneously. Those two had both counted as level fourteens, although the final one had still gone up two levels. Jaxon had gained twenty-five experience, plus five experience per level of the demi-human. He was damaged and near death, but defeating ten foes had netted him a whopping four hundred and seventy experience!

He was sixty-seven points away from his next level, but looking at the measly eighteen points he had remaining in his health assured him that the next fights were likely going to be too much for him. His clothes were extremely tattered from the sharp claws that had been cutting into him, so he had no shortage of impromptu bandages to bind his wounds. After the bleeding effect was taken care of and he was applying pressure to his rib cage and thigh, he was down to six points of health.

Congratulations Challenger! You have passed through the sixth solo survival room. Rarity of final reward increased by 1% for completing the room without a record.

Jaxon leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. Over the next hour or so, his health slowly regenerated. Unfortunately, his maximum health was capped one hundred and twenty-three points lower than normal due to the grievous nature of his wounds. Until he found a way to be magically healed, surgically healed, or respawned… he was stuck at two hundred and seventy-seven for his maximum health. Typically, this is where Joe would come in and fix him right up. Right now, Jaxon was really missing his team leader. Looking at his blinking notifications, he was pleased to see that the fight had at least been beneficial.

Skill increased: Contortionist’s Dodge (Student IX).

Skill increased: Intimidation (Journeyman VI).

Skill increased: Intimidation (Beginner V).

Three huge skill increases. Woof. He stood up, not tired enough to sleep and knowing that he was losing time. Jaxon looked at the door to the seventh room, acknowledging that it was most likely going to be the final room he entered. He took a deep breath and walked over as confidently as possible. Pushing the door open, he walked in and looked around. Relief filled him, the room was empty! This was obviously some form of resting room, otherwise how would-

A rift appeared in the air in front of his eyes. Not some sort of portal, but it seemed that there was an invisible creature opening its mouth. Jaxon tried to dodge to the side, but found that he was surrounded on all sides by the creature’s limbs. The appendages tightened, and Jaxon was held in a powerful bear hug as the creature crunched down on his skull.

You have died! Calculating… you lose no experience, but you have been barred from reentry to the Temple of Tempering in the solo areas! Time remaining until respawn… Variable. Reward must be chosen before respawn. Please choose your reward now.

A list grew in front of Jaxon's eyes, seven options only, but how in the world would he be able to choose just one of these?