novelraw Chapter 63: System Overload!
Chapter 63: System Overload!
Daniel looked at the floor where the glowing symbols pulsed. He had destroyed one, but there were at least five more forming the circle around the Core.
"I need to break them all," he realized. He sprinted toward the nearest glowing rune, but the Sentinel anticipated his move. It flashed in front of him, blocking his path with its solid energy body.
Daniel skidded to a halt. He couldn’t get close enough to punch the ground with [Forceburst] without getting skewered by that spear.
He needed a way to hit the ground from a distance, but a simple [Mana Bolt] wouldn’t have enough physical impact to shatter the stone floor. He needed something heavier.
An idea sparked in his mind. He had two types of offensive skills: kinetic and magical. What if he didn’t use them separately? What if he mashed them together?
He channeled his mana into his right hand, forming a dense ball of purple energy, but instead of firing it, he layered [Forceburst] on top of it.
He wrapped the magic in a shell of pure kinetic force. The sphere in his hand grew unstable, vibrating with a terrifying hum.
It was heavy, volatile, and dangerous. "Kinetic Mana Pulse!" Daniel shouted. He threw the sphere, but not at the Sentinel. He threw it at the floor, right between the Guardian’s legs, targeting the glowing symbol it was protecting.
The Sentinel tried to bat the projectile away with its spear, but the sphere was moving too fast.
BOOOOOOOM!
The combination of magic and force was devastating. The magic exploded outward, weakening the stone, while the kinetic shockwave hammered down.
The floor shattered!
The glowing symbol cracked and went dark instantly. The Sentinel shrieked as its power source was severed again.
Its form flickered, turning transparent for a second, and it stumbled, dropping to one knee as its connection to the Core weakened.
"It works," Daniel thought, a rush of adrenaline flooding his system. He didn’t wait for the creature to recover. He started running. It became a deadly race against the light.
The Sentinel, realizing its vulnerability, stopped chasing Daniel. Instead, it moved to the remaining four symbols, trying to physically shield them with its body.
The Sentinel slammed its spear into the ground, raising a wall of solid light to block Daniel.
"You can’t block everything!" Daniel yelled. He activated [Shadowsteps]. He became a blur, running along the walls to bypass the light barrier.
He leaped over the Sentinel’s head, flipping in the air. As he was upside down, he fired another Kinetic Mana Pulse from his hand.
It struck the third symbol with pinpoint accuracy!
The rune exploded, sending sparks and shards of stone flying.
The Sentinel roared, a sound of digital rage. It thrust its spear upward, trying to skewer Daniel in mid-air, but Daniel was already gone, rolling across the floor to the next target.
Three down. Three to go.
The Guardian was getting slower. With half of the nodes destroyed, its movements were lagging, and its bright armor was dimming to a dull grey.
However, its desperation made it more dangerous. It abandoned defense completely. It stopped trying to shield the symbols and turned toward the Core itself.
It raised its spear high, and a thick bolt of lightning shot from the Core into the weapon. The Sentinel wasn’t trying to heal anymore, it was overloading.
The air in the room grew incredibly hot. The remaining symbols on the floor started to flash rapidly, turning from white to red.
[WARNING: SYSTEM OVERLOAD IMMINENT.]
[WARNING: GUARDIAN SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED.]
Daniel froze. The creature was going to blow itself up, and in a room this size, the explosion would incinerate everything, including him.
He had seconds.
"Not if I get there first," Daniel growled. He ran toward the bomb.
The air around the Sentinel was vibrating with heat and noise, screaming as the self-destruct sequence reached its peak.
Daniel sprinted straight into the heart of the storm, ignoring the burning heat that threatened to melt his skin.
He knew he couldn’t outrun the explosion, so his only choice was to stop it before it started.
With a last burst of speed, he jumped, covering the final meters to the glowing giant.
The Sentinel, locked in its overload cycle, couldn’t react in time to stop him. Daniel pulled out his Twin Fang daggers, the dark blades shining in the flickering light.
He activated [Venomous Strike], coating the edges in green energy, but he didn’t aim for the armor this time.
He drove both blades into the center of the Sentinel’s chest, piercing the swirling vortex of unstable energy.
The construct shrieked as the poison’s energy hit its systems, messing up the overload.
The red light flickered violently, turning back to white for a split second, but Daniel didn’t give it a chance to recover.
He released the daggers, leaving them embedded in the creature’s chest, and pulled his right fist back.
He channeled every ounce of his remaining stamina into his arm, layering [Forceburst] over his knuckles until the air around his hand distorted.
"Shutdown!" Daniel roared.
He punched the hilt of the daggers with all his might, driving them completely through the Sentinel’s core.
The impact released the kinetic shockwave directly inside the guardian’s body.
BOOOOM!
The combined trauma was too much for the construct to handle. The hard-light armor shattered like glass, unable to contain the internal explosion.
The Sentinel broke apart, scattering into a harmless shower of fading white sparks.
Daniel shielded his face as the debris rained down around him, panting heavily as the threat finally vanished.
A soft chime resonated in his mind, signaling his victory.
[You have slain: Core Sentinel (Manifested Energy Guardian - Level 6)]
[EXP Gained: 360 EXP]
[Level 5: 815/1700 EXP]
Daniel fell to his knees, exhausted but alive. The red warning lights in the room faded, and was replaced by the calm, humming white glow of the Central Core.
He took a moment to catch his breath, staring at the massive sphere of light floating in the center of the chamber.
With the guardian gone, the Core was exposed, giving off a dense field of energy that made the hair on his arms stand on end.
"It’s beautiful," Daniel whispered, standing up slowly. He walked toward the Core, but he didn’t touch the sphere itself, instead, he stopped at the edge of the energy field surrounding it.
He raised his hand, not to take the Core, but to harvest the overflow.
"Let’s see what you can give me," he murmured, activating his SSS-Grade talent.
The sensation was overwhelming. It wasn’t like absorbing a monster’s soul. This energy was pure, refined, and limitless.
It rushed into his body like a flood, filling every cell with vibrant power. His muscles felt like they were being rebuilt, stronger and denser than before. His mind expanded, his senses sharpening to a razor’s edge as the high-grade energy integrated with his system.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Ambient Central Core Energy]
[Gain: Strength +18]
[Gain: Vitality +17]
[Gain: Agility +16]
[Gain: Spirit +15]
[Gain: Adaptability +15]
The numbers were staggering, but the changes didn’t stop there. The energy swirled around his skills, evolving them into something greater.
[Skill Enhanced: Energy Conversion upgraded to Energy Siphon (B-Grade)]
[Skill Enhanced: Minor Shield Proficiency upgraded to Shield Mastery (C-Grade)]
[Assimilation Charge Consumed (12/15 Remaining).]
Daniel clenched his fists, feeling the incredible surge of power. His mana pool felt bottomless now, constantly refilling as his new [Energy Siphon] pulled power from the air automatically.
He looked at the Core again, greed flickering in his eyes. If the ambient energy gave him this much, what would happen if he assimilated the Core itself?
He took a step forward, reaching out again.
This time, however, the result was different. He felt a sharp resistance, like hitting a solid wall. The energy he pulled was thin and weak, barely a trickle compared to the flood from before.
[Diminishing Returns Detected. Source resists assimilation.]
Daniel frowned and stepped back. He decided to look around the chamber while his body adjusted to the new stats. As he walked around the back of the Core, he saw something lying on the floor. It was a skeleton.
The bones were scorched black, as if they had been burned from the inside out. Lying next to the bony hand was a damaged datapad, similar to the one he had found earlier in the control room.
"The previous explorer," Daniel realized. "He made it this far." He picked up the device. It was fried, but there might still be data inside.
He used his talent on the object.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Damaged Databand]
[Gain: Minor insight into Verge Network Protocols]
[Recovered: Final Log Fragment regarding "Central Core"]
[Assimilation Charges Consumed (11/15 Remaining).]
The voice of the dead boy echoed in Daniel’s mind again, but this time, it was filled with terror. "I found it... the Core," the voice whispered, trembling. "It’s not just a battery. It’s alive. It spoke to me. It told me to connect... to become one with it."
There was a pause, followed by a sound of horrific pain.
"It’s hungry!" the voice screamed. "It doesn’t share power... it eats it! It consumes the soul! If you touch it... if you force a connection... it will burn you out! Don’t touch the...:"
The log ended in static.
Daniel stared at the Core, eyes wide. The white light no longer looked peaceful, it looked like a trap.
The previous explorer had gotten greedy. He had tried to take the Core, and the Core had taken him instead.
"This is absolutely crazy," Daniel whispered, stepping away from the sphere.
He had gathered enough power. He had leveled up his skills, boosted his stats, and survived the guardian. Pushing his luck any further would be suicide.