One Against One Thousand

The curtain of night fell onto the world. King, exhausted and bleeding, sat down below a tree in the dark forest to recover after walking for a short while. 

[Your Goddess has resumed looking at you!][Your Goddess is looking at your stats.][Your Goddess is asking you to open the chat channel through your Blessing!]

He read the messages and activated his Blessing.

[Blessing: Seer of Truths is activating!]

[Chat Channel has been opened!]

[You can now chat with your Goddess directly for 10 minutes before cooldown.]

"What is it?" He spoke, as he lay back against the trunk of the tree and started feeling dizzy. 

[You have made a grave mistake.] 

"What?"

System messages flooded in again.

[          Side Quest:One Thousand Regrets

Clear conditions: Kill 1000 monsters. 

Reward for completion: 10,000 coins, a special skill, full recovery, access to skill store.

Penalty for failure: Death

Time limit: 10 days

Time till Quest begins: 1 minute. ]

He stared at the message.  "What is the meaning of this?"

The Goddess replied again.

[You changed the way the tutorial is meant to proceed. That is why, you will be given far harder Quests.]

 "What do you mean?"

[At least 100 people are normally supposed to clear the tutorial. So each is given the Quest of killing around 10 monsters. But since you've killed everyone, killing all the monsters is your job now.]

"I... see..." He thought.  "Well, that is no hassle, I will just increase my stats." 

He was about to invest more into strength.

But he was stopped. 

[You must not.]

He paused. "What? Why not?"

[The Quests given to you are decided on the basis of your current location, time, and your stats.]

"Ah. So if I level up even more, I'll be given even harder Quests."

The system interrupted.  [Side Quest has begun!]

A huge round portal spanning from a few feet above the ground to the far beyond the tallest trees started opening in his proximity, shining pale blue light on one side of the dark forest. 

He stared above at the great sight and pushed his tired and cut body to stand up.

One monster, looking like a cross between a massive snake and a lion, came out right in front of him and pounced at him. 

He unsheathed his Unbreakable Sword and flung it onto the monster slicing it into two. 

[You have killed a monster!][You have been awarded 50 coins!]

He was about to shift his gaze above but before he could....

□Little did he know...□

The dead pieces of the monster turned a shade darker and came at him again, sprouting blood and flailing wildly. 

□... the true nature of a monster was far stranger than he had imagined.□

He sliced the dead pieces again and they were flung backwards. But they started moving again. 

[This is the price for your mistake.]

Behind the dead remnants, several monsters started appearing from the portal in their stead. 

He started running in the opposite direction. A huge wave of monsters flooded in at once. 

[The chat channel with your Goddess has been closed.] [Time till cooldown ends: 20 minutes]

[Direct and Indirect Chats have been paused due to the effects of the Blessing.]

Each monster seemed to have it's own horrifying features. Some crawled upon the ground with long horizontal bodies, resonating rattles. There were tripods, quadrupeds, pentapods and then there were extremely fast flying horrors flapping their metamorphed wings.

If there was one thing they had in common, it was their

□Bloodlust.□

He kept running as fast as he could. The faster of the ground monsters and the flying monsters were catching up to him. 

He turned back and slashed the monsters that had come upto right behind him. As he had stopped, more of them were catching up. The flying monsters started swooping below at him as well.

He kept swinging his sword. He even killed several of them.

But it was simply not enough.

These monsters didn't stop even after death. Simply swinging his sword around would mean a certain demise. So he began to think. 

"There are far too many to take all at once and I'm far too exhausted. I need to find a way to dilute the crowd."

He started running once again. A strategy unraveled in his mind. 

"I'll run for a while, stop and kill the fastest ones, and before the others catch up, start running again. The dead bodies are much slower so they will be left far behind, so I'll at least not have to deal with those again."

After running for a while, the faster ones were catching up again. He slowed his pace and dealt with them. The dead bodies and fragments, as well as the other monsters were closing in once again. 

He began running once more. 

He stopped and killed the fastest monsters. And then ran once again.

As he was racing against death itself, a solid block push him on his back and he fell down. He stood up as fast as he could and looked back to see a terrifying sight. 

The monsters had started to pick up and throw the dead pieces at him. Several monsters were quickly closing in, as he kept swinging endlessly at the dead pieces they threw at him.

One of the monster's fang pierced his shoulder. He groaned and quickly killed it. He was bleeding heavily now. He killed it and it's dead pieces sprung at him. 

He was now surrounded almost completely by the pieces and even the slower monsters were now catching up and throwing more at him, while dealing heavy blows themselves. 

He pushed back against the wave in a mighty effort and started running again, trying his best to fend off the dead pieces while running.

If he kept up like this, he might even have succeeded. But he couldn't. He couldn't keep up like this. 

His exhaustion was catching up to him. He was slowing down. One of the dead pieces made it's way beyond his sword swings and struck his leg, making him stop completely. 

He dealt with the dead masses flying at him and the monsters catching up once more. 

He was unable to run anymore. This was his final stand. 

'Is there really no other way...?'

If he increased his stats greatly, he might even be able to defeat the wave. But if he did, the next Quest would be even harder. So he'll have to invest even more coins to complete it. This vicious cycle would continue until he runs out of coins. 

He was well aware of this. 

'But if there is no other option... '

"1 million coins in Strength" He shouted.

[Strength: level 100 -> level 107]

His eyes widened in shock. Increasing level further was getting exponentially more expensive at a higher level. On top of that, he barely felt any more strength increase in him, so the gain was also decreasing along with increasing level. 

Even if he invested everything into strength it would only get to perhaps level 150 and if he even miraculously survived, the very next Quest would be his certain death. 

He swung his sword endlessly at the incoming wave. His whole field of vision was now covered with monstrosities.

'Maybe there is a hidden piece... maybe I'm missing something...'

Then it flashed to him. 

He had invested coins greatly, but only in Strength, Agility and Endurance. Hence the enemies for this Quest were also proficient in countering these particular stats. So they should have little resistance against the other stats he hadn't touched.

"1 million coins in Mana."

He hadn't invested in mana before as he didn't know how it worked. Now, though, there was no other option. However...

[Request denied!] [You have not met the condition to unlock Mana.]

"Ugh.."

"25,000 coins in Charisma. 25,000 coins in intelligence."

He didn't have much hope either would work against the monsters. But there wasn't any other option. If it worked even slightly, he would invest more. 

[Charisma: level 1 -> level 25]  [Intelligence: level 1 -> level 25]

He gritted his teeth as now even his sword swings were slowing down. Neither of the stats proved useful in the least.

The monsters had completely surrounded him. Even the slowest ones and the dead pieces that didn't get picked up were now catching up. 

[Time left: 8 minutes]

[Number of monsters remaining: 759]

He fell into despair. His legs were giving way now. He had lost all his strength. The sword strikes had almost ceased. The monsters pounced wildly, trying to devour him completely. 

He spat out a lot of blood. Even his mind was crumbling. There was an unsurmountable despair. 

But then, he felt a certain liberty. He wouldn't have to struggle anymore. He wouldn't have to fight. He wouldn't have to carry this.... pain. 

Images started flashing in his mind. The dead bodies of the players turned monsters....the red ribbon of the shy girl..... the dead body of the woman he once loved.

He resisted himself and stood up once more. He had destroyed countless lives so if he was to die like this... without an effort...

Another thought grasped at his mind and stung him.How could he even think such a thought, that he had to live for the sake of those he had killed? 

Darkness started to fill every corner of him. He wasn't living or dying for the sake of anyone else. No, he would live, and live only for himself. 

He gathered every little piece of strength he could muster. 

One strike. 

Two strikes.

Slowly surpassing his barriers, he began slashing and swinging once more, going beyond the limits of his own body. His bones shattered and blood flooded out from his whole body. But he couldn't stop. 

He started to ignore the dead pieces coming at him and went for the monster in a last all- out attack, putting away any attempt to defend. 

If he could just get 1000 kills, he would get a full recovery. The dead pieces wouldn't be a problem then and he could deal with the remaining ones for sure. 

However...

□Even he knew...□

His swinging was getting lopsided and his right hand stopped working. He switched the sword to only his left. And kept going on. 

□... that it was a far fetched dream.□

The monsters had already started devouring him. His swinging was now almost useless. He couldn't move any part of his body by now. 

[Time remaining: 5 minutes]

[Number of monsters remaining: 697]

There was nothing he could think of anymore. His consciousness was dwindling and the monster's claws and teeth were already penetrating deep. 

He had lost all hope. 

But then, a message reached his ears.

[Cooldown period has ended!] [The chat channel has resumed!]

[Use Charisma!] The Goddess cried. 

"1 million points in Charisma"

[Charisma: level 25-> level 102]

He had thought the monsters weren't being affected by Charisma but if the Goddess was saying so, then...

However, nothing happened. The monsters continued their endless strikes. If anything, they were getting even more violent. 

[Activate it, you fool!]

"Activate Charisma." He managed to get those words out of his mouth somehow.

However, still nothing happened. He had now fallen down on his knees, his hands had dropped the sword. And his body was not even physically capable of moving anymore. 

That's when he saw a large mass and a blinding light in the sky. The mass was approaching him.

'What... is that...'

As if to answer his thoughts, the Goddess responded.

[Your Charisma is coming.]