Horror

Blue glowing tattoos shone on the surface of his skin. Electric currents, all a similar color, snaked around him. He felt majestic, and strong. He felt unstoppable.

It was like a stream of power flowed through his veins, it was like within his palms, sat mountains of greatness. It was like within his chest, were clouds of sheer indomitability.

Alden had found the love of his life.

He had once fallen in love with power, but like a damsel playing hard to get, it was always a step away, and it was always dancing within the arms of another. He had been unworthy, he had been inferior, he had been weak.

He had however, wished it knew, that with it at his side, he'd no longer be inferior. He'd be above all others.

With it within his arms, he would no longer be weak, he would be the strongest of them all.

And now that he held within his arms, his beloved, his heart could burst with joy. However, it would not.

It would not because it belonged to him no more. He had gifted it to power.

"Are my stats raised, because of this cheat mode?" Alden checked his stats to confirm. With surprise, he noted something All of his stats had risen to 99.

He had only seen two people with these sort of stats. Sarah Foster and Light McKing. Both were S-class too.

It meant that in that moment, he was at S-class. Somehow, his stats were boosted to 99,maybe even beyond it. He had truly hacked the system. This was what it meant to be hacker class. Before he could joyfully soak himself in the pond of success however, he had something to do.

Alden's eyes glowed, and though his pupils could not be seen beneath the light, anybody could tell that if stared straight at one target. That target, was the dragon.

Their gazes met, and in that instant, an unspoken conversation took place. A serious silence sat in the air, and it was like none of them dared to speak.

Alden stayed silent because he was unsure whether his newfound strength could equal the dragon. The dragon on the other hand, had finally acknowledged Alden to be a threat. Perhaps it sensed the now powerful energy emanating from the Alden.

Alden held out his hand, and clenched it. He had been embarrassingly weak, to the extent of giving in to a little pressure and locking himself in his room. His grief had went so far as to consider suicide an option. Now, he realized how foolish he had been.

He had been narrow-minded. Taking away his life because the world he lived in had banished him? He had forgotten.

There was a whole universe waiting to be discovered. There was so much left to see! Left to witness!

Suicide? Foolish.

He had been nothing but selfish and narrow minded. While he'd have gone and ended his life, he imagined how his mother and father would have reacted.

They'd have blamed themselves, he wouldn't have died alone. They, would have died with him. He couldn't stand being the one who killed his parents. He did not want to destroy them.

There was no problem so severe, that one had to sacrifice their life to fix it. Committing suicide meant was simply running from the problem. However, it was like fleeing from a rat by running into a lions den.

Alden was grateful for this second chance. Now, he could discover the undiscovered. He could explore the snowy peaks of tall, firm mountains. He could dive to the deepest corners of the ocean.

Those adventures, began now. With this power, he would storm toward his goal!

The dragon came toward Alden, and like a phantom he floated through the air. Alden instinctively stepped back, the entire time he had been up against this version of the dragon, he could not track its lightning fat movements. That was why, he expected it's attacks to continue being that fast. That was not the case however, he soon realized.

He could now track the movements of the dragon, and he had enough time to raise his hand, catching the dragon's fist.

The fist flew into Alden's palm, creating an enormous sonic boom from the impact. Both Alden and the monsters hair was blown back by it.

"What!?" Shock crawled into the dragons face, when he realized that his attack had failed. "Impossible!"

Alden pushed the dragons hand away, before attacking with a punch of his own. His fist smashed into the dragons chest, sending it flying through the air. It smashed into the ground as it flew, until it finally balanced itself.

"How could a mere human..."

"swallow your damn pride!" Alden shot toward the dragon, and his fist blurred. It smashed into the creature, and he crashed into the ground.

Alden grabbed the dragons hair with one hand, and he began to punch it's face with the other. The dragon could barely resist, and somehow the tables had been turned.

Was it because the dragon had no energy left? Or was this new form just that powerful?

The once smooth, flawless face of the dragon had changed, his fair and smooth skin did not glimmer anymore. Instead the dust layered his face, and bruises covered every inch of it. He was bleeding, some scars were directly on his face but much of the blood came from his mouth.

He was battered.

"Now, you die," Alden whispered.

His gravity skill activated, and energy began filling his arm. He could feel the quality of his energy amplified.

Alden swung his fist, and as his fist tore through air, waves of wind was created from the immense power from his hand. His fist connected, making the dragon head snap violently from the punch. The dragon's body was then limp. Then a notification appeared above him.

Just as he was about to read it, a blinding light filled Aldens eyes. He felt heat cover his entire body, and he could only lift his hands to block whatever it was attacking him.

Immediately, Alden leaped back a great distance.

"What the..." Alden gazed at the other side of the dungeon, his dark eyes searching for the source of the attack.

He reai that standing on the other side of the dungeon, was the dragon that had been watching all the while. In it's mouth was it's compatriot, who was a bleeding mess. The creature lowered its brothers limp body to the ground, before shooting a terrifying look at Alden.

"Of what the other one said is true then this one is more powerful," Alden thought. He'd have to take it down quick!

Like an arrow out of a bow, he leaped at the dragon. The dragon opened its Jaws, angry flames filled the dungeon. The flames shot at Alden, who met it head on.

The view changed, from a dark, dusty dungeon, to a colourful, terrifying brightness. Alden endured. He could feel his HP dropping rapidly. He had to end this.

After the light ended, Alden soared into the darkness, like an eagle. He seemed to defy time and space, as like a bullet, he sped toward the dungeon boss.

His fist flashed, and toward the dragons scaly skin it flew. The dragon however, would not just stand there and let Alden hit it.

It was like needles poking into his arm, as the dragon sunk it's teeth into his flesh. Then, like a ragdoll, it began to smash his body into the dirt. He felt the rough dust fill his mouth, and the pain in his spine as he was repeatedly battered against the ground. It was agonizing.

Alden screamed pitifully, his pain filled eyes glanced at his arm, and all he could see was the red blood flowing down, like a stream of death.

Suddenly, he was falling, and his body hit the ground hard. He clenched his teeth, and lifted his right hand so he could check the condition of his left arm.

When his right hand reaches for his arm, he felt nothing. A sick feeling made it feel like like his internal organs were imploding, and he felt like something was stuck within his throat.

Fearfully, as if he were afraid what he would find, his eyes dropped to check his arm. He soon discovered however, that he had no arm.

~~~

An empty feeling filled Alden. He felt every atom within his body overload with shock, and disbelief gripped his heart mercilessly.

"What..." From where his left arm should have been, all that was there was rivers of blood. From his arm, he could see the flesh from the wound sticking out, as blood escaped it like a sponge that had been squeezed.

What followed was terror and trepidation, reality hit him hard, and he realized what he had just lost.

"My arm.

I couldn't be a ranger like this? I couldn't get stronger? I would stay weak...I didn't see how I could fight monsters with an arm like this.

I probably wouldn't be allowed to do that. How do I even explain this. My mother. Mom would be terrified.

I... Because of him... I....

That monster would die. "

More poisonous thoughts, feuled by the numerous cataclysmic emotions filling Aldens bosom. A rage filled determination filled Aldens veins, and all the pain in Aldens body disappeared. A numb feeling overcame him, and maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was just masked by his turbulent emotions.

Like a warrior charging fearlessly into battle, Alden summoned his swordstaff. He did not care whether or not he received the the skill he wanted. This dragon had to die.

He burst through the air, and stabbed his weapon. A stream of flames met him, but he easily cut through it. He charged on, the apprehension of death nowhere to be seen. He did not care about defense, only attack. His blade hit the mark, this time, causing sparks to appear. His single attack has dented the dragons scales.

The dragon smashed it's tail at him, but he ducked, avoiding it.

He then jumped at it, and sliced through a single wing, causing it to shriek in anger. It couldn't fly now.

The dragon tried to grab him with its Jaws, but he leaped into the air before stabbing his blade downward.

The dragon had no armor on its eye.

The moment his blade made contact with the dragons eye, it sunk it easily, like a knife into a spongecake. Blood poured out from the punctured eye, and the dragon swung it's head around crazily, throwing Alden across in the process.

Alden smashed into a large rock lying around the dungeon, before being buried under some rocks. He soon escaped from within the rubble though, and he turned his gaze to the dragon.

It was frantically twisting it's body in pain, as it desparately tried to find a way to remove the sword staff from its eye. It seemed to not care how open it was leaving itself. It was like it had forgotten that Alden was still there, maybe it just did not care. That was probably how severe the pain was.

Alden would not ignore such an opportunity. He ran as fast as his mangled body could, and soon he was closing in on the dragon's writhing figure.

Wasting absolutely no time, his single fist had already smashed into the dragons head. The, he kicked at it, his attacks making it stumble backwards. He was slowly but surely, pushing it backward.

But he needed to kill it.

He couldn't do much in his current condition so he had to quickly find a way to end the dragon.

Suddenly, a thought shot through his mind.

Alden took a single step back, and dived toward the dragon. His shoulder hit the the dragon and he tried to use his arm to push it back. It began to stumble backwards, and soon it was tumbling over the edge of the cliff. Down below, the larva was ready to consume it.

An angry, rage-filled roar shook the dungeon and the dragon grabbed Aldens leg as it fell, pulling him down with it.

He tried to struggle, but he could not. Panic filled him, as he realized, he was falling down toward his death.

"I can't escape," He thought. Then something crossed his mind.

He summoned his swordstaff, which flew to his arm. He could barely see, the wind blinded him and his hair was being blown around by the wind, at times flying in his face. He ignored the disturbances and threw his spear into the dragons open mouth. The spear flew right through the dragon this time, killing it.

The dragon dissapeared under the larva, and Alden tried to fly with gravity. His concentration was broken by the excruciating pain in his body, as he found himself sinking into the larva.

In a few seconds he would be reduced to nothing but ash...

A cry left his mouth, as he dissapeared under the larva.