The Achievement Junkie

"It should be around here somewhere…"

Jack mumbled to himself as he burrowed through the ground, a strategy that had doubled his speed. Currently, Jack was between floors fifty-nine and sixty. He was eagerly looking forward to finding the mini-boss on the sixtieth floor. Its poison was too valuable to pass up.

After collecting many poisons thus far, Jack was most proud of his sample of the Skulker Tarantula but that wouldn't be for long given his next extraction subject.

Finally, Jack breached floor sixty. The hero poked his head out to examine and assess the situation.

The sixtieth floor seemed to be a jungle of sorts. It was swampy but filled with trees and a variety of dull colors. Occasionally, Jack would see hints of vibrant red or bright yellow. Those were the perfect warnings for Jack to steer clear of that area.

Like most floors, Jack tried to keep to the ceiling whenever possible to avoid any direct contact with the floor's usual inhabitants. This helped make things go more smoothly when he wanted to seek out his target.

Though he was high up, Jack could find moving plants every now and then. On the sixtieth floor, it was the plant life that ruled, not the typical wildlife.

Lucky for Jack, his target was easy to find. Unlucky for Jack, the target was massive and extremely lively. He kept a close on it while making sure that there weren't too many wild plants around to aid the mini-boss.

The Living Nightshade was constantly moving, albeit slowly. Apart from the bright yellow petals of its flowers, the shiny black berries those petals housed were tempting to the eye. Hidden within the large flat leaves of the hulking plant were more green bulbs that acted as mouths to swallow prey whole.

Jack watched the Living Nightshade tempt and coax a Giant Boar. The beast was chomping down on a different, less-significant plant when it found the behemoth plant showing off its berries.

A few moments passed as the boar took its time to decide whether it was worth trying. In the end, the Giant Boar couldn't help itself.

The beast sauntered up to the nearest bulb of yellow petals and tore the large, black berry from its nook. A moment of satisfaction and bliss washed over the boar as it savored the berry's robust flavor. It guzzled down the berry and rushed to the next one. But that feeling of bliss faded before the boar could reach the next berry. The boar dropped to the jungle floor, spasming for a moment before growing still.

As soon as the boar became motionless, the nearest pair of green, bulbous mouths crept toward the beast. Both mouths opened wide, latching onto one of the boars many limbs. Then, they twisted and tore the boar in half, guzzling the beast down its green gullet.

The sight wasn't pretty and it wasn't satisfying to watch. Jack took some deep breaths in order to keep his mind clear and his heart calm.

Now that the Living Nightshade was distracted, Jack took action.

For a single moment, Jack activated Bowzer's and Phoro's bloodlines to race around the Living Nightshade and create a wall of terrifying flames. Now, no other plants could interfere and the Living Nightshade couldn't escape so easily.

Then, Jack kept only Phoro's bloodline active so that he could fly invisibly.

Frantic, the Living Nightshade hissed as the encirclement of fire kept it on edge. It could sense that danger was only moments away.

Jack took advantage of the plant's frantic movements. He plucked and stored a few of those large, blackberries, each as large as his head. Also, Jack sliced and stored a few of the leaves.

However, Jack didn't dare get near those bulbous mouths. All Jack wanted were samples carrying the plant's toxins, not to face the threatening plant.

Once he felt he had enough, Jack rocketed away. Being invisible combined with that transformation's raw speed and the ring of fire around the Living Nightshade, Jack rushed out of harm's way and returned to his tunnel strategy to clear the floor.

While the plant life above was trying its best to deal with the black and white flames, Jack was glancing at his system and his owns stats. Now, for some unknown reason, Jack was much faster than he had been before entering the sixtieth floor. Though Jack had waited for some time for the best moment to act, that had nothing to do with the sudden increase in speed and strength.

When Jack opened the system while burrowing, Jack was astounded to find the cause. He had again experienced a sudden jump in levels. It was unexpected but appreciated to the highest degree. Jack was eager to ask about everything that he had missed while he traversed Earthen Keep because, clearly, Jack had missed out on some battles that could only be labeled as godly. Nothing else could offer Jack such boosts of EXP.

Now at the peak of lv. 88, Jack was more excited than ever to find his tomb and clear the world's largest dungeon.

That led to Jack remembering the boss of the dungeon, the only true hundred-man boss in all "A Hero's Tale". And here he was trying to clear it alone, without the ability to rely on attack patterns to whittle the boss down. To top it all off, the boss would now be lv. 89.

Just imagining such an encounter made Jack question how it could be possible. The hero didn't doubt Daruun's promise but it was completely clueless as to how such a promise would play out. The only thing that could likely face such a powerful, renowned foe would be a god. Some people across the many servers would even argue that facing Crypt Lord Duorda was more difficult than some of the battles against gods.

Killing the crypt lord wasn't the reason for that. It was keeping the crypt lord down for the count that was difficult, as the crypt lord would slowly regenerate his health from all the damage he dealt to his challengers. That was the terrifying ability that made Crypt Lord Duorda the only hundred-man boss and the strongest boss in-game, alongside the gods themselves.