MischievousMuffin

Incremental Torture - Chapter 13

~Malachai POV~

Malachai darted from the shadows, unsheathing the pristine steel dagger that he’d received as a reward on the last floor as he made a beeline for the enemy archer. In the short time between him creeping through the darkness of the arena to flank her, a girl of no more than thirteen, she had somehow managed to put an arrow through Iona’s brain, not that she had much of one to begin with. It was testament to her accuracy that she could hit such a...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 12

It was a surprise to her, but apparently not Kayla, that the teddybears were actually the trickiest of the three kinds of monsters they had to face on the past two floors. The rats were relatively easy kills, given that all they needed was a heavy smack to smash bone or brain, and the spiders just a little tougher since their sharp envenomed fangs were a constant risk - none of them wanted to waste the challenge clear reward on a full recovery. 

However, the softer bodies of the te...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 11

Dull pain radiated from her chest, making her groan as she carefully peeled herself from the ground and sat up, taking in the artful display of gore and horror that was the remnants of the 5th Floor’s challenge. While her ribs were definitely not anywhere close to being healed, it seemed that the point in vitality had a much larger effect than she had been expecting based on how much the other attributes had impacted her. 

Checking her menu, Evelyn guessed she’d been asleep for...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 10

Despite what they had just been through being one of the most gruelling, death defying experiences of their entire lives, none of the three seemed that fazed. Even Anthea, who was basically still a child, had been moulded by the first few floors of the tower to find such a brutal battle to be less traumatic. It was a sad truth of their new reality. 

The first order of business for each of them was checking the menu to see just how much essence defeating the mini boss had rewarded t...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 9

Another spray of the mucus-like goop showered Evelyn as one of the monstrosity’s tentacles smashed into her raised arms with enough force to rattle every bone in her body. She just about kept her footing stable, but things were already out of control and if someone didn’t deal with the raging octopus-jellyfish hybrid that they had been pitted against soon it seemed they would be failing the 5th Floor. 

Graham lay unconscious once more, his arm twisted at an unnatural angle and ...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 8

Along with the fantastically clumsy entry of the fifth and final person came a message from the tower announcing the challenge they would need to clear to move beyond the 5th Floor. Evelyn immediately ignored the floundering girl in the fountain behind her to see if her worst fears about the instance would prove correct. Both her and the gaunt young man breathed a heavy sigh of relief when they read the notification and saw the challenge they would be facing, however Kayla simply smirked.

Incremental Torture - Chapter 7

The first thing Evelyn saw when she stumbled through the portal, vision blurry and muscles aching, was an ornate fountain consisting of an eight foot tall statue of a hooded priestess cast in white marble, water cascading down from her eye sockets, which had been left empty. It was an eerie image but the dehydration she was feeling was so severe that there was no room to stop and admire the beautiful craftsmanship. She rushed forth and dived into the pool surrounding the statue and drank deep...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 6

The enemy which appeared from the familiar and almost comforting darkness of the cavernous floor was yet another rat. This time however, it was not a horde of the frenzied vermin, but a single, colossal specimen. Red eyes oozing with hatred and rage stared intently at her as it took slow and calculated steps forwards, closing the gap between them and judging its prey. 

It was taller than Evelyn by nearly half a metre and far bulkier, and while she was confident her hand to hand com...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 5

This tower is pushing us on purpose just to see when we’ll snap, I know it. Why offer me four ‘rewards’ that I can’t afford. All I have is 3 essence. Even the Full Recovery is out of my price range.

Right as Evelyn was cursing the tower and whatever infernal psychopath built the damn thing, the corpse of her unfortunate opponent had begun to shimmer. Softly at first, but soon his entire body erupted into a blazing blue pyre. The flames emitted no warmth, though it would...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 4

Even the most mild hearted humans would’ve found themselves twisted by the disturbing and violent events of the first two floors of the tower. Evelyn wasn’t sure if everyone had to fight rats, or if the floor was personalised based on the challenger, but either way she doubted anyone but the most psychopathic of people could get through them unchanged. 

In fact, she suspected the only reason she’d found herself getting into the rhythm of battle with such ease was due to her o...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 3

In a completely fresh state, Evelyn would likely have been able to force through the burning pain that coursed through her body, but combined with the accumulated fatigue and damage of two consecutive floors of battling frenzied rats, she succumbed and fell to the ground unconscious. 

Ultimately, being forced into rest was likely to be beneficial for her, given that whatever challenges lay ahead would require her full strength to face. Any small mistake could quickly multiply into ...

Incremental Torture - Chapter 2

Evelyn scoffed at the ridiculous prompt that had appeared after she slaughtered the last of the rats. It wasn’t much of a reward if you had to pay for it. The idea of recovering from all the accumulated damage of the battle was sorely tempting, but she knew better than to lose out on potential long term gains just for temporary comfort.

It said my personal status has been unlocked, I wonder what that means? Judging from the fact one of the available rewards is an ‘attribute poin...