Wind screamed past Alex''s face he plummeted down toward the waiting maw. The world didn''t slow down, nor did his mind suddenly speed up and start processing things at a mile a second. There was just the rotted airing from the flower and the maw full of teeth waiting to rip through him.


    Glint drove his ws into his own throat, ripping it open. A streamer of silver mist exploded from his body and flew back to Alex — but nowhere near as fast as he would have liked.


    Oh, shi—


    Alex crashed into the Floraking''s mouth. The flower shuddered and bounced with the impact, its petals furling shut around him and plunging the world into darkness.


    Silence reigned for a brief moment. The room was still once more. Only the Floraking remained, crippled, weeping sap, victorious.


    Then a thick shard of mirrored ss tore through the petals of its head. A second one followed after it, joined by three more. Petals ripped like tearing paper as they were minced apart from within,pletely destroying the head in just seconds.


    Pained screams ripped from the monsters other two heads as the stem supporting the brutalized head crumpled. It crashed to the ground, leaving a trail of ripped petals fluttering through the air behind it like a flock of doves.


    Alex rolled out from within the monster''s body, tiny puncture wounds covering his body. ss spines jutted from his palms and shoulders, dripping with blood and milky white nt sap. The Floraking''s remaining heads howled in fury. A wall of rancid air mmed into Alex with enough force to blow his hair back and make his lips screw up with distaste.


    Vines shot out from where the monster''s stem met the ground and the remaining two headsunched toward Alex in a conjoined attack. He burst into motion — not running away from the monster, but toward it.


    Roots shot up from the ground. He leapt over them and brought his hands down, cutting through the vines midair before they could bind him. He hit the ground running, his feet squelching against the wet mud as he raced past deep puddles, headed for the monster''s stem.


    Two shadows passed over him. Without Glint to keep their attention, both of the remaining Floraking''s heads dropped at once, giving up on eating him and just aiming to crush his body to paste.


    Alex flung himself forward, flicking his hands and sending the mirror shards spinning away as he hit the ground in a roll. The ground shuddered behind him, but he didn''t wait for the heads to rise again. He shoved himself upright, ripping free from the sticky mud with a squelch, and flung himself at the nearest head.


    Hetched on and wrapped his limbs around the head of the flower in a bear hug. It started to lift in the air. Alex had other ns. Mirrors ripped out of his palms and chest, shredding his clothes and the flower alike as he slid down, dropping back to the ground amid a rain of petals.


    Thest flower head mmed into Alex''s back like a wrecking ball. All the air exploded from his lungs in a pained grunt as he wasunched across the room and sent rolling across the ground.


    As annoying as the mud was, it was probably the only reason he survived the blow. It slowed his momentum and he slid into a puddle with a ssh, stopping just a short distance from the wall.


    Somehow, despite the force of the blow, Alex could still stand. The strength his body had gained from advancing in level was enough to let him take a blow from a giant flower — though, when he thought of it that way — it sounded a fair bit less impressive.


    He wiped his face clean, squinting through the muddy water stinging his eyes, and drew ragged breaths as he squared off against thest of the Floraking''s heads. The huge flower reared back, the two stems that had been connected to its other heads wilted and dragging on the ground beside it.


    The flower tightened in on itself and bulged, filling from within. Alex burst into motion, sprinting across the ground faster than he''d ever moved in his life. It wasn''t quite at the level of an Olympic sprinter, but he wouldn''t have said he was too far off.


    Power pumped through his muscles as they burned, desperate for relief. The flower''s pursed petals parted and a wave of thick purple smog rolled out across the ground. Alex drew in a deep breath and held it, squinting as much as he could as he ran straight into the burning mist.


    Pain seared into every one of his open wounds. A root snagged his foot, but a mirror shard erupted from his ankle and tore through it before it could wrap around him. He stumbled under a vine, nearly losing his footing but catching himself at ast moment.


    Alex burst from the mist, streamers of it still curling around his body. The world had taken on a thick haze, and he could barely even still see through his squinted eyes. It felt like he''d poured a gallon of soap into each of them — but he could still make out the blurry flower directly in front of him.


    He lunged. The flower yanked back, finally recognizing the threat that his body posed and acting to keep him from shredding its head. Alex''s lips pulled into a thin, tight smile. His foot hit the ground and he leaned forward, pouring everyst scrap of energy he had into moving.


    Even as the flower head rose far above him, he closed the distance between himself and the massive stem. No vines or roots remained to stop him and the monster realized his n all toote. He thrust both of his palms into the base of the stem.


    Mirrors drove from them and into the yellowed nt matter. It crunched and split like a stick of rotted celery. The nt stiffened involuntarily and let out a scream. Alex forced the shards to expand, growing wider and slicing the Floraking from within.


    Glint''s power faltered and gave way. He''d already used up a lot of his magical reserves strengthening the Shardwalker, and he''d drawn on every scrap he had. There was nothing left.


    The shards of ss snapped off his palms. The Floraking shuddered in pain and finally managed to regain control of itself. Huge gashes wept white matter, but it wasn''t dead yet. Its head crashed down toward Alex in ast-ditch attempt to end his life.


    He grabbed the two des of ss, marred by blood and sap. His teeth gritted and he snarled, the ss biting deep into his palms as he shoved it even deeper. The adrenaline tearing through his whole body wasn''t enough to stop the pain, but it numbed it for just long enough.


    The shards mmed together with a loud snik. Alex mmed his shoulder into the stem and the final few fibers that had been holding the Floraking''s third head upright ripped. The huge flower pitched back and crashed to the ground. Boggy water sshed up around it and petals fluttered down around Alex.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He dropped to his knees. Wet mud squelched beneath him as he sat back, drawing in deep, wheezing breaths. Mud and sweat mixed, stung his eyes. Blood poured from his palms and the wounds riddling his body bubbled as if acid had been poured on them.


    The adrenaline slipped from his body like a discarded nket. He might have passed out on the spot if a river of icy cold energy hadn''t mmed into him. Relief enveloped Alex and he let out a groan as the pain receded in the face of the power.


    It was a lot. More than he''d ever gotten for a single fight. The sensation onlysted for a few brief, incredible moments, but it was enough to shock his stunned mind back into awareness. Enough to bring his attention to the glowing golden words appearing in the air before him.


    Razor Forest (Novice) has been cleared.


    Title Fragment Acquired.


    Lone: Granted to those who clear a dungeon at their rank entirely on their own.


    Please select a name for the Local and Global Leaderboards [Inactive].


    Alex stared at the floating words for several seconds as he processed them. He''d gotten another Title Fragment. Clearing the dungeon alone had been the right call, but he had to deal with the System''s request before anything else.


    If this is what people are going to know me as, I don''t want to go too edgy and just look like an idiot. What do I —


    Ah. That might work.


    His throat was dry and ragged from how heavily he''d been breathing, but he still managed a single word.


    "Ash," Alex rasped.


    The words vanished silently. Alex blew out a slow breath as his thundering heart slowly started to calm. Out of the corners of his eyes, he spotted a muddy greenish brown me flickering in wait. The most powerful soul me that he''d seen so far.


    Mid-High Grade Novice (Floraking)


    His lips twitched. Then their corners curled up.


    And then, his body torn to pieces and sitting in a swamp in a spreading pool of muddy water, before the corpse of a building-sized carnivorous flower, Alex started tough.


    ***


    Alex''s rapped his knuckles against the door of door 221, then leaned against the walls of the shoddy apartment with one hand to support himself. Just a few momentster, it jerked open to reveal ire.


    "Alex! Bleedin'' hell. You''re Novice 5? How did…" ire trailed off as she took him in, her eyes growing wide. "What the fuck happened to you? Are you okay?"


    He nced down. His clothes were absolutely destroyed. They were stained with mud, blood, and just about everything else in between. Even though the majority of his wounds had mostly closed, some of the worse ones were still exposed.


    Even ire''s sword, which he held in a loose grip at his side, waspletely caked with mud. It had taken him nearly ten minutes to track down where the stupid weapon had fallen after he''d gathered enough energy to start moving around again.


    "Do I look okay?" Alex asked as he held her sword out.


    ire grabbed it between two fingers and tossed it into the room. It ttered across the ground behind her as she steadied him with a hand.


    "No."


    "Ah. Well, you''re wrong. I''m fine," Alex said with a grin. "I did waste a bit of blood, though. Hungry?"


    "For that? No bleeding way."


    "Hey, I offered."


    "And the offer is appreciated. And, in case you''re unaware, you smell like death," ire said, shaking her head. "You need a bath, or you might end up killing monsters by stench alone."


    "Tomorrow. I don''t think I''ve got the energy to lift my hands at this point," Alex said with a wryugh. "I''m pretty sure I''d drown myself if I got into water deeper than a puddle right now."


    She grimaced. "Well, it''s your room too. Just leave the bed alone, please. We''ll never get the stench out."


    "The floor is fine," Alex replied. ire helped him in, closing the door behind them with a heel. She helped him over to the far wall where he leaned back against it and slid down, letting out a satisfied sigh. "Thanks."


    "Yeah, sure." ire hesitated for a second. "Did… you do it? Your new level makes the answer pretty clear, but I still have to ask."


    He grinned up at her. "Damn right I did. You were right, though. Doing thatpletely alone would have been impossible. I only managed it because of Glint."


    "And because you''re insane," ire muttered. She snagged one of the sheets from the bed and brought it over to Alex, tossing it onto him. "Was it worth it?"


    "More than. Just keep it to yourself. We don''t need to draw pointless attention yet. I''ll be doing more than enough of that soon."


    ire nodded her understanding. "I will — and damn. Now I''m going to have to catch up to you. I didn''t think you''d be able to advance this quickly. How many monsters did you have to kill?"


    "It wasn''t the number. It was the size. Don''t worry, though. You''ll have more than enough chances to catch up tomorrow."


    "You just said it would have been impossible to solo the dungeon without Glint."


    "Oh, I wasn''t talking about the dungeon." Alex''s lips curled up in a smile. "Tomorrow morning, we''re going back to the Mirronds."