Tainted intermediate monster

The guild master stood at the door. He scratched his head a few times and walked into the room.

"Seer, Rion, it's nice to see you here," he said. His eyes drifted to the small girl standing there. His lingering gaze caught Seer's attention, so she spoke.

"She came along with us," Seer said. She didn't give any more explanation, but what she said was already more than enough.

He understood that she wasn't going to say anything else, so he didn't push the issue. He simply raised his hands and pointed at the projection.

"The test is a semi-sentient being built from the inception of the kingdom. It has grown to have something of a mind of its own.

Though bound by certain ancient restrictions and logic that were created for it, it is still capable of doing certain things on its own.

One of those things is increasing the intensity of the tests under certain conditions," he said in a casual tone. He let out another yawn.

"And why is it doing that to Jake?" Seer asked.

"That's the real issue here. I was watching the test from my office when I noticed what was happening.

This kid, where is he from?" he asked.

"He is secretive about a lot of things. All we know is that he came from a small village of sorts," Seer said.

"Hmm." The guild master scratched his head again. "I'm not really sure what's going on, but let's watch the next level. From here, we will understand what's happening," he said.

They all nodded and looked back at the projection.

Jake stood in the swamp, looking around, waiting for the enemies he had to fight. Soon, from behind the trees in the distance, growls came—subtle and threatening.

Glowing eyes pierced through the darkness. They pushed closer, their feet dragging inside the black water. After a few seconds, their silhouettes showed—seven-foot-tall creatures, massive.

Soon they came into sight—massive orcs, their heads like pigs. Their pink skin was covered in blemishes, green and black patches all around.

"Master, be careful," Crypt said.

"Yeah, sure," Jake replied. His skeleton cooldown had finally come to an end. He immediately summoned them, making them stand around him.

Suddenly, Jake felt a pressure. It felt like a rope was tied around his neck—gritty and tight. His breathing was hard and heavy. What could be causing him to feel this way?

He looked up, and behind all the orcs that stood was a pair of glowing red eyes—a creature whose silhouette was ten feet tall. It stared right at Jake, right into his soul.

"Master, beware of the creature at the back. I can't gauge its strength, but I can tell that it's extremely powerful," Crypt said.

"Yeah, I can tell," Jake said. He was already sweating bullets.

The orcs finally started their attack, rushing through the swamp. Crypt got in front. He waited for them to get close and then he attacked. He stabbed using a small-scale tornado attack. His spear spun as it stabbed into the first orc—the orc exploded into a million pieces.

The force of the attack hit the ones closer to it even after the explosion and ripped through their guts as well. Crypt pushed in quick, releasing a flurry of attacks, killing the orcs.

Jake, on the other hand, found one orc and locked on it. He leaped towards it while the skeletons surrounded him.

The orc saw Jake and attacked, swinging its arm with all its strength. The skeletons tried to block the attack, and though they were all sent flying back, they managed to knock the orc back.

Jake charged in using that opening.

"Add stat points to strength," he said. He had four free stat points at the moment, and putting all into strength pushed his strength to nineteen.

He stabbed into the orc's chest and killed it. He pulled out the sword and watched as the blood dripped off it.

He looked at his next target, ready to go again. Unlike with the lizards, the orcs were fewer in number, and he was able to take out one at a time.

He continued killing with the help of the skeletons until the creature in the back started moving. Its footsteps were great, dragging through the water. It pushed branches aside to get past.

When it finally came into view, it was a massive orc. Its skin was grey, and dark purple lines ran over its body like a pattern. Its presence was terrifying. It didn't bother with Crypt—its eyes locked on Jake.

[....]

Back inside the room, the guild master was mid-yawn when he saw the orc finally come into the light. He stopped, looking at the lines across its body.

"That's an intermediate monster—and not just any one. It's been affected by the Abyss. It's a tainted intermediate monster," he said.

Seer and Rion looked at the orc in shock as they heard the guild master, because they all knew what sort of monster this was.

In this world, there existed monsters and beasts. Beasts were low-intelligence creatures that lived to kill and were also used as food for humans. But monsters—they possessed a certain level of intelligence, and that made them more threatening.

But regardless, the method humans used to rank them was the same. It started from Lesser Monsters, Common Monsters, Intermediate Monsters, and it kept going after that.

An intermediate monster was rare to come by, and they were quite strong—but this one was tainted. It meant it had come in contact with the Abyss and gained some of its power.

"What the hell is a tainted doing in round two? And an intermediate monster, to add," Seer asked.

"I don't know, but that kid will die if he isn't careful," the guild master said.

And just as he finished speaking, the orc started running toward Jake. Its speed was crazy for its size—it covered meters in a few seconds.

Crypt saw this and tried to stop it, but all the orcs immediately leaped on Crypt, doing everything to hold him back.

Jake couldn't react. The orc smashed through all his undead skeletons, and before he could even move, it punched—landing right in his guts. His body arched, blood pouring from his mouth.