Josh's options were limited. He had the ghoulish claws and an armor set. He had to find a method to defeat The Nightmare quickly. 

His shoulder was already healing from his bloodline devouring. Somehow, the IV liquid in his system was getting used up. Still, since his shoulder looked extremely bloody on the outside, he kept his arm hanging by the side of his body, dead. 

He slowly backed up, as if trying to subtly grab the rest of the IV drip. But, the enemy quickly saw through him as he used his speed to cut open the bag, splashing its content all over the floor along with Josh's hopes. 

The enemy kept going after him relentlessly, waving a dagger around. Josh could only play defensively as he kept dodging over and over. Even then, the bastard remained extremely cautious. It was possible to read his moves, but not capitalize on them as he would never fully commit. 

Josh could already hear the stomping of tons of soldiers outside. It seems they were waiting to enter, probably organizing themselves, possibly getting a weapon that would be a gamechanger. 

He would have preferred that they recklessly come in. In such a case he could have used them as unfortunate meatshields. They could even block the advance of their own Boss should he swerve in their midsts perfectly. 

How long before they were ready and barged in overwhelming him? Probably seconds. He hadn't come all this way to die like a cornered rat! He had to finish this, now! 

Josh went forward instead of retreating. The enemy's dagger was about to reach him. His opponent was observing his every move as carefully as before, ready to back off whenever. 

Josh shouted internally: 'Mighty rat I summon you!' With a wave of his hand, the pet appeared between both of them. 

It was pretty useless, but it was sturdy. But that barely helped as both the pet and the owner were violently flung backward, colliding with the wall. Josh felt the air leave his lungs, winced in pain, and felt his whole body go numb. 

The Nightmare dashed toward him, with Josh invoking one more ally. A black and mysterious portal appeared behind the enemy. Out of it came Nightmare, the previous Boss of Floor 17, as it galloped forward menacingly. 

"Fight fire with fire and the Nightmare with Nightmare." Josh chuckled, coughing up some blood. 

All he got was a smile of derision in return. His enemy knew that that the creature wouldn't make it in time. It would disappear along with its owner's life. 

The Nightmare was a big fan of keeping his enemies alive most of the time to experiment on them. This time, he wouldn't.

He knew how dangerous this low-level Josh was. He couldn't allow him to grow sronger. Otherwise, the man would quickly become an internal demon in his heart, forever haunting him. He knew that much. 

The sharp dagger magnified in Josh's face. It was impossible to dodge it at this distance, even for him. There was one thing he could do before perishing. He softly murmured a few words: 

"Shadow Merging." The cloak he was wearing seemed to come alive as it enveloped him entirely.

A Classless man had just used a skill in front of the Nightmare's very eyes! He couldn't understand what was happening.

This item was clearly a Nightmare Cloak! How did it contain a skill?! That's when he realized it. It wasn't any Nightmare Cloak, it was a Hellish difficulty one. That was the only explanation! 

He watched in horror as his dagger was plunged into Josh's face entirely. The problem was that there was no feedback. It felt as if he had slashed a regular shadow. There was a WHOOSH! sound and that was it. 

The now shadow-looking Josh smiled slightly at him. The monstrous mount was about to reach him. It would trample him if he kept facing the man. The Nightmare turned around awkwardly to face Nightmare. 

In order to do so, he had to shift his center of gravity so quickly that he lost balance a bit, but he did manage. He applied his full strength and struck back. He knew that a monster even from Floor 17 had the potential to kill him. 

The poor monster's description clearly indicated that it wasn't as powerful when outside the Tower. The violent clash didn't happen. No, the poor creature was sent flying like a cannonball to its assailant's surprise. 

How was this possible?! He expected to win that contest, but not so overwhelmingly! From that, he understood that the horse was merely a distraction once again. But, he was even more off-balance having exerted way more force than necessary. 

Josh slashed him with his ghoul claws. Even then, the man still managed to rotate his body with unbelievable speed, almost falling in the process. Yet, he blocked the attack albeit shakily. Before Josh could capitalize on it, the man was already retreating. 

The Nightmare felt relief for he had survived this exchange. At this point, he had stopped seeing Josh as a low-level Climber. The four commanders had clearly died while underestimating him. Perhaps The Doctor had barely done anything. 

But now, it was over. He could see the despair in Josh's expression. He could feel his unwillingness to die and how sorrowful he was with this outcome. He could hear his men entering the room. They had come equipped with special forcefields. 

This equipment only worked in their base, but it could trap any solo Climber easily. It would be Josh's bane as he didn't have the technology to counter it. This annoying rat was utterly screwed. A small smile blossomed on his face as he gave the order: "Kill him!" 

But the smile quickly froze, forever. The scalpel now embedded in his brain made it impossible for him to move. Josh had thrown it with his 'dead' hand.  The people around barely saw a flash of purple before their leader fell. They panicked but did obey his last order. 

They advanced toward Josh to execute him. Yet, he had a confident demeanor. In his hands, there was a small black button-looking thing. 

<E+ Breath of Corruption> 

Josh couldn't help but wonder what wonderful things would happen. In any case, it was bound to create a commotion...

— — — — 

[A/N] I may have to do smaller chapters for a little while trying to reach Priv unlock goals. 5k/ month is the target so we can have a huge promotional banner haha! Also, thinking about some way to thank priv buyers by naming side chars after you guys or something. Should be a minigame or maybe a raffle. (I'm open to suggestions, also won't impact the story)

Creator's Thought

The feeling of being surrounded by enemies on all sides, while having a way out is quite wonderful. In this peculiar case, I guess a part of me just wanted to watch the world burn. I didn't know what would happen, but I was sure it would be BAD! Oh, it was, very much so.