Classless Ascension

There were big black cockroaches as far as the eye could see. They would bob their heads menacingly as they charged forward.

The shrieks had been frightening, but the sound of them trampling the ground and their sight was even more so. Somehow, the NPC roach didn't seem disturbed in the least. Seeing the sea of creatures, Josh instantly came to one conclusion: he was royally fucked!

No, seriously, how was he supposed to defend against such an onslaught?! At this rate, this whole place would soon be submerged in an ocean of enemies! They would be akin to pebbles trying to learn how to swim: a goddamn lost cause!

"I really hope your god has some magical powers. A barrier around this place would be super helpful right now!" Josh shouted at the NPC, but it kept doing its business: the balls on this guy!

He could only cross his fingers, hoping that some hidden mechanic would come and save the day. All he needed was a small help to stall them so he could go out there and start a tiresome killing spree.

He watched the cockroaches come closer and closer in apprehension, keeping track of their progress. 200m, 150m, 100m, 80m, 60m, 40m, 20m…of fuck! Conclusion: this place was utterly defenseless, and they were screwed!

"This sucks…" Josh could only sigh. It was time to use his last resort. He sent mana toward his Smelly set, an invisible cloud spreading around him. Would it affect the creatures? A second later, he already had an answer. Big Nope!

Not only were the monsters not stopping, but they were even charging straight at him with reckless abandon. For the insects, there wasn't any fear of death as they were intent on devouring him.

Now, how the hell was he supposed to get out of there? He would surf across their bodies. His saving grace would be to take them by surprise with such a sudden maneuver. By the time he would be done, he would be to safety— or so was the plan.

He dived forward, only to quickly realize that the creatures were acting exceptionally weird. For some reason, they were all turning toward him. Why?! Wait, was it because of his smelly ability?! Their movement pattern had changed as soon as he had activated it!

Holy crap! Any typical Climber would have been scared shitless, but for him, it was great news! Without waiting further, he made sure to make rounds all around the place, drawing as much aggro as possible.

"Nightmare, deal with the stragglers!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, only to notice that there were absolutely none!

He finally understood. Cockroaches back on Earth had been thriving in filth and would be attracted to garbage. This smell was reminding them of what they had been looking for all their lives. After all, this place was very desolate.

Josh kept fleeing as fast as possible while avoiding the deadly melee. Behind his back, he could hear the sound of bodies colliding with one another. He felt like a football player who everyone and their mother tried tackling.

Slowing down a single second would mean getting crushed to paste and devoured. Sadly, his current killing rate was pretty much 0. He couldn't afford to get his weapon stuck in a creature, even for a millisecond. Instead, he used his spear to propel himself forward.

He already had a plan in mind, a very dubious and insane one, but he felt the need to try. The current status quo would mean him getting stuck here so long that his lifespan may as well run out. He had to try something risky!

It took lots of time, but after a while, he finally could notice his destination: the super safe bridge! As he reached the center, he turned around to focus on the creatures. It was crazy: they were crawling on, under, and on the sides!

Even then, there was a limit to how many could fit, but it was still too high a number for him to face alone without being pushed back. The priority was to get them all away from the prayer spot. He could only hope that there wouldn't be a second enemy wave.

"You critters seem really motivated to eat me, don't you? Come and get me! We'll see who will end up eating who soon enough!" Josh taunted them. As he watched their insane numbers, he steadied his resolve, remembering his own heroic speech from earlier.

That's when he jumped straight at the abyss. Behind him, the monsters were following. Some jumped, while others began Climbing the rocky wall near the entrance of the bridge. Had he gone insane? Close but not quite.

He made sure to slow down his fall with his cloak, using it akin to a parachute. Hopefully, this would work out, but he would have to hope that Nightmare could deal with things up there.

The environment was extremely dark, the fog ever-present. But as Josh activated his magical vision, he couldn't help but shiver in apprehension at what was to come. He soon began to notice small dots rushing around as he heard a faint but constant shrieking.

But, he soon recoiled in shock as he came to understand that what he had taken for the floor seemed to be in fact tons of slumbering cockroaches. Oh god! At this rate, he would land in their midst in less than a minute.

As he dropped, he made sure to swerve toward the wall opposite from his pursuers. Soon, he was landing in what was an obvious death trap.

He instantly became public enemy number one as all the creatures awakened. They turned toward what they considered a delicious moving meal. What was Josh supposed to do now?

Even in such a tense situation, he couldn't help but slightly smile to himself as he grabbed his pickaxe. The Tower had made the ground sturdier, right? He would freaking use this to his advantage!

Josh rushed toward the nearby wall and dug as quickly as possible. With the old Tower, the entire wall would have been shattering to pieces. However, all that he managed to do at this one moment was to create a short tunnel.

A few seconds of digging later, he turned toward the entrance of his temporary fortress. Now, only a few enemies would be able to crash into him at a time. Thus he would be able to focus entirely on the offensive. This would be one hella long fight, but he was ready.

"This is Josh Motherfucking Malum, and welcome to cockroach grinder!" He was ready to have some fun…