Classless Ascension

Floor 24 was a huge fucking mess! It was now buried under rubble.

The scene of the catastrophe was completely still, with every living creature annihilated, or so it seemed. Suddenly a small pebble rolled on the side as a nightmarish red creature crawled out from underneath.

It had broken limbs that were slowly regenerating, and it looked so damn unnatural! Then a disfigured head was seen, one that slowly returned to its original appearance.

Josh was entirely covered in blood, so much goddamn blood that he was painted red! As he extricated himself from the rubble, he couldn't help but sigh in relief. This had been a damn close one!

Still limping, he slowly advanced, gradually making sense of his surroundings. Nearby came weak, pained roars.

— Roa… —

He instantly understood what this was. The panther was somewhere under the rocks and breathing its last. This powerful apex predator had perished from the castle coming down unto it.

Yet he had survived, all thanks to his cloak….and some luck. He had taken so much damage but had avoided an instant kill. This had been enough to allow him to come back from the dead.

That's when resounded a deep yet excited voice:

"I'm alive! I'm alive, haha!" This was the orc king. He knew that much.

Yet the voice still seemed pained. Without hesitating, Josh headed toward the monster with resolve. This might be his only opportunity.

As he finally found the powerful green creature, it was lying below a gigantic boulder and could only move its right hand. The king even seemed to be trying to recall his past, failing to do so.

At this moment, curiosity took the better of him. How would this guy react to this?

"Because you never had a past in the first place." Josh lowly uttered.

The orc jerked in shock. What?! In his eyes, there was confusion. How had the human even survived this?! There was only so much that luck could do. Plus, he was so bloodied! He had obviously taken lots of damage, so how was he fine now?!

"You're nothing but a creature this world created. Didn't you ever wonder why this place is so small? It's even shaped like a prison." Josh delivered another blow.

"I-I…"

"A fake ruling over other fakes, and even those are all dead. How does it feel to learn the truth, "king"?" Josh sneered.

The orc was now in an existential crisis. He could somehow detect that the human was telling the truth…but how could he accept such a preposterous concept?! But then it regained its spirit.

It stared straight into Josh's eyes and growled:

"So what! I remain a king!"

"?" Josh couldn't help but be taken aback.

"Whether this world is true or fake, I will forever remain a king. This is what it means to be the strongest orc!" He roared the last part with so much gusto that his voice made the smaller rocks tremble.

"Is there any worth to such an empty title?" Josh sighed.

"Who said that it's empty?" The orc suddenly smirked.

That's when it happened. The guy's body began glowing red once more. Then an insect tide crawled out of the rubble— or that's what it looked like. No, those were the magical glyphs on the dead orcs! What?!

The magic was seemingly coming alive as it slowly crawled over. Had the orc king been the one responsible for the enchants all along?! Then what the fuck was the shaman doing?!

That's when a frightening thought occurred to him. This meant that this guy had other ways to turn the tables on him! Who fucking cared about the orc being a self-conscious AI?! He wasn't about to die here!

Josh didn't even hesitate as he cleaved at the creature's limbs. But that goddamn red barrier appeared once again. WTF?! How was this even possible? But that's when he realized:

"Killing the orcs wasn't collateral damage. It was your true objective. To get the runes back..." Josh uttered.

"Hehehehehe!" The orc laughed to himself. The human couldn't even breach his defenses and the panthers were dead too!

But that's when Josh noticed something. This magic was different from the previous one. If the last one was a bubble, this new one was a coating. It seemed to follow the orc's body as he breathed in and out.

"Time to surrender? Hehehe — cough cough — hehe." The orc's laugher was often interrupted by powerful fits of cough as he threw blood like a fountain.

It seemed like this magic was taking a toll on his body. Yet seeing his victorious grin, he had to have a method to recover. But then the grin soon twisted to incredulity and shock.

"You know what? Sure, why not." Josh casually said as he took out a magical parchment, smiling, "This is a magical contract. Sign it to surrender unconditionally."

Wait…what?!

The orc couldn't understand. The human couldn't even pierce his defenses. Where was he getting his confidence from? This had to be a bluff!

"How about it? What will it be? Either the "orc king" perished today, or you do." Josh gave an enchantingly devilish smile.

The orc king dying? He meant for him to renounce his identity? Why the heck would he do that?!

"Nice try, but you're too weak to—" The orc king opened his mouth, but in retrospect, he really shouldn't have.

"Is that so?" Josh seemed so mischievous as he took out a stick. It looked uncannily plain— way too plain for a Tower item.

Using his mana, he generated the usual grass elemental. That's when the nightmare began. The orc was stuck under rocks and couldn't move and just happened to have his mouth open.

"Choke him," Josh ordered.

Grass, grass, and even more grass! The orc king's vision became filled with grass. Normally he would have struggled and broken free forcefully, but it didn't have that leisure.

It felt the grass tentacles enter his mouth, then his windpipe, and even his lungs. Direct damage? Fucking none! But the orc suddenly couldn't breathe.

Every passing moment became more and more excruciating. Yet it wouldn't be enough to make the proud orc king give up! He was the strongest of his race, after all!

The human was smirking evilly at him, at his upcoming demise while holding the magical contract. So fucking what?! It wouldn't give him the satisfaction of triumphing over him! He would never compromise!

But that's when it heard the human's voice once more as it monologued, akin to the sweet whispers of a devil.

"Say, do you know how the Tower works?"

"It takes info from all the worlds and spawns creatures according to it."

"Do you know what this means? Somewhere out, there are other orcs, true ones."

"You think you're the orc king? You are a king at best and a fake one at that. Amazing, isn't it?"

"Are you truly content staying here forever? Are you really content to die a dog's death? I can bring you out."

The orc was already slowly losing consciousness. Yet his groggy mind still heard the whispers. Find the true orcs? Become their king? But he would have to bow to another for that. It wasn't worth it. It truly wasn't—

"The ones who toyed with you are the gods. They created the Tower. They brought me here. They did all of it. You were the perfect pawn, the perfect canon folder, hehe." Josh laughed.

"Don't you want to know why they did it?"

That's when the orc's eyes suddenly opened wide. They were completely bloodshot as rage coursed through him. Know why? Know fucking why?! Hell no! He wanted revenge! The orcs being stepping stones?! Hell no! His pride wouldn't let him accept it!

That's when he glanced at the human. In his eyes, he saw something other than shamelessness and slyness for the first time. He discerned a deep rage and a deep regret, yet it was all so controlled!

That's when the orc king understood. This man wasn't the weakling he had once believed. For the first time, a thought occurred to him. Perhaps true strength had nothing to do with strong muscles or great magic.

Perhaps this was what he needed to progress to the next level.

He suddenly turned toward the contract…one that he could somehow read. As he saw what was inscribed on it, his jaw almost reached the ground.

"D-do you truly mean it?!" the orc asked, trembling.

"Why not?" Josh barely shrugged.

Was his idea madness? Was he supposed to do that? Could it cause complications down the line? Perhaps, but so what! When had he ever done things properly? Otherwise, he wouldn't still be Classless.

Whether it would bring him to ruin not, he would embrace this style of life. Right now, this included offering an olive branch to a creature that had already become more than it was created to be.

The orc could barely move his limbs, but he managed to sign the magical contract. He did so using his very blood, even disabling the runes protecting its body.

At this moment, Josh could have killed him…but he didn't.

There was a magical flash as the contract worked its magic. The grass tentacles rescinded, the orc taking a deep breath, the first one of its new life.

"Hehe, human, you're definitely crazy." He chuckled, seemingly insulting his master without any restrain. Yet they both understood that it was praise, from one crazy bastard to another.

Josh spoke once more, as rhythmically as heatedly:

"How can one go against the gods without a bit of craziness? Should we just be their playthings?!"

"How else can one defy fate without a little bit of craziness? Should we just curl up and die?!"

"Actually, I'll tell you a secret. It's not me who's insane. It's the goddamn world!"

"We'll just have to rectify it."

"Are you ready?"

The orc felt his blood boil. What kind of madness had he just accepted to be part of? Yet he found himself smirking. After all, this man had given him a great reason to fight alongside him.

"Yes, master. Let's make the worlds tremble, hehehe!" He echoed in mad laughter.

"From now on, you won't be the orc king. You'll just be a nameless one…for now. Strive toward achieving this new goal of yours until you can become THE Orc King."

The both of them nodded at one another, grinning like devils. But there was only so much that could be done on a now-destroyed Floor.

"System, take me out. The orc king is already dead." The madman uttered, under the curious gaze of his new subordinate.

[Error. The mission isn't completed. The Orc King is still alive!]

"Nope. The orc king that ruled over this realm is long dead." The humanoid chuckled.

"You heard him, now hurry up and let us out."

[Error. Searching Database. Error— Error!]

[No Precedent Found! Searching…!]

"Who cares if there's a precedent. Just use the reward function to make the subordinate contract come true. You should be capable of this much." Josh uttered, headstrong.

[Calculating. Calculating…]

The orc by the side couldn't help but laugh. What the hell was this?! This man was about to bully the world that had held him prisoner all this time.

How interesting...

Creator's Thought

Did my choice make any sense? Instead of receiving the rewards, I wanted...this orc? Sometimes, very rarely, I would do such things whimsically. So what if we were enemies? Such insignificant matters don't matter much in the large picture. I mean this choice only affected the fate of a few dozen races....or was it a hundred? Meh, whatever...