Classless Ascension
chapter-273

Floor 20, next to a nondescript gray monolith, a man stood alongside his pet horse. If this had been a video game, this screen would have just appeared:

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What?

Nightmare is evolving!

Congratulations! Your Nightmare evolved into Nightmare with Swag!

Nightmare learned the move Bite!

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Josh was staring at his pet in awe. How could have pet feed caused it to change so much?! The once basic horse now had sharp teeth and bony spikes coming out of its back. Less sitting room, but at least there was now something to hold onto.

"Yo, how strong are you now? How many enemies can you defeat? Ten, forty, a few hundred, thousands?" Josh cheerfully inquired. The horse only rolled its eyes in exasperation.

It neighed. ("Don't expect so much of me. I'm just here to gallop and gallop I shall!")

Oh well, there was always the third evolution, right? "I'll be counting on you to be even faster than before!" Josh cheerfully told his pet, with it nodding understandingly. It was time to hunt some ghoul riders!

Before long, he was being chased by a thousand ghouls once more. The situation was tense, and the enemies too numerous. It was a dark moment filled with the scent of death and …laughter?! Josh could be seen standing on his mount, even dancing from the time?!

"This feels like the old-school black and white movies!" Josh remarked. There was the goofy chase scene, the funny insults, and it was only missing the comedic music. He began to hum the Yakety Epic Sax tune ♪♪.

Wait, no. Something was missing. This was a party song, "Nightmare, neigh along!" The pet shook its head in clear refusal. It had its pride! After all, the music sounded way too silly!

"Neigh along, and we'll get lots of food by farming this place!" Josh reiterated akin to a tempting devil.

"♪♪ Neigh ♪♪!!" What had happened to its pride? Well, some things in life were more important, food for instance! Not only did it play along, but it even did its best, baited by gluttony!

Great! Man and pet sang the hilarious song while writing profanities all over the place. Was there anything more beautiful than this in this world?

At some point, they realized that the ghouls had abandoned their leader already. Wait, hadn't it been a bit too fast? Ah! Josh realized that his dancing atop Nightmare had all been seen as taunts.

"Screw you! Stop shaking your ass and fight me already! I will destroy you. I will tear you limb by limb and do the same to the worthless ghouls here!" The boss had been raging non-stop, not just at them but at its undeads too.

Josh magnanimously allowed the poor boss to have the fight it so desperately longed for. It ended up being a one-sided thrashing following the music. The cutting of the flesh accompanied every note, and it was great!

The boss crumbled to literal pieces, having suffered even more mental injuries than physical ones. Who would be having fun while killing such a powerful creature?! Josh. The remaining ghouls could only stare in disbelief at this happy and insane "ghoul."

Josh expected some more nightmare feed, but sadly there was no such thing. All that he got was a ring that was part of the Smelly set. Oh well, he would at least complete the set! That is how Josh and Nightmare repeatedly toyed with the ghoulish army.

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It took many runs, but he did it!

<Smelly Set Effect (3)>

Stench of the Smelly Ghoul: Very smelly! Toggle

<Smelly Set Effect (5)>

Deadly Stench of the Smelly Ghoul: + Smelly

<Smelly Set Effect (7)>

Invisible Death: + Stench Becomes Very Sneaky

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The magical item seemed to produce a disgusting smell all around him in a radius of about 20 meters. With the full set, it ended up being very potent and invisible, with the biggest caveat being the lack of practicality.

While it was highly unpleasant and even distracting, it didn't seem to offer any hard crowd control ability. The poor Nightmare had to be the guinea horse for this and wanted nothing more than to cry.

What was Josh supposed to do with this? Crash a party? Actually, it could become overpowered if he were to be faced with a creature with an over-developed sense of smell….

Either way, he would figure it out later. Josh happily exited the Tower, only for a man to holler at him. "Hey, man! I need to talk to you!" He wore an outfit that reminded one of a bodyguard: suit and glasses!

Josh curiously went toward him. Currently, he was wearing the appearance of the wanted man on the KFC forum. Had he already caught his first assassin? Wow, talk about effective!

"Hey, there. Do we know each other?" Josh asked, visibly confused.

"No time to talk! Come with me if you want to live!" He instructed.

Wow! Josh would obviously follow anyone saying such an iconic line! The man showed slight surprise at how cooperative he was. Then, he began warily observing their surroundings while guiding them toward a less crowded district.

Josh could only nod in approval. The guy wasn't a complete amateur, for he at least knew how to be wary of competitors. After a few minutes, they finally arrived at a desolate, empty building, the man locking the door behind them.

From that point onward, Josh was stuck there with the man— or more accurately, the man was stuck with Josh. How great! Was this how a spider catching its first fly ever felt?

The man turned toward Josh with a big smile: "Hehe, brother. I'm not sure if you're aware, but there is a huge bounty on your head! HUGE!"

"What?! That's impossible!" Josh exclaimed, "astonished."

"I'm telling you. Some guy out there is paying 100k Credits for someone to kill you. Do you know what one can do with 100k Credits!" He excitedly said.

Josh couldn't help but think: "I know one thing one can do at least."

But instead, he replied while "shaking in fear.": "W-what will happen to me?!"

"Don't worry, brother. I'm no assassin. I'm an AA Ranked bodyguard!— or I'd be if there were such a thing as AA bodyguards." He mumbled the last part under his breath.

What the hell?! This was just his luck! Other people would have considered this lucky, but for Josh…this was such a waste! Why would he be hiding here with a bodyguard instead of out there fishing or Climbing?!

"So, let me get this straight…you're not here to kill me but to offer me protection? Wouldn't it be more lucrative to kill me?" Josh asked, perplexed, all trace of tension in his body gone.

"Of course! Life is precious and shouldn't be needlessly extinguished! Ah, but don't go relaxing yet. Your life is still in danger. Who knows when—" He was still talking when an incredible noise resounded!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Someone was banging on the door?!

CLANG!

BAM!

Suddenly the entrance was kicked open as a man entered, evilly grinning. He had short hair, wore jeans, and could be seen dexterously playing with a black dagger.

"Hehe, you did good wannabe bodyguard. I didn't even know that this guy had a bounty before seeing you run away with him." The man with the dagger gloated.

"Tch—this is bad!" The wannabe bodyguard took out Brass Knuckles and assumed a fighting posture. "Young man, I'll hold him off. Run while you still can!" He heroically shouted.

"About that—" Josh wanted to object. What was this guy doing?! This assassin looked like small fry, but perhaps he'd give him a lead? There was no way he was going away!

"Don't worry about payment. We can sort this out when we see each other again. Now, run!!!" He valiantly exclaimed in a wonderful spirit of self-sacrifice.

On the one hand, it was very noble of his part. On the other hand, Josh didn't give a fuck about this. But he could see how adamant the man was, so he pretended to sneak away.

"Today, I will let you taste my dagger! This ought to shut you up!"

"Bring it on! My fists are ready to beat your ass!"

That is when the two began clashing. These guys were probably level 20-40. It was hard to gauge since their movements seemed amateurish. Of course, this was only by Josh's standards.

Without realizing it, he had become way stronger. After all, Hellish indeed wasn't simple— even when it seemed like it to him.

They were plenty of cool skills. The bodyguard was generating a bronze ethereal magical armor all around his body. Instead, his opponent enhanced his dagger with some bloody effect that made the enemy lose some flesh after blocking, even with no direct contact.

They fought for a few minutes until the assassin used a trump card! His dagger began glowing blood-red, quickly penetrating the magical armor. His smile became even more profound as he was about to deal the killing blow.

"I may die, but I've saved a life!" The bodyguard fearlessly shouted. Great last words for a movie, kinda dumb IRL, to be honest…

"Fool, I'll track him and kill him too!" The assassin sniggered.

That's when the victim's face changed entirely. He had just seen Josh coming around the corner. Why was he here?! Would his sacrifice be useless?!

What happened next felt like a dream. "How about you shut the fuck up." Josh slapped the assassin to the ground before kicking his joints to paralyze him.

Neither the assassin nor the bodyguard could understand what was happening. They looked flabbergasted at Josh that was standing there relaxedly. His appearance felt so surreal! His next words were even crazier:

"Now, why don't we have a little fun. Let's play a small game. I'll be torturing, and you'll be telling me everything you know. Sounds fun, right?"

"W-what do you mean?" The assassin on the ground was trying his best to repress screams of pain.

"Everything! Now, let's move toward the back" Josh looked akin to a devil as he dragged his prey in a remote corner of the building.

The easy mark with an unbelievably high bounty was nowhere to be seen!

The wannabe bodyguard kept staring, feeling quite useless. Was this the man he had fought so hard to save? He had just made a fool out of himself! Still, he couldn't help but feel that this mysterious man was bound to be disappointed with this interrogation.

The bodyguard knew this peculiar assassin. He was a lowlife, but one that was quite stubborn. There was no way that he would talk so easily and…

"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything, please!" Came the desperate voice of the supposedly stubborn assassin….What?! He had already cracked?! How the fuck?!

Josh then reappeared a few minutes later, looking slightly disappointed. "This one was a dud. Hopefully, the next assassin will be a stronger one." He sighed to himself as he left.

The bodyguard was left standing there completely stunned. Was this man just going back to the Tower?! This…this….what the hell?!