Classless Ascension

On Floor 24, a black sturdy-looking fortress was now shaking as way too many orcs trampled its interior.

They were all heading to a particular room: the shaman quarters. Their eyes glowed red in fury as they charged toward the marked enemy.

Josh currently had a giant red glowing skull mark atop his head, and it was attracting all the enemies toward his location. This thing freaking passed through the walls?! Near his ear, there was that goddamn shaman ghost cackling nonstop:

"You're so dead! Let me see you try to escape, hahaha!"

"Tch— they sure are fast," Josh complained aloud.

"Hehehe, of course, they are! I'm the one that personally trained them! They would have fought back if they could have, haha. But they all pledged to never go against me!"

Was torturing one's soldiers supposed to be an achievement or something? Actually, that guy just loved the act itself. Even now, the ghost was babbling about the greatest atrocities it had committed.

"I removed their spines and used them to choke the others before I finally—"

Josh focused on his hearing to determine the location of the invading enemies. It reminded him of an earthquake, but he knew that the only thing that was rocky right now was his life.

The enemies would be there any second now.

— Tremble! —

3

— Tremble! —

2

— Tremble! —

1

— Crash! —

That's when the study door was sent flying, breaking into so many pieces. The orcs' faces were even uglier than usual as they bellowed so damn loudly:

"Kill the human, annihilate him and —"

But the orcs suddenly stopped moving, completely flabbergasted. They had encircled him, but now they didn't know what to do.

Had they been dazzled by Josh's courage and elegance? Probably not as they seemed utterly confused, glancing back and forth toward him and the above his head. They were staring, mouths completely open, not understanding anything.

"Hehehe, I'll get my revenge. I'll show this bastard what it means to have a deadly shaman as his enemy!"….Josh cackled heavily. At that moment, he was skilfully mimicking the shaman's voice.

"I will skin him alive and show him the true meaning of pain! Otherwise, I am not Kato'R the Wise!" Jack shouted very heroically.

Yes, what confused the orcs was that Josh currently had the appearance of the shaman. Yet, he had the mark of an enemy? This didn't make sense!

"S-shaman, what happened?!" One soldier asked tentatively.

"This despicable human showed up! I almost killed him, but he managed to flee and even reflected my curse back at me! Follow me. Let's catch him!" He angrily shouted.

The orcs kept glancing at the mark that seemed to make them physically uncomfortable. They had been taught for so long to kill anyone with that curse. It was one that would only ever be used in an emergency after all.

But it wasn't like they could go against the shaman. No matter what happened, they had to obey. After all, they all had pledged to serve him in the past.

"Hurry up," Josh incited them as he began running.

"This shouldn't be happening. How is this all possible?! This is insane!" The ghost cried out, but the orcs couldn't hear him one bit.

That's how Josh hurriedly left the fortress, chased by an orc army. The difference was that he wasn't running away from them but leading them. The ghost was even forced to watch it all happen. It kept shouting "What?! Kill him! Kill him" but to no avail.

As Josh sensed the fresh air on his skin, he couldn't help but internally chuckle. He couldn't wait to share this story with AT.

They left the walls and encountered the weird boulder-like creatures. They all seemed to be minding their business. What were they even?

But, the orc exodus wasn't over just yet as Josh kept going, seemingly toward the end of the world.

"S-shaman, where are we going?!"

"I fear that this horrible human went you know where to hide, alongside the big cats. We will catch him and crush him! Are you all ready?!" Jack shouted.

A deep roar resounded, one made by hundreds of soldiers shouting. It shattered any semblance of a peaceful atmosphere.

— Roar! —

Then they eventually reached the bone delimitation that Josh had seen earlier. He couldn't help but think that this thing was the perfect mix of opportunity and danger. "Let's charge!" He screamed.

At this point, the orcs were seriously confused. What the heck had happened to never going in that area? "W-what about—"

"Fuck the rules! I will make this human suffer!!"

They couldn't help but all nod in agreement. Seeing him that devoted to their mission, they couldn't help but admire him. Usually, the shaman liked to hide behind the others, even stealing their vitality over minor disagreements.

How long had it been since the shaman had fought on the Frontline with them? They couldn't help but rejoice. They were all smiling as they all crossed to the other side.

That's when the exploration began. All the orcs naturally assumed that he knew the way forward. As for him, he really couldn't stop, or he'd blow his cover. From time to time, he'd shout encouragement to the troops.

"Keep going. We're almost there!"

But the deeper they went, and the more stressed they became. Every damn second, the green brutes would glance his way, expecting an answer. What the heck did they even fear?

The shaman ghost was still shouting stuff like, "Screw you! I curse you to die a thousand—" Wow, he sure was motivated.

But Josh would soon learn of the terror of this place.

They had only covered a short distance when a nightmarish creature appeared. In the distance, they could now see a deadly-looking black panther! He finally understood what they had meant by a big cat.

Hell, it wasn't a normal one. Every single of its footsteps would send small shockwaves in the area. As for its body…well it reminded him of Nightmare! It had long, sharp spikes that seemed to come out of its body. Well, this one was definitely physical, however.

Without hesitating a single instant, Josh ordered the charge:

"Destroy the cat! This tyrant guards our enemy!

The orcs hesitated but finally charged forward valiantly. There wasn't any other way than to describe the next event as a bloodbath. The poor lv 25 orcs were getting torn to shred by a lv 30 OP panther.

Its speed was faster than Nightmare, its strength was enough to rip to shred any of them in one blow, and its body seemed to deflect incoming attacks. The orcs kept hacking at it without as much as leaving a scratch on its fur.

The monster was still violently rampaging, utterly unstoppable.

As a bonus, the shaman was losing his shit: "Stop dying like idiots! What's the point of sacrificing yourselves. Dumbasses, you're all being played!" He shouted and shouted as usual, but it was utterly useless.

Josh kept going, slowly but surely, thining the army accompanying him. Blood flowed, and as it did, he kept encouraging them.

"Show me the results of your training!"

"Bring glory to the orc race!"

But just as he was having lots of fun, a new black panther suddenly appeared and joined the fight. The one versus hundreds suddenly turned to a two versus hundreds (with many dead). That's when he realized that he had to run!

"Nightmare, come forth!" He summoned in urgency.

The shadowy horse appeared in all its glory, neighing in preparation to run. At that moment, many orcs seemed to understand that there truly was something wrong with this situation. Since when did their shaman have a horse? He didn't!

Heck, the shaman disliked heights. Even riding was too much for him! That's why there were no windows in his study. Josh began galloping away on Nightmare, leaving behind an incredibly dumbfounded group of orcs.

They tried chasing him but kept dying because of the panthers. Those monsters tore them apart before they could cause any problem.

But just as Josh and horse were about to be safe, the two cats actually charged at them. It was as if they had just decided to fuck them in particular.

"What did we ever do to you?! We even brought you a meal and friends to play with!" Josh complained using his regular voice.

That was the final hit to the orcs' sanity. They, too, charged at him, disregarding their deaths. As for the ghost, it was despairing. The curse it had done had allowed Josh to gather the orcs quickly and guide them to their doom.

He had been the cause of his brethren's demise. As this realization slowly dawned on him, his entire ghastly being began to fluctuate. It was as if the emotion was way too massive for a ghost to handle.

Josh and Nightmare kept running, hoping for the best. They were about to finally reach the safety line made out of bone when one panther suddenly accelerated super quickly.

He had to slow it! But how?! He shot a few magical arrows, but they all proved to be useless. There was a reason those creatures were locked here. They were akin to secret boss monsters!

That's when he finally remembered the godly stick he still had in his inventory. This was the perfect time for a gamble. Josh quickly read the weird chant, drove mana into it, and threw it, hoping that the tower wouldn't break this time.

As soon as it collided with the ground, long vines began coming out of the stick, soon forming what looked like a grass elemental. It turned toward Josh, checked the panthers, and then seemed unsure of what to do.

"Buy us some time until we reach the bones!" Josh pointed to the safe area.

The golem nodded before acting. It extended its grass tendrils akin to tentacles, ones that turned out to be so fucking long, grabbed Josh, and threw him toward safety.

The human flew in the sky almost as majestically as a basketball before heavily landing headfirst…. That's when the golem gave a sad glance toward Josh, turning back to its stick form.

The panther growled in anger, staring at Nightmare so damn intently as it killed the last remaining orcs. Now, Josh just needed to get back his stick, except the panthers were camping it...

Creator's Thought

Note to self, make sure to test every new item before using them. The way I handled the orc army was pretty neat, but I could have done better on the panthers had I realized how fast they truly were. Nightmare is pretty fast in the open world after all, and even he was getting beaten. Oh well...