Ren scrolled upward, flicking through the skill catalog with one hand while the other clutched an apple salvaged from a nearby kitchen. He hadn't eaten properly in days, and his body was running on Adrenaline.
The System store flickered, then expanded.
At the very top, highlighted in red, was a skill with a name that radiated pure existential dread:
Outer God Madness
Spread the madness like a plague and claim the world for the Outer God.
Cost: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Fear Points
Ren stopped chewing.
"…The fuck?"
He squinted, tilted his head, then reread the price.
"Okay. That one's definitely a no. I don't care if it cures cancer and makes me breakfast. That's a war crime disguised as a menu option."
He scrolled down, muttering to himself, occasionally pausing to dry heave into his trusty side-bucket. The Fear Store was getting worse the deeper he went. Some skills looked useful. Most looked like reasons to be blacklisted by every moral authority in any dimension.
Then something caught his eye in the S-rank section:
Hand of the Eldritch Doctor (S-Rank)
Grants ten additional limbs capable of surgical precision down to the atomic scale.
Cost: 100,000 Fear Points
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Well... that sounds promising. Finally, something that doesn't involve screams, possession, or brainworms."
He selected it. A pleasant chime rang in his skull.
[Thank you for your purchase.]
[Skill Unlocked: Hand of the Eldritch Doctor (S-Rank)]
Effect: Transforms your head into ten precision tuned black tentacles emerging from the neck. All tentacles possess neural connection and can operate independently with surgical accuracy.
Ren froze.
"…Wait. Hold on. What do you mean, 'transforms my head'?"
Silence.
He stared at the system screen.
"You didn't mention the decapitation part, you lying sadistic software tumor!"
No reply.
Of course.
He groaned and activated the skill anyway, just to see what would happen.
Something shifted. There was a squelch. A pop. Then ten wet splashes in rapid succession.
He turned toward the broken mirror hanging on the opposite wall, its surface cracked, but still intact enough to show him the new horror.
Where his head had been, ten sleek, ink-black tentacles now writhed out of the stump of his neck like they'd just escaped a jar. Each one was marked with faint runes and subtle scars, like surgical instruments made of living shadow. They moved with an eerie precision, twitching in sequence like fingers stretching after a nap.
Ren stared.
"Well," he said flatly, voice now echoing out from somewhere deep inside his chest cavity, "I officially look like a Resident Evil boss. Great."
He rotated one tentacle experimentally. It moved like a scalpel dancing through muscle memory. Smooth. Precise. Efficient. Horrifying.
"Okay. I won't get killed on sight when I return to civilization… right?"
The mirror didn't answer.
Ren hissed. "Fuck me. I look like a villager with a parasite in their neck after you shoot their head off in RE4."
Then the world shifted.
Everything trembled. The ground beneath his feet pulsed once, then twice. The sky outside the broken building cracked open like a pressure wound, dripping thick red fluid that hissed as it hit the ground.
A low rumble built in the distance—no thunder, just something older, deeper. Like a heartbeat inside a rotting god.
Then the Voice rang.
[Trial Update: Final Objective Initiated]
Slay the Plague God. Save the World.
Transporting you to Final Arena in 60 seconds.
Ren dropped the protein bar.
"Wait. WHAT?"
He turned in a frantic circle. The room was still trembling, the walls bleeding softly at the corners. The roof groaned like it was trying to collapse politely.
"I'm not ready! I'm a Level C Hunter! This is a world ending boss fight!"
He sprinted to the system menu, flipping past the skills and diving into the item store like a man searching for a fire extinguisher in a volcano.
"Come on, come on, give me something fuck give me anything!"
The categories spun past. Medical Tools. Consumables. Relic Class Items. Forbidden Upgrades. Nothing looked cheap. Nothing looked survivable.
Then one item caught his eye. It didn't have a description. Just a shape.
He didn't read the details. He didn't care.
[Purchase Item? Cost: 100,000 Fear Points]
"Yes. Fine. Gamble. Fuck it."
He slammed the buy button.
[Thank you for your purchase.]
The item dropped into his inventory like it had been waiting.
Ren clutched the cube as the countdown began.
[Transporting in 10... 9...]
His tentacle-head twitched.
[8... 7...]
The building crumbled around him, reality groaning.
[6...]
He gritted his teeth wherever they were now.
[5...]
"Alright, you eldritch bastard," Ren muttered. "Let's see if a cowardly doctor with ten surgical neck limbs and no clue what he's doing can take down a god."
[2... 1...]
The world disappeared.