He rushed toward the door and shut it closed before collapsing onto the bed. His eyes became heavy and his vision hazy. He had used his last remaining energy for his brief outburst and was completely spent.
If he didn't get any food to eat or water to drink within the next five minutes, he might truly die.
However, Maximus focused on the system interface before him. Perhaps he might win something from the system that could get him out of his current predicament.
[Congratulations, Maximus. You've awakened the Final Boss Role-Playing System.]
"Final what…?" Maximus looked at the system in confusion.
[Would you like to activate the system? Yes/No]
Without thinking or hesitating, Maximus said, "Yes."
"Arrghh!" Suddenly, Maximus felt a splitting headache.
A flood of commands and information on how to utilise the system poured into his mind.
[Final Boss Role-Play will be assigned in ten seconds… 10… 9… 8… 0]
Maximus's vision immediately went black.
***
[Final Boss Role-Play Assigned.]
[Boss Identity: The Caretaker (Shadow Reaper.)]
[Level 1 Dungeon: The Abandoned Orphanage.]
"Arghh! My head," Maximus groaned, clutching his head as he looked at the holographic status screen before his eyes.
Suddenly, he froze as he realised something was wrong. He looked at his hand. It was covered in worn, dirty bandages.
This wasn't his hand. And the attire he was currently wearing wasn't his either.
Even the voice he had spoken with wasn't his.
He surveyed his current environment. He was seated in a small office, sitting on a chair with a table before him.
There were piles of books stacked on either side of the table and piles of papers spread out before him.
However, they were all covered in dust and spiderwebs. Even the four corners of the office walls, along with the shelves, pictures, and other decorations, were blanketed in dust and spiderwebs.
There was only a single flickering light on the ceiling, casting a dim glow over the room.
Was this truly a dungeon?
Was he truly role-playing as the dungeon's final boss?
It felt as though he were a mummy in an abandoned building.
"Status," Maximus said.
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[ Name: Maximus Vale]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Age: 21 ]
[ Talent: Final Boss Role-player [???] ]
[ Level: 0 ]
[ Mana: F ]
[ Strength: F- ]
[ Agility: F- ]
[ Physique: F- ]
[Dexterity: D-]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Attribute: None ]
[ Skills: ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
This was his status sheet, an interface that only Hunters could possess. However, thanks to the Final Boss Role-Playing System, he could now access it, granting him the opportunity to become a Hunter.
Among Hunters, those who possessed talents were treated differently because they were rare and special. Any of them was bound to become a high-ranking and powerful Hunter, depending on the type of Talent they awakened.
Seeing the talent he had awakened, Maximus wasn't surprised by the question marks. If the Final Boss Role-playing system was exactly as the information he had received suggested, then its potential was limitless.
It couldn't be rated by normal means.
He also wasn't surprised by his attributes. He was a normal human who hadn't eaten for a week.
If he were a Level 1 Hunter, then his attributes would have been different.
"Boss Status," he said.
Instantly, the holographic status screen vanished, and a new one appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Final Boss Status Panel ]
[ Boss Identity: The Caretaker (Shadow Reaper)]
[ Boss Level: 1]
[ Mana: D ]
[ Strength: D ]
[ Agility: D+ ]
[ Physique: D ]
[ Dexterity: C+ ]
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[ Attribute: Darkness ]
[ Skills: Shadow Jump(D+): Instantly move between connected shadows.
Chain Throw(D+): You can throw a weapon tethered by a chain to strike a target at range.]
[ Passive Boss Effects: Morale Pressure (D+): Hunters under sustained pursuit experience panic buildup.]
[Unique Final Boss Skill: The Survivor(???): One survivor will always make it out alive to spread your legend. ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Maximus stared at his stats screen in surprise. He had gone from Level 0 to Level 1 in an instant.
Sure, even if it wasn't exactly his original body, for now, it was his to control as he desired. And even if he didn't like the system he had awakened, beggars couldn't be choosers.
Maximus didn't bother to think about where the system had emerged from either. If he knew, what could he do?
It wasn't as though he would stop himself from utilising it.
It was either this or going back to worrying about putting a roof over his head and fleeing from city to city until the next dungeon break.
Maximus was content with what he had received. He pushed away the silly thought from his mind and looked at the other status screen beside the Dungeon's Final Boss Status screen.
He didn't know how The Survivor skill worked, but he sensed that he would find out either way.
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Objective: Eliminate the intruders.
Penalty: Death.
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[ Fear Points: 0 ]
[Fear can be used to enhance stats and skills. Unlocks at 50 Fear Points. It will determine your [Reward extraction]]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Maximus realised that he would die if he didn't complete the quest. If he wasn't mistaken, then Fear Points were generated from Hunters entering the dungeon to conquer it, or to target him.
The only thing Maximus looked forward to was the Reward Extraction, which came from completing the dungeon. It was related to how many Fear Points he could gather. The higher the Fear Points, the higher the reward he would receive.
He had received hints from the system, but still didn't know what it was, so he was eagerly anticipating it.
[Dungeon will open in twenty minutes. Take your position, Dungeon's Final Boss -The Caretaker (Shadow Reaper)]
Suddenly, another status screen appeared before him.
[20:00]
A timer appeared beside it.
"I think it's time to get to work," Maximus said.
However, his voice was raspy, sounding more like a groan, making it difficult to discern what he was saying. It was nothing like that of a human. Currently, he was a monster through and through.
He pushed the chair back and stood up from his seat. He took a good look at himself.
His entire body was covered in worn-out bandages, except for his eyes, allowing him to see his environment. Over his body was a black coat.
Maximus saw a black hat hanging on the wall behind him and a cutlass with a large blade and raised edges. A chain dangled from the handle. He picked up the hat and wore it, then took hold of the cutlass.
The chains immediately wriggled and wrapped around his hand as though they were alive.
Maximus swung the cutlass forward across the room. The cutlass extended outward alongside the chains, and after reaching its limit, it returned to his arm.
"That's cool," Maximus muttered.
He held the cutlass in his hand since he couldn't sheath it anywhere.
He walked over to one of the picture frames and cleaned it. The pictures showed a group of children seated in rows above and below each other. The pictures were already damaged, so he couldn't get a clear view of everything.
Still, Maximus sighed, aware of what they represented from the memories of The Caretaker, which the system had integrated into his mind the moment he became the Dungeon's Final Boss
Maximus arranged the pictures properly back where they had been and walked out the door. He began planning for the arrival of the Hunters.
***
[Level 1 Dungeon – The Abandoned Orphanage]
Five people appeared within a desolate hallway with a light bulb illuminating them and their surroundings.
There were three men and two women.
The first was a man, who appeared to be in his early twenties. He was dressed in a black body suit. His muscular physique was accentuated even under his attire. Strapped to his back was a long, sharp sword.
The second was a man appearing to be in his mid-twenties. He had a lean, muscular figure. In his hand was a staff, and hanging from his waist was a dagger. He was also dressed in a black bodysuit.
They wore cuirasses and other armour pieces arranged on their bodies for protection.
The third was a man, who appeared to be in his late-thirties. Like the others, he wore a black bodysuit with greaves and arm armour. He had a pudgy stomach, which was accentuated by his attire, looking almost as though he were pregnant, but he wasn't; it was just a very large stomach.
If Maximus had been present, he would have recognised him immediately. It was none other than Mr Jonathan. In his left hand was a large shield, and a sheathed sword hung at his waist.
The fourth was a woman appeared to be in her early twenties. She held a bow in her hand, with a quiver of arrows strapped to her back.
The fifth was a woman wore a scarf wrapped around her head. She also appeared to be in her early twenties. She held a spear in her hand. Both women wore bodysuits in black and blue, with armour protecting their vital areas.
They all had a small utility bag hanging from their waist.