The void zombies were a suffocating tide, their empty sockets fixed on him with predatory hunger. Putrid saliva dripped from their slack jaws, and the stench of decay choked the air. Razor-sharp claws scraped against his armour, the reinforced plating groaning under the assault. Each contact was a fresh agony; shallow cuts crisscrossed his flesh, a symphony of pain layered over the deeper, bone-deep exhaustion that threatened to consume him. One claw ripped through biometal and into his bicep below, a jagged tear of flesh that gushed crimson, the hot blood a stark contrast to the clammy sweat coating his skin.
Joel swung the pipe with a desperate snarl, fueled by adrenaline and sheer spite. It connected with a wet, sickening crunch, the sound of bone and sinew giving way. A zombie’s head snapped back at a grotesque angle, its jaw hanging by a thread of sinew, a spray of black ichor painting the wall. But the horde was a relentless tide. For every zombie he killed, two more surged forward, driven by an insatiable hunger.
Joel’s foot snagged on a discarded femur, slick with gore, and he stumbled. He barely maintained his balance, but the near fall was a fatal mistake. A zombie lunged, its cadaverous fingers, tipped with needle-sharp nails, clamping around his wrist. The grip was like iron. Joel ripped his arm free with a guttural yell, tearing armour along with flesh and muscle. The pain was blinding, white-hot, and his vision swam. His muscles screamed in protest, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him. He tasted blood in his mouth, a mix of his own and the zombie’s foul ichor.
“Not like this,” he snarled, the words a raw, broken whisper. He spat a mouthful of blood and bile onto the encroaching horde.
But a cold dread wormed its way into his heart. He knew, with a chilling certainty, that he wouldn't last. The horde was a ravenous beast, and he was a wounded animal. His body was shutting down, his movements sluggish, his reactions dulled. A zombie’s claw raked across his damaged helmet, cutting his cheek, and leaving a deep, ragged gash that pulsed with dark blood. He could feel the life draining from him, the darkness closing in.
Still, he refused to yield. If this was where he fell, then he would make them pay for every inch of ground. He raised the electrical pipe, his grip faltering, his arm trembling. His jaw was clenched so tight his teeth ached. He was a whirlwind of fury and desperation, a cornered animal ready to fight to his last breath. He would meet the darkness with a roar, a final, defiant act of defiance.
Joel roared, a guttural cry of defiance, as he rammed the electrified pipe through the void zombie’s skull. Bone splintered, rotted flesh gave way, and the metal crunched against the back of its cranium. Electricity, no longer sputtering, surged through the creature, its body convulsing violently, limbs flailing in a grotesque dance before it collapsed in a smoking, twitching heap. Black ichor oozed from the wound, sizzling where the electricity touched it.
Then, the world shattered.
A shockwave of raw, untamed energy ripped through Joel, every cell in his body screaming in protest and ecstasy. His mind exploded in a supernova of white-hot sensation, his vision flashing, his heartbeat a thunderous war drum against his ribs. The world around him seemed to slow, the screams of the horde fading into a distant echo as he was pulled into something vast, something ancient and powerful.
A voice, not his own, echoed in the sudden void.
System Notification:
[You have reached Level 10.]
Milestone achieved. Adaptation threshold exceeded.
New abilities unlocked. Strength increased. Armour synchronization boosted.
The words weren't just heard; they were felt, branded onto his soul, into his heart, rewriting his very being. He felt the shift, the agonizing, exhilarating process of his body breaking down and reforging itself anew. He knew now that he could never take out his armour heart card, that it had truly become the core of his being.
His armour, a second skin of battered metal, reacted first. The dented plates smoothed, fractures knitting together with a wet, metallic click like living metal. Gears whirred, servos realigned with a guttural groan, and hydraulics hissed and pumped as they recalibrated to his newfound strength. The faint hum of the power core deepened into a low, menacing growl that vibrated through his bones, resonating with the raw power surging within him.
Then came the power.
Electricity, no longer erratic, no longer a weapon he wielded, obeyed him. It was drawn to him, hungry for him, bending to his will. Bolts of raw current crackled and danced along his arms, tracing fiery paths up his fingers like living lightning. Joel exhaled, a plume of vapour erupting in the charged air. The void zombies, a tide of rotting flesh and gnashing teeth, still surged forward, their shrieks echoing through the ruined building.
He lifted his head, and the fear was gone. The exhaustion, the doubt, the pain—all purged by the surge of power. What remained was cold, focused fury. Precision. A primal hunger for carnage coiled within him like a viper ready to strike.
A slow, predatory grin spread across his face. Fierce. Unrelenting. Ready.
Joel spun the pipe in his grip, the lightning crackling around it, then brought it crashing down onto the concrete floor. The impact was a thunderclap, the ground beneath him spider-webbing with cracks as a shockwave of pure energy ripped outwards. The void zombies faltered, their advance momentarily checked.
Joel chuckled, a low, dangerous sound that echoed in the sudden silence. “What? Not so eager anymore?” He rolled his shoulders, feeling the raw, intoxicating power thrumming through his veins.
He exploded forward.
The first swing of his pipe caved in a zombie’s chest, the force of the blow sending it flying backward into the onrushing horde. The second swing tore through the mass of bodies like a scythe through wheat, lightning arcing from the pipe, setting the very air ablaze with crackling energy. Bits of flesh and bone flew, illuminated by the electric flashes. He wasn't just fighting anymore. He was reaping and gods help anything that stood in his way.
The pipe, now a useless afterthought, clattered to the floor. Joel’s armour hissed, servos whining as they adjusted to his stance. Power surged, a jolt of raw energy that made his teeth ache. His heart hammered a brutal rhythm against his ribs.
The void zombies’ shrieks were a symphony of madness, a high-pitched keening that drilled into his skull. Scream all you want, he thought, a feral grin spreading across his face.
He hefted the hammer. It felt like an extension of his arm. He could feel his muscles and the biometal humming with malevolent energy. Sparks danced along the haft, drawn to him like moths to a flame. The air crackled with ozone and the sickeningly sweet stench of burning flesh.
His power levels were dropping, but as fast as they were before. He was holding at 90 percent. The level-up must have refilled his stamina, or maybe he absorb the void energy, or even the power from the electrical line. He didn’t know at this time, or care.
The horde surged; Joel met them with a roar.
His first swing was a cataclysm. The hammer connected with a zombie’s skull, and the world exploded. Black ichor, thick and viscous, sprayed outwards, mixed with shards of bone and something that looked disturbingly like brain matter. The force of the impact sent cracks spidering across the floor. Two more zombies stumbled, caught in the shockwave. Joel didn't pause. He was a whirlwind of violence, a maelstrom of destruction.
The lights strobed wildly, flickering in erratic bursts that painted the corridor in jagged flashes of red, white, and shadow. The emergency alarms warbled, a broken wail barely audible over the deep thrum of power surging through Joel’s body.
A zombie lunged, claws extended. Joel sidestepped, his armour’s servos reacting with inhuman speed, and drove his elbow into the creature’s jaw. The bone snapped with a wet, sickening crunch. He spun, the hammer rising in a brutal uppercut that sent the zombie's head rocketing upwards. It slammed against the ceiling with a meaty thwack, leaving a trail of black sludge as it slid back down.
Experience gain. Pathetic.
They were too slow. All of them. Joel swings: a skull imploding, black ichor spraying like a ruptured water balloon.
The electric beat pulsing through him: WUB-WUB.
The another strike: a body snapping in half, limbs folding inward like a puppet with its strings cut.
BRRRRMMM.
The lights flickered faster, stuttering in time with his movements, freezing each gruesome moment into a staccato of carnage. One frame: Joel mid-swing, his hammer wreathed in electricity. The next: three zombies disintegrating into arcs of blue lightning.
The sound in his mind began to build, layers of distortion twisting into something raw and violent. The zombies lurched forward in waves, their black-pit eyes reflecting the flashes, their screeches melding into the wailing synths. Joel spun—a brutal, fluid motion. His hammer cut through the air, catching one in the ribs and sending it careening into the wall, where it exploded into a smear of black sludge. Another lunged; he ducked under its swipe and slammed an uppercut into its jaw that sent its skull ricocheting off the ceiling.
Deeper now: WUB-WUB-WUB—BOOM.
Joel became a massive shockwave bursting outward, washing over the horde, a ripple of kinetic force that sent the horde reeling. Bodies lifted off the ground, flipping end-over-end as if caught in the wake; Joel was the storm surge, a violent swell of destruction crashing through the horde. His hammer struck like the pounding tide, each impact a wave cresting before breaking into raw, unrelenting force. The void zombies were nothing but driftwood in a tempest, tossed and shattered against the sheer power of his assault.
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A zombie rushed him from behind. His armour’s servos whined as he twisted mid-air, boots skidding against the floor in perfect sync with the pulse of the music. He planted his foot, reversed his momentum, and slammed his hammer through its chest with a sound like a subwoofer rupturing reality itself.
The void creature disintegrated. The lights flashed faster. The walls shook. And Joel—drenched in sweat, bathed in flickering neon death—laughed. Because of this? This was his song. This was his dance. And the void zombies? They were just the drop.
Joel didn’t stop. The horde rippled around him, hammer blows were rolling outward like sonar pulses, reverberating through the metal corridor. Each swing of his hammer sent out a deep, resonant boom, like a lighthouse bell tolling against the chaos of the abyss. The void zombies moved in waves, but Joel was the undertow, dragging them down, swallowing them whole beneath the weight of his fury.
A deep, resonant pulse thundered through the air, vibrating in Joel’s chest. The void zombies shrieked as if the sound itself was cutting through them, their twisted, malformed bodies flickering in and out of the blinking lights. Then, in the back of Joel’s mind, the bass dropped.
Joel carved a path through the horde. He ducked beneath a wild swipe, his armour whirring as it adjusted his balance. He was a one-man demolition crew, a force of nature unleashed. Even as he moved forward, a zombie clawed at his back. His armour responded before he could even think. Plates along his spine flared, unleashing a pulse of raw kinetic energy. The zombie’s frail form disintegrated, collapsing into a heap of twitching, corrupted flesh.
Joel’s grin widened into a predator’s smile.
Another zombie charged from the left.
He caught it by the throat.
The creature thrashed, hissing and clawing, its needle-sharp nails raking against his armour. Joel’s grip tightened. He could feel the zombie’s thin skin give way, the void energy beneath pulsing like a diseased heart. With a final squeeze, he crushed the creature’s windpipe.
A notification flashed before his eyes—his power levels had increased by one—but he didn’t have time to focus. He continued his attack.
Tendons snapped like overstretched rubber bands. The zombie gurgled, a wet, rattling sound before Joel slammed it into the ground hard enough to leave a crater. Black fluid erupted, the body convulsing in its death throes before finally going still.
More.
His senses were heightened, every sound, every smell, amplified. He heard the squelch of their decaying limbs and smelled the cloying stench of rot and the acrid tang of burning void. He could feel their hunger, their mindless, insatiable need to consume, to destroy.
But Joel was done running.
He was the hunter now.
He spun the hammer a blur of motion and smashed into three zombies at once. The sound was sickeningly squelchy, a sickening splatter of bone and gore. Their bodies, limbs twisted at grotesque angles, flew apart like discarded puppets. Joel’s breath came in ragged gasps, his chest heaving. Heat radiated from his body. His armour whined, struggling to manage the raw power coursing through his veins.
It could have been minutes or hours, Joel lost track of time. It was a charnel house.
The remains of the zombies twitched, the last vestiges of void energy flickering and dying. Joel stood amidst the carnage, surrounded by shattered bone, spilled viscera, and the lingering scent of death.
His grip loosened on the hammer.
He had won.
But this was only the beginning.
General Information
- Name: Joel
- Level: 10
- Occupation (Pre-Merge): Heavy-Duty Mechanic
- Core Heart Card: Adaptive Mechanized Armour
- Rarity: Rare
- Description: Allows Joel to absorb the features of creatures, monsters, and beasts he encounters. Upgrades features based on his mechanic level.
- Strength: 20 (Enhanced through experience and system buffs)
- Dexterity: 18 (Improved through combat training and agility-based cards)
- Constitution: 18 (Further resilience gained through battle and hardship)
- Intelligence: 16 (Experience applying system knowledge and mechanical expertise)
- Wisdom: 14 (Sharpened instincts and survival experience)
- Charisma: 13 (Growing confidence and leadership among survivors)
Health and Resources
- HP: 220 (High durability due to increased Constitution)
- Stamina: 150 (Enhanced endurance through combat and pushing physical limits)
- Mana (or equivalent): 50 (Slight increase due to better system adaptation)
Core Ability – Armour Adaptation
Absorbs and integrates creature features into the mechanized suit, enhancing Joel’s combat and survival abilities.
New Adaptations (Level 10):
- Void Resilience (Upgraded): Further reduced damage from eldritch and void-based attacks.
- Lightning Capacitor (Unlocked and Upgraded): Can store more electrical energy and release it in a controlled discharge.
- Energy Absorption (Enhanced): Higher stamina regeneration and reduced risk of overheating.
- Enhanced Grip (Upgraded): Now includes partial limb reinforcement, allowing for temporary bursts of superior grip strength.
- Apex Predator’s Senses (New – Gained from Dungeon Void Battles): Sharpened reflexes, improved spatial awareness, and heightened auditory tracking.
Other Abilities:
- Mechanic’s Ingenuity (Passive)
- Grants +3 to problem-solving with mechanical challenges.
- Reduces resource costs for repairs by 15%.
- Overclock Armour (Active, Cooldown: 2 minutes)
- Temporarily boosts speed and strength by 30% for 15 seconds, but triples stamina drain.
- Field Repair (Passive)
- Can restore 15% durability to armor or tools without additional resources.
- Pain Tolerance (Enhanced)
- Joel can endure higher amounts of pain before being incapacitated.
Training & Combat Growth
Gideon's Training Focus:
- Brutal efficiency, improvisation, and pushing beyond limits.
Improved Combat Skills:
- Close Quarters Combat (CQC): Intermediate
- Hand-to-Hand Combat: Intermediate
- Weapon Proficiency (Hammer): Expert
- Weapon Proficiency (Blades): Intermediate (Due to Blade Dancer)
- Pain Conditioning: Further resilience to injuries
Key Drills:
- New Drills: Disarming techniques, void combat strategies, enhanced survival tactics
Perk: Rig Survivor (Upgraded)
- Increased resistance to environmental hazards like water, oil, and extreme temperatures.
- Enhanced lung capacity for surviving in low-oxygen environments.
- Adaptive Mechanized Armor (Core Card, Level 7 – Upgraded)
- New Feature: Joel can reinforce his armour at will, redistributing absorbed energy into temporary durability boosts.
- Cooldown: Energy-based.
- Adaptive Camouflage (Level 6 – Upgraded)
- New Feature: Can now blend into motion-heavy environments more effectively.
- Shelter Card (Level 2 – Upgraded)
- New Feature: Can now withstand moderate magical interference.
- Grit of the Forgotten (Mack’s Card) (In Memoriam)
- New Feature: Now grants a moment of clarity under fear-based effects.
- Steam Gator’s Fury (Level 2 – Upgraded)
- Scalding Burst: Deals slightly more damage, and a wider effect radius.
- Swamp Walker: Now includes minor resistance to poisons/toxins.
- Reptilian Reflexes (Level 5 – Upgraded)
- Duration Increased: Now lasts 15 seconds of peak performance.
- New Feature: Reduces reaction time further, enhancing dodging ability.
- Blade Dancer (Level 5 – Upgraded)
- New Feature: Allows for minor predictive movements in combat, anticipating enemy swings.
Personality & Growth
- More Focused: Joel has sharpened his problem-solving skills and adapted to combat faster than expected.
- More Ruthless: No longer hesitates in battle when survival is at stake.
- Leadership Skills: Beginning to emerge as a key survivor and decision-maker.
Background (Key Events – Updated)
Notable Moments from Levels 6-10:
- Survived the battle against the Mother Otter, gaining heightened sensory perception.
- Adapted to the void’s influence, making him more resistant to eldritch threats.
- Battle with Jeremy and gain his heart card.
- Strengthened his combat abilities through Gideon’s brutal training and real battle experience.
- Took a leading role in organizing the survivors and strategizing for long-term survival.
Began pushing the limits of his armour, testing its adaptability under extreme pressure.