The Administrator: There’s no way out of this, candidate. You can’t eat Garmr. If you try, he’ll light you up with [Necrotic Ignition]! Your Necrotic Resistance isn’t strong enough to endure that! And you don't have Fire Resistance! You’re done! Finished! Your only hope is to beg for my favor. And get all the way down while you do it. Kiss the floor before Garmr! Prostrate⁠—that’s the word⁠—and make it look good for me⁠—I mean Garmr. If you do that… maybe you can make a spot as my⁠—the heroes' entertainment.

 

While the Administrator blabbered through his cowardly blue prompt, Rhonda was enduring waves of savage pain like she had an inferno in her stomach. One hand stablized her on the ground while she knelt. The other hand held her tormented belly. She almost wanted to beg for death, but one glance at the Administrator’s words turned her away from the idea.

It was better to burn to ashes than to stroke the Administrator’s ego.

Thankfully, the burning pain started to lessen on its own. Then it faded until it was almost negligible. A moment later, it was completely gone, and all that remained was the frightful memory of the pain.

Rhonda stayed put, sucking in air desperately. She was very shaken. She was also scared that the pain would return. Her stomach felt intact, but Rhonda’s spirit was cracked. When the pain didn’t return, she looked up to see what Garmr itself was doing.

What she saw was quite grim.

The monster she had beat down from the first punch to the drop here had transformed into a different creature. Its squashed face and boxy head remained, but underneath it had stretched and morphed into a more giant-kin like form. Its torso elongated, and its front legs became arms.

But it was all wrong. The arms were too short. The curve of the waist was out of alignment. It hadn’t even recovered from Rhonda’s destruction of its first phase, so a couple of rib-bones were sticking out, and parts of its flesh that had been eaten were missing.

It looked withered, weak, and frail compared to the first phase.

None of that seemed to matter to Garmr as violet light beamed through the tears in its body. Its bruised skin bubbled. Smoke unfurled from the tears in its flesh. Then its torso erupted into violet flames that lapped upward and smoldered like a nefarious bonfire. And at the top of the blaze, Garmr’s head expressed its ugly, lopsided grin down at Rhonda, the evil light in its eyes glowing brighter.

Rhonda gulped.

 

The Administrator: So… you gonna give me a show or… Are you going to hold on to your little wittle pride and die? Don’t be foolish. I can recognize that you’re somewhat unique. I can make use of you. And it can pay very well to be of service to a God. So please do yourself a favor, get your face on the ground, and worship me. Girl.

 

My queen, I’m willing to die with you if that’s your choice, Londa said. If it were me, I would do what he wants. I’m whatever. But this is you, Big R. I can’t accept you being demeaned like this. Do as you please, Rhonda, I’ll ride and die with you.

Rhonda gave the matter some thought. Just enough to really consider what was happening to her. She had been tricked, her rage and hunger used against her. Without Londa, she would’ve eaten way too much of Garmr and got roasted thoroughly. She owed Londa her life and an apology for yelling at her only companion⁠—battle high, emotions running, none of that mattered. Londa didn’t deserve that.

And Rhonda couldn’t repay her friend if she died.

“Then I don’t have a choice anymore,” Rhonda said with a sigh. She was done with thinking. All that was left to do was to give in to what felt right.

Rhonda? Big Mama? Please, don’t do it. Please! Don't give in to him!

 

The Administrator: Ohhhhhh, snap! I did it! I broke her! See, System, I totally got this. I’m the greatest Administrator ever. The System: … The Administrator: Don’t be a sour-puss. This is fun. For me. Anyway, where were we… hey, why are you standing?

 

Rhonda got to her feet and started pilfering through the weapons cache. Everything was a little too large for her to wield properly, and she didn’t know how to use any of this stuff. But she patted around with one hand for something useful while she watched Garmr through the corner of her eye. The monster hovered above the ground, staring blankly at her with its crooked grin.

 

The Administrator: So you choose death. Garmr, incinerate her. The System: Sir, those flames will create an Undead Noble Giant. That is a bad idea. The Administrator: We’ll work her into the next campaign as a Lvl 100+ boss. No worries. I’ll make her useful one way or another.

 

Garmr followed the Administrator’s orders. It jerked its arms upward and lit them on fire, the violet flames illuminating the room brightly. It was almost blinding, and the heat coming off of it was sweltering. Then it lowered its arms and aimed its wicked coalesced power at the giantess, funneling a blast of necrotic fire.

Rhonda’s hand found the surface of something hard and solid. She grabbed it by the edge, yanked it off a weapons rack, and held it out in front of her. She met the deadly flames with a giant round shield. The force of the torrent pushed the shield against her, making Rhonda brace her shoulder against it.

The leather that made up the face of the round shield blackened, shrank, and ripped. But it did not catch on fire easily. The wooden planks beneath smoldered from the heat, and Rhonda could feel pricks of flames breaking through. But her shield held together throughout the duration of the blast.

 

The Administrator: That stupid shield won’t be able to take another [Necrotic Fire Blast]! You’re dead, Rhonda!

 

Garmr prepared another [Necrotic Fire Blast], arms raised and lit up.

Rhonda, Rhonda! Captain America that ho! Rhonda didn’t know who Captain America was, but she did understand what Londa wanted.

Rhonda twisted around at the waist, shield cocked, and threw it with all her might. The smoking disc exploded into flaming splinters against Garmr’s chest right before the boss released another attack. Garmr fell backward and crashed against a rack of spears, sticking itself on one.

The creature hissed, grabbed the spear from behind it, and tried to jimmy it out. Meanwhile, it aimed one burning arm in Rhonda’s direction to strike her with another torrent of horrific flames.

Rhonda grabbed two shields and threw one of them. She followed after it with quick, determined strides to close the distance.

Garmr readjusted and blasted the shield away. It was still unsticking itself from the spear as Rhonda gained on it. It looked between its predicament on the spear, Rhonda, and then left the spear alone to aim both arms at the giantess.

The flames of the nether realm spiraled within its gasp as it empowered its deadly shot to incinerate⁠⁠—

Rhonda chucked the shield quickly at Garmr’s face, blocking its vision.

But the boss kept its aim straight and released another volley of concentrated fire regardless of the shield hitting it in the face. They both probably knew it was a distraction, so Garmr let it strike it and poured on the power to kill Rhonda.

All according to your plan, my dear?

“Heh.” Rhonda ducked underneath the blast. The ends of her hair were smoking when the danger passed, but that was the extent of the damage. It was more than worth it to get up close to Garmr.

The boss’s eyes widened, the light in its sockets shrinking. It tried to hover away, taking the spear stuck in its chest with it.

Rhonda grabbed its ankle. “Why are you running?” She yanked him down to her level, swallowed a big gulp of air, and cocked her fist back.

Garmr ignited its whole body, the heat blistering and painful against Rhonda’s front.

 

The Administrator: Back off, idiot! Or you’ll burn!

 

“I do not listen to trash!” Rhonda fisted Garmr’s chest. She plowed right through the center until her knuckles struck its spine.

Necrotic flames splattered everywhere, burning her flesh, ravaging her body wherever it touched. It hurt her so much Rhonda couldn’t stop screaming and crying, but as soon as the tears rolled out, they evaporated.

That was quite helpful because she wanted to see the horror in Garmr’s face as she continued taking out the trash.

She knifed her other hand into the cavity she made in Garmr’s flaming chest. Both hands grabbed its spine, and then she wrenched as if she was trying to break a string.

 

The Administrator: No freaking⁠—

 

SNAP!

Rhonda flung the lower half of Garmr to one side of the room. She threw the torso down on the floor, the spear dislodging at last.

The fire covering the upper half of Garmr’s emasculated torso dimmed. Weak embers and small puffs of smoke were all that remained of the weakened figure.

Garmr smacked at the stone floor with its brittle-looking arms. The enemy boss was trying to crawl away from the looming giantess.

Rhonda let her arms hang down by her side, both limbs a smoking, burnt mess. Constant pain assaulted her senses, but she honed her focus on what she wanted dearly⁠—Garmr. She stalked after her prey. She kicked it over onto its back like an upturned beetle.

“Trash,” she spat.

Rhonda raised her foot.

“This is what befalls trash.”

Rhonda stomped. She stomped again. She kept treading on Garmr, smashing him apart under her heel. Every downward thrust was accompanied by her wrathful grunts, striking so hard the armory trembled from every impact. Giant weapons shook within their racks, some of them clattering to the floor as she pummeled the boss under her foot.

Then she stopped. Took a well-deserved breather. She relaxed for a few seconds before going back to work.

She squashed the boss’s remains a few more times for good measure. Gave it the grind and twist with all of her weight and passion, too.

One more for me, please?

Rhonda dropped another one for Londa.

Yesssssss, we dominant in this biiiish!

Rhonda nodded.

She fell backward, her body spasming from the overwhelming pain. It was a lot to deal with. It did not stop her from voicing herself.

"I won again, trashy boy."

The Administrator: ... The System: … The Administrator: … The System: … The Administrator: [Exits the tutorial] The System: C-Con-congratulations! While you were extremely underleveled⁠—you’ve defeated an incredibly difficult enemy—with a SECOND PHASE! You’re now level 11. You’re now level 12. You’re now level 13. You’ve made the Administer rage-quit out of the tutorial. He’s back to overlooking the beginning stages of the main campaign. You probably deserve experience or a reward for this, but that’s outside of my parameters. You completed the questline, Sleeping Giant Origins, in the most extraordinary fashion that ever happened in one of our tutorials. Wow… You’re now level 14. (If the Exp-Boost were still available, you’d be near level 18 after all the effort you’ve displayed. Apologies.). Quest Attribute Points are rewarded and automatically distributed at the System’s discretion for completing rare special quests, such as the tutorial. These are bonuses separate of your own Unspent Attribute Points: [4] for Strength, [4] for Vitality, [4] for Stamina, [2] for Agility, [4] for Perception, [2] for Intellect, [2] for Charisma, [10] for Faith (I rewarded you more QAP than any other candidate for overcoming such incredible odds in a tutorial. Let’s call it a peace-offering after the Administer’s unreasonable antics. If you’re wondering why I favored the addition to Faith the most, it’s to help you in the long run. Your personal willpower is incredible, but you’ll need the attribute to match when certain spells are involved). Your quirk Necrotic Resistance improved to Necrotic Tolerance. You gained the quirk Minor Flame Resistance. You gained a new ability: [Cornered Beast] || lvl 1 Passive || When harmed and dropped below 25% health by an enemy species that you’ve eaten using [Ravenous Insight], put your back close to an obstacle as large as you or larger. You only need to do so for a second. Then you will receive an extra-large boost to your Agility until your health returns to 50% or you kill the enemy that has hurt you the most. The effect will also end outside of combat and/or when you start resting. You now have the choice to evolve. After you evolve, you can choose one class from three pre-packaged sets made available to you. You'll automatically understand them without needing to train: Giant Guardian Dragon Reaper. Fey Hunter Then you can receive your matching equipment, food, water, medical supplies, guidance to the campaign, and pet companion. Do you wish to evolve? Before you answer, do note that if you decline, you won’t have the option to evolve again until level 20. You will be denied your pre-packaged selection, the items, and pet companion, and they will remain unavailable to you unless you earn them on your own. If you decline, you will remain as you are, and you will have to train for a job (class) the old fashion way. This will slow your progress for the campaign. Will you evolve? Yes? Or no?