Dreamland: Freedom (Terror Infinity, Ultimate Evolution)

Before anything, Eden decided to finish Jason off now. After all, he was the biggest threat around. Whatever was giving him powers, Eden doubted they were much of a danger on their own, and had to mainly rely on Jason to do its bidding.

Moreover, there was also the possible side mission of killing Jason.

Setting aside his fire poker, Eden grabbed the machete Jason had dropped, since it was an undoubtedly better weapon, something confirmed by the system.

[Jason's Machete]

[Rank: Uncommon]

[Attack: +30]

[Strength: +2]

[Voorhees Curse: 60% chance to cause bleeding for any hit with this weapon.]

It was a nice weapon indeed. Equipping Jason's Hockey Mask and Jason's Machete boosted Eden's Strength from 4 to 7, going from below average to very strong. Something else he noticed too was the slightly different notation for the attack.

The Mossberg and the 1911 had attack values of 40 and 30, while Jason's Machete had a value of +30. Eden doubted it was Dreamland that made a mistake, and easily came to a simple conclusion based on the nature of the weapons.

Eden might become as strong as the Hulk, that would never help him shoot a gun any stronger. The bullet would deal the exact same amount of damage, no matter his strength. For the machete however, the strength behind the swing would matter.

Following this logic, attack values with no plus signs before them would deal fixed damage, and those with one would add their value to the total damage. The most likely calculation for damage with the machete would then be Strength+weapon damage, while the guns would simply be weapon damage.

Of course, the values themselves seemed to be more indicative than anything, with different multipliers depending on where they hit.

Feeling he was pretty close to the truth, Eden fiddled with the machete, familiarizing himself with it as he looked down at Jason and asked, "You don't mind if I take it for myself, do you?"

Eden was not the type to gloat usually, but with everything Jason had put him through, he could not help himself.

Of course, Jason showed no other response than dumbly reaching out for Eden.

To be safe, Eden did not risk attacking Jason's face, since he would have to get within Jason's reach, or even his arms. Instead, he went for the ankles first. Before Jason could switch to kicks, Eden swung the machete down at his right ankle.

Unfortunately, it did not cut straight through, despite the weapon's sharpness and Eden's increased strength, but he did manage to make a deep cut. It took two more swings for Eden to cut Jason's foot off.

As usual, Jason did not react, even as he lost a limb, but this did give Eden some confidence as he moved to Jason's upper body. He started by the fingers, which he managed to cut with a single slash, followed by the hands, and finally the arms.

This was not Eden being sadistic, but safe. If Jason managed to grab him, he could very easily crush him to death.

Only when Eden had cut off both of Jason's arms, effectively turning Jason (h)armless, did he turn to Jason's vital points, and slashed at his neck. This time, it only took two swings for the blade to go completely through, and for Eden to decapitate Jason.

Still no notifications.

Eden looked down at the severed, frozen face of Jason with a frown. Was Jason somehow still not dead? The first time, he had accepted it because Jason had shown to be capable of resurrection in the movies, and although incinerating the corpses should have been able to prevent it, Eden was still able to accept it.

But since he had already been resurrected, Jason should not be able to rely on it any longer. And decapitation was usually enough to kill the undead in fiction. At least, Jason looked very dead to him now, his body being completely still.

Moreover, it was not just a simple decapitation, as Eden had not used a mundane weapon. The machete's special feature was the Voorhees' Curse.

Voorhees was Jason's family name, which gave Eden a hint of who might be behind all this, but also hope it may kill Jason. After all, if the weapon's power shared a similar source to Jason's resurrection, shouldn't it be the best weapon to kill him for good?

Unfortunately, even after getting his head cut off by the machete, Jason was seemingly still capable of being resurrected by his mother.

After all, who other than her could it be? The only other important member of Jason's family was his mother, who was the woman who had murdered the camp counsellors twenty years ago, and had her head cut off by the last one, the final girl of the original Friday the 13th.

And since Jason's weapon was cursed by a member of his family, and he picked it up after his mother's supposed death, Eden concluded that she was somehow not dead yet, and she had been the one who had revived Jason, and created the loop in the corridor.

Although Eden had no idea how Pamela Voorhees could have escaped death, or where she drew her powers from, it made more sense as an explanation to Eden than there being a being like Freddy Krueger messing with him in a Friday the 13th setting.

Looking down at Jason's severed head, which was barely bleeding, Eden was comforted in his conclusion. Jason had to be an undead. After all, the machete had a 60% chance of causing a bleeding, yet after more than a dozen hits, Jason only let out small blobs of congealed black blood.

Only a zombie would be immune to the curse, since they should technically be immune to bleeding in general.

In any case, if Jason was indeed still capable of being resurrected by his mother, then idling around would only come back faster. Of course, there was also the possibility that Jason was dead for good and killing him simply did not give out any additional rewards, but Eden doubted that was the case.

Dreamland had been introduced as a land where danger and opportunity walked hand in hand, after all.

Besides, side missions aside, killing Jason for good was also the easiest way to ensure his own survival for his main mission, so all he was left to do now was severe the problem at its roots.

Grabbing the severed head with him, Eden walked out of the building, leaving the corpse behind, and started by searching for the rest of the group. He took the head in the hope it would prevent Jason's resurrection.

Thankfully, he easily managed to find them. They were in Camp Crystal Lake, as he had told them to be, and all awake and alive, which was a plus. Only Chewie looked like he was having a bad time, as his right hand was carefully nursed in a make-shift splint. He had probably broken it in the car crash.

Seeing Eden approach with a machete in one hand, which they distinctly remembered Jason having before, and his head in the other, the group audibly gulped.

Not in the mood to waste any time, Eden directly addressed Whitney, "Tell me, where did Jason take you? I need to go there to finish him once and for all."

Whitney silently pointed a nearby house, feeling scared and hopeful in equal parts.

Eden looked over, and nodded, before talking to everyone, "Alright, you should leave the area now. Remember not to split up and-"

Clay cut him off, exclaiming, "You've got to be joking! We can't just run and leave you to face an undying monster alone!"

Eden was unmoved by Clay's bout of heroism as he replied sarcastically, "I'd say I've been handling him pretty well until now."

Seeing Clay still wanted to add something, Eden added, "You've only seen a part of his power. Jason can teleport, is immune to pain and has the strength and resilience of ten men. You would only get in my way."

The group was silent, so Eden finished, "Do as I say, and leave this place together. Jason can grow stronger through murder, and believe me, a single hit is more than enough to split you in half, so I'd rather have you as far away as possible."

Well, Jason growing stronger from their death was a lie, although now that he thought about it it might just be another hidden bullshit power he had, but if it could save his possible side mission, then Eden didn't mind lying. Besides, he really did not need their help.

As he spoke to them, Eden felt a sudden tug from Jason's severed head. He looked down curiously, thinking Jason's current form might actually not be dead yet, but the head was not actually moving on its own. Instead, it felt like something was drawing the head to it. Coincidentally, or probably not, this pulling force came from the main building, where Jason's corpse rested.

Feeling the pulling get stronger, Eden wasted no more time as he firmly gripped the severed head, and walked toward the house Whitney had pointed out for him. As for the rest of the group, although they visibly hesitated, they eventually walked away.

The house was in a decrepit state, the paint having completely peeled off the walls, and the furniture looked like a bear had rampaged in the room.

Thankfully, this all made the large hole in the ground even more conspicuous. It was dark, and looked ominous, but Eden was far beyond feeling apprehensive by it now, so he jumped down the hole with no hesitation, and landed in a dark tunnel.

The only sources of light were old oil lamps scattered sporadically, half of which had long extinguished, making it very hard to see anything in the tunnel. However, the moment he jumped down, Eden suddenly felt the pulling force in his hand disappear. Looking down, Eden was shocked to find Jason's head to be rapidly turning into ashes, blown away by a non-existent wind.

Eden concluded that this was a sign of Jason being resurrected, meaning he did not have much time left before he would be on him, so he picked up the pace and walked down the tunnel. He expected it to be hard to navigate through, but it was all quite straightforward as he quickly reached his destination.

A wide, circular room had been dug out into the ground, with an altar in the middle of it. On said altar was an opened book, as well as a decomposed human head. Although its features were indistinguishable, Eden easily guessed that this was Pamela Voorhees.

Just as in the movie, she had been decapitated, which should mean she was dead. But she was somehow still having an influence on whatever had been resurrecting Jason, and in this room, that could only be the book.

Turning his attention to it, Eden felt himself get dizzy, but he ignored it as he directly reached for the book.

[Intelligence Check…]

[Intelligence Check Failed!]

[Wisdom Check…]

[Wisdom Check Failed!]

[Physique Check…]

[Physique Check Failed!]

[-10 HP!]

[Contracted Mild Headache!]

[Contracted Mild Cold!]

[Contracted…]

Eden never received so many messages from Dreamland, and unfortunately, none of them were good. Eden did not have time to even really understand what they said as he instantly took his hands off the book.

Not only did Eden lose 10 HP, he was also afflicted with many debuffs, too many to count, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. Coughing, Eden once again heard the loud footsteps. Turning around as he coughed, Eden saw Jason coming his way.

However, Eden immediately noticed Jason was slower than before. Did that mean he was weakening with each resurrection?

But Eden himself was in no shape to fight, the numerous debuffs on him had weakened him even more. So, as Jason approached, Eden made a sudden decision and grabbed Pamela's head, before throwing it away.

Jason, who only had eyes for him since they met, stopped paying attention to Eden as he chased after the head rolling away.

The book was obviously the source of everything, and dealing with it would certainly finally stop Jason, but it also had the means to defend itself. If given enough time, Eden was confident to deal with it, but he first needed to deal with Jason. One last time.