Hazel didn’t expect her fantasy dungeon life to turn into a horror movie. Yet there she was, in the middle of a horde of Fractured Human zombies, just waiting to tear her limb from limb and possibly eat her alive.
One of the Fractured humans snarled at Hazel, lashing out with its hand. She blocked it with her staff and pushed the zombie-like monster away, but there were too many for her to keep up with all of them. By dealing with one, a few more snuck up behind her and attacked. And she was running out of space to keep them back.
“Dammit…!” Hazel swore before firing a Mana Bolt at one of the Fractured Humans, obliterating their skull along with the rest of its body as it scattered into purple fragments and then dissipated right after.
[Level 1 Fractured Human has been defeated!]
It looked like the only way out was clearing a way for her. And that was what she did, continuously firing Mana Bolts in front of her, destroying any Fractured Humans that got in her way. And when one of them attempted to grab or lash out at her, Hazel whacked them with her staff to get them off.
[Level 1 Fractured Human has been defeated!]
[Level 2 Fractured Human has been defeated!]
[Level 2 Fractured Human has been defeated!]
[Level 1 Fractured Human has been defeated!]
[Level 1 Fractured Human…]
With each kill she got, more panels appeared in front of her, unfortunately blocking her view as she tried to get out of the horde before getting completely swarmed by them. Another Fractured human managed to grab and pull her hair, nearly holding her back long enough for the horde to latch onto her body. Thankfully. Hazel used her staff and bashed its skull in, sending it to the ground.
She didn’t even bother to finish it off what with all the other Fractured trying to get her. But, after a couple more mana bolts, she got out of the mass of zombie-like humans before scurrying off away from them.
While escaping, Hazel was suddenly assaulted with a painful headache. She clutched her head with her free hand and skidded to a stop. The novice mage stood there for a moment, trying to let the migraine pass. And with each passing second, her skull continued to throb and pound in pain.
Hazel had no idea why her head decided now of all times to develop an agonizing headache, but she wished for it to go away as fast as it showed itself. There were bigger issues that she had to deal with at the moment.
Behind her, the Fractured Humans continued to follow Hazel, letting out a symphony of groans and growls while trying to chase her. Luckily enough, they moved a lot like zombies and shambled at a snail's pace. But they were beginning to catch up now.
After running several meters, Hazel put quite a distance between them, but by staying still and not moving, the horde was closing said distance quickly. Not wanting to get caught up in that horde again, she pushed through the headache and continued to run away.
While running, she quickly spotted a two to three-story building before sprinting toward it. Without hesitation, Hazel rushed inside and closed the door behind her. When she took a moment to catch her breath, she looked around and noticed that she was inside a bar or tavern. There were dozens of round tables and chairs scattered around the area along with trays, wooden plates, and broken glass.
Hazel even saw a broken medieval wooden chandelier on the floor as well, with pieces of candle wick around it. Aside from how messy the place was, there were no corpses here or Fractured, at least for the moment.
Once she realized that the Tavern was empty, at least for the moment, Hazel sighed deeply. Just then, her skull began to throb in pain again. Thankfully, the pain wasn't that bad like when it first manifested. Still, Hazel could barely focus with this migraine pounding away in her head.
Attempting to ignore her headache, Hazel decided to check her message panels to see her current progress. Pulling them up, her lips slightly curled into a grin after reading them.
[You have leveled up! You are now Level 3!]
[Mana Bolt is now Rank 2!]
“Heh, looks like dealing with that horde came with some benefits.”
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Although she nearly got killed by the horde of Fractured humans, escaping them managed to pay off in more ways than one. Of course, she wished that almost dying wasn’t what assisted her in reaching level three, but all that mattered right now was that she made more progress.
It seemed that firing all those mana bolts was enough to get her skill to rank 2. Maybe she gained a new power or something after reaching it.
Eagerly curious, Hazel pulled up her skill description.
Rank 2
A skill that allows the user to summon a bolt of condensed mana to strike their enemies down. There are no cooldowns.
Hazel frowned. So, no new features, huh? Hopefully, her skill got stronger by increasing its rank. That was all she could hope for right now.
Thanks to her level-up, three stat points were rewarded, and Hazel immediately put them into Intelligence. She needed only three more points to get her stat to twenty, so her next goal was to reach level four to obtain them.
But, before doing that, she needed to catch her breath. After what happened with that horde, a part of her was terrified to go back outside and face them. Hazel wasn’t good with horror, and seeing those Fractured Humans reminded her of zombies like in The Walking Dead, just without the rotting flesh. However, the purple cracks on their bodies seemed to be just as terrifying since it appeared that their vessels were decaying from the Fractured phenomenon.
Regardless, Hazel needed to take a break before dealing with them again. It wasn’t good for her heart to fight those monsters so many times. Then again, honestly, none of this was good for Hazel’s heart.
She fought wolves, goblins, and now zombie-like humans. Then there was the fact that she was currently trapped in the dungeon that was basically in space with floating landmasses and an endless void she could easily fall into if she made even one mistake.
Yeah, Hazel wasn’t sure she could last that long in this place without having a couple of minor heart attacks.
To make matters worse, while she took in a breath to calm herself down, a loud creak could be heard from upstairs, making Hazel’s blood freeze in response.
“Oh, come on…” She grumbled, knowing well from horror movies that when you hear a loud creak in a haunted-looking building, you’re not exactly alone.
Feeling nervous, Hazel stood up from her chair and followed the source of the noise, glancing over at the stairs where she heard it. Walking to the edge of the steps, she gripped her staff while staring at the top of the second floor. Instead of walking up there and possibly getting attacked, she had a better idea to handle this situation.
“Hello?” She called out to the second floor. “Is anyone up there?”
Yep, she was calling out to the monster. It may seem stupid at first, but the second floor was likely where rooms for tavern residents were located. So, it would be a narrow hall with multiple doors, each of which, could possibly contain a monster that could burst out and attack her by surprise. Thus, putting Hazel in danger since she wouldn’t be able to fight properly because of the limited space.
So, she resorted to this. Plus, due to the distance and height, Hazel could easily hurl a spell at the monster up there before taking even one step down the stairs.
For a brief moment, there was no answer. Just silence as Hazel cautiously scanned the top of the second floor. Then, a low, rumbling groan could be heard, getting close along with loud thuds making their way to the stairs.
Hazel readied her staff, pointing it at the top of the stairway, prepared to fire a Mana Bolt at the first monster she saw. And what emerged from the hall was another fractured human, limping over to the steps while releasing a pained groan.
The mage didn’t hesitate and quickly fired her bolt of mana, instantly killing the Fractured monster as it shattered and dissipated into nothing. A sharp pain then assaulted Hazel's skull, forcing her to lean against the wall for a moment.
"Mother..." She stifled a curse, angrily biting her bottom lip.
[Level 1 Fractured Human has been defeated!]
Seeing the panel, Hazel sighed, relieved that she made the right call to just wait for the Fractured creature to show itself. Only to be immediately alerted by another loud sound, but it wasn’t coming from the second floor…but from the first floor.
“Raaaah!”
A beastly, inhuman roar echoed in the tavern, originating from the Kitchen behind the counter of the bar. Hazel quickly moved away from the steps and trained her eyes on the kitchen in front of her. Just in time to see a metal pot flying in her direction.
“C-crap…!” She yelped before quickly conjuring a Mana shield.
The pot bounced off the shield and crashed to the floor, making a loud metallic clang. Then, the one that tossed the metal pot at Hazel emerged from the kitchen. By literally bulldozing through the wall and counter, sending wooden shrapnel flying everywhere.
Some of the wooden shards pelted Hazel, but she still had her shield up, so they merely rebounded before falling to the floor. Though, afterward, the shield disappeared since her time was up. She didn’t even spare them a glance as her eyes stared at the new monster that appeared, causing them to widen in shock.
Before Hazel was another Fractured human but looked entirely different compared to the zombie-like ones from the horde. This one had more muscles on its body and wore pieces of metal armor on its chest, arms, and legs. In its hands was a worn-down blade covered in purple cracks similar to the ones on its body.
It appeared to be a human, but when Hazel identified it, fear was present in her eyes, as if what she saw terrified her. She then immediately identified it, fearful yet curious of what it was.
Level: 5
Unlike Fractured Humans, a Fractured Warrior is a Class-oriented Fractured, having the abilities of its former life as a warrior. Although it wasn’t that much intelligent, its battle prowess was not to be underestimated, which means it is required to be cautious against this Type of Fractured.
It was a class-oriented Fractured Human. Was that even possible?
“You got to be kidding me…” Hazel muttered fearfully. “So these guys can have classes too?!”
Before Hazel could complain further, the Fractured Warrior let out another mighty roar, gripping its sword with both hands. Then, locking eyes with the novice mage, it immediately charged.