Vern swung his goblin sword at the bloodthirsty skeletons, separating marrow from bone, heaving and huffing. A dozen more stared at him as he thought, Finally, I levelled up… Level 2.
A skeleton pounced at him when he thrusted his palm sending it flying back with a powerful force before the sword pierced its eye socket bringing it’s tragic life to an end.
That damned Nathanial, always so cautious, it was so hard getting a chance to get away from the group like this to farm XP…
If I was with him and used that sword, those bastards would already be trying to kill me in my sleep, maybe they’d pour goblin blood in my mouth and claim it’s some fucking alien virus, mourn my loss and steal the fucking sword, especially that damned Sean. That fucking psychopath.
----
Finally, the chance to farm XP. Fucking hell, that damned Nathanial, what’s the point of a game world, if I can’t take the chance to kill a few people, a dozen dragons, and hundreds of undead. They are all cowards.
A young man with blonde hair thought as struck down a skeleton with a broom and crushed its skull with his boot. Aaah Level 2, so wonderful. I can even use it like this to accelerate my foot… Aha… I wonder what it’ll be like at Level 5… If it’s like this in the first few hours then… I’ll be a god before long… If I go to earth after that, then I can kill those damned bastards.
----
Nathanial smashed his chair into another zombie’s head when two zombies and a skeleton jumped at him, he felt a strange sensation in his foot when he suddenly bounced out of their hands and smashed a zombie with his chair. Is this the force thing? Who cares.
A gun shot rang out and yet another zombie collapsed and Nathanial blocked a sword from the bulky skeleton with his sturdy chair. He pushed with all his might and made it topple over onto the ground. He smashed his foot down onto it’s wrist releasing the sword and smashed it into its skull. Finally… A sword… No more crappy spears. And I think I understand the force crap no-
Nathanial leapt to the side as a skeleton wearing a bone crown lunged at him. It’s nails suddenly extended towards his head and he quickly smashed his chair into it to block it. Sweat dripped down his face as several dents grew deeper and deeper before the nail pierced through.
What the hell?! Fuck. The nail shot towards his head when Nathanial used all his strength to drag the chair to the side sending it’s trajectory off and taking a piece of flesh off his arm instead of his head. Is this their leader?! Fuck.
He smashed his sword with all his might at the nail breaking it and the skeleton howled and spewed fire from its mouth. What the fuck?!
Nathanial jolted back and the chair quickly began to melt and dripped down on the nails fusing them with it. The skeleton howled as it tried to rip the nails out of the chair and to direct them at Nathanial.
He quickly took advantage of the situation by kicking hard against an undamaged portion and swinging his sword at it’s exposed body, but before it could reach, it collided with an invisible shield and bounced back. What the hell… A shield?! How am I supposed to kill it, if it has a shield?! Anarak!!!
It finally ripped it’s nails out when several gunshots rang out sending bullets flying at it, of the three, two missed and one hit an invisible shield which trembled before bouncing it away.
It trembled… Nathanial’s face changed as he grasped the chair, using it as a shield to smash against the skeleton’s thrusts and the sword to smash against the shield. He violently smashed it over and over relentlessly. I see!
As he smashed it, it vibrated more and more before the sword pierced through towards the crown. The skeleton pulled back it’s arm’s to protect it’s head, but it was too late as the sword split the crown in two and continued bringing the skeleton’s life to an end.
Finally… I did it… What the hell was that… Nathanial panted before he felt the familiar sensation of a level-up surge through him. Agh, this again…
---
“He broke through the anti-projectile shield?” A ghostly voice shrieked.
“Not bad, is it? He’ll make a perfect vessel for one of you.” A blurry pumpkin head said.
“Him? Hah. He’s only a newbie, he’ll probably blow up, if I try to take-over him.” It replied.
“True, but… It wouldn’t hurt keeping him around as a long term investment, strong bodies are few and far between… Also… He’s not the only useful one...” The pumpkin said.
“Those guys… I’ll be looking forward to it… Hehe...” It cackled.
----
“Not bad, you already grasp the basics, I thought you’d take a few days at best. Not bad… For a mortal at-least. Your force push days might be coming to an end soon...” An unpleasant voice whispered in Nathanial’s ear.
“Who are you?” Nathanial asked.
“You know who I am… Or perhaps I should say… What I am… Guess.” It said as it faded away. Who the hell was that… And he’s mocking me about that damn force push. Screw it, it doesn’t matter, it’s probably another god mocking me, there’s plenty of those around.
A wisp of power flowed into his foot and he shot at a zombie fighting three people fending it off with a bedsheet to block it’s vision and deodorant to kill it’s sense of smell. He swung his sword and smashed it into neck, however this wasn’t enough to kill it as it’s head twisted toward him trying to bite his arm. Fuck!
He pulled back and smashed toward with his chair shield, barely managing to escape unscathed. Fucking hell, fucking hell… These damned… I almost got infected… If that happened, then I’d probably wind up as one of these mindless zombies… Fuck.
Faint particles drifted into him and the bystanders, mostly into him as one person grabbed it’s sword and the other went off with them to hunt more down, but not before one said, “Thanks.”
“No problem, we need every man we can get in this hellhole of a world, don’t die out there,” Nathanial said and they nodded.
He gazed around, looking for people in trouble when he noticed a skeleton wearing iron armour and several people running away while it had a big grin on its face. Or what looked like a giant grin on its skeletony face.
Without wasting a single moment, he shot towards it from behind while it was distracted with the “meat” in-front of it and smacked his sword at its neck when it’s head suddenly turned and a jet of pressurised water shot out of its mouth… He raised his chair to block, but it couldn’t hold before it pierced through, losing most of its strength before smashing into him. Fuck, another one!
The skeleton quickly took the chance to kick him away, when a man in his forties charged it from behind with a skeleton’s sword and smashed hard against the helmet rattling it but dealing no damage. N… No shield. This one seems different but…
As the skeleton turned to confront the new enemy, Nathanial swept in again and smashed its neck to pieces with the rest of it collapsing. I knew it, it can’t use that water jet multiple times! Just like the skull crown skeleton!
He quickly turned as he saw dozens of skeletons and zombies gathering in the distance, one was a jet black skeleton holding a lance and one looked like a living man except he was deathly pale. What are those… Damn… Should we continue closer or… They look dangerous… But if they’re like the previous one, then we can overwhelm them with numbers… Tch…
“Everyone… Cautiously move in, and be ready to escape.” Nathanial shouted. The large group of people began to converge after previously being spread out to hunt skeletons and slowly crept up to the congregation.
The monsters turned and snarled and the jet black skeleton said, “Fucking Antoin, what am I supposed to do with a pack of low level monsters? The best we can do is feed this rabble… Fuck. He wants to strengthen them to make it easier to possess them. Damn!”
It turned to run when a red brand appeared on its forehead.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A ghastly voice said and it sighed and faced the crowd.
“Stay together in groups, don’t let them isolate you. For every skeleton, we need a zombie providing cover. Elites will move to assist hard worn areas…
Fuck. Drag this out for as-long as you can until Sir Antoin arrives!” It shouted and the skeletons grunted in response.
“Are you that scared of them? They’re just a bunch of Level 1 and 2 pups, you’re Level 5. Just look how much trouble one of them had with a Level 2, he took forever breaking through the anti-projectile shield, do you think they can as much as scratch you?” The pale man said.
“There are hundreds of them! And humans are sneaky like hell, especially that damned woman.” It said.
“She might be able to do something but… As for these guys… You worry too much, they don’t even know how to break a shield without depleting it. By the time they’re through, they’ll be dead.” The pale man said.
----
Nathanial crept close when he suddenly channeled the power to hit foot and leapt at the closest skeleton. The skeleton raised its sword which collided with the chair while Nathanial smashed its head with his sword. Skeleton swords are surprisingly sturdy, it’s almost horrifying how easily they smash heads… Did they spawn new swords or did it lie there for god knows how long…? Well, not that it matters.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He turned and smashed his sword at the next skeleton but a zombie leapt in the way and smashed it’s arm into it. Nathanial tried to pull it out, but it grabbed onto the chair with it’s other arm and tried to lean in to bite him. Hell no.
Nathanial jumped back abandoning his weapons and grabbed a new sword from a comrade and swung in once more about to smash its head when the skeleton blocked it with a swing. It’s almost like they’re getting smarter…
Nathanial kicked the chair at the zombie pushing it back and quickly swung in with his sword and just as it was about to block… He pushed himself to the side and swung in again but it jumped backwards to dodge it and a zombie jumped in from the side at his ankle.
It tore open his pants with it’s claws when it was suddenly sent flying back by an invisible force, but instead of taking the chance to kill it, Nathanial leapt back as the skeleton came in once more.
“Need help there?” Gerry jumped in and smashed the skeleton’s head with a club.
----
Gunaf conjured up thousands of runes which created an ice bridge through the swamp, Madenne continued drawing symbols which formed a bigger and bigger constellation behind her Dozen of feather caps conjured up balls of fire, wind and water, but it hit an invisible wall and turned back at the attackers knocking them off their feet before the drone incinerated them.
The dog nosed guy whistled and the spiders leapt at the remaining goblins and greedily devoured them. Jake looked on in awe at it all. They make this crap look easy… We had so much trouble fighting those fucking green faced bastards but they slaughter them with ease.
“It was near here, right?” Madenne asked.
“No, further. Not that I can really tell in this fucking forest where everything looks the same, but there was a field.” Jake said.
“How is it?” Madenne asked the dog nosed guy.
“Hm… I’m not really sure as the wind’s been scattering the scent, but… I smell goblins in that direction… Many. Thousands.” He said.
“I see, we’ll just have to ask them then.” Madenne said.
----
The jet black skeleton leapt through the crowd as he saw skeletons falling around him. Fuck. Antoin, you bastard, how could you send me on a suicide mission like this. He caught sight of one man with a chair being de-armed and tied down by the skeleton and zombie before a helper leapt in. That’s it… Buy time… Fuck, he has help, that’s it...
The jet black skeleton jumped over the skeleton wall and landed in-front of the man who had a look of horror on his face.
----
Fuck, it’s the black skeleton.
“Focus on the black skeleton.” He shouted and several comrades appeared around him.
The skeleton shot towards him with it’s lance at an incredible speed, instantly appearing before him and thrusting. He pushed himself to the side, but the lance went right into his elbow making him drop his weapon.
Several others smashed their swords and clubs at it, but bounced off an invisible shield. Some even fired off guns, but it didn’t even tremble. A… shield… And far worse than the last…
It thrusted again, hitting Nathanial in the ribs as more people gathered and desperately hammered away at it to no avail. He thrusted himself back, but the skeleton simply matched his speed and responded with a third thrust. Fuck!
As it came in, he raised his hand in-front of his hand and tried to grab it piercing his hand. He grabbed hard with his remaining hand, but the skeleton punched hard it’s other hand nearly knocking Nathanial out and forcing him to release it. It thrusted once more when it suddenly stopped in mid-motion and retreating back into the horde. What… the… fuck…?
---
“Antoin…!” The jet black skeleton howled.
“He’s an important vessel, we can’t have you killing him.” The voice replied and it scowled. Damn it, we’re being mowed down and these clowns won’t even let me kill the enemy, fucking hell.
----
Why did it go back…? What the hell… That’s too crazy, we’ve got to get the hell out of here. Nathanial clutched his wounds as a man carried back into the group. Before he passed out entirely, he said, “Get the hell out of here back to the plains, this place is too dangerous.”
The group slowly backed away as they fended off skeletons, but to Gerry’s shock, most of them passively watched rather than chasing them down. What’s going on…
As he stepped back and blocked blows, he noticed that the area was beginning to get misty. Not good, if visibility drops, then we’ll be done for if that skeleton comes back.
----
They’re backing away? Were the humans always this cowardly? Fucking hell, if it wasn’t for that stupid order, we’d be able to slaughter them… The undead need no rest… The more they run, the closer they’ll get to their deaths…. Antoin… You useless bastard…
“Velnort.” The pale man said.
“What?” It replied.
“It’s time.” He said as the sky changed colours and a giant geyser erupted behind them releasing a thick white gas across the entire area. A pumpkin man descended with three grey capped spirits and thousands of glowing lights, their aura swept out and suffocated Velnort. Ugh…. Fuck… It’s him…
“We meet again, not that you’d remember, but I’m Antoin.” It said as thousands of lights burrowed into the people, but unlike before, they resisted for a short while before succumbing to the presence and collapsing.
----
Madenne looked over the hill at a giant cloud consuming the land. A black cat with tribal tattoos ran up to them.
“It’s you… What are you here?” She scowled.
“The Felis Clan detected some strange activity in the astral and sent me to investigate.” It said.
“Yes, sure you did, something like this is exactly the sort of thing your people would do,” she said.
“It’s not us. It’s her.” It said.
“Her?” She asked.
“Elaine. Empress of Death. Lady of Catastrophe. Embodiment of Doom.” It said.
“What.” She said.
“Elaine has a great plan. I don’t know what it is, but 80 powerful spirits have descended, that Level 50 is one of them… And one of the weaker ones.” It said.
“Fuck, that’s exactly what I need, more damned 50s.” She said.
“It’s a big problem for us too, especially since we don’t know what her intentions are.” It said.
“Intentions? They obviously want to take over our bodies and live again.” She said before swinging her arm. The constellation of runes trembled as it condensed together and a bright light shone out almost seeming as if it would push back the fog before a jet black three-headed giant of a dog descended.
“C...C...Cerberus… No… A Micro Cerberus…” The cat said.
“Exactly.” Madenne said as she leapt in on it’s back with the others. Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld and bane of the dead. Even Antoin shouldn’t be able to resist it. Let’s see how you’ll deal with me this time.
Antoin chuckled as the bodies convulsed and then he grimaced. She’s already here? Fucking hell, I wanted to take over these clowns and play dumb as if they never met me. Fuck. And a Fake Cerberus too? This is going to be painful.
The souls trembled as they whispered, “Cerberus. It’s come for us.”
One of the grey caps said, “That’s not Cerberus. It’s a fake Cerberus, the Great Sir Antoin will be able to deal with this imposter.”
----
The souls scattered as the giant dog leapt down and Antoin waved his hands and the skeletons and zombies started screaming, including the jet black skeleton which got absorbed into the ground before his screams subsided.
The ground trembled once more as a giant three storey half-zombie half-skeleton abomination rose up wielding a giant rusty sword. It swung the sword at the giant dog which coughed up balls of fire which incinerated it into ashes as Antoin appeared next to Madenne.
Dozens of golden runes sprung up around her, pushing him back, but he pushed through them and reached out towards her. She materialised several feet away, when Antoin also appeared and stretched out his hand piercing her flesh without leaving a wound. Grgregnndegewg.
Antoin flinched as dozens of golden runes emerged from her cells and constricted his hand and unlike before, he couldn’t simply phase through it.
“Crap,” he squeaked out before Cerberus turned one of its giant heads at him and let loose a fireball as Madenne cackled. One of the grey caps turned and screeched, “Boss!”
Another conjured up a phantasmal pyramid before turning listless and the foggy world trembled before Antoin with a half-blurry body emerged from the flames. Shortly after, seven of Elmhilt’s golden arrows plunged into his body and all three heads released their wrath.
One conjured up a world of ice. The second conjured up a world of fire. And the third conjured up an emerald realm.
“Damn you! Fuck! El-” Antoin screamed as his body broke down before abruptly stopping as a small fragment of a pumpkin dropped down. Madenne collapsed and panted as the giant dog began to break down into motes of light.
Elmhilt stepped forward to deal with the spirits, and they turned and escaped into a golden globe which faded away, but not before one grey cap turned and looked at the pumpkin.
Madenne rose up, clutching her waist and turned to the shocked group with Jake by her side.
“I’m Madenne, I have come to rescue you from the monsters and to lead you to shelter to improve your chances of survival,” she said.
Nathanial’s frail voice asked, “Shelter?”
“Yes. Like you, we were all brought here by One of Din’s Seven Kings. I for instance was brought here by Rae Lord Ragnarok, and believe me when I say, that if you think Anarak is bad… He’s far worse.” She said.
“Ragnarok… They mentioned that name before...” Nathanial muttered.
“Yes, they’re both ‘kings’... Lords of the Rae. Over the years, countless millions… No… Billions of people have been brought here to Rae Dae from gods to mortals, even strange life-forms like sentient microbes.” She explained
“I see, I hope you can explain those to me in… Detail, especially those microb… No, everything. But first. What’s this about a shelter? And who are you exactly? And how did you meet up with Jake?” Nathanial asked.
“To survive against the elements and to trade, many of us set-up a colony known as Ytma, over the centuries it’s grown into a large flourishing city. You don’t have to worry about goblins or specters there, although… The people aren’t much better.” She said.
“Mm, I’d imagine that. Still, I’d rather deal with people than goblins, at-least we can communicate with them,” Nathanial said.
“True,” she laughed, “I am Madenne, a level 50 and a member of Sienna’s Vauleron. An organisation of powerful people of sorts, we have a lot of influence in Ytma, although there are a few even stronger… and… stranger than us.”
“Sounds interesting, what happened with Jake?” Nathanial asked.
“We ran into him in the mountains when we dealt with the bats.” She said.
“Ah, those things. How is it around there?” He asked.
“Dangerous. For you at-least. But, there’s barely anything over Level 20 in this area, it should be safe with the three of us,” Madenne said and Nathanial furrowed his brows.
“...Alright, we’ll go with you, unless anyone has any objections?” Nathanial asked, but the others just nodded and he sighed.
----
Who the hell is this woman? She saved Jake, so she can’t be too bad but… Who really knows with this hellhole. Still, we’ll have a better chance than if we wandered around on our own, I’d rather hang around in a ‘safe’ community than to constantly wrestle with goblins with dragons around every corner.
Nathanial sighed as Gunaf smeared an oily cream on his wounds, the same Madenne put on herself after the battle. And off in the corner was Sean wielding a long sword and holding a pale white crystal.
“Damn you, Madenne. It’ll take months for Sir Antoin to recover and I even had to waste a Fei Stone to hide from you,” he thought as he looked down at the crystal with countless words and a pumpkin within. His body trembled as Sean’s soul rose up, but quickly dimmed away as the last remnants were consumed.