In the midst of the Undead, Archie found himself in the company of a woman garbed in a blood-soaked wedding gown. Upon noticing her brandishing a machete, a name surfaced in his mind,

“Varina, The Slaughterer.”

The woman, presumed by Archie to be Varina, shot him a fleeting glance with her penetrating brown eyes, instilling in him a fear that dwarfed the dread he felt for the undead surrounding them.

“GRRRRRRRRRRRRR….”

A roar that shook the ground echoed through the air, causing Archie’s heart to race in terror as he observed the undead begin to roar in unison. Saliva dripped from their gaping mouths, their intentions clear: to tear Archie and the woman apart.

‘Damn it, I can’t kill anyone in my current state.’

Archie turned his gaze towards the woman, swallowed the lump in his throat, and beseeched,

“Madam, you are Varina, aren’t you? The Slaughterer. I can’t kill anyone without my machete…. No. No…I mean your machete. Can you handle all these undead?”

The woman remained as still as a statue, her eyes barely acknowledging Archie, yet he felt her attention was elsewhere.

Following her gaze, Archie noticed her eyes fixated on his left palm. Doubts clouded his mind as he wondered why she was staring at his hand, whether the woman standing next to him was truly Varina, and if he could escape this predicament alive.

“GRRRRRRR……”

A chorus of roars erupted as a few undead began to lumber towards them, soon followed by the rest.

The undead were merely a few meters away from Archie, their movements sluggish due to their decaying bodies.

“Listen, lady, they're closing in. Can you hear me? They're going to kill us.”

Archie pleaded, his heart pounding in his chest, fear threatening to consume him.

Archie was acutely aware of why he needed her help. Despite the undead's slow pace, being surrounded by thousands of them meant a slow, painful death, crushed under their sheer numbers.

“Please, don’t just stand there. Help me.”

Archie's patience was wearing thin, his fear of the undead slowly morphing into anger towards the woman.

“GRRRR…” The undead roared, now just a few centimeters away from Archie. Overwhelmed by fear, Archie attempted to snatch the machete from the woman.

“Blast it, hand it over.”

Archie reached out with both hands, trying to pry the woman’s fingers off the machete. But then,

“BOOM!” A golden light erupted, sending a shockwave that spiraled outward, pushing the undead back several meters to where they had originally been.

Archie watched in awe as the woman he had been holding onto slowly dissolved into golden dust, which began to seep into the machete now in his possession.

Once every speck of golden light had entered, darkness descended once again, leaving Archie alone in the gloom, the glowing eyes of the undead the only source of light, and another object pulsating in the darkness.

The machete in Archie's left hand was pulsating, radiating a golden light that slowly illuminated his surroundings.

However, Archie didn’t like what he saw, because the undead were already near. While Archie was entranced by his machete, the undead had taken the opportunity to advance.

“Bastard, we will see who will survive. Come, bastards.”

Archie roared, attempting to drown out his fear, and quickly adopted a defensive stance, ready to face them even if it meant dying in vain.

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But Archie refused to go down without a fight.

“GRRR…” An undead approached Archie from behind, within arm's reach. Its low growl gave away its position, and Archie quickly spun around, dodged its attack, and swung the machete with both hands, aiming for its head.

“THUD!” Another undead collided with Archie from behind before he could land his attack.

Archie stumbled to his knees but quickly regained his footing, spun around, and prepared to strike the undead that had knocked him down.

Archie realized, in a fleeting moment, that he was encircled by undead on all sides. The overwhelming mass of them pressed in from every direction, their eyes glowing with an eerie, menacing light.

“GRRRR…” “GRRRR…”

Archie couldn’t fight them all at once. He needed to create some distance between them. He scanned his surroundings for any small opening to escape and pick them off one by one.

‘USE ME!’

A melancholic voice echoed in his ears, and he felt a warm sensation from the machete as it pulsated like a heartbeat, bathed in a golden hue.

“Is the machete asking me to activate it?”

Archie recalled the machete’s status and inscription:

[Slaughterer’s Weapon]

[Varina’s Message:

Unchain the curse and consume it, Valiant Player. I have waited for eons for a player like you to emerge and free me from this accursed weapon.]

[Class: Epic (Cursed) (Upgradeable)]

[Abilities:

Release its curse to wield it]

[Curse Activation: Player’s Blood Sacrifice]

“Damn it, it says curse activation. If I activate it right now without releasing its curse, I will be cursed too.”

“AHHH…” Archie let out a horrified cry. In a moment of distraction, an undead clamped onto his hand.

Archie shook off the undead, but another latched onto his legs, and soon he was swarmed, the entire horde of undead encircling him. Archie retaliated, kicking the undead away, but it wasn’t sufficient to escape.

“Damn it, I’ve got no choice but to do this. What if the curse kills my family? AHHHH…”

Archie landed a punch on an undead's face with his right fist, slashed with the machete in his left hand, and kicked its leg to break it. Archie exhausted every ounce of his strength to fight back.

“AHHH…” Archie let out a scream as one undead bit into his shoulder and another sank its teeth into his leg. Their rotten teeth tore through Archie’s skin. Swiftly, they immobilized Archie by seizing his right hand and both legs.

The undead began to pile on top of each other, biting more and more of Archie’s body. Archie was rendered completely powerless and immobilized.

He dropped his machete and collapsed onto the ground, unable to bear the weight of the undead piling on top of him.

With each undead sinking its teeth into Archie’s body, it sent waves of unbearable pain, torture, and agony coursing through him.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…” Archie let out a blood-curdling scream as blood pooled around him from his wounds.

In the gruesome moment, Archie unleashed something without realizing it.

“KA-BOOOM!” “KA-BOOM!”

A massive energy pulsed within the mountains of undead, and something colossal exploded, sending the undead flying back a few meters.

After they were flung back, the undead slowly rose to their feet one by one and stared at the center, where a golden light sparkled before slowly dissipating.

The undead saw Archie standing tall, his body bathed in golden light, blood dripping onto the ground, and huge bite marks from the undead revealing his bones and torn skin.

Yet, Archie remained unfazed, and the golden light enveloping his body slowly began to heal his wounds and restore his body.

Archie stood motionless, his eyes glowing golden. He held his hands in front of him, pressed together as if holding a sword and its sheath.

Just as his actions suggested, Archie's left knuckle glowed, and he extended his right hand to the side as if drawing a sword. As he extended his hand, a golden light in the shape of a cross sword materialized from his left hand.

Archie gripped the long, cross-shaped golden light sword firmly as the undead charged toward him once more. The sword's radiant glow cut through the darkness, ready to meet the oncoming threat with fierce resolve.

Archie lifted his sword high and chanted,

“In the name of Varina, the goddess who protected her people. I summon your help. Heed me, Varina.”

“WOSSH” “WOOSH” “WOOSH!” “WOOSH!”

A series of red and blue rifts appeared above them, thousands swirling in the sky. The rifts cast an eerie, shifting light over the place, creating an ominous backdrop.

“GRRRRRR….”

Roars stronger than those of the undead erupted from inside the rifts, growing louder as they approached. The sound was deafening, a chaotic symphony of power and menace that seemed to shake the very air.

“Commence!”

Archie commanded, and millions of undead poured out of the rifts, flooding the area in a relentless tide. The sheer number of them overwhelmed the thousand undead, their roars blending into a cacophony of chaos and destruction.