It's all insane. Me, eating the flesh of my own kind? I remember that I was originally a human, but I cannot remember who I am and what happened at all for the life of me. Each time I tried my best to remember my name my head got so dizzy and it hurt. I took a look at my body again. I'm wearing a dirty and cut-apart rag. My skin is still green, but not as damaged and mangled as the first time I saw it, and the cut wounds on my skin seem to... slowly regenerate themselves...? I don't understand.
The smell of lingering blood in the air emitted from the corpse of the man I ravaged fills the cave. I can't help but look at the corpse and drool, yearning for more flesh, but I quickly come back to my senses and shrug it off, disgusted at even the thought of it. I tried pinching myself on my cheeks, but I don't feel pain and I don't seem to wake up... so this is not a dream...?
What is this madness...? who even am I?!
PING!
I heard a loud sound and when I looked at where the sound came from, I saw a floating black window in front of me.
Congratulations! You are The King! Class: Undead King [SS-rank]
What is this? The King...?
I then saw that the corpse of someone that I ate was moving slightly. The corpse then slowly got up, just standing there.
Th- the corpse is alive..!? n- no... this can't be...
The corpse then turned around and slowly shambled towards me.
"Gh...! Ghaaaa.... aaa...!" I tried screaming but all I could do was produce ghastly wails. I put my hands up to protect myself, but the living corpse didn't attack. He just stood in front of me with a cold and lifeless gaze that seemingly stared into nothingness. His skin is pale green, he groans slowly while grinding his teeth.
It's... not attacking me...?
> You've acquired a new subject!
>
> Name : Clyde Withers [Change Name?]
>
> Race : Undead Human
>
> Class : Undead Swordsman [D-rank Class] [Change Class?]
>
> You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
>
> Level : 14 [10%/100% EXP] - [Allot your EXP?]
>
> Skills : - 『Sword Spin Lv. 1』[B-rank Sword Art]
>
> - 『Slash Lv. 3』[F-rank Sword Art]
>
> - 『Spark Lv.1』 [F-rank Fire Magic]
What is all this...? it's showing me some information... about him...? and what is all this 'subject' thing...? It said that I'm 'The King', maybe...
"Ghoo... eeeerr..." I wailed and pointed my index finger to a spot in the cave, telling him to go there and he complied, slowly walking towards the exact spot that I was pointing at.
He followed my order...
Turns out the 'subject' that I gained follows my orders without any complaints. I commanded him to fall, and he fell. I commanded him to punch the wall and he punched the cave's wall as hard as he could until his fists bleed. I still can't wrap my head around all of this. The fact that a man that I unconsciously ate gets back to... 'life' and turned into an undead that I can command...
I took a breather and went outside of the cave; everything was so bright and kind of hurting my eyes. I realized that I was in a muddy area in a forest clearing, there were a couple of beheaded zombie corpses around the area. I'd puke at the sight of all of the corpses and blood all around, but I can't feel anything. I don't feel dread, I don't feel nauseous, I'm just... emotionally and physically numb.
I looked around and saw a puddle of water and quickly shambled into it. I clean my bloodied hands and mouth with the puddle of water, slowly tinting it red. I took a look at my reflection on the surface of the water and I saw a monster. A humanoid, green human... a Zombie with 1 empty eye socket. I realized that my face looked familiar, the face of my younger self in my past life. I remembered that I was much older than this teenage body that I had.
There is no use staying here any longer, I should... go search for other humans... maybe there's one that will explain what happened to me...
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, in the same forest not far away from the marsh…
"Haa... Haaa..!" A cloaked girl is seen running away for her dear life in the forest, panting, and running without stopping, even when she tripped, she gets up and runs away. "C- Clyde... he got eaten...! he got eaten!" She muttered to herself in terror and disbelief with tears streaming down her face.
She then comes across a small village with a relatively small population. She catches her breath as a village elder comes across her when he's strolling around the village, greeting her cheerfully.
"Oh, young Melanthia! How was your first que-" The village elder greets her with a delightful smile, but then notices her face covered in tears and dried blood, shocking him.
"Cl- Clyde... go- got-" Melanthia stutters and mumbles her words, unable to speak properly as she's filled with terror with her body shaking hysterically. "Clyde-" Her knees gave out and she fell to the ground and went unconscious, the elder quickly rested her head on his arms.
"Y- Young Melanthia?! HEY, I NEED HELP OVER HERE!" The village elder shouts for help and 3 people rushed to his location.
"What is it, old man Lars?!" A young male adventurer said in a panic, then his eyes widened when he saw Melanthia passed out in the elder's arms.
"Yeah! Wha- OH MY GOD! Mel?! What happened to her?!" A female adventurer shouts in terror, quickly rushing to Melanthia's aid. "Why is her face full of blood?!"
"Quick! Get her to the Inn!" The older male adventurer then lifts Melanthia along with the young male adventurer to a wooden building in a hurry.
"Old man Lars, what happened to Mel?! Why is she bleeding like that?! And where is Clyde, why isn't she with him?!" The female adventurer berates the elder with questions, shaking him with her hands, demanding an answer.
"I... don't know... but..."
"This is a Bad Omen."