The feeling of life... it washed over it. IT does not know what it is, but what it does know, is that it craves life... something that it had been given just now, but,
it wants more...
it cannot see, but it knows... there are targets around, people. 3 of them...
it's killers.
remembering how to move, he lifted his body up.
*********
Karvas Jan looked at the dead goblins beneath him, and he smiled, satisfaction that he finally got to kill his first den ever since becoming a mercenary that hunts monsters 4 years ago. Now at the age of 17, he was able to kill his first leader class mob and win against it, he wasn't alone of course, he looked at his two other teammates, his brother and a guy they had met at the guild hall. Someone who was more than willing to help them get started at fighting against a group of goblins, around 15 of them with a Hob.
Setting up traps and smoking the den was easy enough, it was the battle with the body of muscles known as a Hob-Goblin that was tough.
Still, it all went fairly well, and now, all that is left to do is to collect the spoils.
or atleast, that's what was supposed to happen- Karvas Groaned as a knife found it's way on his chest, it became warm as blood started to gush out, and he started to cough, tears started to flow out of his eyes and he was starting to have a hard time breathing. "KARVAS!" yelled a familiar voice, followed by a hoarse, unfeeling, spine shivering one- "Karvas....." something beside him stated, it entered his ear, his already racing heart started beating even faster and his hazy mind became hazier and eventually, it became black, and he no longer felt or saw anything...-
but anger towards the living.
The living corpse smiled, unnerving as it was, then it looked at the nearest target, the man he was grateful towards, the man whom helped them, and walked, the a sword still embedded within his chest. The sight, between the gigantic mass of muscles called a hob goblin and the now living corpse of someone who was once their comrade, kin, and family, was quite ghastly. And, as expected, to anyone who has both heard nor is un-knowledgeable towards the undead, right as long as they are rational and sane, they would deem the dead going back to life as something out of their comprehension. Because, why would the dead come back to life? Even in a world of miracles where some people can literally wipe out entire continents with but a wave of their arms, it is something that only the insane could truly accept.
Well, the sane can accept it too if- "Karvas... I knew you wouldn't die." says the newly risen undead's brother. But alas, he was already dead and his mind was already on the brink of collapse, reality was already as it was and it could never be brought back. If time could be rewound, the mages of this planet would have studied it a long time ago, and the Liches would have been capable of traveling back already.
Speaking of Liches-
"Theres a seal," the man that joined the two brother team said as he looked at the wall, there was a glowing rune on it, blood red in color, undoubtly made by a necromancer that had been in this cave. That's not important for now, he thought to himself as he looked at the undead making it's way towards him, tightening his grip on the sword within his hand, he held it upwards, prepared to swing it down towards his would be assailant, he released his tense muscles, letting gravity take the best of his weapon before adding the weight and force of his entire arm alongside it, he pushed the sword downward - "THE LIVING CORPSE DIES IF YOU STRIKE THEIR HEAD!" was a mantra that was repeated by multiple people that hunted such creatures. From priest to paladins, this is what he had always heard whenever he hunted with them, - And as stated, the weapon struck the head of the target, cleaving the body in half, the starting point being the top of the head and the end being the upper part of the torso. Bones? what are these to someone capable of using Qi to strengthen their body? The man known as Ursus Spinther by the people of his hometown looked at the undead's still living brother, he was in shock, rage, still dormant but starting to wake up was present within his eyes, "WAKE UP!" he yelled, hoping he would realize the situation he was in, the undead hobgoblin was getting near him but he was still focused on Ursus, his eyes looked to have no life and his was starting to sway, belonging to a person that has long gone through the four stages of grief, and yet unable to go through the final one. Unaccepting of the situation, and is now forever depressed because of it.
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And for someone who has just recently begun through such a process, the coping mechanism of such a person should be - "I'LL KILL YOU!" - were the words that were spoken as his eyes became bloodshot, veins popped out of his fore-arms as he charged towards Ursus, the grip on his sword looked unprofessional, a result of something that would only happen if the holder, whom usually trains with discipline, had been overtaken by emotions so intense that the muscle memory perfected through training and experience gets taken over and thus becomes obselete.
Ursus sighed, "this is a lost cause," he muttered as he strengthened his body with his Qi, making it as tough as steel, his muscles, were aldready as dense as they became something that's similar to a nylon of metallic thread, and what would this mean? He can exert strength even further without fearing the damage that would have happened to his body if it was still too soft. Or the better term- weak.
His brain, whom have unlocked the 100% of strength of his already strong body, commanded his hand to kill the undead's brother, and... he did. The boy followed the fate of the first one after it had turned into an undead, his body cleaved in half, now turned lifeless.
Ursus looked around for the first undead that had come into existence, the scene infront of him is quite the sight as all of the goblins that had died with intact bodies have now come back to life, one was running away, the seal once located on the cave walls now found on it's skin. "So your going to block me eh?" he said, shaking his head. "The next few months is gonna be a handful." he added. The dead, going back is by far, not a normal occurance, and when a seal is indeed present to cause this, and it somehow escapes out into the world? it would cause trouble at an unprecedented degree, possibly enough to call the high rankers of various guilds.
And the event known as "The Corpse Army" is only one of the many problems the better of the races have to deal with, there is also the one that they have exterminated just now- a goblin den, artificially created by the powerful mages to become the most annoying pest capable of stealing your food and killing your entire village. Problems like these always pop up for most kingdoms, not only that, they have to worry about each other as well. Elves against elves, Humans against humans and the like. Some Kingdoms fall, they get conquered, then the cycle starts anew. It is a tiring and rough life for most people, especially for those who only want a regular life.
"my complains should be reserved for later, Can't believe I'll have to kill an unfeeling version of you," he said as he looked at the undead hob-goblin, the creature simply growled before stating the word - "Karvas..."
The Hob looked him, as all undead do- a lifeless gaze, uncaring about the man who managed two people in half with but a single swing, every living being would have felt fear by now but not this one, it is nothing but cannon fodder to the more intelligent undead, those that rule over them and presumably, the one who wrote the seal for to revive him, is one of these intelligent undead.
Ursus sighed, grabbing something from his belt, a flask with orange liquid inside, Ursus gave out a sheepish grin, "never thought i'd be using this thing now." he said before throwing the liquid on the undead, it had proved to quite effective against the damn things, the liquid turned into fire after getting into contact with the surrounding mana on the air.
There were no screams as the Living corpses turned to ashes, and soon enough, the charred black bones were the only things left on the once living corpses, that, and their burning rage for the hatred. Though Ursus muttered the words - "Fifteen gold may be a lot, but my life is more expensive." - of relief. He did not know that undead can actually spawn naturally, and the cause for such a natural spawn would be the seething hatred left behind by the organisms when they die, this hatred is carried in death, this type of revival makes the undead no longer hate the living, but rather, their specific target. And, if the creature the undead came from is intelligent enough, the resulting undead would dare to think that perhaps, senseless rage towards their target is not fruitful, the undead would gain an act of self preservation, something that would only happen to living organisms and not the living dead but there are exceptions.
Ursus left the cave, and the undead started to form.
What was left of the Hob-Goblin was it's rage and it's bones, along with the anger of one of the two brothers, became and undead that was only seen on the armies of the strongest of Liches, something that had no will, except to do it's assigned task, which is mainly attacking what was infront of it- a four armed undead skeleton with the class of "Knight" amongst the many castes present.