It’d been close to thirty minutes since the Scenario had started, and the effort Alex had put forth in dividing the undead’s attention—though it had led nowhere—showed clear results now. He watched the house containing the cellar from where he hid in the shadows. And despite the house’s relative proximity to the plaza, there were far fewer undead patrolling this block than there otherwise would have been.
Which he was grateful for at the moment.
The Adventurers patrolled more commonly up here and it’d been harder to pass by unnoticed. The last few minutes especially had been hard enough that even with [Stealth] his breath still pulsed and swelled with the cadence of an exerted, living creature. He could fix that by running more mana through the skill, but the focus that required would take too great a toll on his remaining stamina.
And he needed clarity for this next part, so instead he relied on his observation skills and what little patience he still had left. He traced the rune for luck in empty air and simply waited for a gap in the undead’s patrolls before making a run for it.
Stamina: 9%
For the blissful ten seconds from when he departed the comfort of anonymity to when he twisted the front door open, the streets were void of all signs of unlife. He entered the house and took a single breath’s reprieve. Then he met what greeted him; sheer silence.
There was no creaking beneath the floorboards, no hushed breathing. No sign that anyone had been through here tonight but him. Nothing about that surprised him but he stepped in with caution anyway, remembering how his last breaking and entering had gone.
As expected of a place housing a personal wine cellar, the interior decor was significantly more extravagant than the other homes. The walls were mounted with various trophies—which gave him a soft jolt, before he realized they were only dead—and right in the middle of the living room’s floor was a small antique rug that had once must have been red but was now dark brown.
It was heavier than it looked and his muscles tensed as he hefted and rolled it. He stifled a violent cough as dust shook free and quickly vanished it to his inventory, revealing the trapdoor underneath. He pulled it open and even more of the stuff plumed outwards along its perimeter. Then he lowered himself by ladder into the darkness it concealed.
When his feet finally touched solid ground, nothing but cold, stale air greeted him and it was immediately apparent that the wine cellar had not been exposed to the outside for… anywhere from a decade to multiple centuries. It was hard to tell how long exactly.
Alex summoned a torch from his inventory, the one he’d snatched from the undead he’d punched earlier, and illuminated the room.
Shelves lined the walls on both sides, crowded with caskets and bottles of expired wine, condemning the cellar to feel more cramped than it already was. Across from him were boxes and bags that must’ve once held fruits and flours, but were now empty. And behind them was a wall with damaged, rotten planks.
They were eroded enough that there was hardly any crunch in the sound when Alex punched and pried the wall apart to reveal a dark tunnel. He stared down its length, picking splinters from his hands, and as expected only silence stared back. There was no one here, but he’d have been remiss not to check anyway.
“Guess it’s just you and me then,” he whispered.
His sword didn’t respond.
“Only interested in fighting huh…”
His voice made a soft echo down the tunnel corridor but his sword didn’t respond to that either.
Honestly, she might not have been responding to him to begin with. He’d felt something there when they were in the heat of battle, but that ‘something’ could’ve just been what it felt like to have his soul bonded to a soulless hunk of metal. It wasn’t like with Lys. He’d known with Lys—had felt her, even if it took him until the very end to understand what she was saying.
“I need you to speak to me,” he said, “If I’m going crazy then that’s something I need to know now. Before it becomes a problem.”
“...”
He rubbed his temple, forcing a calm onto his growing migraine, then let out a long, long, tired exhale before turning to leave the cellar. He was here for a purpose, and if he hadn’t known beforehand that he was alone in all this, then it was definitely clear now.
Just see this through before you grow any more delirious.
He sighed.
You have reached the 30 Point Quota for your Second reward.
Please choose a weapon up to 5,000 EC in value.
Alex activated his reward.
Just like every other plan he’d conceived of on less than 10% stamina, this one was unhinged, and his margin for error would only close the more tired he got. So as quickly as he could, he searched the shop for the very last weapon he’d have thought to use for this scenario and bought it.
Your prize has been transferred to your inventory.
His sword quivered in displeasure at his side.
“I know,” he soothed her, “I’m not happy about this either.”
It was a risk, especially with the conditions for [Blacksmith-Warrior] requiring that the majority of his essence come from his sword and not some other weapon. He’d be cutting that closer than he liked, but there was little choice.
He had no other hands to play and his only options at this point was either this or to take a sweet, alluring nap right here in this cellar and to wake to the morning sun and a fresh bar of stamina.
He thought about it for a second and then summoned the weapon into his hands, eying it apprehensively.
***
Alex now sat on the odd, rectangular patch of flooring where the rug had once been. It was the only surface untouched by dust and grime and it stuck out like a poor tan-line, but he was thankful for it nonetheless as he took bottle after bottle out of his inventory and lined them out in front of him.
Undeniably, he hadn’t been prepared enough for where this Scenario would take him, but it wasn’t as if he’d made no preparations.
Examine.
[Whisky]
100 Proof. 50% ABV
Satisfied, he vanished it back to his inventory and began examining all the others, feeling too lazy to simply read the labels. It wasn’t just whisky, but gin, rum, vodka and all other tastes his roommate had developed during his time as a bartender. And when Alex was done confirming they would all burn to fire, he returned them as well.
Cameron, huh. I wonder how he’s doing…
No, actually, he decided he really didn’t want to know.
He crossed his legs and hunched himself over a cheap ramen-bowl with dainty floral decorations on the rim. Then he dumped a controlled portion of powder into it from his pouch.
[Black-Scale Powder]
A powder ground from a Black-frost Salamander’s scales. It will evaporate into flammable vapor upon contact with fire, increasing its potency and duration.
Considered safe for use up to 3 years after death.
Alex didn’t have to run examine on it this time to know that it’s expiration date had long passed. It was dangerous to use, but it was still a fire enhancer, not a fire starter. He could raise a lighter to it and its fire would burn past its capacity very quickly, but it would still be confined to its origin.
If he wanted something he could ignite though…
[Crushed Charcoal]
Alex reached into his inventory and undid a ziploc bag. He cut the icy blue powder with a coarse, shimmering black one that almost made it look like the mixture was living up to its ‘Black-Scale’ namesake. Then he stirred the ramen-bowl with chopsticks, feeling rather silly about the whole thing.
Regardless, having even the most basic of household appliances in Nightmare was a luxury he was glad to have.
Doubly so, as he summoned a pair of metal pliers he’d dug up from his utility closet and got to working on the third and final ingredient. Charcoal and Black-Scale powder would create a fine fire on their own, but unfortunately the undead had legs and were scared enough of fire to know how to use them. So he needed something a bit more…explosive.
He swallowed and let go of any sense of urgency, proceeding with tedious caution instead. The final powder he added had a black, peppery sort of consistency that blended with the two others as he stirred it in. He did his best to keep his grip on the pliers steady as he worked, his nerves motivating him.
Every thirty seconds or so he added a sliver more of the new powder and tossed its container aside with a dull clink. And once he had enough—something he deliberately measured out for all three ingredients—he stood up and moved onto the next phase.
[36:29]
A minute later, he stared down at his handiwork. He’d spaced the powder mixture into small piles around the room, thinning it the farther it got from the door, and he’d made sure to leave plenty of space between it and him. It was all a very deliberate and meticulous process. But while Alex knew his elements, his knowledge skewed more towards metallurgy rather than… whatever this was, so he ran through his calculations one final time.
He wanted something big, but not terrifyingly so. Fast, but not so fast that it spread to the nearby buildings. The closer they got to the plaza the more tightly packed they were and he’d seen enough communities burnt down to know where that went.
But he’d taken that all into account beforehand.
Someone wealthy had clearly lived here and this house was just a touch more isolated than the ones surrounding it. Plus, the river that cut through the town from the northern mountains was only a block from here. These undead weren’t stupid, they’d know what to do.
…alright looks good.
With that, Alex summoned some alcohol and began pouring bottle after bottle onto the floor. It soaked into the wood between it all and wet some of the powder mixture, but that didn’t concern him.
As the last drop of whiskey emptied out, Alex felt none of the remorse he would’ve actually felt in his twenties and he tossed the bottle aside. It clinked against discarded metal casings and he stepped back until he stood right next to the cellar’s door. Latched, to avoid suspicion.
Then much to his sword’s annoyance, he summoned his other weapon.
[37:08]
As random as it could all seem, there was a method to the chaos that made up Nightmare; a purpose behind it all. It wasn’t just destruction for its own sake, there was a detailed design underlying the Scenarios, a lesson to learn from each should you survive them. And Nightmare’s Architects did their damndest in bending the System to make sure you survived them their way.
The expired Black-Scale powder, the shitty blacksmith tools, weapons that were only rewarded after fighting your way through hell. These were all a means to an end of their desire. And in no way was what Alex was about to do in line with that vision.
Yet they provided me with all the tools to do it.
Alex lifted his Glock and shot his remaining clip into the roof of the building.
The shots cracked like thunder against silent night, the impact jutted into his muscle as he kept his arm steady. More shells fell smoking to the ground besides the ones he’d pried open, and he continued shooting until it was pointless to any longer. Because if a single soul in this Town didn’t know where he was by that point then they’d had to have been deaf before they died.
He removed makeshift earplugs from his ears and only had to wait a few seconds before a thud came at the door.
And only a couple seconds more and there was already a barrage of weapons tearing away at his poor barricade. They tore through it faster this time than they did back at the smithy and as the defense gave, Alex saw a Captain at their head.
He had to restrain a smile as they filed into the living room, trying to surround him. They were cautious of him still, and he utilized the time that bought him as he waited for more to arrive. They practically crammed themselves through the doorway to get a piece of him.
A Captain, four Adventurers… a fifth, ten townsfolk… twelve…fifteen–
“Enough!” Alex shouted. He snaked his sword out in shrill warning, and an undead who’d been edging too close stumbled back in shock.
The whole wave faltered at that, stopping any of their momentum at the door. Only the five Adventurers stayed where they stood, along with their captain. One of them was a mage.
What type?
Alex extended his senses until he felt the fire aspect that hummed in her mana. He struggled not to bark a laugh at what would happen if she used it.
“Enough?” the captain snarled, “You don’t order my–”
He cut off there as he ate a bullet in the forehead.
Alex pulled the trigger a few more times, but all he heard was blank clicks. He returned it to his inventory, not surprised that all the shot did was wedge a chunk of metal into his flesh covered forehead. That, and insult him further.
Guns. The undead. Bad matchup.
But he knew full well they weren’t intended for them.
“You—!”
Alex stopped playing with his food and threw the damn torch at their feet.
There was hardly time to capture the looks of surprise on their face before the alcohol caught flame and ignited the powder mixture.
Black-scale powder, charcoal, gun-powder, and alcohol. Everything exploded at once, and where the undead once stood there was now a raging flash fire.
Shit!
Alex threw himself back behind a counter. Heat licked over its edge in an instant, a blaze of orange and red rising to swallow the room.
It was bigger—much bigger than he’d intended.
5 Undead Adventurers have been Slain!
+500 Essence Crystals
+15 Points
Undead Captain Lysander has been Slain!
+500 Essence Crystals
+10 Points
16 Undead Townsfolk have been Slain!
+480 Essence Crystals
+16 Points
A flurry of notifications flashed across Alex’s killfeed but he didn’t shy his eyes from the scene.
The flesh was the first to go.
Whatever fat that had clung to their ragged bones. What little skin still patched their limbs in odd places. If the unholy creatures had any water content at all left on their person, that all evaporated with it.
And then it was tougher pieces, the muscle and sinew holding their forms together. The flames burned through it all single-mindedly slowly, like a wick making its way through a candle. And once that happened they all simply collapsed into a pile of misshapen bones on the floor.
The fire didn’t stop there.
New Achievement:
[Hellfire]
You have burned over 20 Undead Creatures to cinder with a single flame.
+200 Essence Crystals
Alex hardly processed the achievement, he was preoccupied trying to survive the fires that barreled overhead.
The dust, he realized. It was the god-damned dust that was everywhere!
Smoke billowed like storm clouds above him, and as countless years of built up dust went airborne, the flame traveled through it like electricity through water, grasping and reaching for him.
He dove low, yanked open the cellar door, and didn’t look back as he ran for the safety of the tunnels. He didn’t look back even after he’d entered them, knowing that the noise could draw what lay further down them.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
His shoes tapped noisily and clumsily on the neatly chiseled stone and he had to use the decoratively carved walls as support to push himself forward. He was running on pure fumes and burning the last dredges of his stamina.
The magnitude of those flames were the only thing keeping him going until he eventually found a forked path in the tunnels and followed it up.
He resurfaced a street over and clambered onto the roof to get a better view.
He hardly needed it, the smoke on the horizon was telling enough and by the time he saw it with his own eyes the fire had risen to consume both houses neighboring it. And it was only spreading from there, taking his precious hiding spots one by one as it moved towards the plaza.
A skeletal man rushed in with a pail of water and Alex cursed himself for thinking they weren’t stupid. Undead were never just one thing after all, but he had to hope not too many of them were this dumb.
An undead Townsfolk has been Slain!
+30 Essence
+1 Point
Points towards next reward: [79/100]
He fell back on his ass onto the slanted roof and let himself just sit there, soaking it all in. The imagery of all the undead burning to melted cinders was still stuck in his mind, the texture slightly different from corpses freshly burned.
It was certainly one for the memory books to say the least. He chuckled derangedly, slicking back his sweaty hair.
They hadn’t been cleansed, he suddenly thought. It was only once his heart reached a normal cadence that he noticed it saddened him.
But it wasn’t his sadness. And at the moment it wasn’t important either.
A decorated wooden box appeared on his outstretched palm and he smiled in relief. A thing born of pure exhaustion.
Congratulations! You have reached the 50 Point Quota for your Third reward!
[Potion Boxset - High Grade]
3x Health Potion
3x Stamina Potion
3x Mana Potion
It contained three sets of vials: blue, green, and red. Alex picked out a green vial and vanished the rest to his inventory. He held it up to the moonlight. It was see-through with a sickly, radiation-tinged look to it.
And it tasted truer to appearance than Mountain-Dew did, but he still wasted no time downing it.
Stamina has been restored to 100%
He moved to wipe drool from the edge of his mouth and the motion was… effortless.
It hadn’t occurred to him until now that such a small movement might require his effort, but ever since he’d come back it’d been like every step taxed him just the slightest bit of his will without him realizing it. Or as if his every thought burned through some miniscule amount of ram that was in limited supply.
And now, that invisible price had been lifted.
He grunted in satisfaction and then focused his mind on his enemies. Actually focused on it this time.
He hadn’t been subtle in his exhausted rush onto the roof, but it wasn’t with displeasure that he noticed he’d been spotted. Peering over the wall of rising flames he could see shifting silhouettes of countless undead gathering to the wreckage, staring at him. Over the crackle of fire he could hear their anger, the rage that enveloped their shouts and cries. And deep in his soul he could feel the bloodthirst of the horde that awaited him.
Adventurers that had been drawn out from the Guild, the Captains that he had evaded for so long, the witless Townsfolk who had been foolishly tricked. Their eagerness oozed from them like the seething flame that ate at the Town alive at this moment.
And in the depths of Alex’s heart he hoped they could feel his own bloodthirst as well.
Alex stood now and drew his sword, eagerness flashing through them both. Then he remembered the sadness he’d felt from earlier.
Don’t worry, he told her, there’s still plenty left to cleanse.
He made that a promise.
The undead had been dancing on the palm of his hand this night, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d been the one being hunted. Now that he’d been restored to full strength, there was no reason not to show them the flipside of that arrangement.
The fires flickered apart and for just a second he saw the world outside through their red tint.
He saw too many undead for how few remained of his own. He saw visions of a night painted crimson with their rotten blood, as well as their numbers and the flow of their positions. And though they masked it well he could still see the fear in their souls as they looked upon his Undeath’s Bane.
Balance: 2,770 Essence Crystals. Would you like to Consume?
Yes. Consume.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
+6 skill slots
You have entered a Charged state.
Progress towards Level 13: [20/2,000 EC]
He grinned, then jumped from the roof and into the bloodshed.
***
28 Undead Townsfolk have been slain!
11 Undead Adventurers have been slain!
An Undead Captain has been slain!
+2,440 Essence
+71 Points
Once—upon a time where no one would’ve considered him weak—Alex’s home had not been in the shadows but on the battlefield.
He’d been at home, amongst the blood and guts and gore-slicked pavement, the grunts and shouts and cries of war—of rage, of sorrow—or of whatever else needed bleeding to keep your body moving like a well-oiled machine. Men became different men there, women different beasts, everyone deluged in what all emotions greased their gears so they didn’t notice time’s passing or the passing of their comrades. And for Alex, as he tore through his enemies, he’d felt a feverish buzz in his bones, a burning fluidity in his movements, an electrifying crackle in his soul—he’d felt excited.
Not all the time, mind you.
He knew those who did, people who didn’t tuck that beast away during the intermissions between bloodshed, and he considered himself normal within the shadows they cast. For him it had to be a certain kind of fight to excite him; it had to be one he was winning.
And as he arched his Shamshir blade through another scalp he lamented how long it had been since he had felt this way.
Too long.
A sword swung at him and he ducked below, snaking his own between a gap in the adventurer’s armor.
Undead didn’t feel the same pain as the living but he screamed and clutched his shoulder as his arm severed loose. Then danger screamed at Alex from behind and he rolled forward, turning back only to kick the dismembered Adventurer into the path of another's sword.
It did no damage to him, even as the blade wedged itself into his skull. But now they were aligned in a straight shot, right in the path of his blade.
[Pierce]
2 Undead Adventurers have been Cleansed!
+200 Essence Crystals
+6 Points
His sword skewered them with a cold ejaculatory shiver, absolving them of their undead sins and sending them to whatever afterlife they deserved. Or whatever afterlife even existed. Alex considered himself an outlier on the subject.
He ripped his sword free and just stared at it for a second.
He was no longer so scared of using the skill now that he had more mana potions to offset his sword’s greed for the stuff, but he still couldn’t control the mana flow half as well as he’d hoped.
Oslumnen metal was hyper mana-conductive, and he’d thought he’d known what he was doing when he’d forged a whole sword from the stuff, but he really hadn’t. No matter how much mana he ran through its trait it kept trying to grab more. And the more he invested, the harder his skills were to control---invest too much and it’ll break even. He was certain now that if he’d tried using [Energy Pierce] with this blade he’d have blown his arm up before ever even completing the skill.
But for now, it was something he could work with.
Alex looked up to find himself fully encircled. It’d been this way for almost a minute, after the path he’d been taking had gotten blocked off by burning rubble and smoke. His reaction time and experience had allowed him to fend off and decoordinate his attackers thus far, but as he spotted archers and mages starting to take roost on the top floors of buildings he decided this had gone on long enough.
Evidently, he was not the only one who’d thought so. Turning, he lashed out at the sound of footsteps and his blade came away with a townsman’s head balanced neatly on the end.
He flung it at another of the undead, and the farmer raised his pitchfork on reflex, catching his gift on the spikes. Though, that just freed up his body for Alex to slice through. He gleefully did, then leapt behind the man and into the mayhem.
Being encircled is a tough spot to be in, but funnily enough, once you find yourself inside the encirclement, it becomes a rather simple thing to break free of. You just have to barrel through all your obstacles faster than they lift their weapons. That’s it. The frontline is the hardest to get past, but the guy in the second row back is never ready for the blade ripping out their gullet. And the guy behind him is even less prepared.
The key is to never EVER stop. The moment your momentum stalls is the moment your death warrant is signed. That final blow could come from any of a million directions at point blank range and you’d never know where.
That said, there was no one here that could stop Alex, so it was a moot point.
As soon as he’d breached the sixth layer and reached the street's edge, he kicked in the door to one of the houses. He’d just been about to enter when he felt the pulse of mana and a killing intent aimed at his head.
Dodge, block, slice, run---there were too many responses one could take to a magic projectile, and the correct one depended on what type of magic was being hurled. But Alex’s senses weren’t fast enough on the upkeep to determine that, so he just went with the safest of the options.
He grabbed the wailing undead he’d just cut the legs off of and hefted him up. Acid splashed against his face and body, melting him.
Guess that was the right call.
Deciding not to wait for another shot to come his way, Alex entered the flaming building and left the streets behind. And it was at that moment that he felt the electricity leave his veins and his Charged state ended.
Essence has been integrated with the Dexterity Stat!
Dexterity +4
Essence has been integrated with the Perception Stat!
Perception +1
Alex grunted, his bonuses had come as no surprise. When you find yourself facing off many enemies at once, the most important thing is to be exacting and precise with your movements. You can’t win a disadvantaged fight without taking risks, but even the slightest over-extension could give the enemy something to act on.
And the second most important thing was to keep your senses trained on those enemies. All of them, at all times. His trait did the heavy lifting there, but it was still mentally taxing work, hence the uptick in Perception.
But for now, Alex ignored his notifications and analyzed his situation.
Everywhere he looked wood crackled and split in an orange blaze. The fire was thicker further in, but with each second it came uncomfortably close to where he stood. And yet, there was still a slight, flickering gap enroute to the back door where the flames separated. Just barely, so that a person might dance through unscathed if they were fast and deft enough.
Alex glanced back at the door he had entered from.
As he expected, nobody followed him in. After all, why risk it? Alex would either burn up in flames here or he would leave through that back door where he was certain there’d just be more undead awaiting him.
He didn’t like that option. It had all the makings of a trap. This all did, really.
Did I just stumble upon that blockade or was I led there?
He thought about his actions leading up to the situation. He’d been hunting from the shadows, employing hit and run tactics like he had been earlier, if not more aggressively this time.
Now that he thought about it, there had been a few conveniences along his decided path. Not obvious ones of course---not even remotely. No bait dangling from the hook or any suspicious openings, but he could feel it now, a string subtly pulling him forward, silently wrapping itself around his neck.
It’d been three minutes since he’d killed the last captain, but these undead were too co-ordinated to be acting without one. And this one was less boisterous than the others, more silent, conniving… and dangerous.
For the first time this night, it seemed Alex had been well and truly outmaneuvered.
His eyes moved away from the door and glanced at the burning stair-case. He grimaced, knowing what he had to do. Then he summoned a thin sheet to wrap around his head, emptied a precious milk-bottle’s worth of tap water over himself, and rushed up multiple floors.
Heat scraped his sides, and one of the steps nearly collapsed under his boot, but he thankfully made it to the top in one piece. Or close enough. A section of his pants caught fire, singeing his thigh real bad and he had to waste more water putting it out.
But he didn’t waste time. As soon he was up, he leapt out the building and into [Stealth] as he heaved himself onto the roof from the window exit. It was no better up there and he’d wisely used his unfavored hand to levy himself up, charring it in the process. But the next building was close enough and only starting to catch fire, so he made the jump and landed impossibly lightly on the landing.
He crouched low and listened for sounds. Undead didn’t breathe, but the twine of their bows still made a tight sound when pulled taut, their bony feet still scraped when they shuffled in place. Their clothes still rustled. Eventually he moved, breaking in through the third window over and silenced the lone adventurer without a sound.
As he looked down, he noticed he’d been right about the ambush awaiting him out there. And it’d been a particularly nasty one too. But their eyes were all too trained on the back door to notice any shadows flitting between the third floor windows.
Alex quickly looted the adventurer, tucking her core and all her other clothes and scraps into his inventory before creeping into the next room over and killing the pair stationed there.
There’d been four of them in the last room, but with them preoccupied and standing still it was all the same to him. The increase in his dexterity had made him all the more deadly and they went down without a sound.
Stealth has leveled up!
Stealth is now level 17!
Progress towards Apprentice rank: 85%
7 Undead Adventurers have been Cleansed!
+700 Essence Crystals
+21 Points
Alex ignored the point tally.
The final prize had been a free skill up to 20,000 EC in value and he’d reached that 100 point threshold a few minutes past when he’d gotten encircled. But he already knew which skill he wanted and he wouldn’t have enough free skill slots for it until after his class-equip at level fifteen, so it would do him no good here.
Still, even without killing the boss, it was seeming like he wouldn’t have much trouble reaching class-equip tonight.
At least, if I can snuff this threat out first.
Alex calmed the shake in his burnt hand and sighed. A whole lot had just happened but it’d been less than a minute since he’d escaped his encirclement and everything depended on decisive action and urgency right now. He got to work quickly.
One of the Adventurers he’d just killed had been an archer, and as he grabbed one of his arrows, he tore some cloth from the sheet he’d wrapped around himself, winding it tight and thick around the arrowhead’s base. Then he doused it in canola oil from his inventory and nocked it on the bow, steadying his aim, and waited. No, watched.
This captain loves their anonymity, but if I were orchestrating an ambush I’d want to be able to see all my pieces.
Alex lurked in the room’s shadows as he looked across the street and searched past the windows. There were six buildings with adequate viewing angles of the one that burned, thirteen windows, seventeen identifiable figures.
It’s been over a minute now since the rat had entered its entrapment. I’d start getting suspicious right about now. Has it decided to just die there? After how hard it worked to escape?
Unlikely.
The fire was encroaching on Alex’s position now and he only had to reach over and tap the arrowhead against the wall to light it. He watched those seventeen figures. Their eyeless sockets didn’t shift or give away their intent, but human undead were dull to their sense of touch and weren’t as physically aware of all their reactions. Even well trained ones betrayed hints of intent---in the slightest tilt of their head, in the odd sway of their shoulders.
Then if the rat isn’t dead, only one question remains. Where did it go?
One of the undead mages had been looking down at the ambush grounds like all the others until she suddenly tilted her head up, as if searching the top floor for something hidden in the blaze. Then the roof. Then her sockets traveled sideways.
Alex was a rusty shot but when her gaze landed on him, his arrow hit true and the mage caught fire.
Undead Captain Alexandria has been Slain!
+500 Essence
+10 Points
That was so much more trouble than it was worth, Alex thought. And once again, he’d been forced to use a weapon other than his sword, and he knew that he was getting dangerously close to the cut off for his [Blacksmith-Warrior] class requirements.
Curse my fate.
Smoke was starting to fill the room, so Alex quickly rewrapped his head in cloth. He’d been just about to make an escape when an ear splitting scream echoed through the town.
No, not a scream.
It was [Howl].
The skill held all the nuance Alex suspected Jun had been capable of when he’d first heard it, but this time it was so much more. And there was something deeper there that shook his soul to his very core.
With a shiver, he realized his wildest suspicions about the man may have been true. He wasn’t just talented, not by a long shot. No, he was something completely different.
And if Alex wasn’t alone, maybe he could--
He quickly cut that thought loose, stamping out his hope with cold practicality. Along with the fire that caught on the sole of his boot once he’d finally decided to escape the place. He stamped that out as well.
Then he entered [Stealth] and went into hiding in a nearby house’s attic before the undead gathered any semblance of organization.
Alex had felt the power behind that [Howl], just as everyone in town had, and he knew which direction it had come from as well. The Guild Hall, where the Boss was stationed. If Jun wasn’t already dead, then he probably would be soon.
No, I can't say that for certain.
Alex wasn’t certain if that was his practicality speaking or if hope had somehow seeped back into his thoughts, but if there were still survivors there somehow---if he still had other cards to play, then maybe taking down the Boss wasn’t out of the question after all.
That, he knew, was definitely wishful thinking. But he also knew just how impactful taking down this boss would be towards achieving his goals. The rewards for beating the Scenarios were no joke, and the second Scenario was where the gap between the weak and the already strong began to widen even more.
Well, it wouldn’t be hard just to take a quick look.
Alex only had to look at the number of his pursuers to know that the chaos he’d caused had drawn most of the Adventurers away from the Guild. He could set up some quick distractions, draw them further away, along with the townsfolk. And then that just left the ten of them that refused to leave their positions at the door.
‘Just’ the ten huh…
Alex looked at his blade grumbling curses under his breath.
Soul Link has been damaged. HP cannot be restored past 85%
After the burns and cuts Alex had sustained over the last several minutes, his own health had fallen to 82%. And that missing health wasn’t something he would be getting back, not tonight at least.
And facing ten adventurers in a straight fight is a different matter from my ambushes. No doubt they have a Captain amongst their rank too.
The power high from being back to normal levels of healthiness was definitely getting to his head.
Hmm… then what other cards did he have to play?
Alex pondered it for a second then stood up, dusting his clothes off. He looked casually through his list of notifications then dismissed them for later purview.
Cards this, cards that…
Well, he still had a few up his own sleeve, but it seemed he’d have to head there in person to get the full picture. By the very nature of this scenario, he simply didn’t remember a whole lot from his time here.
But it wasn’t arrogance that drove him to the Guild Hall. Sure, it would be safer to spend the night picking off the weaker undead, but if taking down the boss was at all possible…
Then it’d be a shame not to gamble on the biggest pot, wouldn’t it?
Alex spent a few minutes buying himself time with lower-level undead, then undid his stealth as he approached the Guild’s entrance, not bothering to hide his presence from the Adventurers on guard there.
He’d deliberated on the matter some more and had decided he needed to set hard limits on this fight. If his Soul Link with his blade or his own HP dipped past 70%, then he would abandon the fight and continue what he was doing. And even then, there were other risks to what he'd be doing.
Alex hadn’t gambled this way in many years—hadn’t dared—but if it truly was his turn to roll…
Well it seems he’d been playing cards when the situation called for a simple toss of dice.
***
How… am I still alive?
Jun opened his eyes to a damp, dim-lighted sight. Blood lined the walls of the Guild Hall, the flooring was littered with scattered cups and plateware. Tables and chairs were flipped every which way, and when he tried to move, his wrists yanked on tough rope that had been strung to the information desk. And strangest of all, further underground, down in those catacomb tunnels, he heard a chant. Almost ritualistic, like… singing?
He yanked again, testing his binds.
“Well, guess who’s looking lively?”
The guildmaster walked in. Unlike the others he was a pure skeleton. His sword was large and sheathed on his back and now that his flesh had melted away, his bones seemed almost thicker and more intimidating on his huge frame.
His voice was just as smooth, just as charismatic as it had been during his speech, but now there was an edge to it that wasn’t there before.
Why hasn’t he killed me?
Almost as if the undead had read his mind he knelt down in front of Jun, and tilted his chin up with bony fingers until he was looking directly into those empty sockets. Only they weren’t empty, there was something there.
“Young man…I would like to offer you a choice.”