The fireball Jack had just cast hit one of the mutants in the middle of its body. The force of the explosion hurled the creature backward, its chest scorched, wisps of smoke rising from it. However, the mutant was still alive. By the time it got up from the floor, Jack had already jumped to it. He thrust his sword into his enemy, the blade piercing the mutant’s throat and bursting out the back of its neck in a spray of gore. Jack pulled the sword from its body as the mutant collapsed to the floor, dead.
Jack heard fast footfalls from behind him, but before he could turn around, the second mutant already reached him and raked its claws across his back. Yelping in pain, Jack jumped to the side before the monster could attack him again. He wheeled around in time to see the mutant reach out for him. He swung his sword with great force, severing the mutant’s hand at the wrist. Before his enemy realized what had just happened, he finished it off with a stab through the head.
After the fight was over, Jack took a deep breath. The battle had been brief, yet it’d been brutal. While these mutants didn’t seem too dangerous, they proved to be quite fast and agile. He had to be real careful because there most likely would be more mutants in the underground catacombs.
He reached back with his left hand and touched the long tears in his leather armor where the mutant had hit him. When he pulled his hand back and looked at it, he saw that his fingers were smeared with blood. With his left hand, he took a health potion from one of the pouches on his belt. He pulled out the wooden cork with his teeth and downed the contents of the vial. The wounds on his back began to close, and the pain he felt receded.
Gripping the hilt of his sword, Jack walked across the room to the archway on the other side. It led into another corridor. It was so dark Jack couldn’t see the other end. He was about to start walking down the corridor when he realized something. He hadn’t received any Essence points for killing the two mutants. It was strange. Such a thing had never happened before. He’d always received XP for killing various creatures.
A sound reached his ears from behind.
What the hell?
He looked around to see something that surprised him a great deal. The two mutants he’d just killed were slowly getting up from the floor, their wounds closing with surprising speed. The mutant’s hand he’d severed was growing anew, and judging by the speed it was happening, the mutant would have a new clawed hand in just a few seconds.
A system notification emerged in his vision.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The quest has been updated.
He read the message and dismissed it with a thought. After glancing at the two mutants to make sure they were still recovering and weren’t about to jump him, he pulled up the info on his active quest. He instantly noticed that its objective had changed.
You need to find out what is making the enemies you kill in the ancient catacombs resurrect from the dead.
So those mutants were actually unkillable. Well, they could be killed, but after a few minutes, they revived. He needed to find out why it was happening and most likely put an end to it. That also must have been the reason he hadn’t gotten any XP for the two mutants he’d slain.
Jack put away the quest information and glanced at the creatures. They’d already recovered from the wounds he’d inflicted on them and were now moving in his general direction. Raising his sword, Jack lurched toward them.
This time, he killed them faster, without getting wounded in the process. The two mutants lay sprawled on the floor again, but just in a few minutes, they would revive once more. Jack didn’t wait for it to happen. He spun around and strode to the corridor that led somewhere deeper into the catacombs.
Jack continued to explore this underground place for quite a while, traversing one corridor after another. Each corridor ended in a room having an archway that led to another corridor. So far, this underground place was straightforward, all the corridors without any bends or forks. It was no maze, and it was a good thing. It was absolutely impossible to get lost in this place.
Jack continued to travel deeper into the catacombs, killing all the mutants he came across on his way. So far, it was the only kind of enemy he’d encountered here. Most of them were in groups of twos or threes, and Jack didn’t experience much trouble dealing with them. After taking care of a group of mutants, he immediately continued to travel deeper into the catacombs without waiting for the killed enemies to rise from the dead. The further into the catacombs he went, the more convinced he became that there weren’t any other kinds of monsters in that place. Sure enough, he didn’t receive any XP for the mutants he killed, but all his battle skills that were used during the fights were gradually increasing.
At some point, he reached into his backpack and took out an identification spell. He unrolled it and glanced at the magical symbols written on it in gold ink. With a thought, he wished to use the scroll, and it immediately disappeared in a brief flash of light. The identification spell he’d just received could be used three times. Jack spent one of the uses on the next mutant he encountered. He didn’t learn much about it, though. He found out that the mutants residing in the ancient catacombs belonged to the race called monsters and that they were of common rarity, which meant that they were pretty weak and easy to kill.
Finally, Jack reached the final room of the ancient catacombs. It was noticeably larger than all the previous ones he’d come through. Jack took a few careful steps into the room and came to a halt when he noticed a strange large creature standing in the middle.
Looks like a boss fight is awaiting me, Jack thought.