*!ARRH!*
The sound, reminiscent of a fox's howl being strangled, seized Tetsu's attention with an abrupt jolt. Rather than distancing himself, curiosity pulled him closer to the source, where he beheld the most grotesque creation within the system.
{Zeech, Level: 02. Undead: Stitch race. Attributes: Death…? Weakness:…?}
Crafted by a mortician with a questionable understanding of anatomy or whose body parts belonged to whom, Zeech was a chaotic amalgamation held together by smashed pieces, a mixture, and copious amounts of superglue.
A Draugr caught sight of Tetsu before the other undead, and as he attempted to dismiss this solitary foe, his focus, and voice were arrested by the silent stampede of Claytron and ant armies hot on the human's heels. The approaching army maintained an eerie silence, their march stifled by flat feet, skills, and the terrain.
While the Draugr puzzled over the unexpected presence of armies where they shouldn't be, the lesser braindead undead sprang into action. Unlike conventional armies, they lacked discipline, rules, or a sense of loyalty to their leader. At the mere glimpse of life, they lunged forward, eager to snuff it out and bolster the death affinity.
Confronted by the savage advance of Zeech, Tetsu discovered another backlash of Runes. Manipulating an enemy's limb became pointless when they lacked such appendages or joints to exploit.
Zeeches proved to be the ideal foil for Tenco Ten, prompting Tetsu to resort to his trademark strategy: fleeing in the opposite direction. With a third free point and a litany of curses vanishing into the luck stat, Tetsu couldn't help but mutter, "I swear I am going to kill the system makers with my two hands or four if I grow more down the line," as he flung a zombie arm at a Zeech, which gleefully added the gruesome offering to its collection. "That... that," he gawked at the creature. "Is Freaking cheating," he exclaimed, incredulous at the creature's adaptation.
A draugr, brandishing a rusty sword, aimed it at Tetsu. "Fields of despair," he chanted, releasing a field of black mist adorned with silver dots that spread across a fifty-meter radius.
Tetsu didn't even have time to blink before the skill enveloped the area, with the Draugr at its epicenter. "Fight me," the Draugr general activated another skill, compelling everyone to seek revenge and converge upon him.
"Nope, sorry. wouldn't fight you, even if you drop a million XP points," Tetsu retorted, plunging into the ground and swimming away
"Huh!" The Draugr gaped at Tetsu, momentarily forgetting about his active skill. In the ensuing chaos, a flurry of attacks assailed the Draugr until the effects of the taunt wore off, and the living resumed their relentless pursuit of their primary target; the slippery human.
[Ding! Fatigue: 70]
"I'm surrounded by life-force hoarders!" Tetsu grumbled at the undead, feeling a strange camaraderie with them. Despite their disparate motives, both he and the undead sought the same goal, albeit driven by different motives. The quantum harvest targeted trees until the undead intercepted or corrupted the resource bubbles before Tetsu could lay claim to them, and with the undead emanating a constant mist of death, the deeper regions became devoid of life sources.
"Save some for me!" Tetsu booted another zombie head into the Zeech's bizarre collection.
Initially terrified, Tetsu found the pursuit by headless zombies and the multitude of heads attached to the Zeech more comical than dire. Outnumbered and outpaced by the undead, he resorted to his go-to strategy: circling back to gather more life-attuned creatures. Tetsu sought to unravel the mystery of how the undead survived and whether the life or undead hue belonged to the life spectrum, but the hazy realm offered no clarity during the chaos of battle.
Adjusting his tactics once again, Tetsu created bubbles to divide the undead groups. Without a leader, they attacked random living creatures, and manipulating these mindless foes was child's play for a master manipulator like himself. A bit of life here and a cluster of death swarmed away. To blend in further, he collected undead body parts and sat at the dinner table beside them, consuming life force as if his existence depended on it—because it did.
In dire moments, Tetsu resorted to a desperate measure, blocking his nose. Some might argue that Tetsu was more accustomed to filth than the undead, rendering the extra limbs attached to him a clean suit and unnecessary.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
[Ding! Skill: Sensory Blocker: Breathe. (Initiate/Inferior)]
While the skill offered minimal relief, any method to diminish the overpowering stench was a welcome bonus. Tetsu discovered that lower-tier skills proved ideal for experimentation and potential upgrades.
When pondering why he possessed a keen sense of smell despite reeking like a skunk, he surmised it was unrelated to the odor but rather linked to his affinity for death. Setting aside yet another enigma to unravel, Tetsu redirected his focus toward escaping the predicament by stirring up even more chaos.
In a comical turn of events, Tetsu joined forces with the undead army to target the ants and Claytrons, all of them mad with hunger for life force. It wasn’t until he pushed his fatigue levels down by absorbing excess life force that he terminated the alliance, setting his sights on penetrating deeper into the undead territory by jumping ships and aligning with the living.
He enjoyed a bit of both worlds and with the song stuck in his head; he hummed along the way, drawing confused glances as most of them considered it to be a chant.
As the death energy thickened, Tetsu coaxed the shadows into revealing themselves. This time, his luck paid off when peculiar Purple aliens showcased their potions and gadgets to the perfect wrong person.
While they didn’t overtly flaunt their possessions, Tetsu, in his ravenous state, proved no wiser than a zombie. He lunged forward while pulling the scavenger [Krantz] toward him.
“Do you think you can flaunt such trivial stuff and temp me with such ease?” He said, drooling and casting gleaming eyes on the enticing array of gadgets.
“Tell that to your face,” the teenager yelled at Tetsu, who clung to the Krantz backpack, hitching a ride by force.
Tetsu noticed two streaks of blue light a second too late. Before he could react, they swooped down upon him, only becoming visible as they halted to launch an attack.
“Bad move,” Tetsu warned, his fangs descending and startling the Krantz.
“Vamp,” they muttered, freezing in fear.
Tetsu continued using his fangs in diverse ways, from surprising his enemies to returning to their original function of deflecting supreme auras. Once they served their purpose, he retracted them, ready for the next adversary. In war, there were plenty of opponents susceptible to the same trick; after all, they couldn’t communicate mid-flight or mid-battle.
———<>|*|<>———
“Fangs,” a Krantz sends an image to the castle, detailing the humans’ additional abilities.
“Fangs,” a lich spots and relays the information to its fellow liches.
“Aura does not work,” an information clay orb reaches the Prime Elementor.
“Crafty human,” the ants communicate to their generals.
———<>|*|<>———
Two runes draw the Krantz towards each other, and a third one propels them toward Tetsu. He skillfully dodges the convergence while pilfering a shoe from each Krantz, acquiring a pair for himself.
The duo collides into the third Krantz’s back, while Tetsu executes a flip and skids to a halt, admiring his high-tech sneakers.
“I can’t feel the floor any longer, but damn, that was cool.” Tetsu risked it all to observe himself from a third person’s perspective. He admired the stylish stance before dashing away with a blue streak. “Who is the fastest man alive?” he snickered.
The trio experienced a cruel landing because of their uncontrollable speed and rocky floor. Tetsu rushed towards them, executing a flip over the third Krantz and stealing his backpack before making a swift escape.
“You,” the Krantz general pointed at a tree, Tetsu already avoiding him by a sudden, random turn.
“Stay and help your squad. There’s no point in following me. I myself don’t know where I am heading,” Tetsu yelled without sparing the general a glance. “Don’t tell me what to do, brat.”
“Do as she says,” Tarah commands through an earpiece, her gaze fixed on a monitor.
“Yes, ma’am,” the general salutes and activates a contraption.
Shadows sprang forth from the device. The two other scavengers leap into distinct shadows, emerging closer to the trio, aiding their escape back into the shadows. Meanwhile, the general split into holograms, drawing the attention of the other armies and leading them away from the group.
“Start the detaching sequence,” Tarah commands, then places her hand hovering over the monitor to convey the message to a particular individual trailing the human. “Get closer.” The ever-steady picture on the screen flickers for the very first time, acknowledging the message.
Since Tetsu harbored suspicions about potential assailants lurking in the shadows, he conjured eyes at areas rarely noticed by others. From one such concealed vantage point, Tetsu marked a Krantz holding either a fancy camera or a cannon on his shoulder.
This Krantz held a darker shade of purple with zero percent body fat. His muscles were well-defined and sleek, yet they brimmed with power. Even more so than the Krantz general’s hologram.
A deviation in the color scheme catches Tetsu’s attention, as a red streak replaces the customary blue hue on the cameramen’s shoes. The footwear seems more substantial, mirroring the increased size of the feet, which are twice the size of Tetsu’s and a few inches larger than those of the other Krantz soldiers.
These variants sported a veil instead of a backpack, designed to refract light and aid in blending into their surroundings. The camera, shaped like a mini cannon, held them back. Tetsu believed he could run circles around him before heading for the finish line without such hindrance. Even at this moment, he held himself back from overtaking them, and Tetsu planned to use this to his advantage.
The cameramen possessed a similar advantage, capable of erasing any tracking marks affixed to them. To counter this, Tetsu marked his shoes instead. He might still possess enough speed to catch up to Tetsu without them, marking them provided the added benefit of circling back to gain a superior pair of kicks.
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