The darkness unraveled and the eyes that were closed, opened. A boy of about 18 years old woke up from his deep slumber.
“Ahh…”
The boy let out a groan and grabbed his head. He didn’t know why, but his head was bursting from pain. His eyes wandered left and right. He could see a sink to his left and a steel rack to his right. As for what he was lying on, it was an exam table.
“An examination room? Why was I sleeping here?” The boy blurted out, trying to collect his memory.
“Uh…? Why can’t I remember anything?” The boy held his head in confusion. “Even my name. I don’t remember it at all…”
The boy hastily got up causing a long steel rod, which was next to him, to fall to the ground.
The ear-ringing noise bounced in the empty room.
“What the hell? Why was this next to me?” He brought the steel rod up to his eyes. The rod didn’t look to belong to anything in the examination room.
Loud banging noise from outside the door made his body straightened up in alert. It was as if someone was trying to barge their way into the room.
The boy calmed his breathing and observed the door. His hand tightening around the steel rod.
Whoever was behind the door, the person was strong enough to cause indentations to the wooden door. He couldn’t understand why did that someone tried so hard to get inside.
Maybe that was why the steel rod was next to him? Realizing the door would be smashed open at any moment.
He sucked in a deep breath and charged at the door, throwing himself at it.
The door made a crunching noise as it pushed against the hallway wall. The boy had a moment to see two adult-sized skeletons standing on either side of the now collapsed door. He jerked himself back as two swords cut down where he used to be. The collapsed door moved to the side and another skeleton popped out with a hammer in its hands.
The hell is this? The boy stared, his eyes dilating. He didn’t have time to think another thought. The first skeleton charged straight at him, its sword extending forward. The boy bent his knees and slid to the left, dodging the sword. Then, he thrust himself forward and struck the skeleton, blowing it backward.
He didn’t stop as he could see another skeleton coming at him. Twisting his hand, he swung sideways, blowing the sword to the side and using that momentum to position himself for a kick at the third skeleton.
Impeded by the hammer in its hand, the skeleton couldn’t defend against the kick in time. It dropped to one knee before seeing a steel rod send its head flying. Jerking back, the boy narrowly dodged the slash at his stomach before retaliating with another swing. He knew he couldn’t celebrate just yet, the stumbling skeletons were getting up. Three quick consecutive swings of the steel rod, he broke the skeletons to pieces and continued to do so until he couldn’t see any more movement.
Wiping off his sweat, he sat on the exam table, his eyes on the skeleton bones on the ground.
“Creepy hospital room, killer skeletons? What kind of mess did he get himself into before he lost his memory? “
Just thinking made his head ached in pain. He pushed himself off the table and picked up the sword. To his surprise, the sword felt burdensome and awkward to use as if the sword was rejecting him. He tried the other sword and then hammer, but he reached the same conclusion—he couldn’t use them.
Just how were the skeletons able to wield them and he couldn’t? He tossed his steel rod up and then caught it.
“Guess it is you and me old pal.”
Staring outside the room and into the dark hallway whose light flickered on and off. He would like to think that these skeletons were the last of their kind. However, it was more likely that wasn’t the case.
Deciding it would be better for him to find the skeletons than them finding him, the boy gripping his steel rod, made his way out.
It didn’t take long before he found a skeleton lingering around a room. He quickly dispatched it and proceeded onward. When he finally made his way to the bottom floor of the hospital, he had faced over thirty skeletons, of course not all at the same time. They were spread out and were usually in pair or triple. The most he fought at the same time was five. His white shirt and blue jean were dyed in sweat as he sat outside of the hospital’s front entrance, staring at the columns and rows of graves in front of him. The moon hung over them accompanied by the cries of the cold wind against the trees.
Probably not a good idea to build a hospital right by a cemetery.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
…Or maybe the cemetery was built after the hospital…?
His musing was cut short when spirals of dark mist rushed to the center of the cemetery, condensing and forming a ghastly hooded phantom.
“Usually, the boss monster would appear when you step foot inside the graveyard.” The boy groaned as he stood up. “Next time, I’ll stay farther b—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence when his eyes spot skeletons coming down from the stairs. The whole bottom floor was now getting filled with dozens of skeletons.
I know I skipped a lot of floors but just how many are there?!
He involuntarily took a few steps back when he noticed groups of skeletons coming from the sides of the hospital as well.
“Damn!” In just a few moments he would be surrounded.
He glared back at the hooded phantom.
You’re not giving me a choice, aren’t you?
He made up his mind and sped straight up ahead to the phantom.
“Sike!”
The boy changed direction and aimed for the space to the phantom left. He wasn’t crazy enough to fight a ghost. He didn’t even know if he could hurt it. Rather than risking it with Mr. Spooky here, he chose to run.
Feeling the air behind him turning cold, he ducked and rolled to his side. The grave’s mound that was where he used to be turned black and began to melt.
The boy stared at the hooded monster that caused it, but only for a split second as he stood up and began to run again.
The ground began to shook as skeletal hands shot out from the mounds of dirt. The boy dodged left and right as the hands tried to grab him. Feeling the cold air at this back, he leaped to his side. The mist hand stretched out.
“Piss off!”
He swung at it and saw the impact causing the hand to fade back into mist.
The phantom eyes shone red and using its other hand shot out a black beam of light.
The boy had noticed the small movement of the phantom hand beforehand and distanced himself enough to react to the oncoming beam.
But instead of dodging farther away, he slipped closer to the phantom.
Of course, the phantom wouldn’t let go of such an opportunity as it dragged its hand to where the boy was, ready to blast the boy to smithereens.
Or that was what supposed to happen when the phantom noticed its hand had been truncated. The steel rod had blown its remaining hand away.
The phantom howled as it tried to create space between them, but a flurry of blows battered its body before it could fly high up in the sky.
The boy breathed heavily as he stared at the tattered phantom, illuminated by the moon. The phantom’s spectral body shook as the phantom let out a howl. The nearby skeletons disintegrated and became black mist as they flew to the phantom, enlarging its body and forming several hands.
The boy wasn’t going to waste time watching the phantom powered up. He had already made a good distance away and would have gotten farther if it wasn’t for the bloodthirsty skeletons that rose from the graves.
Breathing hoarsely, he smashed the skeletons while dodging its companions’ blows. The howling had now stopped and the boy could feel a freezing coldness coming at him.
The phantom was now four times its original size and had six hands. Yet for some reason, the phantom couldn’t catch the boy. The boy was much slower than it was and he looked like he could fall down from exhaustion at any minute, so why couldn’t it melt the boy or blast him with its beam?
The boy seemed to dodge it by an inch or smash its hands when they were on the verge of draining the life out of him. Not to mention, he was doing it while fighting the oncoming skeletons as well. The phantom now noticed it had used an absurd amount of energy to reform its hands. Twenty, thirty times? It had lost counts of how many times it had reformed its hands.
Dread, fear? The phantom did not know such emotions, but yet why did its hands quickened, desperately, trying to catch the thing in front of it?
The boy had thought he was done for when exhaustion had beset him. But strangely, it brought about a familiar feeling. A feeling that he felt, he had experienced hundreds, no maybe thousands of times before. Like in a trance, he danced, letting the exhaustion be his partner as it twirled him about.
Fragmented World: Graveyard of the Dead cleared.
The mechanical voice rang throughout the area, breaking the boy’s trance state as he crumbled down onto the floor.
The phantom, skeletons, cemetery, and the hospital had all disappeared as if they were never there.
Messages popped up in front of him.
Congratulations on clearing Graveyard of the Dead.
Cleared Rank: S
Achievement: Defeat the boss. Met.
Gain One-Star Treasure Chest
Error: Entity has not been initialized.
Achievement: 20 levels behind. Error. Error. Error. Met.
Gain 3 Skill Points
Error: Entity has not been initialized.
Achievement: Defeat 50+% of the enemies. Met.
Gain +0.2 on all attributes.
Error: Entity has not been initialized.
Achievement: S Club. Met
Gain title: Member of the S Club
Error: Entity has not been initialized.
G̴̰̱̊́̀ȧ̵̭̖̋i̴̻̮͌ǹ̴̫̠̓ ̷̟̉͂̓t̵̡̘͓̿͒i̶̼͝ẗ̴͙̌̋l̵͖͛͌̽ê̶̪̯:̴̭͊̽ ̵̢͂̂T̷̛̞̠͠h̶̳̽̏̚é̷̱͝ ̶̣̂U̵͙͝n̵̢̞͍̈́̚i̶̳̊̚n̸͎̘̗͗́͠ì̸̦͔̼t̶̟͔̕í̶̮͌a̸̞̖̥͆͛l̷͓̋͑̕i̸̛̯̪̩̎z̶̭̬̅̌̐é̷͈͆d̴̙͔̀̇
Player Profile
Name: Error: Entity has not been initialized.
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Title: Member of the S Club, T̵͉̩̑̓̔h̷͓̔̌̊e̵̳̋̉ ̷̼̋̆͊Ǘ̸̘̐ǹ̷̯̳͊̿i̵͉̦͘͠n̶̦̺̫̐̎͐ì̸̼̪͝t̷͔̺̀i̷̹͝a̶̺͆l̸̟̾í̶̟̎̉z̵̨͌̿e̶̮̠̙͐͠d̸̻̘̜̹̻̼̺̥̍̀̕
Level: Error: Entity has not been initialized.
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Str: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
Agi: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
Con: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
Sol: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
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Skill Point: Error: Entity has not been initialized.
“What…?”
The boy frowned at the slowly fading messages and Player Profile in front of him.
Footsteps sounded in all directions as the boy found groups of people in unsuited armors and clothing emerged from the trees.
A teenager with a long spear in his hand, came forward, pointing his spear at the boy.
“And who the hell are you?”