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Chapter 2: The Undying (1)

My class was sent to a different world 2 weeks ago. Alongside the bell that marked the start of the classes, a bright light flashed in our classroom, and the next thing we knew, we were in the court of a lord called the Crimson King.

We were informed of a lot of bullcrap about how we were chosen as heroes by the gods of this world and how we were supposed to take care of the great threat that looms over the world.

The typical bullcrap. So much so, that one could call it dog crap or cat crap, no, bird crap—whatever was more common.

Stories about getting sent to another world had only become commonplace, and their presence was far more pronounced in a classroom full of teenagers. We all knew exactly what we

If we had been kidnapped and brought over to another world with a warning, we would have played bingo through the crimson king’s speech.

I should mention, though, that unlike what happened in the novels, our class was quite simple. We were just normal classmates. Of course, the dynamics one expects in a classroom were present here too, but no one discriminated against others and no one particularly disliked each other; and perhaps because we were lucky, we also did not have anyone who had any particular trauma that made them reclusive.

Let me correct that, no trauma in 2024 was a fairy-tale. Instead of people being bullied and shunned because of their pasts, anyone who had problems usually talked about it with their friends and we all sorted it out together.

A classroom with no enmity, but also no overt closeness.

We were normal. Our situation wasn’t.

Maybe that’s where the problem began.

When we finished crying and being shocked about the absurdity of our situation and the fact most of us had homes to return to, the people of this world decided it was time to start training us.

My classmates were all dubbed heroes and were given special powers. Everyone was told that they would learn fast, and some were given skills that raised their potential. From swords to magic, they all had abilities that would suit a hero.

All of them, except me.

Now, we had read too many of these stories, which ended up bringing the classmates’ attention to me. We all thought I might end up with something special, but even as we waited nothing happened.

The people of this world were already disappointed that I had no abilities, coupled with how my classmates—being normal—were obviously weak and hesitant to do anything, which had increasingly frustrated the alliance that had taken responsibility for us.

We were all friendly and decided to support each other through all this. My classmates even said they would keep me safe whether I awaken an ability or not. And that very night, I overheard something.

The knight captain was talking with a bishop about the state of the heroes in the garden of the castle.

[The heroes are too weak and lenient as if they have never risked their lives. We have to show them how cruel the world is if we want to see progress.]

[Knight Captain, what are you suggesting!?]

[That boy with no abilities, Ian was it? We can say he wanted to push himself for his friends and lost his life.]

[Would that not earn their ire?]

[A few smacks would straighten them up—]

[No, whatever your reason, we can’t commit such blasphemous acts against someone chosen by the Septet. You know it too, the gods always have a plan. And you, you are not a person to harm a child either.]

That day I learned how fast bile could truly rise from one’s stomach. I had survived thanks to the bishop, or so I thought.

The next day, the bishop’s—no, everyone from the castle had their faces filled with darkness.

A divination that couldn’t be revealed to the heroes other than me.

The goddess of Light had bestowed the divination on her Oracle.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

[Kill the summoned hero Ian Meyer]

Of course, the gods always had a plan.

This time, it was to kill the guy who had the worst stats among the heroes.

***

“Stats!”

My eyes widened.

I was on the ground next to my own grave. The traces of my escape were all around in the form of loose ground. I could feel the distinctive taste and smell, and even the feel of oxygen on my tongue and my skin.

Three days. For three whole days, I was only dying. I was still in shock, my heart raced like a horse on dope and my entire mind was numb, vibrating like a gong struck on New Year’s.

Propping my head up was easy, but anything else tore my nerves apart. Just what was going on? I should have died, but instead, I was out of my grave.

My thoughts were all over the place. I was even maybe the pain wasn’t as much as I initially thought, and that it was not so bad to die if I was going to revive again.

There was no room to feel that when I was dying, but now that it had become a thing of the past—no matter how recent—I found myself speculating about it.

The only thing that could give me an answer about what my situation was the gift that the gods had given to the heroes.

A stone that they called the Divine Window. I pulled it out from my pockets.

> [Name: Ian Meyer

>

> Status: Dead

>

> Stats:

> Strength: 1 (Lowest-Low)

> Intelligence: 0 (Lowest-Low)

> Mana: 0 (Lowest-Low)

> Endurance: 0 (Lowest-Low)

> Control:0 (Lowest-Low)

> Skills:

> (UNDYING) (||||||||||)]

What….

0? When I had been pulled into this world, I had the stats equivalent to those of a normal adult, everything was around 10.

I also noticed the skills window. The shaded-out skill which we all assumed was heightened growth revealed itself to be something else.

At that time, the knight commander had said that it was possible I hadn’t met the conditions for unlocking heightened growth. After all, my stats and skills were far too low compared to my peers.

I frantically tapped on the skill, but nothing like an ‘information’ window opened up. Moreover, there was just another shaded skill. I couldn’t tell anything about what was going on.

But one thing seemed rather obvious to me.

“This skill… is consuming my stats?”

Was a zero in any stat even possible? I wondered if I revived each time with zero and developed the stat then, but I did find it progressively more difficult to escape every time I died.

There was no way to tell why.

My hands and knees buckled. With some force, I managed to stand up. Heavy breaths left me—my mind still not used to the fact that oxygen was around me.

I took a step ahead, then another.

“Ack!”

And fell face first.

I was out of breath from a mere two steps and a fall. No matter how hard I tried, standing up seemed impossible against the muscle pain.

“W-what… no no…”

The world around me seemed to have changed filters as the reality of my situation dawned in my head.

The sound of the rustling leaves and chirping insects, which seemed refreshing moments ago, felt palpable. The night sky which I craved to see, stuck underground, now became a fuel for horror.

I shivered, and trembled. In the middle of the night, in a forest inside a fantasy world.

—AWOOOOO!

A distant howl tore through the skies. Monsters…

There would be monsters here. If they saw me, they would tear me apart and eat me.

Was it something I didn’t have to worry about since I couldn’t die? No…

I didn’t want to die, I didn’t want to die at all. Not again. Did I say it didn’t feel bad? My heart pumped with fear as the thought of getting mauled entered my head.

Experiencing death again…? No. I would rather not wake up. I didn’t want to die again.

“Move, move, move, I can’t…”

My eyes turned to the hole that I had just burrowed out of. Should I hide the night in there?

No… I never wanted to go back in, and even if I did, the monsters would sniff me out unless I crawled all the way to the coffin.

—AWOOOO!

Another howl.

I didn’t know how distant or close it was, but my accursed imagination made it feel like the howls were inching closer.

A rustle erupted close by. My eyes widened at once.

No way, was it actually coming closer?

My eyes were riddled with fear. I slowly turned to my back and noticed someone draped in a cloak standing near the woods.

“Ah?” I could hear him.

How shocking. How utterly shocking. That ‘person’ could see me, and I could ‘hear’ him.

“Is that a human?”

Even though he had no eyes or mouth, no skin or flesh. A skeleton draped in a cloak was staring at me.

“Looks miserable.”

I covered my mouth and reeled back, but the skeleton came closer. It stepped toward me without hesitation.

I bit my lips and dragged my nails, but this accursed body of mine just did not move. It did not move no matter what.

The skeleton stopped in front of me. It reached into its cloak and pulled out a wooden staff, something carved to hold a stone at the top, and sharpened at the bottom.

“I’ll put you out of your misery. Don’t worry, eventually everyone will return in the right way.”

With those words, the skeleton drove its staff into my neck.

I died.

[Str: 0]

.

.

.

“HAAH!”

I woke up yet again. In the same spot I was at before. This time, I didn’t even have the strength to prop myself up.

“What…?”

The skeleton was standing above my body, with its arms stretched out. It held a black tome as dark purplish miasma gathered around its hand.

“I was wondering why you didn’t become an undead. You didn’t die?”

It raised the staff again.

“No no no! Please stop!” I screamed tearfully. “I don’t want to die again!”

“Hm? You can speak?” The skeleton muttered. “Die again…? I see…”

The skeleton didn’t let me say anything more. Before I could even look at it, hands made of bones emerged from the ground and wrapped around my mouth, then my limbs.

Tiny skeletons emerged from the ground and dragged me away.

“You’ll be a good subject.”

As I was getting dragged away, only one thought entered my mind.

Fuck getting transmigrated.

image [https://i.imgur.com/67KUiKO.png]