“F-Fuck…”

The irresistible smell that was once been thick inside of the room vanished once I eventually found the strength to stand up. In my hand, the dark stone was humming, leaking traces of dark haze from the small cracks on its surface.

[You acquired Ezekiel’s beacon.]

Ezekiel… We met again. No clue or help again this time, huh?

I was curious about the self-proclaimed deity, but there are more important matters for me to take care of.

Death poisoning? As opposed to what, normal poisoning? How is this any different?

Seconds ticked by as I felt a growing weakness inside of my body. It almost felt like someone infected me with a terrible cold, with my joints aching from every tiny movement. Its naming aside, How do I rid of this affliction?

The answer had to be in this dungeon. Somewhere in-

A crackling sound roused my attention. It came from the room where I initially fought the walking dead. Since they came from this room, there’s a strong possibility that they had something to do with this stone.

And this stone had something to do with the reason I was dying.

Losing my health rapidly, I hurried towards the other room.

The hacked bodies of the zombies were still alive and kicking. I stared at the limbs, which were healthy enough to move, forcing their way towards where I stood, their attention seemingly only on the stone that I was carrying.

[Use Ezekiel’s beacon?]

Use what? Uh.. Yes?

A dark tendril snapped out of the beacon, latching on to the arm that was about to reach and grab me. It was then that I saw the walking dead writhe in pain for the first time, losing its vitality while the stone sucked out every essence of what was within in seconds.

That’s not all, however. Once the stone had finished its meal, it extended another tendril towards my chest, penetrating my cape and the hole in my shirt with a ghastly shriek. I felt a surge of vitality powering its way through my chest, circulating newfound energy around my body.

Checking my stats, I watched the lost health from the poison returning. The corpse that once moved now laid still, the embrace of death finally grasped its life away. It seemed like the system allowed me to regenerate health this way, even if the way it described the poison said otherwise. From what Ezekiel said; He surmised that I have a special connection with his realm in one way or another, but as per usual, he never bothered to help me or explain what the hell he just said.

So, either the system was lying about the information about this stone, or it was not telling the full story. This is not the first time the system has been vague about things, so I can’t say that I’m surprised in the slightest.

[You killed Lvl. 17 Walking dead]

While regaining my health eased my worry, the poison was still alive and active. The other limbs from the rest of the walking dead are still up and about, crawling their way towards me with a perceivable hunger.

No time to waste.

Using the stone, I wrapped up the remains of the other zombies.

[You killed Lvl. 16 Walking dead]

[You killed Lvl. 18 Walking dead]

[You killed Lvl. 19 Walking dead]

[Congratulations! You gained a level!]

[The Coveted Shadow class has leveled up! You gained : + 2 dexterity, +1 Capacity, +1 Intelligence, +1 Strength, +1 Constitution]

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Normally, the level-up message would’ve given me a quick shot of dopamine, but right now, my brain is solely focused on dealing with this poison. I shoved the messages away, choosing to level up when I wasn’t dying with every second passing.

I would love to return to the encampment too, in case they needed my help. Speaking of that, how much time do I-

[Task #1 : Find the 4 keys to open the gate leading to the exit, located in the safe zone (0/4). 80 days left.]

[Task #2 - updated: Defend the gate. The wolf mother is planning to destroy the gate. A wave of enemies will strike the gate in 00 : 02 :24. Waves cleared (0/3).]

My eyes did a double take when I saw the prompt. 2 minutes left? How long did I lose my consciousness?

Damn… going back would be the optimal decision if I wasn’t poisoned. The only thing I can do now is to remove this poison as quickly as I could. My nose picked up more of the scent akin to the stone I carried from my right side, and while I do not know what lies deeper, my condition gave me no other choice.

Running between the empty rooms, I encountered more of those walking dead patrolling the dungeon. They weren’t much of a challenge since I carried their kryptonite in my left hand as I swiftly drained their life away, extending my own as a result.

[Task #2 - updated : The first wave begins, defend the gate. Waves cleared (0/3).]

Only God knows how long I frantically paced around in the dungeon. My mind went into overdrive as I killed more and more of those things, while the source of the scent felt closer with each step I take.

I’m close… Just a few more rooms.

As the scent grew thicker, the architecture of the dungeon became more elaborate. The walls were now carved with a type of artistry that I wasn’t familiar with, and the torches were lined with golden engravings near their end. The scene was more akin to a comfortable underground room rather than a simple, stony enclosure.

It was when I saw a giant door made of stone blocking the entrance to the other room that I finally stopped. Before the door, two bulky undead covered in rusted armor from the head to toe stood with their arms crossed. One of them carried a pair of sword and shield, while the other wielded a spear akin to mine. The sizes of their weapon match their gigantic figures.

Behind the towering figures of the guardian, an unlit torch lay dormant.

Even from the darkness, I was certain that they were at least twice my height.

[Lvl. 21 Tomb guardian knight]

[Lvl. 21 Tomb guardian Spearman]

From their looks alone, it didn’t seem like they possessed any hidden magical skill, relying purely on their physical prowess alone. There were no prompts from the system that showed that I could use the stone on them, meaning that there will be no easy method of removing these pesky defenders.

Shuddering, the knight awakened. Its hollowed eyes were lit with a red glow from deep inside as it brandished the weapons held in both of its arms. The other soon followed, and I was now faced with 2 towering figures looking to end my life.

The stone was of no use at this moment, so I kept it inside my backpack. This is a situation that warranted the use of both my arms and also, time is ticking.

Holding its shield high, the knight roared as it charged right at where I stood. Each step it took caused tiny tremors to the ground beneath, radiating outwards and reaching the tips of my feet. It was fast, not so fast that I couldn’t react, but it had enough speed to cause me to sweat. The biggest threat wasn’t its speed, no, it was the reach from the sheer size of its wingspan.

I dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding the charge. The knight’s momentum was too big for it to stop its march, causing it to collide with the walls of the tomb. A large crack the size of its shield was plastered on the wall, a grim premonition of the power that the charge carried.

I would’ve died if I took one of his charges head-on.

The air on the opposite side where the knight was suddenly twisted. The change was minuscule, almost imperceptible even with my [innate senses], but I reacted to the change by curling sideways, dodging a giant spear that was aimed right at my head. Any second of hesitation would’ve resulted in my head getting skewered.

Unfortunately, fighting those two in a tiny room poses a lot more problems than I expected. The knight was insanely sturdy, and the spearman was almost too fast for me to react accordingly. The mix of strength and speed is a terrible combination for a single person to handle.

One minute had passed since the knight’s charge, and I’d already lost 6% of my health from the poison alone. None of their attacks had scraped me so far, but I hadn’t even attempted to attack them either. It’s a stalemate that heavily favored the ones without a crippling poison in their bloodstream.

Eventually, I had to make a miracle happen.

Both the tomb guardians are now standing side by side, repositioning themselves with the knight as the front-liner. From the first minute of fighting them, they used a rather simple tactic of charging in with the shield and following up the charge with the spear. Then, the knight will try to close out my escape path from its side with the shield while letting the spearman do most of the work.

It was strange that they didn’t coordinate their attacks better. Perhaps the fact that they were dead had reduced their intelligence drastically, only allowing them to perform simple and unadaptive tactics, or, they have another card up their metallic sleeves.

I hope that they’re just stupid. Please, be so.

As I predicted, the knight lifted its shield and rushed toward me again. Rolling to the side and feeling air blasting from the figure dashing past me, I attempted to strike at the knight this time. There was close to no chance of my attack doing anything of significance, but it was a better shot since I don’t think I’d be able to even touch the spearman with its insane speed without committing heavily on it. Plus, the knight’s back are fully exposed from where I currently stood.

I need all the strength I can get. Opening up the system page, I allocated the free points from both main and sub-attributes on physical and strength. While the increase wasn’t necessarily substantial, it was still better than nothing.

Bolting towards the knight’s spot as it crashed into the wall - again - I readied my spear with both of my arms, using my final step as a pivot to gather all the momentum from the sprint, and performed a thrust with all of my might at the openings between his armor pieces on its abdomen.

A large crack emanated from the point of impact. The tip of my spear broke through the hidden chain-mail that was beneath all of its armor pieces, even penetrating deep into its body, before I heard a snap from somewhere else.

The snap came from my spear. The grip was splintered in half.

[You broke Iron enchanted spear.]