《Death God's Adventure in Another World [Dropped]》
Prologue: Gimme a Break
¡°Where am I?¡±
After sending another soul to be reincarnated, another one appeared at almost the same time the other departed. This time, unlike the other one, the soul was that of a young boy in the single digits age.
¡°O pitiful soul, whose death has come, I am the Death God, the manager and ruler of all souls.¡±
After speaking a line the Death God has spoken countless of times, the soul faced towards the voice, only to see a huge skeleton wearing a pitch black robe covering its whole body inside this dark space. Technically, what the soul could see was only a huge floating skull because the robe blended in perfectly with the background, but his was still enough to instill fear in the mind of the soul.
¡°Hiii!!??¡±
The soul inched back, only to find itself struggling within the bony hands of the Death God. On the back of the Death God, a huge scythe was hanged. Using the other hand to reach for the scythe, the soul screamed in fear.
¡°AAHH!!!!¡±
In just a moment, the soul was cut in half, and the figure of the young boy vanished. The remnants of the soul sucked up within the hands of the Death God, and every memory about the life of the soul was erased.
After another moment, the new recycled soul was sent through a channel towards the Death God¡¯s colleague, the Life God, in order to be given new life.
The Death God¡¯s work continued over and over again, for years, for centuries, for millenias¡
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After for who knows how long, for the nth time, the Death God reaped another soul and sent it to the Life God for reincarnation.
It was at this moment, the Death God had a thought.
What if I took a break from this tiresome work?
The Death God finally reached its patience for working nonstop for millenias. Using this moment when a soul had yet to appear, the Death God went through the channel connecting this place with the Life God¡¯s place.
Arriving at the aforementioned place, what greeted the Death God¡¯s view was abundant greenery. Having no knowledge about the greenery, the Death God continued on its way towards where the Life God is.
Passing through green and countless of others, the Death God finally saw the figure of its colleague. Wearing a white toga with a human male appearance, the Life God was just finishing his work.
In his hands, was a pure floating soul, and with just a single snap of his fingers, the soul vanished and was sent into one empty vessel in the world.
¡°Life God.¡±
¡°Hmm? Death God? What are you doing here?¡±
After countless interactions with the souls, the two communicated countless of times with a specific language they were accustomed to.
¡°I want a vacation.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
The Life God went speechless for a moment before denying his words.
¡°You do know if you are gone, the balance between erasing and reincarnating souls will be broken.¡±
¡°I know. That is why I am asking you to take care of it while I am on vacation.¡±
¡°Are you serious?¡±
¡°Don¡¯t worry, after my vacation, you can have yours, and I will take care of things while you are gone.¡±
The Life God, upon hearing the Death God¡¯s remark, broke into a laugh.
¡°Okay then, but I will choose your form when you descend onto the mortal realm.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine by me.¡±
But the Death God¡¯s decision, will impact its life from here on out, but the Death God had no way of knowing this at the present.
After a few minutes had gone by, the form of the Death God was complete and in the hands of the Life God. Its figure was that of a pitch black skeleton.
¡°So this will be my vessel on the mortal realm?¡±
¡°Yes. Before you go, let me warn you, once the vessel is destroyed, you will be directly sent back onto our realm making your vacation over.¡±
The Death God had a question mark over its head before realizing that what the Life God said meant about death.
¡°Sure. Anyway, now that my vessel is complete, I will descend right now. By the way, during your vacation, I will also choose the figure of your vessel.¡±
¡°Haha, that¡¯s fine. Bring back a lot of souvenirs for me!¡±
¡°Sure.¡±
The figure of the Death God was sucked into the pitch black skeleton and beneath its feet, a circle appeared. The next moment, a blinding light shone and the Death God was nowhere to be seen.
¡°Now, I wonder how will Death God fare in the mortal realm he had no knowledge of.¡±
A smile formed on the Life God¡¯s face because of the prank he pulled on Death God.
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~ First Person POV ~
Where is this?
Damp walls, no light, rocks on the ground, what is this place?
Walking for a couple of minutes, I found a forked path. On the left, there was complete darkness, but on the right, there was a miniscule amount of light pouring in. Taking that right path, the light shone brighter and brighter, until I found myself in a huge dome.
Inside, there were five mortals sitting down. Upon seeing my figure, the five of them stood up and took fighting stances.
Why are they doing that? What are those they are holding?
While I contemplated on why they are doing those mysterious movements, one of them rushed towards me and used that weird sharp object to slash at me. I used my left arm to block the mysterious sharp object and felt a sharp prickling on my arm for the first time.
What is this feeling? Should I do something?
The next moment, the mortal whose mysterious sharp object was blocked by my hand, quickly separated and I was bombarded with flames.
Why are there flames around me?
Another moment after that, the three remaining mortals rushed towards me and barraged me with a series of attacks using mysterious sharp and blunt objects. I blocked every single attack using my arms, but everytime I did, I felt the same prickling sensation I felt when I first blocked the first attack.
Ah¡ I finally noticed¡ This feeling¡ Is pain, isn¡¯t it?
After finally noticing what they were trying to do, I recalled my meeting with a certain soul.
The soul was saying that it died because of pain. And it said that pain was a prickling sensation on the part of the body.
And I recalled what Life God said before I descended.
¡°Yes. Before you go, let me warn you, once the vessel is destroyed, you will be directly sent back onto our realm making your vacation over.¡±
And I finally noticed one thing. That means that if I die, I will be sent back.
And when the soul said that it died because of pain, I comprehended what the five mortals were doing to me.
They were trying to kill me.
I am not going to let my vacation be this short!
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~ Third Person POV ~
¡°W-What is that thing!?¡±
¡°I-I don¡¯t know!¡±
Every attack of the party of adventurers were doing were nulled by the pitch black skeleton. Slashes, thrusts, magic, smashes, almost everything they did, did no damage to the skeleton.
¡°Shit! We need to inform the guild about this monster!¡±
Upon hearing those lines, the other four adventurers nodded in agreement. Sadly, they were too late.
Red dots appeared on both the once blank eye sockets. Seeing those red dots, the adventurers felt a sense of dread and this made them panic.
¡°D-Damn it!!! Run!!¡±
All the adventurers quickly ran for their lives, but all of their actions went in vain.
In just a moment, the five of them had their necks separated from their bodies. Blood splattered everywhere and the five of them had no idea what killed them.
In this day, an A-rank adventurer party went missing.
Chapter 1: Vacation?
In front of me lay 5 corpses of the mortals who assaulted me earlier. Right now, they must be meeting with the Life God and should be reincarnated after a few years.
Even though I won¡¯t die in a sense, I don¡¯t want my vacation cut short. I want to enjoy this vacation for as long as I can.
I approached the 5 corpses and rummaged through their belongings. I, as a God, know this much of minimum information about how to survive, but I forgot to gather information about the world I was going to descend. This is a major mistake as I don¡¯t know what the customs of this world are, and this might lead to the shortening of my vacation.
What I found were sharp and blunt objects used to assault me earlier, small, round items with a color of brown, silver, and gold, a glass bottle filled with green liquid, etc.
I also found a round object hanging from the neck of a mortal. I grabbed and pulled it from her with strength that made the chain break. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it can open and close, and inside, a picture of three mortals. The female is probably her, a male mortal, and another young female mortal.
Since this didn¡¯t have any value whatsoever to me, and bringing this just might make things complicated, so I threw it aside and started rummaging again for more valuables.
After searching the bodies, I only found three sharp, one blunt object, a curved wood with string tied at its end, exactly 59 brown, 84 silver, and 5 gold small round objects, and 10 glass bottles filled with green liquid. The others, I didn¡¯t need, such as food and water.
Since I finished my business here, I started walking towards the opposite direction from where I came from. Since the dome was large, it took me about 15 minutes to reach the end, and I found another pathway connecting to this dome.
Without any hesitation, I walked into the dark pathway, which posed no problem because I can see in the dark. After walking for another minute, I encountered an animal with the shape of a dog with two heads.
The two-headed dog noticed me and glared at my direction while showing its teeth. I glanced at its direction, before walking past it as it did not pique my interest. But upon doing so, I was assaulted with a vicious attack.
I was knocked back about 5 meters and my body tumbled on the ground, kicking up a dust cloud.
Pain again¡ Even you? Why do you want to shorten my vacation so?
I stood up while feeling pain in my body, during that, the two-headed dog lunged at me once again. Using my two bony hands as a weapon, I pierced its one head with my right, and used my left to crush the other.
Blood and brain matter scattered all over the floor, and the two-headed dog went limp. Seeing the blood stick on my bones, I felt a strange sensation causing my mind to feel disrupted.
[You have Leveled Up!]
Level: 1 -> 2
HP: 20/1000 -> 1010/1010This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
MP: 100/100 -> 101/101
Str: 50 -> 51
Agi: 50 -> 51
End: 50 -> 51
Int: 50 -> 51
Luc: 0 -> 0
Skills:
[Gaze of Terror] Max
[Death Magic] Lv 1 (New)
What is this?
In front of my vision, a table with characters with unfamiliar meaning to me appeared. Also, before this table appeared, I heard something like a voice in my head saying something like I leveled up.
Is that a voice of a God?
It must be the God in charge of managing the world. I forgot the names of the other Gods because I was busy reaping souls and sending them to the Life God for reincarnation.
I thoroughly checked this table since this has something to do with me. When I focused on the HP character, another table popped up with words explaining about this HP character.
HP ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s health is conveyed in numbers. Once this stat reached 0, the owner will die. On the left side is the current HP and on the right is the maximum HP.
Since this was easy to understand, I quickly comprehended the meaning. Upon reaching an understanding, I remembered my earlier current HP before I leveled up.
That was close¡ Anymore damage and my vacation would have been over.
Realizing that the lowering of my HP is dangerous, I made a mental note to learn how to fight without incurring damage.
MP ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s magical capacity is conveyed in numbers. Using magic or specified skills will reduce this stat based on the magic used. Once this stat reaches 0, the owner will faint and will not wake up until after 8 hours has passed. On the left side is the current MP and on the right is the maximim MP.
This one, I should be careful when using the things called magic and skills. Since earlier, I saw I had a skill I should probably try and practice it so that I can use this to prolong my vacation.
Str ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s physical capabilities is conveyed in numbers. The higher the stat, the stronger the force when doing activities.
Agi ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s speed is conveyed in numbers. The higher the stat, the faster the speed when moving.
End ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s endurance is conveyed in numbers. The higher the stat, the higher the tolerance with physical pain magical attacks, and can reduce the damage dealt to the HP stat.
Int ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s magic capability is conveyed in numbers. The higher the stat, the stronger and efficient the usage of magic, and also resist certain mental attacks. Can also reduce the usage of MP with magic used.
Luc ¨C The stat in which the owner¡¯s luck is conveyed. The higher the stat, the higher the chance to have favourable encounters and situations. Can also sometimes evade death if the stat is high.
These five stats are composed of my body¡¯s physical and magic capabilities. Since all of these are self-explanatory, I don¡¯t have to wrack my heads about how to use these stats to my advantage. The problem here is the LUC stat, Isn¡¯t my stat in that parameter 0? Will that shorten my vacation time?
After contemplating on these matters, I shelved them deep within my mind until I can get some information about this world. Since there is nothing to do here except walk forward, I continued on the dark path, ignoring the dead two-headed dog.
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~ Third Person POV ~
Inside a building filled with countless of people, there were two figures discussing about a certain matter.
¡°The tracking device on the party leader of the A-rank adventurer party, Crowstorm, lost its signal.¡±
¡°¡ Does that mean that they were killed?¡±
¡°I can¡¯t fully predict that whether they were killed or not, but one thing is for certain, something happened down in the labyrinth.¡±
¡°Isn¡¯t this an omen for bad times?¡±
¡°That may be so indeed.¡±
Sitting on a chair while settling his elbows on the desk was the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, Rockhound branch guildmaster, Andreas Philips, while on the other side of the desk, was a normal looking human named Roy.
¡°Order the adventurers, no one is to step foot on the lower floors of the labyrinth, particularly the 7th ¨C 8th floor.¡±
¡°Understood.¡±
After a brief discussion, Roy left the room and left behind a gloomy Andreas.
¡°Linda, I hope you are safe.¡±
Chapter 2: Impending Threat
After walking for about 10 minutes, I came across another two-headed dog. It was feeding on the corpse of a mortal. Surrounding it were another 3 corpses of mortals with decaying bodies.
When I got closer, the two-headed dog noticed my presence and glared at me with its canines.
Since I knew that I was going to be assaulted like the last time, this time, I was ready for its attack. I also had a thought of trying to use the skill I gained earlier. What was its name again?
Death Magic, was that it? Anyway, while I was walking in this dark passage, I tried to learn about its uses, and found out that it can affect the soul of a mortal. If I try to channel the thing called MP and use Death Magic, I can directly harm its soul, possibly destroying it in the process.
Since this is a violation of my work of reaping souls and renewing them to be sent for reincarnation, I shall refrain from completely destroying the soul. But I can damage it to a certain degree to weaken it, and destroy its vessel using physical means.
Channeling MP to my hands, a black glowing color, although it is impossible to see because of this darkness, appeared on my hands. The two-headed dog feeling killing intent from actions lunged at me with quick feet.
For a moment, while I was trying to channel sufficient amount of MP into my hands, I saw a spark illuminate from the mouth of one head from the two-headed dog. Gradually, the spark changed to flames and came gushing out of its mouth with gusto towards my direction.
I, assaulted with the pain of being burned, finished channeling the magic and sent it flying towards the dog. In this darkness, it is completely invisible, but it has a shape of a small, black ball.
It flew at almost the speed of light and penetrated the body of the dog, causing it to flinch, and at one point, crumble to the ground. Once the flames subsided, I calmly went towards where the dog collapsed and saw that it was still breathing.
Unfortunately, I was unable to detect a presence of a soul inhabiting the dog, or rather, the vessel.
This is bad¡ I wonder if Life God would yell at me for this mistake.
While having that thought, I continued my walk while also checking the table to confirm my current status.
Level: 2
HP: 710/1010
MP: 51/101
Str: 51
Agi: 51
End: 51
Int: 51
Luc: 0
Skills:
[Gaze of Terror] Max
[Death Magic] Lv 1 (New)The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
With just a breath of flames, my HP has gone down by 300. And also, using that magic cut my remaining MP in half.
Realizing the danger that would befall me if I keep on getting hit by flames or attacks, I made sure that next time, I would avoid such attacks. Also, for now, I decided to use Death Magic on mortals once I can fully control it.
Using the time when walking, I devoted myself to training on controlling the thing called MP and also Death Magic. Of course, I also stayed vigilant on my surroundings lest I want another attack flying at me all of a sudden.
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~ Third Person POV ~
¡°What is this!? Why can¡¯t we enter the 7th to the 8th floor of the labyrinth!?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right! Because of this, our earnings are going down!¡±
¡°Damn it! What am I supposed to do with the request I accepted!?¡±
¡°Those who have accepted requests requiring going to the 7th floor and below can terminate the contract wit hno penalties.¡±
¡°Shit, so much for buying booze later¡¡±
Inside the Adventurers Guild full of rowdy people, a couple of female attendants were struggling with the discontented adventurers working primarily on the middle floors.
¡°As this is the order of the guildmaster, those who protest may have a penalty of excommunication from the Adventurers Guild.¡±
With one sentence from a certain female attendant, the whole room was visited by silence.
¡°O-Oi¡ It¡¯s the Guild Witch.¡±
¡°If you want to live, don¡¯t mess with her¡¡±
With those silent whispers which were inaudible to the surroundings, the female, also known as the Guild Witch, made her appearance on the stairs connecting the ground and 2nd floor.
¡°Those who are dissatisfied can directly approach me. I assure you, we will have a fun time.¡±
With a smile that sent shivers down the spines of several rowdy men in an instant, she silently climbed up the stairs and headed towards the guildmaster¡¯s room.
¡°Sorry for using you as a silencer.¡±
Opening the door connecting to the guildmaster¡¯s office, a deep voice came from the man sitting behind the desk.
¡°Its okay, Andreas, I owe you one after all.¡±
Sending a playful wink towards Andreas, he lets out a wry smile and puts up his serious expression.
¡°So? Were you able to contact him?¡±
¡°Yes. He said that he will arrive in a week at the latest.¡±
¡°¡Is that so?¡±
Sending a gloomy gaze towards the window, Andreas¡¯ sight sets firmly towards the entrance of the labyrinth just behind the Adventurers Guild.
¡°¡¡±
Since the Guild Witch knew of the situation regarding the lost signal of the A-rank party, Crowstorm, and also of the relationship between Andreas and the leader, the Guild Witch had nothing else to do to cheer Andreas up except stay silent.
¡°So, how about the adventurers down there in protest about my command, is there anyone you think that may be able to investigate? Of course, they will be payed handsomely.¡±
After a few seconds of silence, Andreas¡¯ eyes met with the Guild Witch once again and made an expectant face.
¡°Unfortunately, none of the mseems qualified. Since we are talking about an A-rank party that can easily run through the 1st to the 15th floor, I don¡¯t think anybody in this town can investigate that area where an A-rank party suddenly vanished. Not to mention, it happened on the 8th floor where the difficulty in the labyrinth suddenly spikes up.¡±
Having his expectations betrayed, Andreas felt dejected once again.
¡°I wonder if I can keep up my lie about her returning to Lina¡±
With a whisper that was inaudible to the surroundings, Andreas muttered that to himself with a mocking tone.
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On a dirt path, a certain person continues to walk forward while only carrying a rucksack and a sword hanging on his waist.
¡°I wonder what that old man will make me do this time. He said it was urgent, so I had to quickly prepare, leaving behind my teaching job.¡±
While talking to himself with a joyful tone, he continues walking towards the town where a person contacted him.
¡°I haven¡¯t been to Rockhound for a year. I wonder how will it look right now?¡±
Suddenly, as he was walking, he chanced upon a battle in the horizon.
¡°Kill the men! Take the women!!¡±
Shouting could also be heard in the direction where the battle was raging. Screams of pain and rage permeated through the ears of the man, causing a smile to form on his face.
¡°Hmm¡ The likely scenario would be thieves attacking, but somehow, it is rather forced. Will there be a war in the coming future? I wonder¡¡±
While humming to himself, he continued on his way towards Rockhound.
Chapter 3: Boss Room
Going through the dark passages, I keep on encountering two-headed dogs. While avoiding the attacks which weren¡¯t all that hard since they mostly just lunge and breathe fire at me, I smash in their heads with punches or kicks.
The last one I encountered numbered the 5th. It was wandering around aimlessly while sniffing on the ground, probably looking for food. Upon noticing me, it quickly dashed towards me with sparks coming out of its mouth.
I quickly lunged at it while moving in a zigzag pattern in hopes of confusing its sense of sight. When I firmly planted my left foot on the ground, the dog released a breath of flames towards me. I kicked of the ground while half spinning heading to the right. Landing on my right foot, I used the centrifugal force to complete the turn and gave the dog a kick to its head, causing its brain matter to fly out.
Because the distance was shortened with our dashes, the kick landed successfully and caused the dog to feel intolerable pain.
Wiggling about in a pained manner, I quickly used my hands to smash its other head and the dog ceased moving after a few spasms.
When I encountered the other dogs earlier, I had been unable to do this kind of movements. Right now was the first succesful fight in which I had been unharmed, making me feel a sense of satisfaction.
In the earlier fights, at most, I got a graze from the claws of the dogs, or little burnt spots from the flames, but all in all, it could only be called a minor injury.
This vacation is truly interesting.
It¡¯s the first vacation I had for a millenia, yet, it gave me this much experience on the first day. Wondering how this vacation may change me who has only been reaping souls for millenias, I quietly continued walking.
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After walking continuosly for about an hour and two encounters with two-headed dogs, I came across a set of stairs leading up. As I was in a one-way passage, all I could do was head up, or go back the way I came.
Making a decision in a snap, I ascended the stairs slowly. The stairs leading up had nothing to halt my ascent, no dogs, mortals, anything. If I had to say, maybe the darkness as I wanted to see this place basked in light, but as I am used to dark areas, I let this thought go to the back of my head.
On the top of the flight of stairs, I came upon another passageway, but this time, I saw light at the end. Walking through the passage with brisk steps, I arrived at a room with a square layout and a high ceiling.
At the center was a huge figure filled with bulging muscles and armed with a giant sharp object, presumably a weapon. Its skin color was brown and had two horns at its head that looks like it could pierce the heavens. With a face of a cow and the body of a man, this huge figure slowly turned its head and gazed at my direction.
¡°OoooOOOoooOOOOooooOOooooOO!!!¡±
Because it was in a position like it was sitting down, it stood up while brandishing its giant weapon and roared at me with a force that slightly knocked back my body.
In that timing that I was being pushed back, the monster dashed towards me with speed that you couldn¡¯t think of because of its huge body. At that moment, it swung its giant weapon towards me, and I was sent flying until I was next to the entrance of the passage I came from.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
¡This pain¡ It¡¯s much more unbearable than the other times I felt pain¡
Recognizing this monster as a threat to my vacation, I had no leeway to fight half-heartedly. I got up while bearing the pain and silently stared at the monster.
Its face had a look like it was shocked that its attack did not kill me, but since I am very angry right now, I won¡¯t hold back in terms of using my abilities, except for disrupting the balance of reincarnation.
I sprint towards the monster with speed that it was unable to cope up with. The monster swung its weapon against me again, but hit air. Using that big of an attack will leave it open, as observed from earlier attacks with the dogs, so using that chance, I climbed on its body and dug my hands on its skin.
¡°GROOOOOHHHH!!!!¡±
Blood oozed out of its body where I penetrated it with my hands. I quickly scaled the monster while gripping the body tightly by digging my hands into its skin. It thrashed about fiercer than earlier, but I was still able to hold on.
It also tried using its hands to pry me off, but it was unable to reach its back and where I was. I continued scaling and the blood oozing out from the wounds trickles down onto the ground and I finally reached the head.
Feeling that I reached its head, the monster quickly used it arm in order to grab me, but I was quicker in stabbing both of its eyes with my hands.
¡°GRRAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!¡±
Raising a scream of anguish and pain, the monster flew into a rage and quickly grabbed me and threw me with force that caused a crater to appear from where I landed.
The earth shakes from the monster thrashing about while a dust cloud rises up from where I landed. Because I blinded the monster earlier, this dust cloud doesn¡¯t even serve as an obstruction to vision.
I got up again while bearing the pain from being thrown and dashed once more towards the monster. Feeling that I was approaching, it raised a roar, causing me to be knocked back like earlier.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but I think I just saw its ears twitch when the ground beneath me made a sound while I was being pushed back because of my feet being planted to the ground.
At that instance, it quickly faced this way and charged with its weapon raised abovehead. With a snarl that could strike fear into any opponent, it swung down its sword at me.
Sensing impending doom, I quickly urged my body to move even slightly away to reduce the damage. With a loud sound, the sword impacted the ground causing a huge dust cloud to appear. The swing also claimed my right leg from the knee down making me lose my balance.
It hurtsssss¡
Because the monster was staggering, I used that chance to use my hands push me off the ground and used my remaining leg to kick off the ground towards the monster. The force from my left leg was barely enough to reach the head of the monster.
Die¡
Using my hands, I grabbed on its nose and quickly scaled up in front of its right eye and pierced it using my whole right hand.
¡°GUOUOUOUOUOUOUO!!!!¡±
Since it wasn¡¯t enough, I pulled my arm back out and instead used a sharp object I took from the 5 dead mortals from my back and pierced it again.
¡°!!!¡±
In an instant, the monster fell back and ceased breathing. When I pulled the weapon from the eye, it looks like it won¡¯t be able to withstand another attack so I just threw it away.
Now that two became useless, I two more weapons to use¡ I just hope that it can withstand my strength when wielded.
Before, when I took the weapons from the 5 dead mortals, I tried using the blunt weapon, only to see it destroyed when I swung it. This is one reason why I was unable to use these against those dogs. I might as well use it for strong foes.
But now, isnt there a weapon that may withstand my strength¡?
I gazed at the giant weapon the monster was wielding. At that moment¡
[You have Leveled Up!]
Level: 2 -> 3
HP: 50/1010 -> 1020/1020
MP: 61/101 -> 102/102
Str: 51 -> 52
Agi: 51 -> 52
End: 51 -> 52
Int: 51 -> 52
Luc: 0 -> 0
Skills:
[Gaze of Terror] Max
[Death Magic] Lv 1
My leg that was cut regenerated like there was never an injury.
So I leveled up again¡? That can wait¡ Now¡ I need to check whether I can use that weapon¡
I stood up and went towards the weapon the monster was holding.
Chapter 4: Finally, a Weapon
Grasping the weapon I grabbed from the dead monster, I swung it once to check whether it could withstand my strength or not. Sadly, the next moment, it became brittle and prone to breaking at a moment¡¯s notice.
Naturally, I discarded it as it would relatively harm me if I brought it along with me and used it as a weapon. Since it might break at any moment, it will just lead me vulnerable to more attacks, resulting in the rapid decrease of my HP.
Looking for anything else that may serve of use from the corpse of the monster, I noticed a chest at the middle of the room. It had a silver color coating its whole body, with golden colored ornaments decorating its edges.
I went close to take a look whether this chest may contain something that might be helpful in prolonging my vacation. Because it had no lock, I swiftly opened it, revealing an object that is very familiar to me.
Isn¡¯t this¡ the thing I used to reap souls¡?
It had a thin, curved blade at one end of the crooked pole. Thinkin that this may be a weapon that can be used, I grabbed it and used both my hands to swing it around.
This is¡
After a couple of swings, the weapon had no signs of deterioration or damage. I held it close to me and the blade reflected my appearance within this bright room, albeight a little bit dark.
I can use this¡
Two red dots glowed from the sockets of my empty eyes, expressing my inner delight of finally finding a weapon that I could use for my vacation.
Finally, I also noticed that there was something more inside. It was cloth that could cover the whole body with a cover for the head. (A/N For those who are confused, this is a hooded robe.)
It was dyed black, as if it was like a gate connecting to the abyss. I also remebered wearing something during my work, and apparently, this had the same appearance, albeit smaller and weaker.
I had trouble trying to find out how to wear it, but after a minute of struggling, I was able to wear it without any problems. It was a perfect fit with my body length.
Now then¡
Since my business had finished in this room, I went towards a connecting passage opposite to where I entered earlier.
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~ Third Person POV ~
¡°Hah, hah, hah, hah¡¡±
In the dark passages of the labyrinth, three silhouettes could be seen running while panting.
¡°We need, to warn the guild¡ About that monster¡¡±
Albeight almost out of breath, a man, presumably the leader of the trio, spoke out.
¡°What the heck, is that thing anyway!? Didn¡¯t it take, out the Minatour, singlehandedly!?¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
¡°Idiot, keep quiet¡ You might attract, the surrounding monsters¡¡±
The other two, a woman and another man, also spoke out in turn. The woman who had red, fiery hair and looked like she was in her late teens cried out, while the man with cloth covering his whole body, except for his eyes silenced her with a whisper.
The three of them were running desperately in order to quickly escape from the floor where they found a pitch black skeleton fighting with the Minatour that was considered this floor¡¯s guardian.
Along the way, they laid waste to monsters that had an appearance of an oversized cat with razor sharp claws and fangs with movements that would make you think whether they were out of breath or not.
¡°I can see, the stairs¡¡±
¡°Then, let¡¯s get¡ The hell outta here!¡±
¡°I keep telling you¡ To be quiet¡¡±
The trio hurriedly ascended the flight of stairs and took a rest before challenging the floor guardian of the 6th floor, and quickly resumed to running, but this time, with less haste to conserve their stamina.
<><>
¡°Hmm¡ Is that all?¡±
Sheathing his sword in the vicinty of corpses, he made a slightly dejected face.
¡°T-Thank you, traveller! If it weren¡¯t for you, we would¡¯ve been killed right here.¡±
In front of the man who was travelling towards Rockhound, a man in his prime bowed his head and gave thanks. Behind him was a carriage filled with people on their way to Rockhound.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Now then, how will you compensate me for this?¡±
With a smile that sent shivers down the bowing man¡¯s spine, the passengers of the carriage made a frightened face.
¡°T-That is¡ At the moment, I have little money in hand that I may pay you for saving us. But once we reach Rockhound, I will gladly pay for securing our safety.¡±
¡°Hahaha!! Is that so?¡±
Towards the man who made a hearty laugh who saved them, the coachman and the passengers made befuddled expressions.
¡°Then, I would like to receive my payment now.¡±
With a sentence that could feel like a death sentence to the coachman, the man smiled.
¡°But what I want is food, shelter, and water, until I reach Rockhound. Also, while I am at it, why don¡¯t I serve as a guard for your coach?¡±
¡°!? Are you okay with that traveller?¡±
¡°Sure. I¡¯m fine with that. It¡¯s my own conditions after all.¡±
The man made a smile while letting his hand rest at the hande of the sheathed sword.
¡°Then!¡±
Finally accepting the terms, the coachman quickly went to the passengers¡¯ side and explained the situation. After that was the burying of the dead guards and taking their ID¡¯s to confirm their deaths.
The guards that remained became crestfallen at the loss of their comrades, but because they already went through hardships, they were able to cope with the depression.
Darkness rose and the coach camped for the night. Taking this as a chance, the man made a move towards the coachman.
¡°Excuse me.¡±
¡°Oh, traveller? What brings you here at this time? By the way, my name is Grag.¡±
¡°Oh, my name is Quince. But¡¡±
Entering the tent where the coachman would sleep, the man raised a question.
¡°Are those guards hired adventurers?¡±
¡°Hm? Yes they are. I hired them at the Capital for escort duties. Why do you ask such?¡±
¡°Oh nothing, just curious, that¡¯s all.¡±
With a smile that disturbed the peace of mind of Grag, Quince left the tent and pondered.
¡®But those adventurers don¡¯t seem like adventurers at all. The way they walk, or march, gives of the feeling of a knight.¡¯
¡°Fufu¡ I wonder¡¡±
The wind blew on the night sky made the leaves on the trees fal and flutter onwards to the horizon, leaving the eerily smiling Quince behind.
<><><><><><><><>
~ First Person POV ~
After exiting the room where I got my weapon and clothes, I walked for about five minutes before encountering a monster in the dark. It had a shape of an oversized cat with sharp fangs and claws. Seeing as this was a chance to test my new weapon, I eagerly dashed towards it with speed that made the cat jump in surprise.
Too late¡
With one slash, the cat was bisected into two equal parts, spilling out blood and innards on the ground. My weapon¡¯s blade also caught blood from the cat where it cut through. The next moment, the blood was absorbed, and the blade was back to its shiny luster, but impossible to see in this darkness.
Hmm¡? Could this be¡?
I made a guess and let the blade come in contact with the blood and surprisingly, it was also absorbed. I made the weapon suck up all the blood on the ground and inside the cat, but nothing happened.
Maybe¡ If it keeps on absorbing blood¡
While pondering on this topic, I walked on ahead of this dark passage.
Chapter 5: Still Roaming... Still Advancing...
Lopping off the head of another oversized cat I encountered, I made my weapon absorb its blood. After letting it absorb blood about 5 cats¡¯ worth, including now, there was still no change.
Just what is this thing¡?
Not thinking to deeply because it may hinder my advance, I continue walking while ridding of any obstacles, mostly oversized cats.
Hmm¡?
After walking for about 10 minutes worth of travel time, I found a chest in the middle of the passageways. It had a brown color, and silver edges, and to finish it, there were three mortals next to it, a female, and two males.
¡°Hey, hurry up! We need to return before the sun sets.¡±
¡°I¡¯m doing the best I can, knucklehead! You try lockpicking a chest filled with traps without setting one off!¡±
¡°Shut up the both of you. You might attract who knows how many Faelis with your voices.¡±
Apparently, the two males seem to be arguing, while the female is mediating. One male is kneeling down on one knee while trying to do something with the chest, while the other was voicing out complaints.
¡ Ridiculous¡
I really can¡¯t understand why mortals would try to bicker inside dangerous places like these. Also, why do they do that? Is there a reason? Is there a point in doing that?
¡°Finally.¡±
While observing the way the mortals act, the male doing something to the chest finally cries out.
The chest opens and inside¡ I can¡¯t really see it because of the distance. Let me try to get closer.
I walk towards the three while on guard because a monster might pop out. I don¡¯t want my HP dropping just because of a mistake.
About 10 meters away from them, I could finally see the item inside. It was a glass bottle with blue liquid inside.
¡°Peh¡ A useless one, just like you Lius.¡±
¡°Shut up, asshole. Just because you got lucky with a rare sword after beating the 6th floor guardian, you act all high and mighty now.¡±
¡°Oh? Jealous?¡±
¡°As if idiot.¡±
¡°Shh!¡±
After seeing the contents, the two males started bickering once again while the female tries to mediate between them. But this is odd, can¡¯t they see me? I am right behind the female trying to get a closer look at the bottle.
¡°!!¡±
I instictly moved my head backwards and barely dodged an attack aimed at me. It grazed my cheek, and I felt a sharp pain on the side where I was grazed.
¡°Lius, Gabel, I sense a monster.¡±
The two of them, hearing the words of the female, switched into battle mode quickly. Gabel, I think, wielded a sword in one hand and a shield on the other. He wore hard clothing on his body. While Lius, probably, wielded two short weapons and wore light clothing. And the female held a small, short weapon on her one hand and a rod on the other, while wearing loose clothing (robes).
¡°Where is it Ru?¡±
¡°Somewhere in front of me.¡±
¡°Got it.¡±
After a brief exchange, Gabel quickly overtook Ru, maybe, and gazed towards my direction while holding his shield up. Lius went behind Ru and tries to get a better look at the formation of the other mortals.
What are they doing¡?Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
While having a huge question mark right above me, Ru¡¯s rod shone at the tip.
¡°O lux, et venerunt revelare tuum inimicos [Area Reveal]!¡±
After a brief sentence which I couldn¡¯t understand, a bright light enveloped the whole passageway.
¡°There it is!¡±
¡°Oryaaahhh!!!¡±
I stepped back from the position where I was with quick feet in order to avoid the attack Gabel launched at me. After that, he keeps on pressuring me with those attacks, making me unable to launch an attack of my own, that is, if I didn¡¯t want my HP to go down.
¡°Igne succendam: consumentur in furore meo, hostes in turbine [Inferno]!¡±
At one point, Gabel stopped attacking and stepped back, and the next moment, I was engulfed in a fiery tornado.
¡°Are you fuckin¡¯ kiddin¡¯ Ru!? Why the hell did you use fire magic in here!? You want us all to die to the poison!?¡±
¡°Shit! Ru! Gabel! We¡¯re leaving!¡±
¡°But! What about that monster? That¡¯s a rare one, and it couldn¡¯t possibly survive that magic right? Who knows what items it might possess?¡±
I confirmed that my HP was rapidly going down amidst this inferno.
Those mortals¡ Trying to shorten my vacation time¡ You will pay¡
I quickly forced my body to move and jumped out of the inferno. The three of them were shocked upon seeing my jump out of it while looking unscathed, but that doesn¡¯t matter.
With a simple swing, my weapon bisected Gabel in two equal parts from the waist. Innards and blood came scattering on the floor at lightning speed when Gabel¡¯s torso landed on the ground.
¡°Kyaaa!!!¡±
¡°Fuck! Ru! Let¡¯s go!!¡±
In no time at all, the remaining two quickly left Gabel¡¯s corpse to escape my fury.
You won¡¯t get away¡ You will all pay¡
¡°Gu!?¡±
I grabbed the weapon used by Gabel and threw it towards the escaping two. The weapon landed squarely at the back of Ru and protruded out of her body.
¡°Li¡ us¡ Help¡ me¡¡±
¡°Ru!? Shit!!¡±
Feeling that Ru had no more life dwelling in her, Lius made a mad dash hoping to ecape this madness.
You cannot escape¡ My wrath¡
I quickened the pace of my run and sprinted towards Lius with neckbreaking speed.
¡°FUCK ME!!!! FUCKING SHIT!!!¡±
Once I caught up with him, I swung down my weapon and cleanly lopped his head off from his body. The body, upon losing its head, came crashing down on the ground while tumbling around being unable to cancel the force from the dash.
I grabbed his head, and corpse, and dragged it back to where I killed Gabel, I also didn¡¯t forget to drag Ru¡¯s corpse too.
I made my weapon suck up the blood from their bodies, and once that was over, they looked no more than shriveled up corpses.
[You have Leveled Up!]
Level: 3 -> 4
HP: 220/1020 -> 1030/1030
MP: 78/102 -> 103/103
Str: 52 -> 53
Agi: 52 -> 53
End: 52 -> 53
Int: 52 -> 53
Luc: 0 -> 0
Skills:
[Gaze of Terror] Max
[Death Magic] Lv 1
[Blood Art] Lv 1 (New)
I leveled up again huh¡
Feeling the disruption within my mind again, I felt power surge through my body. I checked the table, and found a new entry within the skills category.
Blood Magic ¨C The art of controlling one¡¯s blood to use various magic or techniques. Possible to use by draining the blood from the user¡¯s body, or from blood scattered in the area, or stored inside a vessel.
This is¡ Isn¡¯t this great¡?
After reading the explanation, I can finally find a use for the blood absorbed by my weapon. Because my weapon just might be a storage vessel for blood, the synergy of this and Blood Magic is perfect.
For now, should I test it out¡?
I tried to focus my mind on how to use the magic, and a sentence popped inside my head. Since I didn¡¯t know the meaning, but surprisingly know how to say it, I recited it and something good happened.
¡°Sanguis vas tuum: Pr?cipio tibi in ordine ad vastum inimicos meos, [Blood Rain]!¡±
The blood within my weapon came out and formed into several slim, long, sharp shapes. I designated the corpses of the three mortals as a target and the blood came pouring down, piercing their bodies.
This is good¡ I have another measure to defend myself from the attacks of others¡
While being in a good mood for receiving a skill that could help me in my vacation, I rummaged through the corpses and found a book.
What is this¡?
I looked at the cover of the book and the title read, ¡°World Guide Even Dummies Could Understand.¡±
Isnt this a good find¡?
<><><><><><><>
~ Third Person POV ~
¡°We¡¯ve lost contact with an adventurer party at the 7th floor.¡±
¡°Why would you tell me this? Isn¡¯t that just a normal occurrence?¡±
¡°Yes, but, this time, it¡¯s Lius¡¯ party.¡±
¡°¡What did you say?¡±
Inside the guildmaster¡¯s office of the Adventurers Guild Rockhound branch, Andreas could be seen talking with a guild staff.
¡°The rising star of the Rockhound branch was killed? That can¡¯t be right. Isn¡¯t that person supposedly stronger than Linda?¡±
¡°Yes, that is correct, but, ummm¡¡±
¡°Yes, I know what you want to say. It is about the monster that could¡¯ve encountered the Crowstorm party, right?¡±
¡°Y-Yes¡¡±
Andreas puts his palm on his face while trying to ponder about the events that happened within this day. His wife¡¯s party went missing, while Lius¡¯ party was annihilated.
¡°Roy, hire high rank adventurers right now to investigate the 7th to 8th floor. Make it an emergency request. We can¡¯t wait for Quince to arrive one week later. The damages might just be too huge if this continues.¡±
¡°Understood!¡±
Roy quickly left the office and headed downstairs to coney the message to the guild staffs.
¡°This is bad. Lina, I don¡¯t think I will be coming home today.¡±
Muttering to himself in his office, Andreas took a sip of the tea served in front of him earlier by a guild clerk.
Chapter 6: Learning...
I flipped open the book and started reading the first page. The first page immediately starts with the history of the world. Since I will be reading this, I might as well take a rest here.
I sat on a spot a little bit further from the three stacked corpses and immersed myself in reading.
<><>
A/N: This is just a summary, so expect Death God to use words he didn¡¯t use before.
History
Before everything came together, there exited two beings, the Goddes of Light, Fos, and the God of Darkness, Skot¨¤di. Everything in this world came to being because of them merging into one to become the God of Creation, Dimiourgia.
The now newly born Dimiourgia saw that there was only darkness within this space, so he created the Light. Next was the earth for him to use it as a living space. After settling down, next he created the flora and animals to fill the earth with liveliness.
Now that world was filled with life, he became lonely after a couple of years living in solitude with nobody around to talk and associate with, so he made a being in the form of his image.
This was the first man born on the Earth called Orsus. The both of them lived in harmony together for years, but Orsus suddenly wanted a person to love, so Dimiourga created another being, the first female known as Janua.
The two of them loved each other deeply and Janua reapidly gave birth to roughly 110 children in a century. Sadly, their children didn¡¯t inherit the immortality given to them by Dimiourgia, so parting with them because of the passage of time was heartbreaking to the two lovers.
Another century passed, and the population increased to about 10,000. During the end of the century, Dimiourgia vanished all of a sudden while leaving behind the world he created to the two lovers, saying that he will continue creating worlds because he found life very interesting and had become rather fond of it.
Orsus and Janua continued their managing of the world as left behind by Dimiourgia, but at the year 507, the two of them were killed by a religious group that believes that the two of them killed their one and only god, Dimiourgia. Ever since that day, the world began spewing out monsters that were considered a threat to mankind.
Various groups and people believed that the religious group was the cause, but they justified that because of killing the heretics, Orsus and Janua, the two of them with their last strength created these monsters to annihilate all those living within this world.
Creating a monarchy with the leader of the religious group as the king, they led an army to deal with the influx of monsters, only for the kingdom to be destroyed after two centuries of struggling.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Once the kingdom was destroyed, survivors of the onslaught spread throughout the world while creating their own groups, families, and defenses against the monsters.
It was only until the year 3017 mankind was able to retaliate against the monsters with a person known as a hero, summoned from a distant world which the people believed Dimiourgia created.
After that, came a millenia of peace, but shortly after, a war broke out between two kingdoms known as the most powerful within the world. Bombs, guns, swords, magic, everything within their arsenals were used to annihilate the other, only to engulf the world in a tragedy.
In the year 4025, various technology were lost, as well as 9/10 of the world population, and the world reverted back to medieval times. Ang because of the war, the name of the world changed from Gi to Mutare which means ¡®Change.¡¯
<><>
Races
Currently, there are 4 major races known in the world, namely, humans, beastmen, demihumans, and demons.
Humans are inhabitants where most of them fit perfectly with the term ¡®Jack of all Trades, Master of None¡¯ but those do not apply to some of them. Take for example the hero who was summoned to retaliate against the threat of the monsters. Currently, they have the most numbers in Mutare. They have a lifespan ranging from 60 ¨C 80 years.
Beastmen mostly resemble humans, but with the exception of their ears and tails. They are a species which takes a human and an animal combined as their appearance. The beastmen are also broken down into sub-races because of the appearance of their physique. It can also be used as a reference to their specialty. As an example, the tiger beastmen are known to possess strength greater than the humans, while the fox beastmen are cunning and sly. Currently, they are second to the humans who have the most numbers in Mutare. They have a lifespan ranging from 150-250 years. Their appearance from the world is not known. Some of the humans believed that they were born from an offspring of an animal and a human, or monsters and a human, causing them to be greatly discriminated amongst the human race.
Demihumans resembles humans, but with only the aspect of their looks. Their traits differ greatly from the humans like height, size, longevity, etc. The demihumans are also broken down into sub-races like the beastmen. An example would be the elves, with their long pointy ears and longevity that could reach a millenia, while there are also dwarves who look no different from a human child, even in their primes. They are the third most populous in the world, while their lifespans scatters all over the charts based on their sub-species. The same with the beastmen, most of the demihumans are discriminated because of the same reason, except for the elves which have no resemblance to monster whatsoever.
Demons are the least populous race in the world and most of them resemble monsters. They are a target of fear because of their scary appearance contrary to their indiviual personalities. Their lifespans are shrouded in mystery as none of them are able to survive upto a thousand years because of persecution from the other three races.
<><>
When I turned the next page, it was blank. I took a look closer and found tiny written words on the side. It read ¡®Property of Ru Galva¡¯.
Property, huh¡ If I remember correctly¡
I remembered that one of the corpses¡¯ here was named Ru. It was probably the female mortal who attacked me earlier with magic. I also found this book inside her bag, so this is probably written by her.
I flipped the pages once more all the way to the end, but every page after that was blank.
I guess it was unfinished¡
I placed the book next to the corpse and picked up my weapon.
Come to think of it¡ The names of different arms were also mentioned within the history topic¡ So I guess this would be a scythe, right¡?
While looking up to the blade of my scythe, I walked towards the opposite direction from where I came in hopes of finding another staircase leading up.
Chapter 7: Still Moving...
Finally, huh¡?
Continuing at my own pace traversing this labyrinth, I arrived at another set of stairs going up. Bringing my right foot on the first step, I was immediately assaulted with arrows.
A trap, huh¡?
Thankfully, since my body was only bones, the arrows were of no danger to my HP. The only thing damaged with the barrage of arrows was my robe.
I continued on my way upwards while being alert for any signs of traps. After climbing for another five minutes, I arrived at a passage similar to the one I entered last. Along the way, I was greeted by arrow barrages at the middle, and at the top of the flight of stairs. Strange as there were no traps in the last flight of stairs I went through.
Now then¡ Next is another huge monster huh¡?
Grasping the situation in my head, I speculated that the next room I enter will have another monster on par with the huge monster I fought earlier. If I am correct, I think it was called a Minatour in that book.
I wonder what kind of monster will appear this time¡
Grasping the scythe in my hands, I slowly crept along the dark passageway so long as to not create any sounds. Since some monsters have hearing that could hear very clearly even when far away, I have to do this much just to avoid unnecesary battles that may whittle down my HP. I don¡¯t want my vacation to end just because of my mistake.
I arrived at the room where light gathered, and strangely, there was a corpse of a huge monster here. It had a shape of a giant humanoid pig. It had yellow skin and a huge protruding belly.
An Orc General¡
I looked around to see anything that could have killed this monster, but none were present at the moment.
Because I didn¡¯t see anyone come in my direction¡ It could have gone further¡ Probably ascending this labyrinth¡
I checked the corpse of the Orc General, and there was nothing worth looting as a valuable or weapon.
The ones who killed this monster probably already took everything worth of value, huh¡
Seeing as there was nothing for me to do here, I continue on my way. Minutes later, I encountered humanoid pigs, albeit smaller than the corpse at the bright room.
Orcs¡
Because I learned that when one goes deeper inside a labyrinth, monsters gets stronger according to the floor they are on, monsters on shallow floors are weak. Because this is one floor higher, then the orcs must be weaker than those oversized cats. What was the name again? Felios?
Anyway, they were in a group of three. On the lower floors, the dogs and cats were mostly alone, I wonder why that is? I held my scythe with two hands and went into a pose that would make it easier for me to swing my scythe horizontally.
The three orcs were just talking amongst themselves with no particular sense of danger. One was even laughing through its nose.
I dashed in with quick movements, and that¡¯s when the orcs noticed my presence.
Too late¡
I swung my scythe, bisecting an orc horizontally. Its innards spilled out and blood scattered on the floor. Its face had a look like it was stunned at its sudden death.
I didn¡¯t stop there. I continued with the momentum of the swing to rotate around and deliver another swing towards the orc beside it. Its reaction was just on time as it lifted up its giant mace to block my swing. Sadly, what the orc blocked was just the handle, not the blade as the blade reached its head, piercing through it skull.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Brain matter flew out because of the force and landed on the nearby orc. Seeing that its comrades were killed in a flash, it tried to escape.
You won¡¯t escape¡
Blood gushed out of my scythe and formed into numerous sharp spears. It then shot towards the desperately running orc with speed that could be impossible to see with the naked eye, and pierced its body mercilessly. A particular blood spear pierced through the back of its head and protruded out of its left eye socket, causing the left eye to pop out and roll on the floor.
With the life of the orc suddenly cut off, the momentum carrying its run caused the body tumbling over. Bones were snapped while some limbs bent in the wrong direction, although slightly.
This is truly a dreadfull skill with a blood absorbing weapon¡
I walked towards the orc which was penetrated with blood spears and turned into a hedgehog, and dragged it back to where I killed the other two orcs with my scythe. Naturally, with these course of events, I let my scythe absorbed all of the blood from the corpses.
In a few seconds, the orcs became shrivelled up bodies that could turn into dust any second.
I checked their bodies next for any valuables, but all they had were maces that I know will break when I swing them, leather armor that is too huge for me, loincloths which are too dirty, and meat, probably food.
Nothing here¡
I left the three corpses and continued walking along the dark path for who knows how long.
<><><><><><><><>
~ Third Person POV ~
¡°Thank you all for gathering here my fellow adventurers.¡±
Andreas spoke out on a platform while grabbing in front of numerous adventurers. These adventurers were known as high-class adventurers with ranks from B ¨C A ranks. At the moment, they are adventurers who are known to have traversed the labyrinth until the 19th floor in Rockhound, making them well known throughout the town and country.
Andreas gave a stern glare at the adventurers while giving out the contents of the emergency quest he submitted.
¡°Know that this quest might take the lives of some of you standing right here. For those who have no confidence with their strength, I will not hold you back in leaving right now.¡±
As none of the adventurers even had the intent of leaving, all of them stifled a laugh.
¡°Seriously guildmaster? You do know that we reached these heights because of giving it our best with our acquired strength right?¡±
¡°That¡¯s right!¡±
¡°Like hell are we gonna pass up this rewarding request.¡±
The adventurers within the halls burst out into laughter while reprimanding Andreas thinking that they might leave because of a dangerous quest.
¡°Very well, I have received your resolve.¡±
The adventurers began to quiet down as Andreas gave them another stern look.
¡°The reason why this request was made was because of two parties going missing or annihilated.¡±
The atmosphere within the hall tensed up the moment Andreas went into serious mode.
¡°The Crowstorm has been reported as being missing while the party of Lius was annihilated.¡±
At the instant Andreas spoke out the reason for the emergency request, the hall became noisy.
¡°What!?¡±
¡°Linda was!?¡±
¡°Even Lius!?¡±
¡°Silence!!!¡±
Andreas shouted at the top of his lungs causing the air to tremble at the sheer force of it. The adventurers quickly clammed up when Andreas glared at them.
¡°That is why I made a request to investigate the middle floors where the incidents happened. Seeing that they were wiped out, it must be a new monster, or a new trap. Anyway, we won¡¯t know unless we head out there and investigate. I will also be coming along.¡±
¡°What!?¡±
¡°The legendary warrior¡¡±
¡°Andreas!!!!¡±
While the adventurers were cheering at the legend being back in action, the doors burst open and revealed a panicking guild clerk.
¡°G-Guildmaster!! New information about the incidents regarding the two parties have arrived!!¡±
¡°!! Bring the ones who brought the information right here now!!¡±
¡°R- Right away!!!¡±
With a command, the guild clerk hurriedly ran back and brought three exhausted adventurers.
¡°!? Grizelda!? Locky!? And Hower!?¡±
A red haired girl and two men were covered in sweat while panting heavily.
¡°G-Guildmaster¡ A new monster¡ Has appeared¡¡±
¡°Calm down for a while. Rest until you get your breath back.¡±
¡°Y-Yes¡¡±
Andreas waited while the trio struggled to get their breath back in order. After a few minutes of resting, Hower and his group were finally able to regain their strength.
¡°Guildmaster, a new monster has appeared within the 7th floor.¡±
¡°Tell me more about it.¡±
Andreas took three chairs and let Hower and his party to sit down. He also didn¡¯t forget to get one himself while he told the remaining adventurers to take it easy for a while, while he receives the information about the possible monster they would battle.
¡°It had the appearance of a pitch black skeleton, while wearing pitch black robes.¡±
¡°Skeleton? What makes this one new? Is it just because of its color?¡±
¡°No, its strength was abnormal.¡±
¡°How so?¡±
The next words of Hower made everyone¡¯s faces in the room pale.
¡°It defeated the 7th floor guardian alone and barehanded.¡±
Chapter 8: Here it comes...!
Walking through the dark passages, I arrived at another flight of stairs. Fighting orcs in groups is a little tiring, and also annoying.
Once I go through here, I won¡¯t have to see those pigs again¡
I ascend the stairs in an orderly fashion while being wary for traps.
Strange¡ There are no traps here¡
I arrived at the top without encountering one trap. Since this is going to be another similar passage as the lower floors, I just ran towards the light. Entering the light-filled room, I saw another corpse of a huge monster.
Giant humanoid dog¡ A Kobold King huh¡?
Its head was cleanly separated from its body, blood dripping around everywhere. There were also Kobold corpses here and there, with some missing a limb or their head. When I came closer, I saw that there was no item worth looting from the corpses, so I just left them there and continued on my way.
Since the guardian here was a Kobold King, the monsters on this floor will be populated with kobolds¡
While contemplating within my mind on what the monsters attacks here will do, I continued on walking through the dark passages.
After walking for about 30 minutes, I came across a group of Kobolds. They numbered 8, with some of them wielding staffs while the others wielded rusty daggers and maces.
They noticed my approach and looked at me with sparkling eyes. If you look closely, there was a little bit of drool on their faces.
Why are they looking at me like some kind of treat¡?
I pondered on the reason for this situation while being alert. The first move went to the Kobolds.
The staff wielding Kobolds, probably Kobold Mages, chanted and invisible slashes came assaulting me. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t do that much damage. I also confirmed my status just in case.
Seeing that I was unperturbed by the attack, the Kobolds wielding daggers and maces came rushing at me.
First were the ones wielding daggers as they were light compared to the mace wielding Koboldd, they attacked me in quick succesion while switching with each other to give me attacks one after the other.
Because I had my hands full with defending the attacks from the dagger-wielding Kobolds, the mace-wielding ones rushed in side-by-side and tried to hit me with their strength behind their attacks.
I see¡ They are better than the orcs in terms of teamwork¡ But¡
I instantly repelled the attacks of dagger-wielding Kobolds and rotated 360 degrees with my scythe stretched out. The Kobolds that were hit with the blade were bisected, while those hit by the handle were sent flying. In an instant, the 5 Kobolds that were attacking me with daggers and maces were killed.
They lack the strength to deal with a stronger opponent¡This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The three Kobold Mages had fear appear in their eyes and recklessly chanted magic while stepping back.
Invisible again¡? No¡ It¡¯s just wind¡
I swung my scythe sidewards with all of my strength. The swing generated enough force to send the air flying towards the direction where I swung, offsetting the wind magic the Kobold Mages casted.
When they saw that their magic was repelled, they began running while screaming. I immediately used Blood Magic to create spears and impaled the three running Kobolds.
They plopped down on the ground as if a string has been cut and ceased moving.
And that¡¯s done¡
I started walking towards the corpses, but had a sudden thought.
Maybe, if I do this¡
I used Blood Magic once again and used the blood that was used to impale them drag them back to where I killed the five Kobolds. The corpses started dragging themselves towards my location with speed that was faster than me dragging them.
I could use this¡
Realizing the potential of Blood Magic, I searched their corpses for any useful items, but to no avail. I left behind the corpses and continued walking while studying Blood Magic.
<><><><><><><><>
~ Third Person POV ~
At the same time that Death God was able to finish of the 8 Kobolds, Hower had just finished delivering the threat of the monster he saw at the 7th floor.
¡°This¡ Is more dangerous than I thought¡¡±
Shelving the thought that Linda might have not survived, Andreas went back to his serious mode.
¡°Change of plans. Everybody get ready! We¡¯re heading out after an hour!¡±
¡°OUUU!!!¡±
As if the previous tension in the air was a lie, the adventurers gave out a strong-willed cry and immediately went out to gather their equipment, needed items, and some other preparations.
¡°Hower, you don¡¯t need to come.¡±
¡°¡ Do you want to tell me the reason?¡±
At first, Hower thought to give him a piece of his mind about going, but upon seeing his face, he questioned the reason instead.
¡°That is because you will become the next Guildmaster.¡±
¡°What!? Why are you saying that stuff now!? Don¡¯t you have a daughter!? Do you plan to die!?¡±
¡°I am saying this because I am the Guildmaster, and also because I have a daughter. If that monster continues to roam around the dungeon, who knows that it will do in the future. Based on what you said, it came from the 8th floor correct?¡±
¡°Y-Yes¡¡±
¡°What if, it had its own will, unlike the other monsters in the labyrinth that can¡¯t ascend or descend the floors? If that monster that can kill A-rank adventurer parties with ease is let out into the world, what do you think would happen?¡±
Realizing the graveness of the situation, Hower became pale. His other team members too, went pale at the words said by the Andreas.
¡°That is why I will stop that monster, even at the cost of my life. If that happens, I want you to take care of the guild, and also my daughter Lina. You are the only one I can trust this time, and presently, you are the strongest here right?¡±
Andreas put a hand on the shoulder of Hower who was looking down while regretting some things.
¡°I promise, I won¡¯t let you down.¡±
¡°Now that¡¯s the spirit!¡±
Andreas let out a grin while patting the shoulder of Hower who was looking at his eyes seriously.
¡°Now then, I guess I should ready myself for one final battle¡¡±
Andreas stood up from the chair and went towards his office. Hower, who saw his back, said in amazement.
¡°There he goes. The back of someone I may never reach¡¡±
<><>
Inside the office of the Guildmaster in the Rockhound Adventurers Guild Branch, Andreas could be seen wearing armor that was beautiful enough to make you think that he was some kind of prince.
¡°I never thought a day would come where I would use you again, partner¡¡±
He grabbed the handle of a golden hammer and lifted it with his one hand without too much difficulty. The hammer was a size where an average adult bodybuilder would have trouble lifting it with two hands, was lifted up easily by Andreas.
¡°This would be probably our last battle together, you up for that?¡±
The hammer shone as if it had responded to the words of its owner. It caught a light, glistering brightly with its golden body.
¡°Well then, let¡¯s go!¡±
Psyching up him self with a shout, Andreas left the office and headed towards the entrance of the labyrinth.
This would be the last battle of the Legendary Warrior Andreas, also known as ¡°The Earthquake.¡±
Chapter 9: Encounter and Prelude to Madness
After traversing this labyrinth for who knows how long, I finally reached the 5th flight of stairs leading up. Going up for the nth time, I immediately reached the top without encountering a trap. The same passage after the stairs and the next is the room where a huge monster awaits.
Entering the room bathed in light, I saw another corpse of a huge monster with the appearance green-skinned humanoid. It had pointy ears and a disgusting look of a face with its tounge hanging out while its eyes were bloodshot.
Wounds all over scarred its body and blood dripped everywhere, while corpses of smaller green-skinned humanoids littered the area.
Goblins, huh¡?
I walked towards the biggest Goblin with striding steps, avoiding the corpses of the smaller ones. Once near, the body showed a gruesome display of gore and carnage. Clearly one would be unable to live once their body is as damaged as this.
Checking for the body for any valuable loot, I found nothing and discarded any thought of finding something within the corpses of the smaller Goblins.
This Goblin King was killed brutally¡ I wonder what did the adventurers do to them...?
I discarded that thought and walked towards the opposite passage of where I came from. Once again in the same darkness, I tread steadily as if the darkness didn¡¯t hinder my moves at all.
Walking for about a few minutes, I immeadiately encountered a group of goblins. Each of them wore loincloths over their groins and had stone daggers and bludgeons as weapons.
They numbered 5 and they were busily chatting amongst themselves while tormenting a lone, female human.
¡°Geehh!!!¡±
¡°Gueueue!!!¡±
The Goblins continued laughing while raping the female victim. Upon close look, you could see that her tounge was hanging out and her eyes filled with dry tears and were unfocused. She wasn¡¯t panting, nor giving out any groans, as if she went completely silent.
Ahh¡ She¡¯s dead isn¡¯t she¡?
Raping corpses like a hobby or pasttime, these Goblins were truly savages. I continued walking towards them while brandishing my scythe. The surrounding Goblins caught my figure within the dark and looked at me while having questioning gazes. The next moment, they burst into laughter.
What are bones doing here?
Isn¡¯t that lump of bones moving? Let¡¯s destroy it!!¡±
Bone is stronger than stone!! That will make a good weapon!!
With their laughing faces on display, they were clearly looking down on me. The Goblin tormenting the human female stopped and took it out. It readied a stone dagger on its hands, while laughing carelessly at me approaching.
Foolish¡ Very, very foolish¡
With one swing of my scythe, I cut down two Goblins approaching me with a dash into halves. The blood that was gushing out then touched the blade of my scythe. It was then that the blood that touched the scythe turned into small spheres and assaulted the remaining Goblins with speed faster than the eyes could see.
With a death cry, the Goblins that were laughing earlier were annihilated in just an instant. Quickly using the scythe to absorb the blood that the bodies were spewing out, I spared them not another glance and just headed towards the corpse of the human female.
Her body was exposed because of the ripped clothings. There were also wounds here and there covering her entire body. For a moment, I felt pity towards this mortal who was tormented by the Goblins, but gave it the cold shoulder and went on my way. The reason being there were no valuable items on her hand.
Once again, I traversed this dark labyrinth with only myself to rely on.
<><><><><><><><>
~ Andreas POV ~
¡°Guildmaster! The 2nd Floor Guardian has been defeated!¡±
¡°Good! Now, let us advance!!¡±
¡°OUUUU!!!¡±
With a spirited cry, the group of high-rank adventurers descended down towards the third floor. They numbered 21 in total, including Andreas the Guildmaster.
¡°There is something there, in the third floor¡¡±
The adventurer next to Andreas caught his little mutter and contemplated about what he said.
¡®Something there¡?¡¯Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
With a resolute expression, the adventurer went closer towards Andreas and asked a question.
¡°Guildmaster, what do you mean with ¡®something there?¡¯¡±
Andreas gave the adventurer who asked the question a look and remembered his name. He was Anton, a B-rank adventurer on the verge of becoming an A-rank. With talent on both the sword and magic, he has the comings of a great person in the near future.
¡°¡ It¡¯s about my instinct.¡±
With little hesitation on what to answer, Andreas came out honest in the end. His instinct as a warrior honed for decades is giving off warning signals at a terrible pace. If his answer could save the adventurers¡¯ lives, then he won¡¯t care whether the morale would plummet or not.
¡°I see¡¡±
Without asking anymore questions, Anton separated from Andreas who was thinking deeply about some matters.
¡®Linda, I swear, I will avenge you. Lina, grow and be strong. I would¡¯ve loved to see your growth together with Linda, but it seems that it will end in just a dream.¡¯
Andreas wore a resolute expression on his face while descending the stairs along with the high rank adventurers.
<><><><><><><>
~ Death God POV ~
After killing another group of Goblins, I used the scythe to absorb all of their blood, leaving them like dried up rags on the ground. I left the corpses behind and when I advanced for only a few minutes, I entered a room where a little bit of light enters. In the middle, there was a fire, and surrounding that fire were mortal adventurers.
Their raeces were all over the place, piquing my interest, so I decided to take a closer look. But alas, that was a mistake.
¡°Everybody on guard right now!!¡±
A voice that could rupture the eardrums of mortals reverberated through the room. With that one order, the adventurers that were once having a light chat, suddenly tensed up and quickly got ready with their weapons and items.
This is¡
¡°There it is!!! Magic squad, shoot Holy Magic now!!!¡±
With numerous chants coming from the mouths of people, balls of light came flying towards me with speed impossible for the eyes to see. I instinctly dodged it with a paper-thin difference, and my robes, that were already tattered, became tattered even more.
¡°O lux, et venerunt revelare tuum inimicos [Area Reveal]!¡±
And another spell was chanted and the whole area was bathed with an intense ray of light.
¡°Now then, this makes it easier to see. Melee squad! Surround that skeleton!!¡±
Within my sight, I caught an armored human male with a huge golden hammer in hand. He was giving out the commands to the other adventurers while glaring at me as if I was his mortal nemesis.
In just an instant, the adventurers surrounded me, not giving me a chance to escape or retaliate because of the barrage of holy spells.
This is bad¡
Inside my mind, I was thinking up a way on how to get out of this mess. I don¡¯t want to end this vacation yet. I don¡¯t want to be stuck in that dark space again, reaping souls for millenias without stopping.
I want it to end¡ I want it to stop¡ I want it to be gone¡
¡°I want to be free¡¡±
<><><><><><><><>
~ Third Person POV ~
¡®That is it, that oppresive aura that reeks of death and evil!¡¯
Inside the mind of Andreas who was able to see the figure of the monster, a pitch black skeleton, it was in a state of frenzy.
¡®You will pay for killing Linda!!!¡¯
A seething rage permeated through his brain, but he was still able to logically decide his decisions.
¡°Now!! Attack it with all you¡¯ve got!!!¡±
The adventurers that surrounded the monster quickly dashed in and assaulted it with movements of cooperation you wouldn¡¯t think they were just assembled a few hours earlier.
Each move made was coordinated to allow the next attackes to strike with minimal movements and time, creating a barrage of attacks that is mostly impossible to defend against, but the skeleton was able to endure.
With a scythe that has clearly claimed a lot of lives; swords, magic, spears, and maces were defended against. It was even able to evade dangerous blows that could end it right here and now.
¡°I want to be free¡¡±
It was then the skeleton muttered a phrase that only Andreas could hear amidst the raging battle. Two red dots appeared within the confines of its eye holes. All the attacking adventurers hesitated for a second, but that second was a deadly mistake.
With a rotation with the skeleton at the center, blood spilled and cries echoed. The attacking adventurers that numbered 12, half of them were instantly killed, while the other half were either severely or lightly injured.
¡®This strength¡!?¡¯
An expression of amazement formed on the face of Andreas for just but a moment.
¡°All of those still alive fall back right now!!!¡±
A thundering shout reverbarated across the room, its targets were the adventurers who were still kicking and breathing. Alas, it was not meant to be.
¡°I will not go down¡¡±
With another swing, heads of three adventurers were sent flying. Blood painted the ground coloring it red, while the other three were pierced with blood-colored spears.
No, it was blood¡
Andreas took a step back from the skeleton that was looking directly at his eyes with those two red dots. Andreas thought that he might go crazy with fear, but stood his ground only with the power of will.
¡®It looks like there is no other way to defeat him¡ Sorry Lina, looks like papa isn¡¯t coming back home tonight¡¡¯
Resolving himself for death, Andreas kicked the ground, forming a dust cloud beneath his feet and in an instant, appeared at the bosom of the skeleton¡, no, monster.
¡°YOU DAMNED MONSTER!!! THIS IS FOR LINDA!!!!¡±
Andreas brought his hammer above his head and swung it down with enough force that could smash a mountain. The monster brought its scythe in front in order to parry it to the side as it could foresee that it is impossible to block the attack.
¡°I WILL TAKE MY FREEDOM!!!¡±
The two red dots intensified and glared at the eyes of Andreas who was prepared for death. The monster parried the hammer to the side, and the hammer hit the ground. The impact cracked the ground open and caused a fissure to appear. The monster was blown away a dozen of meters away from the fource of impact.
¡°This will not hinder me¡¡±
The monster stood up, while holding its scythe up high.
¡°I will take it¡¡±
The two red dots within the confines of its eyes intensified once more, and blood scattered all over the area began gathering around the blade of the scythe, forming a whirlwind of blood.
¡°I WILL---¡°
Just before the monster could finish its sentence, a crack appeared beneath its feet.
¡°Oh mighty Earth, I offer my life to you. Seal this abomination of a monster within the center where none may escape for eternity. [Centrum Mundi Carcarem]!!!¡±
It was then the earth ate up the figure of the skeleton, along with everything it brought with it.
¡°Guildmaster!¡±
The surviving adventurers, mostly rear-guards quickly ran up towards Andreas who was struggling to stand up.
¡°DON¡¯T COME CLOSER!!!¡±
That was the last word Andreas said towards them before the earth enveloped his entire body and dragged him down towards the depths.
Chapter 10: Madness, and a New Purpose
Where am I¡?
Everywhere I set my sights on only resulted in a pitch black canvas. This darkness, this plitch black madness¡
Not again¡ Why¡
Why did I become a God¡?
Recalling the moments where I was reaping souls back in the heavenly realm, all I did was just reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap, and reap¡
Everytime¡ Everytime a soul enters¡ The madness that starts and ends with a swing of my scythe¡
The guilt of erasing a life that was full of good futures because of death¡
The idiocy of my actions for not trying to soothe them, even though they were about to be erased¡
Those feelings came rushing down my body as if a dam had burst open.
Why was I chosen for this task¡? Why was only I the reaper¡? Why am I always alone¡?
¡°WHAT AM I!!?? FOR WHAT PURPOSE DO I EXIST!!?? IS IT BECAUSE ONLY I AM WORTHY TO ERASE THE PREVIOUS LIVES¡¯ OF SOULS!!!???¡±
With no one to share my anger, irritation, and regret, I let it all out within this dark, empty space.
¡°Just why¡ JUST WHY AM I HERE RIGHT NOW!!??¡±
While yelling, a light shone beyond the horizon. It steadily grew larger and brighter as the time continued. The light expelled all of the darkness and the dark space earlier vanished as if it was a lie.
¡°Yo, Death God.¡±
In front of my eyes, the man I knew back in the heavenly realm appeared.
¡°Life God¡¡±
¡°How to say this¡ I¡¯m sorry.¡±
Bowing his head, Life God apologized in a serious manner towards me who was unable to move.
¡°What do you mean¡?¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
¡°It seems that I have grown fond of you, a mortal who was picked up to be a God.¡±
What Life God told me next, made me question my own existence.
¡°Am I not a God¡?¡±
¡°You are a God, just, a special exceptions among us.¡±
Life God went behind me and did a gesture as if it was cutting away at something with his hands. A feeling sprung up within my body, telling me that I was free of restraints, and moved noticing that I was free.
I also noticed one thing, my earlier pitch black skeleton vessel, turned into one of those mortals called human.
¡°Now then, now that you are free from the Centrum Mundi Carcarem Sealing Spell, what would you like to do next?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Not knowing what to respond with, I gazed at Life God¡¯s eyes that were full of fondness at me.
¡°I see¡ Then would you like to return to your job?¡±
¡°No¡¡±
The instant I heard that I will be returning to my job, I turned him down.
¡°Then this will be easier. You see, at the start, I was the only being managing the souls of the dead. I was the one who erased them, then send them back to reincarnate. It was a tiresome job really¡¡±
Life God turned his back towards me and walked off.
¡°It won¡¯t be a hassle to do it all again after all these millenias. Death God¡ No, Albert, from hereon, you will be set free from your duties.¡±
At that instant, memories of a person I didn¡¯t know flowed right into my mind. The person he loved, the people he cared about, his regrets, failures, and death, as well as his achievements, everything about him, I remembered.
¡°Go on and travel the world Albert, and once you¡¯re done, don¡¯t hesitate to come back to the heavenly realm and live your life as a new God.¡±
With those words of parting, Life God vanished into thin air and I was tossed into a valley of green flora.
¡°I see¡¡±
Letting out a mutter, I started anew, not as the Death God, but as Albert.
<><><><><><><>
~ Third Person POV ~
¡°GRAAAAHHHHH!!!!¡±
An enraged and pained howl escaped from the lips of Andreas who was immensely tortured within the confines of the earth. In front of him was the being that could be said to be the ruler of earth, known as Orbis.
¡°Fufufufu¡ I didn¡¯t know that someone like you would use that spell, Andreas¡¡±
A laugh escaped from the smiling lips of Orbis, who had the appearance of a woman emanating sex appeal.
¡°GUUOOOOOHHHHH!!!¡±
A rock spear pierced Andreas¡¯ chest and then taken out. Blood spilled and his chest regenerated without a scar as if he was never pierced in the first place.
¡°You, who knew the price for using that spell, the cowardly you who failed to save a little girl from death, the foolish you who got a huge head after becoming a strong person. Fufufufu, oh how times have changed.¡±
¡°ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!¡±
Another pained cry escaped from Andreas as his arm was crushed by a boulder and regenerated, only to be crushed again.
¡°But you know¡ You¡¯re no fun right now. Your present life now is incredibly boring. A family? A stable job? Now now now¡ You are supposed to be on the frontlines of battle you know? The person known to destroy opposing kingdoms¡¯ towns and cities with only a swing from his mighty warhammer¡¡±
¡°GIIIIIIIIIHHHH!!!¡±
His limbs were torn off by rock golems standing beside him and then reattached then torn off again.
¡°This is unnacceptable¡¡±
With a swing of her arm, Andreas¡¯ skull was crushed and his body immediately ceased moving. She licked the blood smearing her fingers and savored the taste.
¡°You will never be forgotten, Andreas. This Goddess of the Underworld acknowledges as so¡¡±
¡°Now then, what was that skeleton¡? I think I just found a new toy!¡±
With a smile that could bewitch any man if seen, her joyful giggling resoundes through the earth.
Chapter 11: The Taste of Freedom
Clean air blew through landscape. Green as far as you could see stretched out from my vision. Trees that houses countless small living beings as if they were the guardians¡
¡°So this is what it feels like¡¡±
Freedom¡
¡°It¡¯s been so long since I last tasted this sensation¡¡±
Even back when I was still human, the joyful memories, the sadness, the pain of cosequences, and¡
¡°Friends, huh¡¡±
How long has it been since I had one¡? Life God could be considered one, but what I mean is a friend that I could entrust my current life to, one where I wouldn¡¯t regret spending my time with them, one where I could create some happy and sad memories together, while laughing it off at the future together¡
Suddenly, a person came into my mind.
¡°Omsar¡¡±
The person who was once my best friend, he was a person with a strong sense of justice that would save any damsel in distress. After saving her, he would get laid. Then come next morning, a red hand mark would be visible on his face. Because he was too honest with himself, he always told the girls he slept with the number of girls that already slept with him.
¡°Such an idiot¡¡±
A smile formed on my face while I reminisced about my old life.
A girl who was a head shorter than me, had a pointy black hat and red hair flowing down from her head, coupled with her washboard of a chest, it would look like she was a little girl pretending to be a mage. Everytime we talked about her chest, she would bombard us with her magic while speaking foul language.
Contrary to her appearance of a shy little girl, she was foul-mouthed, vulgar, and was older than you think. The sad thing was only up until the moment of my death, she was still a virgin. I know, because she told it to me directly on my death bed.
¡°Brigine, are you still alive¡?¡±
The reason why I questioned this fact was because on the time I died, she was already 1,500 years of age or more. She was also of the high elven race which was said to have eternal youth, never aging even when millenias passed. It was also said that there was a confirmation of an existence of an over 30,000 years of age high elf.
There was a reason why she was accompanying us. Said she was a high elf and wanted to live away from her home it seems. Said it was too cramp and too strict and wanted a change of pace so she ran away.
Naturally, I couldn¡¯t even think how she would live in that kind of environment. The scene that would play in my mind was that in her home, the maids would have troubles trying to let her calm down from a tantrum, only to be thrown outside her room, literally.
¡°¡¡±
Those two that were always by my side, is now gone. Brigine might still be alive though, but Omsar, since he was a human, he was already long dead. I died before him so I don¡¯t know what happened to him after. As a Death God, I must have also reaped his soul and sent it to Life God for reincarnation, but I can¡¯t seem to recall his face when I was reaping souls.
¡°Anyway, I should find somewhere to settle down. If I recall correctly, dangerous monsters roam around this world. Those unprepared are victimized by their ferocious nature.¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
Oh right, before I forget¡
(Because of Race Change, Status has been changed)
(Because of Resurrection, Status has been reset)
Race: {High Human [Demigod]} Human
Level: 8 -> 1
HP: 1080/1080 -> 500/500
MP: 108/108 -> 50/50
Str: 58 -> 25
Agi: 58 -> 27
End: 58 -> 24
Int: 58 -> 21
Luc: 0 -> 10
Skills:
[Gaze of Terror] Max [Removed]
[Death Magic] Lv 1
{[Blood Arts] Lv 3 (Level up!)}
[Scythe Handling] Lv 8 (New!)
[Body Strengthening] Lv 2 (New!)
[All Attribute Magic] Lv 1 (New!)
¡°What is this¡?¡±
Everything, from the level, to the skills changed. Heck, there was even a new row entered name Race. It said something about being a High Human or Demigod. But why is there also a Human next to it¡?
When I touched the entry with my fingers, a sub-window appeared and described the reason.
Note: Entries that are within curly braces are hidden from status revealing skills and items. Do note that high level skills and items may bypass through the security¡
Ohhh¡ Thank you for the enlightenment.
Anyway, so with this, it is hidden from people who want to view my status. This is pretty helpful especially if word got out that I was a Demigod. I have to be careful around people who specialize in that field. They may find out about this secret.
Moving on, my status took a huge downgrade from the race change. This wasn¡¯t in my status when I was still a skeleton so I have no idea what race I was. But one thing that I do know is that I am stronger than someone called a knight.
An average person has stats ranging from 8-12, while knights tend to have 15-20. I shuddered at the thought that my status when I was a skeleton was a fixed 100 on all stats except for luck. Heck, even HP that even a general specializing in close combat only reached 600 at level 70 or more, but knowing that I had 1000 HP at level one, my mind went blank.
Then, I realized one thing¡
¡°Andreas, just who are you to rival up to that kind of existance¡?¡±
<><><><><><><><><>
~ Third Person POV ~
¡°Humm~~ Humm~ Humm~~¡±
A little girl could be seen skipping through the town with a joyful smile on her face. She was carrying a little basket with bright red apples hidden underneath the cover.
The hustle and bustle of the town was of no use to stop her advance as she quickly reaches her destination.
¡°I wonder if papa and mama are already home?¡±
Her father was the acting guildmaster of the Adventurers Guild Rockhound Branch, while her mother was an A-rank adventurer. Her mother went down a week ago, and her father went down yesterday to go fetch her mother, was the story she was given.
Opening the door, the house was empty, with not a life inside.
¡°So they¡¯re still not home¡¡±
With a frown upon her cute face, she entered the house and closed the door. Even though she was just a child, if a combat veteran took a close look at her body and movements, they could say that her body was well trained and couldn¡¯t find any gaps in her defences.
Meaning, she was a child prodigy when it comes to combat.
She set down the basket full of fresh apples on the table and went straight to her room. There she fell asleep with a quiet snore, and her mind was whisked away into the world of dreams.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
¡°Muu¡¡±
The sound of knocking woke her up from her slumber. She got up with drool still dropping down from her mouth and her brown hair in a mess.
She immediately went down the stairs and into the living room, where the door connecting to the outside world was.
¡°Lina, are you home?¡±
This voice¡
¡°Uncle Hower?¡±
¡°I ain¡¯t an uncle.¡±
Opening the door, she saw the face of a man who she is familiar to all too well. Then, the sound of knuckles lightly hitting a head could be heard in the area.
¡°It hurts!! What are you trying to do to me!!¡±
With a pout, Lina puffed up her cheeks and held the part of her head that was lightly hit with teary eyes.
¡°Ahaha sorry, sorry. Anyway, mind if I enter the house for a moment?¡±
¡°Hm¡? Sure¡¡±
Stepping out of the way, Hower entered through the door and into the house. On the table of the libing room, there was a basket with a bright red apple peeking out from the cover with a not at the handle reading ¡®Welcome home!! Papa, Mama!!¡±
Seeing this, Hower made a frown and directly looked at Lina.
¡°Lina you see¡¡±
¡°Mu¡? About what?¡±
¡°It¡¯s¡¡±
Stuttering slightly, Hower imagined the face of Lina who realized that her parents weren¡¯t coming home. Resolving himself, Hower opened his mouth once again.
¡°Andreas--- Your father and mother, aren¡¯t coming home anymore¡¡±
Chapter 12: A Town, Tears of Regret and Frustration, With a Pinch of Despair
After setting the idea of who was Andreas at the back of my head, I walked towards the road I saw when I was on top of the hill. While walking, I continued observing my status to get a good grip on how my constitution is.
Race: {High Human [Demigod]} Human
Level: 1
HP: 500/500
MP: 50/50
Str: 25
Agi: 27
End: 24
Int: 21
Luc: 10
Skills:
{[Death Magic] Lv 1}
{[Blood Arts] Lv 3}
[Scythe Handling] Lv 8
[Body Strengthening] Lv 2
[All Attribute Magic] Lv 1
I noticed that my Gaze of Terror skill was removed from my skill list, maybe because of the race change. The reason might be that the race High Human cannot acquire the skill. It might be limited to only particular races, such as the skeleton that I was before.
The Scythe Handling skill I could understand acquiring, but Body Strengthening and All Attribute Magic, I could not. I haven¡¯t used those kinds of skills back in the labyrinth, so it might be an innate skill for the High Human race.
Making those as the reasons, I didn¡¯t pursue the topic any further. Any more than this, and my head might ache from the thinking.
I closed the status window and just in time, the road was already in front of me. The road wasn¡¯t particularly attractive¡ It was just a plain dirt path you could make from uprooting the weeds. It stretched out to the left and the right, with nothing worth mentioning at the horizon.
¡°I¡¯m too far, huh?¡±
I picked up a stick nearby from the ground and stood by the roadside, then let it stand upright by holding it in place, then let it go. When it fell, the end pointed to the left. I repeated this 9 more times.
Right.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Left.
Left.
Right.
Left.
¡°Left it is¡¡±
I threw the stick away and walked towards the left while following the road. During the time when Omsar and Brigine were still my party, when we didn¡¯t know where to go because we were just travelling without a planned destination, we used this technique.
Sometimes, it brought us to dangerous places, while other times, I was grateful to it, no, Omsar. He was the person to introduce it to us, the moodmaker of the group, the person who kept on sexually harassing Brigine, only to be fed fire in the mouth.
¡°Those were some good times¡¡±
I let a smile float up on my face as I basked in my old memories.
¡°Don¡¯t let him get away!!!¡±
¡°Catch him!!¡±
¡°Bastards!!! You¡¯ll never catch me!!¡±
It was then after how many minutes of spacing out while walking, I heard shouts. The sound of hooves trampling the ground entered my ears while a dust cloud appeared in my vision.
¡°What is that¡?¡±
On the horizon, I could see a figure of a man in¡ Holy shit, an exhibitionist¡
¡°What the fuck¡?¡±
Anyway, he was riding the horse bucknaked while his ¡®thing¡¯ dangled around in the air. His face was hidden by a pure white mask and he was standing on top of the horse. On his hand, there was a bright red stone.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Behind him were men in armor pursuing the exhibitionist, they numbered 4. With spears in hand, like a professional jouster, they are trying to close the gap between them. Sadly, maybe because of the weight, the horses couldn¡¯t keep up with the exhibitionist¡¯s horse.
I cringed at the unexpected sight I saw at that time. I mean wouldn¡¯t anyone not cringe at this¡? If there were, then I top my hat off to them for their nerves of steel.
¡°You there!! Get out of the way!!¡±
The exhibitionist pointed at me and shouted with his ¡®thing¡¯ still dangling in the air as if it was saying ¡°I¡¯m Free!!¡±
This¡ is sickening¡
Thank goodness I still have my scythe. Since I didn¡¯t know whether I can kill this person without making a crime, instead, I lopped of the horse¡¯s legs when it was near me.
¡°WAAAHHH!!!!¡±
The exhibitionist was sent flying while his ¡®thing¡¯ was jiglling up and down. He then landed with his ¡®thing¡¯ first then it scraped against the ground fiercefully.
I instinctively held my balls while getting a cold shiver down my spine.
Looks like I¡¯ll be having nightmares about this when I sleep¡
¡°Who are you!?¡±
The armored men stopped right before me while not lowering their guards. Let¡¯s call them soldiers.
The soldiers, still straddled on their horses kept their wariness at the maximum at my appearance. It seems that they aren¡¯t pushovers.
¡°Just a person aspiring to be an adventurer. I just left the village and was on my way towards the town where I could register.¡±
I took a look at my appearance earlier, and I could say, I was in the early half of my teens, probably around 14 years old.
¡°Then, would you please tell me the name of the village you were raised in?¡±
Looks like he won¡¯t let me go through that easily. I mean, if you encounter a child that is capable of wielding a scythe with skill that can cleanly cut the legs of a horse with one wing, then you¡¯d probably doubt the child.
¡°Sorry to say this, but I was thrown out of the village on my 14th birthday. My mother and father died shortly after my birth during hunting, and the village treated me like a tumor, but since I was still young, the people felt a little responsible for my growth, so they took care of until I was old enough to be thrown out by myself.¡±
I used the reason I used when I encountered a soldier who was wary about me in the past. I think it was when I was entering a town, where the security was strict and I didn¡¯t have any identification on hand.
¡°¡ You still didn¡¯t answer my question, from what village where you from?¡±
¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t know. They said something about a worthless person like me should not learn the village¡¯s name. Said it could curse the village or something¡¡±
The soldier looked directly into my eyes while trying to ascertain whether I was lying or not.
¡°I see¡ For now, we¡¯ll take you to the town where we can interrogate you. You lot! Grab the restraining gear! Restrain him and that piece of crap over there!!¡±
The following soldiers quickly held me in custody, while they put a robe over the exhibitionist, and bind him in sturdy rope.
I let them tie a rope on my hands behind my back, because this also happened to me before. After saying those lies, I was brought to the interrogation chamber where I was asked a lot of questions for the sake of security. Then I was let go and sent to the Adventurers Guild after wringing me out. At least it won¡¯t attract too much attention from the public gazes. It was common for someone to be brought to the chamber just to be wringed out, so the public couldn¡¯t care less about the result.
¡°Oh by the way, that scythe is cursed, you do not want to touch it. Just keep it strapped to my back.¡±
The soldier trying to reach my scythe stepped back when he heard it was cursed. The gaze of the leader (maybe) at me became daggers all of a sudden.
It can¡¯t be helped that the scythe is cursed. I don¡¯t want him to go mad, but I also hate being the center of attraction. I also hate being resented for things that are too idiotic.
I was straddled on the horse, while the exhibitionist was brought like luggage since he was unconcsious. Oh right, I saw a very terrible wound at his ¡®thing¡¯, the soldiers probably had shivers down their spine the moment they saw that. I did too¡
Just like that, I was on my way towards the nearest town, not as a traveller, but a suspicous person¡
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~ Third Person POV ~
¡°You lie¡¡±
Lina¡¯s eyes were hidden by the bangs of her hair, but Hower already knew how it looked like.
¡°It¡¯s true, he said it to me the moment he left.¡±
Hower had a thought that if it was that person¡¯s daughter, she could probably come to terms with their deaths quickly, but¡
¡°You lie¡ You lie¡ YOU LIAR!!!!¡±
Lina picked up the basket on the table and threw it at Hower. It flew at an incredible speed and it hit squarely at his forehead. Hower took it like a man, but tomorrow morning, there would be a huge bump in his head for display.
Lina ran out of the house with a terrifying pace and ran around the town, her destination, the labyrinth.
¡°Papa¡ Mama¡¡±
With eyes filled with desperation, she headed towards the entrance of the labyrinth. As she was trained by her father and mother while she was still young, albeit she still is, she could blaze through the first three floors all alone while wielding a stick.
With a dagger in her belt, she reached the entrance of the labyrinth, only to see the expedition force composed with high rank adventurers exiting with less than half their total numbers.
A bad feeling crept up her body as she approached the entrance. The passerbys around the area all had a look of shock upon seeing the expedition¡¯s force pitiful return.
Behind them were the gathered corpses of those who died against the skeleton monster. Some were in a pitiful state, while others were cleanly cut in half.
The expressions of the survivors were clearly shaken and in a state of despair.
¡®It can¡¯t be!¡¯
Lina couldn¡¯t find the figure of her father, nor her mother within the survivors.
¡®Please don¡¯t let it be true!!¡¯
She approached the survivor who she held a familiarity with, the Storm Mage, Liss. She was once her tutor whe she realized that she had the aptitude for Wind Magic.
¡°Liss!!¡±
¡°Lina!?¡±
Upon seeing the face of the desperate Lina, Liss wanted to smack the face of Hower who liked to rush things. She didn¡¯t know how to break it to her, nor did she want to. The death of Andreas was just to shocking of an event that it even shook them to the core.
¡°Liss¡ Please tell me¡ Where are papa and mama¡?¡±
¡°¡¡±
Liss didn¡¯t know how to reply. She was in a state where her mind was arguing whether to tell it to her straight up, or lie to her. But seeing that Lina wanted an answer, and she wasn¡¯t leaving until she gets one, Liss had no choice.
¡°¡ Lina, they¡¯re gone¡ Both of them¡¡±
Liss¡¯ cheeks felt warm then realized that her tears were dropping down, still she continued the story.
¡°Everyone on the front¡ With a swing from its scythe died¡ Andreas decided to use his trump card¡¡±
The tears of regret, frustration, and despair kept on dropping down with no signs of stopping. Liss bent down, not being able to control her shaking legs from the fear of remembering that monster, and also because of the death of Andreas.
She sobbed while trying to hide her face, so did the other survivors. But there was one who didn¡¯t care about the public gazes.
¡°UUWAAAAAHHHH!!!!¡±
It was Lina.
Announcement
Going to have to drop this fiction. Sorry for those expecting more from this fiction, which I know is not that much. I''m not finding any time in my plate trying to write chapters thanks to the mind numbing work of school. Programming is hard...*Incoherent Grumbling* Yadda yadda yadda...This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
I might be writing again at the start of summer vacation in the PH timezone, but this time, I''ll try to write a modern day dungeon, similar to "Solo Leveling" or "I Alone Level Up".
Hope that I could succed in writing that fiction with that kind of genre.