《The Hollowed Barbarian》 Chapter 1 The battlefield was still, vultures fed on the rotting remains and damaged weapons and armor littered the ground. A pile of bodies seemed to stir slightly in the cool breeze, a limb shifted and then lay still, a leg seemed to twitch but one could not be sure. Suddenly in a flurry of motion a head popped out of the pile. How the fuck did I get here, and how am I still alive. I remembered getting ran through by a spear as I was lopping heads off with my axe, I kept going for a while longer, killing the man who placed the spear in such a unfortunate position for my own health. And then... everything went black, but now I''m here? I looked around with caution as my initial surprise wore off, carefully extracting myself from the pile of bodies. Well, it''s hard to say exactly who won, but I don''t think we did given that we were lumped together in piles that ended approximately were I last recalled their troops had set up. I realized that I was absolutely starving and surveyed my surrounding for anything that might remotely resemble food. Ohh, an arm! .... wait what? I stared at the arm sticking out of the pile intently, I could not see the body that it belonged to, but it just looked so damn appetizing. I couldn''t resist, I grabbed the arm and tore a massive chunk out with my teeth, and gobbled it down hardly even stopping to chew. The next half hour was a blur of wanton cannibalism, and it took me a good while to recover from my feeding frenzy. Feeling fuller and more content than I ever had in my life, I sat down and rested against a lone tree that I had found. Status, I thought casually. "Name: ? Race: Ghoul Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Level: 0 Class: Hollowed Barbarian Attributes: STR: 10 VIG: 10 AGI: 10 WIL: 10 KNL: 10 MND: 10 Skills: None Perks: First off, I lost all of my 37, this is ridiculous. Also, I was a Ghoul? I knew there was no way I could have survived that spear, and the whole cannibalism things is starting to make some sense now. For whatever reason, I did not feel any surprise or distress at the knowledge my death and prompt undeath. In fact, I felt more centered than I ever had in my life... or previous life should I say, no anxiety, no fear of what might happen to me now, none of those negative or excitable emotions, it was quite pleasant actually. I looked down and inspected my body for the first time since my undeath, my skin had this gray stony appearance and texture to it, very rough to the touch. Despite it''s strong rough nature, it wasn''t as thick as before, I could see the muscles beneath with clarity, as if the water had been drained from my skin. Despite this, I felt powerful, even as a relatively high level barbarian I never felt this much strength waiting to be released. I searched the fields for my double bladed axe, it was enchanted and cost much of my fortune and I was very keen on relocating it. I played the battle through in my head and eventually managed to find it after many hours of searching. The axe was lodged deep into a corpse''s skull, I ripped it out with contemptuous ease and grimly slung it over my shoulder. I don''t remember much at all of my previous life, but I knew this kingdom, nor the one it was at war with, looked fondly upon the undead. And by that I mean, it was kill on sight. Some Hours Later I wandered deep into the forest, I wanted to eventually return to civilization, but I did not know how quite yet, and I knew that I would need some levels under my belt if I wanted to survive out here. I made incredible ground, moving with a speed and nimbleness of a wild beast, and it was not long before I came across a small village. Despite it''s small size, it was well fortified with sturdy wooden walls and various archer posts, this was clearly not a farming community. I would imagine this is some sort of outpost community for rangers and adventurers. The logical course of progression here would be to simply wait, and catch some poor unsuspecting adventurer by surprise. I''ll be level 37 again in no time. Chapter 2 I''ve been following these two young adventurers for the better part of the day now, waiting patiently for them to setup camp and fall asleep. They were heading away from the fortified town and going dead east at a blistering pace. On a side note, my body had changed noticeably since my large cannibalistic feast, I''ve put on more muscle mass and feel stronger, and more cunning. Things which my status page was not reflecting, it makes sense, I do recall that the system was more of a modifier than anything else, not some exact scan of one''s abilities. Anyways, I could tell the adventurers were tiring, their pace was slowing even as I contemplated my bodily adaptations, I didn''t realize how mentally checked out I was before I head eaten, I guess this was what being a ghoul was like, a rabid animal until your stomach was full. Much like a wild animal, I bid my time waiting for the perfect opportunity, which I knew would be when they slept given my superior intellect compared to a real wild animal. I slunk into the shadows of a large oak as I observed the two set up their camp. I didn''t particularly want to dry attention to myself by killing these two, but it was still more appealing than wandering deep into the forest and getting eaten by a Manticore or some equally dangerous creature. They laughed and joked as they placed their tent and prepared their campfire, it was then that one of them went off to go fetch some firewood. Change of plans, the opportunity was now. I grinned a grim smile and my fingers tightened around my axe shaft, I stealthily followed behind the adventurer, waiting until he was bent over collecting wood and too far away to call for help. I leapt out from behind a tree, covering over a dozen feet in two great leaps, and brought my axe crashing down on the back of his neck. His head tumbled off the rest of his body onto the damp leaf covered forest floor, the rest of his body crumpling like a puppet with it''s strings cut. I don''t know what exactly I was expecting, but it all seemed a little anticlimactic. +2 Levels +6 STR + 4 VIG +2 AGI I couldn''t help but let out a smile of triumph, this class granted 6 attributes per level, my old barbarian class granted 4, and I know many classes that gain as low as 3, very rare was it to see a class granting 7 attributes or more. I could feel the difference immediately, but now was not the time to savor my progress, I had a body to eat, and an adventurer to kill. I was never the cleanest eater, I remember that much, and I''m glad to know my skill of making a mess had not left me in my undeath. But where was I fitting all that flesh? Dozens of pounds easily, I even snacked on his femur when I was done, I felt a little full sure, but their was certainly something else going on.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. No time to concern myself with such trivial questions now, I knew it would not be long before the other adventurer starting to panic. I crept back to the camp, and watched carefully as he looked through a small pouch that appeared to be filled with rings, and an amulet. Looks like a good a time as any to strike, there were no nearby trees behind him to aid in my sneakiness, so I just crossed as much ground as possible before he would inevitably hear me. The grass was cool to the touch, reminding me of my barefooted nature at the moment, I made it nearly 10 feet away from him when he finally glanced back. His face was a textbook expression of horror, I guess I painted quite the scary picture, out in the forest alone, as night was falling. "Stay back you monster!" he shouted, scrambling backwards. Now obviously I wasn''t heeding his suggestion as I close the gap in a moment, my axe swinging for his head. The adventurer deftly dodged it, so I spun the axe back around keeping it''''s momentum for a strike to the torso this time. There was no were to evade the blow and the axe sunk deep into his guts, he shouted angrily and a red mist started to seep from this skin. Oh, this was a Barbarian. He punched me in the face with such force I was sent sprawling backwards getting tangled up in the tent. He ripped the axe out of his torso and started towards me. Now as a Barbarian myself, I knew just what do. I jumped up and bolted in the opposite direction, running for my life. Or unlife, whatever. I tripped over a thick root in my haste, sending me colliding into a tree, but I could hear the Barbarian stomping after me and took off once again, a bit more cautions of roots this time. I ran for the next 5 minutes, easily loosing him in the shadowy forest. I leaned against a tree, contemplating my tactical intelligence, it was never my strong point, being a Barbarian and all. I was far more logical and calculating now as a Ghoul, but I still probably should have approached that situation differently. + 1 Levels +3 STR +2 VIG +1 AGI Aaaand he''s dead. I returned to the camp where sure enough, I found the Barbarian lying on the ground lifelessly. I stooped down and picked up the pouch full of accessories he had been inspecting earlier, and randomly selected a ring. It was a dull metal band of a ring, certainly not a fashion statement of any sort. I apprehensively placed the ring on my finger, waiting for something to happen. Rare Ring of Strength Equipped: +3 STR Incredible, these were enchanted accessories, this would certainly be worth transporting in and of itself. If this was the kind of goods that these two were carrying, what exactly were they wearing themselves? That Barbarian certainly had some levels on him, nowhere near level 37, but going off the power behind that punch, a dozen at least. The general advice was no more than 3 rings, it was around here that they started to malfunction, and enchanted items had a bad tendency of exploding when they malfunctioned, violently. So I tried on the rest of them and settled with 2 that I liked. Uncommon Ring of Awareness: Increased awareness of your surroundings, improved eyesight, smell, and hearing. Rare Ring Of The Shadows: Become significantly less noticeable to others, resistance to scrying and inspections. The amulet was the real prize however. Unique Predator''s Amulet: Slowly molds the wearer into a more predatory version of itself. This affects eyesight, reflexes, coordination, and base physical capabilities. Forget killing monsters, hunting adventurers is where the real worth is at. Chapter 3 After eating the two adventurer, I felt better than ever, my thoughts were clear and my body was strong, the rotting corpses didn''t quite hit the spot I guess. Now unfortunately the Barbarian was not very kitted out himself, but I found a decent pair of boots and a nice sleeveless navy blue vest. Vest Of The Barbarian: Provides minimal protection, along with a magical enchantment to negate it''s weight and a strong self-repair capability. Boots of The Ranger: Makes your footsteps completely silent. Overall, this whole encounter was far more beneficial than I could have imagined, the downside however is that now 2 adventurers just went missing right outside their little town, so there will likely be people on the lookout now. I tore apart the camp and did my best to hide my tracks, I also dumped their remains into a nearby river and covered up the blood on the ground, this should be enough to stop any rangers on my tail. As a ghoul my vision was not fantastic, even if I could see well in the dark, so I noticed quite quickly that my eyesight had improved considerably from my ring of awareness, and perhaps my amulet as well, the colors were also starting to seems a little bit more faded, not sure what that was about. I changed into the Barbarian''s trousers and donned his gloves, they were markedly less decomposed than mine, maybe this would allow my blend in as a human if need be? My face was a bit too gaunt due to my lack of fat and water content, but I still retained my human appearance besides that, no new fangs or anything of the sort. Oh yeah, and my skin still looked like I had the stone skin spell cast on me. I grabbed all of their other goods and threw in a sack over my should and headed back to their town and continued to observe who was coming and going. The main problem, they were leaving in larger groups now, after a full day of waiting not a single group left that was smaller than 3 people. Then I saw a guarded caravan exit the town, I counted 8 guards and at least 3 merchants were visible, along with a man guiding the horses. There were 3 large cages that I could see, one carried a large Hobgoblin, another a pair of harps, and finally, a young man. The young man had disheveled dark black hair coupled with a pale face and intense dark eyes. I sensed opportunity, so of course I followed the caravan closely. I saw the young man looking in my direction on multiple occasion, it looks like he sees me, but then he looks away and I am left unsure. Night starts to fall and I see the caravan looking members looking for a place to setup camp. Now was the time to decide what exactly to do. First and foremost I wanted Levels, if I could kill a few of them while they slept, I would gain loads of experience and stand a better chance at taking on properly geared adventurers. Or, I could try and steal whatever cargo they were hauling¡­. Why not both? Kill a few tonight, 1 or 2 tomorrow night, repeat until I had free reign over the loot. It sounded like a good plan to me, and so I waited. They wasted no time placing theirs tents and cooking their dinner, and without much hassle they were all asleep within an hour or two. Except for the guard on watch that is.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. At this point it was completely dark out, which didn¡¯t both me in the slightest, but I know it bothered them. And so I crept up on the lone guard, he was clearly drowsy but doing his best to keep a lookout. Sadly for him, he simply couldn¡¯t see out into the dark, and I had no trouble getting within a dozen feet of him simply by approaching from his side. I jumped and swung my axe for his neck, he realized what was happening at the last moment and let out a scream, which was cut off as quickly as it had started. I stood there still for a few minutes to make sure nobody had seen me. I sneaked into the first tent and decapitated the man without any fuss, and quickly moved onto the second, same story. I exited the tent wiping the blood of my axe real quick with a cloth I had found laying around, and found myself face to face with an older man, mostly undressed and evidently leaving to go to the restroom. I was far too late to stop the man from screaming, a blood curdling scream it was, you would think he was trying to alert the entire forest. I cursed my luck, but did not let it get in the way of my levelling process. He started to run and I ran after, reaching him with little effort and planting my axe deep into his back, snapping his spine and just about everything else, and dropping him instantly. I was starting to feel invigorated, and readied myself to face the 5 other guardsmen, and perhaps even the merchants. In shocking cohesion, all 9 members of the caravan exited their tents in varying states of undress, but all with their weapons drawn. Could I kill them all? Probably not, most of them, absolutely, did I feel like dying for it? No, no I did not. But then the young man in the cage stood up. ¡°Let me out of here, I¡¯ll help you, I swear it!¡± I turned my attention to him, he looked desperate, I believed him. I swung my axe for the padlock, easily hammering through it. He kicked open the door and jumped down with a giggle of excitement. He quickly started forming a ball of black flames in his hands, before lobbing it into the lumped together group of guards and merchants. The orb arced through the air and landed with a soundless explosion, knocking back the two nearest to the explosion, and washing everyone in flames. They yelled in pain and fear as they ran from the fire, spreading out into a much looser formation to avoid such explosive attacks. He nodded as if this was his plan and sent out a jet of flames, seperating 2 of them from the rest. The wall of flame persisted, making it impossible for anyone to get through without taking damge. ¡°I¡¯m not a Wizard, I control these flames, they won¡¯t hurt you.¡± he told me. Against every undead instinct in my body, I walked through the flames, and I was unscathed as promised. I smiled at the two terrified guards in front of me and raised my axe menacingly. One went to thrust at me, which I easily outdistanced and responded with a strike to the arm, and without any armor protecting him, his arm not hanged uselessly at his side, mangled beyond use. The other took the opportunity to charge me, I deftly avoided this as well and kicked him into the flames as he passed by. I didn¡¯t turn around to observe my handiwork, the other man decided to brave the flames to try and get away, but I launched my axe in his direction, burying it deep into his skull. A skill I had honed over many years¡­ I think? I ripped the axe of the man¡¯s skull and set my sights on the other group, now only 6 members strong. The warlock was focusing most of his effort on maintaining the thick wall of flame surrounding them. 4 of them had spears, and I was reminded of how I met my end last time, so I bid my time. I uttered my first words out loud since I had died. ¡°I need more damage on these spearmen.¡± The spellcaster nodded at my instructions and let the fire dissipate. He shot 4 tethers towards the spearmen, and the color quickly drained from their faces. They were clearly weakened greatly by this spell, so I took the oppurtunity and leapt across the dying flames and onto the dazed spearmen. One merchant had the presence of mind to try and charge the spellcaster, but he raised a hand and fired a streak of magic missiles at the merchant point blank. The poor merchant doubled over quickly, grievously wounded. I chopped into my opponents, sending blood flying, they tried to fall back, but it was all over as the caster cut off his tethers and lobbed an even larger ball of explosive flames directly at the group. The rest was just putting who ever survived out of their misery. I looked up and locked eyes with the spellcaster. He smiled. ¡°Pleased to meet you, my names Timor, what do you go by?¡± What a fine question. Chapter 4 I debated how to best answer such a question, but I didn¡¯t feel like lying for no clear gain. ¡°I died, I¡¯m back now obviously, but the system was not so kind as to remind me of my name.¡± The spellcasters eyes lit up. ¡°Your an undead? How do you feel, do you remember anything?¡± he asked in rapid succession visibly excited at the revelation. I was taken aback by his enthusiasm, but you know what they say about wizardy types and their curiosity. ¡°Powerful, being a ghoul has made me radically stronger than I have any right to be as a low level Barbarian. Very clear too, mentally that is, I don¡¯t have all that anxiety and stress and I feel in control of my thoughts, the exact opposite of myself from before.¡± I replied seriously, deciding to give him my best information after his aid with the caravan guards. ¡°Incredible, just incredible, But what do you remember exactly?¡± Timor pressed further. I thought about the question for a few moments. ¡°Not much, a lot of details of the world and such, but not very many personal memories, I remember that I was a Lv37 Barbarian fighting for Conall, I was in a lot of battles¡­.. and that¡¯s basically it.¡± He seemed genuinely impressed at that information. ¡°37 Levels, damn.¡± he said with a whistle. I smiled in spite of myself, that was something that I was very proud of. Not many made it to Lv37, certainly not on the battlefield. Around left 15 to 20 leveling becamee significantly harder due to the scarcity of higher level opponents, 30 was quite rare, and 37 was near the upper end of what you will see on the battlefield. I suspect my unusually high level contributed to my strength and mental clarity even as a low level ghoul. ¡°Oh by the way, what level are you now, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, you tossed those guards around like nothing.¡± Status, I thought. Name: None Race: Ghoul Level: 5 Class: Hollowed Barbarian Attributes: STR: 28 VIG: 20 AGI: 15 WIL: 10 KNL: 10 MND: 10 Skills: None Perks: You have (1) Perks to be chosen. ¡°Level 5, Hollowed Barbarian.¡± I replied ¡°Ghouls really are just way stronger then aren¡¯t they, and I¡¯ve never heard of that class, I imagine it¡¯s a pretty rare one going by your circumstances, who knows what the requirements are.¡± Timor said thoughtfully. He had a good point, being that high level and a Barbarian almost certainly influence the class I received as a Ghoul, for all I know you have to be at least Lv35 in Barbarian and die while in a frenzy to receive this class. ¡°So what level are you, and what class as importantly?¡± I asked this time. ¡°Me? Just a Level 7 Warlock.¡± he said casually.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I let out a little chuckle in my raspy undead voice. ¡°Just a Warlock, and that cage was just a fancy new means of transportation.¡± He let out a sheepish grin. ¡°Yeah those two things aren¡¯t entirely unrelated I must admit¡­¡­ it¡¯s so wrong I get criminalized just for my class, they were going to burn it out of me! So of course I tried to defend myself and things may have gotten a little out of hand but it wasn¡¯t my fault.¡± he defended himself. ¡°No the giant man eating hydra rampaging across the city got there by itself.¡± I smiled. ¡°It was a chimera actually.¡± he huffed. Aaaand that¡¯s your typical Warlock right there. Never was there a Warlock in human history that wasn¡¯t up to something or another, the system didn¡¯t give you the Warlock class because of your shining personality and law abiding ways. I could hardly blame King Conall for outlawing the class entirely, but I was outlawed as well being a sentient undead, even more so than Warlocks. ¡°So where you heading now anyways.¡± I asked, curious. ¡°Well I was going to the capital, not so sure now though. They¡¯ll be looking for me when they see this wreckage and learn of my escape. I could stick with you maybe?¡± he said the last part suddenly, seeming hopeful. A human was trying to follow me around? An unpredictable man eating undead barbarian? But he was a Warlock so it all kind of checked out, they weren¡¯t right in the head. I did really like how he could control the fire to ignore me, maybe I could use a partner in crime out here. ¡°Sure, why not.¡± I agreed. He seemed happy with that, so I went to work on the bodies, lugging them 4 at a time to the river I knew flowed nearby, snacking on the ones slung over my shoulder occasionally as I walked. The Warlock grabbed one and did his best to drag him along, he clearly wasn¡¯t too strong and struggled with it, but I respected the attempt. He we very chatty, telling me all about the things he had summoned, and how annoying the king was, and how cool eldritch entities were. You know, typical Warlock conversation. I nodded along, trying to pay attention, there was some genuinely good info here and there. We dumped all the bodies into water and Timor burned all of the remains, there were hardly in any good worth keeping besides a fancy silk handkerchief that was enchanted to better absorb liquids and clean itself, which I promptly used on my own axe. I wondered why Timor didn¡¯t just burn the bodies too, maybe it would leave too strong of a scent for days to come, but I didn¡¯t mind throwing bodies into the river anyways. I realized the Timor would need a place to sleep, so we worked on finding a little spot for him, I could finally drop off the bag I¡¯ve been carrying around there anyways. We made sure to look as far away from the adventurer town as was reasonable, didn¡¯t want any rangers getting on our tracks. After a day of walking through the forest the ground started to slope and become far more uneven, and soon mountains appeared in sight. They were impossible to see through the tall ancient forest from the road, you practically had to upon them. We located a small cave and ensured this wasn¡¯t the home of anything else, and setup our stuff. ¡°I¡¯d like a few catalyst materials if we can find them, they¡¯re not a huge deal I generally just use my own blood, but certain materials can make the whole process easier. Maybe we kill a few wizards.¡± Timor said as he laid out a small bedspread he¡¯d found in one of the tents. ¡°What do you mean by the whole process?¡± I said skeptically. ¡°Oh you know communing with spirits, talking with my patron, that kind of thing.¡± He noticed the lost look on my face and elaborated. ¡°As a warlock I have contracts in place with different beings, generally I make blood sacrifices in return for some of their powers.¡± Ah, blood sacrifices and contracts with otherworldly beings, wonderful. Anyways, not that we were all settled down, it was time to decide on what Perk I should go for. I brought up my status and selected the Perks panel. Perks: None You have (1) perk slot available. I choose the perk slot. Available Perks: Here¡¯s the deal about Perks, they were seemingly never ending, almost no two Barbarians of any significant level had the same build. But after browsing through them for the better part of the night, I narrowed it down to a couple in particular. One thing to know about me, I only use Passive perks, not a fan of the active ones, or ¡°Skills¡± as some people call them. I particularly like ones that improves with time. Perk (Passive): Herculean Over time, alter your base Physiology to be more Herculean. Increases muscle and skeletal durability and strength. Massively boosts Muscle Protein Synthesis (You put on muscle easier, faster, and more frequently.) Also increases the resilience of your flesh. This perk''s effects are negligible to begin with, and slowly but continuously improve as long as you exist. Perk (Passive): Carnage Temporarily gain +3 STR after defeating an enemy, duration depends on the Level of the enemy. Perk (Passive): Virtus +2 STR every (2) Levels. Perk (Passive): Already Dead Come back as a Wraith when you die (again) and gain the ability to possess a dying person. You retain their Classes and Perks, they can not be the same class or sex as you. I had so many question about Already Dead, just why, being the main one. But I had no desire to be some wizard girl so I moved on, Carnage was fantastic, but really only good in battle or fighting larger groups of monsters. I wanted to be at peak power at all times, so I ignored this one as well. Virtus and Herculean were both right up my alley, I love perks that improve my base strength. As much as I wanted the 2 STR, I had a feeling the Herculean would have more return in the long run. Perk Selected: Herculean (Passive) Over time, alter your base Physiology to be more Herculean. Increases muscle and skeletal durability and strength. Massively boosts Muscle Protein Synthesis (You put on muscle easier, faster, and more frequently.) Also increases the resilience of your flesh. This perk''s effects are negligible to begin with, and slowly but continuously improve as long as you exist. I¡¯d say this is a pretty good start to my journey as a Hollowed Barbarian. Chapter 5 Timor was in favor of luring adventurers into traps and killing them, I personally figured we just do it the old fashioned way and simply ambush them, but to each their own I guess. Regardless, we first needed to secure an adventurer to use as bait, I thought we should just use him, but he said that nobody would recognize him so it wouldn¡¯t be as good of a trap. Which is why we were now observing the town from a distance, looking for any potential victims. I wanted to find a group with a Barbarian in it so I could take his gear, Timor argued that getting a spellcaster was more important since Barbarian barely even scaled with gear anyways. He had a point, but I didn¡¯t like it. ¡°What about those guys?¡± he whispered and pointed at a trio, a ranger, a fighter, and what I imagined was a cleric of some sort, hard to say which healing class in particular. ¡°I despise Rangers with a passion, and as much as I want to cut of their head I also don¡¯t want to a walking porcupine.¡± I denied. ¡°Comeon, I can handle the Ranger.¡± ¡°So I just singlehandedly fight a cleric and fighter at the same time? I¡¯m a barbarian, I wouldn¡¯t last a second.¡± ¡°Alright then we just jump the Cleric first. Easy¡± ¡°And then the Ranger has free reign on us.¡± ¡°You know what, I¡¯m just going to blow them up with some hellfire and you do your thing, what about that?¡± he exclaimed. We were so going to die. We followed along at a healthy distance, very careful to avoid the Ranger¡¯s field of view. They took a turn off the main road after a few hours of walking, it was still a very well traveled road, but clearly not one the traders frequented. We decided to follow and see where they were going. They were likely on a quest knowing Adventurers, maybe their was something worthwhile. So we continued our stalking, but half of my effort was focused on guiding Timor through the forest, how he even managed to get snagged on so many branches is beyond me. After a couple of hours the trio stopped, before them was a small cave entrance, it looked pretty plain to me but the adventurers seemed all nervous about it. At this point the Predator¡¯s Amulet had progressed it¡¯s changes further, I lost most of my color vision, but I could now see an order of magnitude better than I could have imagined possible, I have also been noticing faint trails of color here and there, particularly around Timor, and around their Cleric too apparently. Timor¡¯s had a blackish red hue to them, whereas the Cleric¡¯s had a greenish white coloring. I didn¡¯t know the next thing about magic being a Barbarian, but I suspected it had something to do with their magics. My hearing had also improved even further and I could make out bits and pieces of their conversation even as we sat hidden behind a bush over 200 feet away. ¡°**** level 12, the ***** says 15 or ****¡± said the ranger apprehensively. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°*** ** fine Mac, we have a *****.¡± assured the fighter. The cleric just shrugged. They were clearly trying to fight something, or someone¡­ Timor just sighed. ¡°This is obviously a dungeon you Barbarian.¡± ¡°You said that like being a Barbarian is a bad thing, it is the most glorious class of them all.¡± I shot back immediately. Timor clearly did not agree, in time, in time he will see the truth. But, what he said makes sense, I just pictured a Dungeon being a little bit more¡­. grand, perhaps more spectacular? But no, it was just a hole in the side of a hill that sloped down. ¡°Do we follow them in?¡± I asked my partner in crime. ¡°We could, but our element of surprise would probably be blown. However, if we wait long enough they Cleric will have used up most of his heals and we can pick off the Fighter easily.¡± he replied I liked that sound of this. ¡°Let¡¯s roll with that.¡± I agreed. We waited for a few minutes then followed in after them. I had no clue how expansive dungeons were, would they be down there all day? For a few hours, maybe it was a whole week long excursion, no, they didn¡¯t bring enough supplies for that. Ah, but there are storage rings so it is still a possibility. You have entered a Dungeon (Black Goblin Caves) To nobodies surprise, it was a dungeon filled with various types of Goblins, all of them with leathery dark black skin. It was designated as a Dungeon, but it looked like a whole community to me, you could see where they lived, where they ate, and the wooden walkways they used to transverse the large cave system in the open areas. Thanks to my boots I was able to walk without any concerns, but Timor was managing to make more noise than a whole horde of Goblins so I grabbed him and slung him over my shoulder. There, quiet. I heard a noise up a head, it sounded like the dying wail of a child, not that I know what that sounds like but that¡¯s how I imagined it would sound. It was coming from inside a small cave to our left and up a rather steep wooden walkway. Below us was a few other walkways barely illuminated by torches, and below that was just darkness even to my eyes. Falling meant almost certain death here. But the only one going to be falling here is that damn ranger when I push him off. I drop Timor on the ground and tell him to cause some noise, meanwhile I hide in the darkness behind their little cave entrance waiting to jump on them when they come through. ¡°Adventurers! Prepare to meet your doom!¡± shouted Timor I inwardly cringed at that, he would make a good generic demon lord. Regardless, I readied myself as I heard their footsteps come closer. I waited until the fighter and cleric walked past for a clear shot at the ranger. As he came into view, I jumped on top of him in a single great leap, intent on cleaving his head off in one fell blow. With no apparent momentum, he instantly propelled himself backwards and well out of reach, and shooting me square in the chest as he did so. Timor started raining down hellfire on all of us, but I payed no attention, intent on killing the ranger. I sprinted after him, and just when I got in ranger he was propelled backwards again, and this time landing an arrow in my shoulder. I let out deafening roar and didn¡¯t let the arrows stop me, when I got close he gave up on shooting and simply ran away, faster than even I could run. I was beyond frustrated, all of my mental calmness went out the door and I felt nothing but rage. He quickly found himself trapped in a dead end, and I swung my axe for center mass with glee. He raised in arm to protect himself. His arm was sent spinning into the wall and landed with a wet thud, but it granted him just enough opportunity to jump around me and sprint off for the entrance. I had no chance of catching him and he jumped off the walkway and onto another one twenty feet below and sprinted on without pause. I was just about to jump down after him when Timor let out a yell. The fighter was upon him and had taken off a chunk of his arm with his arming sword. ¡°Fuck.¡± I cursed and turned to help him, in to no time I was upon the cleric, he sensed my presence at the last second and ducked my swing, but I brought my axe around for a sideways sweep right into his chest. The axe buried deep but the force of the blow launched him back and off my axe blade with. The fighter turned and struck me in the face with his sword, sending me stumbling back, he charged after and I used my axe like a quarterstaff to direct his momentum off to my side. He tried to get up, but I brought my axe down on his armored back, not breaking through but still driving him back down onto the walkway. ¡°Shield Bash!¡± he cried and in an instant he was on his feet and his shield was planted into my face with shocking force, sending me flying a dozen feet back to the entrance of the small cave we had found them in. He stomped after me and quickly plunged his sword into my torso, pinning me to the ground. I could see his grin of triumph. And then a giant blast of flames impacted him in the back at point blank, and he stumbled forwards with a scream and choking on the blood that caught in his throat. Magic had a tendency of getting past armor. I ripped the sword out of my stomach and tossed it into the abyss below, I grabbed the wounded fighter with both hands spun him around to face me. We locked eyes as I raised my foot and threw it into his chest with all my strength, launching him into the abyss after his sword. ¡°This is sparta¡± Timor murmured. ¡°What?¡± I turned to face him. ¡°Nothing, nothing at all.¡± he smiled. Ugh, that did not feel good. I shook it out and gathered my axe, before half walking have stumbling over the cleric. That shield bash did a number on me. Surprisingly he was still alive, if grievously wounded. He would likely bleed out, and he would have used a healing spell by now if he had any. ¡°Please, don¡¯t do this, I have a family.¡± he begged weakly. ¡°Of course you do, we all had to come from somewhere.¡± I brought my axe down on his neck, ending his suffering. + (1) Levels. Damn, I was hoping for two. Big Announcement, I am removing the system. (NOT A CHAPTER) As I sat here reading my notes well past midnight, I got to thinking how pointless the system is in my story, and I don''t feel that it is really serving a purpose. I had the system setup to have very minimal levels, and only a small handful of perks and skills. This is because I did not enjoy writing skills, perks, stats, etc... So with that said I am editing all prior chapters, (Only about 25 pages.) and removing the system mechanic. Now before you leave and drop the story cursing my guts, please consider that progression is still a main aspect of the story. I would just like a more unique and organic form of progression.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Now, the natural progression of a Ghoul is in strength, agility, and cunning as it ages and eats more. Additionally, in place of the system, I would like to instead have the "melee" characters progress through Alchemist created potions which alter one''s physiology, and place a larger importance on gear and enchantments. This story is still very much progression based as I said, just without the stats which I had already placed few and far between anyways. For Spellcasters, this simply means that they progress through attaining more knowledge, so nothing has really changed here anyways. I am also switching away from trying to update the story every single day, to a M/W/F schedule so I can raise the quality and build up a backlog (Hopefully). I will try and get the previous chapters edited as soon as possible. If you are already up to date, they will till arrive in the adventurer''s town so you don''t need to reread, in fact nothing will really change up to this point.