Stepping into the next corridor was different in many ways, Ethan felt like he was reborn in a place where only death had a place. His whole body felt stronger and solid but there should be some change with his stats, besides the obvious ones from his level. He was also wondering when a new primary class was supposed to show up, besides his plague mage and new race the mage class felt lackluster now. Especially because his new skills made class useless for him.
Still there was this feeling of having achieved something, the weak man he was before was slowly changed into someone more confident, brave and with goals. From the depressed suicidal man was nothing left.
On his way through the corridor he killed more skeletons, it felt almost too easy at his point, they just froze solid from his strengthened aura, while he was still careful he couldn’t stop himself from walking faster, his walk ending up becoming a light jog through the tunnel. Ethan started to laugh, days spent in constant struggle, running away from enemies only to end up running towards them now.
His good mood only lasted for another minute as he heard the crack of a bowstring, the next moment an arrow slammed into his shoulder, twisting his whole upper body around. He looked around while holding his shoulder, his pale blue blood dripping down his arm. His eyes looked for cover but there were only bones on both sides.
The realization came a moment later and with a wave of his hand he summoned a wall of ice in front of him, blocking most of the tunnel. Another crack ringed out and he saw the arrow lodge itself into the ice, vibrating for a moment before stopping completely. Ethan pressed his teeth together while inspecting his shoulder, the arrow missed the bone and penetrated his muscles, the arrowhead sticking out from the back. Taking a deep breath he broke the arrow off, the old wood easily giving in. He held his shoulder still and pushed the arrow through to the other side where it landed with a metallic clang on the ground.
Ice filled the wound and made sure it stopped bleeding, the ice feeling comfortable now, like it was helping him heal. Using his uninjured arm he touched the wall and moved it forward, helped by magic it slid down the tunnel while arrows landed in the thick block, multiple cracks running down its front but Ethan didn’t stop.
Being tall was nothing bad but the tunnel became narrow, the walls and ceiling pressing on in him and he needed to melt some ice off the wall and pull his head in. When he saw the entrance to the next room he spotted the two skeleton archers hidden behind some bones. Ethan smiled and pressed his hand against the ice and a barrage of ice spikes and frigid wind slammed into the archers, the bones next to the path and even into the next room.
Once the tunnel grew silent he made a path through the wall and nodded, satisfied with his new skill and his own performance. He moved his arm around a bit and knew it would hold up everything except getting ripped off. When he finally stepped into the next room he expected some kind of skeleton enemy, maybe a rogue or archer but what he spotted was…unexpected.
In front of him stood a mountain of dead flesh, its body a hulking mass of sewn together creatures. It had the head of a human, it’s arms and legs were massive, he could see multiple arms stitched together so the battering ram like hands of a giant could be connected to the torso, the torso itself looked like it belonged to some kind reptile but Ethan couldn’t really determine what it was. The legs of the thing were hairless and mostly skinless and looked like they came from a bear/ elephant mix.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You’re one ugly motherfucker…”
[Undead construct - Level 13]
[Undead constructs are created by necromancers, vampires or liches to serve as minions, they can be made up out of every kind of flesh. What they lack in intelligence they make up in muscles and depending on the used parts, their specialisation. Hard to kill and perfect to soak up damage on the frontlines of every undead army]
The construct looked at him out of its dead milky eyes and opened his mouth, a loud roar filled the large room, carrying the stench of death. Without a weapon Ethan could only rely on his magic for this fight, he also was sure the staff would have broken apart during the first hit.
During this fight Ethan wanted to try something new, during his plague creation he felt the aspects of winter and now he invited dormancy into his ability, he wanted the plague not to kill but to paralyze his target, show them the silence, the heaviness that winter brought. So he created a plague that fits his criteria, two daggers appeared in his hand and a thick slushy like poison dripped from the blades. A very welcome message showed up.
*Update* Plague created - Frostbite Lethargy - You gained experience!
With light steps he jumped around the construct, even when it attacked Ethan jumped towards it for a counter. Hitting it’s sewn together body proved to be difficult, while he managed to get a lot of hits in this thing wasn’t like a normal living creature, death magic fueled it’s being so even when hitting it it only put the separates parts into paralysis, while the rest of the body continued moving, pulling along the parts that were out of action.
Even with this setback he continued to attack, jumping in circles or even back and forth, not one hit managed to land on Ethan, the construct attacked very slowly and while doing heavy damage to the ground and walls it wasn’t fast enough to actually attack. When Ethan realized that his fight was just meant to make him tired he paced himself more and wiped that smile off his face.
For the next thirty minutes he did nothing but attack, trying to hit every part of the monster with his ice daggers. His aura was still working so the room was soon covered in a thin layer of ice, the construct slowing down even more, especially since Ethan hit every part at least once. When it finally stumbled Ethan didn’t hesitate, with force he kicked the flesh abomination into the side, making it fall to the ground, he jumped over it and he stabbed the head and neck until the thing died. The blood coated daggers slipped from his hand as he grinned in satisfaction. The first fight that felt real, not filled with cowardice and desperate struggle. He didn’t know what he would encounter next. His eyes locked on the corridor leading to the next unknown passage beckoned him to come inside.
The whole dungeon felt wrong if he was honest with himself, it was simple, too simple. Just rooms and corridors but maybe the dungeon didn’t need more, maybe because the fight that followed was that challenging. He approached the entrance, black miasma filled the air and drifted to the ground like heavy fog.
Ethan rubbed his shoulder, the wound almost gone and the smile returned again. What if he was overconfident right now, better than to shiver in defeat. With his head held high he stepped into the darkness.
